(urth) Home Fires questions

[David Stockhoff]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. That's why Blue is on Earth riding White.

This explains the weird "no this, no that" going on in Skip's thoughts 
in the opening scene; the thoughts he insists on are the fake ones. 
Would this imply Skip is not actually being ridden? More subtracted from 
than added on to? or both? More like an injected "agent" package than a 
complete overlay, but enough to make him unrecognizable, i.e., look like 
someone else, to Chelle?

Might Chelle have returned bearing some kind of white flag from the Os? 
The guy she shot was spying for them, which must mean he let them ride 
him voluntarily. Did some parallel, involuntary mechanism operate when 
she had her accident and was reconstructed?

Does the ship hijacking have meaning beyond its plot function?

On 12/2/2011 12:54 PM, Stephen Hoy wrote:
> Glad to see this topic arise from the dead. I finished a third re-read 
> of HF and want to share an idea.
>
> Throughout Home Fires, we find out very little about the Os. What we 
> know for certain is that a multinational alliance engaged the Os on 
> the planet Johanna (Gehenna). The most recent information 
> available--10 or so years ago when Chelle departed Johanna--indicates 
> the Os are losing on the ground. Skip entertains a few thoughts about 
> whether the Os would destroy a habitable planet rather than lose it to 
> us, but dismisses this idea. He believes the Os would prefer to negotiate.
>
> Who on earth is better suited to negotiate on behalf of the Os than 
> Skip Webster Grison, lifelong defender of celebrities, cyborgs, and 
> the unjustly accused, leading partner of the celebrated defense firm 
> of Burton, Grison, and Ibarra. How convenient for the Os that, as Home 
> Fires ends, Skip heads to Johanna as a military lawyer, in perfect 
> position to represent the Os if negotiations begin. "Even a murderer 
> deserves to have someone to speak for him, someone who will explain to 
> the jury why he did what he did and show him where his best interests 
> lie."
>
> The overt story of Home Fires is the classic tale of what a man will 
> do for the love of a woman. But what if the covert story began with a 
> missing fact: Skip was never contracted with Chelle? What if... his 
> memories of Chelle have been implanted just before he awakes on Yellow 
> Paper Day?
>
> Everyone who speaks directly of Skip's relationship with Chelle & 
> family has (arguable) ties to the Os: double agent Charles Blue/White, 
> Vanessa Henessey/Virginia Healey, Susan Clerkin/(whose real last name 
> is unknown), and possibly Chelle herself. If we believe Charles White, 
> Susan's rebound lover Rick Johnson isn't a suicide cultist, but a 
> cyborg agent for the Os, suggesting Vanessa's body-donor Edith Eckhart 
> may have been an Os agent as well. I suspect the not-quite-cyborg 
> pickpocket Achille may have a little Os to his backstory, too.
>
> Nefarious backstory: Skip is being manipulated to go to Johanna to 
> represent the Os.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
> *To:* The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
> *Sent:* Friday, December 2, 2011 8:08 AM
> *Subject:* Re: (urth) Home Fires questions
>
> On 12/2/2011 8:50 AM, Andreas Muegge wrote:
> > Almost missed this discussion...
> >
> > 2011/10/18 David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net 
> <mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net> <mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net 
> <mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net>>>
> >
> >
> > > Was Skip once someone else?
> >
> >        Seems like everyone in Home Fires is/was someone else so why
> >        not Skip? Question is, who? His initials--S.W.G.--don't help
> >        me generate many alternatives, although some sort of "Greene"
> >        seems likely. But Skip/overlay might explain why Skip wonders
> >        if Chelle will recognize him on her return--despite the
> >        Obvious Explanation that Skip will appear different in
> >        Chelle's eyes because he has aged. Skip/overlay also fits with
> >        Skip's too-easy transformation into agile hero aboard the
> >        cruise ship.
> >
> > > At the formal dinner, his family reunites. All three have
> >        trouble recognizing one another (except when they don't). Two
> >        are known to be not entirely who they think they are. Surely
> >        the third is also not entirely who he is.
> >
> >        I do wonder how any of the Blue family can recognize each
> >        other to any degree because they're all replacements/overlays.
> >        Still, somehow Chelle recognized her replacement mother at the
> >        airport while failing to recognize Skip. Clearly an important
> >        clue.
> >
> > This puts the whole book into a new light. Does anyone have an idea 
> how it's possible that the "overlays" recognize each other in the new 
> bodies?
> >
> > Ciao,
> >  Andreas
>
> I have a few thoughts on that but no answers:
>
> (1) All three are different types of overlays or riders: an alien, a 
> human-tech scanned download, and whatever kind of mysterious accident 
> Chelle is. Because of the interest the factions seem to have in her, 
> she feels like some kind of sport, maybe a combination of human 
> reconstructive tech and something alien. Dunno.
>
> (2) But all are riders on human mounts, and to the extent that they 
> know what they are, may be able to spot doubled personality in others. 
> Fuzzy, I know.
>
> (3) Skip, also a suspected rider, does not *appear* to pick up on this 
> stuff quickly or at least overtly, but it's hard to tell what he sees, 
> isn't it? If there's a rule based on common mechanisms, he should 
> follow it too.
>
>
>
>
>
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