Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:34:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerry Friedman 
Subject: Re: (urth) FW: Elucidations of the Long Sun:Hyacinth 


--- James Wynn  wrote:
> The following is my response to A. Bin Talal who contacted me off-list
> but
> has offered of his own accord for my response to be posted on-list.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks so much for your comments.
...

> You say:
> The other arguments about overpowering the pilot could be taken as clues
> she
> is not human but a chem, a chem female should be stronger then a human
> 
> Response
> True, and I consider her over-powering the pilot to be evidence that she
> is
> chem - not male.

Why is that inconsistent with her being a healthy young human woman who
has experience at fighting?  She takes the pilot by surprise, ramming her
thumbs into her (the pilot's) eyes and kicking her knees until she falls
down.  Seems quite reasonable to me.  Silk thinks Hyacinth blinded the
pilot, but Chenille (I think) disagrees.  This is evidence that Hyacinth
is *not* a chem--someone with superhuman strength could (I imagine)
obviously blind a person this way by breaking her eyeballs, and probably
obviously cripple her knees as well.

> Actually, Marble DOES over-power Musk. This brings up a
> point that I should segregate those arguments that Hyacinth is a MALE
> chem
> from those that show she is MERELY chem.

Quite true.
...

> The most straight-forward clues that Hyacinth is male (there are weaker
> ones) are the following:
> 1. Hyacinth's statement:
> "You know what I look like without all this [make-up and
> clothes]?...Like a
> boy, only with tits down to my waist."

She doesn't mean she has a penis.  Silk would have spotted that (and then
would have nicknamed Hyacinth "Pinto").  I don't think this comment is
particularly amazing for a slender young woman who has had a breast
enhancement and tends to speak of her appearance deprecatingly. 
Incidentally, it brings up what I think is one of the stronger criticisms
of your theory: would Silk really have sex with someone he knew was a
chem, and if not, could he really be fooled?

> 2. In the Silks conversation with Horn on the airship, discussing why he
> tried to kill himself, Silk talks about Marble's lie about being Moly
> and
> the general plight of the chem population *due to the lack* of female
> chems.
> Silk further points out, "Some male chems were artisans and farm
> laborers,
> from what I know of them, and a few were servants - butlers and so
> forth."

I don't see this as a straightforward clue.  In fact, I don't see it as
evidence at all.

> 3. In the same conversation, Horn also says that Hyacinth behaves
> physically
> weak and in a female-identifiable manner, because she wants Silk to be
> attracted to her. Just as the fierce lynx, Lion (a female with a male
> name-note that this is specifically pointed out) pretends to be
> kittenish
> with Mucor.

This seems to be completely consistent with her being a tough young woman
thanks to the life at Orchid's that Chenille describes.

By far the best clue I see that Hyacinth *could* be a chem is her name, as
you pointed out.  But I see nothing to contradict the obvious
interpretation that she's a bio.

Speaking of Chenille and names, this seems like a good time to restate my
theory that Chenille, who has an ambiguous name, could be a chromosmal
male with testicular feminization syndrome (perhaps Tussah's failed
attempt at a male heir?).
...

Jerry Friedman

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