5HC

Gerry Quinn · 25 Aug 2014, 09:53 · from 2014-August.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 10:53:06 +0100
Subject: (urth) 5HC
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W92D4EB04A302AD3FBDCA9CFDF0 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W92D4EB04A302AD3FBDCA9CFDF0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <53FB0782.7060501 at bindweed.com>

On 25/08/2014 04:13, Lee wrote:
>> Gerry Quinn: If you are thinking of Marsch's first visit to Saltimbanque Street,that was Victor.  The original Marsch never visited Sainte Croix.
>
> I can see that interpretation coming from Number Five's observation that a ship
> from Ste. Anne had landed on St. Croix the day before Marsch's first visit to
> 666 Satimbanque St.
Actually no, that but had nothing to do with my interpretation, which 
comes from the timeline clearly given during Marsch's interrogation 
(P205+ in my edition).  After splashing down on Sainte Anne, Marsch 
spent some months interviewing locals, before taking to the hills with 
Victor, where he died and Victor replaced him. Victor subsequently spent 
three years in the hills.  Then he came down and spent a year at 
Ronceveaux University, before departing for Sainte Croix, where he has 
been for over a year.

When No. 5 first meets (neo)Marsch, it is more than four years since his 
replacement by Victor.

> However, I notice that months pass between Marsch's first and second visit.
> Also, I think in his first visit Marsch is too familiar with cloning and
> the scanning process which created Mr. Million. Information from Earth Victor
> would likely not be privy to. Moreover, I don't think there would be travel from
> a major travel hub like Earth directly to a backwater like Ste. Anne. More likely,
> the direct travel is from Earth to the urbanized and civilized St. Croix.

Sainte Anne is not particularly a backwater.  Remember that Marsch's 
descriptions of the place relate to a backwater town, whereas on Saint 
Croix we see only a city.  In any case, Victor had two years in two 
different universities to familiarise himself with science and technology.

> Thus I continue to interpret that the first visit of Dr. Marsch was the real guy
> newly landed from Earth. After first meeting Dr. Veil, he then found passage to Ste.
> Anne for his anthropological studies for a few months, was replaced and then returned
> to St. Croix and  666 Saltimbanque St. later. Marsch's first visit was to meet Dr. Veil.

Even if you ignore his green eyes (and since Marsch noted that the boy's 
eyes were a startling green, without mentioning his own, we may infer 
that his were not - I am assuming of course that in the interests of a 
good story, Wolfe is no more inclined to invoke biometric passports than 
he is to give his characters cellphones) there is a clear time-gap of 
over 4 years between Marsch's replacement by Victor and the time of his 
arrest.  While No. 5's first meeting with Marsch appears to have 
happened about a year before his arrest.

>> all we know is that Marsch died and Victor took his place.
>
> Again, we do not "know" this (unless you count Wolfe's interview as evidence). Within
> the text, we are told the story that the boy died. Apparently, you do not believe this story?
>

Text that is plainly written by the boy (we arre practically told so in 
so many words when Wolfe tells us of the officer looking at the text, 
comparing it with Victor's school composition book, and nodding), who 
had a clear reason to write it.

- Gerry Quinn

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