The Book of the Long Sun Question

Daniel Petersen · 20 Sep 2011, 08:08 · from 2011-September.txt.gz

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From: danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com (Daniel Petersen)
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:08:54 +0100
Subject: (urth) The Book of the Long Sun Question
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Thanks for clearing that up about the Neighbours, Gerry.  I do recall that's
what it was now.  Which is weird and disturbing in a way (from our fellow
human perspective) - but I guess they were doing it benevolently -
innoculation or something.

You also said:  'It is hardly unique to the inhumi.  The farmer is sincere
in his concern for his cattle.  The slave owner may be solicitous regarding
the comfort of his slaves.'

Yes, but the Inhumi/Human situation is a little more like one human using
another, not as a slave, but as *cattle* - to be slaughtered and eaten.  To
get caught up in the concerns of your food source in this way seems more
complex than the examples you cite, and full of the tensions that can only
come from sentient-to-sentient interactions in a morally dubious (not to say
objectionable) scenario.  It's like the slave situation to some degree, but
again, more like one of a tribe of cannibals finding himself concerned with
the missionary they're preparing for dinner.

-DOJP

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 11:12 PM, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote:

> **
> *From:* Daniel Petersen <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com>
>
> > I think I remember hearing on this list the theory that the inhumi (be it
> just Quetzal
> > or others also in addition to him) boarded the Whorl (presumably by means
> of the sort
> > of 'space-flight' they're described as performing in Short Sun) for the
> purpose of
> > reconnoitring a potential food source.  That strikes me as fairly
> straightforward and plausible.
>
> As I recall matters, we were told that it was the people who later became
> known as the Neighbours who boarded the Whorl as it approached their system,
> and infected it with inhumi as an experiment.
>
> This works better as it seems unlikely that the inhumi could have flown
> that distance - they could only fly between the twin planets when they were
> in close conjunction.  And also they would probably need some sort of
> technology to get into the Whorl having landed on it.  Carrying a lot of
> equipment would have made flight difficult.  And how could they have hit it
> anyway?  The Whorl has little gravity to pull them in.  The Neighbours, by
> contrast, had legitimate spacecraft.
>
>
> > Quetzal, however, is the mystery.  I honestly can't decide if he's
> sinister or sincere in his
> > intentions and actions.  Maybe he can't decide either.  Maybe he has
> lingered there this
> > long, using them as his food source, but also finding himself caught up
> in their politics
> > and drama with some genuine concern.  Indeed, the tensions in his
> character between
> > exploitation of and empathy with his 'hosts' is perhaps inherent to the
> form-shifting nature
> > of the inhumi.
>
> It is hardly unique to the inhumi.  The farmer is sincere in his concern
> for his cattle.  The slave owner may be solicitous regarding the comfort of
> his slaves.
>
> - Gerry Quinn
>
>
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