From: Josh Smith <vveakling@yahoo.com>
Subject: (whorl) Typhon's Mission
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 15:17:03 

Hello All,

I'm new to the list, just finished Exodus last night,
my heart is racing, and my mind is reeling about one
issue: did Typhon send the ship to search for a new
home (sort of the "default setting" for any big space
exodus story), or did he sell out the humans to the
inhumi (or literally sell them as food)? - By the way,
I think that the act of springing a dilemma of that
order on us in the last few pages constitutes one of
the most startling scope-shifts in literary history.

I raced through the archives of the list and found
this before my eyes just got too tired: (if you've
spent more time on the "Cargo" issue, and solved
everything by now, I apologize for the waste of time)

Alice Turner wrote:
"One more explanation: I'm of the opinion that the
Whorl is a supply ship,
that the Cargo, which consists of the dregs of Urth
society, was sold to
the inhumi by Pas/Typhon as a food supply. Q was in
effect a "shepherd,"
but over time he turned into something of a Good
Shepherd, against his own
nature. I don't expect everyone to agree however
(continued butting up
against mantis has made me philosophical)."

(I hope that shows up okay onscreen, I'm on vacation
and writing via yahoo mail).

If Typhon was just sending out humans to the nearest
inhabitable (colonizable) planet(s) to find some new
place to live, and that place happened to be teaming
with vampiric inhumi, then Quetzal was either (a) a
stowaway from Typhon's planet and there had already
been Earth/Green commutes, or (b) a recent addition to
the Whorl who came in from outside, which seems absurd
since he's been the Prolocutor for decades. 

The dilemma of (a) Quetzal is on the Whorl + (b) the 
Whorl is bound for the inhumi planet + (c) the Whorl
was built by Typhon/Pas seems like it can only resolve
with Typhon having built the Whorl to sell to the
inhumi, who perhaps were running out of food. Again,
you could suppose that Quetzal just redirected the
Whorl toward his homeworld, but his very existance on
the Whorl implies that the inhumi were somehow
involved in its origins.

I won't get into the complicated "knot" of Pas vs. his
Children vs. the Prolocutor unless and until people
show interest in the Typhon/Inhumi complicity
possibilities - i.e. a human Q would have tried to
prevent theophanies because he feared a breakdown in
power or even a revolution once the people of Viron
heard about the inability to find the new calde,
figured out that they were being ruled illegally, plus
hearing of Pas' "death" would be disheartening to say
the least. An inhumi Quetzal however, is primarily
motivated by getting the Cargo to Green. He therefore
requires that the Plan of Pas be followed. So don't
let anyone know Pas is dead lest they get other ideas
in their heads and start listening to the other gods.
Then again, it seemed that Tartaros was equally bent
on seeing it through. Oops, I get I did get into it
after all.

Maybe Tyhon himself was part of a legion of inhumi
scouts sent out millenia ago to conquer distant
planets, form empires and ship sustainable
"agriculture" back to Green. That would be quite an
undertaking.

Sorry if these thoughts are less than cohesive. I'm
still trembling from that incredible finish. 

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