Marta's place in her family tree. |
In my previous blog post, I described the fact that Hilde is actually a clone of Ivory. That revelation upset my thinking because I have long assumed that Hilde was a fairly normal Earth woman. In contrast, Ivory was a special "show case" for Preland gene combinations, a way of demonstrating to we Earthlings what is possible to accomplish with genetic engineering and artificial selection.
A Kac'hin female. |
The Mysterious Marta
Artist's depiction of Marta at Atlantis. |
At the same time, I feel a debt to Marta. In some sense, it was she who converted me from a bumbling boy into a competent man. What I resent about it is that Marta was just using me as a conveniently available tool, or, maybe a better analogy is this: I was a convenient grind stone upon which Marta could sharpen a tool. Of course, in this analogy the "tool" was Ivory.
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Clone War
If Ivory was a well-built sword, it must be remembered that she was only a prototype. Like me, Ivory went through the stages of embryonic brain development without any special neural network guidance nanites there to guide the shape of her mind. In contrast, her clones were produced in order to subject their developing brains to artificial guidance in an attempt to create on Earth a few minds capable of crossing over into the Sedronic Domain.
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For the cover illustration of Trysta and Ekcolir, I tried to depict Trysta making use of the Bimanoid Interface to look into the Sedronic Domain and see her own future. She was able to see a future time (in the Ekcolir Reality) in which Ekcolir was being prepared by Grean for his mission on Earth. At that future time, Ekcolir was able to gaze into the Sedronic Domain and see Trysta, in a previous Reality while she was "viewing" him in her future. Similarly, Trysta must have had foreknowledge of the roles that Ivory and I would play in telling the secret history of Humanity.
Anna
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I really have no idea what an Ivory Clone naturally looks like. I assume that Anna grew up with a physical appearance that was very similar to that of Ivory. I now know that Ivory grew up with nanites in her body that forced her face to take on a normal human appearance. My working hypothesis is that every child born on Earth has gone through that process. We seem to exist in an unseen sea of nanites. Even when people like Ivory and Anna are born on Earth and carry a fundamentally alien gene pattern, their appearance is automatically shaped to match the human norm.
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In addition to the big eyes, I suspect that Prelands also have other alien features such as non-human outer ears. For example, when I "saw" Hilde inside the Hierion Domain, she had large ears that reminded me of the Ferengi. However, when it comes to the "true" appearance of Anna, your guess is as good as mine.
Artist's depiction if Hilde within the Hierion Domain. |
We can list certain criteria that had to be met in order for Ivory's clone "sisters" to play their role in revealing events that occurred on Earth in past Realities. They had to grow up on Earth and care enough about the appalling ignorance of we Earthlings in order to be motivated to do something about it.
At the same time, they needed to be able to journey into the Sedronic Domain. These first two requirements are almost mutually exclusive. I believe that it is essential for Preland brains to be exposed to the Sedronic Domain at a very young age. There is probably a critical period of early brain development during which neural networks must be formed and integrated with special nanites that will make possible "excursions" into the Sedronic Domain.
Somehow, Angela did have the magical combination of genes and nanites that allowed her to gain access to the Sedronic Domain. But what about Anna and Anney? For nearly two years Ivory distracted me with the claim that Angela was the one providing us with information about other Realities. However, now that I've lost contact with Ivory and no longer receive her reports from Angela, I really need to investigate if either Anna or Anney might be able to provide me with the information that I still need. What do I really know about Anna? Regardless of Anna's physical appearance, she was the first clone of Ivory, on Earth. I suspect that there might be other "Ivory Clones" in the Galactic Core, but we ay never know. An even more alarming possibility is that Ivory herself might simply be a clone of some other "original" person who first had her combination of genes.
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So, for simplicity, let's assume that Anna was the first "Atlantis Clone". I've never heard the story of how she was brought into our world. Further more, I've been relentlessly teased with clues and hints about her ultimate fate. I can't say with certainty if Anna is even still on Earth any more or if she went off to the stars.
Artificial Uterus
One possibility is that Anna simply did not have a biological mother. It is my understanding that on worlds such as Hemmal, people are born by artificial means. The pek are apparently able to gestate humans or Prelands and give birth to children without them ever knowing that their "mother" was an artificial life form. The term "Atlantis" is just a joke, but the reality is that Ivory was born inside the sentient spaceship Many Sails. Maybe Anna was not only born inside "Atlantis", but she might have gestated inside an artificial womb provided by Many Sails.
Just Beam Me In
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My Theory
An Ek'col male and an Asterothrope female. |
Ivory never mentioned that her mother had other children. However, it is possible that when Ivory went away from home and off to her college studies, it would have been possible for someone like Betty to step in an impersonate Marta for a few years.
As soon as I became aware of Ivory's memories from the Hierion Domain, I became intrigued by the idea that she had spent "several lifetimes" living in the Hierion Domain with my replicoid. I believe that if Ivory could do that, then why not also Marta?
I have fragments of dream-like memories that might reflect a period of time during which Marta raised Anna within the Hierion Domain. I suspect that my replicoid was there the whole time, helping Marta raise the baby Anna. My working hypothesis is that during those years, occasionally Marta brought me, my conscious self, into the Hierion Domain from Earth. Sadly, I have no key, no set of available memory threads to bring my memories of those visits into my full conscious awareness. Still, I have a hunch that I am right about this.
Image sources: 1, 2, 3. |
I've become captivated by the horrifying possibility that Anna, like Ivory, is dead. Strangely, that might be a good thing. Why else would Anna be cavorting with the Dead Widowers?
In his novel, The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov depicted an Eternal, the time travel Technician Andrew Harlan, trying to explain why some forms of technology are too dangerous to leave in the hands of primates. "When you duplicate mass, you can duplicate persons, too....there is no satisfactory solution to the mas duplicator problem. It's one of those things like atomic wars and dreamies that just can't be allowed."
I don't know exactly what Asimov had in mind when he wrote about "dreamies", but I agree that from our perspective in time we can view them as some sort of virtual reality experience, something that people can become addicted to, causing them to withdraw from the real world.
See "Elf 3" by TwiggXstock |
Trysta and Ekcolir |
I believe that Anna gave birth to Anney. I fear that Anna could not live with what happened to Anney when she was put into contact with the Sedronic Domain at a young age. When given the chance, Anna seems to have left Earth. I previously thought that Anney also went off into space aboard the Buld ship, but maybe not.
The translator
In a very real sense, it has become my task to translate the experiences of Izhiun, Thomas, Ivory and her "sisters" into a coherent story that can be understood by Earthlings. It's a big job and I need help. Right now, by hope is that Anney is still on Earth and willing to help me. No doubt she expects me to do my share of the work and I am trying to understand how I can push my brain in a direction that will allow me to better explore and understand the information nanites that I carry in my brain. Even if Anna did go off with the Buld, might it be possible to contact her (possible through the Hierion Domain) and persuade her to help me? At the very least Anna might be able to put me in contact with Anney.
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