David wrote >> (snipped Kasabi's earthly fertility v. Servalan's earthly sterility)
Harriet > So you're assuming that the tutelage was on Earth rather than on a space station or other planet?
David Yes but not necessarily the entire tutelage - since the story Trooper's Love by the moderator of this list allows and assumes Kasabi taught cadets away from Earth - and not in the first instance. It derives from an earlier assumption. The argument why I am assuming part or all of it was on Earth runs thus:
1. Servalan is 33-34 in Pressure Point (from EP the Argentine's age at her death, and from Weapon's 34). 2. Kasabi regretted "not trying to help Servalan" in the beginning (ie. either at the time they met eachother, or at the start of the period of Servalan's tutelage. It can be either way, I suppose). 3. Servalan came to a difficult decision when she was 18 or 19 shortly after Don Keller and before power became her lover (from Sand). 4. While under Kasabi, Servalan informed on Kasabi (from PPt). 5. Veron is 16 (best guess). 6. Veron was born or conceived or both on Earth (an assumption and the story's raison d'etre as admitted upthread).
These taken together indicate why I am assuming part or all of Servalan's tutelage was on Earth.
If the reader grants number six above - although, on the one hand it requires some energy and fiddling to arrange, on the other hand it gives various benefits in return, eg. Kasabi can have met Hal Mellanby, Bran Foster, Roj Blake, Del Grant's sister, Dev Tarrant. And if I make Servalan a cadet before Don Keller, say, aged 16-17, she will have been the same age as Veron when they met for the first time in Pressure Point. But if I make Servalan a cadet after Don Keller, say, five years before Egrorian leaves Bellhangria University, at age 20, then she can very well be spoilt, idle, vicious, greedy, and sick.
Servalan is not fertile, I say. Kasabi is fertile and on Earth at the beginning of Veron's existence (either when she became pregnant or when she delivered or both). To make things equal, to provide a contrast between the two, Servalan must also be on Earth at some point (preferably with Don Keller although the story may well go in another direction). If I don't place Servalan on Earth at some point, I cannot then turn around and say Servalan is infertile and Kasabi fertile, because someone will say: Of course not, since Kasabi was on Earth and Servalan was not. Put the woman on Earth in her younger days, then you can draw a contrast.
DC