Luri of Tamari

Luri of Tamari

Gohrlay has provided me with a redacted copy of Anney's book Luri of Tamari. I'm going to do an experiment. I've reconstructed two of the chapters and I'm posting my version of the story here. Let's see if it stands without attracting the wrath of the Overseers.

Previously, I presented what was a much shorter but a rather garbled version of Luri's departure from Earth. That version of events suggested that as a young woman, Luri was teleported from Earth to the Galactic Core; only later did she (or some "copy" of Luri) become an Interventionist agent and return to Earth. The account provided below fills in some of the missing details of Luri's life, but some parts of the story are simply guess work on my part. Most intriguingly, Anney's version of the story suggests that multiple copies of the young Luri were made and one of those copies remained on Earth, possibly for centuries.

Editor's notes

The children of Trysta. Trysta's first cover name was "Noÿs".

What follows is Chapter 6 of Anney's book. The first five chapters introduce Luri and her "uncle" Thrukta. Luri was born into a royal Etruscan family at a point in time after the Etruscan civilization had been swept out of the Buld Reality. When Luri was born, Thrukta was already into his third decade living as an Inteventionist agent on Earth.

As a "Thomas clone", Thrukta existed some 2,000 years before Thomas would be born as the son of Trysta and Ekcolir. Time travel had been used to make it possible for a whole series of Thomas clones to be trained as Interventionists in the Koly star system and sent to Earth where they worked to speed the pace of technological advance on Earth.

Above Tamari

While on Earth, Thrukta worked as a kind of industrial engineer, doing whatever he could to help Luri's father and her "evil stepmother" develop new and profitable farming and manufacturing methods. However, Thrukta's impact on the the shape of Earth's history was due to his influence on Luri, not the relatively small technological advances that he helped bring to Earth.

Due to her favorable genetic endowment, Luri was able to serve as a host for the advanced nanites that Thrukta had brought to Earth. Those nanites allowed Luri to have a form of technology-assisted telepathic contact with Thrukta. Luri could rummage through Thrukta's memories and tease out important bits of information that guided her path through life.

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Mosy importantly, Luri developed an ability to use the Bimanoid Interface. She had a limited ability to access information in the Sedronic Domain. Anney hypothesized that the Bimanoid Interface was used to provide Luri with key pieces of information and guide her thoughts and actions. Anney suggests that the replicoid of Luri's mother actively guided Luri through life. From Luri's perspective, could her access to the Sedronic Domain have seemed anything other than magic? Perhaps she imagined that she was in contact with her mother's ghost.

While growing up on Earth, Luri had no contact with aliens, yet she was aware of the fact that Thrukta had been born on a distant planet and that aliens had long been shaping the human species and the course of development of human civilization on Earth. Anney claimed that Luri never actually "went to Klyz and returned to Earth" during the events described below. Luri might "only" have experienced a simulation of Klyz within the Hierion Domain.
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Chapter 6. Duplication by Teleportatation

- 107 BCE -

When Luri was 14 years old, she finally attained the ability to resist Thrukta's mind tricks. No longer could he slip silently into her mind and cause her to view her special knowledge as mere flights of fancy. The day came when Luri confronted Thrukta and fully asserted herself and let him know that she would no longer be his puppet.

Mid-morning of a cloudy spring day, Luri found Thrukta in his workshop. He had just returned to Tamari after a long business trip to the large cities of the south. While he had been absent from her life through that long winter, Luri had carefully sorted through her memories and she had reached some startling conclusions about her "uncle" Thrukta and his influence on her life. She walked up to his desk and demanded, "Who are you?"

Thrukta was in the middle of the tedious process of testing one of the new dyes that he had brought back from Rome. Hello, Luri. He carefully placed a few shreds of dyed fabric back in his little humidified test chamber and tried to order his thoughts. Thrukta stole a brief glance at her. He had known that the day would come when he would no longer be able to distract and confuse Luri, but what could he say?

Unable to slow her thoughts and control her sense of outrage, Luri fired a second question at him, "Where do you come from?"

He thought to her: Let's not do this in front of Arnth. Thrukta did not need his limited telepathic channel into Luri's mind to know that she was angry. She looked upset and she was breathing rapidly. He'd seen such a scowl on her face the previous day, but he'd had no chance to speak with Luri since his return to Tamari. He still had not adjusted to her changed appearance. During the winter she had begun to make the magical transition from child to woman. She was taller and her face that was losing the big-eyed pattern of juvenile humans and shifting into the more angular adult structural pattern. Finally finding his tongue, Thrukta said, "Good morning, Luri. Have you eaten yet today?"

At the edge of his desk were the remains of his breakfast. Thrukta wiped his hands on the cream colored cloth that covered the silver serving tray and some of the red dye he was testing smeared across its surface. He picked up a crust of raisin bread from the tray and took a bite.

Fine, I'll send him away! Luri picked up the tray and called to Arnth, Thrukta's assistant. "Boy, take this tray to the kitchens and don't come back!"

Arnth had been tending the fire in the little forge where Thrukta performed his metallurgical experiments. He looked at Thrukta for confirmation. Thrukta said, "Come back later, at lunch time." The boy took the tray and departed. Luri sat down on the edge of the desk and glared at Thrukta. He still was not ready to reply to her questions. He warned her, "There is a price that you must pay for the truth."

Luri forced a brittle laugh and asked, "Do you expect me to beg? Do you want me to say, 'please'?"

Thrukta smiled and got up from his stool. "come with me, child." He took hold of Luri's hand and led her out of the hot and gloomy workshop. It was a blustery spring day with storm clouds racing across the sky. They walked out of town and down into the village grazing commons just south of town, a flowering meadow that was an oxbow of the river.

Thrukta began picking flowers and making a bouquet. Luri could see in Thrukta's mind that he was waiting for her to calm down. Impatiently she said, "Really, Thrukta, I want to know. I can't pretend any more that you are of this time and place."

Can't or won't? Thrukta did not bother to look up from his flower picking. "I doubt if you are willing to pay the price that the truth will cost you."

Luri was more than just a little afraid that she would be made unhappy by the secrets that Thrukta still hid from her. For years, first barely aware of the fact and then with growing certainty she had come to see that parts of his mind were walled off and hidden. She had long excused him for that secrecy, but now her curiosity was out of control. Now she had to know what he knew. "How long do you expect me to wait?"

"You are still just a little girl. Maybe when you are older...maybe you will come to understand-"

Stop thinking of me as a child! "No! Look at me! I'm not a little girl anymore."

Thrukta usually tried not to look at her. Luri had grown tall and tough and with each passing day she reminded him more and more of her mother, who had died soon after Luri's birth, but who Thrukta could never push far from his thoughts.

Of course, no matter how hard he tried to not look at her and not think about them, Luri and her mother were both always in his thoughts. Now she asked, "Are you my father?"

Thrukta finally stopped picking flowers and handed the bouquet to Luri. "I'd be proud to have you as my daughter, but it is not possible for me to impregnate an Earth woman."

Luri knew that he was not of Earth, but she did not know where he was from. She could see the Koly star system in his memories, but she knew not where that distant star was. Over the years she had grown accustomed to the idea that she lived on spherical planet, although she only discussed such fascinating topics with Thrukta. She could feel him in her mind, trying to lead her into a discussion of astronomy. She fought off his attempt to distract her. "Still, I see doubt in your mind about that. Even if you are not my father, there is something that links us together. How else do you explain the connection that exists between us and allows us to share thoughts?"

Thrukta looked around to make sure that nobody was close enough to hear them. They climbed up on the trunk of a fallen tree and sat with their backs to the river, allowing Thrukta could watch for the approach of anyone from town. "I used to wonder if you were my daughter, but that is impossible. I'm not human."

Luri laughed, "What does that mean?"

"I've told you about Vanth. I'm like that, from a far world."

"But stories about Vanth are just myths." She placed a hand and his. "You are real."

"I knew Vanth before you were born. So did your mother. In fact, Vanth and your mother schemed and planned..." He fell silent and then patted her hand. "Well, my dear, you are still too young to know such things."

"Please, tell me. I've seen in your mind that you know secrets about my mother. I can't abide you keeping these secrets from me. You loved my mother."

"She was a witch, like you. Like you, she could see my thoughts. And like you she liked to talk...to anyone about anything. I had to make use of Vanth to put a hold on her agile tongue. Still, she knew me for what I was and through me she learned that Vanth was an alien creature. She made use of Vanth and her powers. She and Vanth were a dangerous combination."

Luri placed a hand on Thrukta's face, "Yes, I see all that. They planned..." She closed her eyes and reached her mind into the Sedronic Domain, "Me. They created me!"

Thrukta said, "Shh! Never say that! Or, at least, don't shout it out so others can hear. Your father already suspects...he is jealous of the attention you pay to me."

She took hold of his arm and pressed close to his side, "Thrukta, I'm afraid. What does it mean that an alien created me?"

Thrukta put an arm around Luri and sighed. "This world is approaching an age when everyone will know about the aliens who have long visited Earth. People like you -people with minds like yours- will be needed at that time. Vanth had worked for thousands of years to craft a human mind like yours. Of course, doing so was her death sentence."

She looked into his eyes and whispered, "Death?"

He knew well that she was sickened by death. Her empathy extended even to insects and aliens. "It is no fault of yours. Vanth had completed her mission on Earth. She was done. Still, we must face the truth, together. You are ahead of your time. You arrived thousands of years too early for this dingy planet."

"You're making me more afraid."

"I told you that you are too young. You can't possibly understand the truth that you seek and even if you did, you are a blabber mouth...you can't keep a secret. You are dangerous. I should have taken you away from this world years ago."

Luri looked out across the meadow and mumbled, "Yes. Yes, I remember!" Excitedly, she turned back towards Thrukta and babbled, "We've had this discussion before!" For a minute she sat in silence, thinking her way through the flood of old repressed memories that had been hidden from her conscious mind. "While you were away, I grew so angry...resentful of the secrets that you keep. Now I remember...you have told me the truth repeatedly. You are not of this world...you came from-"

"Hush, child! Quite your voice." He looked around, making sure that nobody had slipped down along the river bank behind them.

"Sorry." More of the repressed memories came tumbling back into her conscious awareness.  "Oh, my! I've known this for years..." Again she fell into a deep reverie, with the wind blowing strands of her hair across the still features of her face.

Thrukta pushed the hair out of her eyes, but the wind immediately blew it back. She handed him a ribbon and he tied it around her head so as to constrain her wind-tossed hair. A few drops of cold rain splashed upon them. All traces of anger and resentment had drained out of Luri and she smiled warmly at Thrukta.

He finally broke the silence and explained, "My mind has always been open to you. Because of that, I am a great danger to you, just as I was to your mother. The real problem is that I could never say 'no' to her and I can't deny you anything, either. I should never have let you remember the truth about my origins. Now that knowledge is a part of your subconscious thoughts, so even when you are forced to forget the truth you just keep remembering..."

Luri shook her head, "No, it is fine. I'm old enough now. I can control myself."

Thrukta shook his head. "I doubt it. No. You are a wild beast."

"No, listen to me. I'm not a little girl any more. I'm growing up."

"Yes, that scares me more than anything."

Luri gazed into his eyes. "I know why you are afraid of me. You went through this once before, with my mother. She took you as her first lover."

Thrukta looked away, "I'm weak. I had fallen in love with her. I could not say no. I should have said no."

Luri turned his head back and caressed his cheek, "No, you were playing your role in my creation. I understand all that now. You were perfect. You are perfect. Just what I need."

He looked at her in horror. "No, Luri, no! Don't put me through that again!"

She laughed. "Relax, old man. I love you like a father. I won't take advantage of you the way my mother did. But I do need you."

Thrukta could sense a startling idea that had grown up in her mind during the winter. He asked, "You need me for what?"

She replied, "The secret of eternal youth. And you can't put me off again. My body is changing...I'm becoming a woman. We must act now, before it is too late!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I first saw it in your mind. It is how Vanth could live for thousands of years."

"Vanth was an alien; it is natural for them to live thousands of years."

"No, there is nothing natural about it. I can see it in your thoughts. Before you came to Earth you knew the secret of immortality, but it was erased from your memories. I need you to help me recover that memory, that knowledge."

"You're crazy."

She laughed merrily. "No, I can see the hole in your mind where your knowledge of immortality once rested. When you were sent to Earth, some of what you knew was taken from you. That makes sense. Earth is not ready for immortality. But I am! I need to live a very long life. I've seen that in my visions."

Thrukta knew that this had been Vanth's goal: to make humans who could gain knowledge by means of "visions". He knew that the knowledge came from the Sedronic Domain, but for Luri, who knew nothing of nanites and high dimensional physics, her special source of knowledge was simply her haunting visions. He muttered, "How can you trust these visions? I've trained you in critical thinking and skepticism."

"Don't worry about that. My visions are a true source of knowledge for me. Forget that I mentioned it. Just forget that. But I still need your help. If we work together I can live forever."

"Luri, you're scaring me."

"Relax. It is very simple. Just send me through the gate to Klyz."

He pretended not to understand. "Gate? What gate?"

"The teleportation terminal, in the cellar of your workshop."

Although he had not used the teleporter during Luri's life time, he could not really feel surprise that she had figured out what it was and that it could send Earthlings to Klyz, the Fru'wu teleportation hub. Still, how could she understand the implications of using the teleporter? "I've always known that I would have to send you to Klyz. But when I do, you will not be able to come back to Earth."

"Well, that does not matter. As long as my copy returns, all will be fine."

"Copy?"

"Don't worry about that. It is another fact that was erased from your memories, but I have been given a clear vision of it. Teleportation allows for copies to be made. A copy of me will be able to return to Earth from Klyz. Just send me through the gate, that's all I ask."

"Then it is time. It is finally time for me to leave Earth."

"No, Thrukta, I've seen how this must be done. You must stay here and be waiting for me when I return. There is one more thing that you must do for me here on Earth. I don't want to become a museum piece."

"Museum piece?"

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"I can't possibly explain that, but trust me. If you don't do as I ask then I will end up as a mummified exhibit in a museum."

Thrukta did not need to make a leap of faith. At that moment a memory of Vanth became accessible to his recall. The ancient Fru'wu had warned Thrukta: When the time comes, trust her vision. Luri will have knowledge from the Sedronic Domain, knowledge that will surprise you. Accept the surprise, ride on the wind of her desires.

Thrukta jumped down to the ground and turned to gaze up at Luri. She was no longer the golden haired imp-child; she had found her path in life. She jumped down into his arms and they collapsed in a laughing, giggling heap. She helped him to his feet and he felt a pain in his side. "I think you cracked my ribs."

They returned to the workshop and Luri led the way to the hidden teleportation chamber. The teleportation device was not large; it lay hidden beneath a shinny metal platform. He wanted to ask how long she expected to be gone, but she stepped up on the platform and said, "Send me now. It is time."

Thrukta used his nanite endosymbiont to activate the teleportation device and Luri was gone.

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In the Ekcolir Reality

Editor's note. That is the end of Chapter 6 of Anney's book. I'm skipping over Chapter 7 which is an account of what Luri experienced as her journey to the Klyz teleportation hub.

Anney believed that Luri was actually teleported into the Hierion Domain, just long enough to have the structure of her body duplicated and a new collection of nanites implanted in her brain.

Anney speculated that those nanites (infites) provided Luri with an artificially created false memory of having spent several years in the Galactic Core. Anney insists that Luri did not age at all during her "trip" to Klyz, which is proof that she did not spend years there and then travel back through time, returning to Earth only a moment after her departure.

Grean says that in the Ekcolir Reality, there was a series of movies about Luri's adventures. The first in that series was called simply Luri.

Below is the first part of Chapter 8 from Anney's book, Luri of Tamari.
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Feeling old and tired and wincing from the pain in his ribs, he turned to climb the ladder up to the workshop. Luri's voice stopped him, "I'm back."

He whirled and saw that it was her, but now dressed in the fashion of the humans who lived on Klyz. He cried out, "Luri, you did return!"

She ran to him and let him hold her tight. He felt the silk-like fabric of her dress and his memories of Klyz came rushing back, memories he had ignored for decades. She said, "I must warn you. I could not come back alone."

Thrukta saw a blur at the edge of his vision and turned his head. There on the teleportation platform stood a second copy of Luri, that copy dressed in what looked like a man's hooded robe. She said, "Hello, Thrukta."

Thrukta stammered, "T-two copies?"

The first copy of Luri replied, "Yes, there must be two of me."

The second copy went up the ladder while saying, "Quickly, now! No time to waste. I must be gone before Arnth returns with your lunch."

Thrukta followed the two copies of Luri up the ladder and he caught a glimpse of the disguised copy of Luri slipping out the back door of the workshop. He said to the first copy of Luri, "You can't be seen in those clothes."

Luri went to a dark corner of the shop and took one of Thrukta's inventions off a hook on the wall. She pulled on Thrukta's raincoat. "I got spoiled at Klyz. I love the nanite clothing and the other luxuries. I was tempted to not come back."

Thrukta, feeling that events were rapidly sweeping past him, muttered, "What's going on?"

Luri laughed, rather hysterically. "It is all so simple! This will be easier than I had imagined. My body is designed for immortality. The most annoying part of the process is that it requires high altitude. My copy is immediately going into the mountains. She will activate the nanites in her body and she will become immortal."

Thrukta half understood what she meant. "What about you?"

Luri finished carefully arranging for the raincoat to hide the brightly colored dress that she had brought back from Klyz. She looked at Thrukta and explained, "I must live here on Earth a few more years. I will be part of an important arranged marriage. Once that political hurdle is cleared, I will be free to return to Klyz. So you must remain here with me a few more years, then we can leave this world together."

Thrukta nodded, "Yes, yes, of course. I always imagined that you were the real reason that I came to Earth." He gestured around the workshop, "Finding new ways to dye cloth and smelt ore...that was all just a cover for my real mission."

Luri took hold of his hands, "Yes, that is why the Fru'wu at Klyz were glad to see me and why they were happy to send me back with knowledge of how to attain immortality. My copy must stay here on Earth for centuries, and so it shall be."

He asked, "What does high altitude have to do with immortality?'

"It is part of an ancient genetic program. Triggering that program involves not eating and changing the function of the lungs."

Thrukta was baffled. "Not eating sounds like a poor path to eternal life."

Luri laughed and explained, "Fasting and controlled breathing at high altitude along with a dose of a chemical trigger substance that we obtained on Klyz can cause my nanite endosymbiont to activate the immortality program. As part of that program the body is altered: most of the lung lobes get converted to a new organ that allows the immortal to be automatically fed by the nanites. But those are just the surface changes. With the nanites in complete control of nutrient intake, they are able to safely immortalize all the cells in a human body."

Thrukta asked, "Are you sure about this? It sounds like a fable, like magic."

Luri shrugged. She had learned much about advanced technology while at Klyz. Her visit there had lasted years, but by the wonders of time travel she had returned to Earth only an instant after leaving. Now she did not have time to explain things to Thrukta. "It is only advanced technology, like your tricks for dying cloth."

At that moment Arnth returned to the workshop. He was dripping wet from the newly arrived storm and now carrying lunch on the serving tray. Taking note of Luri he said, "I brought lunch for both of you."

Luri pulled tight the raincoat and stepped to the door, "I must be off." She stepped out into the rain and was gone.

Arnth set the tray down on Thrukta's desk and he asked, "What did she want?"

Thrukta picked up a towel and dried the boy's head. "Luri is worried about the future. Soon her father will arrange for her to be married. Sit down and eat with me."

Arnth wrapped the towel around his wet shoulders and shivered. "It is a cold rain. Let me stoke the fire in the forge." He went and tended the furnace, adding fuel to the fire.

Thrukta realized that there would be a spring snow storm in the mountains. The copy of Luri who had rushed off into the mountains had been wearing what looked like clothing composed of nanites. Apparently the Fru'wu had sent Luri back to Earth with knowledge of her future and equipped to survive, but he could not prevent himself from worrying about a youngster going into the mountains alone in a storm.

Arnth returned to Thrukta's desk and they began to eat. After a while he said, "Tell me a story, Thrukta."

Thrukta lit the candle that was on his desk and said, "Very well. This is the story of Vanth and how she became immortal."

Arnth complained, "Ug, I've heard this before."

Thrukta laughed. "Quite! Hush! Listen...I will tell the story as it has never been told before." He  poured himself a second cup of warm tea from the pot that Arnth had brought. "The story begins with a pot of tea, just like this, but holding the Augraxum brew of the North Tribes. For two days Vanth ate nothing and drank the Augraxum tea. She was in the mountain hut of Dulle, the Old Man of the Mountain. Finally Dulle said: Out! And Vanth was thrust out into the cold..."

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Dulle's hut.

Editor's note. Anney's Chapter 8 continues for several more pages and gives Thrukta's account of Vanth's immortality. Chapter 9 is a parallel account of how Luri (or the copy of Luri) went into the mountains and activated the immortality program of her nanite endosymbiont. Chapter 10 is a rather long dreary chapter that explains the political background of Luri's arranged marriage. Then there is a set of chapters about Luri's last few years on Earth with Thrukta, a time during which she refused to tell him what had become of her immortalized copy and she also refused to reveal when she would be ready to depart from Earth.

In the fall, three years after Luri's copy went into the mountains, Luri followed. Traveling with a party of a dozen members, she set off to the north, on the way to her wedding. Two days later a member of the party returned and gave an account of how they had been caught in an early snow storm and how Luri had refused to turn back.

When the storm had swept in, Thrukta had gone to the teleportation chamber and pushed aside the platform. He pulled up the teleportation device and packed it along with supplies into a backpack. He set off into the mountains. Thrukta followed the trail to the north and when the storm passed he had little trouble finding Luri, surrounded by the dead bodies of those who had continued on with her to the north. She was wearing the nanite clothing that she had brought back from Klyz. Her body was cold, but she was alive. She croaked through frost-bitten lips, "I knew you would come for me."

Thrukta unpacked the teleporter and pulled Luri up onto her feet. She swayed against him, balanced weakly on her frozen feet. Luri muttered, "I won't end up in that museum." An instant later they were teleported from Earth to distant world Klyz in the Galactic Core.
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