From: mary whalen <marewhalen@yahoo.com>
Subject: (whorl) Cards
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 21:40:30 

This is Sean Whalen (prion).

I've just finished reading The Book of the Long Sun, and thought I'd
give some of the thoughts I had after reading the Whorl archives.

The use of the computer cards as currency always seemed a little
strange, and I have a theory about why this came about.  Basically,
Typhon didn't want the crew of the Whorl to be able to betray him by
getting away/sabotaging/disobeying him by using the ships and/or other
similar things before the Whorl arrived at its destination and the
Cargo left to settle the planet and Typhon reappeared in day-to-day
life.

By taking the cards out of the things he didn't want the Crew (who
still retained their memories of technology use because they needed to
be able to run the ship's functions) to use, he renders them useless.
To keep the cards in a safe place that could be accessed when his plan
neared conclusion he gives them to the partly-amnesiac Cargo to keep. 
He tells them to use it as currency.  He thus spreads it around among
the people who can each use their own cards to put into the machinery
of the ship in which they leave the Whorl.  It spreads it out over the
whole Whorl, and because it's money, the people won't want to part
with it.  The Crew wouldn't be able to go around and collect the
cards, and the Cargo wouldn't help at all, they don't want to give
away their money.  When Typhon wants them to leave, he just instructs
them to bring their cards with them, which they'll probably do anyway.
 On the ship, he tells them to put the cards into the slots and the
ship functions, taking them down.

prion
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