Mark is doing a mighty fine job of getting under Dr. Camel’s skin… by now it’s obvious he’s doing it on purpose, given that it seems very easy to set the guy off…

And why didn’t Genie get a ride of her own?  There always seem to be cues, subtle or explicit, that remind the reader where women stand in the Trailverse…  always the underling, always the assistant.  I recall one time (pre-blog) when a woman played a crooked, money grubbing, nature-be-damned CEO… and of course she had her reckoning with the obvious and eventual outcome of that story line…  but not in recent memory.  Every woman has been positioned as subservient to the male dominated world.  Huh.