Steve wrote:
It also seems that, apart from dropping of prisoners, the Federation leaves the planet alone. How long then before it develops a different, more advanced civilisation?
As I mentioned earlier, its survival at all depends on how viable the population is to start with. The number of women transported did not seem to me to be adequate for viability, and the current rash of 'survival' programmes suggest that 21st C individuals do not cope well even with limited periods of voluntary self-sufficiency. I don't see Dome-bred earthies as likely to do any better.
Also, in the 100 to 150 years that it had been going, the religion had
developed.
The Vargas argument that the religion was necessary for organisation and therefore for the colony survival doesn't seem entirely spurious.
Also, how is it guarded? Surely Blake wasn't the first person to think about breaking out some prisoners. The
drug cover
story also falls down if you have a strong enough force; you go down and
steal the
drug when you free the prisoners and then manufacture more of it, as Blake
at one
point was planning to do.
There appear to be no guards, so one can only assume it is guarded by obscurity. Blake does say 'follow the London' after all.
Tavia