(urth) do the Hierogrammates *care* about the megatherians?

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "Jeff Wilson" <jwilson at io.com>


> On 5/20/2011 8:31 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>> Of course, we don't know how the White Fountain was transported, and we
>> must assume it was slowed down within the solar system, and maybe
>> whatever means accomplished this created gravitational radiation or some
>> other effect which disrupted Urth.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by undetectable gravitational radiation; the 
> sun and the moon have gravitation, and they make very detectable tides 
> upon the earth. The mass that anchors the throat of the White Fountain 
> wormhole would do the same as it arrives in the solar system, increasing 
> as it sweeps toward Urth, peaking with the Flood at its closest approach, 
> then decreasing and merging with the solar tides as it takes up residence 
> in the sun (making it become the New Sun).

I don't have my copy of UotNS to hand, but I remember stuff about bells 
ringing etc.  The gravitational effect of a flyby from a massive object 
would not set bells to ringing.  So I thought of gravitational radiation, 
which is a different thing.  As light and radio waves etc. are to 
electrostatics, so gravitational radiation is to gravity.  The radiation 
consists of propagating disturbances in the field associated with 
acceleration of charge or mass, whereas the static effects are constant 
forces that are observed when charges move slowly, or not at all.  For 
various reasons, gravitostatic forces are very obvious to us in the everyday 
world, but gravitomagnetic effects not at all - whereas with the 
electromagnetic force, electromagnetism is the more obvious effect, but 
electrostatic effects are also readily discernable.  (The term 
gravitomagnetism has nothing directly to do with ordinary magnetism, which 
is electromagnetism.  It is the gravitational effect corresponding to 
electromagnetism.  Gravitational waves and 'frame dragging' are examples of 
gravitomagnetism in action.)

The trouble with simple gravity (gravitostatics) is this: why make a close 
approach to Urth?  The White Fountain cannot be a large proportion of the 
Sun's mass.or it would disrupt Urth's orbit too much.  If an object less 
massive than the Sun were moved to the Sun on the far side of Urth's orbit, 
or at a large angle to the plane of Urth's orbit, it would create no 
disastrous tides at all!  Unless the purposive squishing of Urth is 
intended, the effects must come from something other than simple 
gravitational attraction.

I'm not sure there's much to read into this though.  At the end of the day 
Wolfe wanted a dramatic and catastrophic effect.  Current physics does not 
really justify it - for me the best solution is some unknown technology 
related to the transport of the White Fountain, which results in the 
emission of strong gravitational waves as it deccelerates near the end of 
its journey.   But even these have problems because of poor coupling - by 
which I mean that the frequency that rings bells is too high to be easily 
absorbed by oceans.

I would suggest some effect caused by the irruption of the White Fountain 
into Briah, but I think there is evidence that it travels across normal 
space to the Sun, and has been in Briah-space for some considerable time, as 
the source of Severian's negentropic powers.  So instead I suggest 
decelleration, which will certainly be needed if it has travelled many light 
years in a chiliad or two.

- Gerry Quinn