The Apostle

a religious relic from the game Civ VI

This blog page has Part 2 of the science fiction story Old Time Gaming (Part 1). My story (Old Time Gaming) was inspired by the computer game Civilization VI, particularly the Outback Tycoon scenario. I've long been writing stories about Rylla (example), who grew up in Australia, so it seemed a natural step to write a new story about Rylla's adventures in the 1800s.

Old Time Gaming is a time travel story, but it is not as simple as sending Rylla from the 21st century to the 19th century. Time travel was no longer possible by the time when that copy of Rylla was born. However, the Rylla of the 21st century is a "copy" of a woman who lived in Australia during the 1800s. There are many types of "copies" in the Exode Saga. I have yet to explain the origins of the "original" Rylla or the details of how she was "copied". However, she was trained as an Interventionist agent for a mission in Australia...

discovery of anti-gravity hierions

It was Rylla's job in the 1800s to create the conditions that would eventually lead to the discovery of hierions. However, Rylla died while still working to complete that task. Hers was a rather gruesome death in the Australian desert and we need not dwell on that minor tragedy. Luckily, her mind could be saved and re-instantiated in an artificial body that was less susceptible to the harsh environmental conditions of the Outback.

Part 2 of Old Time Gaming begins with an account of how Rylla first met Many Sails. Rylla is sent on a new mission and she becomes the apprentice of a time traveler, who in the future becomes known as the Editor. Having lived as an artificial life-form on Earth for 6,000 years, he is able to use his vast experience as an Interventionist to help Rylla with her mission.

_______________

Part 2 of Old Time Gaming

artificial life: composed of femtobots

After her death, Rylla regained consciousness in a dim room. She was laying on a soft bed and felt completely healthy. There were no lingering effects of having endured two days in the desert without food and water. She sat up, turned her head and saw Manny. "Who are you?"

Manny giggled and replied, "I'm your guardian angel. You can thank me for bringing you back from death." Manny gently touched Rylla and guided her off of the bed and into standing position.

The room lights became brighter and Rylla saw that Manny was a very pretty girl and much younger than... Rylla looked down at her own body and saw that she had been returned to her youth. Her last memories were of being stranded in the desert after the death of her camel. She was 47 years old at the time of her death, but now her body was sleek and strong. Manny was telepathically linked to Rylla, a fact which she did not care to make apparent. Sensing Rylla's amazement at the form of her body, Manny explained, "Don't be startled, my dear, I've placed you into your 20-year-old body."

Rylla looked wonderingly at Manny and asked, "I'm a teleportation duplicate?" She touched her two lower nipples, amazed to discover that they had been restored to her and now crowned two small, cute breasts that she had never known in her biological body.

"No, I decided that you are too tough on yourself, so I've placed you in an artificial body... one that you'll find more difficult to kill." Manny had been watching Rylla for many years and it was exhilarating to now be so close to her sexy body, but she exerted her will power and suppressed her fiery sexual desires. Manny casually waved her hand and clothing nanites quickly assembled themselves so as to clothe Rylla's body. "Now, let's get down to the business of finding a new strategy that is suitable for your next mission on Earth."

teleportation

Rylla looked at her clothing, which resembled the kind of functional pant suit that she had often worn during her training for a mission on Earth, except this suit was lacy and frilly and looked like an exotic nightgown. And these futuristic clothes were certainly not appropriate for Australia in the 1800s. "Who are you?" She complained, "I hope you are not expecting me to take these clothing nanites to Earth." Rylla had been carefully indoctrinated with the idea that she could carry no clues as to her off-world origins while working as an Interventionist agent on Earth.

Manny let her eyes move up and down the contours of Rylla's slim and graceful body. Manny tried to decide if Rylla looked more enticing naked or dressed in this fabulous gown, which had been carefully designed just for her and was carefully crafted to accentuate all four of Rylla's breasts. After helping to evolve Earth's apes across a span of tens of millions of years and helping to bring humans into existence, Manny was thoroughly enjoying this opportunity to take on the form of an Earthling and she liked to gaze upon the sexy bodies of humans who she viewed as all being her children. "Well, the rules have shifted now. Your entire body is composed of femtobot components, so what difference do a few additional clothing nanites make?" She smiled at Rylla and altered some of the networks in Rylla's brain, making the girl stop worrying about the possibility of being detected as an Interventionist agent during her next mission on Earth. 

Manny did not want to talk about herself. "As for my identity, the less you know the better. I'll say this: the tryp'At seem satisfied with the outcome of your previous mission on Earth. Your 25 years in Australia led to conditions that allowed them to slip another agent into the timeline at a critical point in the future." Manny activated a projected image that blossomed beside the two women. Pointing at a detail in the image, Manny said, "This is the year 1956, with that tryp'At agent at work in Perth. Success, for the tryp'At, but I'm not satisfied. I've given you a second life in a new, artificial body, because I'm concerned with another event, even further into the future." Many brushed away the images of 1956. "I need your help with that and I've found a new mission that is exactly suited for you, given your past experience in Australia."

Rylla raised a hand to her face. Her skin felt normal. Everything she was experiencing felt like she was in her strong, 20-year-old biological body. "But I feel perfectly normal. I can't even tell that this is a replicoid body."

replicoids

Manny shrugged. "You are not technically a replicoid... I've made some modifications to the replicoid design as crafted by Nyrtia. For example, you can instantly teleport yourself back here if you find yourself in a dangerous situation during your mission. And, of course, you can now change the shape of your body in any way that is convenient. With time, you'll begin to appreciate the features of your new body. Go ahead, try morphing your shape."

Rylla thought about what types of changes she might make to the structure of her body. She thought about how her breasts had grown bigger during her time in Australia while nursing her child. Rylla did not know the special role that telepathy now played in allowing her to control the femtobot components of her body, but simply be thinking about larger breasts, the femtobot components of her body quickly began to assemble into new configurations. Now her upper breasts enlarged and pushed out against the clothing nanites which shifted to make room for her rather saggy mommy breasts. At the same time, Rylla made her two lower breasts disappear. Manny said, "You also have conscious control of these clothing nanites." 

Rylla telepathically took control of the clothing nanites and used them to push her breasts upwards into two biologically impossible ellipsoids of perkiness. She giggled and taking a breast in each hand, jiggled them. "Oh my, this is fantastic. I'll be able to turn a few heads with these breasts."

Manny suggested, "If you want my advice, don't over-do the sex symbols. You'll find yourself with far too much attention from male admirers and even some hostility from the biological women of Australia who would be astounded by your slim hips and those artificially enlarged breasts. Really, you are sufficiently beautiful without jiggly fat deposits. Of course, this is a matter of aesthetic judgement, but..." Manny ran a hand over her own breast and asked, "Don't you think these are the perfect size?"

Rylla stopped playing with her breasts and reached out to touch Manny's chest and her cute breasts. Rylla was feeling a strong sexual attraction to Manny, which Manny was promoting through her telepathic linkage to Rylla's mind. While enjoying the feel of Manny's stiff nipples where the jutted out against her blouse, Rylla asked, "Who are you and what makes you think you can make use of me for your Interventionist mission?" 

zeptites

Manny allowed Rylla a minute during which Rylla was free to touch and feel Manny's body. While enjoying the delicate touches of Rylla's fingers, Manny turned off her own clothing nanites and stood naked beside Rylla, showing off every detail of her own lovely body. "Go ahead, explore my body. I believe you will find my skin to be perfectly human in appearance. My body is just as artificial as yours, but in my case... well, I'm composed of an alternative type of nanotechnology: zeptites."

During her training, Rylla had learned about nanites, but she'd never heard of zeptites. Strangely, Rylla now noticed that memories of exactly what zeptites were existed in her mind. Manny seemed perfectly human in appearance, her skin felt unusually soft and smooth, but within human norms. However, Manny's hair seemed strangely non-human. Rylla could not resist running her fingers through Manny's gorgeous hair. "You are an alien? A Huaoshy?"

Manny giggled and replied, "I'm no Huaoshy!" Rylla lifted both hands to play with Manny's hair and Manny took the opportunity to reach out and caress Rylla's prominent breasts. "Yes, I'm an alien visitor to Earth: I'm bumpha. The Huaoshy leave frontier matters to we bumpha and the pek. However, it was the Huaoshy who mastered sedron technology and devised zeptites as their technologically superior form of nanite technology." 

By putting more of her own zeptites into Rylla's body, Manny now suppressed Rylla's natural curiosity about aliens and locked in her acceptance of the idea that Rylla would soon be returning to Earth on a new mission. Making use of her advanced nanite technology, Manny could effortlessly control Rylla's memories and thought patterns. Manny explained, "My hair is my one vanity. Each strand begins as a perfectly normal human hair shaft but then branches repeatedly, ending in thousands of microscopic tendrils. Even my pubic hair is extra silky. I love this cosmetic effect so much that I allow myself to depart from human form in this small way. I'll teach you how to use your nanites in this way if you like."

"Don't tempt me!" Rylla shook her head. "I need to control my impulses. I must blend in with the human population of Earth and not take on alien appearance." With just a small amount of prodding from Manny, Rylla was growing quite sexually aroused by Manny's beautiful body. Rylla allowed the artificial fabric of her gown to become transparent. "I sense that you like these breasts, don't you Manny?"

gift of the bumpha: time travel

"They are very pretty and I'm sure I could have lots of fun playing with them, but please don't distract me from our work... we'll have time for sexplay on other occasions... long rainy nights with nothing to do but listen to the booming thunder and make love..." Manny gently placed a kiss on the tip of each of Rylla's breasts and allowed her own clothing nanites to again conceal her body. Almost as an afterthought, Manny told Rylla, "Don't be startled if you find other Australians who have four nipples. I've taken pains to create a high concentration of Asterothrope genes in Australia." Manny then gave a brisk summary of why Rylla's past mission on Earth had failed to completely satisfy the bumpha. 

"As far as I'm concerned, your previous mission was a failure for two reasons. Not only did you die young, but the changes you created in Australia did not have the desired effect that we bumpha were hoping for when we allowed the tryp'At to send you back in time. Your success in triggering a western Australia gold rush brought wealth to Perth. That led to changes in the historical timeline that satisfied the tryp'At, but failed to achieve the acceleration of higher education and scientific research in Perth that we bumpha are trying to achieve. Sadly, easy money reduces the motivation that humans have to make scientific discoveries and create new technologies."

Rylla had allowed her breasts to return to normal size and she tried to ignore Manny's beautiful hair and stop thinking about the luxurious alien nature of Manny's pubic hair. Rylla was rather amazed by the strong sexual attraction that she was feeling towards Manny and was quite certain that Manny was also struggling to resist taking the opportunity to ravish Rylla. Feeling a powerful compulsion stronger than her sexual urges, Rylla knew that it was important that she focus her attention on the looming challenes of her new mission.

Rylla thought for a minute about how to shape and alter the course of development of a human society. She suggested, "When I return to Earth, I could push the development of one particular scientific idea. For example, I got to see scurvy during my first mission in Australia. I could make Perth an exciting center for nutrition research. It would not be very hard to grow vitamin C rich citrus in Australia and provide vitamin C to the Royal Navy and the whole world."

Manny nodded. "Yes, that plan appeals to your idealism, but think of the challenges you would face. Earthlings... that is, a few scientists... have known since the 1700s that regular consumption of citrus will prevent scurvy, but that knowledge did not put an end to scurvy. Given the primitive technological status of Earth, that scientific knowledge could not be effectively applied. Sadly, vitamin C only becomes a manufactured commodity, convenient for mass distribution, in the 1900s."

Rylla was familiar with Earth's historical timeline well into 20th century, but she had been trained to carry out a mission on Earth that would alter the course of history. She protested, "Yes, but I could change that! With a few hints from me, I bet we could produce ascorbic acid pills in Australia during the 1800s. And after just one such medically important success like that, I suspect it would trigger the acceleration of all the sciences and under my guidance there would be sustained and general advancement of technology in Perth."

the many uses of uranium

Manny sighed. "Slow down, girl." Manny could see into the future and was aware of everything that could go wrong with Rylla's plan. "We must be careful. Your plan, implemented in a naive way, would lead to the discovery of uranium ore in Australia in 1863 and the development of nuclear bombs by the British in 1933." Many waved a hand and showed Rylla images of a nuclear attack on Berlin. "We want carefully controlled technological advance. In particular, we need to create a path towards using scientific knowledge of nuclear decay not for bombs, but for dating geological deposits."

Rylla laughed. "What is so important about dating rocks?"

"It will lead to the search for ancient forms of life." Manny shifted the images that she was showing to Rylla from the ghastly destruction of Berlin to images of microscopic life-forms. "The pek have been guiding the evolution of life on Earth for over two billion years. While doing their work on planets, sometimes the pek get caught in a natural disaster. To make a long story short, in Australia, near Perth, there is a particular ancient artifact, a remnant of pek technology, that is waiting, buried in the ground, available to be found by scientific investigators. I need you to alter Earth's timeline and allow that discovery to be made at just the right moment, under conditions that will allow recognition of the fact that the alien artifact contains anti-gravity particles: hierions."

Rylla was stunned. "You intend to hand-over hierion technology to Earthling?"

"No, not really. But early knowledge that hierions exist will have a desirable effect on Earthly civilization. It is only much later that humans will be trusted with hierion-based technology."

whimsical depiction of the pek and the Huaoshy

"But giving humans knowledge of hierions is a violation of the Rules of Intervention!"

Manny winked at Rylla, "It is all in knowing how to violate the Rules. It will appear that a pek error, made billions of years ago, just happened to allow humans to discover the existence of hierions. The pek will get the blame for our little crime."

Rylla suggested, "It seems that for your scheme to work, it is important that I not be caught on Earth during this mission."

"True, and there is going to be one particular -person- in Australia who could cause us no end of trouble... Maria Green. However, I'll be watching over you and it will be my responsibility to make sure that Maria does not derail our plans. You take care of the Earthlings and I'll deal with the meddling Nyrtia and her agent in Australia." Manny added, seeming as an after-thought, "Oh, and there will be one other individual of particular importance to your mission. A man."

Smith

Rylla asked suspiciously, "What man?"

"I noticed that you enjoyed being a mother, so I suspect that you are open to the idea of having a male partner in crime during this mission on Earth."

"It depends on the man."

Manny laughed. "Don't be too picky, but I will leave your breeding decisions up to you. Just keep your mind open to the idea, my dear. I know that you prefer making love to women, but when you meet my other agent in Australia you will recognize him... his name... Smith." Manny pointed a finger towards the ceiling. "He sticks out like a sore thumb... obviously not of British extraction. However, he'll be useful to you and the successful completion of your mission." Manny lifted her hand and said, "Now, I'll send you off to Earth and you can-"

Rylla cried out, "Wait! I'm not ready to go. We need to discuss the details of my mission!"

Manny shook her head. "Sorry, but no more talk. I'm satisfied with my preparations... you are ready to go. Have fun!" And with that, the still nervous and uncertain Rylla was teleported back to Australia.

________________

Rylla again found herself in Sydney Australia in 1814, still skeptical of Manny's belief that she was ready for her new mission. This spot on a peer in the harbor was almost exactly the place where and when she had first arrived for the beginning of her previous mission. She looked around, wondering if it might be possible to see the other, biological copy of herself. For a few minutes, Rylla carefully examined both herself and her surroundings, gradually becoming certain that she was being given a chance to re-live the events that she had experienced three decades previously in her subjective timeline of personal experiences. She sighed and felt relieved that at least Manny had shifted Rylla's clothing to a pattern that was compatible with 1814 Australia. She stepped out from behind a bale of wool and walked off the peer, feeling the eyes of two dock hands on her back.

In her first life in Australia, Rylla had quickly established herself as a trusted servant in the home of Dame Laura McKnight, the widow of the Royal Navy's Captain McKnight. Operating out of that secure base, Rylla had been able to share her knowledge of the location of gold deposits in Western Australia and so trigger an early gold rush and accelerated settlement the west coast of the continent. However, now Rylla was in an artificial body that could take on any convenient form. She remembered how ten days after her arrival in Sydney, Dame Laura's daughter, Sophie, had died from smallpox. Rylla went directly to Parramatta where Sophie lived in a fine house beside the small school where she taught the local children.

Rylla presented herself to Sophie as a nurse, working for Dr. White to make sure that the population was exposed to the smallpox disease through medical inoculation. Sophie knew well the history of how smallpox had killed so many native Australians. Rylla told Sophie about the use of cowpox for vaccination and how that was a superior method of safely protecting people against smallpox infections. Sophie agreed to be vaccinated and Rylla pretended to infect Sophie with cowpox virus. "I'll be back each day for a week to monitor your infection."

Rylla spent as much time as possible near the port, introducing herself to shipping merchants who she knew from her previous mission, and young men who she knew would become important people in maritime trade. 

viewing the future

Two days after Rylla's first visit, Sophie had a fever and Rylla took over Sophie's work in the school and cared for Sophie, confining her to bed. The next day, Rylla met Elizabeth, a maid who came by to clean the school house. Rylla forbade Elizabeth from entering Sophie's cottage. "I don't want you catching this illness."

Elizabeth asked, "What about tending Miss Sophie's garden?" Rylla gave Elizabeth permission to weed and maintain the large vegetable garden behind the cottage.

A week later, when Sophie was in a coma and close to death, Rylla lay down beside the poor girl and wrapped her arms tightly around Sophie's body. Rylla activated her built-in recall function, and she was instantly teleported back to Many Sails, the sentient spaceship that was the base of operations for Manny.

Given her ability to view the future, Manny was expecting Rylla's arrival. She said, "I'll take care of Sophie, however I suggest in the future you not be so sentimental about the deaths of Earthlings. I don't have time to save everyone. However, in this case, I can make use of Sophie and her gardening skills."

Before Rylla could say a word, she was teleported back to Parramatta. She was pleased that she had found a way to save Sophie from death, although she often wondered what kind of life Sophie would now lead as a ward of Manny. 

Rylla adopted the physical form of Sophie and nobody else ever knew that the real Sophie had "died" and been replaced by an imposter. Some of the children in the school noticed changes in their teacher, but Rylla was more easy going than Sophie had been and none of the students complained. Rylla discovered that her nanites not only allowed her to become a perfect physical copy of Sophie, but she could also speak almost exactly as Sophie had spoken, at least in close enough approximation to fool her mother and other family members and friends. 

Elizabeth (Liza)

The only real surprise in Rylla's new life came in the form of Elizabeth, the maid who arrived two days a week to clean the school house and cook some meals for Sophie. Rylla discovered that Sophie and Elizabeth had been maintaining a discrete personal relationship that included rather steamy sex two nights a week. Elizabeth was pleased with the slight adjustments that Rylla had made to Sophie's body form, including perkier breasts that Elizabeth seemed to have a lot of fun playing with. Startled by some of Rylla's new and innovative sexplay techniques, Elizabeth asked if Sophie had dreamed them up while stricken with fever or had read about them in a book. Rylla jokingly mentioned the Kamasutra and Elizabeth said that she was tempted to learn to read if only to enjoy that one book.

Two weeks after Sophie's death, Rylla was walking home from the nearby bakery when she heard the clump-clump-clump of a camel coming down the dry, dusty road behind her. Gawking, she tried to remember the history of camels in Australia and felt certain that there had been no camels in Australia in 1814, at least not in the world as she had known it. That was when Rylla began imagining that she was part of a new historical timeline for Earth, one crafted by Manny's meddling in Earthly affairs.

The man riding the camel saluted Rylla and called out joyously, "There you are!"

Rylla instantly knew that this was the man who Manny had warned her to expect. First of all, he did not speak like an Englishman, but he looked like one. And more importantly, he was looking at Rylla as if he knew Sophie well. Rylla said, "Nice camel."

The man laughed and then he climbed off the beast. Looking up into his face, Rylla saw that he was tall and broad-shouldered youth and she felt an immediate sexual attraction. He reached out and took hold of Rylla's hand, "Manny told me how to find you, but it took me two years to cross two oceans and get here... with the camels in hand. I hope I have not kept you waiting too impatiently for too long."

Rylla handed her bread to the man and took the reigns from him. She began leading the way down the road towards her house and said, "There are two things I want to know. What is your name and why did you bring camels to Australia?"

Rylla disguised as Sophie

The man said, "These are expensive secrets that I'm not at liberty to divulge to the first pretty girl who waves her big... who bats her big eyes at me. In payment, maybe you will allow me a few bites of this loaf. I have not smelled anything this good for weeks... the entire duration of my voyage to Sydney."

Rylla decided that she liked the way he casually looked at her chest from the corners of his eyes. "Go ahead and eat."

He pulled a handful of bread off the end of the loaf, sniffed it carefully and smiled. With his eyes exploring Sophie's pretty face from close at hand, he said, "How nice!" Then he began to nibble the bread and comment on the rather primitive conditions in Parramatta. 

A quarter mile down the road, Rylla repeated her two questions. He said, "I've made use of many names during the past 6,000 years, but you can call me John Smith... that's a good English name, suitable for the occasion."

Rylla nodded, accepting that fictitious name. "Well, John, I was taught that camels were not brought to Australia until several decades later in this century." In fact, she had managed to kill one of the first camels in Australia, but that was an event from the year 1841, still 27 years in their future. Except that this was apparently a whole new timeline for Earth.

"Camels are useful beasts." After one last dainty nibble at the bread, Smith seemed to have lost interest in the food. He let the camel eat the remainder of the bread he had pulled off of the loaf. He turned back to Rylla and asked, "How else do you plan to carry a heavy load through the Outback?"

They approached the school and Rylla pointed towards the two small boys who had been playing beside the building, but who were now running towards the camel. "Two of my students."

One of the boys asked, "Can I have a ride?"

Soon John had both boys up on the camel's back. Before that day's school session could commence, all the children had their turn riding the camel. During the school day, Rylla thought incessantly about John and expended all her will power to stop herself from canceling classes and sending the children home early. She experimented with enlarging her breasts and re-shaping her hair, which amused some of the older boys in the school.

After the end of the school session, Rylla discovered that there was now a small herd of camels grazing in her back yard. Entering her house, she found John at work mending a camel saddle with her best needle. She exploded: "Really? Your camels ate my vegetable garden." Startled by her own outburst, she told herself: well, it was Sophie's needle. She tried to calm down.

Hearing Rylla's rather hysterical shout, John looked up and flexed his fingers. In his mind, he was thinking: the dingo ate my baby. "I've never been very good at fine work like stitching. Maybe you can do this repair better than I can. After all, this is your saddle."

"My saddle? What are you talking about? I've had the great displeasure of riding a camel. I've learned my lesson. From now on, I ride horses." She pointed out the window. "Tell me, how are you going to replace all those fine vegetables?"

gold nugget

John looked out the small window into the yard. "They really enjoyed eating the garden after being cooped up on the ship so long, eating nothing but hay." He turned back to gaze at Rylla. "Forget about the garden. I suggest that we leave town as soon as possible. Manny told me how to find a fine deposit of gold nuggets in a location that is only about a week's ride from here. Once we have that gold then you can buy all the vegetables that you'll ever need."

"I've already played the gold rush game, and it is a losing strategy." Rylla explained, "I'm going to grow this school into Australia's first institution of higher learning, with a fine college of nutrition... the world's first."

John shrugged and said, "I must have misunderstood what Manny told me." If nothing else, he had learned to be flexible during the past 6,000 years. He smiled and said brightly, "I do like the idea of developing a science of nutrition. You can't imagine the dietary horrors and diseases that I've witnessed during the past six millennia. Of course, a rich deposit of gold could fund your science development project."

Rylla laughed. "Are you seriously claiming to be 6,000 years old?"

Hypatia

John nodded. "Sometimes it feels like 20,000. However, I am very glad to have met you, the first modern woman I've known in the long history of Earth. Although... I must say, your beautiful body and seductive big eyes do remind me of Hypatia... I hope you don't meet the kind of bad end that she did."

Under the influence of mind-editing zeptites from Manny, Rylla was feeling a powerful sexual desire for John and now she basked happily in his sweet compliments. "Don't worry about death. I'm tougher than I look. Didn't Manny tell you that I'm not a biological woman?"

He shook his head. "Manny told me very little, but I suspected as much from your magically swelling bust and your big hair. The way you've fancied yourself up, you don't really look like an Earth woman any more. You sorta remind me of Manny..." He reached out and let his fingers run through her pretty hair. "Like you, I'm in an artificial body. How else could I survive for 6,000 years?"

Rylla looked down at her breasts. "I wanted to attract your attention, so I bulked up my breasts. Manny told me that we should work together, as partners."

John stepped close to her and her breasts pressed against his body. Reaching out with both hands, he took hold of her hair and began playing with it. "It looks like you had a session with Manny's hair stylist."

Rylla liked the feel of her erect nipples pressing against his body. She asked, "Do you like my hair this way?"

He nodded. "It is wonderful, so soft. I don't suppose..." He fell silent.

telepathy

"What?"

"Nothing."

Rylla could sense something of his mood and wondered if it was possible for their two artificial brains to link telepathically. Having been trained for her first mission in Australia by positronic robots, she knew a little about telepathy and what it felt like to have a telepathic robot searching through her mind. Suddenly, she could see into his mind and was aware that John was thinking about Manny's hot and hairy vagina. She reached down into his pants and took hold of his stiff penis. Rather startled by the size of his penis, she said, "Now I know why Manny talked about you sticking out like a sore thumb."

"If you can bulk up your breasts, why shouldn't I have some fun... hey!" He had just gotten a glimpse into Rylla's mind. "So, your real name is Rylla, not Sophie..."

She rummaged through his memories and searched far into the past. "You were sent to Earth 6,000 years ago to play the role of Gilgamesh?"

"Yes, I became known as Gilgamesh in Earthly legend."

Rylla knew that she was not going to be able resist pulling him into her bed and she knew that he knew that too. She bent down and kissed the tip of his penis, but could not restrain her curiosity. "Why can't you go get the gold without dragging me along with you into the Outback?"

"I could go by myself, but don't you think you'll have fun coming with me?"

She led him into the bedroom. "Let's find out."

_______

Parramatta (1814)

In the middle of the night, Rylla awoke. She was laying on top of John and his erect penis was still inside her. She had used Manny's trick of making her pubic hair dense and silky and John had seemed to enjoy the feel of her tight hair-fringed vagina. He was still there in her mind. Welcome back from dreamland, lover.

Rylla was not entirely comfortable knowing that he was not only inside her vagina but inside her mind. Rather startled by the concept, speaking out loud she asked, "You think that just because you can give me such wonderful orgasms, I'll follow you anywhere?"

He laughed allowed his penis to vibrate in a most non-biological way. "I can sense that you enjoyed making love to me. Why stay here in Parramatta spending your days with the school children when you can be off on a great adventure with me, and getting regular opportunities to have vaginal sex? I can't believe that Elizabeth's tongue is so..."

"Let's leave her tongue out of this... at least until you've had a chance to experience it for yourself."

"Hmm... if I understand the schedule, she'll be coming by latter today."

"Yes, that's right, and I'm sure I could talk her into giving you a blow job. But that might not be wise. She'd ask for a couple of hours... or a couple of days... to play with your penis and if she discovered what you can do with that magic wand then I'd have to share you with her." The idea of playing with his penis was irresistible and so Rylla exerted a bit of effort and quickly achieved another orgasm. Resting on his chest, she muttered, "Maybe the best plan is to get out of town with you as quickly as possible."

"I'm in no great hurry to go and find the gold. The camels need a week to get fully fed and ready for the trip. So there will be time for me to experience Elizabeth's tongue work. We can have a threesome."

In the end, after much negotiation and repeated demonstration by Rylla that she could provide him with adequate oral stimulation, he agreed not to sexually proposition the maid. After he tried and failed to give Rylla an orgasm by licking her clitoris, she complained, "After 6,000 years you still don't understand how to play with a woman's clit?"

He shrugged and laughed. "I suspect that you need to have a clitoris in order to truly understand it. This is the basis of the eternal popularity of the threesome... one guy and two women. When you grow tired of me stroking you with my penis, you need another lady close at hand to do the detail work on your glans."

Rylla objected, "That's just a lame excuse to get Elizabeth into bed with us. I'm too jealous... I want you and your magical penis all to myself." 

It was Saturday and they finally got out of bed at noon. Rylla started setting out two plates for a meal then she paused and said, "I'm still getting used to having an artificial body. If I understand this correctly, I don't really need to eat or sleep or even breath."

"That is true." John explained, "I never sleep anymore, but it took me centuries to slowly break that habit. Your mind expects sleep, so it is best to not rush to abandon it, particularly since the people around you will expect you to sleep. The same goes for eating and breathing, and I've never lost my ability to enjoy the smells and the taste of good food. That goes double for sex. Since you and I can both modify the form of our bodies, sex can be a never ending adventure of new discoveries for us. As for breathing, it is best to continue the practice even if it serves no function for your artificial body. I could tell you an amusing story about breathing."

"What?"

"Well, this goes way back. As in your case, Manny asked me to travel into Earth's past and work to accelerate technological advancement."

Rylla was looking into his mind while John spoke. "Wait, now. You were born in the 20th century?"

the tryp'At Council

"Yes. I'm tryp'At, but Manny decided to make a copy of me and use that copy to undermine the plans of the tryp'At Council and their efforts to restrict access of Earthlings to alien technology. I still have my memories from the 20th century, but at age 20, a copy of my mind was made and instantiated in the past, in this artificial body." He thumped his chest.

Rylla asked, "What did you say... tryp'At Council?"

"Don't worry about that. I'm sorry I mentioned it. I don't really know anything about the tryp'At council. Occasionally Manny mentions them, and not in a happy way. Anyhow, back to my story about not breathing. It was around 1500 BCE as the years are now counted and I'd been living on Earth for 2,500 years. I was sick and tired of the slow rate of progress towards scientific thinking and decided to create a new religion that would promote scientific thought. One day, I was on top of a ziggurat in Ur with a group of priests and trying to explain to them the principles of the scientific method. One of the priests suggested that if I founded a new religion based on these abstract principles, it would take a miracle for me to attract any followers. Inspired by mention of miracles, I showed the priests that I did not need to breath."

Rylla laughed. "That must have created quite a stir!"

"It did. After impressing the priests with my super-human powers, I became the great Apostle of science. However, once you start in the miracle business, a strange thing happens. Your followers demand more and greater miracles. Eventually, in a moment of weakness, while teaching anatomy to some zealots of my scientific religion, I casually demonstrated that I could detach my foot from the rest of my body. After the anatomy lesson, I used my nanites to sprout a new replacement foot, but one of the astounded priests had run off with my other foot. My foot became a great religious relic, housed in a special chamber at the top of that ziggurat. Latter, the followers of my religion adopted my footprint as a favorite religious icon. Each temple had to have a sculpture depicting my footprint, certifying that I had once been there."

Rylla mused, "I've never heard of a silly religion of the Apostle's foot."

"It was a big mistake, the whole crazy affair with my foot arising from a misguided effort aimed at explaining how capillaries link arteries to veins. I should have known that without microscopy, nobody would believe that capillaries exist. The whole religion of science blew up in my face." John shook his head sadly. "Luckily, that cult died out and was forgotten."

The start of the 1814 gold rush.

There was a knock at the door. Rylla let in the maid and introduced her to John. He spoke Arabic to her and pretended to be a camel herder. After bowing to the maid, John went out into the backyard, muttering, "Ya laha min fatat jamilatin," as he departed. Looking at the camels, John decided that he had to agree with Rylla or Sophie or whatever she preferred to call herself. He also preferred to ride horses. Why had Manny insisted that he bring camels to Australia? In the end, the camels were used to carry cargo and both John and Rylla rode horses into the Outback.

Ten days after John's arrival in Sydney, at the start of a three week period that Rylla had declared a school holiday, she departed from Parramatta and went off towards the west with John, riding at the head of the caravan of camels, in search of gold. 

Rylla looked back at the camels and commented, "How long do you plan to spend in the Outback?"

John replied, "Maybe a month. Two years ago, Manny told me that we would quickly get all the gold that we can carry once we start mining."

"It seems like we are carrying enough supplies to last us a year."

John Explained, "The King may think that he owns half of Australia and all of its riches, but the natives have their own ideas. Manny told me to bring along plenty of clothing, cooking pots and utensils and tools... items that we can give to the natives. When we establish our mining camp, we want to be good neighbors."

Viewing Max.

At the end of the caravan, dozing contentedly on top of the last camel in the train, was Elizabeth who had been talked into going along to search for gold. 

There towards the end of the caravan with Elizabeth was Sophie's younger brother, Max, a lad of 12 who had insisted on going along as soon as he heard that Sophie was going into the wilds on an great adventure.

Next: Titus Pompo

Related Reading: Part 3 of Old Time Gaming. 

See Also: another old time Smith