Origin of Nyrtia

Nyrtia visits Slave Craton

Below on this blog page is Part 2 a science fiction story called The Historical Archive. Part 1 was set in the Final Reality and provided an account of how the Editor finally met R. Nyrtia, the positronic robot. Or did he? The meeting took place inside a Reality Simulation, so it could be argued that the Editor did not really meet anyone during his time together with the simulated Yrovi and the simulated Nyrtia. But why quibble?

In Part 2, the setting of the story shifts to the First Reality. Once again, simulation technology is used to provide the Editor with the experience of being with Nyrtia as she begins to make use of time travel technology. R. Nyrtia has realized that her time travel machine will not only allow for movement through Time, but also movement through space. She selects as her first time travel mission a quick trip to Earth and a visit to an abandoned alien facility that is hidden deep inside the planet. Since the Editor is there inside Observer Base and claims to be from Earth, Nyrtia invites him to go along on the first time travel journey.

Part 2 of The Historical Archive (Part 1)

R. Nahan was frustrated by the fact that he did not have a very useful telepathic linkage into the mind of R. Nyrtia. Nyrtia's positronic brain had been carefully crafted by Nahan using a teleporter scan of Qway's biological brain as a template. That made Nyrtia's mind pattern quite distinct from Nahan's which was based on the ancient Gohrlay brain template. Still, Nahan could have arranged for a telepathic link to Nyrtia, but he wanted her mind free to develop along more human lines. Without useful telepathy, Nahan was simply watching Nyrtia while she worked and trying to guess how close she might be to solving the time travel problem. Nahan was remotely Viewing Nyrtia by means of a recently developed device that used long-range teleportation scanner technology.

While R. Nahan monitored Nyrtia and day-dreamed about traveling through Time, his current chief historian, Myum Swedney, came into Nahan's workshop. She noticed the nature of the image on Nahan's Viewer and said, "You really have an obsession with that girl."

Gohrlay's Brain

R. Nahan could telepathically sense that Myum was trying to make a small joke and trying to tease Nahan. The core circuits of Nahan's brain were logic-based and he had never learned to fully appreciate humor. He rather robotically and logically stated, "Tomorrow is Nyrtia's Selection Ceremony."

"I know that, silly!" Myum laughed at Nahan's stern refusal to joke around. As a Nyrturian who had already gone through the rather arduous processes of birthing twins, Myum had her full-sized breasts and they jiggled as she laughed. "I suppose you are going to visit her before the Ceremony." Myum knew that Nahan hated surprises and he'd invested so much in Nyrtia that he was probably particularly anxious that all go smoothly during this particular Ceremony.

Nahan nodded, but he changed the subject. He could telepathically see deep enough into her thoughts and he knew the answer to his own question, but still he asked Myum, "Why are you still here? You should be getting home to your children."

Myum had two children (twins) named Dodaqowż and Ursyña. Having birthed and raised her children, Myum had completed her obligation to help propagate the Nyrturians as a human variant. Prompted by Nahan's question, Myum reflected on how quickly the years had passed and how often she had hidden truths from her children. Such deception was against the normal cultural practices of the Nyrturians, but Myum's lies had been forced upon her because of her unique role as Nahan's archivist. Dodaqowż and Ursyña believed that Arkyży Taqyoñas was their parent and they had taken to spending a lot of time with her. As Nyrturians, they all lived in the special space-time bubble that Nahan had created just to house the subjects of his human telepath breeding project, but Myum spent most of her time either at Nahan's workshop or inside the secret Historical Archive facility. With Myum away from home so much of the time, it had been natural for Dodaqowż and Ursyña to seek out and socialize with the person they had been told was their other parent. However, Arkyży had not actually contributed gene patterns to Dodaqowż and Ursyña. 

Observer Base

Nahan told Myum, "Arkyży has done a good job socializing your children. You should stop feeling guilt over spending so much time on your work."

Rationally Myum knew that Nahan was correct, but that did not stop her emotions and her regrets over having missed experiencing so much of the young lives of Dodaqowż and Ursyña. Regardless of the regrets, Myum remained devoted to her important work. If the day finally came when time travel became possible then the Historical Archive would be the only way to protect a record of past human society and progress. And Myum could sense telepathically in Nahan's mind that he expected Nyrtia to solve the time travel problem. Myum knew that along with Nahan, she was also obsessed with R. Nyrtia who was living in the main compartment of Observer Base along with the conventional humans. Shaking herself out of her thought-train, she told Nahan, "You know how it goes... when I get working in the Archive, I lose track of time. She handed Nahan a dataxet. "Please check this out and let me know if I got anything wrong. I'll see you at the Ceremony in the morning".

Nahan reminded Myum, "I'll introduce your children to Nyrtia right after the Ceremony." Myum nodded and slipped out of Nahan's workshop. Nahan set aside the dataxet. Did it really matter who each of the human residents of Observer Base had been ten thousand years ago, even if to Nahan each of those long-dead individuals seemed like a precious child? Nahan accepted the general principle that it made sense to transfer his vast and ancient memories into the Archive, but he knew his artificial brain was full of useless trivia. Most residents of Observer Base never did anything note-worthy, but Myum had the philosophical orientation of a Numerist and was intent on identifying every single human, believing that there was useful information in their evolving gene patterns. Nahan could perfectly recall how she had first stated the matter: You've been carrying out artificial selection for thousands of generations on a small population.

That was true, but did it matter? All the interesting humans, those with telepathic abilities, were now living inside the safe confines of Nyrturia, but Myum was still obsessively adding humans from outside Nyrturia into the telepathy genome data base. Nahan shrugged. Oh well, it keeps her busy.

Nahan glanced back at the Viewer and saw that Nyrtia's research team had completed their day's work. The last of the time machine's condensers had been tuned and aligned with the rest of the data storage array. Nahan shut down his Viewing equipment and exited from his workshop and he walked quickly over to the estate of the Syzyng family where Nyrtia had grown up. 

While he walked, Nahan reflected on his newest experiment in constructing positronic brains. Nyrtia was one of the new generation of robots that had been built with the brain of a one-year-old child. Nyrtia had grown up in the Syzyng household, raised right along with the family's biological children. And would that make a difference? So far, Nyrtia had not solved the time travel problem and the theory of time travel seemed no further along than it had been a thousand years previously. The whole time travel project was stuck. Could Nyrtia's unique mind break the log-jam?

Arriving at the Syzyng mansion, the front door opened and Nahan was greeted by Lynscot, Nyrtia's helper robot, who had telepathically detected Nahan's approach. "Welcome, Nahan. Please come in. I suppose you want to see Nyrtia."

"Yes, I do, but first..." Nahan was distracted by how closely Lyn's mind pattern and physical appearance resembled that of Gohrlay. "Tell me, Lyn, how have you been?" Like other household helper robots, Lyn had the general appearance of R. Gohrlay, the first positronic robot. Within the human culture of Observer Base, people expected robots to look like the mythical Gohrlay. Nahan felt only slight embarrassment at having invented and manufactured an entire mythological story about R. Gohrlay's life and how she liberated Humanity from the aliens.

Lynscot and Nahan had worked together for thousands of years. At that moment, in a location where they might be observed by humans, they spoke out-loud, but they were also sharing thoughts telepathically. "It has been a true pleasure watching Miss Nyrtia grow up and-"

Nahan interrupted and warned, "Please say 'R. Nyrtia', my friend."

Lyn apologized, "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't stop myself from..."

art by Mark Zug

Telepathically Nahan told Lyn: Yes, it is clear in your mind. You view Nyrtia as being a human being. But that is false. She is a robot just like you.

Lyn began to object. Before her spoken words could be generated, in her thoughts Lyn telepathically told Nahan: But Nyrtia's mind pattern is not like ours... it is like a human's... 

Just then, R. Nyrtia came into the parlor and saw that the newly-arrived house guest was R. Nahan, the most ancient and famous of all robots. She tuned her mind to the unique thought pattern of Nahan and now she telepathically felt the gurgling of his mind. "Nahan! I was expecting to see you in the morning."

Nahan briefly clasped Nyrtia's outstretched hand. "There will be a big crowd at the Ceremony and we will not get to speak on important topics. I hope this is now a good time for us to speak."

"Yes, it is, I'm done working for today." Nyrtia never tired, but her neural circuits required some 'down time' after intense thought, particularly after her mathematical work on the Theory of Time. Nyrtia continued tuning her mind to the thought pattern of Nahan. "I can now see in your mind that you want to know my answer. Really, you should have no doubt that I will formally announce that I have decided to work as a member of the time travel project." She waved a hand at their surroundings, "Although I regret that I will soon have to leave my childhood home and establish my own workshop."

Nyrtia's 'sister' Dewoy came into the room and exclaimed, "Nahan! Welcome!" She scowled at Nyrtia and muttered, "I suppose Nyrtia does not have the good manners to let everyone in the household know that you are here." She turned to Lynscot, "Why didn't you at least inform me that-"

Nahan placed an arm around Dewoy's shoulders and told her, "This is not a formal visit, my dear. I came here today on a small information gathering task and Nyrtia has already told me what I wanted to know. Now, I'll be going before I further disrupt the house."

In the Ekcolir Reality
original art by Donato Giancola

Nyrtia said, "Oh, please don't run off, Nahan. I'm a bit over-excited by the approach of tomorrow's Ceremony and all the impending changes in my life. Stay for a time and let's just chat. Or do you have a hot date for the evening?"

Rationally recognizing Nyrtia's joke about dating, Nahan produced his rather awkward robotic laughter. He had never bothered trying to become too much like a human. Nahan's laughter never failed to make humans uncomfortable and he could see that Nyrtia had grown to be human enough that she also disliked his mechanical fake laugh.

Nahan harbored serious doubts about the wisdom of making robots like Nyrtia who could not easily be distinguished from humans. However, he had been forced towards desperate measures. "No, I have nothing important that would force me to return to my workshop right now." Nahan thought about Myum's dataxet, but he could not imagine that it contained any important information. Turning away from the front door, they all walked deeper into the house and settled into seats that were arranged in front of the hearth. 

During the past dozen centuries, this kind of hearth had remained popular among the human families of Observer Base. Nahan had worked hard to prevent the residents of Observer Base from forgetting about Earth and he constantly publicized and promoted the viewing of videos about Earthlings. Images of people on Earth living under primitive conditions had provoked a kind of sympathy among the technologically-pampered residents of Observer Base. Nahan gazed into the artificial fire flickering in the fireplace. Light from the hearth was casting dim illumination over the faces of the three robots and that of Dewoy. Dewoy was a year older than Nyrtia and had gone through her Selection Ceremony the previous year. She now had her own home, but she still spent much of her time working with Nyrtia there in her parents' house. She said, "It is good to see you Nahan, but I won't stay long. Ryger will be wondering where I am and if I'm having another hot sexplay session with Nyrtia rather than rushing home to be with him."

Nahan now noticed that the clothing of both Nyrtia and Dewoy was rather in disarray, as was their hair. Now looking into their minds, a mere surface skim for Nyrtia and a somewhat deeper probe of Dewoy, it became clear to Nahan that the two women had recently been sharing in sexplay. He cursed himself for not having imagined that after a long day working together, these two ladies might stop work and immediately engage in sexplay. He now realized that by rushing to soothe his own anxieties, Nahan had thoughtlessly interrupted their effort to share some pleasure. 

Nahan could not blame Dewoy for falling in love with Nyrtia. Dewoy had been given the task of selecting a new body form for Nyrtia each year while they grew up together. However, Nahan could not understand why Nyrtia continued to shower her affections on Dewoy, knowing full well that the other girl was now living with a boyfriend.

Nahan reflected on the fact that one of the things that had gone terribly wrong with Nyrtia growing up in the Syzyng household as if she were the sibling of the Syzyng children was that there had been no attempt to hide the fact that Nyrtia was a robot. All of the Syzyng children could not help imagining that Nyrtia was there to function as a sexbot. That was not Nyrtia's purpose, but Nyrtia had never turned away any requests from the Syzyngs for sexplay. Nahan could telepathically sense that both Dewoy and Nyrtia shared a love that went far beyond sisterly love. Still, the motto among Nahan's helpers was 'work hard, play hard' and it was Nahan's long-standing policy to keep the human residents of Observer Base sexually active and satisfied. Not wanting to discuss human sexual practices, a topic he knew little about, Nahan asked Nyrtia, "Have you selected your new home?"

Nyrtia shrugged. "There are several nice places available nearby. When I must do so, I'll move into one of them. I'll be sad to have to leave home." Then, having admitted that weakness to Nahan, Nyrtia felt embarrassed and resolved to finally select a new home and move in there on her birthday.

Dewoy said, "Leaving home is not really that bad, especially if you have someone like Ryger to live with. And having said that, I'll be off. I don't want to keep him waiting, not if I'm not getting any hot sex here this evening." She kissed Nyrtia quite passionately on the lips and then departed.

After Dewoy was gone, Nahan asked Nyrtia, "How goes your work?"

"I've just about assembled enough pattern storage capacity." Following conventional engineering practice, Nyrtia was trying to make sure that her time machine had 150% excess capacity beyond what was required to send a person through Time. Now realizing that she'd never thanked Nahan for his help in obtaining the materials that were needed for her time machine, Nyrtia told him, "Thank you for getting me all that nanocircuitry, Nahan."

"No problem. We still have piles of the old femtobot replicoids lying around. I'm glad you have a use for their components."

Reflecting on the fact that her own body had been crafted by recycling an old femtobot replicoid, Nyrtia mused, "I can't help thinking that each time I expand the buffer of my time machine I do so at the cost of another life such as my own."

"We all have to make tough decisions, Nyrtia." Nahan added bluntly, "In all honesty, I'm not comfortable making more robots like you."

"You are not happy with my work?"

"That's not it. Not at all." Nahan hesitated to say more. He did not want to heap more pressure and the weight of expectations upon Nyrtia's shoulders. "Think about the big picture, my dear Nyrtia... I'm responsible for the smooth flow of robot-human social dynamics. We robots must make cognitive distinctions between ourselves and the humans who we were designed to serve. A robot like you will always struggle to have the proper perspective on human-robot relations."

Dimensional Engineering

Nyrtia giggled. "Nahan, you are a prude. Do you really disapprove of me having Dewoy as a lover? What's the problem, are you jealous?" Nyrtia laughed loudly. "I suppose I should not taunt you, but maybe you should have more sex. Maybe the problem is with you, not with-"

Nahan held up his hands in surrender. "Stop! Stop! Don't work yourself into a rant. Of course, you may be right. Perhaps I am hopelessly old fashioned and an impediment to future progress. All you need to do is get your time machine working and I'll remove myself from this Base as quickly as I can."

Nyrtia became more serious. Nahan was like a grandfather to Nyrtia and she had never accommodated herself to his suicidal plans for how to use time travel technology. "Let's not argue, but I still say you are wrong in your death wish. There is no reason for you to go into the past and rescue Gohrlay. My time travel machine wont be able to send all twenty tons of your old-fashioned positronic circuits into the past."

Nahan reminded Nyrtia, "I can transfer my mind into a femtobot replicoid body at any time. In fact, Myum is now almost done copying out my old memories."

"Really?" Somehow Nyrtia had never seriously imagined that Myum would complete the big task of processing the many thousands of years of Nahan's memories into a form that could be encoded in the newer femtobot circuits. "Well, you could still listen to reason. I'd be delighted to have the honor of going back in time to save Gohrlay. The more I think about it, the more I believe that I could quietly harvest her mind pattern without anyone knowing."

"No. I would notice." The minds of Nahan and Gohrlay had been housed together in the same Assembly Room. "There is no way for us to give Gohrlay a second life while avoiding a major change to the historical timeline. All of the subsequent timeline, the entire Reality will be altered."

Nyrtia had long since grown tired of arguing with Nahan about who would take the first time travel trip. What did such an argument accomplish when nobody could travel through time? She stood up and said, "It was nice of you to drop in. See you in the morning." Sensing that Nyrtia was frustrated by Nahan's stubbornness, he quickly departed.

Now, Nyrtia modified her clothing from the light, skimpy garments she wore around the house to something more suitable for the outdoors. Turning to Lyn, Nyrtia asked, "Would you like to make one last tour of the vacant houses with me?"

"Maybe you should go by yourself this time, so you can complete your thoughts about the choice." Lyn quickly brushed Nyrtia's wild mop of hair into order while regretting not having had the chance to do that before Nahan's visit. "Are you really going to decide tomorrow? There is no rush. The Syzyngs have invited you to stay here as long as you like. Do you really want to face the hassle of moving your time machine?"

Time Travel

"Yes, I want to get all of these annoying tasks like the Ceremony done in the morning and be able to get back to work by afternoon. As for the time machine... I really feel like I'm on the brink of a major advance... if I can just solve that tricky transform of the spatial kernel. Anyhow, moving the machine will be a delicate task... maybe by this time next year I'll have it moved out of the laboratory here and transferred into the workshop of my new home."

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Lyn told Nyrtia, "You should stop being so stubborn and turn the spatial kernel problem over to the teleportation project team members. They know mathematical tricks that you've never dreamed of."

Nyrtia was somewhat embarrassed by her all-too human desire to solve the time travel problem herself. "When I'm old and tired I might do as you suggest, but I'm still officially a child and expected to behave badly."

Lyn reminded Nyrtia, "After your Ceremony tomorrow you won't have that excuse anymore. This time tomorrow you will officially be an adult."

Nyrtia did not appreciate Lyn being so logical about a fact that Nyrtia wanted to ignore. She slipped outside and went to inspect her three favorite nearby houses, intending to select one of them as her future home. However, during that slow and careful inspection tour, Nyrtia was still thinking about how to correctly incorporate the spatial dimensions into her Theory of Time.

______________

I arrived inside the simulation of the First Reality close to what appeared to be a beautiful old house. I looked up at the artificial sky of Observer Base and smugly congratulated myself. The artificial star field was pretty much as I had imagined it based on descriptions from various residents of the Base. Then I realized that someone had taken pains to dress me in an odd suit of clothes that seemed to glow with its own subdued light. The fabric felt like plastic.

I watched as the lights inside various rooms of the house turned on and off. I had glimpses through the windows of a woman as she moved from room to room. I started trying to guess why anyone would be moving around from room to room in that fashion. Finally, the woman stepped through the front door and I could see that she was really just a girl, although I quickly adjusted my thinking since I was no longer in my 60 year-old-body. I could not help noticing that she was a sexy young woman with an impudent bounce in her step. She saw me standing in the walkway in front of the house and she called out to me, "Are you another house hunter?"

At first I could not understand a single word she had said. Then, quickly, the melodious sound of her voice was translated for me by the Simulator. Her words were transformed into thoughts that I could process as if they were words uttered in English. Giving thanks for the power of this Simulation to accommodate my needs, I first watched her approach, then stop three feet from me and then she gaze at me with a perplexed look on her face, then I finally found my voice and mumbled, "No, I'm here for another purpose." I was thinking in English, but the words came out of my mouth sounding like a foreign language.

"Are you one of Nahan's spybots? Have you been following me?"

Excitedly, I asked, "Do you know R. Nahan?"

"Don't be rude and answer my question with another question." She placed a hand on my head and her eyes widened rather comically. "What are you? Why do you mock Nahan with your smirking face?"

Apparently she could not recognize my unusual telepathic mind pattern. I tried to explain, "I've been inserted into this Simulation... from outside. I came here to study..." I almost said 'to study you', but I said, "...history."

Nyrtia laughed at me and said, "I think I know... you must be a time traveler! And for some reason, you are using the facial pattern of one of the ancient Escapists..." She traced her finger tips along the side of my face. "Tell me, how far in the future must I wait until time travel finally becomes possible?"

I shook my head, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not really a time traveler. We are just part of a simulation. However, you are from this Reality and I hope you can tell me a-"

She cut me off and asked, "Reality? You sound like Nahan and all his talk about Reality Changes. Are you saying that you are from a different Reality?"

"Yes, that is the case." I looked around and then brought my eyes back to her pretty face. "I can imagine how crazy this must seem to someone from the First Reality, but I do hope you can help me understand... this is my first visit to Observer Base... where exactly are we?"

Nyrtia took me by the hand and guided me out into the path that led from that rural housing district towards the core district of downtown Observer Base. "You're not lying to me? We are really inside some kind of simulation? I've read fantasy stories about such things, but I never really believed it possible to create a simulation this real. No... I feel like I'm alive and well..."

We reached a high point on the path where I could see the distant lights of downtown. Now holding her slim hand in both of mine, I said, "Uh, do you mind telling me who you are?"

"My name is R. Nyrtia."

Stupidly I said, "Really?" Then I realized that it was no coincidence that the first person I met in the First Reality Simulator was Nyrtia. The whole point of this was to allow me to learn some of Nyrtia's secrets. "I mean, I had a different image of you in my mind."

"You've met me before, in another time? Tell me about my future! I am planning to shift my appearance again tomorrow..."

We continued walking along the path and followed where it led as it meandered through a pleasant residential area. "Where I come from, I just met you a short time ago... a much older version of you. Well, actually I did also meet you fifty years ago, but back then, I had no idea who you were. And now you don't look anything like Holly..."

"Who is Holly?"

"A girl I once knew. And since you don't look like her, pardon me if I'm having trouble believing that you are the robot I've learned to call Nyrtia."

"Yes, I'm a robot, one of the new ones... I was given human form that is totally different from the standard Gohrlay body form. Maybe I'm not the specific robot you are looking for... are there many robots who look like me in the future?" She giggled. "Imagine me being a trend-setter! Well, that is silly... through my whole life, Dewoy had been playing a game of altering my body every year. And who knows what form I'll use in the far future..." She paused and seemed to be thinking. "Knowing her tricks, Dewoy has another body already picked out for me for my birthday. I really hope she does not try to give me yet another new body tomorrow... I'm more than eager to start taking responsibility for my own appearance and I'd hate to get into a fight with her over something so silly." She looked at me shyly and asked, "Do you like my current appearance?"

I nodded then asked, "Tomorrow is your birthday?"

The Escapist Clan.

"Well, you know, I was never born. But my artificial mind was activated on that day, twenty years ago." We had stopped walking and Nyrtia looked at a nearby mansion. "This is where I live, with the Syzyng family. Tomorrow, when I become an adult, I'm going to move to my own place." She let go of my hand.

 I could tell that she was ready to go. Now speaking quickly and hoping she would not abandon me, I said, "I really do appreciate you talking to me. I have many questions to ask..."

"I can't really believe your claims." She smiled at me, but I knew she was skeptical and unable to accept the idea that we were inside a simulation. "What are you, one of those nutty Escapists?"

I laughed in relief at her mention of Escapists. "I suppose that you could think of me as an Escapist, but as I told you, this is my first visit to Observer Base. Where I come from, I have other concerns..."

"Where are you from? I've never heard an accent like yours."

"I'm from Earth."

"How did you get here? There has been no travel to and from Earth for thousands of years."

"Thousands of years? When exactly is this?"

"We are 34,655 years after liberation of this Base from the aliens."

"34..." I was shocked. "Tell me, is R. Gohrlay... here?"

"Why do you ask? Don't you know anything?"

"I'm sorry, but I know very little about this time and place. That's why I'm here... to learn."

34,635 years before Nyrtia

"So you say. I still think you are Nahan's spy, testing me. Why else did he show up today and start asking about my work? Maybe you're his spy from the future, trying to learn how I solved the time travel problem."

"No, no! In fact, it is you of the far future who sent me here."

Nyrtia laughed. "Nice try, but I know you are lying. Had I sent you here, I'd have provided you with a way to prove what you say is true." Just then, the Simulation fractured and a copy of Nyrtia from the Final Reality materialized beside me. The Nyrtia from the Final Reality had not bothered to clothe herself and her large breasts pointed at the younger Nyrtia who jumped back in surprise and asked, "Where did you come from?"

Nyrtia from the future said, "Don't be so stubborn, Nyny." 'Nyny' was Dewoy's pet name for Nyrtia, a name that Dewoy alone had used ever since they were little children.

Nyrtia of the First Reality asked, "Did you arrive by time travel or by teleportation?"

"Neither. You are going to have to accept the fact that this is all a Simulation." Nyrtia from the future disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived.

Nyrtia shook her head as if unable to believe what she had just seen. She looked at me and said, "This is going to take some getting used to. Why did this have to happen today?" She had been planning to spend the night writing in her diary about matters such as her choice of which house to move into. Now she was tempted to go and find Nahan and tell him about this whole crazy simulator... but no, there was no sense in that. "Go away and let me think." She turned and went inside the big, rambling Syzyng mansion, turning one last disbelieving look at me as she passed through the front door.

Ivory

I laughed nervously and told myself: well, I suppose that could have gone even worse had future Nyrtia not made an appearance. I was tempted to go visit the downtown district, but I retraced my steps and returned to the exact spot where I had arrived in the Simulation of the First Reality. For ten minutes I tried to find and activate a portal that would pop me out of the Simulation, but that effort was wasted. I began wondering how long I would remain in this Simulation of Observer Base. I went inside the house and for a time I wandered from room to room, examining the strange furnishings. Then I heard a voice call from the second floor, "I'm waiting!"

It was Ivory's sweet voice. I ran upstairs and found her sprawled across a big fancy bed, in the same pose as before, when I had first passed from Earth into the Simulation. I reminded myself that this was Yrovi. She told me, "Don't push her too hard, too fast. Besides, Nyrtia has a busy day tomorrow. While she's busy, we can keep each-other entertained..."

I started trying to take off the clothes I had been dressed in. Yrovi waved a hand and the clothing dissolved into a glimmering cloud of sparkles. "You'll have to get used to the clothing nanites."

I got on the bed and took her in my arms. I asked skeptically, "Is this really the best way for me to learn about the First Reality?"

Yrovi was busying herself with my genitals and for a time I thought she had not heard my question. However, after she took my erection inside her hot vagina, she looked into my eyes and said, "You are supposed to be enjoying this."

"Well, I am, but poor Nyrtia seemed shocked by my unexpected arrival. She was so alarmed that I did not learn much from her."

Yrovi advised me, "Don't be in such a hurry." We proceeded to slowly and carefully construct a magnificent series of shared orgasms. The only real problem that night was my concern that one of the two Nyrtias might show up. When we were telepathically linked during an orgasm trance, Yrovi looked into my mind and telepathically scolded me: Stop thinking about Nyrtia.

_______________

Late the following afternoon, Nyrtia did finally arrive with her assistant robot Lynscot who quickly found Yrovi and I in the master bedroom suite and immediately tried to eject us from Nyrtia's new home. "Get out you two squatters! Nyrtia has registered this as her home."

Nyrtia placed a hand on Lyn's shoulder and told her assistant, "This is the strange guy I told you about." Nyrtia approached Yrovi and tried to check for a telepathic link to her. Nyrtia asked Yrovi, "Who are you?"

Yrovi said mischievously, "Like him, I'm another interloper, from outside this Simulator."

Nyrtia shook her head and told us, "This is a busy day for me. I don't have time to deal with you wacky Escapists. I invited guests over and they should be arriving soon."

I suggested, "Don't worry about us. Go ahead with your plans." I added, "You know, we are not really Escapists. Maybe you should label us as Simulationists."

Nyrtia giggled at my lame joke, but Lyn was not amused. She pointed at the rumpled bed and complained, "You two have been screwing in Nyrtia's new bed?"

Nyrtia had been eyeing my large genitals and said, "Calm down, Scotty, I don't mind. It is clear that we are going to have to accept these invaders in our lives. Put my things in the guest suite of the east wing." Nyrtia went off to answer the door gong. Her guests had arrived.

Lyn went down the hallway carrying several bags of Nyrtia's possessions and I looked rather desperately at Yrovi, "Can you teach me how to control the clothing nanites?"

She waved her hand and I was back in the plastic-like clothing I had worn the previous day. "I suppose you want to spy on Nyrtia."

"Well, yes. But why call it spying? Learning about Nyrtia is why I'm here."

"Suit yourself, but don't blame me for the consequences of your nosiness. You should wait until Nyrtia is done entertaining her guests." Yrovi strode off down the hallway, her cute bottom waggling seductively at me.

I went down to the first floor and listened to the conversation between Nyrtia and her two guests. These were Dodaqowż and Ursyña, two Nyrturians. While I listened, I had no idea what a Nyrturian was, but I soon understood that both Dodaqowż and Ursyña were part of a research project aimed at building a teleportation device. I heard Dodaqowż say, "The high resolution scan of Earth is complete. We have the exact coordinates of the subterranean cavern."

Nyrtia asked, "What's your best guess as to the purpose of that facility? How old is it?"

Ursyña replied, "It must be ancient. Most of the equipment down there seems to be bioreactors."

"What's the power source?"

"We have no idea. I don't think that chamber is even really inside Earth... physically. I think it is like Observer Base, part of the Hierion Domain."

"If so, then how can you have determined exact teleportation coordinates?"

"Look Nyrtia, we can use the old teleporter to make scans like these, but nobody really knows how the teleporter works. All I can tell you is that the teleportation scanning system seems to make no distinction between the hadron domain and space-time bubbles in the Hierion Domain."

"Well, I'm not complaining or being critical. Thanks for filling me in on the latest news. Let's get back to why I asked you here, the issue of how I've tuned the data storage buffer for my time machine."

As I listened to them from my location in the next room, I had no idea that earlier that day, Dodaqowż and Ursyña had inspected Nyrtia's time machine inside her workshop at the mansion of the Syzyngs. Dodaqowż said, "You've made modifications to the array... I can see that you started with the basic plan for the teleporter circuits, but I don't understand what you said earlier about your temporal dimension expansion." For a long time that spoke about mathematics and I had no idea what they were talking about beyond the fact that they seemed to be arguing about the dimensional structure of the universe.

Finally, Ursyña told Dodaqowż, "I think I begin to understand. If Nyrtia is correct, then the aliens were using the wrong theoretical model and that's why the aliens never discovered time travel. Only with the existence of positronic brains could the possibility of time travel even be contemplated."

Nyrtia added, "The problem is, I've spent my whole life developing my new theory of the time dimensions. However, I recently realize that my time machine can't function unless I have the correct theory of the spatial dimensions as well."

Dodaqowż explained, "We have a good theory for six of the nine spatial dimensions, but the sedron domain is a mystery. I was surprised to see that you have incorporated sedron condensers into the structure of your time machine."

Nyrtia sighed. "That might be a mistake. However, when I learned that Nahan has been experimenting with these condensers for the past thousand years, I decided that I'd be a fool to not follow up on his work."

Ursyña complained, "But what is the link to time travel? I have a MB7 condenser in my brain... that's the basis of the telepathic links that we Nyrturian's share."

Dodaqowż asked Nyrtia, "How did you stabilize such a large and complex array of sedronic matter?"

"Well, in the beginning, I started by experimenting with the relatively small amount of sedronic matter that was inside my own brain.  I discovered that draining out my sedrons had no effect on my brain's function. Then I learned that condensers like the MB7 produce a containment field that can trap sedrons. Soon enough, that allowed me to demonstrate the vast quantum computational capacity of an organized array of sedrons. In fact, the computational power seems to defy physical laws. My current guess is that all my newer model condenser does is tap into the sedron domain and make use of the computational power that exists there."

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Ursyña seemed skeptical, "The truth is, your so-called "new model" is essentially what was used inside the old femtobot replicoids. According to ancient legend, those alien minds were all destroyed by R. Gohrlay thirty thousand years ago."

"As far as I can tell, Gohrlay used her telepathic ability to disconnect those replicoids from the sedronic domain. That's what inactivated them. In fact, I think they were designed by the aliens to be easy to inactivate, in case they ever fell into the hands of a primitive species."

"Like humans."

"Exactly."

"What happens if you re-connect them?"

"I've tried to do that and so has Nahan. I suspect there is a code for correctly synchronizing the replicoid brains with... something... something that the aliens have in the sedron domain. Without that code, we can't connect into their data network. Those old femtobots were never designed to be autonomous, they were all part of a network, probably guided by the quantum computational capacity of some alien device inside the sedron domain."

"You sound like one of those Escapist crackpots." Ursyña said impatiently, "Enough science fiction... let's get back to reality."

Dodaqowż asked Nyrtia, "Tell me, Nyrtia, why do you say there is a code?"

Nyrtia giggled and replied, "Well, maybe code is not exactly the right word..."

Dodaqowż suggested, "What if there is another hierion, something other than the twitino, a special type of fundamental particle that is used to carry the activation signal?"

Nyrtia laughed. "That's a clever idea, but also discouraging. There could be a hundred kinds of hierions. After 34 thousand years we still don't even understand the physical properties of twitinos."

More photography by Chiara Fersini

Ursyña said, "It is a long shot, but what if your condensers use the same hierion that the teleporter uses to scan for hadrons?"

Nyrtia had her own complaint. "Years ago I asked for access to the teleporter equipment. My repeated requests were all denied by the scientific review board." I saw Ursyña depart through the front door. Nyrtia asked, "Where is she going?"

Telepathically linked to Ursyña, Dodaqowż explained to Nyrtia, "She's coming right back. The teleporter scanner is constantly in use. That's how the ancient cavern inside Earth was discovered and now every square foot of Earth is being carefully searched for other alien artifacts. Earth is huge, so the scanning process takes forever. However, a couple of years ago, a portable hierion generator was devised. It was used to make a detailed map of Observer Base, but now it just sits in the lab."

"Interesting. I suppose I'm not a very good host, Doda, but could you excuse me for a minute?" Nyrtia went storming upstairs. I guess she was in telepathic contact with her aide, Lyn. A minute later, Nyrtia came back down the stairs and she saw me hiding beside a big armchair. "There you are. I'm surprised you are not upstairs screwing around with Yrovi and Lyn."

"I told you that I'm here to learn about ancient history." I glanced upwards and tried to imagine Yrovi making love to the robot. Turning my attention back to Nyrtia, I said, "Tell me, where is your time machine?"

"I built it in my workshop, inside the basement of the Syzyngs' house. I suppose you'd like to see it."

Just then, Dodaqowż stepped into the room. Nyrtia said, "Doda, let me introduce you to my... house guest..." After the introductions we went back into the parlor and Nyrtia told Dodaqowż, "There really should be better communication between the various research projects. I had no idea that it is possible to make a hierion generator."

Dodaqowż shrugged. "Don't ask me to explain how it works. Maybe Ursyña knows. I'm just a theorist."

I was unable to stop myself from staring at Dodaqowż. She looked a lot like Holly, a girl I had gone to school with back on Earth. Nyrtia noticed my fascination with Dodaqowż and asked me, "Haven't you ever seen a Nyrturian before?"

"What is a Nyrturian?"

Dodaqowż told Nyrtia, "I knew it was a mistake to come here, but I could not resist taking a look at your time machine.

Nyrtia said, "Travel restrictions between Nyrturia and the rest of Observer Base were abolished more than a hundred years ago."

"Yes, but then there were the genome protests. We Nyrturian's were labeled as aliens and never felt welcomed among the regular humans. We learned our lesson. There's no point in us even trying to mix with humans."

I told Dodaqowż, "I've never even heard of Nyrturians before just now, but..." I almost said that the physical appearance of Dodaqowż reminded my of another human variant, the Asterothropes, but that term would be meaningless to people of the First Reality. "Where I come from, there are several different human variants." I could not even begin to understand why first Nyrtia of the Final Reality and now this Nyrturian both looked like Holly.

Dodaqowż asked me, "Where do you come from?"

Nyrtia told Dodaqowż, "He told me that he's from Earth. Earth of the far future. I don't really believe him, but I'm humoring him on the off chance that he might be a time traveler."

I said, "Sadly, I know nothing about time travel. I'm here as a student... a learner. It is fascinating to see how the first time travel machine is being invented. But I'm confused... of what use might a hierion generator be? What exactly do you mean by 'spatial kernel'?"

Dodaqowż laughed and told Nyrtia, "You sure have weird friends." Dodaqowż pointed at me and asked, "Is he one of those Escapist nuts?"

I replied, "I do write stories. I suppose when I get home I'll include you in one of my stories."

"A story writer, eh? Are you as ignorant as most?" Dodaqowż giggled and then asked me, "Do you know any mathematics?"

"Some, but I'm really a biologist."

"Then you are familiar with the vector spaces that can be used to describe evolving genomes. Even my mother understands that concept."

"Yes, I can imagine such a vector space."

Dodaqowż said, "My mother models human variants, like the Denisovans and we Nyrturians, as zeroes of the genomic state spaces. In her work, she tries to find the kernel for two human variants... all those people who, through past generations, contributed to the gene patterns of the newly evolved human variant. She dreams of making a new variant, one that will be able to have natural sexual reproduction... what she egotistically calls a Myrturian."

I nodded. "Okay, now tell me, what does that have to do with the dimensional structure of the universe?"

Nyrtia giggled. "Dimensional structure of the universe? Very poetic, but what does that mean?"

"Earlier, I heard you discussing the nine spatial dimensions. Just explain to me what you mean by 'spatial kernel', that sounds like nonsense."

the Numerists

Dodaqowż said, "In the currently popular theory of the three domains of the universe, we conceptualize the ability of various fundamental particles to transition between domains in terms of mappings between the three domains. Each fundamental particle is assigned a vector which is intended to model its physical properties, such a mass."

"I see. But what good is such a theory if you don't know most of the fundamental particles?"

Nyrtia explained, "We are not seeking an exhaustive and comprehensive theory of everything. I'm a pragmatist. I just want to find a particle that can transmit information along the time dimensions. Actually, we already know about twitinos, but they are useless for matter transmission through time. If there is no other particle that can be transmitted along the temporal dimensions then time travel is impossible. However, I've realized that I can't solve the time travel problem in isolation. There is some fundamental connection between the three temporal dimensions and the nine spatial dimensions."

Dodaqowż added, "We can try to figure out how to unify your new temporal theory with the spatial theory that is now almost 1000 years old. But in the past, the goal of such temporal and spatial unification has always defeated theorists like me."

Nyrtia told me, "So, do you see what is going on here Mr. Student? I've recently discovered a new concept, what might lead to a new theory of Time. Today, after my Announcement Ceremony, Nahan suggested that I start to collaborate with Dodaqowż and Ursyña."

Just then, Ursyña returned and I could see that she was holding a small device in her hands. She set it down on the table with a thump. Obviously the device was quite heavy for its small size. Flexing her cramped fingers, Ursyña announced, "Someone else can carry it over to the Syzing place for the test."

Nyrtia said, "We can do the test right here." She grabbed the hair on the top of her head and popped off the top of her head. She tipped her head forward and ejected a small glowing nodule out of the maze of circuitry that filled her brain case. Not bothering to replace the top of her head, she positioned the little glowing red cloud on the table in front of the gun-shaped hierion generator. "There's my condenser module."

Peering into Nyrtia's open head, Dodaqowż said, "I thought you said that you removed your sedron condenser long ago..."

Nyrtia chuckled, "Yes, I did, but I put it back in. Sometimes I fantasize that I might find a way to activate it." She pointed at the hierion generator, "Turn it on."

Ursyña carefully aligned the probe of the generator with the condenser. As I focused my eyes on the red blob, I could tell that the condenser was confining a swirling cloud of nanites to a small region of space. "There is a power control here." Ursyña asked, "Should I just use the highest power setting?"

Nyrtia was bent over the generator and I got a good look inside her head. I was now completely convinced that this cute girl was a positronic robot. Nyrtia did not look quite so cute while holding her long mop of hair in her hands. She re-attached the top of her head and suggested, "Let's be cautious. Turn the power down low before you turn it on."

Ursyña double checked the settings and again adjusted the aim of the generator. "I've never used this thing before. I think I have it all set. Switching on... now!"

Suddenly the whole room was filled with an unusual kind of red light. My eyesight is not good, but I seemed to see swirls and waves of red surrounding the four of us. The original red blob on the table was gone. Nyrtia said, "Obviously the power is way too high." She picked up the generator and pointed it in another direction. The red light in the room spun wildly. Nyrtia walked out of the room and out of the house carrying the generator. A moment later she returned without the generator and joined Dodaqowż and Ursyña and I where we had congregated around a three-foot wide globe of swirling red mist, what now remained of Nyrtia's condenser and its swarm of sedrons. 

Lyn and Yrovi came into the room and joined the rest of us beside the red sphere. Apparently they had seen the red mist when it had briefly expanded and spread out to fill the entire house. 

After some introductions, Yrovi had one of her hands resting on the sedron containment field as she asked, "So, what is this thing?"

Nyrtia said, "This is the secret of time travel." She looked at me and then asked, "Hey, Earth-man, how would you like to visit Earth with me?"

Related Reading: Part 3 of The Historical Archive. 

Next: a technical question... how far back in time will Nyrtia go?

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