What do you think about GenTech putting Project Tau and Kata in the same cell

[DEEPA PUJARI]

I don't know, maybe they wanted to see just how much of an effect Kata would have on Tau. Would Tau stay true to the training he had been given to obey? Or would Kata be able to sway him enough to make him rebel against the scientists?

Hmmm. Interesting angle

[DragonLight877]

I actually don't agree with that plot point either. If I were Mason, and knew Kalin was not a clone, I would NEVER put those two together! I mean, great for story. I am glad they roomed together. But unless Mason really believed Kata was a project, I don't think he would have put them together. Especially not in the very beginning. And Mason should have of course known Kata could read.

[freshbook]

I thought that was kind of confusing too. I would expect the scientists would expect that the projects would just do as there told and not really have much communication between them. However, Project Kata is human! So Mason and Dennison are to blame!

[brendanwhite]

While I do think that it was an interesting and questionable move to put them into the same cell, I think Dennison did it with reason. I think he may have been hoping that instead of Kata corrupting Tau, Tau would train Kata into submissiveness. However, as everyone knows, the exact opposite happened--Kata and Tau became enraged and violence broke out.

[Rachel_Emmanuel]

I found this exceptionally odd. I mean, both Dennison and Mason knew that Kalin was human. Therefore he had no training to be obedient like Tau did. Did they really expect a human to be imprisoned for longer than agreed, undergo surgery/modifications without permission, and be repeatedly "handled" for everything from asking questions to actual physical attack? Did they really think he would break so quickly or that Tau would be able to "train" him? For scientists, ALL of them were really dumb. I don't think there was a single humane, smart scientist in the whole lot. Dennison was a sadist, Renfield and Chatton both had their dumb moments, the lesser scientist characters only named once or twice would act like children and stomp their feet when Kata would not work and immediately bring in handlers. I mean really guys. You brought this on yourself.

I agree with you. That was the dumbest move ever. Wonder what they were thinking? Humans are more superior than projects. In their mind, they felt they could really control everyone after all, they cloned someone.

[raindropreader]

I didn’t really think it was that bad that they were roomed together. I thought it made sense actually. There was as much a chance that Tau would help dehumanize Kata as there was Kata to humanize Tau. It really could have gone either way.

But I wonder why they never thought that possibly Kalin would tell Tau that he was a clone and tell him about the outside world and the injustice being done to him and that they would then collaborate together to overthrew the facility? Isn’t it very obvious?

[raindropreader]

While I do think that it was an interesting and questionable move to put them into the same cell, I think Dennison did it with reason. I think he may have been hoping that instead of Kata corrupting Tau, Tau would train Kata into submissiveness. However, as everyone knows, the exact opposite happened--Kata and Tau became enraged and violence broke out.

But if Kalin knew that Tau was a clone and he realized how terrible it was that he was cloned and treated the way that he was why would he thin of Tau being submissive and instead think of him as someone who was cloned and treated very badly and want to help him and exact revenge on the company and experimenters?

[raindropreader]

They assumed the Projects will abide to the orders they give them. I remember when both Dennison and Mason were conversing when the Projects escaped, one of them said that the projects were trained to be obedient and be less harmful. Little did they know that tables would turn and jeopardize their mission.

Yes but Kalin wasn’t a project yet, a clone made from the lab. He was from the outside world didnt they know he would tell Tau about the outside world and also that he was a clone etc. Since this was all experimental and it wasn’t a process that had been done before many times they didn’t have scientific evidence as to how Tau would react to someone from the outside right? Or maybe this is all being done to show how naive the higher ups are.

[raindropreader]

Dennison and Mason knew that he was a human and ignored it. They tried to act like he was a project when he wasn't. To me, that's like putting a tiger and a lion in a cage, then painting stripes on the lion and calling it a tiger. It makes no sense. The lion is a lion, regardless of how many strips you put on it, it's still a lion.

Okay, stepping in to clear this up as there are a few things that many people seem to be forgetting or missing

The arguments against putting Tau and Kalin in together work fine all the time Kalin's there as a human (ie, if Mason's explanation had been the truth about him: "this kid did something very stupid and he's agreed to stick around for two weeks to make up for it.") However, the success of Mason's entire plot hinges on the rest of the scientists believing that Kalin is a Project. For the scheme to work, Dennison has no choice but to act accordingly. However many problems he can foresee, however stupid he thinks it is, he's now complicit and he has no choice but to go along with it. Remember, the decision to put Kalin and Tau in together came from Mason, not Dennison

To go back to the tiger/lion example; yes, Dennison knows that's what he's doing, but nobody else in the lab knows or can ever be allowed to know. From their point of view, Dennison putting "Project Kata" in a different room is the same as saying, "We have a tiger. Here's another tiger from a separate zoo, but we're going to go to all the time and expense of building it a separate enclosure instead of putting it in with the first tiger."

From Dennison's POV, there are basically three huge problems with billeting Kalin separately:

1. It draws too much attention. The last thing he needs is for his colleagues - particularly Renfield, who we know is senior enough to make his life very difficult (RENFIELD: "I am one of the top people in this facility, Kalin!" LIN: "I happen to be the second most senior person involved with the training and acclimation, at least until Dr. Renfield gets back.") - to start wondering what's so special about this particular Project. If Kalin really had been a Project, he would have been put in with Tau, as Tau's is the only room suitable for Project containment (remember the super-thick door? )

2. It's a laboratory and research facility. We know that Projects are a very new and expensive development; most labs wouldn't have the budget to go into Project creation, and they're far too expensive and prone to failing (ie, dying) before completion for any lab to make more than one at a time. This means that there would only be one room suitable for containment, and that's Tau's. Even if that weren't the case, efficiency is the name of the game, and every single room in the laboratory would have its own purpose. Dennison can't just dump a bunch of equipment in the corridor and reassign the people working there for the purpose of giving Kalin his own room, however much he might want to.

3. While GenTech could conceivably build another room on the outside of the station (as someone pointed out, they're in space, after all!) it would take a large amount of time and money, and Kalin would still have to sleep somewhere while it was being built. Granted, going in with Tau on a temporary basis would work, but Dennison would still come under a lot of suspicion from his coworkers for blowing a chunk of GenTech's budget on another room when they already have a perfectly good one available.

GenTech also can't extend into the station for much the same reason. Remember that the borders between GenTech and the public areas are very clearly marked. Also, from Dennison's POV, Kalin is a huge flight risk, particularly after he knows he's not going to be allowed to go home. The more securely he's contained, the lower that risk becomes.

4. Dennison himself has a tremendous amount of influence over Tau. We know from Tau's conversation with Kalin that he's the first human Tau met, the first human whose name he learned and the one who has been, to all intents and purposes, raising him. He believes his own influence and that of everyone around him would be enough to counter anything Kalin might say. For much of the book, he's proven right: when Kalin asks Tau if he's ever considered leaving, Tau's first instinct is to shut him down completely, even though they've been living and suffering together for several months now and Tau has already suffered sexual assault; he's too cowed to believe they have any chance of getting away and too frightened of the consequences for trying.

But wait... if they only have one containment room suitable for projects why would Mason ever think of or go with this idea of kidnapping Kalin if he had the foresight to know that he would put in the same containment room as Tau and obviously tell him that he was a clone and explain the outside world etc and that would obviously lead to the uprising and destruction of the experimenters and entire facility. Wouldn’t he have foreseen this happening?

[Jocelyn Eastman]

I didn’t really think it was that bad that they were roomed together. I thought it made sense actually. There was as much a chance that Tau would help dehumanize Kata as there was Kata to humanize Tau. It really could have gone either way.

But I wonder why they never thought that possibly Kalin would tell Tau that he was a clone and tell him about the outside world and the injustice being done to him and that they would then collaborate together to overthrew the facility? Isn’t it very obvious?

I don’t think it’s that obvious. You typically have more people in a prison than you do guards. In this case you have more guards than you do prisoners. It was just as likely for Kata to be brainwashed. Most people would be under torture, especially after two years. Him rebelling is actually the anamoly.

[Jude Austin]

But wait... if they only have one containment room suitable for projects why would Mason ever think of or go with this idea of kidnapping Kalin if he had the foresight to know that he would put in the same containment room as Tau and obviously tell him that he was a clone and explain the outside world etc and that would obviously lead to the uprising and destruction of the experimenters and entire facility. Wouldn’t he have foreseen this happening?

Nope

Okay, seriously; Mason isn't a scientist, for one thing. He's an administrator, and not a very smart one.

Secondly, Tau knows he's a clone. He doesn't need Kalin to tell him; the scientists have made very sure he knows all about that. He's completely brainwashed, and remember that the scientists don't believe Tau is capable (or inclined to) start conversations. Renfield speaks for all of them when he's visibly astonished that Kalin and Tau actually talk; like all his contemporaries, he believes that Tau simply goes in, lies down and goes to sleep.

There's also nothing obvious about it. Mason doesn't know how Kalin's likely to react, or how Tau's likely to react; although he can make a good guess that someone who does something as desperately stupid as breaking into GenTech for a frat stunt probably doesn't have any real friends and hasn't had much experience in socializing.

Also, in the beginning, Kalin also believes that Projects are sub-human (the fact that he considers, "Do you feel pain?" to be a perfectly valid question to ask Tau sums up his attitude perfectly ) He's not going to tell Tau anything that the scientists haven't already told him, although he would probably use naughtier words

Kalin only wants to help Tau after Kalin himself has been beaten and gaslighted into believing that he's a Project. He's not particularly altruistic, he's not a revolutionary; his actions aren't born of righteous anger so much as the desperate need to escape while they still can.

The only person who might have foreseen problems is Dennison, and he's very convinced that he can control and dominate Tau (as, indeed, he does right up until the very end of the book)

[raindropreader]

I didn’t really think it was that bad that they were roomed together. I thought it made sense actually. There was as much a chance that Tau would help dehumanize Kata as there was Kata to humanize Tau. It really could have gone either way.

But I wonder why they never thought that possibly Kalin would tell Tau that he was a clone and tell him about the outside world and the injustice being done to him and that they would then collaborate together to overthrew the facility? Isn’t it very obvious?

I don’t think it’s that obvious. You typically have more people in a prison than you do guards. In this case you have more guards than you do prisoners. It was just as likely for Kata to be brainwashed. Most people would be under torture, especially after two years. Him rebelling is actually the anamoly.

Okay that’s true especially because of the torture. I’m thinking about it differently now!

[raindropreader]

But wait... if they only have one containment room suitable for projects why would Mason ever think of or go with this idea of kidnapping Kalin if he had the foresight to know that he would put in the same containment room as Tau and obviously tell him that he was a clone and explain the outside world etc and that would obviously lead to the uprising and destruction of the experimenters and entire facility. Wouldn’t he have foreseen this happening?

Nope

Okay, seriously; Mason isn't a scientist, for one thing. He's an administrator, and not a very smart one.

Secondly, Tau knows he's a clone. He doesn't need Kalin to tell him; the scientists have made very sure he knows all about that. He's completely brainwashed, and remember that the scientists don't believe Tau is capable (or inclined to) start conversations. Renfield speaks for all of them when he's visibly astonished that Kalin and Tau actually talk; like all his contemporaries, he believes that Tau simply goes in, lies down and goes to sleep.

There's also nothing obvious about it. Mason doesn't know how Kalin's likely to react, or how Tau's likely to react; although he can make a good guess that someone who does something as desperately stupid as breaking into GenTech for a frat stunt probably doesn't have any real friends and hasn't had much experience in socializing.

Also, in the beginning, Kalin also believes that Projects are sub-human (the fact that he considers, "Do you feel pain?" to be a perfectly valid question to ask Tau sums up his attitude perfectly ) He's not going to tell Tau anything that the scientists haven't already told him, although he would probably use naughtier words

Kalin only wants to help Tau after Kalin himself has been beaten and gaslighted into believing that he's a Project. He's not particularly altruistic, he's not a revolutionary; his actions aren't born of righteous anger so much as the desperate need to escape while they still can.

The only person who might have foreseen problems is Dennison, and he's very convinced that he can control and dominate Tau (as, indeed, he does right up until the very end of the book)

Okay so I actually didn’t think about the fact that Kalin isn’t particularly altruistic and that his first reaction wasn’t to “save” Tau, or to right the injustices via trying to help Tau realize that what was done to him was in humane. So in that way it wasn’t obvious. Thank you for the quick reply!! You helped me think even deeper into the characters actions vs intentions.

[raindropreader]

I don't know, maybe they wanted to see just how much of an effect Kata would have on Tau. Would Tau stay true to the training he had been given to obey? Or would Kata be able to sway him enough to make him rebel against the scientists?

Hmmm. Interesting angle

I agree! Very interesting angle that perhaps that could be just another level to the experiment.

[raindropreader]

You bring up an interesting point. I never thought about that...

I'm sure GenTech's facility is quite large (they're rich and autonomous, after all), so space can't be an issue. They probably had more than enough space to put them in separate rooms. Dennison indeed knew Kata's influence on Tau... but the other scientists seemed to be either oblivious or not care. Perhaps they didn't think anyone would have a lasting effect on Projects except them, because they are the creators (in their minds).

“they are the creators” that is so true. They believe they influence the projects more than Kalin and Tau could influence each other. I guess through their complete control and abuse of the two projects they assumed they had them brainwashed enough. Very wrong though