Pike's Ghost; Hyacinth _is_ a spy; "Silk _is_ Calde"

David_Lebling · 27 Jan 1997, 16:09 · from whorl-v0002.mbox · original

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From: David_Lebling at avid.com
Subject: (whorl) Pike's Ghost; Hyacinth _is_ a spy; "Silk _is_ Calde"
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 97 16:09:29
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[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

1) Charles Dye suggests that Patera Pike's ghost may have been an
aquastor, which is a beguiling interpretation, particularly as it would
strengthen the feeling that we are still in the universe of _New Sun_.=20
Silk remarks at several points that there is a glass in the manse (but a
non-working one, alas), so we potentially have the requisite computing
power available nearby.

However, I don't think aquastors turn into small dark things that fly
out windows, so to me it's not quite an adequate explanation.  On the
other hand, Quetzal never appears in the shape of any human but himself,
at least to my knowledge.

We see him as (1) himself, most of the time, (2) by implication as "an
old man with wings" (Teasel), (3) by implication as a large snake
(Villus), (4) obscurely in winged serpent form when he slithers out the
window into his tamarind tree.  Others?

So that's why I'm still puzzled about Patera Pike's ghost.

2) On a completely different (and old) subject, I note that when Silk
and Crane are imprisoned in the submarine, Crane admits that Hyacinth
was working for him.  So at least indirectly she was a spy for
Trivigaunte, and it's easy to imagine she might still be one later.

3) Who was writing "Silk is Calde" five floors up?  From the context,
early in _Calde_, it might have been Quetzal, or maybe Mucor.  What
physical abilities does she have during her out-of-body experiences?

     Dave Lebling
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

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