I agree - it makes the most sense, because if the Sentinal had 'seen' what happened, surely it would have set everything off. Actually, that makes me wonder about INES - I don't think she's the Sentinal, but it is interesting that the guy told her to turn herself off... Maybe he didn't want her going crazy? (Sorry about the aside there. ::))I think the Great White happened before Sentinal went online but after BOT was established and Elf has to make sure it doesn't go online because if it does it will realise that there has been something bad going on and will set BOT off.
Deb
If it deems that one country has aggressed on another, it will activate the Balance of Terror unit, and BOT will retaliate, targeting the perpetrators without any country having to make the desicion.the above is said by Cassy's dad, on pg 110 of the penguin orange binding edition of TKP.
I asked her once if it would be possible to reconnect her to the other computermachines, and she said it would, but that they could only be reconnected using one of the central Govamen computermachines that control the links, and ther were only three of those in existence. TSK pg 700
Nice way of putting it. I was trying to think of a neat, concise way to describe it but this is fairly accurate :)Kenzie493
Think of it in terms of moden computers. We have PCs, for instance, that can be made by any company, pretty much. They wont run though, without an OS; operating system. I'd consider the Guardian Program/Sentinal to be like the OS and the BOT to be the computer itself. Therefore, the BOT is an actual weapon, and Sentinal is the vehicle on which it is able to perform.