(urth) interview questions

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "Tony Ellis" <tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com>
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
> > But it *hasn't* been thousands of years - there's excellent evidence 
> > that
> > it's only about a hundred. The trees in the Eye tell us that. Also we 
> > know
> > that the twin planets were discovered when planets more distant from 
> > Earth
> > had been colonised for decades (not centuries, or millenia).
>
> It's only about a hundred years since the French arrived. But their
> arrival is the last event in 'VRT', when the starcrosser splashes
> down, and Sandwalker and the Shadow Children are already there when it
> happens. So clearly human beings - whoever you think they are - were
> *already* on St Anne. How long have they been there?

Like I said, a century or so.  There are two very strong pieces of evidence 
for this.

First, the Eye observatory, a ring of 402 trees marking the days of the 
Saint Anne year.  When Marsch visits this, he finds most of the trees have 
been cut down by the early colonists.  He counts the rings on four, getting 
an average of (I think) 127 years.  So the Eye was planted about a century 
before the French landings.

Wolfe isn't telling us this for nothing - he's setting a time for the 
beginning of the pre-French Annese culture.  We don't know who planted the 
trees - the Marshmen use them now so probably are the most likely 
candidate - but we do know how long ago it happened.

Second, we are told the twin planets were discovered by the French when 
planets more distant from Earth had been colonised for decades.  In other 
words the wave of human expansion had missed these planets (the reason being 
the psychic shield erected by the Shadow Children) even though starcrossers 
frequently passed through that region of space.  But it didn't miss it by 
centuries or by millenia - only by decades.  This is compatible with the 
figure of a century given by the observatory trees.

The events of the first and third novellas are set about 150 years after the 
arrival of the French.  (Maitre's house is about 140 years old, and there 
are other bits and pieces of evidence that fit such a figure.)

Here's an approximate history as I see it, using Earth dates.  Note that I 
may have extrapolated a smidgin beyond the evidence of the text here and 
there in the interest of adding colour ;-)


"A Timeline" by Gerry Quinn:

2280:  The starcrosser Poinctesme blasts off from the Southern Ocean near 
Johannesberg, with a crew/cargo of African would-be colonists.

2300:  Poinctesme discovers twin habitable planets circling an as-yet 
unexamined pink sun.  They decide to land on one of the two.  During the 
landing the shielding fails and the hull is breached.  Nevertheless after 
splashdown many of them get safely ashore on inflatable boats before the 
starcrosser sinks.

2310:  Knowing no ship from Earth will pass by for decades at least, the 
colonists make the best of their situation.  The land is a little sparse, 
but habitable.  The wildlife is Earthlike for the most part, although very 
strange creatures sometimes appear in the campand are driven away with what 
weaponry they have (a half-dozen laser pistols and a shoulder mounted plasma 
cannon) - but not before they have eaten several colonists.  There are 
rumours that the exotic creatures sometimes take on human shape. Lacking 
tools, easily accessible ores, and a sufficient population base, the human 
settlers have adopted a lifestyle that is paleolithic or worse, and 
concentrate on making babies and keeping the alien creatures at bay.

2320:  The alien creatures are clearly humanoid, now.  The children of the 
expedition speak to them sometimes, while the remnants of shipboard 
authority try to drive them away with the last few charges of their weapons. 
Practically no technology is availabe now apart from crude nets for fishing. 
Inland there would be wood for fire but game is scarce, so they stay on the 
coast.

2330:   The children of the expedition are growing strange. They eat strange 
native plants and chant together; they draw ghosts from the darkness.. 
Forgot Earth, they say to their elders, forget your foolish toys.  Eat with 
us of the flower of wisdom and free your mind. This is the Eden we lost when 
we struck fire, when we walked first from the African savannahs of our 
birth.  They are sickly but terrifying.  Even their Annese friends shun them 
now. To the north, some of the humanoid Annese are evolving a culture 
worshipping terrible gods that come from the stars.  They have planted trees 
to make a gigantic circular temple.

2350:  The last of the original colonists have died; in their place remain 
the Shadow Children.  Poisoned by the plant they eat, their bodies have 
become stunted and their numbers slowly dwindle.  They have erected a 
psychic shield that hides the planets from the starcrossers that sometimes 
pass by now towards nearby worlds that are being settled.  Meanwhile the 
humanoid Annese flourish and strain the carrying capacity of the land. They 
have divided into several tribes who sometimes cannibalise each other and 
the Shadow Children.

2400: The events of the second novella.  A fleet of French starcrossers en 
route to the frontier of human colonisation are stunned to see two habitable 
planets pop up on their instruments orbiting a pink star which was thought 
to have none.  They land and find a flayed corpse, apparently human.  Then 
another naked human with shining green eyes appears, along with a stunted 
humanoid creature.  They raise their pistols and the stunted creature 
hesitates then flees.  The human ignores it and points to himself.  "I am 
the Sand Walker. Or perhaps I am the East Wind". he says in English.  "Who 
are you?".

2410-30: French colonists pour into the new planets, much to the displeasure 
of the Canadian Confederacy, who have settled most planets in this region of 
space.  Among the early colonists is Maitre Loup, who builds a house on 
Sainte Croix on the proceeds of his businesses supplying the baser needs of 
colonists..  Some say he acts on the instructions of his robotic servant. 
On Saint Anne, rumours abound of mysterious aborigines that look like humans 
but can change shape.  The colonists are mostly suspicious of them and drive 
them away.  A scientific team is set up to study them.  Other colonists take 
a more stringent line with alien interlopers.

2460-80: War between the French and Canadians.  The Canadians win.  Sainte 
Anne and Sainte Croix are placed under independent jurisdictions, and 
colonists from Canada start to come in.  Records of "Groupe d'étude des 
Autochtones" are destroyed in the war.

2550-2560: Events of first and third novellas.


- Gerry Quinn