From: Tavia tavia@btinternet.com
Fiona:
Maybe that's what RONTANE could stand for. Redheads Objecting to Negative Typecasting of Auburn Nutted Ectresses (*almost* works...)
Hmm. RONTANA. Sounds like a Doctor Who companion. Appropriate?
I think Una's "Entertainers" works, that way we could include the men. Unless you think it sounds too much like a euphemism.
That having been said, I absolutely *loathe* Mission to Destiny :). However, we can have a look at it if you like...
Me too...but then I thought much the same 'bout 'Deliverance'. Perhaps we should adopt it as the Lyst 'ep of the week' -- it must have *some* hidden depths?
Hm... let's try it out.
One possible interesting hidden depth is actually the theme of the simple explanation being the best. Throughout the story, Cally and the crew keep trying to come up with convoluted explanations for everything which occurs, but the correct explanation, as presented by Avon, turns out to be actually quite simple.
For instance, the story begins with the crew puzzling over how Rafford could have been killed and the ship sabotaged. When Dortmunn and a life rocket go missing, they concoct a convoluted explanation that Dortmunn killed Rafford, sabotaged the ship and fled-- this despite the fact that the neutrotope is still in the safe and Dortmunn did not have any reason to sabotage the ship or bear a grudge against Rafford, and in any case the ship is miles away from a habitable planet, so taking the life-rocket is a dangerous risk. The crew still seem to accept this despite the obvious holes, as does Cally-- but Avon does not think this is the answer and in the end he is right; the murder was an accident and the launched ship a decoy.
Once this is proven, Grovane suggests that a stowaway did it. Again, there is no evidence for this, and as Avon points out it would be difficult to hide away for the whole duration of the voyage. However, everyone else takes it seriously enough to send out search parties. Avon's simpler explanation-- that it's a crewmember-- turns out to be correct. Later on, Cally and Grovane come up with a variety of convoluted explanations for why Sonheim could have murdered Mandrian, but in the end Avon's simple explanation-- he didn't, he was framed-- is the right one.
Similarly, the justly derided "54124" scenes. Cally and the crew puzzle over the meaning. Is it a "Call sign, transmission frequency, navigation index"? No, as Avon points out-- in a panic situation, a dying man thinks only of the familiar, and so, it's a name.
Finally, this theme is pointed up by two quotes, one early on in the story:
Vila: I can always sense danger Gan: Yes, even when there isn't any.
And later on, the following:
Cally: The answer is here. If only we could see it.
So in other words, "Mission to Destiny" is a story which does have a message under the facile surface, and that message is: Occam's Razor. When faced with a mystery, it's the simple explanation, the one that's staring you in the face, that usually does the trick; the convoluted one is likely to send you running around in circles and concocting danger where there is none.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary RONTANE Ginger females rule at http://nyder.r67.net
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