In the third and final installment of the Violet interviews, Vi faces some tough questions - from the Cube Hunters on Earth.
And in case you were wondering... no, you'll never see her naked.
In this third and final part of our exclusive Sentinel interview, Violet Kiteway answers questions submitted over the past several days by our readership. Part I may be found here. Part II may be found here.
Not to sound bitter about it, but given the kind of deceptions necessary over the past few years, (starting with, for instance, claiming to be unable to reach the Academy on the night of the theft) what else have we been misled about? What do we or have we known as fact that was simply not true?
Justin Peeples
Thanks for your question, Justin. I have tried to be as honest as I could, within the bounds of trying to keep myself, Kurt and my family safe. (Since I unarguably did not keep us entirely safe, I may have failed. Since most of us are alive and the Third Power haven't been able to use the Cube to do whatever they were planning to do with it, perhaps I succeeded. I'll have to leave you to judge that for yourselves.)
My search for the Third Power was entirely genuine -- I had seen their mark before, but other than that I had no idea who they were or what they wanted. Let me put it this way: there were two sets of intruders on the night, and together I and the people of Earth were looking for one of them. Everything that we did to find that second set of intruders, to learn about their motives, to disrupt their plans was real. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you that I was part of the other set. I'm sorry if you feel betrayed or hurt. I did what I thought was right, which is all anyone can ever do.
Will you be nekkid soon?
Jet2themax
Jet2themax, I will be naked several times today -- for example, when taking a shower or getting ready for bed. However, you will never, ever witness this.
I was wondering. A message was intercepted by the police, as well as being fFiltered to us on Earth. The message reads:
Electric splash
BB, 21 to 24
4: C, V, K, Q
20, V to 24
We have come to know the "C, V, K, Q" refers to the 4 people hired to steal the cube. What was the electric splash, and what does "BB, 21 to 24" refer to?
Scott Myers, Earth
Thanks fFor your question, Scott. Helena fFrye, the police detective working on the case, has suggested that BB meant the Buttered Bridge, an ancient fFeature of the Academy. 21 to 24 probably meant the gate numbers through which the Third Power group were to enter the Academy complex. As fFor the electric splash -- it's the name of one of the fFireworks Kurt used in the display on the night the Cube was stolen. He's produced the fFireworks for a lot of Academy events; the Third Power probably used the electric splash as a signal to meet up.
We now know that the Cube was buried in Wakerley Great Wood, but how did you decide on that location?
Sean Gavan (Onionring)
The Cube itself chose the location, Sean, as I tried to explain in the Library of Babel site. Evidently it has some kind of sentience. But, like everyone else, I have no idea why it doesn't do this more often. There's a lot we still don't know about it.
I would like to ask Violet about what time she returned to Perplex City: Was she gone the same amount of time as she was on Earth, as time appears to pass at the same rate in our two worlds? Did the Cube send her back in time so she wasn't missed? Or did Kurt cover for her absence? Also relating to this; where did the Cube return her to? The Academy Museum? Just it seems unlikely that no one noticed the Master's daughter suddenly appearing in the spot the Cube was taken from a couple of days after its theft.
Good luck with part 3 of your interview. Could you pass on to Violet that I for one don't blame her at all her decisions, it's the only course of action she could take to ensure the Cube's safety.
Izzy Martin, an ex-Cube Hunter
Thank you so much for your question, Izzy, and for your support. The answer is that time did pass at the same rate -- I arrived back in Perplex City a couple of days after I'd left. It was such a crazy time in the city though that no one really noticed I was missing. I wasn't supposed to be at the party at all, after all, and Kurt just told anyone who asked that I was still feeling ill. As for where I returned... it would have been handy if I'd turned up back in my apartment, but for no reason that's clear to me, instead I found myself in the middle of a clump of bushes in Polygon Park. Covered in mud. And had to walk home. So much for the all-powerful object, eh?
Could you ask Violet: Just how did she get back from Earth to Perplex City? She seemed to rather skip that point.
Tally
Well, Tally, I got back pretty much the same way I arrived, which is to say... a quasi-mystical experience, a sensation of seeing the entire universe filtered through one point, and then the above-mentioned bushes, mud, wondering what that thing was I'd just trodden on. The Cube works in mysterious ways.
Could you send a signed photo of yourself in a business suit to me? See above for address.
isca
No. But because I am feeling very generous, see below for a picture of me in a business suit.
Violet, a lot of us have been following your blog over the past 2 years, right back to when you infiltrated the Reconstructionists compound to investigate Jessica Holyoke. However one thing still perplexes us -- on the evening of May 30th, 2005, as we were waiting for you to return and tell us how things had gone on, the following message appeared on your blog:
"Well. That was weird. You know how sometimes you can think you understand something, and suddenly everything swings round and it looks completely different? Like, one of those pictures which you think is a rabbit and then looks like a duck? Or, like your life, which you thought was all about one thing, turns out to be something else? Or... actually maybe I'm too tired to go into this right now."
A few minutes later, it disappeared. We feared for a lot at that time, we worried that you had been brainwashed, or kidnapped, or perhaps you had merely changed your mind. In hindsight, maybe you were about to tell us something that would have given the game away as to your hidden involvement in the Cube theft. Did you write this message? Why did you take it down?
Rachel Wild, Earth
This is a great question, Rachel, thanks for asking it. You're quite right when you say that revealing what happened in the Reconstructionist compound would have revealed my involvement in the theft. What happened was really quite simple... and then again not. I'll try to explain it as simply as I can. I arrived at the Recon Compound as I said, took the tour, as I said, spoke to Brother Tomas, as I said. And then -- one thing I didn't say. It was toward the end of my visit, when each of us had a brief private audience with one of the elder sisters, Sister Shlishi. The other tourists said that she took their hand and told them some piece of Gyvann's wisdom, so I didn't think anything much was going to happen. But when I went into the room... it's funny. Maybe when you spend all your days meditating and contemplating an object which seems to be able to do almost anything, maybe you really do manage to get in touch with it. Who knows?
Anyway, the old lady took my hand, turned it over, smiled at me and said: "My child. The Cube works in mysterious ways. If it has chosen you, who are we to question?"
Which, so what, right? I mean, she probably says that to everyone. Except then she said: "Your hands know that they have touched it. They know that they dug a hole so very far away in which to bury it. Your hands will not forget the Cube and the Cube will not forget you. We will do our best to protect you, as far as we are able."
And that was that. Which, frankly, freaked me out. And so I wrote the post you saw and put it up, but then immediately thought better of it and took it down because I felt I'd revealed too much. To be honest, this was the one thing I was concerned might lead you to suspect I'd had more to do with the theft of the Cube than I'd told you.
And did the Recons do anything to protect me? I don't really know. I wonder if this was the reason it was so easy for me to find the information about Aiko being a Recon which drew the heat away from me for a while. I don't know though. So much remains mysterious.
