On Fri, 25 Jan 2002 04:47:28 +0000 "Sally M" smanton@hotmail.com writes:

Anna wrote: "The Liberator isn't a very practical place to raise children, and Cally's a dedicated revolutionary--the only one in the crew besides Blake who chose to dedicate herself to fighting the Federation."

Not so much, however, by the time Ellynne's talking about - she lost a lot of her fire when they lost Fearless Leader. Though I take your point about choosing not to go to Kaarn.

Just to say it -

Kaarn - What, exactly, was the plan, there? The idea seems to be that they're going to set up a plant like we see on Auron. You know that one of the indicators of a country's stability is the ratio of dependents to providers? Normally, that works out as children and the elderly to midrange adults, although unemployment and disability can be worked in. I don't remember what was considered the danger range right off, but 5,000 to 2? Actually, since I understood that they had DNA or embryos or whatever for 5,000, the possibility of twins, triplets, etc. increasing that to several thousand more to 2 is there.

So, I see three possibilities.

1) Although we don't see evidence of it, the Aurons have technology (as the Clone Masters seemed to) to imprint the needed life experiences, knowledge, or what have you on the growing generation (who may, then, grow really, really fast). Either the Liberator has great resources or they stopped off at Kmart for the "Build a New Civilization" blue light special.

2) They may have _potential_ for 5,000 individuals, but they're planning on raising them at a more normal pace. Lots of problems they may not have thought of. First, I know early American history and small colonies with limited resources (and amateurs in charge of them) have horrible mortality rates. A simple accident can easily turn fatal - and there are only _two_ adults.

3) Implications of the discussion on the flight deck to the contrary, Kaarn is not uninhabited. About the only people I'd trust to set the Auron colony down with would be the Clone Masters (their high respect for life would hopefully apply to nonhumans) and they have the technology necessary to help people armed with the embryos but still in need of the rest of the starter kit. Perhaps they only let it be thought they had been destroyed (avoiding future pressure to make Blake clones, etc).

The point is, since I don't know what Kaarn would be like, it's hard to come up with reasons Cally may have chosen not to go with them. In the first scenario, Cally may have been keenly aware how little they needed her help. Or, with exile being the proper Auron response to failure, she may have felt she _shouldn't_ go with them. Or it could even be that Avon's lame joke about why Cally wasn't going with them was to cover up the harsher fact that Cally (who, technically, was one of the reasons her people were killed [no Cally to bring the Liberator, then Servalan could have found an easier way to con them into cloning her children]) wasn't welcome. Blaming her or being angry with her for what happened doesn't even have to be something Frantor thinks is right. If it's just the way she feels, Cally has always said she can receive thoughts from one of her own people.

If it's scenario 2, keeping people with big prices on their heads _away_ from the already struggling colony is a good idea. Having one adult away from the colony as a potential backup if things go really wrong is also a good idea.

If it's 3, Cally still has a price on her head and may also feel everyone's survival chances are increased if the Federation is stopped.

So, Cally could avoid Kaarn without it reflecting on her maternal instincts.

As for why I think she would have had them in the story I outlined:

1) She's the survivor of genocide that wiped out her whole family. I think that would have to weigh in on any decision she makes.

2) I may be projecting my own protective attitude towards children onto her, but it seems to fit. If a child winds up in my care, short term or long term, I get fiercely protective. It's the thing about knowing there isn't anyone but you to watch out for them. The 5,000 were taken care of (it seems like a lame plan, but that wasn't her fault). For this child, she would be it.

3) I think the fact Avon was the biological father would also effect her decision. Cally would feel obligated to a child of Avon's that somehow landed on the Liberator even if he wanted nothing to do with it and the mother was someone she hated.

4) Aside from all that, I agree she's the most likely of the crew to have an ethical problem with abortion.

As for Avon, he wouldn't like this at all - but he still had a pretty good track record in S3 of (however much he grumbled) sticking by the others when they absolutely insisted on doing something he thought was idiotic in the extreme. If Cally was in this situation, I think he'd wind up trying to find a solution they could all live with.

Of course, he'd _want_ to drop the baby of at Kaarn or with his brother or _something_. But 9 months is a long time. Plenty of room for plot complications.

As for Orac, part of this tied into an idea where Orac was calculating ways to make Avon act in ways that improved his (and Orac's) survival chances, not do things that would blow up the ship, etc. Of course, if this _was_ part of Orac's plan and Avon found out, Orac might be reincarnated via garbage compressor into a new life as a paper weight . . . .

Yeah. I know. But still no plot to hang these ideas on.

Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.