Iytwelepenty

Original art by Falero.

On this blog page, below, is Part 11 of the science fiction story Old Time Gaming. When large numbers of settlers arrive in western Australia and Perth is founded, Rylla and her expedition members depart from Garden Island and take up residence on the mainland. Rylla tries to arrange for publication of some stories that have been written by Abigail, but Maria Green takes action to prevent that.

In the resulting struggle between Maria and Rylla, advanced nanites are deployed, along with teleportation technology. Abigail and her written stories are teleported off of Earth, but Abigail's daughter, Kate, is witness to the actions of both Maria and Manny the bumpha. Manny protects Rylla's children who must pass along to the future the special Asterothrope gene combinations that are required so that Rylla and Georgy White can come into existence in the future. When Georgy discovers anti-gravity hierions, the humans of Earth will learn about the existence of hierions at a much earlier date than would otherwise be possible.

Part 11 of Old Time Gaming. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.

Rylla had long wondered about the fate of Sophie McKnight. After saving Sophie's life, Rylla had begun using Sophie's physical body form and took over her life as a school teacher in Parramatta. After Sophie was teleported off of Earth, Manny was not satisfied with only one copy of Sophie, so she also made a teleportation duplicate of the girl. 

image source

One copy of Sophie was kept onboard Many Sails and the other was sent deep into the interior of Australia on a special mission for Manny. At the same time, one copy of Rylla continued living near Sydney and using the physical form of Sophie as a disguise. The other copy of Rylla (who was living in western Australia) occasionally thought about the other Rylla in Sydney, but in the early 1800s there was no reliable means of communication between the two ends of the continent.

The copy of Sophie who had been living onboard Many Sails was able to telepathically link to the other copy of Sophie who was living on Earth. On one such occasion of linkage, the copy on Earth was asleep and dreaming an exciting sexually-charged dream that had her heart pounding. There on Many Sails, Manny, the humanoid appendage of the sentient spaceship had her artificial vibrating tongue positioned against Sophie's genitals in exactly the way that the girl liked best.

By way of their telepathic linkage, the Sophie on Earth was sharing an orgasm with the copy of Sophie who was onboard Many Sails. When Sophie's erect clitoris finally began to soften, Manny shrank her tongue back to a size that would fit in her mouth and asked, "Did your copy enjoy that?"

"Yes, her orgasm was so intense that she briefly woke up." Sophie's voice was quavering as she recovered from the intense orgasm. "She just drifted back to sleep again." Sophie put her arms around Manny and they snuggled together. Manny reminded Sophie, "The caravan will arrive at Iytwelepenty sometime tomorrow."

With help from Manny, Sophie had been following the progress of the camel caravan across Australia. However, Sophie's main job was monitoring her copy on Earth as she explored the ruins of the abandoned tryp'At research station that was located in the center of Australia. It was fascinating work for Sophie because of her interest in archeology. 

Now, taking note that Sophie was thinking about her childhood, Manny told Sophie, "When you were a child, I carefully developed your interest in archeology so that you would be prepared for this little project of mine. Sadly, we've found nothing actionable in what remains of the tryp'At base." When abandoning their research facility in Australia, the tryp'At had been careful to leave behind no nanites or other illegal technologies on Earth. Still, it had been worth checking the abandoned site for some indication of carelessness and as a side benefit, the copy of Sophie living at the tryp'At base had learned to enjoy and appreciate the wilderness.

Iytwelepenty, the part of Australia with the abandoned tryp'At base, became Sophie's new home for two years. That area of the Outback had a very long and interesting history. About two billion years in the past, the pek had established one of their artificial evolution laboratories deep inside a part of Earth's crust that eventually became that part of Australia. Then, about a billion years later, when that facility was no longer needed by the pek, it had been obliterated by a controlled asteroid impact. 

The much more recent tryp'At base was constructed within that ancient impact zone, beside a small lake that attracted a steady stream of humans and other animals. The tryp'At base was mostly underground, but it had a camouflaged entry portal composed of nanites, hidden in the face of a rock outcrop. When Manny first teleported Sophie to the site of the tyrp'At base, she installed a new, functional nanite entryway and what she called a survey camping module. Sophie mostly lived and worked in the underground ruins of the tryp'At base, but many days she took a break and went for a walk outside where she enjoyed seeing all of the wild animals that were attracted to the water of the lake. She particularly liked to watch the antics of the bounding wallabies. While outside the tryp'At base, she could not avoid sometimes being sighted by the natives who began to call her the white woman of the rock.

Many Sails was in the process of compiling a list of all the infractions committed by the tryp'At Interventionists who had long operated on Earth. Still, Manny had to admit that the tryp'At had tried to follow the Rules of Intervention and keep their presence on Earth a secret. So far, the humans of Earth remained blissfully ignorant of all the aliens who had been visiting Earth for millions of years.

Choir Gaure

As a young girl, Sophie had heard about archeological discoveries in Egypt such as the Rosetta Stone and she had become an amateur archeologist herself and spent long hours reading about ancient peoples and puzzling over her mother's copy of Choir Gaure.

As a child, Sophie had fantasized about discovering the ruins of some ancient civilization in Australia. Upon meeting Manny, Sophie had been intrigued by the strange stories that Manny told her about ancient times. The idea that the tryp'At aliens had lived and worked in Australia for centuries was startling, and now both copies of Sophie periodically tried to imagine what would happen on Earth if and when her knowledge of the tryp'At could be shared with her fellow ignorant Earthlings. Seeing that thought in Sophie's mind during one of her periodic visits to the tryp'At base, Manny had once said, "I don't intend to let you spread word of this around Earth. Enjoy your time here, but don't imagine yourself becoming famous for anything that you discover."

Now the other copy of Sophie was wondering if her copy on Earth (what she thought of as Sophie2) would be willing to end her partially completed exploration of the old tryp'At research center when the caravan arrived. Manny assured Sophie, "Don't worry about that, I'm going to take control of her mind and make sure that she moves on with the caravan."

This was the aspect of Manny that frightened Sophie. Sophie could not help but suspect that her own behavior was also guided and controlled by Manny. Manny was gently stroking Sophie's breasts with her soft fingers and now she giggled. "In your case, only the most delicate adjustments to your mind have been required to keep you on task."

Sophie was amazed by the stiffness of her nipples. The longer Sophie lived with Manny and enjoyed daily sexplay with her, the more they seemed capable reaching new levels of sexual pleasure. Distracted by Manny's sweet touches, soon, Sophie had again forgotten about the fact that Manny could edit her memories. 

Now Sophie's thoughts returned to the past and for the first time in years she thought about the reason why she had selected one particular location for her new school house in the west end of Parramatta. That site had been chosen so that the backyard of her adjacent house would hold several low mounds that she recognized as being of human origin. However, two years of digging through those mounds of rubble had revealed nothing more than the crumbling remnants of old sea shells and a few fragments of animal bones. The worthless archeological site in her yard soon turned into a vegetable garden. Sophie used some of the ancient shells to pave the pathways leading to the school and her cottage, which helped limit the amount of mud that was tracked inside on rainy days.

The copy of Sophie who now lived with Manny had been allowed to remember the details of her entire life on Earth right on to and through her life-threatening illness. Manny had even shown her images of an alternate Reality in which she had died of smallpox and been buried in her backyard, in the peaceful grove of sandalwood trees. However, the other copy of Sophie had been made by teleportation duplication while still healthy, prior to being infected with the smallpox virus, and she had no knowledge of the death she had so narrowly avoided with Manny's help.

Manny occasionally visited that second copy of Sophie on Earth and suggested strategies for how to most efficiently excavate the crumbling tryp'At ruins. Manny also made frequent adjustments to the memories of Sophie2 so as to keep the girl focused on her work. Whenever Sophie2 began to wonder about her past and how she had come to work for Manny, soon thereafter, additional adjustments were made to her mind and she returned to her obsessive effort to understand what the tryp'At had been trying to accomplish during the long centuries when they occupied their research station in Australia.

Because of her many conversations with Manny, Sophie1 was aware that the tryp'At had been inserting special Asterothrope gene combinations into the human population of Australia, but she had little real understanding of what a gene was. She had been told by Manny that the Asterothropes were a telepathic humanoid from the far future of Earth, but Sophie was skeptical about the whole idea of time travel. Sophie vaguely understood that Asterothrope genes had been inserted into humans, bringing into existence the tryp'At. What got particularly confusing for Sophie was the idea that with the aid of time travel technology, the tryp'At had somehow helped bring themselves into existence.

From Sophie's perspective as an Earthling of the early 1800s, Manny was like a magician or a goddess. Manny had taught Sophie how to use a computerized system for recording an account of Sophie2's discoveries inside the abandoned tryp'At base. Each day, Sophie used her telepathic connection to her copy on Earth and carefully recorded every detail of what was found by Sophie2. Now, with Sophie2's archeological work nearing its end, Sophie1 asked Manny, "What am I going to do once Sophie2 begins traveling with the caravan?"

Manny kissed the tip of Sophie's nose and replied with a question, "What would you like to do?"

"I'm curious about what will happen to Sophie2 when she joins the caravan. That copy of me has not previously met John Smith."

"Good... I'm pleased that you are curious." Manny confided to Sophie, "It is my hope that you will continue to make use of your telepathic link to Sophie2 and continue to watch over her. Sophie is like a canary in a coal mine. Anyhow, don't worry about how those two will get along... using my memory-editing nanites, I've programmed her to respond quite favorably when she first sees him."

the tryp'At

Sophie giggled and asked, "Who would put canaries in a mine?"

Manny took five minutes to discuss the dangers of bad air in deep mine shafts and how an animal like a canary could be used to detect poisonous gasses like carbon monoxide. Much of what Manny said made no more sense to Sophie than did her wild stories about telepathic Asterothropes from the future. Sophie asked, "Is Sophie2 in danger?"

"Yes." Since this copy of Sophie would never return to Earth, Manny had no qualms about telling her some details about the future. "Maria Green is eventually going to notice that there are multiple copies of you and Liza running around. R. Nyrtia will assume that these copies are being used to alter the history of Earth."

Sophie added, "Which they are."

Manny shrugged. "Not so much the Sophie and Liza copies. Oh, sure, they can't help but cause some minor changes, but..." Manny fell silent. There was no point in trying to explain to Sophie that the flow of time had a type of momentum. Manny continued, "All the important changes to Reality are being made by Rylla."

Sophie thought about her last memories from Earth. A strange young woman named Rylla had appeared on her doorstep and taken care of Sophie when she fell ill. "The woman who saved my life."

"Yes. You can thank Rylla for your continued existence." 

Sophie enjoyed living with Manny and the daily blizzard of orgasms that they shared. Still, Sophie sometimes imagined that she might one day return to Earth and Meet Rylla once again. "I do wish I could thank Rylla."

Manny laughed. "Well, you can't literally thank her, of course... but you should be thankful."

Sophie complained, "Maybe some day you will explain to me what you hope to accomplish by creating multiple copies of me and Liza."

Manny tried to be careful and not overwhelm Sophie with too much information. However, at that moment, Manny was feeling very relaxed and talkative. She told Sophie, "I'm using all the Liza and Sophie copies to confuse Maria Green. With these copies existing on Earth as distractions, many years will pass during which Maria will fail to notice Rylla's second life on Earth. And even when she finally discovers Rylla, I'll confuse Maria with other small tricks. She'll think of Rylla as being like her, an agent working for R. Nyrtia and helping to clean up after the tryp'At." Manny could sense that her words were only confusing Sophie even more than usual. Manny again began stimulating the girl's genitals and used her memory-editing nanites to erase from Sophie's mind all her memories of the past minute. Manny knew that there was no point in trying to explain her plans to the girl. The truth was, this copy of Sophie served no real purpose other than being a very pleasant sex partner for Manny.

_____________

The next day, when the caravan encountered Sophie, Max was briefly astounded to see Sophie. The last he had seen of her, almost two years previously, had been the day when Sophie returned to her school house in Parramatta. He asked her, "How did you get way out here before we did?" Even as he spoke, Manny was identifying the neural pathways in his brain that were generating his feelings of vast surprise.

Sophie had been pre-programmed by Manny for how to interact with her brother Max. She threw her arms around Max and commented how he had grown from a boy into a strong young man since they had last seen each-other.

Manny erased a set of Max's memories and inserted false memories of a time, years in the past, when Sophie had patted his head and said, "I wonder what you will be like when you get older?" Max now felt a strong compulsion to tell his sister about his experiences in the Outback. He excitedly began telling Sophie about one of the new native languages he was trying to learn and then he asked her a question about the natives Sophie had come to know there, in the area that the natives called Iytwelepenty.

Sophie shrugged and replied, "I've avoided close contact with the natives. If you ask them about me, they'll probably tell you that I'm a ghost." Sophie then turned away from her brother and enthusiastically embraced John and kissed him on the lips. Almost before Max knew what had happened, Sophie took John off to the hidden hut in the stone cliff that was her home. Liza looked at Max and said brightly, "Well, I guess John never got over his infatuation with Sophie." This copy of Liza had long been a host for Manny which had allowed Manny to share sweet orgasms with John for the past two years. Now Manny focused her attention on Max.

Max and Liza watered the camels and then tied them up in a grassy area near the lake. While they worked, Manny was at work in Max's mind, boosting his long-standing sexual interest in Liza. After the camels had been tended to, Liza's clothing seemed to evaporate and she laid down on the soft grass in front of Max. His mind suddenly in flames, Max and Liza became lovers. Manny had long been using this copy of Liza as one of her alternate hosts and during that time she had watched Max mature from a boy into a man. Using her telepathic connection to Max, she had taught him much of what she knew about the languages and customs of the native Australians. Now Manny quickly shifted her tactics, and rather than continually suppress Max's sexual yearnings, she began teaching him about Liza's sexual talents.

Inside the snug survey camping module, after Sophie2 fell asleep in John's arms, Manny contacted John telepathically and asked him a casual question: How long do you think the camels should be rested here?

John asked: Manny? You are now disguised as Sophie?

Unfortunately, I've shifted into her body only for a brief time. Just long enough to enjoy a quick orgasm with you and confer with you about your travel plans.

John told Manny: I'm hoping you will tell me what Sophie was doing out here, in the middle of nowhere.

There is not much for me to tell you... she was just killing time... waiting for Max to grow up and your caravan to arrive. We found nothing of real importance in among the decaying objects left behind in these ruins by the tryp'At.

John had long been intrigued by Manny's obsession with the tryp'At. He asked: What is so important about the tryp'At?

I can't really explain their future importance to you. However, I can tell you that the tryp'At are the closest thing to human telepaths so far achieved. That's why I like to use available tryp'At, like yourself, as my helpers. Your mind naturally meshes with the technology-assisted telepathy system that R. Nyrtia built into replicoids.

With some telepathic prodding from Manny, he replied to her earlier question. There is good water and grass here in this valley. The camels could rest and graze for a week. Suddenly, John had a 'vision' of the caravan being turned and driven to travel towards the northeast. He had been guiding the caravan towards the west and hoping to eventually find Rylla. Startled by the telepathic vision, he spoke out-loud, "You want me to back-track?"

Hearing John's voice, Sophie awoke and eagerly resumed playing with his genitals. Still linked to his mind telepathically, Manny told John: Don't be in a hurry to reach Rylla. There are many years remaining before you are needed in Perth. I suggest you take time to visit a few sights like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluṟu. And you don't always need to be traveling. You are going to be able to take a nice long break from driving the caravan during Sophie's pregnancy.

Taken by surprise, John almost said 'Pregnancy?' out-loud, but then he got distracted by Sophie's energetic sexplay. Seeing that Sophie had quickly bonded with John, Manny was gone as abruptly as she had arrived and John did not "see" her again for several years.

The next day, Sophie showed John around the ruins of the tryp'At research station. He picked up a fragment of rubble, what had once been part of a wall and asked, "What is this material?"

"Manny told me that it is some kind of synthetic composite. As long as the tryp'At researchers were here and providing power, this material was strong and durable. After they left, everything down here and also what little was once on the surface started weathering rapidly. In another decade or two, nothing recognizable as being of alien origin will remain." Sophie stepped into muddy depression in the floor of the cavernous underground space they were in and activated another of the little light fixtures she had installed. Trying to make Sophie work for her discoveries, Manny had provided little more than a few tools like picks and shovels for digging. Sophie stamped her foot in the puddle and told John, "I suspect that most of the tryp'At facility lies further underground, but most of that odd composite material has now fused into what seems like sandstone. It is too hard for me to dig through."

John asked, "Why did Manny bring you here?"

"She thought I might find some tryp'At nanites or other advanced technology that should not be on Earth."

"But you did not?"

"No, nothing like that was left behind, not as far as I can tell."

"So you are done here?"

"Yes. What are your plans?"

John laughed and replied, "I'm having fun exploring Australia. Max has become an expert in the native languages. We can rest the camels here for a few days then set off on a new adventure." He did not bother warning Sophie about the baby that Manny had seen in their future.

_____________

Abigail was very happy during the years spent living on Garden Island. Rylla had brought along a large supply of paper, ink and pens and now Abigail had plenty of time to write. George and Rylla provided useful suggestions for her story writing and her novel, Time Portal, was completed in 1817 with only one serious distraction: the arrival of Abigail's first baby (Kate) in 1816. At the time of Kate's birth, Rylla's son (Occyde) had just turned one year old.

Anselme was full of old stories and sage advice. While working in the gardens with Stefan, Anselme, speaking French, would tell the old stories or make up new ones. When the children of Abigail and Rylla and also Jarra were small, they would often follow Anselme and ask for stories. As often as not, they got an earfuls of advice from Anselme rather than a story. The boys were all told the same advice that had long been given by Anselme to his son Stefan. His advice for girls concerned mostly pieces of his vast knowledge of plants. Rylla was amused by Anselme's advice for boys which seemed to originate from the many years he had lived on the island with Manny (she in the bodily form of Kardynya, a native woman). Rylla never wrote down what she thought of as the Gospel of Anselme as told to Setfan, but she knew it well. The first ten parts were:

1. Don't foolishly try to hide your actions from the woman. Nothing good can come of deception. She knows your thoughts.

2. Listen closely to your woman and take her advice. If you ignore her wisdom then your life will be a purgatory.

3. When your woman is large and with child and tells you that she will bear a son or a daughter, believe her. She looks into the future and knows now what cannot yet be seen."

4. A woman who can see the future can also put thoughts into her child's mind. The baby will be born with wisdom and will be a reflection of the mother.

5. The woman who can put thoughts into her child's mind has taken care to shape the child's teeth and ears. Such is the nature of her craft.

6. The woman who shaped the teeth of her child will prepare food, but she may not eat. Eat what she cooks even if she will not eat it with you; she has made the meal for you and it is good.

7. If the woman who eats not tells you to eat a crab apple or a bitter lemon then just do it. Don't complain. She knows what you need to consume.

8. When a woman who eats not tells you to woo a maiden that she selected for you, don't object. That maiden is your future, she is your life.

9. If the maiden you love does not eat enough, fear not. She can still bear you children.

10. When your child speaks of the future, do not be surprised. The child is like the mother and can see the future.

All the boys growing up on Garden Island knew the Gospel of Anselme.

Rylla continued to badger Manny about the mystery of who had fathered her son Occyde. During their first year on Garden Island, David had grown a foot taller and his hair had bleached a golden blond color. As the years passed, Occyde showed few hints of being related to his father. Tarny had given birth to Captain Doone's son, Jarra, ten months after their arrival at Garden Island. One day, Rylla was looking at both Jarra and Occyde and telepathically asked Manny (Tarny): Is Occyde's father David or the Captain?

Manny replied: Why do you keep asking?

I just want to know. The truth was, Rylla was engaged in a long series of experiments involving her telepathic connections to Kate and Occyde. With not much else to do, Rylla was trying to learn the fine art implanting memories into human brains by using nanites. 

Rylla could recognize similarities in the mind patterns of Abigail and Kate and Rylla's mind resonated with that of Occyde, but something seemed to prevent Rylla from transferring memories into Occyde's mind. In contrast, Rylla had considerable success sharing special memories with Kate and as a consequence, Kate had learned to speak and then to write at very early ages.

Manny usually tried to ignore Rylla's requests for information about Occyde's mysterious genetic background, but now she told Rylla: There is no need for you to know, however, I'll say this.... sometimes a child needs to be crafted from more than just two parents.

Rylla asked: So Occyde has genes from both of them?

It is complicated. I'm only going to frustrate you because there are temporal paradoxes that prevent me from telling you everything that you want to know.

Rylla complained: Anytime you want to keep a secret, you claim there is a temporal paradox at work.

This is why there is no point in me telling you anything. You don't trust me to tell you what I am able to tell you. You always want more. And more. You should learn to be happy with what you have.

I am happy, but I've got a lot of time on my hands... time to think and wonder. And what you say makes no sense.

Manny said: This is where I usually stick my tongue in your vagina so I can distract you with an orgasm, but I can tell you one more thing... sometimes a baby must be crafted with gene sequences that I obtain in the future.

Are you telling me that Occyde's father is someone from the future?

Manny would say no more.  

While growing up, Kate and Occyde developed a strong telepathic connection to each-other which they took for granted. After Abigail's second child, William, turned five years old, she and David were often away from Garden Island for extended periods of time during which they were exploring the mainland. Abigail and David had become the most restless and impatient among those living on Garden Island, wondering when other settlers would arrive in the west. Finally, a whaling ship visited Garden Island and took away letters that both Rylla and David had written to the Governor of New South Wales.

In 1820 Doones died after eating a poisonous sea snail. After Doones was buried on the wind-swept cliff at the end of the island, Tarny brought Stefan and Jarra to Rylla and told her, "I'm taking Stefan away from Garden Island."

Rylla had always sensed that there was something unusual about Stefan. He seldom spoke and when he did it was only a word or two of French or one of the native languages known to Manny. Manny told Rylla, "Kardynya will stay here and continue to take care of Anselme until he dies." Manny kissed Jarra's forehead and then the boy went to stand beside Rylla. Manny continued speaking to Rylla, "Take care of Jarra." Before Rylla could protest, Tarny was gone. 

Rylla adopted Jarra and life on Garden Island proceeded much as before. Rylla of then wondered why Manny had been so insistent that Doones go with Rylla to the west coast. Rylla suspected that Doones had simply been used by Manny as a source of genes that she had needed in order to craft Jarra.

Later that year, a passing ship dropped off letters at Garden Island. One letter was from the Governor, acknowledging receipt of the letters from Rylla and David and commenting on "improving relations" with the French since Napoléon defeat. Reinforcement of Rylla's expedition was not to be expected.

There was also a letter from Sophie, the other copy of Rylla that was living in Parramatta. Sophie reported the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the maid, Liza. Sophie was living with her husband, Lance Wyatt and commented that "the wool trade has benefited from a stone bridge over the Nepean river" and other improvements to the roads.

Another letter was from George's father, expressing confusion over George's decision to stay in Australia rather than go to England for medical training.

Rylla sent more letters to her other copy in Parramatta, but never again heard from her.

Over the years, Rylla and Anselme expanded the citrus grove on Garden Island and experimented with ways to concentrate and store vitamin C. Whaling ships occasionally stopped by the island and Rylla always provided their crews with citrus or citrus extracts.

Rylla also turned her artificial horse into a fence-making machine that could weave wire into fencing that was then used to protect their gardens from the hungry herbivores that lived on the island. Rylla pretended to make all the fences herself, but most of the work was done in secret by her artificial horse, a useful device that Rylla could morph into any desired shape. Each year, the artificial horse gave birth and slowly a small herd of horses grew on the island.

When they were both 15 years old, Kate and Occyde called together Rylla and Kardynya and explained that Kate was pregnant. Occyde said: We want to move to the mainland before the pregnancy goes further. We can prepare the new settlement site and the rest of you can follow next year.

Looking into Occyde's mind, Rylla could see images from a year in the future, images of a ship arriving and settlers founding their new settlement: Perth. Occyde was like Rylla and occasionally had visions of the future. However, Kate's unborn child was a powerful telepath and was apparently always receiving information from past, present and future. Occyde was able to look into his daughter's still-developing mind and access information about the future from her.

image information

The body of Kardynya re-arranged its nanites, recombining into Manny's preferred physical form. Manny had never tried to keep her existence hidden from Kate and Occyde. Speaking out-loud for special emphasis, Manny told Kate, "Don't be in a hurry to move to the mainland. Yes, this will be a long pregnancy for this special child, but I won't put you through it all. At nine months, I'll transfer your daughter to a surrogate mother, a replicoid in the Hierion Domain." She told Rylla, Kate and Occyde, "I thank you now, in advance, for your roles in making this special telepathic human. I will put her gene combinations to good use! However, 19th century Earth is no place for a powerful human telepath."

Kate was dismayed and asked Manny, "You are going to take my baby?"

Manny nodded. "Yes. However, take comfort in the knowledge that you will have others."

Rylla complained to Manny, "I can't believe that you would use us in this way and be so cruel to Kate."

Manny shrugged, "I could have hidden the existence of this child from you. However, there will be benefits in the future from rumors that an alien creature named 'Manny' subjected settlers to evil genetic experimentation." Manny giggled. "Rylla, you know the high rate of losing babies in the 19th century. I'll take this one child from Kate, but all the other Garden Island children will survive and have happy lives here on Earth. I need Kate's first born for a project in another time and on another world."

SM284

Occyde suggested, "Or you could make two copies of our baby... you take one and leave the other one here on Earth."

Manny shook her head emphatically. "No, this baby is not compatible with the primitive culture of this planet." Manny transformed herself back into the bodily form of Kardynya and would say no more. Using her memory-editing nanites, Manny continued to prepare Kate and Occyde for the loss of their baby.

Next: Part 12 of Old Time Gaming.