(urth) Faterh Inire Theory cont.

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "Gerry Quinn" <gerryq at indigo.ie>
> From: "Andrew Mason" <andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com>
>> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
>> > Jonas served on an interstellar ship which crashed on Urth a little 
>> > north of
>> > Nessus. This ship became incorporated within the House Absolute; the
>> > Antechamber was part of it. It was equipped with a set of mirrors which
>> > apparently had interstellar capability. (These may or may not be the 
>> > same ones used by Fr. Inire.)
>>
>> Jonas was on an interstellar ship which crashed, certainly (which in
>> itself supports your point). There also seems to have been a ship
>> which crashed in the gorunds of the House Absolute, and whose
>> passengers became residents of the antechamber. I don't see any
>> evidence that it was the same ship - Jonas recognises the name 'Kim
>> Lee Soong' as one that would have been common in his youth, but
>> doesn't say 'Oh yes, he was an old mate of mine'. And I also don't see
>> any evidence that the antechamber was _part_ of the ship - I took it
>> that the passengers were found trespassing in the grounds of the House
>> Absolute, and thrown into the antechamber, as such people are. (I also
>> don't remember anything about Jonas's ship having mirrors, but I may
>> just be forgetting that.)
>
> Remember, it was not just the name that Jonas recognised.  He also 
> recognised the architecture "that was what we used to call a drop 
> ceiling". And after they escaped from the Antechamber, Jonas immediately 
> knew where to go to find the mirrors, which he used to escape somewhere 
> off Urth (he said earlier "I know where we are.. we are on Urth").  I 
> conclude that it was Jonas's ship, or one just like it - and it seems more 
> elegant that it be the same vessel..
>
> Perhaps some of the ship's crew stayed aboard and were interned there 
> pending resolution of their cases, and it later became used for other 
> individuals.

Another piece of evidence for this - when Severian and Jonas were arrested 
on the grounds of the House Absolute, they were led down into a hollow in 
the ground.  I only realised just now that it must be a crater left by the 
crashed spaceship.

It is interesting how much of the architecture of Urth is made up of wrecked 
spacecraft!

- Gerry Quinn