(Spoiler) Mere Mortals:Your Choice?

[Silversmok3]

Last Chance.The following is a HUGE spoiler, which forms the basis of the following question:

If you were in Erika Hernandez's awful position and faced death in an alien city or immortality at the cost of becoming like the Caeliar, what would you have chosen?And why?

Ill start off with my candid answer.

I have a hard time imagining 10 years passing by. After spending decades of my lifetime in an alien city with pretty much nil chance of escaping or contacting anyone I know ( assuming they'd be alive for me to call) ,I would have chosen as she did.

Yes, Id be abetting the 'enemy', but the Caeliar aren't warriors, and there'd be no recognition or benefit to me croaking on 'principle'.

So, with no real benefit to me dying and the alternative allowing an opprotunity to continue to explore strange new worlds and the universe at large, albeit in a different branch so to speak,I would have done as she did.

Your turn. Of course it helps to read the book before you answer

 

[casey]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

It is hard to say what I would do in that situation, but I think I would probably have chosen exactly as Hernandez did.

Then again it is interesting the think about the context of Hernandez choice, after all, she had chosen to die by throwing herself down the stairs.

On has to wonder if shock and pain had anything to do with her choice, and whether she had regrets afterward.

After all, she was quite willing to leave, even knowing that by doing so she was sentencing herself to death.

 

[Claudia]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

I have a hard time imagining 10 years passing by. After spending decades of my lifetime in an alien city with pretty much nil chance of escaping or contacting anyone I know ( assuming they'd be alive for me to call) ,I would have chosen as she did.

It's a hard question but I think I'd choose like Hernandez did - because I simply can't imagine acting like Foyle. If there were however another opportunity at escape that didn't involve violence or risking Earth and/or Erigol then I'd try to take that, of course.

One thing, though: Maybe I overread something, but didn't the Columbia spend 12 years just reaching Erigol? The only timeframe we got somewhere for the time spent *on* Erigol was around 6 months IIRC...

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

In such a situation, I would try to take it one step at a time. My first objective would be to do my best to stay alive and sane. The second is trying to find a way to escape.

I am not sure if I would be strong enough to do this for years, not to mention the time Hernandez has already been kept prisoner. I most definitely would try to do what she did.

 

[JD]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

If there was absolutely no way for me to escape, I would probably make the same choice as Hernandez. For me it would be because it would make it easier to live with and relate to the Caeliar. Plus, it would also give me a good chance of still posibly being able to get away eventually.

 

[Silversmok3]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

I have a hard time imagining 10 years passing by. After spending decades of my lifetime in an alien city with pretty much nil chance of escaping or contacting anyone I know ( assuming they'd be alive for me to call) ,I would have chosen as she did.

It's a hard question but I think I'd choose like Hernandez did - because I simply can't imagine acting like Foyle. If there were however another opportunity at escape that didn't involve violence or risking Earth and/or Erigol then I'd try to take that, of course.

One thing, though: Maybe I overread something, but didn't the Columbia spend 12 years just reaching Erigol? The only timeframe we got somewhere for the time spent *on* Erigol was around 6 months IIRC...

Sorry, I was referring to Hernandez's continued time in Axion in the second book. I mistakenly titled the thread after the first book.

Its in reference to 'Mere Mortals', not gods of night.In book 2 she spends a LOT more time in the Caeliar city than anyone planned.

 

[David Mack]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

Maybe I overread something, but didn't the Columbia spend 12 years just reaching Erigol?

Yes and no. Because they were traveling at an extremely high relativistic speed (within one-ten-thousandth of the speed of light), time-dilation effects applied. Though their trip took twelve years from the perspective of an outside observer, for the crew on the Columbia the journey seemed to last only 63 days.

 

[Claudia]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

Maybe I overread something, but didn't the Columbia spend 12 years just reaching Erigol?

Yes and no. Because they were traveling at an extremely high relativistic speed (within one-ten-thousandth of the speed of light), time-dilation effects applied. Though their trip took twelve years from the perspective of an outside observer, for the crew on the Columbia the journey seemed to last only 63 days.

Thanks for the correction - I simplified by just refering to "real time" instead of the relativisitic time-dilation the crew experienced. My mistake.

 

[Marie1]

Re: (Spoiler) Gods of Night:Your Choice?

I'd take the longer life and the fix as long as I didn't have to spend it making murals and music... Given how contemptuous some of the Caeliar seem- I'd be tempted just die...

It may depend on a) if some other human decided to go for it with me (which obviously didnt happen) or b) how much I valued my friendships with Inyx and preferably others. In a small way, the humans did owe the Caeliar a bit for their (forced) hospitality and some of the damage the MACOs did... kinda.

 

[LightningStorm]

Sorry, I was referring to Hernandez's continued time in Axion in the second book. I mistakenly titled the thread after the first book.

Its in reference to 'Mere Mortals', not gods of night.In book 2 she spends a LOT more time in the Caeliar city than anyone planned.

Thread Title Fixed

 

[Blamo]

I'd go the same route as Hernandez I think.

The Caelier, while their captors, weren't in anyway malicious and for the most part treated. pof course that doesn't in anyway make them right for what they did, but it does make the decision much less black and white. They aren't the "enemy", they have no malicious intentions, nor are they embroiled in hostilities with Earth.

So the question comes down to do you blindly reject them and spend the rest of your imprisonment rejecting your circumstances or do you try to do something constructive which may lead to the possibility of freedom. Or at the very least maintain their sanity.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Wow, this is a tough one. To be honest, I don't know if I would have been sane enough by old age. The thought of being impossibly cut off as they were from my family (I have a wife and two kids)... I think I would have eventually grown old and taken the dive off of the tower.

It's cool to imagine getting Erika's powers, but psychological stress of the intervening years... I can't say for certain if I would have made it.

Then again, having Neo-like powers would be pretty cool...

 

[Bryan316]

I'd probably opt for the immortality and the powers. I'd also, before that, let the catatonic crewmate die as she was instead of ordering some witchdoctory (even though it would lead to my immortality).

 

[21Spike65]

I'll take the dive and go the opposite of most the people here. I would have chosen death over immortality.

Not even considering Hernandez's situation, death is just part of being human, and I wouldn't give up my humanity just for a longer life and some cool powers. Even in our day, I wouldn't necessarily mind living longer than humans do, but I know I wouldn't choose to live forever.

Now in Hernandez's situation, I would have chosen death without a doubt. She's spent decades with the Caeliar in a city that pretty much never changes. How boring must that have been? I go stir-crazy if I spend a month without anything to do, much less a lifetime. By the time I was Hernandez's age, I would have welcomed death. Sure, letting the Caeliar transform me would give me some new powers to experiment with, but in a society so resistant to change, how long would it be before things got boring again? And then death's not even an option.

Personally, I think Sidra was the luckiest of the bunch (minus her death, of course). At least she was living in her own little world and could escape the monotony.

 

[Silversmok3]

Spike makes a good point about the monotony.The author touched on the subject breifly,but if I were stuck in Axion with 2 dudes and zero human females in the population I'd snap from sheer horniness.

 

[casey]

^^I had wondered if Inyx may have been interested in pursuing a less professional relationship with Hernandez.

Perhaps in a few hundred years she wouldn't have had to be her own best friend (to paraphrase her) any more, as Inyx would help her out in that department .

But yeah I think the monotony would be horrible, but I think part of that would depend on how much you embraced the Caeliar. They do seem to have a lot to offer, and Hernandez embraced that while the others didn't. And they are the ones that suffered the most.

It seems like if you opened your mind up to the Caeliar and built their trust there are limitless possibilities for experiencing and exploring.

 

[Silversmok3]

That idea crossed my mind for a minute,but for the following reason I doubt that's why Inyx is fascinated with Hernandez.Imagine toiling at the same job,in the same city ,with the same group of people and under the same boss for literally thousands of years.That would get old real quick,and knowing how company policy is about visitors id want to hang on to the rebellious,but intriguing newbies as long as I can.Think of Inyx's position;he can not only search out the great work,but he taught Hernandez his knowledge.She's his first new friend for millenia,and for him losing her to 'natural' death despite his ability to stop it would plage his immortal future with guilt and lonliness.