(urth) Inhumi's secret and numbers on blue

[Lee Berman]

>Andrew Mason: That's not just something that breaks the laws of
>physics, as things in what is partly a fantasy work may; it's a
>misunderstanding of how the laws of physics work, even in normal
>circumstances, and what is more it is a notorious schoolboy error

So far, so good....

>On the other hand Jahlee does seem to confirm the story and offer
>evidence, when she says:
>"If you lack endurance…" She shrugged. "Only your frozen corpse gets
>to Blue. It crosses the sky there, a little scratch of fire. No doubt
>you've seen them. I have."

Grrrrrr!

I am tempted to argue that a frozen Inhumi body surely lacks the mass
and density to create the visible light display we can see from a large
meteor, hundreds of miles up in the sky. Thus Jahlee is lying when she says
she's seen examples of Inhumi burning on re-entry...using real shooting star
sightings to bolster the lie...

But that just furthers the debate, keeping doubt about the falseness of the 
Inhumi travel story alive. And as long as there is doubt....

I could be wrong but I really think Wolfe is trying to make a point with this.
Most of us humans are mostly honest and we operate on the default principle that
what most other people say is mostly true.

But there is a certain "species" of people who exploit this. We have all
experienced the words of a suspected liar who repeats a lie over and over
with such deep sincerity that we can't help but start thinking, "maybe this is
true..". They they've got you.

I see the Inhumi as a lupine parable about such people. We should be able to 
identify such liars and we should be able to suspend our normal assumption of
truthfulness and honesty and assume the opposite- that everything such a person
says must be assumed to be a lie. The occasional truth that is produced must be 
viewed only a strategem so that the next lie will be believed.

This is a difficult view to take of another human being (especially a family member-
thus the Krait-Sinew connection). But I think Wolfe is urging us to be
cognizant of such people and to not fall victim to them.