In "Darkness Invisible," we established that, in the hell universe, no light comes from the sky which is entirely black with heavenly bodies discernible as even deeper darknesses. But is that enough to see by? No:
"The illumination came from the ground, wan, shadowless, colorless. Vision faded at last into utter distance. For that plain had no horizon, no interruptions; it went on. The sole direction, sound, movement, came from the drearily whistling wind." (pp. 252-253)
Yet again, the wind seems to comment. Matuchek calls this landscape an abomination. Are they on a planetary surface or on an endless plain in a different kind of universe? Is a physical universe like this possible or have they entered a virtual reality?
Virginia questions whether "'..."planet" means a lot here...'" (p. 253) and adds they they "'...slanted across time...'" to come here. (ibid.)
Did they? I know that they left their universe after Valeria's abduction from it and entered the hell universe before her arrival in it but I thought that that was possible because the two universes had different timelines. See Time And Times. To say that it required them to "slant across time" implies that the two universes are part of a single temporal domain.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think it's necessarily contradicting your thesis for Virginia to say that for her Steven to leave their universe for the hell at different times meant they "slanted" across time from A to get to B. A / B = AB, where A slanted (back slash) from one moment in A to get to B, which equals A arriving in B at a particular time.
A real mathematician would tear apart this pitiful effort of mine! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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