Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 13:23:53 -0500
From: James Jordan 
Subject: Re: (urth) (TBOTN) Utter speculation

At 12:47 PM 6/19/2003, you wrote:
>I've been thinking about the Wall of Nessus and
>Baldander's assertion (ch. 35 of Shadow) that the open
>space inside the walls wasn't for Nessus' expansion.
>But something about the sheer size and height of the
>walls made me wonder how far off it would be to
>suggest that Nessus wasn't always a city but that it
>was initially (possibly) one huge space pad. Assuming
>that the walls are circular, then would it be possible
>that what we have is some kind of base for a huge
>cylinder, like...the Whorl?

         I thought the Whorl was a hollowed out asteroid, thus made in 
space. But the rest of your suggestion makes some sense. Even ordinary 
rockets blasting off might require a high wall, to stop noise pollution if 
nothing else. Typhon would have launched a LOT of ships to populate and 
supply Whorl. (But maybe we're both forgetting something.)
         An awful thought just hit me: Doesn't *Starship Troopers* start 
off in Buenos Aires? Naw, it can't be. Nessus is the city of Borges, not of 
Heinlein.

Nutria


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