| From: | shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk (Paul J. Adam) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Private Musings |
| Date: | Wed, 01 May 1996 23:18:23 GMT |
>>>>>[+++++begin recording
<high levels of white noise in background>
It can only be the Doctor. I should have guessed: the manipulator, the
controller, the man who changed his loyalties from Tir Taingire to Aztlan in an
instant. Even my mail is being monitored, intercepted, replied to without my
knowlege now, and it is happening here on the island: only Winterleaves or
Chicarra could do so without my knowlege, and Chicarra is a pragmatist who
would reject this foolish plot.
Could I involve IS? No. Chicarra is too honest and too direct, and does not
understand the Doctor's motivation. Winterleaf would control him magically, or
kill him - and, probably, blame it on me. I stand alone here.
Damn Jose and his maniac patriotism! He is so easily led! Wave our country's
flag and Zicahuata would follow. Tell him his mother was an enemy of the state
and he would kill her himself.
Now he is beyond my control. Manchu is almost certainly doomed. My country
risks catastrophe if Jose has failed to ensure his Leopards are entirely
deniable. What should have been a simple mission has become TARFU, to coin a
Lynchism: I have no control of the situation, yet I am responsible for it.
Should I confront the Doctor?...Hah. No. I would merely become one of his
"experimental subjects". He has too many sponsors, too many allies in high
places. What, after all, _is_ his involvement? He was from the Tir, but what do
we know of him? Why did he flee, and why did a pair of Thorns come after him to
kill him? And why is a magician involved on a software project?
All these questions I should have asked before. Now it is too late.
What would Lynch do in my place? Another foolish question. A warrior like Lynch
would fight his way out, but I am no warrior. Jose would attack, lashing out at
his enemies, sure in the knowlege that he was a servant of the State and could
do no wrong: but Lynch's .357s blew that conceit out of my body. An honourable
man would end his life, opening his veins or shooting himself, but I am too
much of a coward: I love life too much to end it by choice, never to sit here
on the rocks and see the sun set into a Pacific storm again.
After all, though, do I have a choice? When Lynch attacks Clipperton, I will
probably die: either at his hands, or executed for my failure.
I can send Chicarra and a few other good men to the mainland, and bring out
replacements who the State will not miss. I can send backups of the Manchu
data with them - hence Chicarra and his best men must guard them - so they
will not be lost when Lynch strikes. I will salvage what I can for my country.
I can do no more.
+++++end recording]<<<<<
-- Pedro Tepanohoutec <23:35:35/05-01-57>
