Sideshow

SIDESHOW Sheri Tepper 482 pp 1992 PARTS and CHAPTERS 5 Parts, Different numbers of chapters in each part. PART 1 (3 chaps, 83 pp) Chap. 1 Korjinski - 1990's. We're going into the future and the 1990's are the past. These are the parents of the twins. RC, working class, lots of children, etc. This the matrix out of which the joined twins emerged. Polish Catholics. Slow moving. Different world than WC. Hard to tell this is a SF novel. Have problems having children. Mom takes fertility drug. p. 9 Was pregnant NARRATOR - OMNISCIENCE - WORMHOLES OF REALITY, MULTIDIMENSIONAL TIME/SPACE REALITY. P. 9 STARTS TO BECOME A SF NOVEL. WORLDS LIOVE JUXTAPOSED TO EACH OTHER. BIBICAL STORY - MARY AND JOSEPH - JESUS. LECK AND MARLA HAVE TWINS. WE HAVE THE PLANET ELSEWHERE. SPACE TRAVEL. Description of Elsewhere. Last refuge of humanity that was safe from the Hobbsland Gods - which demand slavish conformity. SIDESHOW IS THE LAST OF A TRILOGY STARTING WITH GRASS AND RAISING THE STONES. Elsewhere was rulked by the Council Supervisory which was to ensure the universal DIVERSITY of man as opposed to the CONFORMITY impose by the Hobbsland Gods. RULES - no wars, no alliances, no one was to interfere with anyone else - each culture was considered unique and therefore had a right to exist. A botanical plague swept the universe thousands of years before. If provinces did not leave each other alone and a SITUATION arose, Council enforcers were sent to ATTEND THE SITUATION. They were very effective. Zasper Ertigon - retired enforcer. Main character. Molock in Panubi. Elsewhere has continents, provinces and cities. There were Council eletronic monitors in every province. Telecom systems. Zasper is from Enarae, half civilized. Tolerance was the capital of Elsewhere - seat of the Council. Most civilized. A child, Danvon Luze, was being put on a Zasper's plane by his parents, Cafferty and Latibor. They were trying to save him from being sacrificed to the gods in Molock. The parents are not from Mollock. Hooking up with Zasper was pure chance. They are educated. Danivon has no memories. p. 15 Zasper finds Dan and decides to keep him, No real decision making. He just does. Goes against his code - he didn't believe the rituals of Molock were right - child sacrifice. Children were killed and beaten into dust for fertility. Zasper saw this for himself. Narrator talks about the oath of the enforcers - sworn to protect diversity. Based on cultural relativity. Nonjudgmental attitude towards others. Zasper looked at the skulls and could not believe that there were no universal values. Zasper faked evidence and did not say where he had gotten Dan. His duty was to protect the Status Quo. P. 18. RETURN TO 1990's Wisconsin. GOES BACK AND FORTH IN TIME AND SPACE. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT CULTURAL VALUES. Twins are born - but they are joined. Result of the drug. Boy anbd girl. Shared one heart. Two different brains. Two indviduals. Surgically made them appear as boy and girl. They turn out to be freaks. Bertram and Nella – dream of the time when they can be separated. Try to live a normal life as boy/girl. The twins are going to become importantn in the future of the universe. p. 25 END OF CHAP. CHAP. 2, 26-63 Tolerance on Elsewhere, the Great Rotunda. The Arbai Doors through which refugees came a long time ago - can travel through time and space. Zasper wants to return to Enarae ans retire. He is tired of what the world has become. Evil and crime. Boramus COUNCIL LEADRE has a secret meeting with Zasper. He has found a plate in which the COUNCIL IS ASKED TO RETHINK THEIR POSITION IN RESPECT TO THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE. RSVP. NOPLACE, CENTRAL PANUBI. Boramus said he doesn't know where it came from. Chadra Hume, his predcecessor, said a similar message was found about 100 years before. Many other messages. All same thing. Branigan Glaxity. (Like a university brain trust) Established Elsewhere as a refuge from the Hobbsland Gods. Refugees were promised complete freedom to live as they liked. Settled by 1000 different cultures. Hobbsland Gods like a fungus – a plague. There is a great question committee - study the great question. Elsewhere was like an experiment meant to deal with the conformity that resulted from the plague. p. 30, STILL BACKGROUND TO ESTABLISH THE PLOT. Boramus wanted to know if Zasper understood the historical connection between Elsewhere and the Great Question. Since the rest of the universe has been taken over by the Hobbskabnd Gods, only oin Elsewheree can the GQ be answered. So the petition seems to be suggesting that the GQ should not be answered. Boramus wants to take a small team into Central Panubi to find out if the Hobbsland Gods are behind these messages. (I THOUGHT AZSPER WAS ALREADY RETIRED. HASN'T IT BEEN TWENTY YEARS OR SO SINCE DAN WAS FOUND NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT. P. 33 BACK TO BERTRAN AND NELLA. Their childhood. How they grew up. Used to read a story about a TURTLE WHO WANTED TI FLY. went to the secret sanctuary of birds - wanted to fly - romantic Nella and realistic Betran. Went to Catholic school. Mins were ok, everything else sucked. Sister said God had a purpose who creating them the way he did. Remained 2 different people. Both dreamed of having beautiful bodies. They feared to share these dreams with the other since shared all feelings. At 14, had sexual experiences together. Both grew hair. They pretended they had a baby named TURTLE DOVE – made up stories about him. When father found them having sex, he left the family. Became a monk. Marla became suicidal. p. 40. Killed by a mugger. Aunt took the twins and put them in a circus SIDESHOW. p. 42. BACK ON ELSEWHERE with Zasper. Danivon is 17. He was in the Enforcer Academy. Zasper returns to Enarae, FIVE CLASSES IN ELSEWHERE Executive Professional Wage Earner Thrasher Outcast Zasper goes to Oldtown - the Swale. Keeps weapons because it's still dangerous. He meets his oldest friend, Blum. Hangs out at tavern. He sees a young girl. He sees in her eyes Danivon as a child. She didn't know who she was. She said she was special or holy. The idea had come from nowhere. FRINGE DORWOK. p, 47. He became friends with her. p. 48. RETURN TO EARTH AND SIDESHOW. MULHOLLANDS MARVELLOUS CIRCUS. Everyone was accepted by everyone else. Twins were going to be a sideshow where they could earn money until they grew up and could afford to become separated. Nella was operated on again so that she looked like a girl - They were able to travel all over the country - She read romancds, he read math and history - both read religion. Still talked about Turtle Dove who was growing up. They developed an act. Could interact with the audience. Became charming. Became famous. Big hit. Became wealthy. Travelled the world. p. 54 BACK TO ENARAE. ZASPER LEARNED MORE ABOUT FRINGE DORWOK. Father was Char Dorwork. Professional class. Buty instead of marrying in his own class, he married the pretty daughter of a wager-earner. Her mothers parents, the Thom's, came to live with them. They were originally Trashers and that aspect never left them. Fringe grew up hating both sides of her family. Father gamnbled money away and money was earned by mom who worked in gambling houses. Fringe and her brother were raised by the Thom's. Zasper was from the Outcast class. By the time she was in school, she talked and acted like the Thom's so she was not accepted by other professional class girls. She was considered trash. Brother is sent away to a professional class boarding school. She is a girl so she diesn't matter. p. 59 There is an old woman who foillows her around (Jorie - (Majorie Wetsriding). Seemed to treat her as if she was really special. Fringe thinks it is her fault that her mother died. She tells Zasper that she's going to school to become the E&P daughter her mother wanted – she tried but she just didn't make it. The only classes she was good at were math, systems technology, weapons. She was thrown out. Both Zasper and the Old Woman said they liked her just as she was. She hung around the Swale - lost all direction in her life. The old woman said she was special. Husband's name is Asner. END> p. 63 CHAP. 3, pp 64- GREAT QUESTION DAY - At the Brannigan Galxity they study the great question. An elite university (UNIVERSE –> GALAXY). Satirizes university types who have lost contact with reality. GREAT QUESTION — what is the ultimate destiny of man? p. 66 BACK TO CIRCUS. It was oddity that brought people to them but their humanity that kept them coming back. It's how they were under their skin. p. 70. They come upon an ALIEN. The alien said he would try to present MANKIND with a BOON - a gift. They called him CELERY. They need to honor their dead by doing something good for someone. The aliens are male/female in one. p. 75 Arbai Doors were designed to allow the universe to be connected in time and space. The Arbai were themselves extinct. However, these doors would not been good for earth. Celery says that it would bring discord and then allow a plague to enter. The boon was to earth was to close the doors to prevent this from happening. The twins would be rewarded later for performing this boon. They wanted to be separated. p. 78: BACK to the FUTURE. Zasper is talking to Fringe at the Swale. She has moved out on her own. She has a space of her own. She tells him about her visions. Jory is always talking to her. p. 81: TWINS AGAIN. Celery tells them how to close the Arbai doors. They make the screen disappear but the twins were zapped in the process. They were transported. p. 82: The boons always came at a price. Their boon had shaken the frabric of time. Council in Celerian were debating about where the booon was good. PART 2 (87-188) CHAP. 4 p. 87: BACK ON ELSEWHERE. Boramus is talking to someone. Danivan has become an enforcer. Danivan has turned a child molester in. He was not supposed to do this. The Council wanted him to be ignored. Boramus plans to handle this by sending Danivan to Panubi on a mission. Danivan doesn't trust Boramus but he agrees. There are rumors about dragons in Panubi. But also people disappearing in Torreance, and screams. Boramus tells Danivan about the latest message just as he had talked to Zasper twelve years earlier. Let's Danivan to do whatever he wants. JUST THEN, THE TWINS COME IN THROUGH THE DOORS. p. 97 Fringe's father dies and she discovers that she is no longer his daughter. Her father is Char. Her brother is a professional, Bubba. His adopted daughter gets his inheritance. 98: Fringe Dorwalker does not fit into any class - not professional, executive or thrasher. Manager felt she might be outcast. She has become an enforcer. She was strong and beautiful. Cyrilla had invited Jacinte to lunch. He was young but not stupid. He did not like Tolerance because it was too restricted. Files was the data base on Tolerance. Memory of the society, Tried to understand the Twins. They did not know the doors could be used for time travel. Their conclusion was that the twins did not travel through time but were simply in limbo until time caught up with them. They came as an anomaly. Files mentions a woman who went from Earth to the planet called Grass and then to another planet, Thryker, a thousand years later. This is Majorie Westriding, Jorie. Jacinte thinks there is something very wrong in Tolerance. Danivan Luce wanted to take the Twins with him to Panubi. Back with Fringe. Talks about her growing up - trying to become a professional but could not. She was given nothing by her father. She had to do everything by herself. She went to work at a weapons shop and from their she became an enforcer. She lived on the fringe, just like her name. Her father kicks out his in-las and invites her back. Her brother is going to become an architect. She moves in but then gets thrown out. She goes back on the streets. Jories gives her the name, Fringe Owldark. She asks Zasper to sponsor her to the academy. He does. He tells her something sick is happening on Elsewhere. It is going to be difficult. She doesn't care. She has nothing to lose. p. 114 She did well at the Enarae Academy. She became proud and very special. Then her father wants her to quit because of it would damage his reputation. He promises her everything. She decides to go back to her father. But then he takes the money and marries a professional woman. 117 She leaves her father for good. She becomes Fringe Owldark. BACK TO JACINT. He needed something exciting. Something real. Tolerance is designed to preserve the status quo. Jacint snuck into the old army quarters. Went underground. Jacint has nightmares. 124: They get lost. Kids get lost. Files can't tell him what is going on. It can't tell him what lays below the barracks. Jacint has to make decisions about finding the boy, Jun. It would mean he would get into trouble. FOOL. CHAP. 5 p. 127 Fringe has her own rooms. Has found her own identity. Lives alone in peace. She gets a call from her adopted sister. Illyand wanted her to protect her against a friviolous lawsuit from relatives. Now she must attend a situation. Fringe goes to take care of it. She thinks of her duties as an enforcer. BACK IN TOLERANCE. Boramus sees faces of deadmen. He has dreams too. Chadra Hume, former provost.Boramus is looking through the secret passages. Looking for the records. Files says there are people from the past. Files says there are dragons. Boramus has to give a yearly report to the deadmen. They are the former council members. They should be asleep. They are to wake up once a year. But now they seem to be awake all the time. THIS IS LIKE THE NEUROMANCERS- Tesier-Ashpools - frozen in place. There are a thousand faces in the CORE - provosts of the past. Records and personal records. They want to know who has been asking questions about them. Boramus thinks it was Danivan (but it was Jacint.) Boramus is the only one alive who knows about the CORE. All these people have not just died and gone away. The voices in the CORE claim they have the power to destroy their enemies. (THEY KILLED THE BOY and his sister.) They are gaining more and more power. p. 139 Boramus is truly afraid now - he doesn't understand how they are gaining their power but he has seen their work and he is afraid. Jacint is spying on Boramus. Sees him goes into the walls. FRINGE GOES TO RELATIVES She intimidates them. They leave. She goes to a traven. She meets Danivan Luce. He has been watching her. She came recommended by Zasper. So they introduce each other. He has a Universal Pass - which means he is powerful. A Council Enforcer. He was undercover. He is recruiting her. He has a nose which tells him something. He is like a servitor. He has a comrade, Curvus, who is also an enforcer. His back up. They had checked her records. She says everyone is scared to death of the Hobbs Land Gods, though no one is sure of what they are. He says that there are rumors of dragons in the interior, strange, mysterious dragons. She's falling in love with him. She wants to talk to Zasper. Curvus has two pocket munks. They promise her a position as a Council Enforcer. He doesn't know why he's taking the Twins. He just felt he should. He smells things - he adds Fringe because it smelled right. But there was always fear. Lots of irrational things, frightening things. But there is this team that has been formed – connected to Zasper – the boy he found on the plane, the girl he helped raise – they're going to look for the Hobbs Land Gods. CHAP 6: p. 152-188 Fringe goes back to the Swale to look for Zasper. She drinks with him. She tells him about how Jorie named her. She talks to him about her fears. He tells her about the petitions to rethink their position. Zasper guesses that Boramus has sent Danivon on the mission he once asked her to do. She meets a foreign Dink. It was artificial - like a little robot. Modular. She gets into a gunfight with a dink and wastes him. Danivon and Zasper were watching. Danivon was uncertain about somethings. p162: Tolerance. Jacint is attending his first Committee meeting. People of Molloch are trying to save their kids from the ruler who wants them dead. The Council decides they have to be preventeOd from leaving because they should not violate the traditions of that culture. People on E;sewhere can do whatever they want as long as it is part of their tradition culture. They are not permitted to change since they must preserve diversity. SECTION 3 Chap. 7 (p. 189) They're on a ship to Panubi undercover. They are also supposed to attend to any situaitons they may encounter along the way. Fringe still has not given him the transmitter yet. She sees him as more complex. He thinks about things and isn't just gung-ho. So she decides to offer him friendship. But she is really in love with him – and she knows it – she struggles with her own sexuality. She and Nela engage in girl talk. Nela was her first woman friend. But Bertran was not a part of this relationship. He understood Danivan. Danivan is trying to find out what is wrong. People say they hear noises and see flesh – people are dying all over – there are also dragons. Two old people are also asking questons. We know its Jori and her friend. She gives him a secret signal. He comes to see her. She kisses him to pass him the cube. They make love. 198. He's a typical guy in his response. What took you so long? She felt terrible. She doesn't know herself. She passes him the cube. She called her feelings lust - not love. But she wanted to be with him - toi be whole with him. DOES FRINGE NEED DANIVAN TO BECOME WHOLE? THIS IS THE CENTRAL QUESTION. DOES SHE NEED A MAN TO BE COMPLETE? When it didn't work, love was worse than nothing. It took you over, she said. It left you empty inside. Boramus' message in the cube: DANIVON YOU ARE IN DANGER. Something wants to kill you – it's like a ghost, takes people over and kills them – not the HLG. He was angry because it seemed that their love making was only business. Fringe tells Danican the story of the turtle who wanted to fly – Fringe says that even small creaturss can have big dreams – even small creatures can learn how to sacrifice in order to achieve their dreams. Nela and Bertram understand her story. Their interprertation of the turtle story was like hers. They decide to travel as a sideshhow. Fringe makes a fortune telling machine. This will be their cover. Dicussion on enforcers and the law. p. 207: Bertram says that if the honor of the enforcers is basd on doing what the Council says then what happens to the honor of the enforcers if the Council is evil? Betram gives the example of the Nazi officers who were following orders. THEY BELIEVED IN NATURAL HUMAN RIGHTS. There is no such concept on Elsewhere. Law was established by the Council and then by each individual province. Nella is very disturbed by trhe fact that Danivan and Fringe would defend their actions even if it meant the torture and killing of children. Bertran told her to be patient. They had a lot to learn about Elsewhere. Jori and Asner come to see Fringe. Fringe doesn't quite remember. She introduces them. They're the people from NOPLACE. He remembers the message. The twins and Jori could speak English – so they became friends. Davivon invites the couple to go with them. Fringe has a problem. But Danivon has a hunch that he might need them. 213. They reach the capital city of Durbeck. This passge refers to Catherty and Latibor Lutz to connect them to Danivan. They are the ones who tried to save him from the very people he is trying to protect now. It is run by Big Daddy who is like Idi Amin in Uganda. Punk dictator. He takes them too. The boat is named the Dove – bird. Shallow is a nice place. But they have a rule that says that people can only have two children. Any extra children must be sent down the river and killed. PEOPLE"S REPUBLIC of CHINA. Asner said this was a matter of population control. The Hobbs Land Gods made sure there was no over population and no under class as there was on Elsewhere. He says that these people were happier and less violent but no less intellectual. 222. Fringe does want to hear what he has to say. They see a baby in a basket - baby is three or four years old. The baby was eaten by a bird. This was diversity. Fringe was really affected by this scene. The longer Frnge stays on Shallow, the more she has questions about her role as an Enforcer. Jori feels there is an evil growing day by day. EVIL COMES FROM UNCHECKED POWER. This power is not coming from the Council Supervisory, It is coming from somewhere else. She knows it is not from outside. It is from the inside, But it has no focus. It is everywhere. It is vicious and cruel. Jori sees herself in Fringe. Marjorie Westriding. She is talking to the voice of her invisible dragon lover. She tells him she used to be such a prig – trying to save the world. He says she is still the same – trying to save this world. She believes something dreadful is going to happen. But she thinks she is too old to fight it. CHAP. 8 (p.230 These presences come to Boramus and tell him his enforcers are asking too many questions. They become angry that Danivon and Fringe are starting to think. Boramus tries to reason with them but these voices from the Core become more and more angry. They do not want to reamin silent and unknown. They want to be worshipped as gods. They make him kneel and pay homage to them. He's very upset but he doesn't know how they know what everyone is thinking and doing. He thinks they must be stopped but the only ones with minds capable of stopping them are the DINKS in City 15. Some of these dinks were geniuses. Pure knowledge. Dinkajins. He tries to think of how he can communicate with the dinks without the Core finding out. At first the Core was underneath Tolerance and only had access to the Fils. Now it seems that they have gotten out. All the provinces are connected with telecommunications systems which he can monitor from Tolerance. He sees on the monitor that something is happening in Durbeck. Chimi Ahm is as god who is out of control. He uses this situation a pretext for going to Enarae. He will talk to Zasper about the situation and ask about the conduct of Danivon and Fringe. He orders a plane. He takes Jacint with him. At the same time, Enarae is close to City 15. They talk about the ghost problem. They both agree this is a serious problem. Meanwhile, Danivon and everyone are on their way to deal with a problem between the Fisherfolk and Choir. Choir only keeps children which great voices and sends the rest down to the Fisherfolk who have no children. The complaint is that Choir has been sending too many children causing over population with the Fisherfolk. Now Danivan and Fringe wear their enforcer outfits. 238. Children are suffering. They say that ghost are eating children. The bodies were dissected – died of torture. Something is killing the children but the Fisherfolk do nothing to help or protect them because it is not their problem. These are the rejects from Choir. The entire situation makes Fringe sick but it also makes Danivon sick as well – she is relieved to see this – he has feelings too. They're talking these kids back to Choir. The music they make is beautiful. But it comes at the expense of the children. The Director does not listen to Fringe as she threatens to punish Choir with a plague. They had changed their ways, so they would be punished. They agree. She tells Jori that they wouldn't have killed everyone off. They seldom use plagues though they have used some sexually transmitted diseases which kill selectively. Nella tells her abvout AIDS. She and Danivon agree that Simon Dred who is the problem with his theories of art and so she goes and assassinates him. She feels sorry that the music died with him. SHE SAYS SHE HATES HERSELF ALL THE TIME NOW. SHE THOUGHT ABOUT SUICIDE. SHE HAD DOUBTS ABOUT HER BEING AN ENFORCER. One death rather than a few, a few rather than many and many only when one must. But change and innovation must be stopped at all costs. Only the status quo can be tolerated. She makes love with Danivon becase she is tured of thinking about this stuff all the time. 246. Boramus comes to see Zasper and he tells him about the Core – the old professors from Branigan University as well as ex-council members – all who were detached from the real world but still saw fit to rule. They used to wake up once a year, become informed of all that happened, and then go back to sleep. BUT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN ASLEEP. Boramus does not uderstand what is happening. But he knows there is an evil coming from the core. 249. He's sent someone to City 15 to get help from the Dinks. He says the Council knows what smarter Enforcers think of the Council. It's a sham. He says that he knew about Zasper saving Danivon. They let all good enforcers get away with a few infraction. Those are the real rules of management. Zasper is surprised at Boramus. He says there are monitors everywhere. Chadra Hume is one of the good guys in the core. He said the dinks have a shielded system that the Core can't access. Boramus will go there himself. Boramus wants Zasper to join Dan and Fringe in Panubi. He agrees. Zasper feels sympathy for Boramus – he never thought he would. Back on the boat. Fringe felt she could not love Dan and still be true to herself. The irony of their mission – to keep parents on Moloch from trying to save their children. Dan doesn't know his own history yet. Fringe and Curvis do not want to enforce the law but Dan does. She knows that Dan is the boy that Zasper has saved. When will she use this information? MISSING CHAP. 9 PART 4 303-380 Chaps. 10-11-12 CHAP. 10. 303 EVIL IS GENERATED FROM ERROR. WHEN THE MINDS IN THE CORE ONLY GOT ONE SOURCE OF INFORMATION, ERROR WAS AMPLIFIED AND COULD NOT BE CORRECTED. HENCE, IT INCREASED. WITH THE INCREASE OF ERROR CAME THE PURIFICATION OF EVIL. AND WITH THIS PURIFICATION CAME PARANOIA WAS IS ANOTHER AMPLIFICATION OF EVIL. REASONS FOR ACTING BASED ON PARANOIA ARE EVIL BY THEIR NATURE. HENCE, WE ARE NOT LOOKING AT AN IDEA OF EVIL BEING BASED ON THE BREAKING OF RULES. THAT IS A DUMB IDEA. IT IS AN IDEA OF EVIL BEING BASED ON A SINGLE TRUTH. TRUTH IS NOT THE BINARY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WHAT I THINK AND WHAT OTHERS THINK. IT IS SINGLE AND UNIFIED. HENCE, IF A GLITCH OCCURS OF ANY KIND – COULD EVEN BE A TECHNICAL GLITCH – IT CANNOT BE CORRECTED. THIS IS BASED ON THE NOTION THAT GOD IS NEVER WRONG. GOD NEVER NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED. GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING. GOD IS PURE KNOWLEDGE. HE* NEVER HAS TO WAIT. HE NEVER HAS TO MAKE INFERENCES. HE SIMPLY KNOWS. GOD DOESN'T NEED DATA. GOD SIMPLY SEES. THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE MONITORING SYSTEM THE CORE HAS SET UP ALL OVER ELSEWHERE. THE CORE CAN SEE AND THE CORE CAN KNOW. THE CORE NEVER CONSIDERS THE FACT THAT WHAT IT ‘SEES‘ IS NOT ACCURATE. A LOT OF EPISTEMOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS HERE. THE HOBBS LAND GODS CONNECT KNOWLEDGE ACROSS THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM. 303: There is a shift from the high tech dinks to the tribal mentality of the Molochians. Consider all manifestations of evil. Evil is same – based on error and the amplification of error – regardless of the externals. Dragons come to the rescue of the Dove. They are Jori's friends. Fringe could not abandon the child. Curvis and Danivan wants to take the girl back to Molach. Jori tells Danivan about his past. Do for the child what your parents did for her. Save her. Davivan accuses her of lying. Fringe corraborates Jori's story. She says that Zasper was the one who found him and took him gack to Tolerance. Dan could not believe that these two people on the both - these two castaways - were his real parents. He refuses to believe the truth. The dragons who saved them are not the dragons they are looking for. They are friends. He has a medellion. Latibor and Dan have the same. They match. They are a picture of the great dragon ridden by the prophetess, Jori herself. She is the great prophetess and the Great Dragon is her friend. Great Dragon has the power to be seen or not. He has been on the boat at times. Dan is being a total jerk. He cannot see. He will not listen. The people on Molach - Chimi Ahm - was tipped of by the Core that they were coming. The ritual was intended to be an ambush. Dan was too cocky about how little he understood about the danger involved. Jori knew all this before they went in. With Great Dragon, she felt they were safe enough. Dan said that Boramus had said they were in danger of ghosts. Dan was angry. He did not want these people to be his parents. Jori says Dan would have seen more if HE HAD KEPT HIS EYES OPEN. He says that they have no right to interfere. HE IS BEING AN ARROGANT JERK BECAUSE HE DID NOT SEE WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE SEEN. IT IS HIS ARROGANCE THAT MAKES HIM IGNORANT. HE IS NOT EVIL BUT HIS BLINDNESS CAN LEAD TO EVIL. THIS IS THE POINT TEPPER IS TRYING TO MAKE. Curvis is in a legal dilemma. Dav is an illegal escapee and Fringe has failed to do her duty. He doesn't know what to do. Even Jori was surprised that Chimi Ahm was an actual physical presence. Dan still thinks that they're looking for people possess by the HLG. Fringe is aware of her hypocrisy. She is caught between Dan and the Twins. Fringe wanted to talk to Zasper. She doesn't realize that she is being a better enforcer in her violation of the rules than they are by following them. She wanted to be clean and pure and hard like the blade she carried. 313: They see something. Ghosts. Arbai discovered that time and space flow in and out of worm holes. They invented the worm hole doors. The Arbai had no concept of evil. They could not conceptualize it. The plague against them was planted by their enemies but the Arbai could not defend against them because they could not recognize their evil intent. Most the race had already died before they understood. They decided that the problem lay in the inability of disparate creatures to understand each other. They built an universal communcator. EMPATHEMOMETER. THE ARBAI DEVICE. Cf. SNOW CRASH and tne UNIVERSAL TONGUE. THE ARBAI RESIDED IN A LACK OF EMPATHY. PEOPLE NOT FEELING FOR/WITH EACH OTHER. DIVERSITY RESULTS IN EVIL. Jori wishes they have an Arbai Device. She wanted to understand what was going on. Beast GRAVER turned the boat over. Fringe and the Twins were lost. They were washed ashore. 317: They were in a stone chamber like a cave. She could hear water. She played dead. Nela/B was not well. Underground prisoner. She was pissed. Checked out the place. Thought she might have been tricked by Curvis or Dan. But she wanted him. Remembered his voice. CHAP. 11 321: Back on the Dove. Talking to her friend the Dragon. He says he should have come sooner – he might have prevented what had happened. Jori shook her head. Nothing could have been done. Something is stronger than them. He says that the ones upriver can help them but they won't because they are too kind. She thinks he is talking about the Arbai. 323: Jori and Asner had sent the peitions to promote discussion. But she said she had underestimated the intertia of the system. This what bureacracies are about. THIS ENTIRE SECTION DRAGS. SHE TALKS PHILOSOPHY WITH HER DRAGON FRIEND. THIS IS A BREAK IN THE ACTION. Get into the life of Majorie. We lose track of Fringe and whatever else is happening. A flier is coming. From Tolerance. Jori is going to save the women on Thrasis – get them out of the slavery they are in. She asks the help of the dragon. 327: She is going to rescue the daughter of the Prophet. Zasper has flown in looking for Fringe. Zasper is upset with Dan. Zasper needs to come up with plan. He tells Dan about Boramus' cube that talks about the evil that has come to Elsewhere. The Core wants to be a god. Maybe it is one. Zasper and Jori are at odds. THASIS is like the modern Arab states where women are subjugated by men. Lots of rules – most of them are Arab. 333: Describes Thrasis at great length. Jori starts an uprising. BACK TO FRINGE. The mate to Curvis's monk is in Betran's pocket so it can receit what it hears. So they can commicate through the munks. The dinks at City 15 believe that all of Elsewhere is covered by tiny little monitors through which the Core can gather intelligence. Dan wants to find Fringe and will not leave. Zasper wants him to admit that he's in love with her. It is interfering with his actions. He smells that she is alive. 338: Back with the twins in the cave – like a church – church to the Core. There are voices commanding them all to bow down and worship them. They all had to bow down and worship the faces on the wall. FACES COVERED THE WALL – A THOUSAND FACES – THE FACES OF THE GREAT QUESTION COMMITTEE – MAGNA MATER – THE GREAT MOTHER. They were given food. They could hear Zasper through the munks. The life had gone out of the masks. 341. Back on Thrasis – there was trouble. The younger women and babies all left the country. Boats on the river are full of refugees – people from Molach are running away. Chimi Ahm is eating everyone. THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS LAPSED INTO CHAOS. 346: Dan is going to take the flyer and try to find Fringe. Dan wanted to melt down the networks. Zasper goes with him. 348: Before they leave, Jori and Zasper talk philosophy. Jori tells him why she picked Fringe – Dan and Fringe are not right for each other – they both know this – Jori says something bad is going to help. LOOK AT THE REASON SHE HAS CHOSEN FRINGE – altogether an uncomfortable person. 351: BACK IN THE CAVE – Chimi Ahm the god in the wall forces Fringe and Nella to answer the great question – what is the ultimate destiny of man. She does what they say because she wants to protect the twins who are sick. 352: Curvis, Jori – they find a great wall that circles Panubi. This wall was built by the Arbai. They go up this canyon to try to get through the wall – they come upon a camp where the women will be safe. 354: THE WORLD IS FALLING ABOUT. These gods used to be professors at the university at Brannigan. They are out of countrol. 356: They were human once and how they are something mechanical. Nela and Bert smash the transmitter that is used to call the Celerians so that they can help them. 362: How the great question got started. Zasper and Dan were flying – Zasper was terrible as a pilot. 354: Golden faces summoned the twins ans asked them what the destiny of man was. The twins asnwered it was to be destroyed. So the faces separeted them because they were no good to them joined as they were. The twins came back life as dinks. The munk runs into Fringe's pocket. Zasper and Dan can hear them. The faces now want the twins to answer now that they are dinks. 367: They are helped by one of the god faces, Jordel. He tells Fringe to get her weapon so she can seal the cavern. He wants her to melt the faces on the wall. 368: She can't come to melt the twins but she melts the faces on the wall with Jorel's help. 369: Dan goes down into the hole. He tries to get her out. They get everyone out. The Twins beg her to melt them. The flyer only has room for two but there are three. Fringe and the boxes are going to fly out and Dan and Zasper are leaving on foot. She is going to find a safe place to drop the twins off and then she is going to go back for the two men. 374: The Core is connected all over Elsewhere. The rest have gone wild except for Omar Breeze and Jordel. They talk about what happened. Jordel explained that when they lost all outside inputs, they began to blend and lose their beings. The personalities in the Core became one big mush. This is what they feared would happen with the Hobbs Land Gods. Jordel was the only one who went to sleep every year while all the rest stayed awake. Now there are only FOUR EGOS left. 377: THE CORE DECIDES TO SPLIT UP AND LOOK FOR THE GROUP. 379: Fringe realizes that she has been poisoned in her escape. She barely manages to set the plane down. It crashes. A graver gets her by the neck and she is killed – eaten by the graver – her gold necklace was at the bottom of the river JUST AS SHE IS. Zasper gave it to her. 383: Dove arrives at Noplace. Jori says that something has happened to Fringe. Dan and Zasper were safe. THIS PART OF THE TAPE IS OUT OF ORDER. THIS IS STILL IN CHAP. 9 – DURBECK. CHIMI AHM WANTS THEM TO PERFORM. The sideshow is invited to come and perform. Jori is going to go. PART 5 CHAPS. 13, 14, 15 387-482 CHAP. 13 387: Dan and Zasper are on their own trying to get to safety on foot. Theyb talk about Fringe. Dan knows she didn't want to love him because she wanted more. She wanted more out of life. He doesn't understand that. He wants what he can get. What satisfied 99% of the population is enough - but not for Fringe. They are trying to outrun the network. 390: Nella and Bertam and Fringe are in the sand – there are fibers that begin to grow and put them back together – cell by cell, fiber by fiber. Everyone is being reconstructed. This goes on below the surface. On the surface, there are spies – little fires. 393: In Nowhere, the rest are there. There are the rest of the Arbai. Curvis can't understand. The Arbai Door is in Tolerance. But they first landed in Panubi, running from the plague. Jori and Asner came in by accident. The Arbai invited them to stay for life. The Arbai moved to the center of the province and built a wall around their enclave. Jori got others to help them see what the problem was on Elsewhere – Latibor and Cafferty were raised by them - babies left for dead. The Arbai didn't care anything about affairs beyond the wall. Curvis is being a butt. He wants to save Dan. He wants to go to the Arbai and demand that they help him find DSan He finds horses. They are Jori's. She was a prophetess. Asner Gariant. 4000 years away from Earth. Arbai can read minds . They are not going to help them on a matter of principle. 399: They want them to use the Arbai Device to help them find Dan. Curvis also contradicts himself. 400: Back to the NODE IN THE DEEP. Evil was spreading. 401: They wanted to be gods demanding that others be like themselves. BACK AT SAND IN RIVER. Things are growing. Like a dragon. The eyes picked up these creatures. Chlore tried to kill them. This was Betran and Nella. They had been transformed into strange creatures. They didn't like this - they wanted to be changed back to what they were. They were still oddities. Sideshow stuff. He became bird because he had always wanted to fly. But his dream was interpreted literally. 406: They realized that they had been transformed by the Arbai Device. All their dreams and fantasies to something. Something had heard them and granted their wishes. Nella wants to find Jori. 407: Zasper and Dan slide into the water with tubes to hide. A tracker had followed them. They killed it. They went to Beanfields run by Mother Dear – run by women. They were seen as men without mothers so they were held hostage. They are being held until the Network arrives. They wanted to escapes. There were these creatures like spiders. They kill Zasper. He tells Dan to take care of Fringe. 415 Dan escapes. He weeps for Zasper. He had never wept for anyone. Zasper was not supposed to die. Why were those little creatures so intent on killing him. Because they wanted to prove that they could do it. No other reason. This is evil - just to prove they can. They hook up with Jori – Arbai Device only works on this side of the wall – Arbai are not dragons but they are thin - have wings - Repitilian in looks but not biologically. Cannot understand/accept concept of evil. Because we see the evil in others in ourselves, it is hard to kill the other man. For that means that we took are evil. We pretend that he is sick and that he can be cured even though we know that he cannot. We do not want to acknowledge the evil that is in us. 418: Paradox. We do not feel we have the right to judge others lest we also be judged. The Arbai don't like controversy, dissension, being told what they ought to do. The Arbai Device is the Hobbs land Gods. If you don't want to know how others feel, if you don't want to be connected, just tell it to leave you alone and it will leave you alone. That's what Curvis did. Nella said that the HLG are evil. That's because the people on Elsewhere had brought their tribal mentalities with them. They did not want to know what other people felt. 420: Dan is on the western borders of Beanfields. He is exhausted. Chased by Gavers. He thinks he sees a vision of Fringe. She says that she has lost her necklace when the gaver took off her head. She asks about Zasper. The microdevices are multiplying. The network even drilled through rock. Instructured to capture Dan. However, they could not penetrate the Great Wall of Nowhere. 427: Tolerance. Boramus wants to send Jacint to Panubi. Go tell Zasper or Dan that Enarae is half gone. Do something. Jacint goes. CHAP. 14 430: Jacint sees a lot of refugees. Trying to cross the great wall to safety. They know there will be safety so past the GW the killing stops. He finds the reconstructed Fringe and Dan. Dan takes over the flyer. Jacint asks if the Dragons could help. Fringe is different. 432. Dan grieves for her because he realizes that she is dead to him forever. They meet Jori, Nella, et al. as well as the Arbai. The Arbai Device fixed her too. Dan runs because he still believes the HLG are evil. Fringe is cold, he says. Jori said that Fringe has become the kind of person she has always wanted to be – cold. Untouched by emotions. This is not really the Hobbs Land Gods, said Jori, because the Arbai are controlling the device. They are making it do what they want it to. IF IT WERE FREE TO OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY OF THE ARBAI THEN IT WOULD BECOME THE HOBBS LAND GODS. THEY HAVE TO RELEASE IT. LET IT BE FREE. Arbai don't understand that dreams and wishes are not supposed to be literal. Dan settles down and begins to think more reasonably. Fringe wants to go back to what she once was. Jori teaches her how to do this. She comes to realize that what the AD is doing is opening other people to her. Dan thinks of all the people who are dying. He doesn't realize that the Arbai won't do anything to hlep. The Device is a living thing. It draws in the imagination of everyone to create a synthetic world. >From this world – the VR world – reality later emerges over time. Jori says that THE ARBAI DEVICE HAS THE POWER TO ELIMINATE THE BRANNIGAN NETWORK IF THE ARBAI LET IT. THEY HAVE PROGRAM IT TO GO NO FURTHER THAN THE WALL. THE ARBAI WON'T LET IT BECAUSE THEY DON'T BELIEVE IN INTERFERING WITH THE AFFAIRS OF OTHERS. Dan is outraged. This is ironic. Millions are going to do but they won't interfere. The Arbai believe that this evil is in the nature of men. There is no different from what the Brannigan Network is doing. 439: Dan says he would appeal to mercy and pity. The Arbai are going underground and they're taking the device with them. Everyone will be left to die because they don't like pain and confrontation. They have already gone. They feel helpless. Jori pets a cat. Jori says that Fringe is her daughter and heir. 441: Fringe is telling her the story of the turtle. The turtle who wanted more than other turtles. So the turtle began to aspire. He longed for wings. So he went to the secret sanctuary of the swallows. So the turtle went WESTWARD. If they granted his petition, then he too could have wings. Fringe is a bird - OWLDARK. Turtle sets out on his journey and is helped by other animals. He climbs higher and higher. The gods decides that his motives must be pure. So this causes the turtle to question his motives. Fringe says there is no ending for she does not know what the turtle chose to do. 444: Fringe says that there is no ending to the story; EACH PERSON MUST CHOOSE THIE ENDING FOR HIMSELF. Curvis becomes very frustrated and takes the flyer to join the Brannigan creatures. Dan takes Fringe and wants to end their lives together as lovers. They talk. IF YOU CANNOT BE MY LOVER, BE MY COMRADE. TELL YOURSELF THAT WE ARE RESTING UP FOR BATTLE. They sat beneath the great tree in each others arms. Nella wants to be a real girl. They can read each others thoughts. Nella dreamt of being normal. Fringe said she never thought about a normal life - with a family and children. The reason Jori was talking about the turtle is that she was talking about her own life – life was just a SIDESHOW. BEYOND LIFE, BEYOND THE STARS, THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE - SOMETHING WONDERFUL. Nella said that Fringe does not want to be tied down by LOVE but she, Nella, does. They are different women. Fringe accepts this. ONLY BEINGS UNENSLAVED BY ANYTHING CAN BE FREE TO FOLLOW THEIR QUEST – SHE IS NOT DAUGHTER, LOVER, ENFORCER. SHE WAS EVEN FREE FROM THE DEVICE. NOT TIED BY ANYONE'S LOVE. NOT EVEN ZASPERS. 449: She tells Dan that she wants to go away. He doesn't understand. She tells him that she cannot make himn happy because her mind will always be elsewhere. The twins are being transformed. Asner and Jori are talking. They said they don't like unhappy endings. The AD does not touch the dragons. Nella and Bertran turned into the kind of man and woman they had wanted to be. Fringe was transformed into something else. Jori could not feel her. Fringe was free. She was no longer enslaved. 452. 454: The Brannigan Network is proclaiming victory. Jordel was still trying to help. They wanted to kill everything. 455: Nella and Fringe. Had to keep moving to keep ahead of the Brannigans as the AD retreated. 458: Fringe puts on her ceremonial uniform of the Enforcers. She asks Jori to give her the power that she needs to have to do what has to be done. It is time for Jori to transfer her power. Jori gives Fringe everything. Jori and Asner disappear. She finds the stones. Jori and Asner were buried underneath the tree. The figures they knew were only the product of the AD – like the horses, like the houses – they made themselves real in order to argue with the Arbai in order to save them. They had tremendous strength even in death. Fringe can speak to the great Dragon. He is real. She is arguing with the Dragon to help save Elsewhere for Jori's sake. He has the power to save them. He consents to save her daughter, Fringe. He can take her out into the stars. He could take her as he had taken Jori. 461: Not good enough, she says, I have made a vow. I cannot leave. I need to save my friends. I too can be killed, he says. Why should I risk my life for Elsewhere? Because it was important to Jori, she says. She was tired but she was willing to stand and fight. The Dragon says that he also is tired. Finally she persuades him to go with her. She rode the dragon. They go to where the Arbai had gone. But he is not strong enough to break through the Arbai's door. Let it go, said a voice. No, says Fringe. I have always let go. Now I must fight. Jori. Zasper. Fringe. They were the same. The discontented ones. 463: She faced the door. She used the AD to help her create a weapon. She needed to let the Device enslave her. To become one with her weapon. She gave up her mind. The weapon came into being. She fired. The door blew open. Do you now risk enslavement? a voice asked. If you risk death, can I risk less? she answered as Enforcers said when they went into battle. She and the dragon walk together to look for the DEVICE> 465: The dinks were watching on their monitors what they foresaw as the end of life on the planet. Cepal the dink was worried about what he was seeing. It bothered him. Boramus called. There's a ship heading for Elsewhere. 466: Fringe finds the Arbai sleeping in concentric circles waiting for this thing to pass. She says they must awake. YOU HAVE NOT EARNED YOUR RIGHT TO SLEEP. YOU HAVE A DUTY. SHE SAYS THAT THEY ARE INTERFERING WITH THEIR INACTION, THEIR REPOSE. THAT IS NOT NONINTERFERENCE. IF YOU WILL NOT USE YOUR POWER, THEN I WILL TAKE IT FROM YOU. THE ARBAI DEVICE BECOMES AN ORGANIC PART OF HER. BUT SHE IS PARALYZED. The dragon helps her. Why did you do it? he asks her. For Nella, she said, so she can experience life for a while. 468: She has the AD. The dingers are continuing to approach, killing everything in their path. CHAP. 15 469: We left Fringe and the Dragon trying to get the AD to work. It has become an organic part of her as she give herself to it. Caftery and Dan. Celery comes. The Brannigan machines have stopped advancing. 473: The Celerians want to help but they can't. The Arabian don't want to risk being wrong. The Celerians didn't worry about that. Morality, Intelligence and Holiness all demand risk. The Celerians can't do what has already been done. Here we realize that Fringe and the Dragon have already stopped the Brannigan Gods. 474: The Celerians are now indebted to Fringe and the Dragon for fulling the prophecy to assist. So they are going to take them away to the stars. They took the Device away from the Arbai. It wasn't until Fringe realized that Jori was a hologram that Fringe decided that she would have to get the device herself. What had been Fringe had vanished. 475: Jordel had a body. So he started to wipe out the Brannigan gods by shutting down the core from the inside. 476: Holiday. Celebration. The Core inhibitants were released. Boramus became a hero as did Jacint. Dan and Nella together. No one knows what happens to Fringe. The Core people had memories erased. THE ULTMATE QUESTION OF MAN IS TO STOP BEING ONLY MAN. 479: BRANNIGAN GALAZITY. It has become like the Hobbs Land Gods. Statues of the Arbai, Majorie Westriding, Asner, Nella and Bertam, Nella and Danivan are joined, Celerians were given credit to saving Elsewhere, many smaller images – Zasper, Dinks, Boramus, a woman escaping into the heavens with something invisible – Fringe. The pursuit of knowing that matters. WHAT SHALL WE BECOME NOW THAT WE ARE NO LONGER MAN?