The Beautiful Ones, They Always Hurt U

Talarican · 26 Mar 2000, 13:19 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Talarican" <exultnttalarican at mindspring.com>
Subject: (urth) The Beautiful Ones, They Always Hurt U
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 13:19:00
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or, Revenge of the Annese

I take it "No Planets Strike" plays off the old legend that the animals
present in the stable during the Nativity were briefly gifted with speech.

What struck me in "No Planets Strike" was what a wimpy galactic authority
seems to be operating. A (shapechanging!) people who use swords they can't
even make, but must obtain in trade, imprison spacegoing humans on their
planet and torture them if they misbehave, and the humans cower in their
starships and do nothing about it? (and keep selling them swords?!)

You can tell this isn't Typhon's empire, for sure. Typhon would send a squad
of chem soldiers with slug guns, or an erentarus of  fusiliers, to Sidhe to
kick Beautiful butt and take Beautiful names.

It's as though the humans were ruled and protected by a United Federation of
Planets which not only has a Prime Directive, but actually takes it
seriously (unlike in Star Trek). Or, maybe the attraction of the Beautiful
Ones is so irrestistible as to overcome the threat of military force (but
chem soldiers?...)

I wonder what the point of the Beautiful Ones' prohibition on human
reproduction was? It seems more a parallel with the Sojourn in Egypt than
the Slaughter of the Innocents. Better yet, how is it implemented? Are the
humans forbidden to, um, make babies, or are any who are born kidnapped? The
name "Sidhe" seems to imply a connection with the Celtic tutelary beings
notorious for child-snatching. What do they do with the children they take?
And surely they don't substitute a "changeling" of their own for it.

And that miraculous child is supposed to save them?  Wonder how?

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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