man. I love the world of Quadrail but I can't stand how Timothy Zahn writes Bayta. I'm willing to give him some leeway because A. It's an older series B. He's a cishet white man and C. It's noir-ish and women were never treated well in those stories to begin with. But man every time Frank touches her without her consent I wanna scream
Like there's some really good stuff there! That's the worst part about it! It's really unusual in any genre—especially neo-noir—to have a woman who's kind of cold and dispassionate, who just does her business and doesn't make a fuss. I really like the earlier scenes where Frank is trying to be friendly and she's just like "please just come with me Mr. Compton 😐". Of course Frank immediately spoils that by acting like a sexist trounce. "Be a good girl and get me some onion rings". I know he did it on purpose to try to get a rise out of her but it still made my skin crawl.
The way he talks about her is just. euch. When he's first describing her he says she's "pretty enough" and then "looks about 22", which, given that Frank is 32 just gives me the creeps. It's just so obvious that Frank is a self-insert so every interaction he has with her is really uncomfortable
And then they get to Modhra and Frank tries to hold her hand? For no reason? After she literally told him she doesn't care if he lives or dies? She snatches it away rightly, but I was screaming at the book "stop touching her !!!!!"
I would've been fine if she had just stayed cold and aloof for the entire book, but I also like that she smiles when they go lugeboarding. I like the little moments of humanity, like when Frank notices that she's never had lemonade before. And then he has to go and ruin it by yelling at her and making her cry. Y'know. like a woman. I get that maybe the events of the day led her to let her guard down a bit but I still found myself hoping she would just tell him to fuck off. Like he gets in her face saying he feels like a dupe and she just looks him calmly in the eyes and says "If you're not able to finish the job, we can take you back to the Tube and you can find your own way home".
There's definitely a way to reveal her humanity but idk this just isn't it. I'm re-reading the series after like 10 years so forgive me if I get some of the details wrong but. I can envision a conversation where she says "Look. I was raised by the Spiders since I was an infant. I didn't see another human being until I was 18. I've lived my entire life in the Tube. I'm 22! I'm young! I have my whole life ahead of me! I spent my entire youth working for the Spiders. I never had the time to discover who I was. I don't have any hobbies. I never made friends, or fell in love, or learned to play an instrument. I've never even been to Earth! I should be at the club! But instead I'm stuck here chaperoning your ungrateful ass while you drag me around and treat me like your secretary"
it kinda makes me want to just rewrite the whole series myself. Maybe I'll make Bayta a man or Frank a woman just to shuffle the dynamics a bit. Or just make Frank act normal
