{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6521", "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": 6521, "subject": "Tracking Song", "messages": 3, "voices": 2, "first": "2014-03-18T14:33:16+00:00", "last": "2014-03-18T16:04:22+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Antonin Scriabin", "address": "kierkegaurdian at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-03-18T14:33:16+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Tracking Song", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I've found little snippets online talking about this story, but I wanted to\nsee what the list thought of this idea: the planet / moon is undergoing\nsome kind of accelerated evolution. Here is my idea:\n\nAt some point in the past, human colonizers landed on the planet, built the\nunderground city / research center, and explored the surface.\n\nSomething went wrong, that left the colonizers stranded on the planet.\nSome remained underground, eventually becoming the half-machine, half-man\ndenizens. They seem to have forgotten how to manage the giant mechs.\n\nOthers tried their luck on the surface, and they evolved rapidly for some\nreason, which explains why the various species the narrator runs into are\nalmost all humanoids of varying sizes / social structures, speak the same\nlanguage (or one very close), etc. They have filled most of the ecological\nniches, which explains the rampant pseudo-cannibalism.\n\nThe narrator is a member of a rescue team, and through some accident is\nleft behind by his crew on the Great Sleigh, which could be some kind of\nspaceship that can also operate on land, or a vehicle left over from the\ncolonizers. We know that individuals on the Sleigh have interacted with\nsome of the humanoid tribes, giving them instructions (not to harm certain\nbirds, etc) that imply some sort of terraforming sequence is in the works,\nsome way to make the planet more livable. Perhaps they settled on this\nplan after realizing that the first colonizers had rapidly changed form,\nand were no longer \"recoverable\" humans as such.\n\nI think the man with wings that the narrator sees at the end of the story\nis simply a member of the rescue team (his crew) wearing some kind of\nbiohazard suit / flying device (we know that gravity is very low on this\nplanet, which would make jetpack travel much easier)." } ] }, { "message_id": "<1395158137.2300.YahooMailNeo@web120301.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>", "from": { "name": "DAVID STOCKHOFF", "address": "dstockhoff at verizon.net" }, "date": "2014-03-18T15:55:37+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Tracking Song", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "That pretty much lines up with what I have always thought. Humans are visitors to the planet/moon (who nevertheless seem somewhat familiar with it), and yet they also are natives, having evolved there. This presents an initially baffling conundrum, but it's actually simple if you assume the passage of huge amounts of time---tens of thousands of years. Terraforming and interstellar travel both offer well-accepted explanations for these extremes.\n\nIf not terraforming, then at least some kind of Blishian star-seeding. This explanation would both allow and require the extraplanetary colonizers to leave the planet alone for a far longer time than terraforming would, and the surface could have been settled much sooner if it were always habitable. The underground dwellers are those least adapted to living on the surface and have adapted slightly by becoming dwarfish and using technology, while the surface dwellers have evolved dramatically as depicted. \n\nThe dwarf might be taken as a sign that this evolution was not desired, however. And would \"improving\" circumstances slow evolution (because selection pressures become weaker) or speed it (because humans could interact more with the environment)?\n\nOn the other hand, why bother with a moon/tiny planet at all? Could it be our moon? Does the story track with travel around a moon the size of ours? If so, it's been heavily terraformed already.\n\n\n\n\n\nOn Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:40 AM, Antonin Scriabin wrote:\n \nI've found little snippets online talking about this story, but I wanted to see what the list thought of this idea: the planet / moon is undergoing some kind of accelerated evolution. Here is my idea:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At some point in the past, human colonizers landed on the planet, built the underground city / research center, and explored the surface.\n\nSomething went wrong, that left the colonizers stranded on the planet. Some remained underground, eventually becoming the half-machine, half-man denizens. They seem to have forgotten how to manage the giant mechs.\n\nOthers tried their luck on the surface, and they evolved rapidly for some reason, which explains why the various species the narrator runs into are almost all humanoids of varying sizes / social structures, speak the same language (or one very close), etc. They have filled most of the ecological niches, which explains the rampant pseudo-cannibalism.\n\nThe narrator is a member of a rescue team, and through some accident is left behind by his crew on the Great Sleigh, which could be some kind of spaceship that can also operate on land, or a vehicle left over from the colonizers. We know that individuals on the Sleigh have interacted with some of the humanoid tribes, giving them instructions (not to harm certain birds, etc) that imply some sort of terraforming sequence is in the works, some way to make the planet more livable. Perhaps they settled on this plan after realizing that the first colonizers had rapidly changed form, and were no longer \"recoverable\" humans as such. \n\nI think the man with wings that the narrator sees at the end of the story is simply a member of the rescue team (his crew) wearing some kind of biohazard suit / flying device (we know that gravity is very low on this planet, which would make jetpack travel much easier). \n\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Antonin Scriabin", "address": "kierkegaurdian at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-03-18T16:04:22+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Tracking Song", "in_reply_to": "<1395158137.2300.YahooMailNeo@web120301.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The only reason I think it might be a somewhat distant planet / moon is\nthat a lot of time seems to have elapsed between the initial colonizers and\nwhat I am calling the rescue team. If it were *our* moon, one could\npresume they would come before the evolutionary changes had taken place.\nIt is also possible that the Great Sleigh doesn't travel around the\ncircumference of the body, but makes some smaller (more northerly?) track.\nHard to tell based on the descriptions of the narrators movements if it is\na moon-like level of gravity or some larger body that is still smaller than\nEarth. Assuming the humans in question come from Earth. Gah." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 11:55 AM, DAVID STOCKHOFF wrote:\nThat pretty much lines up with what I have always thought. Humans are\nvisitors to the planet/moon (who nevertheless seem somewhat familiar with\nit), and yet they also are natives, having evolved there. This presents an\ninitially baffling conundrum, but it's actually simple if you assume the\npassage of huge amounts of time---tens of thousands of years. Terraforming\nand interstellar travel both offer well-accepted explanations for these\nextremes.\n\nIf not terraforming, then at least some kind of Blishian star-seeding.\nThis explanation would both allow and require the extraplanetary colonizers\nto leave the planet alone for a far longer time than terraforming would,\nand the surface could have been settled much sooner if it were always\nhabitable. The underground dwellers are those least adapted to living on\nthe surface and have adapted slightly by becoming dwarfish and using\ntechnology, while the surface dwellers have evolved dramatically as\ndepicted.\n\nThe dwarf might be taken as a sign that this evolution was not desired,\nhowever. And would \"improving\" circumstances slow evolution (because\nselection pressures become weaker) or speed it (because humans could\ninteract more with the environment)?\n\nOn the other hand, why bother with a moon/tiny planet at all? Could it be\nour moon? Does the story track with travel around a moon the size of ours?\nIf so, it's been heavily terraformed already.\n\n\n\n On Tuesday, March 18, 2014 10:40 AM, Antonin Scriabin <\nkierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:\n\nI've found little snippets online talking about this story, but I wanted\nto see what the list thought of this idea: the planet / moon is undergoing\nsome kind of accelerated evolution. Here is my idea:\n\nAt some point in the past, human colonizers landed on the planet, built\nthe underground city / research center, and explored the surface.\n\nSomething went wrong, that left the colonizers stranded on the planet.\nSome remained underground, eventually becoming the half-machine, half-man\ndenizens. They seem to have forgotten how to manage the giant mechs.\n\nOthers tried their luck on the surface, and they evolved rapidly for some\nreason, which explains why the various species the narrator runs into are\nalmost all humanoids of varying sizes / social structures, speak the same\nlanguage (or one very close), etc. They have filled most of the ecological\nniches, which explains the rampant pseudo-cannibalism.\n\nThe narrator is a member of a rescue team, and through some accident is\nleft behind by his crew on the Great Sleigh, which could be some kind of\nspaceship that can also operate on land, or a vehicle left over from the\ncolonizers. We know that individuals on the Sleigh have interacted with\nsome of the humanoid tribes, giving them instructions (not to harm certain\nbirds, etc) that imply some sort of terraforming sequence is in the works,\nsome way to make the planet more livable. Perhaps they settled on this\nplan after realizing that the first colonizers had rapidly changed form,\nand were no longer \"recoverable\" humans as such.\n\nI think the man with wings that the narrator sees at the end of the story\nis simply a member of the rescue team (his crew) wearing some kind of\nbiohazard suit / flying device (we know that gravity is very low on this\nplanet, which would make jetpack travel much easier).\n\n_______________________________________________" } ] } ] }