Travelin' Jahlee

thalassocrat at nym.hush.com · 16 Aug 2005, 00:59 · from 2005-August.txt.gz

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From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com (thalassocrat at nym.hush.com)
Date: Tue Aug 16 00:59:51 2005
Subject: (urth) Travelin' Jahlee
Message-ID: <200508160759.j7G7xlMf060625 at mailserver2.hushmail.com>

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:28:26 -0700 "Roy C. Lackey" 
<rclackey at stic.net> wrote:
>I want to get back to my original point in this thread. I wrote:
>
>>>So, the question is: If Sinew was attacked by Jahlee during the 
>first 2 or
>3 years of colonization, before she was able to make the Crossing 
>under her
>own power, how did she get to Blue?<<
>
>I still think the answer is that she traveled on a lander. But, on
>reflection, that 2-3 year window of opportunity has to be even 
>smaller. If
>Jahlee was in fact imprinted with the spirit of Chenille, then one 

>of her
>parents would first have to have fed on Chenille. Then Jahlee's 
>mother would
>have to go through the breeding cycle on Green to produce a 
>sentient Jahlee.
>That takes some amount of time. Then Jahlee had to mature enough 
>to be able
>to fly up to that room on the cliff, an amount of time she said 
>was "years".
>And she still wasn't experienced enough to make the Crossing at 
>that point.
>
>Something's wrong. There isn't enough time. But it makes it pretty 

>clear
>that she didn't get to Blue unaided.
>
>The problem is compounded by her own breeding cycle. After feeding 

>on Sinew
>she had to get back to Green to give birth to Krait. How did she 
>get back?
>Did she learn to fly well enough to make the Return Crossing while 

>on Blue?
>If so, did she learn before or after she attacked Sinew? How long 
>after
>feeding on a particular human's blood is the potential for 
>imprinting that
>person's spirit on any offspring viable? In other words, if Jahlee 

>had fed
>on another human after she fed on Sinew, would Krait have been 
>somebody
>else?
>
>It matters because it affects how much time Jahlee could have 
>spent on Blue
>before she had to get back to Green to become Krait's mother. I 
>don't see
>her coming to Blue on a lander, then learning how to fly properly 
>before
>attacking Sinew. I think she must have traveled both ways by 
>lander.
>
>The question then becomes, Did she board a lander to come to Blue, 

>at a time
>when she knew she was incapable of flying between planets, for her 

>own
>reasons? Or did someone(s) *put* her aboard a lander, presumably 
>on Green,
>for reasons unknown?
>
>I don't think Jahlee was just 'talking human' when she told 
>Abanja, "I was
>just a little girl when they put me on the lander." And if the 
>idea of a
>lander going from Green to Blue, as Jahlee implied, was a surprise 

>to
>Abanja, she failed to show it.
>
>I'm still missing something here.
>
>-Roy

An atempt at a timeline. Don't have the books with me so this is 
all from memory & so no doubt wrong in places:

1. Green/Blue conjunctions happen every 6 Blue years (see Horn's 
Quetzal speculations in OBW). I think this means that 7 Green years 
= 6 Blue years. Green is hotter, therefore probably closer to the 
sun, therefore has a shorter year. But the difference doesn't seem 
to be very great, and this ratio seems to fit with eg Abanja's "25 
[Green] years".

2. As OBW begins the next conjunction is 2 [?] years off - see Horn 
family discussion about guns etc after Marrow et al depart. 

3. So setting year 0 = Horn's arrival on Blue, OBW starts in Blue 
year 20. So conjunctions should happen in years 4, 10, 16 & 22. 

4. Inhumi cross from Blue to Green at conjunction. Now I don't 
recall anything explicitly saying it was conjunction-time when 
Jahlee attacked Sinew, but assume so for testing: ie, Blue year 4. 

5. It probably doesn't takle more than a few days for inhumi to 
make the crossing. Disregarding her age for the moment, at a pinch 
Jahlee could have left Green, somehow or other stumbled across 
Horn's family & made the return to give birth to Sinew, all in Blue 
year 4.

6. Four Blue years is around 5 Green years. If inhumi spawn and 
mature very quickly (like frogs?), this may give just enough time 
for Jahlee's parent to take the blood of one of Auk's party on 
green, and for Jahlee to spend "years" getting strong enough to 
make the crossing. Is there anything in the story Fava tells at the 
beginning of IGJ which might give more of a clue about how long it 
takes inhumi to mature?

7. There's perhaps a little more time if Jahlee's parent/s was/were 
actually amongst Auk's party, ready to spawn upon landing. I don't 
think we ever get to hear very much about most of Auk's companions; 
I wonder if there's any hints of inhuminity in what we do hear?

8. But on the other hand, there's an added time constraint not 
discussed so far. Jahlee as a child has heard about crossing to 
Blue from others, who presumably must have made the return trip.

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