E-Selyn

“Malachite Mouse”; Cheryl’s new romance

Margaret L. Carter

Sat, 26 Dec 1998 14:04:04 EST

It’s a thrill to be able to read Mary Lou’s “Mystery of the Malachite Mouse.”

I greatly enjoyed the new insights into Eskalie’s character. Especially significant in this story is an element I’ve never seen dealt with at length before – how junct society handles the “loss” to Gen-hood of childhood friends and family members who establish. The layers of distancing and rationalization are fascinating as well as chilling. It was really interesting to see the internal workings of Eskalie’s exclusive finishing school – and the workings of the children’s minds, the constant anxiety over approaching changeover (or not) and the grasping at any superstitious source of comfort.

Eskalie is younger than I realized until I reread “The Pilfered Pen” {RBW Note. Available on the web in CZ#13} (I had visualized her as older). She’s still in First Year and could theoretically disjunct. However, I gathered from Mary Lou’s comments that she is an unreconstructed junct and will stay that way. I feel like giving Eskalie a good shaking to make her come to her senses -- yet she is portrayed so vividly that her viewpoint is believable and sympathetic. With the terror of the “Giant Killer Gen’s” lethal ability (even though exercised in her defense) so fresh in her mind, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t be prepared to see the “good” side of the Householding lifestyle. What frustrates me about Eskalie (and yet Mary Lou makes it credible) is how she can continue, in the face of such strong evidence to the contrary, thinking of Tallin as a well-trained pet and “her Gen” as merely the lingering ghost of her former friend. The human capacity for reinterpreting observed facts to avoid cognitive dissonance is an amazing thing.

These stories demonstrate that junct culture is not evil or even amoral, but has its own strong standards of decency and honor, however differently conceived to fit the warped circumstances of “Sime from Gen divided.”

I’m eagerly waiting for the next story to appear on the web site.

I’m enjoying Cheryl’s new book, THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER. {RBW Note. Cheryl Wolverton’s book was released in December 1998.} There’s a lot of tension in the opening scenes, and the symbolism of the swinging incident (playground type, not the other kind! <G>) later in the story is a nice touch.

Oh, about the S~G primary web page, I have to agree with the recent criticisms. It has one feature that always drives me nuts about web sites -- having to click on 1 or 2 essentially content-less pages before one can actually get INTO the site. (Back when our computer was afflicted with terminal tortoise syndrome, sites of that kind were a REAL pain. I can see how that would instantly drive away a visitor with a slow browser.)

LL&P,

Margaret

* * *

BACKGROUND: Channel’s First Transfer

Jenn Vesperman.

Fri, 30 Jan 1998 18:39:46 +1100

Harkening back to the discussion of a channel’s first transfer being the experience which sets what best flushes her primary and secondary systems & refreshes her each month … (IE: a channel whose first transfer is from a channel will best be renewed by a transfer from a channel, a channel whose first transfer is from a Gen will best be renewed by transfer from a Gen…)

This might be one reason why disjunct channels are so mistrusted. Most will have had a junct First Transfer, and thus they’re never operating on peak unless they have a junct transfer…?

Jenn V.

* * *

Jean Lorrah

Fri, 30 Jan 1998 07:03:44 -0600

Yes–that’s right. That’s why there are junct Gens in my stories. Risa juncts Sergi at their first transfer--and the next day he kills (not murders) a renSime who attacks Risa and Kreg. Tony Logan is a junct Gen. So is Kadi Farris.

For a long time, these junct Gens are simply fortunate that the Tecton is so dense that its members can’t see what is under their noses. No one recognizes the possibility of junct Gens until Oliver Tigue. It is only after his time that you could get a scene like the one in UNTO in which a Tecton channel recognizes that a Gen can junct a channel.

And don’t forget, Muryin Farris had First Transfer from Sergi ambrov Keon.

One of the things that makes her unique among the Sectuibs in Zeor (she shares it with Rimon, of course--but then he wasn’t Sectuib in Zeor because Zeor didn’t exist yet) is that because of that First Transfer from a junct Gen, she will always be technically junct. It’s just not recognized in her day. In Digen’s, she would not be allowed to function.

Gotta run! Jean

Muryin Farris—Groupie?

Jean Lorrah

Wed, 1 Oct 1997 17:27:25 -0500

Whoa! I don’t know whether to believe the story Tony told me while I was walking the dogs today. My first reaction was to tell him, “You wish!” But then, when I thought it over, well … at least it’s possible, if not probable.

Tony claims that he once had an affair with Muryin Farris, and that they had a child together.

After you pick yourself up off the floor from your fit of laughter, consider these facts: Tony is only three or four years older than Muryin. Once he and Zhag gain a little fame, they tour all over the North American continent. He is very handsome and sexy as all hell, and he’s talented, too. What woman wouldn’t desire him? He’s got a nager that could light up New Washington. What Sime wouldn’t desire him? He’s a fanir. What Sectuib wouldn’t want a fanir for her householding?

The time frame is sometime after Klyd disappears and Muryin becomes Sectuib in Zeor, but before Tony and Carla get back together. It’s after Tony’s mother dies and he misses a transfer, goes home a month later, and “knocks Zhag up” to First Order (and himself in the process, of course). But that still leaves a six-to-eight-year time span in which it could happen. This is still the time period during which Tony is being “faithful” to Carla by being intimate only with Sime women--Carla is the only Gen he wants.

So, consider the possibility of a Logan/Paget concert at or near Zeor, to which the Sectuib in Zeor has a front row seat. Can you imagine her not wanting this fanir for Zeor? But she knows she can’t have him. She can’t have him for transfer, either--she would knock him up, and destroy his match with Zhag, condemning Zhag to death. Muryin could never do that, not that Tony would ever consider it.

But as fate would have it, both of them are shortly due for transfer, and Tony does a tease job on Muryin (what an opportunity--a concert that becomes instant legend) that has her Companion seriously considering homicide.

Muryin has Farris discipline, of course, so there is never any danger, and Tony knows exactly what he is doing anyway, and brings everyone down safely at the end.

After the concert, Muryin formally meets the performers, and that should be the end of it. Except … she decides she wants to see the next concert. In a pattern she will repeat several times over the years, until the day she disappears permanently, Muryin quietly slips away from Zeor and travels to the location of Zhag and Tony’s next concert. However, she has the sense to take her disapproving Companion with her.

I would guess that like most Farrises, Muryin has a difficult time finding a good fit in a Companion. She has someone who is perfectly adequate … but in Tony she has glimpsed a potential she has put out of her mind for years.

Remember, she has witnessed two examples of what the channel/Companion can be: Hugh and Klyd, and Risa and Sergi. She probably never fully understands what went wrong between Hugh and Klyd, but she has kept in touch with Risa and Sergi--remember that she has had a close relationship with Keon since her First Transfer, and some of Keon’s attitude has rubbed off on her.

So, although she knows she can’t have Tony, she cannot resist going to spend another evening under his spell. You realize that if he were available, in a couple of transfers Muryin could bring him up to the amount and speed she needs, and because he is a fanir he is automatically a perfect basal rate match for any channel. What Muryin does is allow herself to indulge in a day or two (I’m not sure how long they are on the road) of the fantasy of having Tony. Then, after the next concert, she has transfer with her Companion, Tony has transfer with Zhag … and Tony and Muryin share their post reaction.

Muryin has made one of those Sectuib’s decisions that may seem frivolous--she is deliberately out to get pregnant. Consider: a Sime child will be a Farris channel, while a Gen child will almost certainly be a Natural and has a high probability of being a fanir. It’s a win/win situation: she has a great time, and she produces a child who will be a boon to Zeor.

Whew! As you can see, Tony’s tall tale doesn’t seem so tall when you put it in context. Jacqueline? What is your opinion of this scenario? Is Tony telling me the truth, or is he enhancing his own legend?

BTW, Happy New Year. Jean

# # #

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Mon, 6 Oct 1997 13:55:42 -0500

Jean Lorrah wrote;

Tony claims that he once had an affair with Muryin Farris, and that they had a child together.

According to the Family Tree of the Zeor Farrises, Muryin had at least one child who lived to adulthood with Jesse Dumas AFTER she walked away from Zeor.

When she walked away, she had only one child who had lived to adulthood and that was Hilo Klyd Farris (Digen’s grandfather).

What I have never been able to get her to confess to me is by WHOM she had this child – the single viable heir to Zeor in that generation. At that time Zeor hung by a tiny, fragile thread, and this idiot kid, Hilo Klyd Farris goes and marries another FARRIS of all the blueblinkin’ stupid things to do.

Obviously, Hilo Klyd Farris was a “Romantic” – the sort who won’t listen to anyone but does his own thing – the sort who values the beauty and love in life above mere living.

Hilo Klyd Farris I know fairly well – Muryin Alur Farris I know pretty well (she pontificates at me from time to time, giving me all these high faluttin’ quotes of hers). I could never figure out how a Muryin could spawn a Hilo.

NOW WE KNOW!! Tony finally confessed.

Well, we know that Zeor doesn’t marry out of Zeor, so it’s no mystery why it was only an affair. But Muryin would have kept that kid and found a husband to marry who would be a good father to such a kid. Of course, (and I hope I don’t shock anyone on this list) in the Householdings it wasn’t necessary or even customary to actually MARRY anyone. Parenting was a community responsibility in such a living group. So Muryin didn’t just marry to get a father for her child. She married someone she considered she wanted inside her life, stable, always THERE, reliable, staunch, etc. etc. everything that an itinerant musician isn’t even if he has the personality for it.

And to keep the gene pool variegated, women didn’t just have children with their husbands. They deliberately sought out the men they thought would contribute most to a child’s health and well being.

So Jean’s right, Tony would be sought for his (wasted) Donor’s talent.

Zeor would be desperate for the fanir talent at this point in history.

Muryin takes Zelerod’s Doom seriously.

Oh, speaking of Zelerod’s Doom -- don’t miss the new tv show THE VISITOR.

The hero (a guy who comes back from the future) is trying to avert Zelerod’s Doom.

I hope you have this on a time-line somewhere. It’s getting complicated. If it turns out Tony really did sire Hilo Klyd Farris he’s for the history books for sure. Poor Tony – he’s got enough trouble with fame and glory already. I hope the Farris Syndrome doesn’t rub off on him.

So, consider the possibility of a Logan/Paget concert at or near Zeor, to which the Sectuib in Zeor has a front row seat. Can you imagine her not wanting this fanir for Zeor? But she knows she can’t have him. She can’t have him for transfer, either—she would knock him up, and destroy his match with Zhag, condemning Zhag to death. Muryin could never do that, not that Tony would ever consider it.

You’ve got that straight. But I’d expect this might be a Householding sponsored event which is why she has a box seat. By that point, these singers are the best advertisement they’ve got for the Tecton lifestyle.

But as fate would have it, both of them are shortly due for transfer, and Tony does a tease job on Muryin (what an opportunity—a concert that becomes instant legend) that has her Companion seriously considering homicide. Muryin has Farris discipline, of course, so there is never any danger, and Tony knows exactly what he is doing anyway, and brings everyone down safely at the end.

Oh, I bet the whole concert project was Muryin’s idea to begin with. Serve her right! She had to have done lots of things like that to have gotten so wise so early in life.

Betcha she makes the only other devoted Zhag/Tonyo fan in Zeor into First Companion. That would be just her style – she’d assume that the sensitivity to the style of the music indicated a deep seated philosophical attitude that suited Zeor. Zeor is about UNITY you know, they just use different tools than Keon does.

Remember, she has witnessed two examples of what the channel/Companion can be: Hugh and Klyd, and Risa and Sergi. She probably never fully understands what went wrong between Hugh and Klyd, but she has kept in touch with Risa and Sergi—remember that she has had a close relationship with Keon since her First Transfer, and some of Keon’s attitude has rubbed off on her.

I think Muryin has a perfectly fine TRANSFER Companion, but what she lacks is the underlying perfect UNITY in a Companion that Tony and Zhag exemplify onstage every night. And Tony can’t do that for her – because he’s not her perfect other-half.

I think the reason Muryin would sleep with Tony is that she wants to get a Gen child from him with his talent, who will serve the child she plans to have next – the real heir to Zeor. But the plan doesn’t work and all she gets from Tony is Hilo Klyd – a whopping fantastic Farris channel with a very warped personality (from a straight-laced point of view) – headstrong and stubborn as a mule when it comes to doing things HIS OWN WAY.

Ooops – not basal match. That’s an inherent characteristic. He can match any basal selyn consumption rate within his range, but as soon as he falls asleep, he reverts to his own “default” selyn production rate (unless stimulated by a Sime in need nearby).

What Muryin does is allow herself to indulge in a day or two (I’m not sure how long they are on the road) of the fantasy of having Tony.

Then, after the next concert, she has transfer with her Companion, Tony has transfer with Zhag … and Tony and Muryin share their post reaction.

I’m wondering if the occasion that brings them into this situation has to do with Zhag’s ongoing health problems that only a channel of Muryin’s caliber and training could cope with. While she’s busy pasting Zhag together to make it onto the stage-of-the-evening, she’s aggressively seducing Tony who is much more used to doing the seducing. But then he doesn’t deal with female Farrises very often.

Muryin has made one of those Sectuib’s decisions that may seem frivolous – she is deliberately out to get pregnant.

I’m sure she comes to a point like that very early in life because she’s the Sectuib and Zeor has no other Farris channel heir at that point. The pressure is on her to do something about that NOW. And that means there’s no other Farrises in Zeor (except possibly a Gen we don’t know about yet – or maybe a renSime we don’t know about. But if there is a renSime we don’t know about, that renSime Farris is not of the line of Rimon Farris at all but one of the others. By this point in history, most of the other Farris (non related to Rimon) lines that joined to form Zeor have since split off to found Daughter Householdings. There are a lot of those. That’s where a Sectuib usually finds a spouse, in the Daughter Householdings.

Consider: a Sime child will be a Farris channel, while a Gen child will almost certainly be a Natural and has a high probability of being a fanir. It’s a win/win situation: she has a great time, and she produces a child who will be a boon to Zeor.

I don’t think any of the ambrov Zeor of Hilo’s time ever considered him a boon.

Hilo has three children, Pavan (a Gen) who founds the line that produces some of the cousins Mairis has to contend with, and a female renSime whose name we don’t yet know, and the heir to Zeor, Orim Farris who is Digen’s father. As far as any of them has ever told me, Hilo was respected for his accomplishments, but never considered a boon. And poor Orim was a double Farris, which heritage is what screws Digen up so badly but nevertheless allows him to survive the lateral injury and other things that would do in a normal mortal.

Tony just leaves out the parts he isn’t so proud of. I think he left out all the part about how Muryin could help Zhag when Tony couldn’t. He leaves out the part about how Muryin saved Tony’s spirit if not his life by sleeping with him – making him believe that Zhag would be okay again.

Tony’s a great editor. Still, there’s enough truth in it that I wouldn’t impugn his honesty.

I don’t know if Tony knew that Hilo was his kid or not. I don’t know if Hilo ever knew who his biological father was. And the truth be known, nobody in Zeor cares who Hilo’s father was – Hilo is the heir they demanded from Muryin and she gave them. Hilo was raised in Zeor by Zeor and has no other values in him at all. Except for this odd personality quirk – and we all know that personality isn’t inherited.

For one thing, Hilo is the first Sectuib in 2 generations NOT to desert Zeor.

Hilo is strong enough to “take it.”

I just put a post-it note on my master chart on the wall of the Succession in Zeor naming Hilo’s father. I don’t recall if we ever got that thing properly posted on the web?

The heritage goes like this – just mentioning the Channel who carries it not their Companions or spouses or lovers:

Syrus Farris (the Genfarmer Jean invented for First Channel)

Rimon Farris (whom I invented for HoZ’s legend of who was the Founder of Zeor and First Channel)

Zeth Farris (of the book Jean hasn’t written yet, Companions)

Del Rimon Farris (actual founder of Zeor, confused with Rimon – the First Channel) (Del Rimon’s story is the basis of The Farris Channel)

some generations un-named

Eilgen Farris (I don’t think anything has ever been written about Eilgen)

some generations

Ray Kolin Farris (Grandfather in HoZ)

Ray Klyd Farris

Klyd Jua Farris (HoZ’s Klyd Farris)

Muryin Alur Farris

Hilo Klyd Farris

Orim Farris

Digen Ryan Farris (of UNTO)

(Aild Ercy Farris) (in parentheses because she is never Sectuib)

(Ravel Landace Farris) (likewise never Sectuib because Digen lives so long)

Mairis Farris (of “Operation High Time” and RenSime)

Many unnamed generations

Xigram Klairon Farris (of “Easy as Hop, Skip, and Jump”)

As I recall Yone Farris is not of the Zeor Farrises.

Note also that in the gaps where people haven’t been named are many women who were Sectuib in Zeor and did a better job of it than Muryin did.

Live Long and Prosper,

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

# # #

Jean Lorrah

Mon, 6 Oct 1997 17:05:33 -0500

I trust you’ve all read Jacqueline’s message on this topic – if not, please go read it and then come back to this one.

Here you can see how the Sime~Gen universe operates. We don’t make it up. It exists, and we discover it, piece by piece.

Tony is a real chatterbox, Zhag less so – he communicates more through music than through words.

Tony may exaggerate, and he may leave things out, but he doesn’t generally tell outright lies. He does indeed know Hilo is his child (the boy probably has untapped natural musical talent and a beautiful voice), and would just love to grab him up and take him away from Zeor. He visits every time they go near Zeor, and they make sure that every tour to Nivet takes them there.

But Tony knows better than to interfere in Hilo’s upbringing. Although he did not choose it for himself, he has great respect for the Householding lifestyle. The Tecton is responsible for avoiding Zelerod’s Doom – which happened just when Tony was an impressionable adolescent, and is the defining historical event of his generation. Furthermore, both he and Zhag have relied on help from Carre many times over the years.

So he can see that Hilo has inherited a responsibility his biological father dare not interfere with. However, Hilo has inherited something from his mother, as well: there will be a story somewhere, about the time that Tony and Zhag are performing in Nivet, and Hilo, sick and tired of the obligations of the heir to Zeor, runs away and tries to join them.

Of course Hilo knows who his father is – he’s a Farris, so everything about him is on record. He is probably around ten years old when he tries to run away and join the band, an age when boys should be playing ball and going fishing, and spending lots of time running around in the sunshine – but the heir to Zeor is busy learning discipline. Tony would love to liberate Hilo, but instead he ends up having to return his errant son to Zeor.

Hmm – when I have time, I’ll have to add this to the Tonyo and Zhag stuff on the website, but it will be a couple of weeks before I have that time. This coming weekend I will be guesting at Farpoint in Maryland – any of you who will be there, look me up. And one weekend lost means a week preparing for it and at least a week catching up when I get back. Jean

* * *

“Lortuen”

Suzanne George

Thu, 7 Aug 1997 12:03:32 -0400

JL writes:

Oh, bit of background. Hugh’s suicide …

Aaaauuugh! Oh, man … geez, I’m kind of fond of these characters, you know? ;-) At the risk of sounding like some kind of nut-case, do you think you could give me some warning next time before suddenly revealing one of my favorite character’s Suicide Scenes??? Aaaauuuggh! …

… is so spectacular (burning down the main building of Rior while standing on the roof screaming at the heavens before the injustice of it all) that it becomes the foundational event that triggers off the research thrust that eventually ends up in the wealth of detailed information in UNTO – and in the Modern Tecton’s policies with regard to the LOT relationships. Jean has a book that needs writing, To Outlaw Love.

I KNEW it! Klyd and Hugh would just HAVE to have been the first ones to validate the whole dependency thing (not, most likely, in time to save either of them from the consequences of living without the other, though), since I’m assuming part of the reason for Hugh’s suicide had to do with his dependency … um, has this story actually been written???? Need a volunteer??? This would be right up my alley – Klyd and Hugh are my two favorite characters! :-)

I think you probably haven’t encountered the bit of background about Hugh’s wife, or the Imprintation that Hugh (because of ignorance) permitted Klyd to take on Aisha at the end of HoZ.

Imprintation?? I take it this has something to do with PostSyndrome? So when Klyd touches Aisha’s cheek at the end of HoZ – is that more significant than it appeared at the time? Where can I read about this Imprintation phenomenon?

Aisha has a kid by Klyd, you know – or did you? She goes to Klyd to save Klyd’s life, over Hugh’s objections, and then with Hugh’s blessing. She stays a long time too before coming back to Hugh. Somewhere in this junkpile I call a mind it says 4 years or so.

Then again, it sounds like I have a little catching up to do. Yes, I knew that Klyd had a child by Aisha – and … didn’t she die birthing that child?? That incident is alluded to in ZD. But I’d never read the details of that whole entanglement. I didn’t realize that she’d actually left Hugh for Klyd for an extended period of time. Oye, I really need to start reading all the stuff I’ve missed! (I’ll start with “Channel’s Exemption.”)

SG: The entire Householding is bound to notice this. He finagles an excuse to meet Hugh again next month: Same thing.

JL: No. Klyd would die rather than finagle. Hugh has to come back of his own accord. What Klyd doesn’t know is that his friends take matters into their own hands behind his back and make sure that Hugh knows what’s happening – which further sets their LOT relationship off on the wrong foot. But by then Klyd is almost dead from the repeated aborts and the agony of the Imprintation on a woman he can’t reach, nevermind have. Oh, it’s a really ghastly mess.

Hoo-kay, boys and girls, I guess I’m really going to have to rewrite my reading on these guys. Without having yet read all the literature about the intervening years between HoZ and ZD (never mind anything about what happens after those years to Hugh and Klyd), this synopsis leaves me with the following impressions:

First of all: why is Klyd obsessing about Hugh “coming back of his own accord?” At the end of HoZ, Hugh (still too new to all this to understand the implications of what has happened) is just innocently excited about the whole thing, and very enthused about the whole Transfer-thing. He’s already committed to coming back for a second transfer in another month. So, unless something pretty serious happens in that next month, prior to (during? immediately after?) their second transfer, Hugh coming back Every month is not even an issue. Unless, by “coming back”, you mean “coming back to Live at Zeor”, as Klyd’s companion. I could see him being reluctant to do that: after all, he has his own dream, and wants to start Householding Rior.

It’s interesting how all these additional facts not in the published novels that I’ve read both change and don’t change the impressions I had started to form. Obviously, the whole picture is far more complex (and interesting) than I had realized. Still: the picture I had started to paint of Hugh (am I repeating myself??) was of someone completely committed to being Klyd’s Companion, his transfer-mate. He makes that decision in HoZ, when he tells Klyd he’ll stay with him “no matter what.” To my mind, that was a very significant moment in their relationship, and in Hugh’s involvement – because he had just placed Klyd’s well being above that of the woman he loved, Aisha.

[Tangent warning: I’m off on a fairly lengthy aside – just to let you know ;-)]

It seems to me that Hugh never wavers – not too far, anyway – from that initial commitment. (Okay, so I haven’t read “Channel’s Exemption” yet.

… Hugh gets mad … but he comes back. Hugh disagrees – but he stays by Klyd’s side, buffering his sensitivity. (This is the impression I get just from the two books, HoZ and ZD.) Even after all the Bad Stuff that you’ve said has gone between them – Hugh is still there. And if sometimes he stays purely out of Guilt, or Obligation – so what? Klyd seems to think that staying (or coming back) out of Guilt or Obligation diminishes the service, somehow. What Klyd never seems to figure out is that sometimes Obligation – even Guilt – can be a Gift as well as a Burden! (After all, the Guilt can spur the action that leads to Redemption, and Forgiveness.)

So, because he is unable to think of Obligation as anything other than a Burden – as it has always been to him – he continually under-estimates both the nature and the level of Hugh’s commitment to him and to their common dream. Being committed doesn’t make Hugh any less opinionated, or take away his own vision: there is still (always?) that clash between Distect and Tecton, the “how” of making their common dream a reality. (Both right, as you said – and both, in some ways, wrong.) But it seems like Klyd’s obsessiveness about guilt vs. payback vs. obligation Sets Up the very situations he fears!

He doesn’t want people – Hugh, for example – to serve him out of guilt, or obligation: for him, that just creates an additional burden, a debt he has to repay. He can’t see that sometimes allowing people to serve out their guilt (so to speak), is a gift – to them! – and that their service is a Gift to him that he simply has to accept, not repay.

Guilt, after all, can be both a good and a bad thing: it’s all in how we respond to it. It is a good thing if it leads us to recognize and accept responsibility for our actions: sometimes it’s Right to “feel guilty.”

Guilt can be the nudge of our conscience. But if we don’t take that next step, from guilt to healthy responsibility, then guilt becomes a bad thing: it mires us in self-pity, or self-righteousness, pride and stubbornness, resentment.

But because Klyd can only see one side of Guilt – the obligation, the Burden – he is never able to fully appreciate the Gifts that are being given to him. Every Gift just makes him feel all the more guilty. The more mired in Guilt he becomes, the less he sees that he doesn’t need to feel guilty – only to accept.

So what I’m trying to say is: Klyd is blind to the real gift that Hugh offers him. He is so mired in guilt, and in – erroneously – trying to shoulder the responsibility for the lives of all the people he affects (because he Is who he Is), that he fails to see Hugh standing beside him, year after year, despite everything, willing to Share that burden with him.

Because Hugh is every bit as committed to that Dream of Unity and Togetherness as Klyd is – and every bit as capable of accepting the responsibility. He’s just able to do it without getting totally mired in the Guilt.

… Hey, is any of this making any sense to anybody out there? It’s getting late, I’m getting loopy, so if this is all the biggest bunch of hooey you’ve ever read, please forgive me. Besides – I still have to read those Missing (to me) Stories -- I’ll probably feel totally differently after all that!

Suzanne

# # #

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Sun, 10 Aug 1997 16:52:54 -0500

Suzanne wrote (voluminously but these are excerpts):

Sorry – I thought anyone who’s studied the books would understand that Hugh is going to suffer from Underdraw-to-Suicide.

I deal with Underdraw in UNTO and Sime Surgeon, and Imprintation in “Channel’s Exemption” and maybe EASY – no I don’t think in EASY itself but in some of the unpublished story that I never wrote having to do with the Pebble Beach. *sigh* There is just so MUCH background to this universe.

EXEMPTION is posted on Tecton Central. And so is EASY. I thought since this thread is about the story “Lortuen” that you’d read all that material.

Guess not.

> I KNEW it! Klyd and Hugh would just HAVE to have been the first ones to validate the whole dependency thing (not, most likely, in time to save either of them from the consequences of living without the other, though), since I’m assuming part of the reason for Hugh’s suicide had to do with his dependency.

Not exactly. Dependency per se doesn’t usually lead into a suicidal state unless the individual is unbalanced to begin with. A really total Dependency can result in death-by-attrition but not suicide.

It’s UNDERDRAW that leads normal, well balanced, perfectly sane individuals (who aren’t Tigues) to suicide. Underdraw is caused by a failure of the Governors. Governors are discussed in “Easy As Hop Skip And Jump” (on Tecton Central). In the space age, of course, they have marvelous ways and means of dealing with failed Governors. In Digen’s time there was no such thing – and only a really terrific channel had a chance of helping the situation.

Ilyana’s suicide is a dramatic echo of Hugh’s – that’s why it’s in UNTO, because I intend to never-write Hugh’s death scene. (Got a note from Kerry Lindemann-Schaefer again begging me to write that scene.) I’m always mystified by folks who want to read Sime~Gen as Horror Genre material.

Hannah Shapero thinks the channel’s sex life is yucky – I think suicide from Underdraw is yucky.

… um, has this story actually been written???? Need a volunteer??? This would be right up my alley – Klyd and Hugh are my two favorite characters! :-)

Hugh and Klyd are very hard to handle and I wouldn’t recommend a beginning writer attempt it. There’s not only all the background that’s been officially published, there’s a short story by Kerry in one of the recent ‘zines I think – about that Imprintation scene. And yes, that TOUCH at the end of HoZ is vastly significant and the real start of the whole Modern Tecton. Aisha is, if I’m not mis-remembering, Muryin Farris’s mother. I hope Mary Arens can succeed in creating that chronology for web posting.

And then in addition to all that’s been published, and some of that by Jean which gives a substantially different slant on who these people are, there’s all the UNPUBLISHED background on them – some of which only exists in my head, some in Jean’s and some only on the astral plane.

If you want to write about them, send me the outline first, and peg the work to the YEAR in the chronology.

Then again, it sounds like I have a little catching up to do. Yes, I knew that Klyd had a child by Aisha – and … didn’t she die birthing that child? That incident is alluded to in ZD. But I’d never read the details of that whole entanglement. I didn’t realize that she’d actually left Hugh for Klyd for an extended period of time.

No, she didn’t “leave Hugh” which is what makes the whole situation so sticky to deal with. Hugh is still the only man for her, in her heart – and Aisha is the only woman for Hugh in his heart. But if she doesn’t support Klyd through this mess their amateurish attempt to save his life made, then he’ll DIE. That’s what Yone faces in “Channel’s Exemption” – only so much later that they all understand what’s happening. Hugh, Klyd, and Aisha face all this when nobody understands the theory of what’s happening.

SG: The entire Householding is bound to notice this. He finagles an excuse to meet Hugh again next month: same thing.

Kerry says there’s no way to dig out all the offhand thumbnail references to this story in the ‘zines. I recall writing long, long essays on the topic that got published, but so far nobody has figured out where they went.

They’re buried in the letter columns answering correspondence almost identical to this.

First of all: why is Klyd obsessing about Hugh “coming back of his own accord?”

Because that’s his character – and one of the things that makes him Sectuib in Zeor. Klyd wants a Companion, and that can only be an ambrov Zeor, which means Hugh must choose Zeor of his own free will and out of RECOGNITION of Klyd as his own Sectuib – there must be an irresistible affinity for the underlying philosophy of Zeor or Klyd can’t have him. In fact, there is NOT any such affinity in Hugh. Hugh is the Founder of the Distect and to him it’s self-evident that in any transfer situation, the full responsibility lies in the Gen’s hands. That’s not something Klyd can DARE be touched by.

The whole Tecton/Distect CONFLICT that generates a good part of this Universe’s history lies encapsulated or symbolized by these two men.

Remember the Muryin quote – you can’t kill an idea by killing the people who hold it.

At the end of HoZ, Hugh (still too new to all this to understand the implications of what has happened) is just innocently excited about the whole thing, and very enthused about the whole Transfer-thing. He’s already committed to coming back for a second transfer in another month. So, unless something pretty serious happens in that next month, prior to (during? immediately after?) their second transfer, Hugh coming back Every month is not even an issue. Unless, by “coming back”, you mean “coming back to Live at Zeor”, as Klyd’s companion. I could see him being reluctant to do that: after all, he has his own dream, and wants to start Householding Rior.

No, it’s more than that. And as I remember it (unwritten material here) I never intended Hugh to make it back for that second transfer. I think by the time the month rolls around, they’ve locked horns over the Aisha problem in some fashion. Besides, 4 weeks hence, Aisha and Hugh are probably off on their honeymoon not worrying about Klyd. Hugh is not conditioned to observing transfer schedules.

Alternatively, if Hugh did turn up – I think Klyd would shun him, refuse him entry to the Householding grounds even when he realizes the extent of his problem with Dependency – because Klyd is trying to break the Dependency before it gets full hold on him (not knowing it already has!) and he’s trying to break the Imprintation which means staying away from Hugh, the source of the grand transfer that left him wide open to that Imprintation. Klyd has absolute confidence in his ability to shake this off – and for the first time in his adult life, his confidence is misplaced.

Working against the grief at the loss of his wife and grandfather, relying on a Donor who doesn’t quite make the grade compared to Hugh, he just doesn’t have the stamina and strength to hack it. But I’ve never met a Sectuib in Zeor male or female who would ever admit to him/her self the lack of enough strength to execute necessary tasks.

So by the time a month is up, it’s a whole new Situation.

It’s interesting how all these additional facts not in the published novels that I’ve read both change and don’t change the impressions I had started to form.

That’s because ALL THIS unpublished background was firmly in my mind as I wrote HoZ.

HoZ is the middle book of a trilogy. Book One and Book Three were never written. The material for Book One got cannibalized to form the bridge material between Ambrov Keon and HoZ which hasn’t been written. But knowing what happened during those years, we incorporated references to it and outgrowths of it in Zelerod’s Doom.

Obviously, the whole picture is far more complex (and interesting) than I had realized. Still: the picture I had started to paint of Hugh (am I repeating myself??) was of someone completely committed to being Klyd’s Companion, his transfer-mate. He makes that decision in HoZ, when he tells Klyd he’ll stay with him “no matter what.” To my mind, that was a very significant moment in their relationship, and in Hugh’s involvement – because he had just placed Klyd’s well being above that of the woman he loved, Aisha.

That’s why what happens later is so very tragic! Hugh’s heart was given to Klyd and Klyd’s Vision – only for Hugh to discover that this Sime isn’t at all what he’d thought him to be. In HoZ, Hugh is very naive, and utterly ignorant of transfer mechanics and Donor’s skills. Once he learns these things (during that 4 years when they’re struggling to keep Klyd alive almost against his will) he begins to understand where the Tecton and Householdings and the Legendary Rimon Farris went wrong, and he starts trying to sell Klyd on the idea that the Gen can handle everything, just relax and go along for the ride and it’ll be fine.

For various good reasons, Klyd rejects that. And he’s right to do so. Only one problem: it’s the worst mistake that could possibly be made and plunges Humanity into a couple thousand years of ongoing tragedy (without which Humanity wouldn’t survive to make First Contact.)

HoZ deliberately cuts off right at that high point before the tragedy emerges from the mists, but all the clues are embedded in HoZ. You just have to know and understand transfer mechanics at the level of Sime Surgeon to know how to read HoZ. Most of my books end in sucker-traps of that sort.

If you STOP thinking at the end of the book, you’ll miss something important and believe the opposite of what is. That’s what I love about this List -- these people never stop THINKING.

[Tangent warning: I’m off on a fairly lengthy aside – just to let you know ;-)]

It seems to me that Hugh never wavers – not too far, anyway – from that initial commitment. (Okay, so I haven’t read “Channel’s Exemption” yet …

Hugh gets mad … but he comes back. Hugh disagrees – but he stays by Klyd’s side, buffering his sensitivity. (This is the impression I get just from the two books, HoZ and ZD.) Even after all the Bad Stuff that you’ve said has gone between them – Hugh is still there.

Aha, but the unwritten book of major tragedy after ZD starts with Hugh’s final departure from Klyd’s Way Of Life. Hugh compromises and compromises until he snaps and walks away – sealing their doom. This is a philosophical struggle with a philosophical resolution that gets complicated by physiology.

But it’s NOT COMMON between them, and that’s the problem that eventually does them both in.

Being committed doesn’t make Hugh any less opinionated, or take away his own vision: there is still (always?) that clash between Distect and Tecton, the “how” of making their common dream a reality. (Both right, as you said – and both, in some ways, wrong.) But it seems like Klyd’s obsessiveness about guilt vs. payback vs. obligation Sets Up the very situations he fears!

Oh, yes of course. That’s how karma works in real life, so naturally it does in drama too.

Yes, you must read my column on GIVING AND RECEIVING. You’ve expressed the Kabbalistic principle exactly.

That may be one way to look at it, but it isn’t my way. The Guilt is there and is an element in the patterns of CONFLICT formulating this story – but the important point is transfer mechanics. Guilt is not thematically related to transfer mechanics and so doesn’t belong much in this story, except as a personality quirk, not a plot-driving dynamic. The plot-driving dynamic is the PHILOSOPHY of who is responsible in a transfer situation.

A lot of it has to do with the philosophy of dominance, too, which has sexual overtones in our society but not in Sime~Gen.

Klyd is not blind to Hugh’s gift – he is morally obligated to turn it down no matter how much it attracts him, beguiles him, seduces him. And Klyd is strong enough, just barely, to turn it down. Hugh isn’t strong enough (because he didn’t have a Zeor upbringing, but was raised out-T) to accept the turn-down for exactly what it is and no more.

And no, they do not share the same Vision. That’s the problem. At the end of HoZ they both think so. In ZD they’ve found out that they don’t, and have tried to patch it up for both their sakes, and Muryin’s. After ZD, they fail abysmally and it all comes unstuck. And Klyd walks off into the blue, lost to historical record, and Muryin takes over as the youngest Sectuib in Zeor, and becomes the most quoted Sectuib ever. Then she pulls the same stunt and walks away – and ends up giving new life to Rior.

Live Long and Prosper,

Jacqueline Lichtenberg