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<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jerry_friedman@yahoo.com href="mailto:jerry_friedman@yahoo.com">Jerry
Friedman</A> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman,new york,times,serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Gerry Quinn <<A
href="mailto:gerryq@indigo.ie">gerryq@indigo.ie</A>><BR>> From: "David
Stockhoff" <<A href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net"
ymailto="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">dstockhoff@verizon.net</A>><BR>>
> So a drop ceiling is simply a cover---in plain sight---for something
Wolfe does not reveal at all.<BR>...<BR>Actually, he does reveal it.
"Beyond it I saw a network of slender metal bars, and through<BR>them a
vaulted ceiling with many moldings and a flaking painting [of] clouds and
birds."<BR>(CotNS, Ch. XVI.)</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>> > Still, if it isn't Jonas's ship, or a
similar one, how does one explain his observations (which<BR>> > are
confirmed by Severian) about the architecture of the place?<BR><BR>> As far
as I can tell, all he observes is the drop ceiling, which he might have seen on
a ship or<BR>> on the ground.<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Yes, but he also talks about how the room "used to
be a suite - several suites, possibly". So he observes more more than the
drop ceiling.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>It did occur to me that maybe Jonas was just
familiar with typical architecture of his time - but of course that doesn't
really fit, because he comes from the distant past, perhaps close to our
time! It is a tenable idea, I suppose, that drop ceilings are simply a
commonplace of all technologies a bit higher than Urth's.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> A vaulted ceiling is a bit odd for a spaceship but quite normal for a
room built underground.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>I don't know enough about futuristic spaceship design to answer that
;-)</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>> > And when they found the transporter room,
Jonas was instantly able to activate the controls.<BR><BR>> That just
suggests that at least some ground-based and ship-based transporters are made
the<BR>> same way. There's no obvious reason for them to be different,
and an obvious reason for them<BR>> to be the same.<BR><BR>But there's also
no especial need for an interstellar transporter on a spaceship -
short-range transporters would be useful, but an interstellar transport is
hardly essential. And shuttlecraft could serve as well - besides, Jonas's
ship is capable of planetary landings </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>One possible reading is that Jonas simply
understands how to use all high tech equipment, even that dating from vastly in
the future of the time he and his ship were constructed. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>But doesn't the notion that the antechamber is a
re-purposed part of Jonas's ship tie things up more elegantly?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>- Gerry Quinn</FONT></DIV>
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