JohnRoth wrote:Cauldron of Ghosts, Chapter 56 wrote:Chicherin leaned back in his chair, watching the other members of the General Board, and tried to keep his dismay from showing. He was an alpha-line whose family had been part of the Alignment for generations, and like the vast majority of the Aligment's membership he'd always hated Manpower and the institution of genetic slavery.
Just by being who he is, and where he's placed, he's going to be a very interesting prize. When Admiral Henke and Alfredo go to interview the General Board, his attitude toward genetic slavery is going to stand out like a beacon.
Up to this point, the Grand Alliance doesn't have a clue about the alpha-, beta- and gamma- lines. Given that, they might well be able to throw together a quick "alpha-line detector."
Idealists are funny people. Some of them will continue to the bitter end, some of them will switch political alligence in a heartbeat, without giving up any iota of their ideals.
Jonathan_S wrote:Even with a willing collaborator providing a genetic sample to work from, an "alpha-line detector" is going to be tricky. Not all Alpha line people have exactly the same package of genetic tweaks, but all those tweaks were tried out in various combinations in both the genetic slaves and in lesser lines.
That's going to make it tricky to differente between an actual Alpha line person verses someone who was simply the beta tester for many of those genes.
Armed Neo-Bob wrote:I don't know if McBride told The Boys about the Star Lines, but didn't they already have a "willing collaborator" who knew he was an Alpha Line? Herlander, I mean.
Also, Chicherin is on the general board and hates Manpower. Well, so did most of the others--Manpower wasn't a likable entity. So whatever his attitude about Manpower and slavery, we already knew there were people among the citizens of Mesa who wanted to get rid of slavery.
Rob
edited to fix a bad quote.
Whether they hated Manpower isn't the real issue. I've underlined the real issue: genetic slavery. Most Alignment members are idealists, and see genetic slavery as going in exactly the wrong direction. The rest of the first-class citizens of Mesa, not so much. This is the underlying issue with Jack McBryde's crises of conscience. For example:
Torch of Freedom, Chapter 38 wrote:Unlike her new partner, whom she'd already decided was a jackass, E.D. was not given to much in the way of prejudice - at least so long as genetic slaves weren't involved. On that subject, she had the same attitudes as almost all freeborn Mesans.
The other major point is that he's on the General Board. He's not Joe Shmoe, a gamma line who's also an Alignment member of no importance who doesn't know anything whatever.