Relative vs. Absolute time, cont'd

Tony A. West · 01 Sep 1998, 07:52 · from urth-v0018.mbox · original

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From: "Tony A. West" <severian at luna.email.ne.jp>
Subject: (urth) Relative vs. Absolute time, cont'd
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 16:52:35 +0900
Message-ID: <urth-v0018-0071 at digest.urth.net>
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ANYWAY, I
came to that conclusion about the Tzadkiel being the most likely candidate
for the eclipse while mapping out this whole relative vs. absolute time
mess.  I've come up with some very interesting little "maps," though!
Severian did tell all to OB&F in the House of Day, so of course they knew
they must do something to create such an eclipse in their future.

I'll tell you, though, their TWO "first" meetings on the Tzadkiel have been
bugging me all day!  Both meetings are treated as first meetings; the one in
Severian's stateroom at the beginning of the book, and the one when the
Tzadkiel has returned close to Typhon-era Urth.  At the later meeting,
Famulimus says to Severian, "tell me we'll meet again," or something to that
effect, to which Severian replies "many times."  Now, in terms of relative
time, this would seem to be their first meeting (for OB&F), the Apu-Punchau
sequence excluded.  But in terms of absolute time, they would have met
before since the time is far before Severian's birth.   So that's eliminated
and we're left with relative time...  Which immediately leads us to the
problem of the meeting in the stateroom, which then would not have been
OB&F's first encounter with Severian, as they indeed indicate it is.  What
are your thoughts?

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