Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Path: nntp.gmd.de!news.ruhr-uni-bochum.de!news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!news.dfn.de!scsing.switch.ch!swidir.switch.ch!in2p3.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!netnews.nwnet.net!serval.net.wsu.edu!unicorn.it.wsu.edu!i9717029
From: Matthew Murray <i9717029@wsunix.wsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Trinity Ending 
Sender: news@serval.net.wsu.edu (News)
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.951227110326.26209A-100000@unicorn.it.wsu.edu>
X-Sender: i9717029@unicorn.it.wsu.edu
In-Reply-To: <baf.820082599@max.tiac.net> 
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 19:06:58 GMT
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
References: <DJHIIH.H3I@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <4aknl4$l07@news.duke.edu> <badger.818806037@phylo.life.uiuc.edu> <4anllr$7j4@globe.indirect.com> <30D45101.3C1C@cis.compuserve.com> <owls-1712951724070001@owls.port.net> <30D85F5F.81C@cis.compuserve.com> <baf.820082599@max.tiac.net> 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Organization: Washington State University
Lines: 31

On 27 Dec 1995, Carl Muckenhoupt wrote:

> Well... I suppose you get some hints.  There's the distinct possibility 
> that the little girl to whom you give the umbrella is the same as the 
> horribly scarred woman who you got it from in the first place (in other 
> words, the umbrella is time-looped, never created or destroyed.)  This can 
> only be true if the past that results from your actions is the same as 
> the past that caused them.

	I never thought of that as a possibility, but rather as a 
certainty.  To be more clear, there was never any doubt in my mind that 
it was the same person, forty or so years later.  Yet, I do always find 
the idea of "time-looped objects" (as you say) to be fascinating, since, 
as you correctly point out, they can never be created or destroyed.  
Something very similar happens in Sorcerer with the coal mine puzzle, and 
also in TimeQuest, though to a much lesser degree (or, perhaps more 
appropriately, it isn't glossed over as such).  Their use in puzzles 
always fascinates me, especially since they are almost always use 
correctly.  But then again, is anyone surprised by the fact that Infocom 
authors got it right?  I'm certainly not.

================================================================================
    Matthew A. Murray - mmurray@wsu.edu - http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~i9717029
================================================================================
GPA d-(d) s-:+>+:- a--- C++(+++) UO+>++ P? L? E---- W++>+++(-(--)) N++(+++) o?
    K w--- O? M+>++ V-- PS PE+ Y++ PGP- t--(---) 5+++>++++ X>+ R(-) tv+(++)
        b(+)>+++ DI D---(----) G(++) e>+ h+ r--->(++) !y+(--(-))>+(+++)
================================================================================
   Actor - Singer - German Speaker - Computer Game Player - Babylon 5 Fanatic
================================================================================

