What's been kind of fun about the discussion of this episode here and elsewhere
has been the bipolarity of it all.

On the one side you have those who think it's a very romantic story with a
happy ending. Which is totally the right response.

And then on the other side you've got those who think it's a morally dubious
story or even worse. Which is ALSO totally the right response.

It becomes a question of what you, the reader, thinks is appropriate, and where
the priorities are. Does Marcus, having laid down his life, and suffered, and
lost everything and everyone he holds dear, deserve a last shot at happiness
using a technology that is probably being used by other people for far worse
purposes?

On the other hand, the technology and the invasiveness of it raises very real
questions and concerns. One can say it's an invasion, but is it really? Is it
her, or is it a blank slate? What makes her, *her*?

If, in the end, he is happy at last, and she is happy, who are we to question?

But should we not question the *thrust* of the technology, and the uses it
might be put to in future?

I knew it'd drive a wedge right down the middle of the readers, and that's
exactly why it was written...to pose questions and raise issues for heated
discussion. Because what's right or wrong here is a matter of perspective, as
it should be.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)