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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dave,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm coming very late to this, but no one ever
responded to your original post.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I find it interesting that you specifically noted
the additional understanding to be gained from tBotSS regarding Pike's ghost yet
failed to note another fairly obvious explaination which I suggest you consider:
that the Pike's ghost was the Raja (aka Silkhorn) in
spirit-travel.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Reasons for believing this:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<OL>
<LI><FONT face=Arial size=2>The appearance of a second Oreb with a healed wing
which faded away as he flew off.<BR>-</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face=Arial size=2>The ghost interacts with Pike's callotte which
drops to the floor after he fades. This is behavior very unlike a gothic
ghost, but comports well with the physics of a spirit-traveling
person.<BR>-</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yes, this would mean that a spirit-traveller would
have to be able to travel in time as well. But there are many reasons to be
convinced that this is so. The grandmother (in In Green's Jungles IIRC) ends
her story with a description of the Raja and Oreb standing by a grave. The
easiest explanation of this is that the Raja heard the grandmother's story and
was prompted to go back in Time and do it. And in RttW, when Horn's sons
describe when they left home, it is clear that there is something seriously
wrong with the timeline.<BR>-</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wolfe says it was a "real ghost". Well, the Raja
during spirit travel IS a real ghost (meeting the Raja's definition of one):
He is a disembodied spirit of a person who has died.</FONT></LI></OL>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Reasons people don't like this:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think the main one that bugs people is that it
means that Silk mistook himself 20 years later for Pike. I don't have a problem
with this at all. It works just fine with me. But considering the
insufficiency of all the other explanations, and that this is the only one that
causes the event to be part of the general narrative, rather than a
bizarre "one off". I think readers are compelled to accept that Pike's
ghost was the Raja and to grapple with Silk's misapprehension however they
will.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>J</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=davetallman@msn.com href="mailto:davetallman@msn.com">Dave
Tallman</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=urth@lists.urth.net
href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">urth@lists.urth.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, August 13, 2008 12:35
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> (urth) A second dream team:
Mucor, Oreb, and Pike</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>With what we know about the inhumi, Mucor, and astral projection
from the BotSS, we can revisit the sequence leading to the appearance of
Pike's ghost in LotLS.<BR>[..]<BR>5) What caused the creaking of the bed? Why
did Patera Pike's ghost appear?<BR><BR>Wolfe said in an question-and-answer
session (<A
href="http://www.ansible.co.uk/cc/cc77.html">http://www.ansible.co.uk/cc/cc77.html</A>)
that the apparition was not machine-made. That eliminates the
Hierodule-created-aquastor theory and the Mainframe-generated-ghost theory, in
spite of the shimmering disappearance. He also said it was not Quetzal. Inhumi
don't seem to be able to impersonate other people (only make themselves look
human) so I think any other inhumi is also out. Silk astral-projecting through
time would also not look enough like Pike to be mistaken for him by Silk, who
knew the man well. The most likely case is a real ghost.<BR><BR>There are two
possible explanations for the ghost. The simplest is that the presence of
Mucor stirred up Pike's ghost. He appeared in his bedroom first, then went to
check to see if Silk was all right (moving through the closed door). He found
his calotte there and put it on. With the solid cap on, he had to open the
door to get out. When he saw that Silk was all right, he smiled, waved, and
vanished. There is a real connection between the calotte and Mucor, since Silk
wore it on the raid on Blood's house and therefore in the presence of
Mucor.<BR><BR>The second explanation is more complicated but I like it better.
I think Quetzal was there that night, wanting to attack Silk. Sphigxday night
was the night after Teasel was bitten. Quetzal could have returned for more
blood and found the names of Silk and Pike written outside the window. Quetzal
said that he "went wide" when he saw Silk's name on the fifth floor of a
building. Silk had to climb four flights of stairs to get to Teasel's
room.<BR><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>