So for those of you that have read this book before, reading this section and coming up with topics was very hard.... it could definitely lead to a bunch of future spoilers.  So I tried to present these questions with as little possibility for spoilers. Again, remember that it is not necessary to answer all the questions and by all means, if you have a burning topic to discuss about these chapters, CHIME IN!

umm...i think i need to go back and re-read/listen. I don't remember these things having come up!

Oh noes! lol :)

This is awesome!

It's been fun to re-read EarthCore and re-experience these characters.  For me it's also interesting to run across some of the connections to other works that weren't yet fully realized when EarthCore was initially released.

The only difficult thing is while I am reading the print version, my brain wants to read them in all of your character voices! :)

I TOTALLY hear Scott's character voices in my head while I read! And that goes for ALL of his books! ;-)

Im going to go with number 1 and 5.

1. Simply put - GREED. His eyes were wide on a prize that would have been the biggest find in the history of his field and would have made him and his family wealthy for generations. Either he was pulling a Daffy Duck "DOWN DOWN DOWN MINE MINE MINE" and plowing straight towards his objective, or he had a feeling the shit was hitting the fan and wanted to get in, get the platinum and get out as quickly as possible before it all fell apart - essentially getting whatever he could before the whole thing came completely un-fucked.

5. Being in management I can say that there is a thin line between being firm and being a prick. In a business where lives are at stake and the value is as high as what he finds, combined with being all the way at the top of the Org chart, being a prick can be effective. When you are making a significant amount of money, you will be motivated by knowing that your job is at risk. If it was a low paying job, the boss can't be a prick. Someone famous in management whose name I don't care enough to remember once said that people don't leave jobs, people leave people. If you are making a ton of money, you don't leave those people because as nasty as they are, they are effective in getting you paid and paid well. That being said, I am not a proponent of managing through fear. I manage by being as nice as possible, while constantly watching to make sure nobody takes advantage of that. If they do, then I'm a prick. It's like yelling at your kids. If you do it all the time, it loses its effectiveness. "Oh the boss is being a jerkoff again. What a shock." When the nice guy manager is being a dick, people pay attention and clearly know something is wrong.

 

Chapter	Print Page #	Kindle Location (Bella's)	Discussion Day
Prologue-4	1 - 29	34 - 479	19-Jun
5 - 9	30 - 72	479 - 1322	26-Jun
10 - 13	73 - 99	1322 - 1840	3-Jul
14 - 16	100 - 118	1840 - 2222	10-Jul
17 - 20	119 - 146	2222 - 2778	17-Jul
21 - 24	147 - 176	2778 - 3369	24-Jul

Junkies, here's your questions for this week's chapters. As usual, you can chime in on one or all and don't be shy about posting your own questions if they aren't already covered:

1) In Chapter 21, Dr Katerina Hayes gives Connell irrefutable evidence that someone other than EarthCore has infiltrated the mine. Only after this realization (in conjunction with Jansson's likely death) does Connell have the epiphany that people's lives are more important than profit - although it's not enough of any epiphany to save Connell from firing Fritz. Do you see this as the beginning of a turn around in Connell's detachment from humanity or is he just covering his butt?

2) We now know the "rustling leaves" sound is the harbinger of these fleshy, boneless tentacle creatures that slaughter the EarthCore camp. How do you envision these tenatcle-ly creatures weilding one of their unique silver knives? How would a fleshy/boneless creature create such a weapon?

3) What connection do you see (if there is one) between the Silverbugs and the tentacle creatures?

4) Kayla sees these creatures as her way back into the NSA. With no phoyographic evidence and with her violent history, do you think Kayla would be taken seriously or would she be treated like a suspect to the murder of the EarthCore employees?

5) Sonny's curiousity has him follow Cho's distress signal only to see him murdered by Kayla Meyers. That leads him to wonder who Kayla is and why she would be interested in murdering the lone survior of the EarthCore camp. Against his better judegement he heads back to the mine to get answers. What would you do if you were in Sonny's place. Would curiousity be enough to drive you back toward a killer?

Gmork - Are you a college professor? These questions are very insightful and well thought out. :)

 

I'm going to answer 3 and 5 this week.

 

3) I see a military comparison between the silverbugs and the rocktopi. The silverbugs almost seem like scouts, and the rocktopi the heavy hitting artillary. The silverbugs watch and follow, and are shortly followed up by the rocktopi as if they were called in by the silverbugs.

5) Sonny is an idiot. There is no curiosity that great that would ever send me back to the jaws of death. Sonny has zero intent on going after the platinum and had felt what "funeral mountain" was all about. There is nothing waiting for him but the potential horrors that he felt chill his spine. Who the hell cares what Kayla is after? She's a murderer, as Sonny witnessed when she killed Cho. So he is going into a terrifying mountain where he felt death approaching, to follow a murderer? I don't know about this guy. Maybe he is a bit suicidal.

 

Aww JB, you made my day! Not a college professor .... just spurred to introspection by my junkie obsession :)

Regarding Sonny, I totally laughed out loud reading your response. I think if I just saw some one murder an aquaintence, the only direction I would be going is the opposite of that person. Maybe his confidence in knowning the land made him over confident in his ability to outsmart Kayla. Maybe he's got a back story that makes him desensitized to blatant murder....I don't know. All I know is if I had the willies about a place, then saw a camp destroyed with no evidence of its existence, then saw a murder.... I'd be so outta there on my way to Mexico, or Peru or any non extraditable country!!!

Chapter	Print Page #	Kindle Location (Bella's)	Discussion Day
Prologue-4	1 - 29	34 - 479	19-Jun
5 - 9	30 - 72	479 - 1322	26-Jun
10 - 13	73 - 99	1322 - 1840	3-Jul
14 - 16	100 - 118	1840 - 2222	10-Jul
17 - 20	119 - 146	2222 - 2778	17-Jul
21 - 24	147 - 176	2778 - 3369	24-Jul
25 - 29	177 - 207	3369 - 4245	31-Jul

This week's questions for chapters 25- 29. As usual, you don't have to answer them all, and y'all are more than welcome to pose any burning questions or comments other than what's listed below.  Now have at it!

1) It's understandable that Angus Kool, being a spelunking fan, would get out of work to be the first to explore the vast, unique tunnel structure that was the EarthCore mining site, but why would he go so far as to plant the "Kilroy was here" signs? Particularly since Connell made it clear he could ruin Angus' reputation in the industry?

2) Angus and Randy recognize that the Silverbugs (or ALs as they call it) seem to be tracking them yet they go ahead with catching and dissecting one. O'Doyle has a very militaristic approach to the Silverbugs, seeing them as a potential threat.  Why the do Angus and Randy not show the the same fear/caution towards this unknown technology as O'Doyle?  Is it hubris? Curiousity? Naivety?

3) It's clear Sonny is a man of the land, making him gritty and tough.  However the following passage has me wondering about his back story. He's contemplated killing Kayla Meyers. Is he driven to killing by revenge for Cho? Has he killed before?

"If he could just get a little bit of information, something the cops could use to track her down, then he could take off. He'd given up the fantasy of killing her himself.  He couldn't take the psycho bitch."

4) We're formally introduced to the Rocktopi (aka Tentacle Gods, aka Reevus Haakus).  These aggressive subterranean creatures have attacked and are clearly working in concert with the Silverbugs. They have big brains, advanced weapons and a developed agriculture. Vernica specualted that the Rocktopi are aliens and that's she's wasted her time at Cerro Chaltel trying to document a lost human culture only to find it is neither lost nor human.  Are you in aggreement (at this point in the story) that they are indeed alien or just some separately evoluted species?

And I'l end with a little commentary. In these chapters we come across the term "stalactite." As a kid, I learned the difference between stalactites (cave formations hanging from the ceiling) as opposed to stalagmites (cave formations protruding up from the ground) based on the word phonetic similarity to the word "tight". Which ever term ended in "tight" was the the one that was meant for formations hanging from cave ceilings... as if they are holding on the ceilings "tightly!" :)

Oh my oh my oh my. I am quite behind in this. I've reached 10%....