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lurkers-guide



								<p>

								<strong>Written by Jim Mortimore</strong><br>

								Release date: January 10, 1996<br>

								ISBN: 0-440-22229-X<br>

								ISBN: 0-7522-0153-0<br>

								Setting: Late 2259, between

								<a href="/lurk/guide/043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor"</a>

								and

								<a href="/lurk/guide/044.html">"The Fall of Night"</a>


								<br clear>


								<blockquote><cite>

								Sheridan is torn between duty and defiance when he's ordered to execute

								an innocent alien.

								</cite>

								</blockquote>


								<p>

								Reader reviews, and online ordering, can be found at

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/044022229X/thelurkersguidet">Amazon.com</a>.


								<p>

								<hr>


								<h2><a name="BC">Back Cover</a></h2>


								<h3 align=center>Death Before Dishonor</h3>


								The Tuchanq, a newly discovered humanoid species, can be an

								important ally for the Earth Alliance commanded by President

								Clark.  So Captain John Sheridan welcomes their ambassadors

								to Babylon 5, not knowing that among them is D'Arc - a mass

								murderer on the run hoping to escape into the unsuspecting

								worlds of the galaxy....


								<h3 align=center>Clark's Law</h3>


								But the unforgiving rules of space have a different fate in store

								for D'Arc.  A terrifying accident wipes away D'Arc's identity and

								his evil... leaving behind a loving, innocent being with a child's

								mind - a being that must die because President Clark, a leader

								with his own secret agenda, orders his immediate execution.

								Now, as Babylon 5 physician Dr. Stephen Franklin begs Sheridan

								to defy Clark's law, the captain faces the greatest test of his

								command - and a far greater test of his manhood, which may

								end his career in shame or become a shining reminder of what

								being human truly means....


								<H2><A NAME="SY">Synopsis</A></H2>


								<H3>Prologue: Lies</H3>

								<P>

								"Earth: First Lie": Opening in November of 2242, we see the Captain of

								the

								Earth vessel which fired on the Minbari lie to the president and then

								Vice

								President Santiago about who

								fired first.  Captain Ferdinand claims it is the Minbari who fired first.

								</P>


								<P>

								"Earth: Second Lie": The scene opens on now President Clark in October of

								2258 (See <A HREF="#NO">Notes</A>.)  Clark has been plotting to reinstate

								the death penalty to regain popularity among humans by maintaining

								control

								and re-initiating capital punishment.  Clark's internal thoughts also

								turn to

								the problems with Earth's colonies without which Earth could not survive.

								The senate is tied on the vote about re-instating capital punishment.

								Clark lies when the speaker of the senate asks if it will be equally

								applied to both humans and aliens.  Answering yes, the speaker of the

								senate agrees to pass the law.

								</P>


								<P>

								"Tuchanq: First Lie": The scene is inside a Narn battle cruiser as G'Kar

								drops Centauri plasma generators on Tuchanq.  After a few days G'Kar

								lands

								the Narn cruiser offering the Tuchanq assistance in recovering from the

								devastation caused by the "Centauri."

								</P>


								<P>

								"Tuchanq: Second Lie": October 2259, we see D'Arc of the Tuchanq killing

								the last of the Narn on Tuchanq and then boarding a Narn cruiser to head

								for Babylon 5 in search of assistance.  Tuchanq has suffered tremendous

								environmental damage from years of Narn enslavement.

								</P>


								<H3>Part One: Among Shadows (December 12, 2259, Day)</H3>

								<P>

								The story opens on Sheridan eating breakfast and trying to cope with the

								mounds of paperwork that he needs to deal with as well as his own

								discomfort in his role as commander of Babylon 5.  His mind turns the

								phrase <CITE>"If you go to Z'ha'dum you will die"</CITE> over and over

								again

								as he contemplates life.  (See In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum)

								</P>


								<P>

								Ivanova interrupts his inner turmoil in order to be briefed on the arrival

								of the Tuchanq delegation.  She remarks on the unusual fact that they are

								quadrupeds and after some jokes about the paper horizon and stations

								vanishing, he leaves her in charge of the matter.  The problem for the

								Tuchanq is that their world's ecosystem has been destroyed by the Narn

								occupation.

								</P>


								<P>

								<CITE>"The Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps"</CITE> Ivanova is still

								plagued with thoughts about her friendship with Talia and hears her

								whispered words, more than just the touch of bodies, the touch of minds.

								After shaking herself awake from her nap, she struggles to gain inner

								peace

								as the core shuttle heads towards arrivals.  The inner struggle relates

								to

								her continued denial of her telepathic abilities and the need to hide it

								to avoid the Psi Cops.

								</P>


								<P>

								Arriving in the customs area, things were already turning ugly.  The

								Tuchanq were engaged in a bizarre ritual involving leaving blood on the

								floor of the arrival area.  G'Kar had helped program a translator for

								Ivanova, but she turned out not to need it because they spoke System

								English.  The ritual then involved cutting their throats and bleeding

								because their customs require returning something to the land.

								</P>


								<P>

								Anti-alien sentiments begin to break out and Ivanova realizes the

								situation

								is quickly escalating out of control.

								Then a Narn spots a Narn skull attached to one of the Tuchanq and

								fighting

								begins in earnest.  Ivanova is finally forced to stun the delegation with

								her PPG to prevent further violence.  Unfortunately the Tuchanq do not

								sleep, at least not as humans understand the concept, and by making them

								stop singing their songs of being and journey through the stunner, they

								are

								now all dead (insane.)

								</P>


								<P>

								The scene shifts back to Sheridan's office where G'Kar is imploring

								Sheridan to get the Tuchanq off the station and to make amends for the

								sole death from the incident -- a Narn.  Sheridan refuses his request and

								G'Kar leaves in disgust.

								</P>


								<P>

								D'Arc awakens surround by Medlab personnel and quickly realizes that her

								Song of Being is

								broken.  She attacks one of the Medlab people with a knife which she

								withdraws from some sort of body pouch and flees with her Song of Journey

								running strong.  In order to be whole again, she would need to steal a

								new

								Song of Being from someone else.

								</P>


								<P>

								Londo Mollari meanwhile begins trying to jockey for a chance to meet with

								the Tuchanq.  His conscience is still wracked with images of the

								bombardment of the Narn homeworld and their destruction of their

								civilization.

								Mollari meets up with Garibaldi who explains that the Tuchanq are

								"killing" each other to cure the insanity.  Once the remaining sane

								Tuchanq

								break the Song of Journey they will be pronounced dead and be reborn with

								new Songs of Being and Journey.  nu'Viel (their leader/mother) explains

								to

								Ivanova the urgency of catching D'Arc to which Ivanova points out the

								size

								of the station and their limited resources.

								</P>


								<P>

								Brian Grond would become D'Arc's target.  He would not realize this yet,

								but his taste for perverse (See <A HREF="#NO">Notes</A>)

								sexual activities with aliens along

								with his need to record them would be his downfall.  Grond was hoping to

								have an especially interesting encounter with Belladona with whom he had

								already had several encounters.  Down Below he went to where he expected

								to

								find Belladona but she was not there.  Then his eyes met those of D'Arc.

								He makes an offer to give her cash if she will take him to Belladona.

								D'Arc expresses her desire to murder him with a confusing discussion of

								the

								need to take his Song of Being, Grond merely replies yes and he heads off

								towards his death.

								</P>


								<P>

								The PPG he is carrying does not save him when in the middle of a cargo

								hold

								D'Arc pulls the knife from her pouch and kills him taking his Song of

								Being.  In the process, a cargo loader impacts a crane in the cargo area

								leading to the possibility of the crane impacting the station's structure

								and causing a rupture.

								</P>


								<P>

								Franklin and other Medlab personnel head out to rescue the trapped crane

								operator.  He goes out suited up because the area has become

								depressurized.  Further he will have to amputate the crane operator's leg

								inside the suit.  The timing is close to the wire and the crane does in

								fact impact the station but Franklin and the crane operator survive,

								barely.

								</P>


								<P>

								Lyta Alexander appears briefly as we see her thoughts turning to the need

								to stay out of site and her desire to be able to visit the Vorlon

								homeworld.  Garibaldi interrupts her reverie and asks for a telepathic

								favor

								involving Tuchanq.  In a moment that recalls Lyta's first role in the

								pilot, she enters the Isolab to scan Tuchanq. Lyta explains that D'Arc is

								like a newborn child with <EM>no memory</EM> at any level of the events

								that resulted in Grond's death.

								As Lyta leaves Medlab she starts to hear the song, Kosh's song and

								realizes

								that nothing separates her from the Vorlons except some empty space --

								and

								she does know how to deal with that.

								</P>


								<P>

								This section of the book ends with a Gold Channel transmission from Earth

								ordering

								Sheridan to hold D'Arc for the death penalty.

								</P>


								<H3>Part Two: Hunting Shadows (December 12, 2259, Night)</H3>


								<P>

								This section opens on Jacintha Grond's arrival at Babylon 5 customs. (See

								<A

								HREF="#NO">Notes</A>).  She is surprised to be greeted by the ubiquitous

								press, specifically Debora Devereau of Channel 57 News. (See <A

								HREF="#NO">Notes</A>).  Grond is bombarded with a barrage of questions

								about how she feels on a variety of issues -- "What will you do if they

								won't release his body?".  A security officer finally takes her hand and

								leads her away from the media frenzy.

								</P>


								<P>

								Mollari meanwhile is scheming to provide assistance to the Tuchanq.  With

								the help of Vir he manages to arrange a meeting with nu'Viel and her

								chorus.  Exploiting their hatred of the Narn, Mollari is able to extend a

								credible offer of assistance.

								</P>


								<P>

								Sheridan gets a chance to meet with Jacintha Grond who is rather confused

								and upset at this point.  He explains to her that he can not release the

								body because it is needed for evidence and that she will have to

								basically

								deal with the situation.  She explains that she intends to be on a return

								shuttle in 16 hours.  Grond also takes her anger out on Sheridan

								explaining that she holds him personally responsible for the situation.

								Sheridan's inner frustration and turmoil is evident but he merely invites

								her to remain on the station and explains he will do the best he can.

								</P>


								<P>

								Franklin's overuse of stims is starting to have a noticeable effect.  His

								first chance of sleep is interrupted by the arrival of the executioner.

								The

								executioner wants to use the life giver machine,

								<A HREF="/lurk/guide/021.html">Quality of Mercy</A> to perform the

								execution and demands it from Franklin.  Franklin resists and the

								executioner summons Garibaldi who seems to have been waiting for this

								eventuality.  Garibaldi recommends that Franklin comply by providing some

								bits and pieces to fool the executioner in the meanwhile.

								</P>


								<P>

								Sheridan approaches Delenn in search of assistance and guidance.  He is

								disappointed to realize that Delenn has already been approached by Earth

								Gov and has reluctantly agreed not to interfere.  The reason she explains

								has to do with her post-chrysalis state and the likelihood that the Grey

								Council would overrule her.

								</P>


								<P>

								On a core shuttle, G'Kar is attacked by Tuchanqs.  G'Kar survives with

								only minor injuries and a closer examination reveals that someone has

								equipped humans with changeling nets to make them look like Tuchanqs.

								</P>


								<P>

								Garibaldi was already plenty busy, he had found the executioner bludgeoned

								to death in the Mosque where he had gone to pray while Franklin produced

								the life-giver machine.  A decision is made to pay n'Grath a visit to

								find

								out where the changeling nets came from.

								</P>


								<P>

								Garibaldi has his teams scan red sector so that he can learn where n'Grath

								is to meet him.  He stops in on Ivanova and they end up fighting about

								the

								upcoming execution.  Ivanova fairly clearly against and Garibaldi somewhat

								indifferent to pro-execution.  Their attempts to communicate are

								interrupted

								by Garibaldi's comm indicating that n'Grath has been located.

								</P>


								<P>

								G'Kar and Vir encounter each other again and Vir is clearly still trying

								to

								figure out how to help G'Kar and the Narns.  There last meeting had been

								several months back and had not gone well.  G'Kar asks Vir whether or not

								Mollari had him attacked and G'Kar

								nonetheless hounds him further and leaves Vir feeling very uncomfortable.


								Vir of course is aware that Mollari did in fact plot the attack. (See <A

								HREF="#NO">Notes</A>.)

								</P>


								<P>

								Vir goes and tells Londo about his meeting with G'Kar and accuses Londo

								directly.  Mollari refuses to answer the question, and provides no useful

								information about whether or not he had G'Kar attacked.

								</P>


								<P>

								Garibaldi arrives in Red Sector too late to for n'Grath.  The creature is

								bleeding and he calls for an emergency team to assist the alien.  n'Grath

								refuses to divulge information providing only a name "Askari" and an

								admission that he did sell the nets.  Garibaldi turns and catches the

								motion of a gun; instead he gets a blast in his face of a PPG.  The

								faceplate of his suit ruptured.

								</P>


								<P>

								G'Kar decides that he will handle Askari, a Centauri himself.

								Approaching

								Askari he grabs him and demands to know who hired him.  Askari admits it

								was Mollari.  G'Kar then leaves him for dead from the dagger wound.

								</P>


								<P>

								Violence begins to erupt on the station as protesters for and primarily

								against the execution begin to start filling common areas.  Grond is

								starting to have a crisis about what to do and resolves to go see D'Arc.

								</P>


								<P>

								G'Kar comes in and attacks Mollari with his dagger.  He leaves Mollari

								for dead with the dagger in his back.  Vir arrives and removes the dagger

								and conceals it before summoning Medlab.  G'Kar leaves with the intention

								of committing suicide.

								</P>


								<P>

								In Medlab, Garibaldi comes around and then Kosh shows up and

								enigmatically

								mentions that "Obligation is a hangman's noose.".  Meanwhile Ivanova

								brings nu'Viel to Sheridan to help lodge a protest against the death

								penalty being applied to D'Arc.  As they are talking a gold channel

								transmission puts Sheridan in charge of everything -- trial and

								execution.  After the transmission, nu'Viel decides that perhaps the

								Centauri a better choice to pursue aid from.

								</P>


								<H3>Part Three: Becoming Shadows (December 13, 2259, Day)</H3>


								<P>

								Jacintha Grond heads to security to visit D'Arc.  She sees that D'Arc is

								clearly suffering from brain damage based on the erratic behavior D'Arc

								is

								demonstrating in the holding cell.  Jacintha then decided to rent a room

								for the night and stay for a bit.

								</P>


								<P>

								Vir continues to hide the dagger from security as Londo suffers in

								Medlab.  Franklin has to put Mollari in cryo-stasis since without

								assistance of donor organs it will be impossible to save him.  The idea

								of using

								the life-giver device comes up and Vir promises to try and seek

								volunteers.  He discovers that none will assist Londo, they are all

								afraid

								of him.  And Centauri Prime already has a replacement ambassador on the

								way.

								Vir also attempts to enlist the help of the Minbari who will not assist

								because of religious beliefs concerning diminishment of the soul.  (Cf.

								<A HREF="/lurk/guide/002.html">Soul Hunter</A>.) Vir also thinks of

								asking

								Kosh after he bumps into him, but decides against it after getting a

								sense

								of someone walking over his grave when talking.

								</P>


								<P>

								Sheridan will not agree to Franklin's request to order people to donate

								life energy but agrees to assist in broadcasting a request for assistance

								on the station network.

								</P>


								<P>

								G'Kar was still alive because without his dagger he could not perform

								suicide.  Sheridan visits G'Kar and G'Kar shows him a different dagger

								thus "tricking" Sheridan into thinking he didn't do it.  Vir returns the

								dagger to G'Kar later saying, "I said I was sorry."

								</P>


								<P>

								Garibaldi starts getting the sense of the violence that is going to break

								out on the station on his way through the station that day.  Protesters

								are all around with signs pleading to save the alien.  Garibaldi true to

								form uses his fists to break up a fight and is caught in the act on

								camera

								by Devereau from Channel 57.  Morden happens to be on hand and gets

								interviewed as the guy on the street.  He says, "I suppose that all life

								is important in some way." Then as if nodding to himself, he continues,

								"Yes.  That's what I believe.  Life is important.  If you know what to do

								with it."

								</P>


								<P>

								Morden then continues to talk with Garibaldi and asks him about assisting

								in saving Mollari.  Garibaldi rebuffs the suggestion pointing out he

								would

								die.  Morden remains silent.  Morden then shrugs and says "Then I'll

								consider the debt yet to be repaid." Smiling, he says, "Join me on the

								monorail?" Garibaldi is interrupted by Sheridan on the comm link and takes

								his leave of Morden.

								</P>


								<P>

								The court chamber.  Grond is looking on as the trial commences. Sheridan

								takes his place as judge; there will be no jury.  nu'Viel is used as a

								witness for the prosecution to explain that D'Arc had murdered before.

								Sheridan responded to prosecution demands that nu'Viel restrict her

								answers

								to the questions, cutting her off regularly. (See <A

								HREF="#NO">Notes</A>.)  On cross-examination, the defense tries to bring

								out the issues about D'Arc's psychosis, which seems to fall on deaf ears.

								The defense calls Dr. Franklin to the stand for direct who explains about

								the brain damage and her child like state. (See <A HREF="no">Notes</A>.)

								Sheridan recesses and on return finds D'Arc guilty on murder.  As if on

								cue,

								chaos breaks out in the courtroom.  Grond even agrees saying on TV that

								she feels justice is not served.

								</P>


								<P>

								In Medlab, Sheridan tries to get Franklin to agree to sedate D'Arc.  He

								balks and Sheridan begins to administer the hypo and Franklin agrees to

								do

								it only to prevent Sheridan from killing her by giving the hypo.

								</P>


								<P>

								Garibaldi notices Morden leaving Medlab and that he has used the

								life-giver without the assistance of any others to save Londo.  Garibaldi

								also realizes that the Shadows had a hand since otherwise Morden would be

								dead.

								</P>


								<P>

								G'Kar can't bring himself to go through with the suicide because of his

								fear of what the future holds.  He leaves his quarters to go out and

								shape

								the future.

								</P>


								<P>

								Jacintha Grond goes to find her husband and sees he is missing.  The

								station is descending into further chaos as the preparations for the

								execution procession commence.  The execution will be in an airlock.

								Devereau grills Sheridan why such barbarism is being used to execute

								D'Arc

								and why there are crowds, etc.  Then G'Kar

								arrived to beg forgiveness from nu'Viel.  She grants him forgiveness.

								Then,

								all hell breaks loose.

								</P>


								<P>

								Even Devereau had never seen violence like this.  She managed to don a

								gas

								mask to aid herself.  After enough of the violent protesters were downed

								with gas, the procession proceeded towards an airlock.  Franklin makes one

								last attempt to block the airlock with his body.  Delenn offers a very

								insightful comment stating:


								<BLOCKQUOTE><CITE>

								This event has left in my mind an

								extraordinary feeling of terror and shame.  It seems to me I have been

								witness to -- and indeed, party to -- an act of ... of shameful violence

								perpetrated by intelligent beings [glance to Sheridan] against one of

								their

								fellows.  No matter what anyone might say, violence will never prevent

								violence.

								</CITE></BLOCKQUOTE>


								</P>


								<P>

								After the death, a gold channel message comes in while they are all near

								the airlock.  Sheridan allows it to be played there.  No clemency from

								the

								Senate, either way it was too late.

								</P>


								<P>

								257 Wounded. 53 Deaths, including a miscarried pregnancy.

								</P>


								<P>

								Clark calls Sheridan to thank him.  Sheridan is feeling sick on the

								inside.

								</P>


								<P>

								Ivanova helps the Tuchanq delegation head off the station.  The Tuchanq

								have accepted the Centauri offer.

								</P>


								<P>

								Franklin and Garibaldi arrive together.  Franklin is stating he wants to

								lodge a complaint.  Sheridan deters him by explaining that Garibaldi and

								he had swapped the bodies, D'Arc is safe and actually Brian Grond who was

								already dead -- wearing a changeling net -- was executed.

								</P>


								<P>

								The book ends with some words from Kosh.  Kosh looks at him quietly.

								Like

								a mirror.  Fear is a mirror.  Sheridan speaks, "I understand now.

								Because

								I was scared I became devious.  I took advantage of people and events to

								accomplish my own ends... ...my fear has enabled me to understand myself

								more clearly."  Finally, Kosh said, "You are the light, yet the hope of

								all

								darkness."  Pause.  "You are touched by Shadows."  Then Kosh leaves.  The

								book ends with Sheridan realizing in a moment of truth

								that his life would end as it had begun with awe and wonder, pain and

								terror.  And Shadows, always with Shadows.

								</P>


								<H3>Epilogue: Truth</H3>


								<P>"Earth: The First Truth": We see Clark contemplating the future in the

								Senate Chamber in late December 2259.  He realizes that the actions he

								takes today will cause him not only to be remembered by the future but to

								define it.  A quote next to the page explains how EarthGov has subpoenaed

								the footage from the execution to avoid scandal.  Devereau (the anchor)

								also

								mentions that the death penalty has now been repealed to avoid scandal.

								</P>


								<P>"Tuchanq: The Second Truth": nu'Viel stands surveying the planet now

								that Tuchanq is being "aided" by the Centauri.  She realizes that in

								reality the Tuchanq song now belongs to the Shadows.

								</P>


								<P>"The Rim: The Final Truth":  Captain Varese finds his ship under

								assault by screaming ships.  As he dies, he has a peculiar sense of deja

								vu

								about his final words, "They fired first."

								</P>


								The book ends:

								2259:

								<BLOCKQUOTE>

								<CITE>It was Christmas Eve, 2259: the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind.

								The Shadows were coming.</CITE>

								</BLOCKQUOTE>

								</P>


								<H2><A NAME="UQ">Unanswered Questions</A></H2>

								<UL>


								<LI>

								What's the deal with singing and songs?  The issue has been brought

								up several times in relation to the Vorlons and now with the Tuchanq.

								What relation is there if any to the way the machine on Epsilon 3

								functions especially given some of the descriptions in this book about

								how

								the songs serve as a connection to the land (place)?

								</LI>


								<LI>

								Is Kosh's comment to the recovering Garibaldi prophetic in terms of

								predicting the run in with Morden or meant to be prophetic in the longer

								term?

								</LI>


								<LI>

								Are we to assume that Morden was prompted by the shadows when giving his

								speech to Devereau?  And if so, how are we to take it in terms of what

								the

								future would hold should the Shadows gain ground?

								</LI>


								<LI>

								What is Kosh up to with Sheridan?  As the ending dialog suggests,

								whatever

								is going on is a lot more complicated than simply teaching Sheridan.

								Perhaps there is a special role for Sheridan much like Sinclair had a

								special role for the Minbari and Humans.

								</LI>


								</UL>


								<H2><A NAME="AN">Analysis</A></H2>


								<UL>

								<LI> The parallels between what the Narn did to the Tuchanq and what the

								Centauri did to the Narn are extremely striking.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								This particular novel fits with the overall storyline much tighter than

								others.  The insights we gain on the fragile hold of Clark on power as

								well

								as his willingness to use deception and trickery to gain popularity are

								telling about other story arc elements such as the Night Watch.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								Things are moving quickly.  This corresponds with the increased pace of

								the

								show, Earth, Babylon 5, and the universe are getting ready for a big

								explosion.

								</LI>


								</UL>

								<H2><A NAME="NO">Notes</A></H2>


								<UL>

								<LI> The second lie portion of the prologue should probably be dated

								October of 2259 not 2258.  This is an editing error in all likelihood.

								The reason it is an error is that Clark did not become president until

								the

								very end of Season 1, which took all of 2258 and further a death penalty

								law would not go a full year without a test.  Also the Tuchanq second lie

								is, we presume, supposed to occur shortly after the re-enactment of the

								death penalty.

								</LI>


								<LI> This book has extremely detailed albeit sometimes apparently

								inaccurate descriptions of the station -- Ivanova's quarters -- but it

								does give a nice sense of the station.

								</LI>


								<LI> Another editing error seems to involve the captain's name in the

								prologue and the epilogue both should presumably be the same since

								presumably the deja vu has do with previously having said "They fired

								first."

								</LI>


								<LI> It is surprising that G'Kar and perhaps Narns in general have such

								difficulty grasping human subtlety.  Contrast this with the generally

								broader understanding demonstrated by the Minbari and Vorlons at reading

								between the lines, etc.  This may have more to do with experience and

								knowledge due to general species age than anything else.  Alternatively

								it

								can be indicative of why the Narn (and Centauri) are dying species.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								It is interesting to note that there seem to be taboos against

								miscegenation

								with alien races much like we had enforced by law in the United States

								and

								still now by prejudice in some areas. [See: bans on interracial marriages

								unconstitutional, <CITE>Loving v Virginia</CITE> (U.S. Supreme Court

								1967) and

								compare with the 1984 custody case involving Mrs. Palmore's daughter

								which

								reached the Supreme Court because of Mrs. Palmore's subsequent

								interracial marriage. <CITE>Palmore v. Sidoti</CITE>, (U.S. Supreme Court

								1984)].

								</LI>


								<LI>

								Lyta's appearance is extremely well done and helps tie together her

								appearance in relation to Talia and then her later appearance back on the

								station after visiting the Vorlons.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								Timing of the sections seems to be slightly problematic since it seems a

								bit unlikely that Jacintha Grond could get from Mars to Babylon 5

								<EM>so</EM>

								quickly, less than a day.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								I believe Devereau has been seen before, except she had worked for ISN,

								perhaps this is a change of jobs or just an editing error.

								</LI>


								<LI>I take the references on p 141, par 3-4, to indicate Mollari ordered

								the attack on

								G'Kar and that Vir strongly suspected that it was true, this may be an

								incorrect inference.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								From the trial scene it is interesting to note that little has changed in

								the basic procedure of the Common Law system of trial and justice.

								</LI>


								<LI>

								In the United States today, the death penalty has and continues to be

								carried out on the mentally retarded, even upon people with IQ's as low

								as

								60.  (McCollum v. No. Carolina, US SC 1994: Blackmun's dissent from the

								denial of review mentions that the person to be executed has a 9 yr old

								mental age and can barely read at a second grade level.  He was "under

								stress and easily influenced by others." Continuing, Blackmun explains

								how

								the lower court found:


								<BLOCKQUOTE>

								that he committed the felony murder under the influence of

								mental or emotional disturbance, that he had cooperated with the police,

								that he had no significant history of prior criminal activity, and that

								he

								had adapted well to prison.  In addition, the trial judge concluded that

								"[a]ll of the evidence tends to show that [McCollum's] capacity ...  to

								appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform to the

								requirements

								of law was impaired." McCollum was 19 at the time of the crime.

								</BLOCKQUOTE>


								Blackmun's dissent concludes on a note that is similar to the rationale

								that the senate used in turning down the death penalty:

								"Our system of capital punishment simply does not

								accurately and consistently determine which defendants most "deserve" to

								die."

								The sole standard that the Supreme Court has established is that at

								the time of death the person must be able to comprehend what is going to

								happen to them thus leading to ironies like lawyers trying to have their

								clients taken off anti-psychotic drugs to prevent executions.

								</LI>


								</UL>


								<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> <em>Will D'Arc appear in the show?</em><br>

									Probably not, but one never knows.


								   <li> <em>Lyta is deaf?</em><br>

									I don't know how that would've gotten past me...I don't recall

									seeing that in the draft...either I was tired when reading, or it was

									added later.


								   <li> No, the novelist didn't blow it, Joe blew it, because in proofreading

									the manuscript, Joe missed that line somehow, and didn't catch it.  It's

									my job to catch these things.  (Just spent a whole week going over the

									A-Z of Babylon 5 coming out from Boxtree Books in the UK to keep it as

									accuate as possible.)


								   <li> <em>Why did the captain lie?</em><br>

									The Minbari approached with their gun ports opened...but they

									also hadn't locked on.  They were a potential menace, but had not gone

									into the territory of definite menace...and when they fired, it was

									clear from the moment or two it took to respond that the Minbari ships

									weren't ready to attack.  So he chose to cover his butt rather than

									take responsibility for screwing up a first contact situation and

									plunging Earth into a war.


								</ul>