ATDTDA (5.4) - Bad Ice After Midnight

[David Morris]

> John:
>
> >Now, I assumed on first reading that whatever the Odalisque of the Snows was, it was something which was indigenous to Iceland (or Greenland or wherever we are), and either was, or was connected with, some sort of nunatak spirit. And it's clear that the Vormance party not only don't know what it is they're bringing back, but they don't even know what they *think* it is, someone says something along the lines of: "Vibe will sell it, whatever it is" (I don't have the book with me, sorry). But there's also mention of meteors and Fleetwood Vibe recalls joining up with Dr Alden Vormance and his quest to recover a meteroite.
> >
> >Further, as Tore quoted:
> >
> >"But who could have foreseen that the far-fallen object would prove to harbor not merely a consciousness but an ancient purpose as well, and a plan for carrying it out?"
> >
> >So, that 'far-fallen', that would fit with the object being a meteorite, but not so well with the 'Figure' being a spirit that's indigenous to the region it was found in. So this is yet anotehr layer of confusion. Where is the 'far' which the figure has fallen from?
> >
> >Where to look for answers to these riddles?

As the Chums point out, it's shape is too  regular for it to be a
product of nature, and thus it must be a product of something/someone.
 The "far-fallen" aspect brings to mind Lucifer, also far-fallen, and
not a meteor either.  My take, as I mentioned before, is that this
thing has been taken and banished/buried in this wasteland in order to
prevent it from carrying out its ancient "purpose" and "plan."  Its
having a "purpose" implies that it is a tool made by others (Golem?),
and its "plan" indicates that it has been given a brain (program?) to
enable it to accomplish its purpose.  Sounds a lot like a weapon to
me.  Rocket?

By the way, speaking of objects with suspiciously too-regular a shape
to be found in nature, what's up with this thing just found on the
north pole of Saturn?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html

An odd, six-sided, honeycomb-shaped feature circling the entire north
pole of Saturn has captured the interest of scientists with NASA's
Cassini mission.

NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged the feature over two decades
ago. The fact that it has appeared in Cassini images indicates that it
is a long-lived feature. A second hexagon, significantly darker than
the brighter historical feature, is also visible in the Cassini
pictures. The spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is
the first instrument to capture the entire hexagon feature in one
image.

David Morris