Well, when Alex was walking to the bridge, he said he noticed that the Loroi tended to avoid contact with each other.crumjd wrote:It wouldn't be surprising if the Lori don't use an American style personal space. Most *human* cultures stand closer together and touch each other more frequently then Americans. Though not all, in some cultures people stand further apart and touch each other less.
If it's prominent to be noticeable over the course of a long-ish walk, I think it's really noticeable. Alex being Californian, I believe this means the Loroi have a sense of personal space that significantly exceeds that of the American.
Well, at least the Americans of 2160.
The 51st may not have been on a diplomatic mission, but I think Tempo remains the chief diplomatic officer for the mission, if that makes sense. Doubtless her workload was expected to be lower than it has proven, but Stillstorm's authority over Alex really didn't seem greater than Tempo's to me, despite Stills' captaincy. If you are correct that placing Alex in the brig is indeed the "only logical option" for the Tempest and the situation that it was in, then it would be the only logical option for Tempo to take, just as much as it would be the only logical option for Stillstorm, so the matter of who actually gave the order becomes moot as the decision itself would be inevitable.Suederwind wrote: I do not think that Tempo was responsible for Alex. The 51st is not on a diplomatic mission and I think they did not expect someone or something like Alex to show up. That region of Space is burnend and lifeless except for the enemy. Its more likely that Stillstorm was in charge of him and she choose the only logical option in this situation: throw this "human" in the brig and examine it later. If its dangerous for Tempest: throw it out of an airlock or cut it open. If not, well lets find out...
However, if Stillstorm took such an option because it was "the only logical option," then that is still of vastly different timbre from "probably just because she can."
Regardless, I would think the Mizol's authority can exceed that of the fleet captain in matters that do not pertain to commanding the ship in combat but do pertain to Mizol caste functions, and thus the Mizol may be responsible for a number of things pertaining to Alex which the captain may lack the authority to countermand.
I also think that Stillstorm is brazen and headstrong and vicious enough to attempt to countermand such Mizol authority anyways, and has won enough esteem and trust from her crew to possibly even pull something off, but that she would do so in more open and violent ways than just locking him up alone.
I think that if Stillstorm ordered Alex quarantined and Tempo wanted to debrief him in more detail than she had during their brief conversation on the bridge, then Tempo would have both the right and the ability to do so. However, no such in-depth interrogation/debriefing/conversation occurred. I actually find that somewhat suspicious; Stillstorm may believe words to be lies and think that there is nothing of value to be gained from verbal interrogation, but I doubt that she would see any harm in having the Mizol conduct such a debriefing.
My understanding is that diplomacy is, to a large extent, psychological warfare, and I think it would be especially focused on that aspect amongst a species who have delegated the task to their most proficient mind-readers.osmium wrote: I don't think the Loroi are making any assumptions about human psychology. As physically similar as the two species are, mentally (if only by psi) and socially they are clearly very different. I highly doubt given that he's a diplomat that may one day rejoin his people they would risk psychological warfare (unless of course treating him as a diplomat is only a cover... kinda twilight zone esc that twist). Also they don't know what might work and what might not, probably better and safer to play it safe. My bet is it's because they're basically on high alert, don't really have diplomat's quarters and know the Loroi probably won't mix too well with a creature that constantly talks (which is basically a huge insult... I guess sorta like running around arabic countries slapping people with the sole of your shoe, or eating from communal food with the left hand in countries without TP [did I blow your mind there?]).
Tempo was, I think, already playing psychological games with Alex since the moment he stepped on the bridge. Our new friend crumjd has said that he believes that Tempo was getting so close to Alex as part of an attempt to probe his mind; I believe that she was doing so with more than telepathy. The postures and attitudes that she adopts over the course of that conversation seem to me to be an attempt at probing his responses and testing his reactions, seeing if he would respond to aggressive body language and tone with aggressive or anxious or fearful or whatever body language and tone, or if he would just disregard it altogether. Seeing if he had emotional responses analogous to Loroi or known non-Loroi species, to the greatest extent that she could even without a telepathic connection.
Telepathy is likely the most important tool in the Mizol's emotional manipulation toolkit, sure, but I doubt it would be the only one; what we have seen of Tempo's work so far took place over long distance communications devices and with an artificial intelligence, circumstances where telepathy would mean nothing but the ability to understand even non-Loroi body language and tone without telepathic aid would be of essence.
So even though there was no sanzai or mind reading or any other form of telepathic contact between the two, I think that more than words were exchanged between Alex and Tempo, and perhaps Tempo was able to get a better measure of him than you might expect.
So, basically, I think that treating him as a diplomat is not a cover, but that his ambassadorial position in no way means that they are not going to play mind games with him.
More the opposite, really.
You are right to point out that they do not have many of the amenities and resources of a diplomatic mission, but they do have at least one; an on-duty diplomatic officer. They chose not to use this resource to deal with Alex for the entire time between his exit from the bridge to the current scene. They must surely have considered debriefing him in more detail than what little they were able to gather during their rushed and awkwardly interrupted conversation in the command chamber; the fact that they didn't talk to him at all was a deliberate choice, not an accident of circumstances. I am sure that it was a rational decision and not an emotional and petty one, but it remains their choice.
You spoke of a desire to "play it safe." Frankly, none of the individuals involved in this part of the story have demonstrated a tendancy to play anything safe so far as I can tell. Alex got his spot on the Bellarmine specifically because he was not the sort of person to play things safe. Tempo was certainly not playing things safe when she chose to invite Alex on the bridge and took him at his word. Fireblade telekinetically tossed Alex into a wall in the elevator. Beryl stood up to her captain and seemed to be vehemently arguing against her during the initial interrogation scene, which, I believe, indicates that when she says "there was nothing I could do about it" on the current page, we can take that to mean that it was not for lack of trying. She might be a cute observer rather than a fierce warrior, but I think the girl's got some real iron in her. Stillstorm? Stillstorm may no longer know what a phrase like "play it safe" would even mean. The Barsam and Historian emissaries argued that the Loroi should play it safe with their salvage, but I get the sense that Mozin at least was playing a dangerous game of his own in trying to get the human aboard his ship ("The Barsam are trusted allies, but they have their own agenda and will not hesitate to use you for their own gain," as Tempo said), and who knows what goes on in the Historian AI's computer brain. In fact, the only character we've seen in the entire comic who is known to be the sort to "play it safe" when riskier options with decent potential rewards are available is actually considered extraordinary and highly eccentric for this proclivity; his name is Kikitik-27-Tikkak-Tikkukit, code-named "The Stray" by Loroi intelligence.
I do not think that this is a comic in which the parties involved will generally "play it safe."
I think that preferring to take risks, sometimes even massive, massive risks, is how most of these players roll.
I think that Tempo has already bet the farm on being able to take Alex's measure, and had done so the moment she made a deal with him on the Tempest's bridge.
Stillstorm and Tempo seem like natural gamblers to me, and they've clearly taken opposite bets on the "can we trust the pink thing" pool. How they go about cashing in on such a bet would, I think, massively differ between parties; I think that Stillstorm would go for direct confrontation if at all possible and would immensely, massively prefer circumstances that make direct confrontation possible; locking Alex away diminishes that, in my view. On the other hand I think Tempo would prefer the art of manipulation (admittedly I believe this based upon her profession rather than any revelation or insight regarding her personality).
Well, as I said above I don't think Stillstorm would necessarily have the authority or, if it came down to it, the means to keep Tempo from having a nice long chat with Alex about Earth's location if that's what Tempo decided to do. So at the very least, unlike Beryl I think there was likely something Tempo could have done, but chose not to do.fredgiblet wrote: You make a compelling argument, however I think you've overlooked something. I wholeheartedly agree that Stillstorm doesn't seem like the type who'd be fine just leaving Alex in the brig, however he is a recognized diplomat, which means that that's probably just about the best she can do. As far as letting him roam free and then gutting him when he's out of view she would need to do that personally and when they were alone as it's unlikely that anyone else would do it for her (court-martial ahoy!) and it's unlikely that anyone else would let her do it if they saw her. Even if there are other Loroi who seriously dislike Alex I have to imagine that it's very easy for Loroi detectives to pry information out of people, and it's probably very difficult to get away with crimes in general for the Loroi. Something as serious as the murder of a precursor species diplomat would probably bring the full weight of the Loroi government down on the Tempest for an investigation, and I think Stillstorm's smart enough to not get herself shortened over a personal dislike of someone.
However there's no reason it couldn't be both, and, as I said, you make a compelling argument for why Tempo would want him locked up as well, and given my own position I can't see Stillstorm disagreeing with the decision.
(I also think that Tempo is very, very likely to lie about this if Alex brings the subject up and also to have ordered Beryl to at least avoid revealing excessive truths in this matter).
But as long as we've at least moved from "just because she can" to "because of actual reasons" I'm happy.