Shannon's Story (from Loss of Innocence)

Yeah, I know that Pete promised you that I would write Shannon’s back story for you this weekend while he was gone at Boskone. The only problem is that he didn’t clear it with me first! This is something I’ve been wrestling with since I started writing the letters.

Every time I sat down to detail the events that would send her running to the SMC, I had to stop and start over. Frankly, I’ve had two ideas as to what happened that made Shannon bolt from comfortable life in Ireland to the “tin can” in which she finds herself so miserable. As I continued to write about her, and I know this will sound rather funny, but she was the one who ultimately decided her history.

We know the following about Shannon:

She is one year younger than Michael Collins.

When the asteroids hit San Fransisco and Shanghai, she is 7 years old. She also mentions that Gillian is an EMT. So we can deduce that Gillian is substantially older, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’re going to say that Shannon has privately mentioned to her biographer that Gillian was 18 when the plague hit.

That would make Gillian 29 when Shannon enters the SMC at age 18.

Gillian is Shannon’s Sister.

Originally, I wasn’t going to reveal what Gillian actually was to Shannon and leave the mystery to the readers, but it’s pretty much been settled that they are related. Just the language that Shannon uses with her, you can deduce familial ties. Terms like, “Mum and Dad” and the story of Disneyland in Episode Four. There is a playful resentment present that any sibling would have with the other.

In the beginning, there was the possibility of them both being best friends, or perhaps even lovers. I think I even toyed with the idea of Gillian being Shannon’s mother. Yet, as I said before, as I started writing, the words made up my mind for me.

She has done something she considers awful.

Since the inception of the letters, Shannon keeps mentioning something that made her leave home. She knows the current mortality rates associated with enlisting in the SMC, and this is a very strong point in that she knows she may never see her family again by choosing this path. We also know that the one she feels was most affected by her actions was Gillian.

I have to say, now that I’ve written this out and thought about it more, I finally have the reason why Shannon ran.

You want to know?

You’re going to have to wait for the next podcast I fear.

I’m so evil.