Cryptesthesiology

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Earlier this year I wrote a short story (The Asimov Reality) about the life of Isaac Asimov in another Reality. In that imagined alternate life, Asimov went to medical school and then worked as a molecular biologist. I could not resist including the idea that Asimov had professional interactions with other scientists such as Francis Crick.

In addition to being a prolific author, the Isaac Asimov of our Reality corresponded with thousands of people. Some of the famous people (including Crick) from the previous millennium who exchanged snail mail with Asimov are listed here.

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Implications
I previously imagined a collaboration between Jack Vance and Asimov that took place in Deep Time, in the Reality before the world as we know it came into existence.

I've long been amused that Jack Vance seemingly wrote himself (or possibly his descendant) into one of his novels. Jan Holberk Vaenz LXII, appears as the author of Preface to Men of the Oikumene (at the start of Chapter 6 in Star King). What if Vance himself, or his replicoid, lived into the far future?

Similarly, I've previously imagined that that Asimov's replicoid was present in the future of the Ekcolir Reality and helped craft a biological solution to the problem of global warming. But why not follow Asimov's replicoid even further into the future?

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Deep Time
I imagine that Asimov's Foundation existed in the Foundation Reality. Similar, Vance's Oikumene described the future of Earth in a previous Reality (what I call the Asimov Reality).

I've been slow to acknowledge the implications of all this temporal monkey business and the fact that both Vance and Asimov were "copied" over into artificial life forms that are potentially immortal.

I'm currently developing a bit of fan fiction (The League of Yrinna), a sequel to Trullion. Today I realized that I could use the replicoids of Asimov and Vance as characters in my new story.

In the Asimov Reality
The League of Yrinna takes place in the Asimov Reality, a Reality that came before the world as we know it. In the Ekcolir Reality, Asimov and Vance played important roles in creating the science fiction genre. In that Reality, information about the secret history of Humanity, and events from the far future of the Asimov Reality, were "leaked" to the people of Earth in the form of science fiction stories.

Time travel was heavily used on Earth in both the Asimov Reality and the Ekcolir Reality. Earth was the epicenter of the Time Travel War. Many of the science fiction stories of the 20th century were inspired by the far future of Earth in Deep Time. In the Foundation Reality, Asimov met a group of time travelers from the future and he was the recipient of information about the future of Humanity in that Reality. In the case of Vance, his replicoid had access to the Hierion Domain. Vance did not have just a single analogue in the Ekcolir Reality; instead, Vance was born as twins. The Vance replicoid was in contact with "Jack" Vance and the stories told by "Jack" were a stimulus and an inspiration for brother John. "Jack" Vance was apparently in contact with the Vance replicoid by way of the Bimanoid Interface.

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According to Gohrlay, there was no need for time travel by the Vance replicoid in order for "him" to obtain information about the future of the galactic civilization that developed when Humanity spread among the stars in the Asimov Reality.

Alastor Cluster
Here in the Buld Reality, Jack Vance wrote three novels about Alastor Cluster. According to Gohrlay, that cluster was known by a different name in the Ekcolir Reality and earlier Realities. For some reason, Gohrlay refuses to tell me the "true" original name of that star cluster. I am forced to conclude that I know "Alastor Cluster" by another name and there is a reason why I am not permitted to know the true location of "Alastor Cluster".

Origins of the Pharazen, the Fru'wu and the human species.

Gohrlay has confirmed that Alastor Cluster was the home of the Pharazen. However, there is something sensitive about the origins of the Bumpha and the Pharazen.

I'm now imagining a mystery component to The League of Yrinna that involves the replicoids of Vance and Asimov. By the time when Glinnes and Duissane are born on the planet Trullion, the replicoids of Vance and Asimov had already spent thousands of years developing their science of cryptesthesiology.

Their research in the field of cryptesthesiology is kept secret because they have learned that some mysterious force is acting to limit technological advance and scientific investigations within the Gaean Reach.

Cryptesthesiology by Ivan Jackie

The focus of their studies is now the mysterious Pharazen, a type of extinct humanoid known only from the ruins that remain on a few worlds in Alastor Cluster. Those mysterious ruins indicate the past existence of a mighty space-faring civilization that thrived before the human species came into existence.

Cryptesthesiology
In the 20th century of the Ekcolir Reality, Vance and Asimov collaborated to write a science fiction novel called Cryptesthesiology. They published the book using the pen name "Ivan Jackie", but made no secret of their collaboration on the story.

That story described the origin of the science of cryptesthesiology, the study of how some humans and members of some other alien species were able to access information by using the Bimanoid Interface.

Cryptesthesiology was a first contact story, exploring the origins and motivations of the alien Fru'wu.

Next: Syfy's adaptation of Childhood's End.

or

Alternate track: more about the ancient Pharazen

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