Forbidden Knowledge, Chapter 4
The Gap story gets more interesting for me when engineer Vector Shaheed tell ex-cop Morn Hyland about how the United Mining Companies Police stifled public release of an antidote to Amnion mutagens through a computer embedding codes in research databases to retrieve the information and shut down further research. I usually find a tale gets more suspenseful when the "good people" (or the "bad people", for that matter) aren't who you think they are. That always seems to be a good hook in a plot to pull you along.
This Intertech sub-plot, with its part about the prostests that I didn't include in the quoted passages, reminds me of the riots that ended Dr. Avid Paracels' legitimate career and caused him to turn to crime, as told in the SRD short story "Animal Lover". But while Vector is certainly illegal, it's less clear that he's to be considered a villain (comes across as honest to a fault, really), when he seems more a victim. No doubt Dr. Paracels considers himself a victim and that feeling of victimization is what drives him to plan unleashing genetically modified beasts upon humanity, but in contrast Vector seems like he's just trying to make ends meet, has no vendetta. He and Mikka re the most likeable members of Nick's crew, to me.She listened as if she were transfixed. What he was saying made her skin crawl.
"That computer was DA. It wasn't supposed to have the capability to do anything but scan Intertech research, looking for developments the cops might find useful. But when Orn got into the system, he learned that computer had the power--and the authority--to blank the entire company.
"You're young," he said to Morn abruptly. "You haven't been out of the Academy, or away from Earth, very long. Have you ever heard one rumor about an immunization against RNA mutation? Has anyone ever given you a reason to believe we don't need to spend the rest of our lives in terror of forbidden space? Have the cops--or the UMC--ever released our data?"
Stunned, she shook her head.
"We had the raw materials for a defense, we had all the rungs. And they took it, they suppressed it." Vector's eyes were so blue they seemed incandescent. "They don't want us to know that the way we live now isn't necessary--and it sure as hell isn't inevitable. Forbidden space is their excuse for power, their justification. If we had an immunity drug, we wouldn't need the United Mining Companies fucking Police."
He made an effort to control himself, but it didn't work. "Think about it for a while," he broke out. "At least a dozen billion human beings, all condemned to the terror and probably the fact of genetic imperialism, and for what? For nothing. Except to consolidate and extend the power of the cops. And the UMC. In the end the whole of human space is going to be one vast gulag, owned and operated by the UMC for its own benefit, with the cops for muscle."
............................................
She stayed in the galley alone for a long time. She'd just survived a bout of gap-sickness: for the first time since Starmaster sighted Bright Beauty, she'd discovered a reason for hope. nevertheless she felt none: she felt abandoned and desolate. She'd become a cop because she's wanted to dedicate herself to the causes and ideals of the UMCP; perhaps, covertly, because she'd wanted to avenge her mother. But if Vector was right--if he was telling the truth--
In that case, the UMCP had perpetrated an atrocity so colossal that it beggared her imagination; so profound that it altered the meaning of everything she'd ever valued or believed; so vile that it transformed the moral order of human space from civilization and ethics to butchery and rape, from Captain Davies Hyland to Angus Thermopyle.
Now what was she supposed to hope for? That Vector was lying? If so, she would never be able to prove it. And she would never be able to eradicate what he'd told her from her brain: it would always be there, tainting her thoughts, corrupting her as surely as forbidden space. No matter how much personal integrity her father--or she herself--had possessed, he and she may have been nothing more than tools in malign hands.
Forbidden Knowledge, Chapter 6
In this chapter, I found Morn's confession to Mikka as to why she didn't seek help dealing with Orn's unwanted advances to be emotionally moving, even if she may be using faulty rationalization (it's hard for me to say if it's faulty or not).
Certainly this stopped Mikka from accusing Morn any further. She focuses on Morn's healing instead. I think I liked this exchange because it winds up being a moment of mutual respect between character, something I don't recall seeing so far--which made it refreshing, and thus satisfying."Goddamn it," Mikka chewed out, "what do you use for brains? Do you do all your thinking with your crotch? Any imbecile could have told you not to tackle Orn alone. Hell, Pup could have told you. You should have talked to Nick before things got this bad. If you'd warned him in time, we might have been able to avoid this mess."
Morn shrugged. She had no reason to justify herself to Nick's second. And yet she found that she couldn't refuse. The nature of Mikka's anger touched her. She could imagine her mother being angry in just that way, if someone had threatened Morn.
Stiffly she asked, "How many times have you been raped?"
Mikka dismissed the suggestion with an ungiving scowl. "We aren't talking about rape, we're talking about brains."
Morn wasn't deflected. "After a while," she said, "you hurt so bad that you don't want to be rescued anymore. You want to eviscerate that sonofabitch for yourself. Eventually you don't even care that you haven't got a prayer. You need to try.
"If you don't try, you end up killing yourself because you're too ashamed to live."
Forbidden Knowledge, Chapter 10
For some reason, it pleased me that in this chapter Morn is willing to open up to Mikka, to set aside deception and mistrust to finally play it straight. I've empathized with Morn Hyland because of all the extreme suffering and difficulties, but have had some difficulty respecting her because of all the lies she's told (though I can certainly understand why she'd want to keep knowledge of her zone implant hidden). There's something about Mikka's personality that made me believe she'll respect Morn leveling with her and won't betray her for it.
And I liked that when Morn asks Mikka if Nick is going to be informed of the zone implant, Mikka answers something like, if he can't tell the difference between real passion and the effects of an implant, it's his problem. Somehow I find that funny, though I doubt that I can explain why. And my respect for both Mikka and Morn gets boosted way up by this whole scene. It's hard for me to explain, but I just got a vicarious sense of relief reading this part, as if I'd just gotten something off of my own chest. I think this is yet another testament to Danaldson's superb ability to make you empathize with some of his characters, even the ones with unknown motives or ambiguous loyalties. Anyway, this book made me glad to have continued on with the series.Deliberately setting aside her defenses, Mikka said, "I need to understand you. Otherwise I'm finished."
Morn could have responded, As soon as I explain it, I'm finished. But instinctively she knew that wasn't true: not at this moment, when Mikka had chosen to expose so much of herself. And Morn had been alone for too long: she had told too many lies, suffered too many losses. Like her visitor, she needed to set aside her defenses--if only for a minute with an honest enemy.
Without trying to second-guess the consequences, she said, "There's nothing wonderful about it. There's nothing wonderful about me. When he found out I had gap-sickness, he"--once again, her throat refused Angus' name--"the captain of Bright Beauty gave me a zone implant. That's how he made me stay with him--how he made me do what he wanted. But he knew that if Com-Mine Security found the control on him, they would execute him. So at the last minute he offered it to me.
"I took it. I traded his life for it."
Mikka was stunned. She dropped her arms, and her mouth fell open; her eyes went out of focus as if she were staring at the implications of Morn's revelation. Shock registered on her face, along with what looked like a flare of dismayed compassion. She stood up as if she were suddenly in a hurry to leave the cabin. Just as suddenly she sat down again and refolded her arms.
Just read them all, now! 
