From: Doug Jones (random@qnet.com)
Date: Wed Jan 19 2000 - 19:49:01 MST
[note subject change]
Eugene Leitl wrote:
>
> BLEEP BLEEP WARNING: SLIGHT A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY SPOILERS AHEAD BLEEP
> BLEEP DANGER WARNING. DO NOT READ I REPEAT DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU
> INTEND TO READ THE BOOK SOMETIME SOON.
>
> Ok, I gave fair warning. It's all your own fault now.
>
> Dan Hook writes:
>
> > Dan Hook
> > "So high, so low, so many things to know." -- V. Vinge
>
> What's you angle on OnOff btw? Is it a galactic halo or deep core
> artefact?
Given that the core is in the unthinking depths, and the elliptical orbit
of the On/Off star would have it out in the halo most of the time, it's
probably from the Beyond. Perhaps if the time of the collapse of the ultra
tech on the Spider world could be accurately dated, Pham would have a clue
that it was the *core* where things failed- and thus the wrong place to
look.
> And is the magic machine really broken? When do you think
> the Powers have gotten their first good look on Pham Nuwen for AFUTD
> reconstruction, during the OnOff episode, or during his later
> campaigns?
Not broken, but real sick- and I hadn't thought of the possibility of
agents of the Powers recording Pham before he went deep- maybe the Pham
rebuilt in the Transcend had never really been to the depths...
> The Diamonds are the most obvious possible Transcend/core artefacts.
Well, yeah- and the diamond diatoms are broken nanoarbiters.
> Btw, the law-tweaking cavorite from diamondoid nanocomputer (the
> Emergents nor the Queng Ho really did take a look at the molecular
> structure? And what was it powered with?) was imo the weakest part in
> the thing. It is consistent with the high/low polarity in that
> particular universe, however.
Not really necessary to the story line, either, but evocative of The
Blabber.
> I'm hazy on AFUTD details, did the Power claim the body of Pham was
> discovered after his expedition gracing the Mindless Depths, or was
> this just a cover story?
Yeah, that's what it *claimed*, but Ravna had her doubts all along. The
idea the Pham was recorded at the Spider world before he went Deep has
merit.
Damn, I like those books. Sensawunda in spades... gotta reread AFUtD.
-- Doug Jones Rocket Plumber, XCOR Aerospace http://www.xcor-aerospace.com
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