Home Fires notes

It's pretty much outright said that Mr. Blue is an Os. He never eats or drinks. He makes the cryptic comment about destroying Earth when he talks to Skip on the ship the first time: "Suppose they could get control of all the rest by blowing up this one?" He kisses his "daughter" on the lips. His wife and daughter don't recognize him. Etc. Two things about his actions still puzzle me. The first is that I don't know if he was Charlie Blue during dinner with Chelle and Skip at the hotel before she left to join the military. Skip says he never takes off his sunglasses indoors or out in that chapter, which suggests it might be the Os, but I really have no idea.

Did Mr. Blue kill Zygmont because he was onto him? Was he also the shopkeeper who sold Vanessa her furniture?

The character of Trinity puzzles me. She makes contact with Chelle before Skip even arrives on the ship. She is strongly connected to the Black Mama character in the temple, and it makes sense that they are probably the same person. The fact that she pops up at the end is a strong sign of this. I believe she is an operative for the EU, positioned on the boat to both preserve Chelle's survival and possibly to extract sensitive information from her.

Who stabbed Vanessa after she left the restaurant? Skip thinks of several reasons it's not Rick Johnson, and though he later recants, I'm not sure I believe him. Other candidates for the stabber include Mick, Charles Blue himself (the person is described in a shapeshifting way), or Susan. She seems most likely to have entered the group last, and thus have to kill the oldest member (Vanessa). It seems more likely that Susan would believably fail at this than Rick.

What other point is there of having a cyborg other than that it is controlled by someone? The controller could be Charlie Blue, but he kills Rick and although it did prove his bonafides to Skip, the backstory about Rick and Charlie indicates they had just met. I think it's possible that he is Mick's cyborg. They did come together, and Mick is conspicuously absent until he pops up at dinner to say hi to Chelle.

I'm still not understanding the significance of the firing squad incident.

Skip tells us his reason for becoming a JAG and opting offworld, and it's not wholly unbelievable. As smart as he is, I don't think it's the real reason. He's going to be a colonel out there. What is his plan? The fact that Skip does not have a double indicates the spacefaring version of himself may be his own double. Then there was of course the man who moved out of the penthouse apartment in his own building. This may have been his true double.

Doubles:

Mick and Rick Johnson
Vanessa/Virginia Healy
Chelle/Jane Sims
Trinity/Black Mama
Susan/Diane
Charles Blue/shopkeeper
Captain Kain/Sir Able

There is also the chance that Skip and Don are the same person.