urth inhumation and unwanted change

Charles Reed · 26 Nov 2002, 18:55 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: "Charles Reed" <cmreed at link.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) urth inhumation and unwanted change
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 12:55:52 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2262 at digest.urth.net>
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Jerry Friedman wrote:

>As I recall from previous discussions, the problem with this
>suggestion is that we sometimes see Green at "full", on the opposite
>side of Blue from the Short Sun.  Maybe the most obvious example is
>at the very end on _Long Sun_.  If I remember correctly, Green rises
>as the sun sets.  I could never find any way to get the celestial
>mechanics to work out, and I suspect that Wolfe just did what he felt
>like.  Though who knows?  There could be some exotic coupled orbits
>that make everything work.=20
>...
>

Well, this is the second time in the span of a couple of hours that I'm=20
forced to admit to a mistake in celestial mechanics.  Actually, I had=20
forgotten about Green being "full" which does, of course, mean that Blue=20
is between Green and the sun.  Nice catch, and thanks for correcting me.

Even in this case, though, it's still possible for Green to not be a=20
satellite of Blue.  Green could simply have an orbit that takes it=20
outside of Blue's orbit, and be of such an eccentricity that the=20
"outside" part results in a conjunction every six years.  But it seems=20
like in this situation, a collision would be bound to occur eventually.

But there I go talking about celestial mechanics again.  I guess I=20
should just shut up about that subject, before I have to eat my words=20
again, huh?  :-)

>>But recall that the Green of the SS books and the Lune of the NS books=20
>>exist concurrently.  CONCURRENTLY.  That is, at the _same_time_ Green is
>>
>>approaching and receding from Blue, Lune is making its regular, steady,=20
>>non-varying orbit around Urth.
>>
>>So how can Green possibly be Lune?  It can't.
>>
>>So how can Blue possibly be Urth/Ushas?  It can't.
>>
>
>(Lots, maybe all, of the people who think Blue/Green is Urth/Lune
>believe that Silkhorn's dreams transport him in time as well as space.)
>

OK, if you stipulate that astral projection is also time travel, then=20
I'll concede that the possibility remains open.  But  why would time=20
travel occur only when projecting to Urth?  There are projections to=20
three different planets that I'm aware of: =20

1)  In the pit, Horn projects back home to Lizard.  This is somewhat=20
speculative since this whole scene might be a hallucination, but I think=20
it much more probable that it's projection, albeit projection without=20
Horn being aware of what is happening.  If it is projection, then=20
there's no indication of a time-shift.

2)  Several projections to Green, all of which have no indication of a=20
time-shift that I can recall.

3)  Several projections to the Urth of Severian's time -- about 40 to 50=20
years before the arrival of the New Sun and the birth of Ushas.  If=20
there's a time-shift going on here, it's always the exact same time shift. =20

Charles

--=20

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