Victor's parents, abos, Liev's postpostulate, and more

StoneOx17 · 04 Jul 2002, 01:28 · from urth-v0207.mbox · original
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From: StoneOx17 at aol.com
Subject: (urth) Victor's parents, abos, Liev's postpostulate, and more
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 21:28:31 EDT
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One of the interesting questions in 5HC is whether humans and abos are
two, or one peoples, and whether they can interbreed.

Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com> speculates

> The diminutive Shadow Children and the full statured abos are two
> branches of descent from an original group that arrived at the twin
> planets. This group lost or cut contact with Earth, which proceeded to
> develop more distant colonies that were more reliable investments in
> that ships or at least information came back. The forgotten colonists
> largely descend into savagery while some imbibe the native vegetation
> and change themselves with it, like some kind of pseudo-evolutional
> catalyst, gaining small bodies that are easier to keep fed on the scarce
> game and forage, and possibly some kind of biofeedback control, that
> would account for the age-changing and shape-changing abilities. The
> telepathy might be a real ability granted by the plant, but might just
> as well be an artifact of the need to explain why the Frenchmen came
> when they did. =20

I have another take on this question.  I think the above scenario was=20
essentially manufactured by Victor (for reasons described later), and=20
presented in "A Story" as a myth of the Free People.   As I remarked here a=20
while ago, the main evidence that humans and abos can interbreed is the=20
existence of Victor, who is apparently half-abo.  Marsch writes in his diar=
y:

"This morning we even passed through a tiny settlement the boy called=20
'Frogtown,' a name I suppose would not much recommend itself to the=20
inhabitants. I asked if he weren't ashamed to use a name like that when he =
is=20
of French descent, and he told me with great seriousness that, no, he was=20
half of the blood of the Free People (his name for the Annese) and that it=20
was with them that his loyalties lie.  He believes his father, in short,=20
though he is perhaps the only person in the world who does.  Yet he
is a bright boy; such is the power of parental teaching."

Marsch is, of course, wrong about which of Victor's parents was of the bloo=
d=20
of the Free People.  And the following passage casts doubt upon whether Roy=20
is truly Victor's father in blood:

R. T: "... And you may forget what you have heard! My son is legitimate; we=20
were married by the priest at the church of St. Madeleine."

I believe that Roy is misunderstanding the rumors; that these rumors doubt=20
not whether Victor's parents were married, but whether Roy was really his=20
father.  If abos and humans can't interbreed (and if Victor's mother is=20
really abo) Roy can't be Victor's father.  But what are we to make of Dollo=
's=20
law, Liev's postpostulate, and everything the Old Wise One says in "A Story=
"=20
about a pre-French wave of human colonization originating in Atlantis, Mu,=20
Gondwanaland or Africa?  One important thing to note is that these=20
speculations are all due to Victor (either in his notes written in prison o=
r=20
in "A Story").  I think he is basing all his speculations on the (false)=20
assumption that humans and the Free People can interbreed, and thus must=20
originally be of one stock.  Victor may be aware of the problem (the=20
following quote is somewhat ambiguous).  In describing a dream, he says=20

"... I looked at my father, who seemed a red-bearded giant, and knew what=20
would happen to his hands so that he could no longer follow his trade.  My=20
mother--yes, I am sure it was she, though I have never understood how one o=
f=20
the Free People could bear a child to my father ..."

He may have thus invented Liev's Postpostulate in order to avoid facing the=20
fact that his blood father is not Roy, but some abo.  As Marsch says (even=20
though, ironically, he misunderstands everything), "such is the power of=20
parental teaching."

Indeed, Marsch has a different explanation, namely convergent evolution, fo=
r=20
the existence of two peoples almost identical (even to foreskins!) except f=
or=20
opposable thumbs.  He writes in his diary:

"Certainly some of the more fantastic [stories] must be pure myth, but ther=
e=20
remain a great many reports of a native race so similar to human beings tha=
t=20
they might almost have been the descendants of an earlier wave of=20
colonization.  So similar, in fact, that old Trenchard can deceive the=20
credulous with his claim to be Annese, and on a planet where we find plants=
,=20
birds, and mammals so near the Terrestial types, a form strikingly like man=20
is surely not impossible--the manlike form may be optimal for this biospher=
e."

I have a few more questions and observations about 5HC.
=20
Has anybody noticed the number of times numbers are used instead of names i=
n=20
5HC? In VRT, Victor's school notebook is inscribed:

name: Rm E2S14 Seat 18
school: Armstrong School
city: Frenchman's Landing

=46rom an interrogation of VRT, we have:
Q: Who are you?
A: I am the prisoner in cell 143.

=46rom the interview with Mrs. Blount: "The ship we come on was the=20
nine-eight-six, which was not the first one, but one of the more earlier of=20
them.  I've heard that before they used to have names for them, which I thi=
nk=20
would be prettier.

And in the archetypical instance of this, the narrator of the first novella=20
is called Number Five by his father.  This is an interesting theme, even if=
 I=20
don't entirely know what to make of it.

I was puzzling over the "sometimes like a man, sometimes like old wood,"=20
quote, and noticed that if you look at the previous conversation, it appear=
s=20
that M. Culot's grandfather said it in French (possibly "... parfois comme =
le=20
bois vieux"?) Could it be a bilingual pun somehow?  I don't know enough=20
French to answer this.

Finally, describing his communications with his fellow prisoner, Victor says

"I have filled in the punctuation myself.  Forty-seven does not use=20
punctuation, and if I have misrepresented his intention, I hope he will=20
forgive me."

This seemed like a clue to me, so I looked at all of Forty-seven's=20
conversations.  It seems impossible to repunctuate any of them and obtain a=20
different meaning.  Then I realized that the punctuation has been filled in=20
not only in all of Forty-seven's conversations, but in all of the interview=
s=20
Marsch conducted, as well as the prison interviews of Victor.  This is too=20
much material for me to enjoy reading through, while looking for ways to=20
repunctuate, but I would encourage anybody on this mailing list who enjoys=20
this sort of thing to try it. =20

-Stone Ox-

--=20
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