A Dark and Hungry God Arises 20 - Min [1]

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A Dark and Hungry God Arises 20 - Min [1]

Post by Savor Dam »

This is the first point-of-view chapter in the Gap books told from the perspective of Min Donner, Enforcement Director of the UMCP. Still, she is not entirely new to us; we met her before in first two Warden chapters of this book. From these two chapters, we get glimpses of Min as a highly disciplined, principled and loyal. She doesn't necessarily agree with everything she has to accept, but she trusts and admires Warden and is dedicated to her work in UMCP.
No matter how profoundly she'd been shaken by Warden Dios' recent revelations, she was loyal to him. The same dedication which kept ED almost fanatically clean, free of the taints and ambiguities which clung to Data Acquisition like a miasma, also ensure that she would carry out her Director's personal instructions as purely as she could. The old commandment which had once guided the police in human society -- "to serve and protect" -- wasn't written anywhere in her certificates of commission. It didn't need to be: it was written in her blood.

She wasn't impervious to doubt, not by any means -- especially not now, when the very nature of the organization to which she committed herself was being called into question. But she understood with the clarity of pure conviction that doubt and action were fundamentally irrelevant to each other.

She wasn't responsible for Dios' integrity, or for the UMCP's. she was responsible for ED's and her own. And that was a function of action: she had integrity to the extent that she gave herself wholly and simply to the goals and duties of her position. Doubt was something she set aside in the name of her service toward Warden Dios, to Enforcement Division, to the United Mining Companies Police, and to humankind.

This was essential to her. Without it she would have been paralyzed. Doubt by its very nature was omnivorous: it consumed everything. Recent events provided a good example. In his conference with the GCES, Warden Dios had given her reason to doubt his honesty. But other things he said and did -- for example, the instructions which brought her to Earth now -- cast doubts on the image of himself he presented to the Council. Whom should she believe, the private man who had sent her here, or the public figure who had effectively accused himself of selling human beings for tactical gain; of selling Morn Hyland, who's plight made Min Donner's loyal and uncompromising heart ache like a personal wound?

If she let doubt choose her actions for her, she would be useless. She needed another standard by which to make decisions.

For her that standard was service.
This clear-cut portrait is a bit of a contrast to the other POV characters we've seen in two-plus volumes of the Gap.

Morn (both as a child of two UMCP officers and as herself a trained UMCP cadet) starts out with values much like Min's, but her time on Bright Beauty and Captain's Fancy have compromised her UMCP rectitude with so many ethically-murky choices. Morn still appears to be our protagonist, but she has her ambiguities...as we would expect from an SRD leading character.

Angus and Nick clearly are not cut from the same cloth as Min or Morn. They mirror one another; one starts frankly detestable, but we are learning more. The other starts white knight, but clearly isn't.

Those three characters were the only perspectives we saw in the first two books. In ADAHGA, we've started to see through the eyes of additional characters. Holt and Warden certainly fall in the ethically ambiguous camp so far. Milos doesn't seem ambiguous; indeed he is such a rotter that it is darkly ironic that he holds so much power over Angus. Davies as a character is pretty much Morn-in-a-different-body at this point.

So, now Min steps into the POV spotlight_
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Post by Savor Dam »

Less than two hours have passed since the end of the GCES videoconference. Min is on a shuttle from UMCPHQ to the GCES complex at Suka Bator, on her way to meet covertly with Sixten Vertigus, the Senior Member for the United Western Bloc.

Earlier that day, she'd met with Warden in his Command Operations Room as they watched Trumpet disappear into the gap as Angus and Milos "escaped" to Thantos Minor. She'd unsuccessfully advocated for that covert mission to include a rescue of Morn, but her disappointment was offset by her enthusiasm for the task Warden had given her: to privately contact GCES member Sixten Vertigus and convince him to propose the severance of the UMCP from the UMC, rechartering the police as an arm of the GCES.
After that meeting with Warden, Min had reached out directly to Vertigus requesting a private in-person meeting and received agreement to that meeting. Of course, subsequent to her communications with Vertigus had been the unfortunate videoconference between UMCP's Warden and Hashi and the assembled GCES and their Special Counsel; in light of that, she is unsure how receptive he will be to what she will be proposing.

She is not listed on the UMCP shuttle manifest; instead, she is blending into the mass of clerks and advocates being sent by the UMCP to provide (or fuzz) background information on what Warden and Hashi disclosed during the earlier conference. Her intent is to go there and return entirely unnoticed other than by Vertigus, the person she is going there to meet.
She was known here, of course -- any one of the Members, and most of their staff's, would have identified her on sight. But she didn't give them the chance. From the entrance to the Members Offices wing of the complex, she disappeared into a stairwell which led to a fire exit and was there for virtually never used. Her codes let her through doors which should have set off alarms when they were opened.
.
.
.
A small sensor she cupped in her palm informed her of the corridor on the other side of the door was empty. That wasn't unusual, since the corridor only existed to reach the fire exit. the real test of her planning -- and of Captain Vertigus' cooperation -- would occur when she opened the door, walked down the corridor, and turned the corner. Her route so far avoided UWB reception which was an open hive of secretaries, flunkies, and newsdogs. But no hall in the GCES complex was ever entirely empty. After Min turned that corner, she would have to pass the Senior Member's squadron of personal and legal aides in order to reach his office.

Captain Vertigus had agreed to clear the area so that Min Donner could visit him unseen.

Well, did he do it, or didn't he? She couldn't hear voices; but her sensors indications weren't encouraging. There was at least one person in range --

Secrecy was crucial here. What Warden hoped to accomplish would become impossible if any rumor linking her with Captain Vertigus reached the wrong ears. Personal aides were sometimes trustworthy; legal aides, never. And a stray news dog would be a disaster.

As silent as oil, she moved along the wall and peered past the corner. Hashi had promised that she could rely on this small sensor. For once she wasn't irritated by the discovery that he was right. One person, ten meters down the hall --

All the desks and cubicles were deserted. Alone, Sixten Vertigus sat on the edge of the desk obviously waiting for her.
As she follows him from the reception-area desk into his private office, Min notices the frailty that is the result of his advanced age, coupled with his not making use of medical advances that might have mitigated the effects of aging. Once in the office, she starts placing a number of security devices to assure that no physical or electronic surveillance of their meeting is possible. Vertigus observes that he probably isn't worth all that effort to maintain secrecy; he'd had no issue sending all his staff away, despite being a Senior Member of the GCES.
I'm a relic here. My time has passed. If you let yourself be seen coming or going, Director Donner, you would give me more status than I've had for many a year.
His defeated tone causes Min some doubt. Would she be able to convince him to champion the bill of severance?
With her ingrained lithe readiness, she took a seat across the desk from the Senior Member. To mask her uncertainty, as well as to learn what she was up against, she asked "How did that happen, Captain Vertigus? How did you become a relic?"

"I made a political mistake," he replied frankly. He may have wanted to be sure she had no illusions about him. "One morning I sat here -- at this very desk -- and realized that I was old."

"For some reason, this struck me as grievous, because it meant that my work would not continue. You probably know what I considered my work to be. One thing I've noticed about Warden Dios' people is that they are exceptionally well prepared. You wouldn't have come here -- or you wouldn't have been sent -- if you didn't know what my work, my 'mission', was on the Council."

"Nobody sent me," she put in abruptly. "This is my idea." She was always abrupt when she lied. Honesty was a compulsion which she suppressed with difficulty.

Captain Vertigus put her assertion aside with another shrug and resumed his explanation.

"In simple terms, Director Donner, I considered it my duty to oppose Holt Fasner in all his ambitions. And I considered it my work to investigate him -- to study what he did and how he did it until I could learn the facts which might persuade other people to oppose him with me.

I won't bore you with a long account of my reason. my only personal contact with him occurred when he briefed me before Deep Star first went into what is now forbidden space, and when he debriefed me afterwards. However, they were enough to set me on the road I followed for the rest of my life."

Caught by curiosity, Min tried another interruption. "What did he say to you?" She was inherently interested in anything anyone might tell her about the Dragon.

Captain Vertigus squinted at her as if he had trouble focusing his eyes. "Nothing definitive, I'm afraid. Nothing objective enough to sway other people. He's too cunning for that. All I can tell you is this. He left me with the settled impression that in his own mind nothing larger than himself exists. In his own person he considers himself bigger than the United Mining Companies, bigger than the Governing Council for Earth and Space, perhaps bigger than all mankind.

This proves nothing, I know. Nevertheless, I found it profoundly disturbing.

But I can't expect other people to understand that, Director Donner. I can't expect other people to act on it. So I don't usually talk about it. Instead I look for objective evidence to back up my fears."

Min nodded. She felt that she understood perfectly.
Vertigus goes on to describe how, when he realized that he was old and his work needed to be preserved and advanced, he had entrusted much of it to his staff_and those staff turned out to be loyal to (or suborned by) Fasner. His investigations disappeared.

Min's doubts are laid to rest. She has chosen the right person to introduce the bill of severance, to advocate for its passage. The opportunity to do so would afford him a chance to redeem his past error, cease viewing himself as a relic, and resume his mission.
Love prevails.
~ Tracie Mckinney-Hammon

Change is not a process for the impatient.
~ Barbara Reinhold

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul.
~ George Bernard Shaw
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Post by Savor Dam »

The time has come to reveal why she is here. From a pocket in the data clerk's worksuit she has worn as a disguise, Min takes out the draft legislation she has prepared.
Grimly she tossed the hardcopy on the desk.

" I want you to introduce a Bill of Severance which will take the police away from the United Mining Companies. Decharter the UMCP completely. Reconstitute it as an arm of the Governing Council for Earth and Space."

Then she paused to wait for the captain's reaction.

He sat still as if he'd stopped breathing.

She faced him squarely. Because of the paleness of his eyes, she couldn't be sure that he was able to see her.

After a long moment he let out an unsteady sigh. "Director Donner, you think big."

That didn't require a response, so Min didn't offer one.

He glanced down at the hard copy she dropped on his desk; touch the pages gingerly with his fingertips, as if their edges might be sharp enough to cut. "And you want this done by when? Tomorrow morning?"

"If you can."

"Oh, naturally Of course. A bill of this magnitude, with these repercussions -- Is there anything else I can do for you in my spare time? Write a novel? Assassinate the Amnion trade legation? Really, Director Donner, I think I need a breathing mask. There isn't room in this office for your ideas and air at the same time."

"If you'll take a look," Min retorted with her own asperity, "You'll see that I've already done most of the work. Of course, I've had to make a number of assumptions which you might not consider appropriate -- considering how the new GCESP should be funded, for example, or how authority should be transferred. But you can change anything you want when you put what I've written into the proper form. I'm not particular about the details. Only the central issue matters to me."

Captain Vertigus made no pretense of examining her work. "I'll take your word for it," he murmured. "I said myself that Dios' people are well prepared. Now that I think about it, I'm sure most of your assumptions are acceptable. I can probably have a bill prepared -- I mean, prepare it myself -- to put in front of the Council tomorrow."

"But that's not the important question, is it?" His tone sharpened. "In any case, neither of us can afford the time to haggle over details. Let's go straight for the heart, shall we? Tell me why.

Why this?" He flicked the hard copy. "Why now? And why me?"
Good questions!

To explain, Min reminds him of a rumor some years ago that Intertech had been working toward an immunity drug to protect against Amnion mutagens. Supposedly the research for this had failed and been abandoned. She then tells him that the rumor was true, but that the research had succeeded, not failed_but had been suppressed.

At the time, Hashi had briefed the UMCP Directors on the state of the research. Protocol Director Godsen Frick had argued that the project should be stopped because it threatened the UMCP. His contention was that the existence of such a drug might nudge the Amnion toward actual war, since they would lose the ability to practice genetic imperialism through mutation. He also thought the drug would undermine the moral legitimacy of the police, making them less necessary, compromising their funding and political support.

Min had made the case that stopping the research would be a crime against humanity. Warden had listened to all of them, then decided to have Intertech continue their work.

Godsen had threatened to go over Warden's head on the matter. Apparently, he had; about a week later, Warden reversed his decision and had the immunity drug work stopped. While there was no proof, the clear implication that Frick had gone to Fasner and had him pressure Warden.
The Senior Member gaped as if he swallowed his larynx. "Are you saying," he gulped "Holt Fasner personally stopped that research? Can you prove it?"

Min scowled. "Of course not. It all happened behind my back. And Warden Dios' name was on the order."

"You didn't ask why I'm here," she rasped, "on my own, without approval or permission. Now you know. I'm a cop, Captain Vertigus. I believe in what cops are supposed to do. This isn't it. I want to stop this kind of thing, if I can."

Harshly she continued, "I think that video conference was another example. The director made himself look like a man with no ethics, no scruples. That isn't the case." Whatever her doubts, she acted on that conviction. "But as long as the UMC own the police -- as long as the Dragon has the power to determine and impose policy -- the real director of the UMCP is Holt Fasner, not Warden Dios."

"That's why this bill is necessary. It will free the police to defend something larger than Holt Fasner and the United Mining Companies."

Now Captain Vertigus nodded. He closed his mouth carefully.

After a moment, he said, "Go on."
Min then explains why this moment is the best chance of passing such a bill. Obviously, Fasner will oppose severance of the police from the UMC. In normal circumstances, he would be able to sway or buy enough Council votes to assure defeat of the measure. However, the videoconference with Warden and Hashi upset that dynamic and scared many Members.
As far as the Council is concerned, there's only one excuse for voting against a Bill of Severance -- for supporting Fasner on a subject that could determine the future of the human species. That excuse is honesty. As long as the cops are honest, severance isn't necessary. Therefore, voting against the best interests and possibly the survival of humankind is just pragmatism, not malfeasance.

After that conference, the members have to ask whether the UMCP really is honest, in which case of vote against a Bill of Severance becomes suddenly indefensible. Even members who've already sold themselves may think twice about supporting the Dragon when it looks like treason.
She also points out the importance of not having the bill originate from the UMCP, so as to avoid the impression that this is a political power play by Warden to get out from under the Dragon's thumb.

Finally, she covers why Vertigus is the ideal person to champion this legislation. Nobody else has his reputation, his credibility, his independence. Only he can get this to happen now, not a few years in the future.
Softly, almost whispering, Captain Vertigus announced, "It occurs to me, Director Donner, that it doesn't matter whether you're telling me the truth. It doesn't even matter whether you chose me because you think I might win or because you're sure I'll lose." As he spoke his thin voice took an excitement until it sounded almost resonant, almost young. "What you're asking me to do needs doing. it should have been done a long time ago, and the timing may never be more favorable than it is right now.

I like the idea of having something important to do -- for a change. If you're counting on me to lose, you'll have an anxious time during the next few days."
Min now has scant minutes to gather up her security devices and make her way covertly back to catch the shuttle back to UMCPHQ. As she collects her equipment, Vertigus peeks into the anteroom and is surprised to see that his secretary, Marthe, has returned earlier than expected. There is also someone else in that room, apparently a maintenance worker.

Min certainly doesn't want to be seen by either, but through Reception is the only way out. She joins Vertigus in looking out the barely-opened door.

She immediately recognizes that this is no maintenance person. The slow, careful, stiff movements give away to her that this is a person who has recently been operated on and is still barely healed. He was trying to convince Marthe to let him into Vertigus' office.

As Enforcement Director of the UMCP, Min knew a kaze, a suicide bomber, when she saw one. She directs the Captain to get behind his desk where he'll be safer. As soon as the kaze stepped past Marthe's desk, Min threw open the door, yells for Marthe to take cover, and shoots the kaze in the chest.

Too late. The kaze detonates while still in the lobby, killing both Marthe and himself. Min is thrown across the inner office and is temporarily deafened by the blast. Vertigus is only stunned, thanks to the distance and shelter of his desk.
Her own voice was nothing more than a vibration in the bones of her skull as she told him, "I wasn't here. No matter what happens, I wasn't here. Get that bill ready as fast as you can."
She stumbles off to follow the back stairways and reach her shuttle before it leaves.
Love prevails.
~ Tracie Mckinney-Hammon

Change is not a process for the impatient.
~ Barbara Reinhold

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul.
~ George Bernard Shaw
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ADAHGA 20 - Min [1]

Post by Cord Hurn »

Beautiful job, Savor Dam, and thank you! I will comment more on this chapter when I get online again tomorrow, but for now I want to say how admirable I find both Min and Sixten to be in this chapter. I admire Min's dedication to her duty and to her officers, and admire Sixten because he truly cares about representative democracy and despises the way Holt is trying to undermine it. And I admire the courage of both characters.

Looking forward to commenting more about this great chapter tomorrow.
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A Dark and Hungry God Arises 20 - Min [1]

Post by Cord Hurn »

The one burning question I had when first reading this chapter is, why does Warden require Min to be secretive about visiting Sixten, and why does someone on the Council rather than the UMCP need to be introducing this Bill of Severance? Sixten Vertigus has this same question, and Stephen Donaldson has Min skillfully explain why the Bill must be introduced by a Council member, with no trace of involvement by any member of the UMCP. I say, "skillfully", because Min is building upon Sixten's observation that Holt Fasner sees no one as being larger in importance than himself, and that gives her explanation to Sixten far more persuasive power.
Abruptly Captain Vertigus lifted his hands. Small red spots of excitement or trepidation had appeared on his translucent cheeks. "Just a minute. Just a minute. This is all too plausible. I don't trust it.

"If what you're telling me is accurate why do you want to be kept out of it? Why does this legislation have to come from me, instead of from you--or from Warden Dios? Wouldn't a Bill of Severance have even more authority if the UMCCP proposed it?"

Min shook her head. "Only if you believe we're honest. Otherwise it's just another ploy--but this time it's Warden Dios' plotting, not Holt Fasner's. The same man who doesn't mind selling one of my people to illegals now wants complete power for himself, without even the Dragon to restrain him.

"I don't think that's true, but I can't guarantee it." Sneering at herself now, she added, "If I could, I wouldn't have had to come here on my own. However, that's beside he point. If we proposed the bill ourselves--if the director did, or I did--the Dragon could stop us. For one thing, he could fire us. But he could also go further--a lot further. In the time it would take the Council to read a bill, never mind debate or act on it, he could dismantle the entire UMCP. Leave human space defenseless. The GCES would be forced to create a new police force from scratch.

"If he's provoked into a threat that extreme, we're all lost. I have no way of knowing whether he would go that far, but I'm not willing to take that chance."

Captain Vertigus looked vaguely nauseated as he murmured, "I see what you mean."
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Post by Cord Hurn »

The other question Sixten Vertigus has for Min Donner is a question that did not pulsate through my brain, not even on a first-time read. He wants to know why he was chosen to introduce the Bill of Severance, and I think the answer is obvious: because he's a legendary hero. His introducing the Bill will automatically get it more positive notice, make it seem more proper and necessary.

And besides, we already learned through the GCES conference chapter that President Len is a "fence-sitter", someone wo doesn't want to make any kind of dramatic changes that might offend anybody.
"Why do you want me to do this? Why not somebody else?"

Min spread her hands. "Who else is there?" She held his pale gaze. "Who else has your 'credibility'? President Len? He's probably honest--I'm not sure--but he hates conflict. If he proposed a Bill of Severance, the first thing he would do is attach an amendment postponing the effective date for five years.

"You tell me, Captain Vertigus. Who else could I ask?

"But tell me now," she added roughly. "I'm running out of time. I want to be back on the shuttle to UMCPHQ"--she flicked her eyes to a chronometer--"in eleven minutes."
Her point is clear: if the Bill of Severance won't succeed with Sixten Vertigus being the one to bring it forward, it certainly won't succeed if any other Council member primarily sponsors it, either.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

I wish to note once again how great Stephen R. Donaldson is at writing action scenes.
Chunks of concrete sprang off the walls; soundproofing and ducts ripped out of the ceiling; debris whined like shrapnel. Blood burst from Min's nose; impact numbed her whole body. Yet the explosion didn't seem to make any noise. As she rebounded from the wall and sprawled into the wreckage, she already knew that she was deaf.

But she didn't stop. Rolling to get her legs under her, she staggered to her feet.
:read: :bounce03:
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