: In M1 I was kind of curious about whether or not there actually was a
: Bernhard Strauss to meet. I think there wasn't, at least not in any real
: sense.
: I never gave much of a thought to Blake because it was always my opinion that
: he was a fiction created by Durandal. I think I'm reversing my opinion on
: that one; I think the "convenience" applied to Durandal's
: absence and Blake's sudden appearance (and then the reverse later on) is
: better attributed to the need for the writers to take Durandal out of the
: picture for awhile, to create dramatic tension, and then bring him back.
: Blake was a necessary stopgap to replace Durandal's exposition and
: instruction.
While you may be right there are those little oddities relating to Blake's terminal headers, namely the use of words "piltdown" and "teilhard". And also the fact that there is as an odd terminal on My Own Private Thermopylae which appears to be from Durandal - "I will return." All suggesting that Blake may not be who he says he is nor that Durandal is really absent.
The Robert Blake section on the Story page discusses these issues.
Cheers
Hamish