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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 28/07/2014 16:29, Marc Aramini
wrote:<br>
<br>
<div><font><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">>
Of course he still hasn't said that pretty much everyone but<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>cloned
number 5 is an abo, ("someday they (the Abos who<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>pretend
to be humans) will want us (real humans to copy)"<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>and
that Marsch is a different kind of imitator, a shadow <br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>child
infection via cat bite incarcerated by Abos who believe<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>they
are human, too. Ironically the interviewer fails to<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>differentiate
between shadow children and Abos, allowing <br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>Wolfe
to answer the question fairly honestly if he ignores<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>the
VRT portion. (The useless hand of the Abos is port <br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>mimizon,
with its fingers and thumb and no new buildings<br>
</span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>in
140 years.)</span></font></div>
<font><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">></span></font><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> </span></font>
<div><font><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">> </span></font>So
even straightforward Wolfe isn't really that
straightforward. <br>
<br>
The interview question specifically referred to VRT, and the
failure to differentiate the Shadow Children from the Sainte
Anne aborigines doesn't really make any difference that I
can see. I think you're stretching quite a bit here.
There is no indication in the text of an infection process
by which a human is taken over by an aborigine, and such a
process contradicts the logic of the story in multiple ways,
for example:<br>
<br>
- Marsch was bitten by a cat, who was not VRT. But Marsch's
later imitator, however he arose, was VRT, not the previous
occupant of the cat or a 'child' of the previous occupant of
the cat. I do not assume more than that Marsch died
somehow, but it's very likely that copying someone involves
consuming them in some fashion, so I won't rule it out.
(Who killed the cat? I am inclined to suspect it was the
first step in VRT's attempt to 'convince himself' he was
human, by cutting himself off from his aboriginal origin.)<br>
<br>
- If the imitation proceeds by way of infection, why would
shape-changing ever be necessary or relevant? The
shape-changing ability of VRT's mother is referenced. Most
people can't do that.<br>
<br>
- New Marsch has the characteristic green eyes of the
aborigines. In an almost clunky passage of the second book,
it is drummed into us that for the Marshmen "green is the
colour of eyes". Most people don't. <br>
<br>
As for "Veil's Hypothesis", a wholesale takeover of first
one planet and then, presumably the other, during which
period both planets are still receiving colonists from
Earth, *while nobody notices* is simply not credible in
terms of the storyline. Nor is there any indication that
humans have forgotten how to use tools. The lack of new
buildings in Port Mimizon is the result of depopulation.
Veil's Hypothesis is as Veil said, a fifty pound hypothesis
to explain man's inhumanity to man, a theme which was
precisely the punchline to another story discussed recently:
_Our Neighbour, By David Copperfield_.<br>
<br>
To my mind, the history and origin of the human-mimicking
abos is set out very clearly in the second book, which is
presumably VRT's understanding of what happened, gleaned
from the stories of his mother and perhaps other abo
contacts. If we are going to accuse him of inventing a fake
history, we need not only a coherent alternative (peoples'
mileage may vary on what is coherent) but a reason for him
to do it. It is certainly not an attempt to convince
himself he is human. [As for him trying to convince himself
he is human, so long as it is not accepted too literally, I
would think that a natural interpretation for anyone reading
VRT.]<br>
<br>
So I don't think there is anything un-straighforward here.<br>
<br>
Wolfe's style is allusive, he rarely gives specifics of
distance or time by which a detective could hang him, the
story resonates with tales of Earthly colonisation in which
the abos and the colonisers are indeed one species. It's
easy to find seeming hints leading in all directions, But
it can't be denied that in the second book, we are given a
specific origin story, and any hypothesis has to make sense
in terms of either accepting that story, or explaining why
Marsch constructed such an elaborate lie.<br>
<br>
I think one could make a better case that everyone is human,
than that everyone is abo.<br>
<br>
- Gerry Quinn<br>
</span></font></div>
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