{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1575", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 1575, "subject": "Blackout", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1999-04-25T02:51:20+00:00", "last": "1999-04-26T08:39:41+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "1999-04-25T02:51:20+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Blackout", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " It has been suggested that the blackout on Tzadkiel's ship was caused by\nthe drain of power occasioned by Sev's attempt to revive the dead steward.\nMaybe, but there is another explanation that, I think, has more textual\nsupport.\n\n Shortly after Sev regains consciousness following the attempt, he\ncomments that on no other occasion during the two years after he became\nAutarch that he even bothered to attempt such revivals did such disastrous\nconsequences follow. The other times it just didn't work. This time he is\nstunned, looses consciousness, and the ship goes dark. It has been suggested\nthat on Urth he had some power source there to draw on that was not\navailable on the ship, and that the blackout was caused by a power drain on\nthe ship's resources when he tried to revive the steward. He failed to\nrevive the steward, but the attempt did give birth to the Claw of the\nConciliator.\n\n That events in Sev's career on the ship are being manipulated by\nTzadkiel and/or his minions is undoubted. The three hierodules, F,B&O,\ninsist on talking to Sev in their room so that he will not be in his own\nstateroom when it is ransacked. They know it will be ransacked because they\nknow the future. Knowing the future, they also knew the steward would be\nkilled. Why didn't they prevent his death? Because it was necessary to the\nchain of events that would lead to Sev's blood imbuing the thorn with its\npower, giving birth to the Claw, which figures so prominently in the Urth\nCycle, to Sev's career and the plans of the agents of Yesod. There are many\nother occasions when events are being manipulated, especially while Sev is\non the ship.\n\n Another occasion is, obviously, when Tzad revivifies Sev after his death\nat the bottom of the airshaft. It has been assumed that Sev died from the\nfall, yet Sev notes: \"Intellectually, I knew we could fall but slowly in the\nship; I was even half-aware that we fell no faster at the lower levels. And\nyet we were falling, air whistling by faster and faster, the side of the\nairshaft a dark blur.\" Clearly, the laws of physics are being violated, or\nthe \"fall\" was not a simple fall. He sees his dead, broken body: \"He lay\nbetween two great machines, already splattered with some dark lubricant.\"\nEarlier, he had been told by Idas, who had slipped away from a gang of\nsailors working to repair the lights: \"Something conductive must have fallen\nacross the terminals of one of the big cells, but no one can find out what\nit was. Anyway, the plates burned through. Some cables too, and that\nshouldn't have happened.\" No, and it wouldn't have, in the natural course of\nevents. The ship's lights came on the instant Sev touched Idas's hand,\nallowing him to see the knife in the other hand and thus defend himself.\nThese are not coincidences.\n\n After Sev's \"trial\" and return to Tzad's ship he spends a night in one\nof her staterooms feeling sorry for himself, leaves to go in search of\nGunnie, thinks the ship changes itself for him, and suffers another great\nfall, seemingly fatal: \"My mouth was filled with the dust of death. I sucked\nthe water eagerly, moving it from cheek to cheek before I swallowed, feeling\nthe tissues revive.\" Now there are two Gunnies; the one he knew and her\nyounger self, Burgundofara. He is concerned because of the experience with\nHildegrin. Gunnie explains that there can be two versions of herself because\nthe ship operates in eternity, outside of space and time and: \"We're between\nthe suns and the years too, so there can be two Gunnies with no danger to\nanybody. Or a dozen.\" The same, of course, applies to Sev, or anyone, which\nis how, I submit, Tzad&Co. effect some of their manipulations of the events\nSev experiences.\n\n It is my contention that the proximate cause of the blackout was\nSev--inside Sidero--landing, at the terminus of his \"fall\", atop one of the\n\"cells\" (one of the \"two great machines\" mentioned above) shorting it out.\nSidero would make a great conductor of electrical current. Whether the\n\"fall\" killed him or he was electrocuted doesn't matter. The ship's crew\ncouldn't find what caused the short because Sidero left the scene and Sev\nwas brought back to life and moved to a safer location by Zak and/or Gunnie.\nThat the events seem out of sequence to Sev--and the reader--is because the\nship moves in and out of time (as Gunnie explains) and there are at least\ntwo Sevs at some point.\n\n Just how did Sidero come to lose his arm? The text, all too carefully,\ndoesn't say, but his loyalty to the ship is well established. However it\nhappened, I submit that events were arranged so that he did lose it, just so\nthat Sev would climb inside Sidero (not for protection from the winged\nbeing; he died anyway), then \"fall\" to land on the \"cell\", to cause the\nblackout, which caused the Claw to come into existence. When Sev hears\nsomeone, who turns out to be Sidero, coming up the metal stairs he notes:\n\"Once there was a clatter, as of a sword or helmet dropped, and another\npause before the faltering footsteps came again. I was descending toward\nsomething that some other fled; there seemed no doubt of that.\" It is never\nmentioned what was dropped or what Sidero fled. Sev describes him as\n\"terrified\" and \"trembling\". Remember, this is an android. I submit that\nwhat was dropped was the remnant of Sidero's damaged arm and what he fled\nwas a guilty conscious and, possibly, Tzadkiel's wrath. The guilt was\nbecause he had struck a man--Sev--in anger--the first time this coming event\nhappened. He damaged his arm in the same \"fall\" that would kill Sev minutes\nlater. He is wary of Sev, asking if Sev is loyal to the ship. When Sev\nanswers: \"True to the death, if need be.\", the answer is ironical, as it\nshortly turns out, but it calms Sidero, who then allows Sev to effect some\nrepairs. Sidero apparently thinks Sev has forgiven him for what, for Sev,\nhas yet to happen, or realizes that this is a different version of Sev.\nSidero mentions that the ship sails in and out of time and that he has no\nidea how many times men he regards as hazardous to the ship--those who don't\nfollow orders--have tried to destroy him. In other words, he has human\nemotions and sometimes acts on them. Then regrets it. But he is willing to\ndo whatever his captain--Tzadkiel--wishes, whatever the personal cost, even\nif he has to do it twice.\n\n Sidero, Gunnie, and even Tzadkiel all acknowledge the ships temporal\nanomalies. After Sev's \"trial\" the Tzadkiel who is the ship's captain didn't\neven know about Sev's adventures.\n\n Before you dismiss this out of hand, please reread the sections of\n_Urth_ where Sev is on the ship with the above in mind. Many of the parts I\nhave outlined above have no explanation outside of some similar\ninterpretation. And remember the final words Tzadkiel had to say to Sev on\nthe ship:\n\n \"Yours is a race of pawns,\" Tzadkiel told me. \"You move forward only,\nunless we move you back to begin the game again. But not all the pieces on\nthe board are pawns.\"\n\nRoy" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Mark Millman", "address": "mark_millman at hmco.com" }, "date": "1999-04-26T08:39:41+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Blackout", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 25 April 1999 at 7:51 am GMT, Roy C. Lackey wrote:\n[snip]\n\n Another occasion is, obviously, when Tzad\nrevivifies Sev after his death at the bottom of\nthe airshaft. It has been assumed that Sev died\nfrom the fall, yet Sev notes: \"Intellectually, I knew\nwe could fall but slowly in the ship; I was even\nhalf-aware that we fell no faster at the lower levels.\nAnd yet we were falling, air whistling by faster\nand faster, the side of the airshaft a dark blur.\"\nClearly, the laws of physics are being violated, or\nthe \"fall\" was not a simple fall. He sees his dead,\nbroken body: \"He lay between two great machines,\nalready splattered with some dark lubricant.\"\nEarlier, he had been told by Idas, who had slipped\naway from a gang of sailors working to repair the\nlights: \"Something conductive must have fallen\nacross the terminals of one of the big cells, but no\none can find out what it was. Anyway, the plates\nburned through. Some cables too, and that shouldn't\nhave happened.\" No, and it wouldn't have, in the\nnatural course of events.\n\n[snip]\n\n It is my contention that the proximate cause of\nthe blackout was Sev--inside Sidero--landing, at\nthe terminus of his \"fall\", atop one of the \"cells\"\n(one of the \"two great machines\" mentioned above)\nshorting it out. Sidero would make a great conductor\nof electrical current. Whether the \"fall\" killed him or he\nwas electrocuted doesn't matter. The ship's crew\ncouldn't find what caused the short because Sidero\nleft the scene and Sev was brought back to life and\nmoved to a safer location by Zak and/or Gunnie.\n\n[snip]" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Surely the \"dark lubricant\" is actually blood; it would\nbe typical of Severian to misidentify it. Since Sidero\nis, at least metaphorically (but quite likely, at least in\npart, literally) a \"man of iron\", falling toward an elec-\ntrical device, perhaps the fall is accelerated by mag-\nnetic attraction--which both supports Mr. Lackey's\narguments and saves him from having to accuse\nWolfe of violating physical law (in this instance, any-\nway). It could even have been the power drain\ncaused by the activation of the \"great machines\",\nespecially if they were being abused for a purpose\noutside their design parameters, that caused the\nblack-out, without necessarily having to posit that\nSeverian or Sidero shorted out the devices, bridged\nthe cells, or what you please.\n\nMark Millman" } ] } ] }