Question

Hello,

A new question about "Heirs of Empire" (Baen Books' paperback edition,
1999).

If anyone would be so kind as to give a hand...

Page 46, last paragraph: "Robbins sat [...] and waited patiently for Colin
to finish the current installment of his unending paper chase. He dumped the
data -- and his decision -- back into the computer, then leaned back and
crossed his legs."

There is no particular context here: admiral Robbins went to Colin's office
to discuss some important matter and is now waiting for Colin to finish some
job before he can attend her.

Question 1: "the current installment of his unending paper chase." I guess
it just means "the current job among the huge amount of things Colin has to
do"... Is this right?

Question 2: "paper chase". This is a complete phrase, isn't it? The word
paper hasn't an "office papers" meaning here, right? The whole image refers
to those open-air contests where one person has to find a treasure by
following somebody else's tips. Is this correct?

Question 3: "He dumped the data -- and his decision -- back into the
computer..." WHAT data, WHAT decision and why use "dump back" in this
context? How can he "DUMP BACK"data in a computer? My guess is: "He sent
back the data to the computer through his neural feed and this data included
some decision he had made about some particular matter we don't know about."
Is this right?

Thank you so much in advance!

Lucas

In article <43e72595$1_2@news.bluewin.ch>,
Lucas Moreno <lucas.moreno.RemoveThis@bluewin.ch> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>A new question about "Heirs of Empire" (Baen Books' paperback edition,
>1999).
>
>If anyone would be so kind as to give a hand...
>
>Page 46, last paragraph: "Robbins sat [...] and waited patiently for Colin
>to finish the current installment of his unending paper chase. He dumped the
>data -- and his decision -- back into the computer, then leaned back and
>crossed his legs."
>
>There is no particular context here: admiral Robbins went to Colin's office
>to discuss some important matter and is now waiting for Colin to finish some
>job before he can attend her.
>
>Question 1: "the current installment of his unending paper chase." I guess
>it just means "the current job among the huge amount of things Colin has to
>do"... Is this right?

The current job among the list that never ends of jobs; and more
specifically, paperwork related job.

>Question 2: "paper chase". This is a complete phrase, isn't it? The word
>paper hasn't an "office papers" meaning here, right?

No. "Paper chase" here is related to filing paperwork, lots of it,
more and more, and in a way that never ends. Think bureaucracy and its
itinerant paperwork.


>Question 3: "He dumped the data -- and his decision -- back into the
>computer..." WHAT data, WHAT decision and why use "dump back" in this
>context? How can he "DUMP BACK"data in a computer?

There are a bunch of forms to be filled out. And there is a decision
to be made. These forms are probably in the computer. He filled out
the forms and saved the file into the computer; "dump back" because
everything came from the computer, it's in his neural network now, and
he 'dumps' it by saving it into the computer and removing it from his
local network.

>My guess is: "He sent
>back the data to the computer through his neural feed and this data included
>some decision he had made about some particular matter we don't know about."

About the particular matter he was supposed to decide about, yes.

>Is this right?

About right, yes.


--
======================================================================
"It's not denial. I'm just very selective about
what I accept as reality."
--- Calvin ("Calvin and Hobbes")
======================================================================

Arturo Magidin
magidin.RemoveThis@math.berkeley.edu