Comments on: p.208 (Chapter Seven)

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 04 May 2011 02:37:58 +0000

Only that’s not what a CAPTAIN does. A captain is here to keep things from going off on tangents, to keep people on task, to MONITOR the different teams as they work, to ASK for FREQUENT reports and to keep making important decisons.

The cook can take care of the cat. Captain’s needed on the bridge, in touch with everything on her ship in such a crisis.

By: David

David — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:51:45 +0000

There have been a number of comments on this line of “How can Fusella be dealing with lost cats and talking about innocuous subjects in the middle of these emergencies?” Let me take a contrarian view.

Fusella is the leader. She’s not going to be solving the problems of the away team, the drive engines or the lost home. That’s what the crew/scientists will be doing. Her job is to bring the right people together, let them know what needs to be done, give them the resources to do it and clear obstacles from their path. Frankly, once she’s done that, one of those obstacles is likely to be her. It’s just possible that the teams that she’s got working might not do their best work with a nervous captain hanging around looking anxiously over their shoulders, asking every five minutes how it’s going.

At this point, taking herself out of the picture is probably the best thing she can do for everyone. And since it is all out of her hands now, talking about other innocuous subjects or dealing with smaller problems that are brought to her is probably the best thing she can do to try and take her mind off it all. Then, when it does all come back to land on her, she’ll be in a better position to give it fresh attention.

Or so it seems to me.

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:23:37 +0000

I had never even heard of the “Spring Break” story! My first thought was “oh my god, a Galaxion story that ends! ”

Good job on the mini one, Tara! Very well paced and exciting

– Kev

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:24:04 +0000

Yes, Darvin and Fusella are the same age, and were in the same year at TerSA Academy (see Spring Break). She's actually a couple months older than he is.

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:14:12 +0000

Hee hee hee!

By: Glennnn

Glennnn — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:48:09 +0000

Safer topics would include the away team, the garden-implement people, or Galaxion’s clonky drive-engine(s)!
I had no idea that cats were so dangerous to be around…

By: Stewart

Stewart — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:04:46 +0000

I think it’s pretty telling that Darvin refers to Fusella as “mama captain” here. She does seem a lot older, even though they’re the same age (right?).

By: reynard61

reynard61 — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:42:12 +0000

“Herding cats?”

Isn’t that pretty much the job description of the commander of *any* vessel?

By: Insectoid

Insectoid — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:52:35 +0000

“I enjoy myself just fine, thankyouverymuch.”

Doing… what? Wearing out the deck plates on the bridge? Playing matchmaker? Herding cats?

By: Glennnn

Glennnn — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:11:17 +0000

In their birthday suit ?
Was it their birthday ?