> Hmm. If the Orb can track anyone, why was the location of the > Baroness Kaluma unknown in tPG? Some speculation: A) Tortaalik is an idiot. I could well imagine the Orb can be configured by the user to do a variety of shall we say nondemocratic things. But perhaps this requires a certain amount of hacking which T. can't be expected to carry out. (I for example can't get my new printer to run under either linux or windows...) On the other hand, I think the Orb makes the Emperor a sort of Autarch a la Wolfe - doesn't it contain the memories of the past Emperors? Though perhaps there are some levels of security involved. Note that anything we hear about the Orb is suspect - it might for example be Sethran misinformation intended to foil hacking attempts. B) Tortaalik doesn't really care or it doesn't occur to him to look for her. See A). And the various factions interested in nabbing the Baroness don't prompt him. C) Boringly, we see your "privacy rights" effect at work - the Emperor shouldn't be peeking into Adron's bedroom or wherever. D) We see the Orb's upgrades in action at the end of _TPotD_. Maybe only a skilled Emperor could do what is automatic for Zerika IV.