How Marsch Knows #5 Is A Clone

Robert Borski · 19 Jun 1998, 00:03 · from urth-v0014.mbox · original

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From: "Robert Borski" <rborski at coredcs.com>
Subject: (urth) How Marsch Knows #5 Is A Clone
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:03:55
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Recently, Adam-Louis Stephanides, among others, has wondered:

"But even if V.R.T. had somehow inherited Marsch's knowledge, how would
that tell him #5's a clone?  He hasn't seen #5's father; all #5 tells him
is "'I'm supposed to look a great deal like my father,'" something not
uncommon among us non-clones, not "'I'm supposed to look exactly like my
father did at my age'"; and as far as I know clones per se have no
distinguishing marks.  It's a strange passage (and has been so noted
earlier on this list, IIRC).  Maybe he saw a photograph of #5's father
somewhere.  Another, perhaps less likely, possibility is that V.R.T. has
heard rumors that there is a wealthy family of clones somewhere on St.
Croix, and when he meets #5 and hear his remark he thinks "Oh, maybe this
is _that_ family."  I agree that it's best to stick as close to the text
as possible, but I think the above suggestions are preferable in this
regard to positing an otherwise unmentioned ability in V.R.T."

Several answers suggest themselves about Marsch's knowledge re the Number
Five-Maitre clone connection:

In one of the transcribed interviews read by the junior officer assigned to
Marsch's case, Constant asks: "You found its [the Maison du Chien]
proprietor remarkable?" To me this implies at least more than a casual
meeting between the two; but perhaps even more significantly, it's noted by
Marsch/VRT that he's been invited by Maitre to intercede on the
clonemeister's behalf ("...the brothelkeeper at the Cave Canem...had=20
earlier that evening asked my help in dealing with his 'son'" [p.169,
Scribners]) -- probably because Number Five has been talking murderously of
Maitre during his drug-induced interrogations.

It really shouldn't have been that difficult to visually ascertain Number
Five and Maitre were identical twins, even though separated by several
decades. =20

But even had Marsch not met Maitre previously (meaning Marsch/VRT is lying
in both cases above, the motives for which escape me), Marsch has met with
Aunt Jeannine several times and certainly she could have told him of the
clonal connection.

scolex/Robert Borski (who's been very busy converting CAVE CANEM to HTML,
so he can spread his heretical notions about 5TH HEAD all over the
electronic globe)

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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