Author:  "Phillip B. Hume"  at INTERNET2
Date:    10/20/94  5:30 PM
Priority: Normal
Subject: Cragspider
------------------------------- Message Contents -------------------------------
Anca, I would remind you of one thing; before we can reason with Cragspider,
we have to figure out some way of keeping her from blowing us all to bits.  

A few more observations:  

Cragspider's monologue: ``I'm afraid I cannot let you inside. 
      You see the world must end.  It should have ended long ago, but we 
     were afraid.  Afraid to play God and afraid not to once we started.  
     This is just.  I've lived well beyond my time.  Theon must become 
     Milo, and so it goes.  What do you care anyway?  You don't exist at 
     all; it is a shame still that I must destroy you.''  

Let's map some things from her words to myth:  

"It should have ended long ago, but we were afraid."  

The invasion of the Old Ones, I would assume.  Perhaps, though, the Old
Ones are not what they seem . . .

"Afraid to play god"

I would take this to refer to their "sleeping" Grandfather Mortal when
he brought the concept of man into the world.  Possibility:  The races which
existed before the entry of Grandfather mortal are either creator types
in disquise (the Dragon Newts) or "machines" of some sort (Octavian Dwarves)
with no real sentience.  The creators (who are now gods) were reluctant 
to add new sentient life, for whatever reason.  

and afraid not to once we started.

A reference to the Great Compromise, I expect.  Rather than loose their godhood,
(and possibly their lives) they stalled the Old Ones (or whatever's behind
them) somehow.  

This is just.  I've lived well beyond my time.  

Regreting their previous decision?  One thing is probable:  time flows 
differently here than it does in the Traveller Universe.  Cragspider's 
"living beyond her time" could refer to her having outlived her contemporaries
and possibly her entire race by existing inside the world machine.  
(Remember, Eric and Tewks, we never met one of the Ancients, only their
androids.  The defenses at the Dyson Sphere could have been automated;
at this point, there is no evidence that any of the ancients survive.  )

Theon must become 
     Milo, and so it goes.

?????

Can any clever person fiddle with anagrams/word puzzles and make anything
of this?

What do you care anyway?  You don't exist atall; it is a shame still
that I must destroy you.

The return of Roorda's holodeck theory, the big failure being that many
people have left the holodeck and entered the real world, indicating
that they have an existance of some sort.  Branahm rather resents this,
as he definitely has an existance outside of the world machine.  :)

Well, that's all I have to say for now.

Phillip

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