note Re: Short Sun blog

Roy C. Lackey · 29 Sep 2010, 07:16 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 02:16:00 -0500
Subject: (urth) note Re: Short Sun blog
References: <SNT123-W6646DDD9C7D6AE7E6744BCF660 at phx.gbl>	<4CA1F84D.5080109 at io.com><001401cb5f51$8ed67480$55ce4a0c@rclackey>
	<4CA29F68.5030800 at io.com>
Message-ID: <005901cb5fa6$310aeac0$32cf4a0c@rclackey>

Jeff Wilson wrote, quoted and wrote:
> >> Hello?! The Conciliator?!? Wields the Increate-given power to
> >> selectively turn back the clock? Jader's sister's illness doesn't
> >> subside and heal, it's just suddenly gone and she looks as healthy as
if
> >> she had never been ill. Other healing and resurrections are less
> >> complete, but in their limited extent they remain nigh-instantaneous.
> >
> > Dorcas is the one who came up with the theory that Sev's powers involved
> > turning back time to a point before the injury or illness occurred. That
> > theory is disproved by Sev's refashioning of Herena's withered arm into
a
> > normal arm. Her withered arm was a birth defect; there had never been a
time
> > when the arm had been normal. That power, and the power to bring the
dead
> > back to life, was a supernatural power.
>
> Of course it's supernatural - but it can also be a time-bending effect,
> just like Sampson's strength was supernatural but also was physical
> manipulation. If there are other Severians, there can be other Herenas
> with good arms.

If there are other Herenas, they aren't in the books. Anyway, I was agreeing
with you that Sev's power is divine in nature, not strictly biological.

I shouldn't even mention other biological oddities like this:

"Ever since I sat under Master Malrubius's instruction as a child, I have
known that the space between the suns is far from empty; many hundreds and
perhaps many thousands of voyages are made there. As I learned later, there
are other things too--the undine I twice encountered had told me that she
sometimes swam the void, and the winged being I had glimpsed in Father
Inire's book flew there." (URTH, chap. I, p-4)

I don't think either Juturna or Tzadkiel wore spacesuits when they swam in
the cold vacuum of space. Tzadkiel had magical powers, so we can dismiss
him, but I would pay to see Juturna take a flying leap and achieve escape
velocity. Given her size, it must have been a lot harder to do than for an
inhumi. But at least they would be breathing the same rarefied air. Eh?

I knew I shouldn't have brought it up, but I missed my nap today and I'm
feeling mean. <g>

-Roy

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