Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 09:08:14 -0600
Subject: Re: (urth) DOORS: Tina
From: Adam Stephanides 

on 1/21/03 11:24 AM, Michael Andre-Driussi at mantis@siriusfiction.com
wrote:

> Sure.  But since I've been tracing the copper/electric/technology thread of
> Lara in TAD, it is perhaps too easy for me to say that Lara, the White
> Goddess, is also something of a goddess of technology.  The artifact you
> cite as being a glaring exception to the otherwise lower-tech of Otherworld
> is, in fact, ta-da! a totem for worshipping Lara (like the ice-age Venus
> figurines).

On rereading the relevant passages, I'm inclined to agree with Roy that the
dolls are more like toys for children.  If Tina was meant to be worshipped,
why would she call her owners gods and goddesses?  And while Tina's
capacities are incredible for a doll, compared to a human she's pretty
stupid.  I don't see how giving Tina a brain of that caliber would make her
more worship-worthy.

>> We seem compelled to conclude that males in Otherworld don't have wet
>> dreams, regardless of the stimulus.
> 
> To the contrary!  We know that they can have such dreams and survive, since
> W.F. thinks that Green has had such a dream when Green claims to have seen
> Lara at United.  IIRC, W.F. tells Green not to worry, these things happen.

It seems to me that when W.F. tells Green "Lots of dudes have some dreams
like that," (63, hc) he means visions of goddesses, not wet dreams: he
speaks after Green has shown him Lara's photo attached to the roses.  And
why would W.F., when Green has told him merely that he saw a blond woman
stepping into the hallway, conclude that Green had had a wet dream?

> The "death trigger" is not ejaculation/orgasm, I suppose, but a biochemical
> agent released by the female when the zygotes have been successfully
> received in her holding tank.  Then the male's body starts to self destruct.

In addition to Roy's objection to this, artificial insemination would seem
to be an easy way for males to evade their "doom."  (Of course, it's
possible that some sort of biological mechanism makes it impossible for the
sperm to be stored without natural intercourse, but I don't recall any
evidence of this.)

--Adam


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