tryp'haven

Special thanks to Holly Denton
and Jessica Truscott for the image Holly 6.
Image credits.

Last summer I became aware of the idea that tryp'At genes had been smuggled into the human population of Earth. More recently, Rylla has been making use of her telepathic link into Observer Base to obtain a detailed account of how a tryp'At was constructed on Earth. Apparently a copy of Grean (known as Zal) gave birth to a tryp'At in Bremen Germany in the year 1896.

Making tryp'At
Apparently all Kac'hin come equipped with a zeptite endosymbiont that can craft a new genome in the pattern that is characteristic of a tryp'At. What is a tryp'At? Most importantly, a tryp'At can 1) use the Bimanoid Interface for technology-assisted telepathy and 2) a tryp'At is nearly indistinguishable from typical Earthlings, so under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, tryp'At can remain on Earth.

On the day when my son and Nora arrived, we had dinner in Sedona and then stayed for the night in cabins along Oak Creek. I stayed up into the small hours of that night trying to finish reading Rylla's account of how Zal had traveled to 1895 and altered the historical timeline of Earth.

___________

When Zal arrived at the home of Henry Crandel, she discovered that although Henry had never married, he was not alone in his house just across the line in San Mateo county. She was introduced to Juanita, a woman who had met Henry during the time when they had both worked at the Palace Hotel. Seemingly attracted like two powerful magnets, Juanita and Henry had quickly fallen in love and become inseparable. For the past decade they had lived together and built a new home among the northern hills of San Mateo county, close enough for Henry to commute to work along the electric train line through the south end of San Francisco. Many years previously, Juanita had terminated her employment at the hotel. Now she spent most of her time tending the elaborate gardens that she and Henry had constructed around their home.

As Henry led Zal through the front door, Juanita stepped close to him and they threw their arms around each other. Henry introduced Zal as "the amazing Miss Green" and said to Zal, "This is my partner, Juanita."

Juanita told Zal, "Henry has done nothing but talk about you all week, and I can see that he did not exaggerate when he described you as la chica joven con una apariencia exótica. You almost don't look real. May I touch your gorgeous hair?"

Zal shrugged and Juanita first touched her hair then Zal's cheek. She exclaimed, "Tan suave! Estoy celoso."

Henry laughed and put an arm around Juanita's shoulders. "I think you'll come to like Miss Green, my love. She's not just a pretty face. I can't decide if she's a trained actress or a scientist... or both. Jauna, why don't you show Zal to her room?"

Juanita said to Henry, "Como mi primo Zan, la bruja azteca."

He replied, "Ella entiende el español, así que no seas grosera." He continued in English, "I'll put dinner on the table." Henry moved on past Juanita towards the kitchen. "It smells like you made your red hot chile con carne. Zal, I hope you enjoy spicy food!"

Juanita led Zal down a hallway to the guest room. "Your name is really Zal? You remind me of my cousin Zan, who is half Aztec. I call her a witch because she has learned to make medicines from the plants of Mexico. Henry sometimes calls me a witch, but all I do with plants is help them grow and provide our food."

Zal placed her travel bag in the large walk-in closet of the bedroom. "Your family is from Mexico?"

"My parents moved to California back when it was still a part of Mexico. I grew up on our rancho and learned to care for the gardens and orchards. Now I also take care of Henry."

Zal told Juanita, "Henry has taken good care of me since I arrived in San Francisco. However, I can't understand why he did not tell me anything about you."

Juanita laughed. "I can guess. He had me put silk sheets on this bed." She turned down part of the bedspread and showed the satin to Zal. "The way he has been talking about you I assume that he had already ravished you in your suite at the Palace."

"No, Henry is affectionate, but he has always behaved like a gentleman towards me."

"Si, that is my Henry. With all the people he meets at the hotel, I sometimes get jealous, but he's never mixed business with pleasure in his work." Juanita winked at Zal and added, "Except with me. And as soon as he found that he could not resist my charms he made me stop working."

Zal asked, "Why did you two never marry?"

Juanita shrugged, "There are family problems. Henry's father would not want his son marrying a latina."

"I'm so sorry."

"Really it is no problem. I know that Henry loves me. Why do we need to be married? And besides, he refuses to have anything to do with the Catholic church. If we did get married, I'd force him to convert and he'd be unhappy. It is easier for us to just live together and ignore the rest of the world. We are happy and that is what really matters, am I right?"

"Absolutely."

They returned down the hallway to the dining room and soon they were eating dinner and drinking a wine that Henry and Juanita had made. During the meal, Henry was trying to convince Juanita to visit the observatory, but she was not interested. She reminded Henry, "I'm in the middle of expanding the almond grove. I'd rather get that job done than gaze at stars." She nodded towards Zal, "You two go to the observatory and enjoy yourselves."

Henry told Zal, "Juanita has a green thumb. She can grow anything."

Juanita nodded, "With our deep wells and the electric pumps we have an endless supply of water. With water I can grow anything in this soil."

Ekcolir

For the past few days, Zal had been trying to think of a way to tell Henry that she was going to have their baby. Now, watching Henry and Juanita chatting away like a long-married couple, she felt it would be wiser to simply steal his genes and head for Europe. The mystery of why Zal had been sent to San Francisco was now completely explained. Juanita provided the last piece of the puzzle. Zal could sense that Juanita carried special Ek'col-derived gene combinations. And now it was easy for Zal to fall into a new way to interpret the affection that Henry had lavished on her during the past week. She realized that Henry probably though of her more like a daughter than a young lover. All that remained was for Zal to find the best way to gather the genes that she would need to construct her child.

Henry wanted to leave at dawn for the observatory, so he and Juanita retired immediately after dinner. Zal sat in her room, reading a copy of the novel Ramona that she found there on a book shelf.

In the middle of the night, Juanita glanced out the window across the inner court yard and noticed light in Zal's room. She got out of bed and went to Zal's room. Juanita stuck her head through the doorway and asked, "You are still awake?"

Zal was in bed reading with a candle burning on each of the two tables to either side of the bed. She held up the book. "I've been reading. I guess I'm not really tired."

Juanita came into the room and closed the door behind her. She sat on the bed and said, "Henry tells me that you are soon to depart for Europe."

"That is true. I'm going to travel around the world, but my destination is Europe. Of course, I will eventually return to America."

Juanita asked, "Do you have family in Europe who you want to visit?"

Zal shook her head. The night had cooled off and Juanita was lightly dressed. Zal pulled open the bed covers and Juanita slid into the bed along side Zal. Zal set down the book and the two women laid close together on their sides. "I suppose I have distant relatives in Europe, but that is not of interest to me."

Juanita again reached out and touched Zal's hair. "It is not a wig? I imagine you must have relatives among the Vikings."

Asterothropes: the females
are larger than
the hermaphrodites.

For a moment Zal wondered why she had been given red hair for this mission on Earth. Juanita seemed infatuated by Zal's hair. That thought and the flash of Juanita's dark eyes in the candle light triggered Zal's infites to release some previously-hidden memories. Zal had previously "remembered" from the future that she would obtain some of Henry's sperm as the source of the Asterothrope genes that she needed in order to craft the genome of her baby, but now she realized that all the germ cells needed to construct a tryp'At baby were available in her bed right then, inside Juanita's body and her own. Zal asked, "Juanita, did you ever try to have children?"

Juanita giggled. "I had three children before I was twenty. How old are you?"

Zal made up a number, "Twenty five."

Juanita explained, "I was already a grandmother by the time I met Henry. At first we tried to be co-workers, but there was burning flame whenever we came near to each other. Soon we stopped trying to behave like co-workers became lovers. For a time I thought that I might become pregnant again, but I never did."

Zal suggested, "Henry has never fathered a child?"

"I believe that is true."

Zal said, "Some men cannot have children."

"Well, it is not for lack of trying. Henry is very affectionate."

"There might be a problem at the molecular level that makes Henry infertile."

Juanita commented, "You do speak like a scientist. Do you know that Henry almost became a doctor?"

"Yes, he told me that he started medical school."

Juanita asked, "Where did you go to school?"

Zal replied, "You might say that I was home schooled. When I was young I learned much about human biology because that is a topic that became something of an obsession with me."

Juanita laughed. "You are still young."

Zal explained, "I lie about my age; I'm not as young as I look."

Juanita sighed. "I'm just glad that Henry is still obsessed with biology, too. He is a creative and gentle lover." She looked at Zal speculatively and asked, "You've never had a man make love to you, have you?"

Zal nodded. "That is true. Of course, when I was a child I developed a healthy interested in my own sex." Zal was tempted to explain that she had been born a hermaphrodite and grew up sharing the joys of physical contact with her fellow hermaphrodites, but Juanita seemed adequately intrigued as it was.

Assuming that there were only two possible sexes, Juanita asked, "You have had female lovers?"

"A few."

"How fascinating. I was taught that a man should marry a woman and anything else is a sin."

Zal shrugged, "Where I grew up, the only sin was not expressing your feelings and not sharing your love."

Juanita moved closer to Zal and put her arm around the girl. Her hand played in the silky hair behind Zal's neck. "Henry told me that you are too good for this world and now I understand what he was trying to tell me. Where are you from?"

"A world far away among the stars."

Juanita laughed. "Un angel del cielo." She leaned close and whispered in Zal's ear, "What do you want with my poor Henry?"

"He has something that I need. You know that Henry is a special man."

"Si! There is nobody else like him."

"I must take what makes him special with me when I go to Europe."

Juanita reacted with shock and hurt. "You are taking Henry away from me?"

"No, not Henry. Just a part of him. I must take Henry's child to Europe."

"I can understand if you have fallen in love with Henry, but I don't want to share him with you."

"Juanita, I don't need Henry; you have what I need- inside of you. You and Henry need do nothing more, but I do want to show you my gratitude. I can give you a child of your own, the child that you wanted to have with Henry."

Juanita giggled. "How will you perform this miracle?"

"You don't need to know. In fact, you will remember nothing about what I have told you tonight. Just tell me the truth: do you want to give birth to Henry's child?"

"You can make this happen?"

"Yes, I can."

"You are a witch. Henry and I would treasure such a gift."

There was one more question that Zal had to ask. She already knew the answer: it was in her memories from the future. "Do you want a boy or a girl?"

Without hesitation Juanita replied, "A boy"

Zal knew that the baby boy would have the same fertility issue that Henry had: an incompatibility between his Asterothrope-derived sperm receptor proteins and the proteins that waited on the surface of the eggs produced by the women of Earth. Zal sent a swarm of nanites into Juanita and she said softly, "Sleep, now."

in the Buld Realty

Soon Juanita was asleep. Zal harvested Henry's DNA which contained a collection of Asterothrope genes that had originated from Trysta. Through the millennia, those genes had been shifted and adapted so as to mesh with the genomes of many generations of Earthlings. Zal could tell that Juanita was a source of Ek'col genes that had originated with Ekcolir's mission on Earth some 20,000 years previously. Beyond that fact, Zal knew none of the genetic details by which her child would be crafted from a mixture of human, Kac'hin, Asterothrope and Ek'col genes. Zal was vaguely aware that during the next day, one of Juanita's ovaries would be pushed into action in order to prepare her uterus for the arrival of an embryo.

Next: Zal in Europe

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