From: markb@cimage.com (Mark Bernstein)
Subject: Re: julian may and Fury (*spoilers*)
Organization: Cimage Corp, Ann Arbor, MI
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 13:29:03 GMT

Spoilers ahead:

gerstel@quaker.admin.upenn.edu wrote:
: I wonder about this Felice/Fury theory.  Remember the Great Carbuncle??  I know
: the red thing Felice and Cull were sealed into was a cylinder, and The
: Carbuncle is a sphere, but I still have my suspicions.

	I don't think so.  Check the scene at Victor's deathbed where Fury
attacks Rogi.  Rogi "sees" an image of a red sphere just when Unifex steps
in to save him from Fury.  I'm pretty sure the Carbuncle is some sort of
link that helps Unifex keep track of Rogi, and isn't related to Fury.  Also,
I personally believe that Fury is just too calculating and rational to be
Felice.  She was crazy and powerful, but never a schemer.

: 
: There are endless theories about Fury.  He could be:
:     1. Victor
:     2. Marc's stillborn twin Matthieu (remember the thing about Marc's CE helmet
: in JtB??  One of his friends said something about a twin.)
:     3. The alien "vampires" who the Lylmik mentioned during the investigation of
: the first murder.
:     4. Felice
:     5. Any combination of the above.

	May as well speak up now, since I missed the discussions when the
book first came out.  My choice for Fury?  Paul.  Or, more precisely, a
subconscious personality within Paul.  Here's my reasoning:

	1) Marc, after scanning Jack's memories of Fury and Hydra, states
flatly that Fury is human.  Since Marc has had contact with a variety of
alien minds, I see no reason to doubt this judgement.  Also, Marc says in
the same conversation that he doesn't know what Hydra is.  Since all the
minds in Hydra are human, this tells me that Fury is a *single* human.
(Note:  This also lessens the probability of Fury being a metaconcert of
Felice and Culluket, although it admittedly doesn't rule out Felice alone.)

	2) The "subconscious" part comes from the repeated statments, one
from Unifex, that Fury doesn't know who s/he is.

	3) Starting from the premise that Fury is human, and the known fact
that Fury does have some limitations, I'm guessing those limitations to be
those of a masterclass human.  This means, among other things, that Fury
is only *strongly* present in a particular scene if the human "host" is
physically in the vicinity.

	4) Fury was strongly present at Victor's deathbed.  Unless someone
was lurking in the shadows (unlikely), this narrows the range of suspects
to the Remillards, with the exception of Lucille, who was in a regen tank
at the time.

	5) After the first, failed attack on Margaret Strayhorn, Fury tells
Hydra that there will plenty of time to practice and get stronger on the
ship to Concilium Orb.  By the time Hydra arrives at Concilium Orb, they
destroy Margaret easily.  I therefore assume that Fury was on board that
ship, training Hydra.  Denis was not on that ship.  He stayed on Earth and
followed later.  Why is this relevant?  Well . . .

	6) Here's what I regard as the kicker.  Halloween night at the
university president's house, Margaret is attacked when she goes to answer
the door for trick-or-treaters and finds Hydra there.  This is, however,
the first time all night that *she's* been the one to answer the door.
There is no possible way that Hydra could have known she would come to the
door -- unless she was coerced into volunteering to answer it.  To pull
off that sort of coercion in the presence of other high-level operants
requires masterclass coercion skills.  The only Remillards present in
that living room were Denis, Lucille, and Paul.

	Supporting facts:  Except for a couple of brief, ambiguous
scenes surrounding Adelaine's death, we never see Paul's POV.  Paul
avoids contact with Jack.  Remember, his reconciliation with Teresa
started the night she resumed her career, putting her on the road
away from Jack, and ended the day she quit touring to be near Jack 
in the hospital.

	Those are my thoughts, anyway.  Comments?

Mark Bernstein
markb@cimage.com

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written