(urth) Silk's Origin

[Gerry Quinn]

From: David Stockhoff 

> > For example, when the Neighbours went to the Whorl and infected it 
> > with Inhumi, we don’t know whether they drilled their way in, hacked 
> > into airlock controls, contacted elements of Mainframe, or got in some 
> > other way. We don’t know the details and it’s not important. [If it 
> > *were* important - if it significantly impacted the storyline in some 
> > way – we *would* have been told.]

> Perfect. How do we know the Neighbors got into the Whorl? Were we "told"?

Yes, by WindCloud, one of the Neighbours, in the courtroom in Dorp.

******************
"I was one of those who boarded your whorl when it neared our sun. 
In the Whorl, I made the acquaintance of many of your race, and I 
have known others since, on both the whorls we once called ours."
******************

It is later explained by SilkHorn:

******************
"[To the Whorl] 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."
*******************

> If not, then figuring out "how" is clearly part of figuring out 
> "whether." Once you get down to "drilling" or "blasting" it makes no 
> difference. But astral projection vs spaceships? It matters. Motive, 
> means, and opportunity.

But that’s easy.  In the first place we don’t actually know for sure that the Neighbours are capable of astral projection like SilkHorn and his inhumi.  But even assuming they are, we know they did not bring inhumi to the Whorl by astral projection anyway, because astrally projected inhumi take on the form of those they have drained.  Astrally transported inhumi would have been Neighbours on the Whorl, just as Jugano was human on Urth.  [There are other obstacles too – could Quetzal’s body have slept on Blue for thirty years while he was astrally projected?  And what about the business of having to have previously visited the place you travel to in the flesh?]

We also know the Neighbours had space flight: that’s how they got to Green and discovered the inhumi.

So: means, motive and opportunity, just like you said.  One logical solution, given the setup that Wolfe has created.  And we are told it.


> Dismissing evidence is one way of dismissing theories, and it's not 
> really honest.

And what evidence do you think I have dismissed?  [Of course, Jugano claimed the inhumi were always on Urth, but I beg leave to doubt him.]

- Gerry Quinn
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