From: "Roy C. Lackey" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Was Jonas a Chem?
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 03:10:20 -0500

 Andrew Reeves wrote:


>Something else that may or may not have come up in years past, but which
>I haven't noticed, is the question as to whether or not Jonas in not a
>chem who (like Marble) was repaired partially with human parts.  Indeed,
>there is a lot of weirdness going on with his personality that rather
>reminds me of what happened when Marble merged with Rose (not in the
>particulars, just that things are... odd).  Still, these are just random
>thoughts, and _New Sun_, having been written before _Long Sun_ would not
>take a future work into account.

Yes, Jonas's nature has been discussed before, and I'm still waiting for an
answer to my question of just what the hell he thought he was going to do
with Jolenta, even if she was willing. 

But, no, Jonas wasn't a chem, at least not one like those on the _Whorl_.
Jonas was very light weight, as Sev noticed when he picked him up in the
Antechamber. Male chems are _much_ heavier than humans. Even female chems
are heavier than same-sized humans. Rose was a human with some man-made
replacement parts, including human-looking hands. It was some of those
man-made parts that Marble appropriated for herself. So far as I am aware,
_none_ of Rose's biological parts were taken. Marble ran test routines for
each part she tried, rejecting some. For one thing, Rose's biological parts
were pretty much spent, due to her age. Even if it were possible, which I
doubt, I don't think there is any instance of biological parts being used by
a chem in the LS/SS books.

-Roy


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