(urth) grumble at wolfe comment made attached to guardianarticle

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
> This quote only says the Neighbors were infected humanity with inhumi. It 
> doesn't say they brought them on the Whorl. That's one way they could have 
> done it--if beings who can dream-travel would have their own spaceships 
> and if the Whorl would allow an alien spacecraft to dock. This quote could 
> be also interpreted as "They supported the Plan of Pas to bring humanity 
> to Green." This quote is a gold coin in the bucket--it tells us about the 
> Neighbor's motives--it doesn't explain how and when they accomplished it. 
> Anyone got any more evidence?

It *does* say the Neighbours went to the Whorl.  "There" in "There the 
Vanished People went?" is the Whorl.

I've added a bit more to the quoted text for more context.  It seems to make 
it pretty clear that they did indeed visit the Whorl and left inhumi among 
the people there.

How else could Quetzal have gotten there?

You have suggested that there was a landing on Green shortly after the Whorl 
arrived in the system.  Such a landing is certainly possible, although there 
is no textual evidence for it.  But even if there were such a landing, it 
seems implausible that they would bring Quetzal back - and even more 
implausible that everyone would completely forget about the event while 
Quetzal somehow became an augur and rose through the ranks of the local 
church!

By the way, Silk can dream travel and at thee end of _Return_ he is looking 
for a spaceship. As for the Vanished People, maybe they landed on the 
surface and bored their way in.

- Gerry Quinn


>>> So...how DID Quetzal get aboard the Whorl????
>>
>> The Neighbours brought inhumi to the Whorl.  We are told in Chapter 11 of 
>> _Return to the Whorl_:
>> ***********************************************
>> Then, "Sometime back like you I go, mysire?"
>> "Back to Viron, you mean, Vadsig?"
>> "To Viron, yes, mysire. Also to Grotestad. To go to the Long Sun Whorl I 
>> would like. Always of it you talk, and cook, and my old master and 
>> mistress. In Grotestad they were born, mysire, but never it I have seen."
>> I told her it was possible she would.
>> "There the Vanished People went?"
>> I nodded.
>> "To greet us it was?"
>> "You might put it so, though they were sensible enough to find out a good 
>> deal about us - and infect us with inhumi -"
>> "Bad thing!"
>> "Before they ventured to greet even a few of us.
>> "Bad it was," Vadsig agreed with Oreb."To leave inhumi among us?" I shook 
>> my head. "It was a small price to pay for two whorls, and it enabled the 
>> Neighbors to gauge much more accurately the differences between our race 
>> and their own."
>> *************************************************