Pas, on disembarking: Howdy Neighbor

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 12 Mar 2001, 12:45 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) Pas, on disembarking: Howdy Neighbor
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 12:45:47
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0430 at digest.urth.net>
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I'll reply to a couple of specific points, but, Robert, it seems to=20
me that this (like much discussion on this list) is a flagrant=20
violation of Ockham's principle, multiplying entities (in this=20
case unsupported hypotheses) with no real need. Nothing you've
brought up is inconsistent with Typhon being pretty much what he
appears to be in tBotNS.

Specific points:

> For starters, it explains why the Blue-Green system was targeted
> by the Whorl.=20

Because it had to target _some_ system.=20

There is no particular reason to suppose that Ty-Pas knew the=20
Neighbors and/or inhumi existed. Nor is there any particular=20
reason to believe that there were other star systems, nearer=20
to Urth, that would serve Typhon's purposes. Note=20
    (1) The timescale; we're talking about a future distant enough
        that the "neighborhood" _will_ have changed.
    (2) We don't entirely know what Typhon's purposes _are_.
    (3) Given (2), we can't say for certain what would serve=20
        them -- for example, he may have wanted a certain minimum
        distance from Urth (because, e.g., nearer stars were already
        colonized, or were being monitored by Hierodules and the=20
        like to prevent human "infection").
Finally, there is no real reason to assume that Typhon himself
actually picked the target! He's a tyrant; he wouldn't do something
like this for himself. He'd say "I want a system with these=20
characteristics," and tell someone else to find it. (We know he
had _some_ boffins he trusted, or he'd never have submitted to the=20
Incredible Two-Headed Man surgery.)

[deletia]

> Pas and the Neighbors both have two heads. Coincidence or plot
> point?=20

Or maybe just Wolfean obsession. He likes multiple heads.
Cerberus and all that, neh?

--Dan'l

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