(urth) miles, jonas, and that sailor guy, and sea/interplanetary vessels

[Lee Berman]

>David Stockhoff- Do you actually think Erebus was sending a troopship of warriors up 
>the Gyoll to Nessus? That had never seriously occurred to me, although it explains their 
>eery presence. It seems certain they would lose if they attacked the Citadel---or were they 
>there in some way in support of Severian as Autarch?
 
Well first let me say that this is an awfully long story about nothing much happening. I 
interpret such a story as being important more for the telling and who is telling it than
what actually happens. (I doubt we are meant to understand the true purposes of superhuman beings).
BTW, just rereading I noticed that the "manatees" are described as looking pale when they appear
in (green) moonlight.
 
What I mean is that a ship which invokes Abaia, undines and Erebus appearing on the Gyoll around 
the same time that Severian becomes Autarch reveals certain hidden connections between elements of 
the story. This is similar to the appearance of the Green Man and Agia appearing just after Severian
ingests the old Autarch's brain.
 
The narrator of the story is also important. An old grizzled sailor with an air of criminality
about him on a boat with a dark complected girl with laughing eyes and a sidelong gaze. Does this
pair remind you of another pair? (I mean Hethor and Agia). Note Severian first mistakes her for a 
slim lad.
 
The sailor claims to be Maxellindis' uncle but Severian doesn't believe that. (reminiscent of another 
mysterious "uncle" in my opinion, Cyriaca's).
 
 
>Jeff Wilson: It's suspicious that the Botanic Gardens nearby also have water flowing 
>to other places and times...

I agree. And in the Botanic Gardens we have a bent, old boatman also telling stories about "manatees"
Again, I think the narrator is as important as the story being told.