Is Agia a Robot?

brunians at brunians.org · 18 Jun 2010, 15:58 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: brunians at brunians.org (brunians at brunians.org)
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:58:13 -0400
Subject: (urth) Is Agia a Robot?
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I don't know who woke her, but this is what I currently think.

.

> This doesn't make Agia Hethor's doll. He is missing his doll and would
> no doubt accept a replacement, not caring whether it is flesh or
> synthetic, but probably preferring synthetic.
>
> But given another Wolfean principle, Conservation of Characters, it
> makes sense. Agia knows about Hethor's powers and does what she needs to
> do to control him. However, if she laid in his box before she mastered
> him ... then she was not under her own control on the Quasar.
>
> So we have a sex doll who was pliant, was apparently stolen, then found,
> but she now seeks and gains control of her owner. Who stole her? Who
> "woke" her? Agilus?
>
> This is a whole space opera subplot in itself.
>
> Ryan Dunn wrote:
>> "M-m-master, when I was on the Quasar I had a paracoita, a doll, you
>> see, a genicon, so beautiful with her great pupils as dark as wells, her
>> i- irises purple like asters or pansies blooming in summer, Master,
>> whole beds of them, I thought, had b-been gathered to make those eyes,
>> that flesh that always felt sun-warmed. Wh-wh-where is she now, my own
>> scopolagna, my poppet? Let h-h-hooks be buried in the hands that took
>> her! Crush them, Master, beneath stones. Where has she gone from the
>> lemon-wood box I made for her, where she never slept at all, for she lay
>> with me all night, not in the box, the lemon-wood box where she waited
>> all day, watch-and-watch, Master, smiling when I laid her in so she
>> might smile when I drew her out. How soft her hands were, her little
>> hands. Like d-d-doves. She might have flown with them about the cabin
>> had she not chosen instead to lie with me."
>>
>> (Hethor's rant in SotT, Chap. 30, Night)
>>
>> .
>>
>> And it is verified this poppet may be Agia, in the following
>> passages....
>>
>> .
>>
>> "Do you see rings or earrings? A silver lamia twined about my neck? Are
>> my arms constricted with circlets of gold? If not, you may safely assume
>> I have no officer of the Household Troops for my paramour. There's an
>> old sailor, ugly and poor, who presses me to live with him."
>>
>> (Agia to Severian in SotT, Chap. 19, Botanic Gardens)
>>
>> .
>>
>> "Everything you suspect is true - is that enough? I will be dead
>> tomorrow, and shewill wed the old man who dotes on her, or someone else.
>> I wanted her to do it sooner."
>>
>> (Agilus on Agia in SotT, Chap. XX, Agilus)
>>
>> .
>>
>> "...you were trying to kill me before Saltus."
>>
>> "With the avern. Yes, of course."
>>
>> "And afterward. Agia, I know who Hethor is."
>>
>> I waited for her to reply, but she said nothing.
>>
>> "On the day we met, you told me there was an old sailor who wanted you
>> to live with him. Old and ugly and poor, you called him, and I could not
>> understand why you, a lovely young woman, should even consider his offer
>> when you were not actually starving. You had your twin to protect you,
>> and a little money coming in from the shop."
>>
>> It was my turn to be surprised. She said, "I should have gone to him and
>> mastered him. I have mastered him now."
>>
>> (Severian and Agia in SotL, Chap. 15, He Is Ahead of You!)
>>
>> .
>>
>> ...ryan
>>
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