Edge of Apocalypse: page 304 (Chapter Fifty-Two)
In preparation for finally being temporally removed enough from the previous post that I got all the ick off, let’s kick off with a nice remix of “Welcome to the Future“, by Eskimos & Egypt. And for more of the same, the original mix I once heard as a .MOD file back in the day can be listened to from the CD here. 🙂
So, in a bit of a surprise shift, we briefly meet with Deborah Jordan:
On that day, Cal’s sister, Deborah, was busy with her class schedule up at West Point. As for the rest of Cal’s family–for Abby and Joshua–they had been immersed in their own struggles. But every one of them was oblivious to the danger that was stalking them–and getting closer.
Thank whatever in the world that Parshall didn’t write her calling Cal to dump more crap on him. But what’s the dun-dun-DUN at the end for?
Atta Zimler. And Parshall doesn’t shy from writing him as The Zimlinator!
The timetable was perfect. He knew that shortly his target would be in his grasp. He would then secure the RTS design documents. And the pleasing thought of the fortune that would be wired to his offshore account, to be added to his already huge balance from the upfront fee paid by Caesar Demas. But this wasn’t just about money for Atta Zimler. He was a man with a planet-sized ego. When he says he will kill a man, the man gets killed. When he says a certain thing will get done, it gets done. He considered himself a force of nature. Unstoppable. Unremitting. Merciless.
[Bold mine]
Remind you of anyone?
Kyle Reese: Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
You know, I still don’t get why Parshall has this dude being the “subcontract killer” for Caesar Demas. Loose cannons like Zimler always end up buggering things up for someone down the road, be it themselves or someone else. A sloppy job by Zimler to sate his ego means he can leave clues. Tracks. Ways to find out more about who and where he is. And one man, John Gallagher, is already hot on his trail because he got sloppy in Romania.
Just as Terminators in the movies leave, well, Terminator-sized carnage behind them and become very easy to spot if you know what you’re doing (or you’re John Connor 😛 ), Zimler’s going to end up leaving a mile-wide trail that Gallagher, for one, will definitely pick up on. It’s only a matter of how much damage he’ll inflict first, I’d say.
So, with that, I’ll close out this chapter, and note that we’ll be revisiting with the FCC Chairman and Abigail Jordan next time. 🙂
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Atta Zimmler. I picture him of the “special” kid brother of Anton Chigurh that no one like to talk about.
as not of. lol my bad
Deb was “busy with her class schedule”? What an awkward way to phrase that. Why not just say, “she was busy with classes”?
Also, “He was a man with a planet-sized ego.” First of all, NOBODY’S ego can compete with Joshua Jordan’s, except maybe Paul Stepola’s or Rayford Steele’s. Second, SHOW DON’T TELL, DAMMIT. SHOW DON’T TELL!!!
I can’t decide whether I want to scream at the author for telling instead of showing or for fucking up his tenses. PICK A DAMN TENSE AND STICK WITH IT.
So, this transition seems to imply Zimler’s going after Deb to extort the plans out of her father. Dare I hope she’s learned enough combat skills at West Point to kick his ass?
Hard to say. This could be the author’s prototype paen for suggesting that females shouldn’t be in the military. They’re vulnerable! They’re emotional! They’re targetable!
I get a vague, queasy sensation thinking that Deebs Jordan is being set up to be brutalized by LeHaye for no other reason than she’s female. 😦
(Alternatively, it could be his paen to excuse rich and powerful people from having to suffer their children being put into the military where they’re vulnerable and exposed and could be used against them.)
(Seriously, some of these expectations of Author Douchepicklery are almost too easy.)
(One parishoner of a priest I know said that women serving in uniform was ‘Satanic.’ Except that said parishoner is probably a chickenhawk and every woman in uniform I know could kick his ass up one side of Long Island and down the other.)
Evil Overlord List 44: I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance.
And yeah, it’s pretty funny to have the writer just tell us ‘This villain has a huge ego’ when he shows Josh’s ego to be the size of a galaxy by comparison.
On another note, the girl is studying at West Point? I know it as a military academy, but does it have civilian studies as well? Cause if it hasn’t, Deborah is going to have to quit her education the second Josh converts. While the army is of course good and important and as infallible as god himself, girls doing boys things like protecting their country makes baby Jesus cry.
I, too, am really, REALLY surprised by this…not so much that Josh “let her” (on one hand, this is an ego stroke for him, because Daughter Chose Military Life Just Like Me, and on the other, he probably tells himself that she can never truly surpass his achievements, since in his eyes, Army is inherently less than Air Force).
But I’m surprised that Abby “let her.” Abby has said or implied multiple times that she thinks women should be subordiante to their men–you would think she would want Deb to get her MRS degree instead of doing something as intense as attending West Point. (Not that Deb (or Parshall) act like it’s intense, but that’s a whole other matter.
Omskivar, I agree – that tense-shift in the Zimlinator introduction is really painful.
Zimler, as the guy actually pulling the trigger, should have absolutely no idea whom he’s working for. There should be layers of cutouts on top of cutouts. The expendable thug, even an expensive one, has to be expendable.
I think the female-military thing is a tradeoff – whether military-is-good outweighs women-are-for-babymaking may even be something RTCs are allowed to decide for themselves! (Though I doubt it.)