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gwillybj
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Eurytion Mining Colony: 165°C dayside, 165°F nightside
Mar 2001
time: 00:13
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quote:
Originally posted by cpoulos on 04-24-2001 12:53 AM
... Sister Miriam is to much of a religious nut for me to deal with, as women like that have to many issues. 
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I hope no-one is upset by the length of this, but here goes:
If anyone has read Michael Ely's Journey to Centauri, which is posted at http://www.alphacentauri.com there are some things there that might add some perspective to the characters, shedding some light on their attitudes (and reasons for them), and might even cause some re-thinking of which of the women might be more desirable. I choose not divulge my preference .
Deirdre Skye is very focused on her gardening, to the extent that it distracts her from pretty much everything else.
Corazon Santiago is equally as focused on trying to prove her military genius.
The one who is being given no break is Miriam Godwinson. Yes, she is intensely religious, admittedly fanatical, but Journey to Centauri: Episode 21, part 2 exposes a somewhat tender side:
quote:
After an initial exchange between Miriam and Zakharov (still called Saratov at this point in the story) about their philosphies and their value to the mission, the conversation continues:
“Lithium,” Saratov said, and grinned like a death’s head. “I could put chemicals into you that would turn your heart bitter, and destroy your faith.”
“No you couldn’t.” Her eyes were calm, defiant.
“It is a proven fact. It is scientifically valid. You can not deny it.”
This time she did not speak, but held his eyes with hers, and he became aware again of the metal cup clenched in his hands. He finally spoke again, in a near whisper. “You can not measure faith. You are atoms, and nothing more. That your configuration of atoms believes in something it calls God means nothing. Your kind, you crusaders, have set back humanity a thousand years or more.”
She suddenly reached up and grabbed his hands, holding them tightly. He felt the warmth in them, and he felt the tremble in his own hands, and knew she could feel it as well. She closed her eyes.
“Your atoms betray you,” she said softly, and then released him. “Every struggle you undertake is for a purpose you can not define. Put your own faith in science, because it feels safe. Rescue the ship, because you consider it a grand experiment. Live or die, it changes nothing. God is waiting for you as well as me.”
“Enough,” hissed Saratov, and slammed his metal cup down on the counter. “I have no time for this. Pray or don’t pray, the ship will be fixed. And you will thank me for it, Psych Chaplain.” He turned and left the room. Miriam watched him go, calm, and then her eyes flickered to the ceiling’s white expanse.
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I think beneath that hard fundamentalist shell, there exists a warm, tender heart in search of a companion, a soul-mate. Her anger is understandable. It is really more of an indignant frustration.
As the Unity begins to break up, Miriam finds herself shunned by one part of the crew and hunted by another (Episode 34, Part 2). She only barely escapes into a Landing Pod before Captain Garland manages to blow the explosive bolts holding them to the ship (Episode 34, Parts 4 and 7):
quote:
[/b]Journey to Centauri: Episode 35, part 7:[/b]
Miriam Godwinson found herself in a storage room, the lights glimmering softly. She slammed shut the hatch behind her, closing off the fighting.
Now, where am I...
She called up a diagram. She was near the connector between two bays, but the hatch to the next tunnel had been sealed. Why?
The Dead Bay. The bay that had been ruptured when the ship was damaged, locked off from the rest of the ship, and now further damaged by the strain on the Unity.
So she was trapped, no way forward, and death behind. Still, she knew something had brought her here, some force or power, leading her home.
Home? To Heaven?
She thought of the outside, the radiant light of the suns shining down across the Unity’s hull. In a world where everything is relative, God must orient to the light, as one of her pastors had taught her back on Earth.
And the light is outside.
She climbed into a pressure suit and moved into an airlock, where she opened a small observation panel to look out over the bright surface of the ship.
Her eyes widened. The ship here was no more than a landscape of twisted metal, a blasted terrain where the damage had been absolute. It felt like Earth again, the beginning of the apocalypse, burnt death everywhere.
The light shined down across it all, setting the landscape in high relief. She could see the ruined Bay, from which no signs of life had emerged.
But... wait.
In the very back, in a small shaft, she could see a tiny panel. And from there... a flicker of light. She watched as it flickered again. Some kind of vibration, moving the glass?
No. A realization filled her, rising through her from toe to spine. An SOS... Someone was alive down there. When the cryocells opened... There must be people, trapped in the back of the Landing Pod, probably poisoned with radiation, some sick and blind.
Needing a shepherd.
Her eyes widened with the glory of it, of God watching and guiding her, giving her the tools she needed on the new world.
She opened the airlock and prepared to walk the outer surface of the ship, through the twisted landscape, not fearing death.
Ready to be embraced by her people.
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Sheds some light on Miriam's attitude toward the other six faction leaders.
Interesting stuff. Recommended reading, along with Arrival, also posted there.
Edit: formatting (surprised?  )
[This message has been edited by gwillybj (edited April 26, 2001).]
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Hundred Waters
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Canada
Jan 2001
time: 05:13
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Sinder Roze, Definitely, hands down, no contest.
Give me brainy and subversive over flaky granola types any day.
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26-04-2001 09:48
what do you mean 108 posts? It's only 60-something 
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