AtDTDA: 18 Distinct versions of the Stupendica [514/515]

[Michael J. Hußmann]

John BAILEY (JBAILEY at theage.com.au) wrote:

> I haven't gone back to the rest of this chapter yet but I seem to
> remember that after the transformation, Kit and Dally appear ambiguously
> to have arrived in Europe and Morocco on two separate vessels or
> something.
>
> Confounding stuff.

Confounding stuff indeed. It's not just that the Stupendica is also the
Emperor Maximilian, it is also two ships in two different ways.

First, on page 515 the Stupendica is described as a battleship in
disguise, and p. 516 goes into the details of the transformation
sequence: "... the Stupendica was also able somehow to collapse, as she
lost her upper decks, into classic battleship profile ..." On p. 518,
this transformation actually starts: "Hydraulics engaged, as entire
decks began ponderously to slide, fold, and rotate, and passengers found
themselves, often lethally, in the way of this booming and shrieking
steel metamorphosis." But the Zombinis survive: "it's the old Liner-to-
Battleship Effect", explains Luca, as if this was something a stage
magician would know about (which reminds me of "the old ... trick",
Maxwell Smart's catchphrase from "Get Smart"). And Dally is worried about Kit.

On p. 523, though, Dally is on the Stupendica again, totally unaware of
anything unusual having happened, and searching for Kit, mysteriously
and unaccountably missing. Obviously, there are now two separate ships,
not a passenger liner having transformed into a battleship: "Meanwhile,
leaving its military double to wander the mists, the Stupendica
continued its civilian journey."

One might think there's a case of two possible worlds: a world in which
the Stupendica is somehow also the Emperor Maximilian, branching into
two possible worlds: one in which it is just the Stupendica (and with
Dally on it), and another in which it is the Emperor Maximilian (with
Kit in the engine room). Only then, Dally and Kit would have drifted
into two different worlds, never to meet again. But they do.

- Michael


Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: michael at michael-hussmann.de
WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
WWW (professional): http://digicam-experts.de