AtDTdA (9): 245

[mikebailey]

> Jasper:
>
>Todays kick-ass essay question:
>So who issues the Chums' orders? Some government or commercial entity?
>Something beyond Earth, beyond time, God? What does it say about the Chums
>that they don't know? And what does it mean that they are beginning to ask
>questions? People interested in connecting AtD with other works by the same
>author might do well here; fortunately, I'm not one of them (heh, sic).

Aristotelian hypothesis: golden mean applied to power relations -
Webb and Vibe represent untenable extremes of the Bell curve, tending
to Zero (and reaching it in both cases); the Chums are the lofty
middle part.  The fact that they don't know with any exactitude the
org chart keeps them from moving in Webb's direction (striking out
against authority) or in Vibe's direction (becoming authority)
but instead engaging reality more or less as a team...

also, the fact that they are not micromanaged - besides meaning
that they're unfamiliar with their management, and unversed in the
strategies behind their missions -
gives them a certain latitude in interpreting orders, so that their
own goodness (or lack thereof) shines thru.  This is seen in Iceland,
where they interpret "any means short of violence" to mean that they
can give up.  Since the Vibe journal shows the Expedition was impressed
with their mien, how hard did they try, one wonders?
Also, the fact that "They" sent the lads to try to stop the disaster
would seem to indicate, wouldn't it, that the "They" of the Chums
hierarchy are NOT coincident with SV and his machinations?

Religious theory: perhaps the Chums hierarchy is a religious one,
going up to God (Chums = Friends = Quakers?) as revealed by silent
meditation.  Perhaps the failure of their mission to stop the
Vormance Expedition is the central tragedy of the book, resounding
like the fall of Finnegan?  Perhaps, then, there is a trustable "They"
whom "We" (if one identifies with the Chums, that is...) have failed?