Paul Arezina wrote:

| I believe he wants to justify _Ranma's_ action in this case.  After all,
| this Ranma deliberately went on a one-way trip.  Kodachi's was more more
| or less an accident since she thought she'd be able to get back somehow.
| Ranma-refugee needs a rationalisation for his course of action,
| unless he's
| slime.  I still don't know what his problem was in giving the technology
| to his country, though.

Hmm. I think I said this before in a snatch of C&C, however private or
public...

The quantum resonator is almost useless, since it only transfers thought
patterns. The best thing one could potentially do with it would be to pirate
higher technology from a more advanced divergence point. Any sort of
takeover attempt would be met with some difficulty, since there's no
guarantee that Company A in one dimension will even all be on the same
continent with each other in another dimension.

Actually, Resonator technology is a forerunner of physical transport
technology, and that is why other time powers are going to start paying
more attention to Scholar-Ranma's band of time.  It simply requires looking
at the equations in a new way.  Genma, as the man who invented the
technology in this world, feared what his work may be used for.  The
Security Directorate decided that that was a poor attitude, and took
draconian steps to secure it for the Empire.

What it IS, however, is an indication of just how smart the person piecing
the device together really is. If Ranma - any Ranma - can figure out the
umpty-nine million equations and tweaks needed for successful operation of
the quantum resonator, then said Ranma is one smart cookie. The project
itself has little intrinsic value; however, it's very good as a test for
admissions into whatever passes for an Imperial think tank. Replete, one
assumes, with all the comforts of a maximum-security prison.