Revealed at Last! What (Would Have) Killed the Inhumi !

Josh Levitan · 13 Jan 2000, 00:51 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: "Josh Levitan" <josh_levitan at hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) Revealed at Last! What (Would Have) Killed the Inhumi	!
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 16:51:36 PST
Message-ID: <whorl-v0010-0210 at digest.urth.net>
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Been lurking for a while.  First post to the list.  Hopefully it's not too=20
moronic.

Thoughts on inhumi hibernating and whether or not this is The Secret  --

Jim Henley wrote:

>3) Green is full of jungles and dinosaurs. I infer that it is warmer >than
>Blue. I'm inclined to think that the Rajan even describes it as >warmer,=20
>but
>I could be misremembering. (One other thought: cross-reference >jungles,
>dinosaurs, swamps and hot green planets in The Big Book of Science >Fiction
>Tropes and you find the entry for - Venus.)

>4) They must be able to essentially shut down their metabolism on the
>trajectory from Green to Blue. And it could be that it's the heat of >early
>reentry that revives them.

>5) It's a perhaps slightly more practical secret to have than, "Hey, >if we
>start loving each other, you guys are dead meat!"

Like Alga was saying, it's a good idea, and seems rather obvious.  However,=20
how would this translate into a secret that would destroy the inhumi?  Afte=
r=20
all, when the Rajan begins telling the secret to the inhumi, they are afrai=
d=20
of him acting on it, including Jahlee who just came out of hibernation (and=20
didn't seem that much worse for the wear after only getting a little=20
cowblood in her system).  And, the gardener and Evensong are there when she=20
does come out of hibernation, and I believe that the Rajan sends them away=20
before telling the secret.  Also, this doesn't really work with the Rajan's=20
comment that they would be nothing more than dumb animals, no more harmful=20
than crocodiles...  So that doesn't fit.  I think a slightly better=20
interpretation than this theory would be that they require a certain amount=20
of warmth or sunlight for energy, like dimetrodons or iguanas, however I=20
don't really see how the colonists could act on that in response to the=20
entire population of inhumi.

I have a feeling that Wolfe's given us enough info to figure out what the=20
secret is currently.  It reminds me of that Borges story, "The Mystery of=20
The Phoenix(?)" (something like that) in Ficciones, where he talks around=20
the secret rite of the cult of the Phoenix and supposedly gives enough info=20
to figure out what the rite is (although I've always been too dense to=20
figure it out).  Anybody read OBW more than once yet and have another guess=20
other than the hibernating/you-are-what-you-eat/do unto others guesses?

The Venus thing is an interesting guess.  Perhaps, through the relativistic=20
effects of vast interstellar travel over the three hundred years or so the=20
ship was in transit (if I'm remembering correctly), it did manage to do a=20
boomerang/Planet of the Apes deal and head back to Urth after the new sun=20
arrived, encountering a flooded Urth (which fits with New Sun) and a green=20
Venus.  However, what happened to the remaining seven planets?

Josh, who hasn't thought of a Vironese name yet...  Suggestions?
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