Chapter 92 Wrapup: The World Is a Dead Thing
Feb 7, 2024 15:49:35 GMT
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Post by Gemminie on Feb 7, 2024 15:49:35 GMT
My thoughts about Chapter 92: The World Is a Dead Thing now that it's come to a close. Please feel free to add your own thoughts.
The chapter begins after the Arbiter and Interpreter call for the keeper of Sam's soul, since no New Person has died before. This makes us all think that Lana must be alive somewhere, but that thought has kind of fallen by the wayside with all that's been happening – the being that we've been calling the Machine Angel, Robogoddess, etc. has appeared. It speaks with Kat's voice, but the Interpreter doesn't recognize it as Kat. Annie manages to guide Kat to her by lighting up the Ether with her fire, basically acting like a blinker stone and causing Kat to emerge from the strange mecha appearance.
Once Kat is present, the Arbiter explains via the Interpeter that Kat is responsible for Sam's soul. When she asks why souls must be taken into the Ether upon death, they explain that without the Ether, the world would be what they call dead; this may be like what Loup/Jerrek was calling a "dead system" in Knowledge of Everything. They explain that living things have a spark of Ether that changes and grows as they live, and when they die, and that Ether returns, it makes the Ether overall more powerful and more diverse.
The next revelation is that the psychopomps are in fact living beings, but they live apart from mortals. They say that Kat must choose (or be) a psychopomp for the New People. Kat says she would be honored if Annie were the NP's guide, but she's not going to be the one who does that to Annie, while Annie says she'd be honored to be the NP's guide, when it's time. So Kat wants to put off making the choice. The Arbiter says that's acceptable, but until Kat makes a choice, they're not going to help her when the NP die – except for Sam, of course, since they're already here. They help Kat take Sam into the Ether, but she says she'll figure it out from now on. Kat requests and receives a copy of the contract she signed back in New Contract. The Arbiter and Interpreter then leave, transporting Kat back to where she was before, though we stay with Annie. Annie shouts to Kat that she thinks she knows now how to get to her.
But when Renard (who wasn't included) asks whether something just happened, and Annie explains that Kat was called to help with Sam, the New People are mystified by this, whereas the mysterious dark-haired NP we've been wondering about seems frustrated or even upset that she didn't see Kat. Annie then suggests that the NP all focus on an experience they all had: the moment when they awoke in their new bodies, at Kat's workshop. This causes them all, including Annie, Renard, and the body of Sam, to be transported via the distortion to Kat's workshop, where Kat and more NP are waiting for them. Kat suggests they have some kind oif memorial for Sam, and the NP lift his body up and carry it inside. While they do, Annie and Kat go apart with Renard and talk.
First, Kat disagrees with the Arbiter that the world is a dead thing, as the Ether is a part of the world. Annie says heartwarming and supportive things, while Renard believes they are witnessing the ascension of a divine being. But then, the mystery NP with the long hair grins a mischievous grin and starts sneaking around, believing that she's unobserved. However, Annie and Renard are also sneaky and catch up to her, asking just who she is. The chapter ends before she answers or does anything else.
So this chapter has added one to the list of appearances of the "Machine Angel", and it may be how Kat looks from the Ether when she's making an attempt to do anything with the Ether: this appearance may be some kind of allegorical representation of Kat's mind and how it works. When Kat was able to sense Annie and move toward her, Kat emerged from it. So this façade may represent Kat's inability to really grasp the Ether due to her outstanding grasp of how science and technology work. It acts as a barrier or shield because she simply isn't mentally equipped to deal with "it happens because you will it to happen" or "it happens because you perform this ritual." But Kat may have begun to move beyond it due to this chapter's experiences. So that's my theory about that.
The Arbiter's explanation of the genesis of the Ether and how it relates to life and death is a terrible indictment of what the Court wants to do on their new planet. If they're successful, I have my doubts that it would do much harm to the rest of the universe; the Court represents a small minority of the life on Earth, let alone the rest of the universe. But they may do considerable harm to themselves. In the Ether their planet may end up looking like either a black hole or a huge spherical shell made of various bits of technology, like Kat's personal Ether-non-understanding shield only writ large. It wouldn't just be a shell of not understanding or refusing to believe the Ether, and it wouldn't surround just one person; it would be a fortress of hostility to the Ether surrounding an entire world.
But in a way, the Arbiter sees things from the opposite point of view – the Ether is all that is alive, and the physical world is dead. The Arbiter's stone face may at least be an author's symbol of their entrenched world view, much as Kat's mechagoddess mask is. Kat expresses what sounds like an intermediate viewpoint – the Ether and the physical are all part of the same world.
Kat now has what seems to be a physical copy of the contract she's agreed to; let's hope she reads it, digitally scans it in, has the text analyzed, etc. Also, let's hope her nascent understanding of the Ether expands quite a bit before any other New People die. Speaking of which, Lana is around somewhere, but where? The previous chapter's bonus page suggests that Coyote may have her in some sort of pocket dimension where she's fixated on some happy or at least content memory of being alone with Jerrek, so she doesn't cause trouble. It may even not be affected by the distortion at all. After all, why kill her when she's a great tool he can use to manipulate Loup? I still question whether this is really Coyote or whether it's just the part of Loup that's still Coyote, but it really doesn't make a lot of difference, except perhaps that Loup may be able to overpower this part of him if he can focus his will enough. That's not going to happen until his rage subsides, though.
My theory was that the psychopomps would come for Annie when the first New Person died and demand that she be their guide, but that didn't happen. Someday they'll come for Annie, but not today. And when they do, Annie will be (relatively) happy to be the NP's guide in addition to whatever the pomps want, and Kat will be happy to have her help.
Annie probably still wants to get to the coast so she can make contact with her dad and the others, and now she knows more about how to travel within this distortion, but what happens next depends greatly on who the Mystery NP is and how they respond to being grabbed and questioned. The next chapter will very likely follow on directly from here.
The chapter begins after the Arbiter and Interpreter call for the keeper of Sam's soul, since no New Person has died before. This makes us all think that Lana must be alive somewhere, but that thought has kind of fallen by the wayside with all that's been happening – the being that we've been calling the Machine Angel, Robogoddess, etc. has appeared. It speaks with Kat's voice, but the Interpreter doesn't recognize it as Kat. Annie manages to guide Kat to her by lighting up the Ether with her fire, basically acting like a blinker stone and causing Kat to emerge from the strange mecha appearance.
Once Kat is present, the Arbiter explains via the Interpeter that Kat is responsible for Sam's soul. When she asks why souls must be taken into the Ether upon death, they explain that without the Ether, the world would be what they call dead; this may be like what Loup/Jerrek was calling a "dead system" in Knowledge of Everything. They explain that living things have a spark of Ether that changes and grows as they live, and when they die, and that Ether returns, it makes the Ether overall more powerful and more diverse.
The next revelation is that the psychopomps are in fact living beings, but they live apart from mortals. They say that Kat must choose (or be) a psychopomp for the New People. Kat says she would be honored if Annie were the NP's guide, but she's not going to be the one who does that to Annie, while Annie says she'd be honored to be the NP's guide, when it's time. So Kat wants to put off making the choice. The Arbiter says that's acceptable, but until Kat makes a choice, they're not going to help her when the NP die – except for Sam, of course, since they're already here. They help Kat take Sam into the Ether, but she says she'll figure it out from now on. Kat requests and receives a copy of the contract she signed back in New Contract. The Arbiter and Interpreter then leave, transporting Kat back to where she was before, though we stay with Annie. Annie shouts to Kat that she thinks she knows now how to get to her.
But when Renard (who wasn't included) asks whether something just happened, and Annie explains that Kat was called to help with Sam, the New People are mystified by this, whereas the mysterious dark-haired NP we've been wondering about seems frustrated or even upset that she didn't see Kat. Annie then suggests that the NP all focus on an experience they all had: the moment when they awoke in their new bodies, at Kat's workshop. This causes them all, including Annie, Renard, and the body of Sam, to be transported via the distortion to Kat's workshop, where Kat and more NP are waiting for them. Kat suggests they have some kind oif memorial for Sam, and the NP lift his body up and carry it inside. While they do, Annie and Kat go apart with Renard and talk.
First, Kat disagrees with the Arbiter that the world is a dead thing, as the Ether is a part of the world. Annie says heartwarming and supportive things, while Renard believes they are witnessing the ascension of a divine being. But then, the mystery NP with the long hair grins a mischievous grin and starts sneaking around, believing that she's unobserved. However, Annie and Renard are also sneaky and catch up to her, asking just who she is. The chapter ends before she answers or does anything else.
So this chapter has added one to the list of appearances of the "Machine Angel", and it may be how Kat looks from the Ether when she's making an attempt to do anything with the Ether: this appearance may be some kind of allegorical representation of Kat's mind and how it works. When Kat was able to sense Annie and move toward her, Kat emerged from it. So this façade may represent Kat's inability to really grasp the Ether due to her outstanding grasp of how science and technology work. It acts as a barrier or shield because she simply isn't mentally equipped to deal with "it happens because you will it to happen" or "it happens because you perform this ritual." But Kat may have begun to move beyond it due to this chapter's experiences. So that's my theory about that.
The Arbiter's explanation of the genesis of the Ether and how it relates to life and death is a terrible indictment of what the Court wants to do on their new planet. If they're successful, I have my doubts that it would do much harm to the rest of the universe; the Court represents a small minority of the life on Earth, let alone the rest of the universe. But they may do considerable harm to themselves. In the Ether their planet may end up looking like either a black hole or a huge spherical shell made of various bits of technology, like Kat's personal Ether-non-understanding shield only writ large. It wouldn't just be a shell of not understanding or refusing to believe the Ether, and it wouldn't surround just one person; it would be a fortress of hostility to the Ether surrounding an entire world.
But in a way, the Arbiter sees things from the opposite point of view – the Ether is all that is alive, and the physical world is dead. The Arbiter's stone face may at least be an author's symbol of their entrenched world view, much as Kat's mechagoddess mask is. Kat expresses what sounds like an intermediate viewpoint – the Ether and the physical are all part of the same world.
Kat now has what seems to be a physical copy of the contract she's agreed to; let's hope she reads it, digitally scans it in, has the text analyzed, etc. Also, let's hope her nascent understanding of the Ether expands quite a bit before any other New People die. Speaking of which, Lana is around somewhere, but where? The previous chapter's bonus page suggests that Coyote may have her in some sort of pocket dimension where she's fixated on some happy or at least content memory of being alone with Jerrek, so she doesn't cause trouble. It may even not be affected by the distortion at all. After all, why kill her when she's a great tool he can use to manipulate Loup? I still question whether this is really Coyote or whether it's just the part of Loup that's still Coyote, but it really doesn't make a lot of difference, except perhaps that Loup may be able to overpower this part of him if he can focus his will enough. That's not going to happen until his rage subsides, though.
My theory was that the psychopomps would come for Annie when the first New Person died and demand that she be their guide, but that didn't happen. Someday they'll come for Annie, but not today. And when they do, Annie will be (relatively) happy to be the NP's guide in addition to whatever the pomps want, and Kat will be happy to have her help.
Annie probably still wants to get to the coast so she can make contact with her dad and the others, and now she knows more about how to travel within this distortion, but what happens next depends greatly on who the Mystery NP is and how they respond to being grabbed and questioned. The next chapter will very likely follow on directly from here.
