TheStarsAreRight:Walpurgis
I have now traveled with a pair of skeptics in my short time with these (fellow?) weirdos. The departure of John Elwar, on the heels of Bobby Hansen, leads me to wonder whether I am truly a skeptic. Am I a "true believer" in denial? I wonder if I could garner the answer from one of Boris's sketches, if introspection fails.
Once again, I failed to convince my companions to leave Laura in the safety of her asylum. I may have been on the wrong side of this one, though I retain my doubts. Will she be safe with us? Will we be safe with her? Although she is not my responsibility, it couldn't hurt to keep my eye on her.
Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory as Carl rejected the deal with the Dark Pharaoh. I'm not exactly sure what caused him to change his mind at the last minute. On the plus side, this gave me a chance to step in and strike my own deal. Worryingly, the Dark Pharaoh offered me identical terms to what he'd offered Carl. What could he be getting out of this exchange? He also seemed willing to sweeten the deal. Was I foolish for refusing to take something for myself? The downside to this whole change of events, is that now I'm on the hook for the "sacrifice." What in the heck am I going to offer? What do I have available to offer?
To complete the trifecta, I lost the argument on Pentheus. Although, to be more accurate, perhaps I should say that I was convinced of the correctness of the opposition's position. Surprisingly, Henrik and I were on the same side in this situation, whereas Rebecca and I were opposed. Rebecca's opposition is unsurprising, as it seems generated by her standard xenophobia. Henrik's willingness to believe in the goodwill of the people in the Pentheus Corporation is more surprising to me, particularly in light of his response to the doctors and staff at the Answell estate. Why grant one group (who in proposing the mass sacrifice of thousands/millions/billions? of people had evidenced evil tendencies) the benefit of the doubt while stridently condemning the other (who had seemingly made a good-faith effort to help a confused young woman)? There may be some clue as to his nature there, but I do not see it at the moment.
Are the people of Pentheus evil? Calculating? Misguided? It is just one more mystery to throw on the pile. What happened to Joc? What happened to Donal? Who was involved in the murder at Donal's house?
I do find Carl's blase attitude towards Pentheus confusing. Not that the idea of waiting to do some more research on the corporation is bad... it was more the way he made his case. I find the prospect of a mathematical model of detecting incursions quite intriguing. Also, while terribly morbid, the idea that they have somehow modeled the "feeding" capacities of the Outsiders would seem to compel great attention. How could they know this? They may have a great deal of information to impart. Attempting to ally oneself with a powerful force would strike me as a high priority. I have noticed that Carl is not too quick to seek out alliances. I wonder if his role as the King of Life has blinded him to this tendency. If Pentheus is currently evil, converting them to good would seem an important goal. Even if Pentheus is irredeemably evil, knowing this as soon as possible would be preferable.
