Fanciful movie poster (source) |
I've adopted Asimov's concept of a momentum of Time for use in my own Exodemic Fictional Universe. I imagine that R. Gohrlay and "her" tribe of positronic robots created an inertial amplifier for Earth. The basic idea is that the momentum of time is a natural phenomenon arising from the existence of the Sedronic Domain. In some sense, "an echo" of every Reality exists within the Sedronic Domain and that "echo" constrains the shape of any new Reality that is brought into existence.
The End of Eternity |
In The End of Eternity, Asimov forces readers to consider the possibility that one tiny "chance" event might completely derail the flow of time. The particular example of a small chance event that was used by Asimov was as simple as Twissell's decision whether or not to ride upwhen in the time kettle with Harlan to find Noÿs. Here is how Noÿs herself describes it:
Our Reality Chain |
For the Exode Trilogy, I like to imagine that R. Gohrlay carefully designed the Mallansohn Reality so that Noÿs could quickly terminate it and put an end to Eternity (the time travel "device" on Earth) and bring into existence the Foundation Reality.
When Asimov first introduces us to Noÿs she is in the role of a note-taking secretary for Computer Finge, director of the section of Eternity devoted to the 482nd century. Noÿs appears 40 pages into the novel, after Asimov has explained that Eternity is male-dominated. The Eternity time travel "device" exists in a kind of parallel universe that is outside of the normal flow of Time on Earth. Almost everyone who lives and works in Eternity is male because, for some reason not ever explained by Asimov, extracting women from the timeline of Earth is usually too disruptive.
So when Harlan lays his eyes on Noÿs, they are rather hungry eyes, simply due to the paucity of females within Eternity. However, Asimov provides some extra spice to this already provocative situation. Harlan is from the 95th century, a point in Earth's long history where women are expected to be loyal wives and good mothers. In contrast, the 482nd century is one in which women lead independent lives with no expectation that they be part of a family as devoted moms. In fact, Noÿs is depicted as a recent arrival in Eternity from the 482nd century, where she lived alone as a single woman and where the custom was that men and women routinely have casual sexual relationships, purely for pleasure. If a woman wants to be a mother, she can simply pass an egg cell on to the local Ovarium and have a baby manufactured for her.
Thus, when Harlan first lays his eyes on Noÿs, he is stunned. She is dressed as a woman of the 482nd century, "which meant transparent sheathing above the waste and flimsy, knee-length trousers below that hinted delicately at gluteal curves." Harlan can't keep his eyes off of her.
The End of Eternity |
source |
What Harlan does not realize until the end of the novel is that Noÿs is not really a woman from the 482nd century. She is a secret agent from 10,000,000 years in the future who has been sent back through time on a mission that is designed to destroy Eternity and remove time travel technology from Earth. At the end of the book, Noÿs explains to Harlan that the mere existence of Eternity is bad for Humanity, leading to a future in which humans never travel to the stars and the human species eventually dies out on Earth.
Asterothrope hermaphrodite (left) and Asterothrope female (right). |
Role Reversal
In Western literature, there is a long history of stories about fringe societies where men are excluded and women play all roles including that of warrior (see Amazons). For the Exode Trilogy, I imagine that Noÿs was actually not a human being. By 10,000,000 years in the future, R. Gohrlay had brought into existence another type of primate: the Asterothrope. Biologically, the Asterothropes were either females or hermaphrodites. The structure of Asterothrope society and the details of their reproductive biology are only hinted at in the Exode Trilogy, but the basic idea is that the Asterothropes were designed to allow for rapid population growth on newly colonized worlds.
In the Exodemic Fictional Universe, the Huaoshy long ago evolved from biological organisms, but then they re-engineered themselves as artificial life forms. The pek were programmed and sent out into the universe on a mission to find planets like Earth and preserve them as "garden worlds". The pek are always watching and waiting for the development of technologically advances creatures like we humans. In the Exode Trilogy, the human species was almost driven to extinction and replaced by an hermaphroditic primate variant (Prelands) that was designed, crafted and planted on Earth by the pek.
Grean the hermaphroditic Kac'hin. |
In Exode, Parthney lives among the hermaphroditic Buld on the planet Hemmal in the Galactic Core. Later, his grandson, Izhiun, grows up on the planet Luk'ru in the Andromeda galaxy. The residents of Luk'ru are descendants of the Kac'hin. In the Exode Trilogy, the Kac'hin were originally created for a special purpose and then they end up playing three different important roles in the story:
Lili the Kac'hin on Earth. |
2) The Kac'hin (particularly Grean) are used as a special tool by the Huaoshy to make possible an end to R. Gohrlay's positronic robot insurrection on Earth.
3) The prototypical Kac'hin, Kach, is used as the means to provide Earthlings with an understanding of Genesaunt civilization.
Both Lili and Kach are Kac'hin females. Grean is a Kac'hin hermaphrodite. Anatomically, the Kac'hin females and hermaphrodites are difficult to distinguish based on their external physical features. Upon casual inspection, both the Kac'hin females and the hermaphrodites are similar physically to human females. However, both the Kac'hin females and the hermaphrodites have no external genitalia, only an anatomically simple genital groove.
Grean (source) |
The Kac'hin do not have an alimentary canal that connects from the mouth to the anus. The Kac'hin are dependent on "feeding nanites" that shuttle nutrient molecules into their crop and remove waste molecules from the Kac'hin body. Instead of an anus, the Kac'hin have a second vaginal canal. In Kac'hin females, both Kac'hin vaginas provide access to the uterus and two Fallopian tubes.
Artist's depiction of a resident of Luk'ru. |
The people of Luk'ru reproduce in the absence of any advanced technologies being available to support in vitro fertilization, but as long-lived individuals who are kept healthy by "medical nanites", babies are very rare and the population of planet Luk'ru is in no danger of exploding.
Trysta: artist's depiction #1. |
Trysta: artist's depiction #2 (source). |
Even Thomas, Trysta's son, was uncertain about his mother's true appearance since she used facial nanites to alter her appearance. Over the past few years, I have used several different human models to depict Trysta in illustrations; none of these should be taken as providing a true representation of her physical features.
Most recently, I have been getting Gohrlay's perspective on many puzzling questions that remain concerning the secret history of Earth. Gohrlay refuses to comment on the question of her own true physical form and the extent to which she uses nanites to disguise herself. I get the feeling that Gohrlay long ago lost interest in mundane matters such as physical appearances.
The Man |
I've previously described some of the differences between the science fiction genre in our universe and in the Ekcolir Reality. Gohrlay claims that an extensive effort was made in the Ekcolir Reality to inform the people of Earth about the important role played by hermaphrodites in Genesaunt Civilization in general and the secret history of Earth in particular.
Tryst and Ekcolir |
According to Gohrlay, in order to quickly "produce" a large number of science fiction authors who could be influenced in their writing by way of the Bimanoid Interface, Grean used a virus to spread special "hermaphroditic gene combinations" through the human population of Earth.
microChance
1972 cover art by Dean Ellis. |
HIV has played a special role in shaping events as told in Trysta and Ekcolir and Exode.
According to Gohrlay, the 1918 influenza epidemic is the "analogue" in our Reality of a "trick" that Grean used to "amplify science fiction" in an Earlier Reality. If I understand this correctly, Grean used a genetically engineered orthomyxovirus to insert a special "hermaphroditic gene combination" into the human population of Earth. The result? Many science fiction authors became "susceptible" to having their story writing be guided by replicoids in the Hierion Domain.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
I don't think I've read anything that was written by David McIlwain. He published science fiction novels such as Alph, writing under the name Charles Eric Maine. According to Gohrlay, in the Ekcolir Reality there was an series of novels by McIlwain that quite accurately described the Kac'hin and, particularly, their ability to efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface. These stories were all set in the Galactic Core and extensively documented Kac'hin culture in which there were originally no males, but then a project developed with the objective being to create a man named Ekcolir.
original cover art by Reina Mary Sington |
original cover art by Reina Mary Sington |
According to Gohrlay, a member of my own family died in the 1918 flu epidemic. Sadly, she refuses to tell me how that led to my being "inserted" into the Final Reality and positioned as the Editor.
Next: more science fiction novels from Deep Time.
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers |
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