| UP (discussion topics)
|
The effect of Jump for the various races
view full message
>Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 10:49:21 -0700
>From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
>Subject: cherryhlist : opening question:
Hello, all... A question, specifically about the most recent two Chanur books:
Towards the end of _Chanur's Homecoming_, and throughout _Chanur's Legacy_,
there were characters that could see, and, to some extent or another, function
during jump (Chur and Hallan). In _Legacy_, Hilfy referred to Hallan as a 'neowhatever that is supposed to mean...
Would a 'neo,' then, be just an unusual hani who is capable of functioning in
jumpspace, or, as seemed to be the case with Chur, someone who can ... travel,
somehow, during jump, and see relationships that the instruments don't pick up?
_Legacy_ made mention of Chur's having found masses that weren't on the charts,
f. ex. ...
(...)
Seth Scott
seth@cie.uoregon.edu
view full message
>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: cherryhlist: "neo" question
>Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 8:24:08 BST
> >From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
>
> Towards the end of _Chanur's Homecoming_, and throughout _Chanur's Legacy_,
> there were characters that could see, and, to some extent or another, function
> during jump (Chur and Hallan). In _Legacy_, Hilfy referred to Hallan as a 'neowhatever that is sup> posed to mean...
> Would a 'neo,' then, be just an unusual hani who is capable of functioning in
> jumpspace, or, as seemed to be the case with Chur, someone who can ... travel,
> somehow, during jump, and see relationships that the instruments don't pick up?
"Neo" just means 'new' -- Hilfy was simply referring to the fact that
Hallan was a rookie spacer. However, it may have been his very 'newness' that
allowed him to function in jump...old spacers just 'know' you can't do anything
in jump, but Hallan may never have been told this :-) Similarly, it was when
Chur was not in her usual frame of mind (ie when she was deathly ill and pumped
full of Mahendo'sat drugs) that she was able to function in jump.
So how exactly does jump work, is what I want to know -- obviously
people *are* able to do things in jump -- Chur does, Hallan does, and the Kif
do so routinely. Why don't other people? Shsto and humans have to drug, but
what excuse does everyone else have?
Lesley
view full message
>From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
>Subject: Cherryhlist/catching up
>Date: Fri, 3 Sep 93 13:12:16 BST
(...)
Chur & Hallans jump-walking:
Jump is a state of mind.
You only need drugs if you think you need drugs. (There is plenty
of modern precedent for this.) Note that the more experienced spaceflying
species don't need drugs or are not as affected: Humans, new on the scene
need drugs; Hani, newest in the Compact, suffer from jump; Methane breathers,
the oldest and most advanced, don't need any.
Have you ever been on medical drugs/tranquilisers? I didn't have
the chickenpox till I was 17 and caught it rather bad. I was so miserable
the doctor gave me something. It didn't stop the pain, I just didn't care
anymore. I lay in my bed and time seemed to dialate. I thought through
and summarised the Bible while lieing there. Normally one gets bored with
long and repetitive tasks however in that condition I didn't. Sort of like
a computer.
When I read Chur's experience I was reminded of that. Having only
the basic navigational facts to go on and being in an altered state of
conciousness she could just lie and compute.
Later in the evening of my sickness I was woken by my sister
banging on the door (she had locked herself out). I remember going down
the stairs and opening the door but I don't think I really did so because
the next definate thing I was thrashing about in the bathtub (the bathroom
was opposite my bedroom).
If jump is a state of mind then Chur may have succeeded in starting
acting by reacting instincivly and not thinking about it. With her logic
inhibited she knew she *had* to and didn't worry that it "couldn't be done".
The only other similar experience I had was coming out from under
a general anasthetic when I had my wisom teeth removed. I know I was fully
rational upon wakening; I have a note I wrote to Lesley to prove it and I
took my blood pressure. However I could not remember more than about a
minute into the past. I guess I was operating only on short-term memory
for about 10 minutes.
This can explain why Chur couldn't remember what she had done
while in jump. Also why Hallan remembers upon awakening but has trouble
shortly thereafter.
As far as the t'ca hovering through the interface if you imagine
it like the ocean: Normal space is the air and jump space is the water.
When you jump you dive into the water, coast and break surface again.
Some races have learned to open their eyes while underwater and see in a
blur other fish or things beyond the surface. It seems the T'ca can move
about a bit too.
Jo
view full message
>Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1993 07:46:54 EDT
>From: davis@licre.ludwig.edu.au
>Subject: cherryhlist
(...)
An interesting difference between knnn (and possibly t'ca) ships and other
Compact ships: there are several references to hani ships "dipping into the
interface" even on the long jumps (as opposed to manoeuvring or
acceleration), and being incapable of changing vector or communicating
during jump. The methane breathers seem to dip far further into
hyperspace, and are clearly able to communicate and change vector there.
I think that drawing somebody did before (Jo?) was a good one, but there
may be another level further down through which the knnn commute.
Ian Davis davis@licre.ludwig.edu.au
Copyright by the authors of the individual messages.
HTML formatting by Andreas Wandelt .