Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2002 00:19:41 -0600
From: Jeff Wilson 
Subject: Re: (urth) Green ain't Lune

> From: "Roy C. Lackey" 

> My excuse for missing this is that it is only my second reading of RTTW, and
> I wasn't looking for it the first time through. On page 163 Silkhorn is
> answering Pig's question about what he had been thinking:
> 
>     "The three whorls. Two large and low, by which I mean near the Short
> Sun. This one near the stars. I don't know whether Green's bigger than Blue,
> or Blue's bigger than Green; but both are much bigger than this whorl we're
> in, the Long Sun Whorl."
> 
> Now, it's true that he gives no absolute answer to the question of which
> body is larger, Blue or Green, but the fact that he has been on both worlds,
> seen both from a lander in space, and was unable to distinguish one from the
> other by size indicates, at the very least, that there is little difference
> between them with regard to size. Earth is about four times the size of the
> moon; Urth is presumably four times the size of Lune. Blue cannot be four
> times the size of Green, or someone would have noticed.
> 
> Also, the Green-born inhumi would have had a hell of a time flying around on
> Blue with all those extra gravities dragging them down. And if it was hard
> for them to escape Green's gravity to hunt on Blue, as Jahlee indicated,
> then it would be just about impossible to escape Blue's and return to Green,
> if Blue had much higher gravity.
> 
> Does this finally kill the Blue=Urth idea?

	No, because 1) Lune shows signs of Urthlike gravity in TBOTNS, and 2)
Silkhorn's statement could be an acknowledgement of the varying apparent
sizes of the bodies during his travels on and around them. 

	The gap between Green and Blue could perhaps be bridged at close
approach by an expansion of the atmospheres due to tides. This could
allow the atmospheres to mingle, but they would also be attenuated so
that flying through the thinned air is very difficult even in the lower
effective gravity between the worlds. 


-- 
Jeff Wilson
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"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy." -Cpt Law


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