Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2002 19:25:51 -0500
From: Jeff Wilson 
Subject: (urth) Homeric Astronauts, Not

I meant to present this during the most recent 5HC debate.

I think that _The Odyssey's_ appearance in the first part is the key to
unlocking not the entire book but at least the mystery of the abos'
origins. The account in "'A Story'" is mythologized history and even
historicalized mythology in the same way that the Greeks dramatized the
Trojan War and the Romans presented some of the usual mythic war of the
gods motifs as historical stuggles of the legendary founders of Rome.

The diminutive Shadow Children and the full statured abos are two
branches of descent from an original group that arrived at the twin
planets. This group lost or cut contact with Earth, which proceeded to
develop more distant colonies that were more reliable investments in
that ships or at least information came back. The forgotten colonists
largely descend into savagery while some imbibe the native vegetation
and change themselves with it, like some kind of pseudo-evolutional
catalyst, gaining small bodies that are easier to keep fed on the scarce
game and forage, and possibly some kind of biofeedback control, that
would account for the age-changing and shape-changing abilities. The
telepathy might be a real ability granted by the plant, but might just
as well be an artifact of the need to explain why the Frenchmen came
when they did.  

I'll try to post some textev in a day or few.

-- 
Jeff Wilson
How Am I Posting? 1-800-555-6789
"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy." -Cpt Law


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