Pike's ghost

David Stockhoff · 22 Nov 2011, 21:39 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:39:41 -0500
Subject: (urth) Pike's ghost
In-Reply-To: <4ECC14F0.7090203 at gmail.com>
References: <CAM3O41KHLfi5D7SqNJs_my0nqXRzTuxhDffSsvBFXPFa-xL1WA at mail.gmail.com>
	<4ECC05AB.2050403 at gmail.com> <4ECC0DB4.6050407 at gmail.com>
	<4ECC0FD2.8080103 at gmail.com> <4ECC12F6.9090107 at verizon.net>
	<4ECC14F0.7090203 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4ECC169C.5000100 at verizon.net>

On 11/22/2011 4:32 PM, James Wynn wrote:
> On 11/22/2011 3:24 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
>> On 11/22/2011 4:10 PM, James Wynn wrote:
>>>
>>>>> James Wynn wrote:
>>>>> Now, I want to include a another wrinkle I've been toying with and 
>>>>> you might
>>>>> not have see it. I've always considered it a remarkable 
>>>>> coincidence Horn was
>>>>> dying on Green just as Silk was killing himself in front of Hy's 
>>>>> casket. But
>>>>> if dream-travel is Time-travel this would not have been a problem 
>>>>> for the
>>>>> Neighbors. So is possible that when Horn starts his mission, Silk has
>>>>> already slashed his wrists. Consequently, when Mucor sets out for 
>>>>> Silk the
>>>>> only one she finds is the Rajan. When she sees him, she recognizes 
>>>>> him as
>>>>> Silk and tell him of her mission. He gives her the warning that 
>>>>> Mucor will
>>>>> later deliver to Horn. But then he dutifully takes her to the past 
>>>>> so she
>>>>> can "find Silk". When she sees where he has taken her, she 
>>>>> realizes that
>>>>> this is not the Silk she is looking for ** so she returns to her 
>>>>> body as all
>>>>> dream-travelers do, by waking up.
>>>>
>>>> Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:
>>>> '[T]he only one she finds is the Rajan' implying that the Rajan was 
>>>> present in some place at that particular moment in time, with no 
>>>> other Silk present in any place at that particular moment in time.
>>
>> Why is that not the Silk she is looking for?
>
> Because she is looking for a Silk that Horn can bring to New Viron. If 
> she takes _this_ Silk then there will _be_ no New Viron. Also, Wolfe 
> seems to be excluding temporal paradoxes. Mucor will not make a 
> decision to take Silk into the future since he has to stay and finish 
> the story of The Book of the Long Sun.

Ah, of course. All the more reason for Mucor not to make a speech like 
the ghost of Xmas Future.

Technically, she could have said, Psst, Silk---go to New Viron! But Silk 
would need more than that. Similarly, the Rajan did not need to take her 
so far back (at the lander would have been helpful), but I guess his 
time machine lacks precise controls.

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