Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 12:14:33 -0600
From: "Charles Reed" 
Subject: (urth) Astral Projection - The First Time

Joe Cilluffo wrote:

>When Horn is trapped in the pit that Krait rescues him from,
>...  ...
>Horn proceeds to have an hallucination about Nettle cooking for him
>
This is extremely ancillary to the main topic about Blue and Ushas, but 
I just thought about the above.

I don't think Horn is hallucinating.  I think this is the first 
occurrence of his "astral projection" thing, although he's not aware 
that that's what it is.  Consider the facts we know:

(1) This projection thing was most likely something that the Neighbors 
could do and which some -- perhaps all -- of the inhumi "inherited" from 
them through the drinking of their blood.  Horn's ability to project is 
dependent on there being an inhumi nearby and occurs during sleep.

(2) The place projected to has to be a place familiar to the one 
projecting, or at least to one of the group of people who are sleeping 
and projecting together.  Also, there seems to be a need for the 
person/group to concentrate or visualize the place to which they wish to 
project.  [Off-topic note:  this has always reminded me more than a 
little of the ability to "jaunte" as described in Alfred Bester's THE 
STARS, MY DESTINATION.]

Both facts apply in the case of Horn in the pit.  He was 
asleep/unconscious, thought he was dying, and his thoughts no doubt 
would have been of the home and wife he believed he would never see 
again.  Krait, being nearby, allowed the projection to occur.  It wasn't 
a hallucination.  It was real to him, and it was real to Nettle.

This, by the way, answers a question I have had for some time:  Once 
Horn realized he had the ability to perform such projections, why didn't 
he ever project himself back home to Nettle to let her know he was all 
right?

The answer, I believe, relates directly to this scene.  Nettle was 
really freaked out by Horn's sudden appearance, and was pretty much 
hysterical from what I recall.  Once Horn realized that he could, 
intentionally, project himself back to Nettle, he wouldn't have because 
he knew it would scare the living daylights out of her.  (That sounds 
kind-of flippant, but I don't mean it to be.)  On top of that, by the 
time he was starting to get a grip on his new ability, he would have 
known that his projected self didn't look exactly like Horn anymore, 
which would have scared Nettle even more.

Anyway, that's it for now.  Any thoughts?

Charles




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