From: David_Lebling@avid.com
Subject: (whorl) Derivation of Talus
Date: Tue, 26 May 98 09:38:11 

The nice thing about "talus" as a term for the bulldozer-guard-robots is
that the word also fits nicely within Wolfe's naming scheme, in that
talus is rock debris, or a pile of such debris making up a slope.

So, we have the resonance with the Talos of mythical Crete (which Wolfe
has written about in terms that suggest he "believes" it to have been a
robot), and the nice fit with the Whorl's naming scheme, and the
definitional parallel that the taluses of the Whorl are, compared to the
soldiers, "debris," in that they are somewhat inferior jury-rigged
copies of the real thing.

     -- viz

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