Subject: (whorl) Revealed at Last! What (Would Have) Killed the Inhumi! (Maybe...)

From: Jim Henley <jhenley at nas-corp.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 13:42:09 +0000

They're cold-blooded. And they hibernate.

Best,

Jim

P.S. Do I need a Whorl name now? I'm thinking "Plasma"...

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---

From: Jim Henley <jhenley at nas-corp.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 16:18:32 +0000

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Urash, Tom [mailto:turash at firstam.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 1:52 PM
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Jim Henley [SMTP:jhenley at nas-corp.com]
> >
> 	Great guess! Do you have any text to support it?

I think so, Tom. Happily, David Liebling already gathered most of it for me
(http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/archives/#59) so I hope I can be permitted to
merely summarize.

1) all the reptilian imagery used to describe Krait et al. Not least, "It's
just occurred to me that you inhumi are rather like a kind of
lizard I've noticed in my garden..."

IIRC, the Rajan uses a lot of snake figuration to describe Krait at the pit.

2) It explains why the Rajan expects to find Jahlee alive under the stone -
he knows that they can slow their metabolism in unfavorable conditions.

3) Green is full of jungles and dinosaurs. I infer that it is warmer than
Blue. I'm inclined to think that the Rajan even describes it as warmer, but
I could be misremembering. (One other thought: cross-reference jungles,
dinosaurs, swamps and hot green planets in The Big Book of Science Fiction
Tropes and you find the entry for - Venus.)

4) They must be able to essentially shut down their metabolism on the
trajectory from Green to Blue. And it could be that it's the heat of early
reentry that revives them.

5) It's a perhaps slightly more practical secret to have than, "Hey, if we
start loving each other, you guys are dead meat!"

Put in list form, it doesn't look quite so impressive as it did in my brain.
But I'm sticking with it for now.

Other business: Let's just suppose for a minute that Bue is Ushas. That
means that Lune is either Green or it's gone. If Green is really Skuld/Venus
(as I think), then where is that pesky moon? Gone. Circumstantial evidence?
When Sev brings the New Sun, Urth floods. Okay, fine. But where do Dr.
Talos' "new continents" come from? From the tidal stress of Lune being
peeled off. cf "We All Die Naked," by James Blish.

Very strange thought I can't shake: What if Horn just _sees_ these extra
legs on everybody, because of his eye or something (esp. the Neighbors)? No,
I can't point to a single thing that would "prove" this. I'm possessed!

"Better Place" = Corridors of Time?

Best,

Jim