(urth) Faterh Inire Theory cont.

[Gerry Quinn]

  From: Jerry Friedman 
  From: Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie>
  > From: "David Stockhoff" <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
  > > So a drop ceiling is simply a cover---in plain sight---for something Wolfe does not reveal at all.
  ...
  Actually, he does reveal it.  "Beyond it I saw a network of slender metal bars, and through
  them a vaulted ceiling with many moldings and a flaking painting [of] clouds and birds."
  (CotNS, Ch. XVI.)

> > Still, if it isn't Jonas's ship, or a similar one, how does one explain his observations (which
> > are confirmed by Severian) about the architecture of the place?

> As far as I can tell, all he observes is the drop ceiling, which he might have seen on a ship or
> on the ground.


Yes, but he also talks about how the room "used to be a suite - several suites, possibly".  So he observes more more than the drop ceiling.

It did occur to me that maybe Jonas was just familiar with typical architecture of his time - but of course that doesn't really fit, because he comes from the distant past, perhaps close to our time!  It is a tenable idea, I suppose, that drop ceilings are simply a commonplace of all technologies a bit higher than Urth's.


> A vaulted ceiling is a bit odd for a spaceship but quite normal for a room built underground.

I don't know enough about futuristic spaceship design to answer that ;-)


> > And when they found the transporter room, Jonas was instantly able to activate the controls.

> That just suggests that at least some ground-based and ship-based transporters are made the
> same way.  There's no obvious reason for them to be different, and an obvious reason for them
> to be the same.

But there's also no especial need for an interstellar transporter on a spaceship - short-range transporters would be useful, but an interstellar transport is hardly essential.  And shuttlecraft could serve as well - besides, Jonas's ship is capable of planetary landings  

One possible reading is that Jonas simply understands how to use all high tech equipment, even that dating from vastly in the future of the time he and his ship were constructed. 

But doesn't the notion that the antechamber is a re-purposed part of Jonas's ship tie things up more elegantly?

- Gerry Quinn







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