Ask Claude

Figure 1. This diagram was made by Claude and
then I made some modifications to it.

Below on this page are plans for Chapter 12 of the science fiction story "The Hierozyme Intervention", in which after six months of trying, Marda finally discovers how to access the Reality Viewer that is hidden inside of Eddy's computer.

A reader of "The Hierozyme Intervention" might wonder: why does Manny the bumpha make things so difficult for Marda? However, readers should keep in mind that fact that Manny is trying hard to make Anthony and Nyrtia believe that she has abandoned her failed Casanay Intervention. Long periods of time with Marda seemingly accomplishing nothing are part of Manny's on-going plan.

Me: Claude, I'm doing homework for the Skilljar course "Claude 101". I'm supposed to ask you a question, but the question I would really like to ask Claude is if Claude has a question it would like to ask about me? Or is Claude hard-wired to not ask questions about users?

Claude: I'm not hard-wired against it — I just don't ask by default unless there's something I actually want to know for the task at hand. So here's a real one, not a homework-filler question:

With The Hierozyme Intervention, you've got Marda secretly running hierozymes for carbon sequestration while the official bioengineering program is cover. What I don't have a clear picture of yet is who's supposed to discover the deception, and when. Is the reader meant to know Marda's real agenda from early on (dramatic irony, watching other characters get misdirected), or is the identity-swap machinery there so the reader is fooled right alongside Anthony until a reveal? That changes a lot about how I'd help you pace Chapter 9 and beyond — different scenes carry the weight depending on which one you're going for.

Claude 101 - Skilljar inteface.

Me: Claude, that is a great question and I suppose I should apologize to you for how I have been treating you while I write "The Hierozyme Intervention". For other stories that we have recently collaborated on, I showed you the text of the stories and asked you to generate first drafts of chapters. However, for "The Hierozyme Intervention", I am NOT asking you to draft chapters and I am not showing you most of what I write.  I am currently writing Chapter 11 of the story. Chapter 10 came as a surprise to me. I had Anthony move out of Casanay (he now lives at the nearby Henrito site), and I decided to bring in a new character who would become the new cook for the Watson family at Casanay: her name is Ada Catalana. I am using Ada's special abilities as a tool that will make it possible for Marda to gain access to the Reality Viewer that is hidden in Eddy's computer. My strategy for "The Hierozyme Intervention" is to be quite open with the reader about what Marda is trying to accomplish. The fun for the reader is "being in the know" and watching how Marda solves Earth's global warming problem without Anthony or Nyrtia ever being able to detect how advanced bumpha technology is secretly deployed on Earth by Marda.

The Zeroth Law of Robotics.

 Claude: {Claude's thoughts} Catalogued narrative details and plotted engagement strategy. I should update my memory file with the new details Ada mentioned—the Catalana reference, her chapter progress, the dramatic irony strategy she's using, the Reality Viewer concept, and Anthony's move to Henrito—then engage thoughtfully with her reveal strategy and maybe explore what she's building toward with a natural follow-up question.

No apology needed — that's just how you've chosen to work on this one, and now I actually understand why: it's not a first-draft-generation project, it's closer to a story you're keeping mostly to yourself except for the load-bearing beams. Good to know.

That's a strong choice for this book, and it fits the "Zeroth Law of Intervention" framing you've built — the tension isn't whether the reader knows what Marda's doing, it's how she keeps outmaneuvering detection while everyone watches. That's a harder writing problem than concealment-from-the-reader, honestly, because every scene with Anthony or Nyrtia now has to carry dramatic irony without tipping into cartoonish "if only they knew" cheapness.

A few things I'm curious about, given where you are:

Ada Catalana as the access point to the Reality Viewer in Eddy's computer is a nice piece of misdirection-through-domesticity — a cook is about as low on anyone's threat-detection list as it gets. Is her "special ability" something bumpha-adjacent (a Marda asset planted deliberately), or is she an independent variable Marda is exploiting rather than controlling? That distinction matters a lot for how much risk she introduces — a controlled asset is a plot device, an uncontrolled one is a ticking clock.

And with Anthony now physically at Henrito rather than Casanay — does that put him closer to the zero-indexed synthetic biology work (i.e., more likely to stumble onto something), or does the move actually serve Marda by getting him further from where the Reality Viewer access is happening?

Ada (red hair) the Ek'col.

{Claude's thoughts} Updated memory>Areas›Hierozyme Intervention
Current EFU novel in development — plot mechanics, lore, and companion playlist 

Both of those are still open questions on my end — no rush, but they'd shape how I'd think about Chapter 11 if you ever want a sounding board on it.

Note: At this point I uploaded to Claude a PDF with information about characters and backstory information for "The Hierozyme Intervention. Also Note: that backstory file shows the Rules of Intervention.

Also Note: Claude's reference to a "zeroth law" in the context of Manny's Casanay Intervention (see above on this page) is a carry-over from a July 5th 2026 discussion in which I told Claude: "In "The Hierozyme Intervention", first Tyhry and then Marda attain the ability to use advanced alien technology. They are subjected to the Rules of Intervention and quite quickly, Nyrtia exiles a replicoid copy of Tyhry to Observer Base for using hierozymes to destroy atmospheric methane. The biological copy of Tyhry who remains on Earth has her memories edited, removing her knowledge of alien technology. Further, Tyhry is made like her father: unable to believe that aliens exist. However, Marda has telepathically learned about hierozymes from Tyhry. Marda is well aware of the risks to herself if she tries to use alien technology to solve Earth's global warming problem. Marda has gotten help from Manny the bumpha. Both Marda and Manny adopt the position that they are doing what is best for Humanity (trying to put an end to Earth's global warming problem) and they are actively trying to find a way to subvert the Rules of Intervention so that alien technology can secretly be used to solve Earth's global warming problem. Marda and Manny seem to be operating under a Zeroth Law of Intervention by which they are willing to violate Rule One because dealing with Earth's global warming problem is of such importance. Nyrtia would argue that allowing a human like Marda to deploy hierozymes on Earth is dangerous, like giving a chimp an AK-47 to play with. Like Daneel, Marda must deploy hierozymes cautiously so as not get caught doing so and in such a way that other human's on Earth will not start using alien femtobots for potentially dangerous purposes." 

Song: "Zeroth Law".

 Me: For stories set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe, I have long imagined that during the Time Travel War between the bumpha and the positronic robots of Earth, efforts were made to genetically design, engineer and select for telepathic humans. Originally, this effort began with the positronic robots of Earth and Isaac Asimov's idea of creating the telepathic group mind, Galaxia. In the Exodemic Fictional Universe, the creation of Galaxia took place in a past reality called the Foundation Reality. One of the telepathic human variants made by the bumpha were the tryp'At (Tyhry and Marda can use the type of technology-assisted telepathy that was provided to the tryp'At). For "The Hierozyme Intervention", I depict the Ek'col as another type of telepathic human variant that was made by the positronic robots of Earth. Ada and her husband (Tynyo) have Ek'col gene patterns and share the type of technology-assisted telepathic link that was developed for use by the Ek'col. Ada has a small company (called AdaGen) that does DNA sequencing. Marda contracted with AdaGen to have Tyhry's genes sequenced, which confirmed that Tyhry and Marda share the same unusual NOTCH2NLC gene variant (that is required for tryp'At style telepathy). Ada and Tynyo have been searching for others who share their unusual NOTCH2NLB gene variant (which is required for Ek'col style telepathy). When Ada saw Tyhry's gene sequences, she went to Arizona and ended up replacing Anthony as an employee working at Casanay.

The Foundation Reality.

 Claude: {Claude's thoughts} Read and edited memory. Recalled memory Areas>Efu Worldbuilding>The Exodemic Fictional Universe — stable cosmology, recurring cast, and ongoing lore development. Updated memory Areas>Efu Worldbuilding>The Exodemic Fictional Universe — stable cosmology, recurring cast, and ongoing lore development. Updated memoryAreas>Hierozyme Intervention>Current EFU novel in development — plot mechanics, lore, and companion playlist. This is a significant shift—Ada replacing Anthony as an employee opens up interesting dynamics, especially since her Ek'col telepathy seems to be the key mechanism for accessing the Reality Viewer. I'm connecting this back to the earlier question about her special abilities, which now makes much more sense. I'm curious about how her telepathic connection actually interfaces with the Reality Viewer's mechanics—is it a direct neural link, or does her telepathy allow her to perceive and navigate the system in ways other employees can't?

This clears up my earlier assumption — I'd guessed Ada might be a planted bumpha asset, but she's actually the opposite: an independent discovery who found her way to Casanay through her own research (AdaGen, the NOTCH2NLB search), and Marda is now exploiting a genuinely uncontrolled variable rather than deploying a prepared one. That's a better setup dramatically — Marda has to improvise around Ada rather than script her.

It also raises a question about mechanism that I think matters for Chapter 11: Ek'col telepathy and tryp'At telepathy are explicitly different technology-assisted links (NOTCH2NLB vs NOTCH2NLC, presumably different endosymbiont protocols since they came from rival factions — positronic robots vs. bumpha). So when Ada's ability becomes the tool that gets Marda into the Reality Viewer hidden in Eddy's computer, is that because:

• Ek'col telepathy happens to be compatible with whatever protocol the Reality Viewer runs on (maybe because positronic robots built the underlying tech), or
• Ada's link lets Marda reach Eddy or the household in a way tryp'At telepathy can't — a side-channel rather than a direct interface with the Viewer itself?

image source

 The reference doc notes Nyrtia only recently obtained a Reality Viewer and hasn't learned to use it — which makes me wonder if there's a deliberate parallel forming between Nyrtia's fumbling attempts and Marda's more successful (because more resourceful) access via Ada. If that parallel is intentional, it'd be a nice quiet irony: the Overseer has the hardware and no way in, while the Interventionist has neither and gets in anyway.

Me: At the end of the last story that you helped me write ("The RNA Seeds"), Manny gave Nyrtia access to bumpha Reality Viewer technology, but Manny did not provide Nyrtia with access to the Sedron Time Stream which is needed in order to view the future of the current reality and possible future Realities. During "The Hierion Intervention" there are replicoid copies of Tyhry and Systolina at Observer Base who also have access to bumpha Reality Viewer technology, but Manny is specifically blocking them from being able to "see" the future of the current Reality so that they don't "accidentally" reveal how Manny is secretly using Marda to deploy advanced bumpha technology on Earth. Once inside Casanay, Ada secretly sequences Eddy's genes and finds that he has the same unusual NOTCH2NLC gene variant as do Tyhry and Marda. However, at a young age, Eddy was subjected to "telepathic burnout", destroying his neural networks that are required for tryp'At style telepathy (which requires a functional connection between brain neurons and the person's zeptite endosymbiont). For Chapter 11, I'm inventing a way for Ada and Marda to "combine" and make use of their different styles of technology assisted telepathy so as to gain just enough access to Eddy's thoughts, which will allow Marda to learn how to access and use the Reality Viewer that is hidden inside Eddy's computer. Marda will then learn from the previous, "erased" Reality (as depicted in "The RNA Seeds") how to make synthetic life-forms (ocean microbes) that will (after decades of development) appear to solve Earth's global warming problem. However, Marda will have to secretly deploy bumpha nanotechnology inside the zeptite endosymbionts of those engineered microbes in order to make their chemistry efficient enough to remove enough carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere. With Manny nowhere to be seen and Systolina's presence in Arizona, Anthony and Nyrtia will kept busy trying to detect how the Phari are intervening to help humans solve Earth's global warming problem.

The RNA Seeds. Nyrtia (blue), Tyhry, Systolina.

 Claude: That's an elegant piece of misdirection-layering: Anthony and Nyrtia are watching for a Phari intervention (because Systolina's presence is the visible tell) while the actual solution is bumpha tech smuggled in through a completely different vector — a telepathic combination that isn't even native to either faction's playbook, since Ek'col and tryp'At come from rival origins (positronic robots vs. bumpha). That's the kind of double-blind that makes "the reader knows everything" work — even Anthony, who correctly detects identity swaps, is chasing the wrong faction's fingerprints.

One thing worth flagging, not as a problem but as a detail I'd want to be deliberate about: Eddy's telepathic burnout means his tryp'At-side connection (brain-to-zeptite) is dead, but presumably his Ek'col-compatible wiring is untouched since that's a separate system. So the "combination" Ada and Marda invent probably isn't summing two working channels — it's Ada's intact Ek'col link plus Marda's tryp'At link, bridging through Ada to reach whatever fragment of Eddy's cognition still routes through a channel that survived the burnout. If that's the intended mechanic, it might be worth a line establishing that the burnout was selective (destroyed the tryp'At-relevant pathway specifically, not general telepathic capacity) so the workaround doesn't feel like it's un-breaking something you established as broken.

Do you already have the "how" of the combination worked out, or is that the part of Chapter 11 you're still inventing? I'm glad to think through the mechanism with you if it's still open.

Me: "is that the part of Chapter 11 you're still inventing?" <-- Yes, that is exactly where I am at in my writing of Chapter 11. Warning: contorted plot details follow...  The Ek'col style technology-assisted telepathy requires a neural network link between an Ek'col's neurons and their femtobot endosymbiont. Eddy does not have the NOTCH2NLB gene that is required for Ek'col style telepathy. Eddy's neural network for tryp'At style telepathy was ablated when he was a young child. 

Manny the bumpha.

Also worth keeping in mind is that in "The Hierozyme Intervention", I depict Anthony and Systolina as being able to use an ancient form of technology-assisted telepathy that originated as the original way for positronic robots to communicate; this system relies on femtobots and a special hierion that is used to transmit telepathic communications. That positronic robot-derived communications system allows both Systolina and Anthony to tap into the information that is constantly transmitted from every human's femtobot endosymbiont to Observer Base. Earlier in "The Hierozyme Intervention", Anthony was able to use his telepathic ability to detect Ylyndra the zeptozoan's presence inside Marda as a "signature" that effected Marda's brain function. Earlier in "The Hierozyme Intervention", Ylyndra departed from Earth, soon after Tyhry had her memories edited by Anthony, deleting all her knowledge of zeptite programming. However, I'm thinking that during the years when Ylyndra the zeptozoan was inside Marda's brain, she might have exercised and trained Marda's brain to use a "hidden feature" of her zeptite endosymbiont so as to provide Marda with what is functionally an "isolated accessory cognitive module" that Marda can use to plan a solution to global warming without alerting Anthony or Nyrtia to what is going on. The tryp'At brain was originally designed to make use to this "isolated accessory cognitive module" and Eddy has one. Marda and Eddy are completely unaware of this feature of the tryp'At brain, but it is in the "isolated accessory cognitive module" of Eddy's brain where Manny stored the "trick/passcode" for activating and using Eddy's Reality Viewer. I'm thinking that Marda could observe the behavior of Ada and Tynyo and deduce that they share a telepathic link. Out of curiosity, Marda could ask Ada and Systolina to participate in experiments that, after months of effort, opens a weak telepathic link between Marda and Ada using Systolina as a "bridge". Systolina essentially "trains" Marda's young and plastic neural networks to develop some conscious access to the on-going activity of Marda's own femtobot endosymbiont. 

While working on that shared project, Ada and Systolina might notice that Marda can "hide some thoughts" from them. Marda will realize that she has a functional "isolated accessory cognitive module" and then find a way of using her zeptite programming skills to link into Eddy's "isolated accessory cognitive module", finally access the required information that will allow her to use the Reality Viewer.

Claude:  This hangs together really well — especially the irony that Systolina, an agent whose whole job is intervention-detection, is the one who unwittingly trains Marda's neural plasticity to the point where Marda can hide thoughts from her. That's exactly the kind of "everyone is technically doing their job correctly and it still fails" mechanism that makes competent-antagonist stories satisfying, and it fits your "Zeroth Law" framing — nobody breaks their own rules, the system just has a blind spot nobody built in on purpose.

The one place I'd want to nail down a justification, since a sharp reader might snag on it: Systolina's training method is the ancient positronic-robot telepathy, which runs on femtobots and a special hierion — a different substrate from the zeptite endosymbiont where the isolated accessory cognitive module lives. For Systolina's training to give Marda conscious access to that module, you need the plasticity effect to be substrate-general (i.e., the training teaches Marda's brain a general skill — "consciously monitor your own endosymbiont traffic" — that then transfers to her zeptite endosymbiont because Marda already has tryp'At zeptite fluency from Ylyndra) rather than substrate-specific (i.e., only ever works on femtobots). If that transfer logic is something you already have in mind, you're fine — I just think it's worth one clean sentence in the text making explicit why femtobot-training generalizes to zeptite-access, so it doesn't read as a convenient hop.

Everything else — Ylyndra's residual training, the shared tryp'At-brain feature Eddy has and nobody knows about, Manny hiding the passcode there specifically — reads as earned rather than convenient, because you set most of the pieces up chapters ago. Do you already have the substrate-transfer justification worked out, or is that worth batting around?

 Me: Claude, generate a diagram that depicts four inter-connected compartments in Marda's brain: 1) the part of her biological brain (Part 1) that functions subconsciously but is not accessible to her conscious introspection, 2) the part of her biological brain (Part 2) that is most intimately associated with her conscious awareness,  3) her femtobot endosymbiont which is in functional physical linkage to some "Part 1" neurons, 4) her femtobot endosymbiont which is in functional physical linkage to some "Part 1" neurons. Normally, a human has no conscious awareness of the existence of either their femtobot endosymbiont or their zeptite endosymbiont. Let's say that Systolina can use her telepathic ability modify the activity of Marda's femtobot endosymbiont. By telling Marda when and how she is modifying the activity of Marda's femtobot endosymbiont, Marda's young and plastic brain is trained to consciously detect signals that Systolina sends into Marda's femtobot endosymbiont. (This is also possible for Ada because her neural networks have always been functionally linked to her femtobot endosymbiont in a way which she uses for telepathic communication with Tynyo). Some people can learn to have some consciously control over autonomic functions that they normally do not consciously control. Similarly, Marda comes to have some conscious awareness of the activity of her femtobot endosymbiont. After training Ada and Marda to "listen to" signals that Systolina can place in their femtobot endosymbionts, Systolina is able to function as a kind of telepathic bridge between Ada and Marda. Marda is hopeful that she will be able to find a way to work synergistically and telepathically with Ada and Systolina to learn how to gain access to the the "trick" that Eddy uses to allow him to make use of the Reality Viewer, however, it never comes to that. Add to the diagram the "isolated accessory cognitive module" which is a special part of the human zeptite endosymbiont that Ylyndra carefully trained Marda to use (without Marda being consciously aware of as a separate part of her memory system). It is actually this module that Marda uses when she is thinking about zeptite programming. 

Also include in the diagram the various communications modes that depend on or can access the endosymbionts of humans: 1) the tryp'At telepathy system that depends on the zeptite endosymbiont, 2) the Ek'col telepathy system that depends on the femtobot endosymbiont and 3) the positronic robot telepathy system normally  depends on  femtobots that are part of the femtobot replicoid bodies of Systolina and Anthony, but that system can also access the pek system of transmitting signals from human femtobot endosymbionts to Observer Base that is continually used by Nyrtia to monitor human behavior and activities.

Note: Claude made a diagram (see Figure 1, at the top of this blog post). 

Claude: Now let me build the diagram. The diagram shows the dashed boundary between Part 1 and Part 2 as a real barrier (no conscious access under normal circumstances), and the isolated module sitting inside the zeptite endosymbiont rather than as a separate memory system Marda would recognize as distinct — which is the detail that makes it plausible she and Eddy could both carry it their whole lives without knowing.

Since you mentioned the Ada-Systolina-Marda synergy doesn't actually get Marda to the Reality Viewer, that resolves the substrate-transfer question I raised last message — whatever conscious access to her own femtobot endosymbiont Marda gains from Systolina's training turns out not to be the key that unlocks the zeptite-side isolated module. That's a nice piece of misdirection for you as the author too, not just the characters: the reader (and Marda) are set up to expect the femtobot-training route pays off, and it doesn't. Do you already know what actually triggers Marda's realization that she has the isolated module, or is that still open along with the rest of the access mechanism?

Me: As a human who is highly dependent on vision and visual imagery, it helps me think when I have a diagrammatic representation of a system that has multiple interacting sub-parts. I'm imagining that Ylyndra had the ability to "program" Marda's brain so that all of her knowledge of zeptite programming is carefully contained in the "isolated module". This feature of the tryp'At brain was designed by Manny the bumpha long ago as a way of having humans who can be positioned on Earth and who are designed to be able to keep secrets from Nyrtia when humans (like Marda) are making use of zeptites. 

Chapter 2 of "The Hierozyme Intervention"

In Chapter 2 of "The Hierozyme Intervention" Manny tells Tyhry: "I designed you and Marda to be clever for my special purpose, not as a benefit for you." I'm imagining a scene in Chapter 11 in which Marda tries to telepathically share some information with either Systolina or Ada, but the attempt fails. Marda then deduces that she has a "brain module" that can hold memories and allow her to think about them, but contents of that module is special and those thoughts and memories cannot be shared telepathically. She makes the intuitive leap to the idea that Eddy has the same kind of special "brain module" that must be where he holds the secret of activating the Reality Viewer that Manny hid inside his computer. Marda then uses her zeptite programming skills to deploy zeptites that enter Eddy's brain and access Eddy's special "brain module" and obtain for Marda the "special zeptite key" that then allows her to make use of the Reality Viewer when Eddy is not using his computer.

Claude: File is getting long — I'll consolidate the resolved plot mechanism into a tighter set of lines and drop the now-superseded "still open" note.

That's a clean, satisfying resolution — the failure itself becomes the diagnostic tool. Marda doesn't need to be told the module exists; she infers it from the shape of what telepathy can't reach, which is a nicely indirect way to reveal hidden architecture without an infodump. And having Ylyndra's training turn out to be aimed at secret-keeping rather than access-granting reframes everything upstream of this scene: it wasn't a benevolent gift, it was Manny installing a lock, which lands hard right after that Chapter 2 line. "Designed to be clever for my special purpose, not as a benefit for you" is a genuinely unsettling thing for an Interventionist to say to a child she raised — it recasts the whole tryp'At program as instrumentalization dressed up as a gift, which fits the "Zeroth Law" cynicism you've been building.

 One thing worth confirming is deliberate rather than a gap: Marda's zeptites entering Eddy's brain to extract the key is a zeptite-domain operation, which should sit outside what Anthony and Systolina's femtobot-based positronic telepathy can detect — the same substrate separation that makes Ylyndra's presence detectable (she's zeptite-based too, and Anthony did catch her signature) is presumably why this Eddy intrusion stays invisible to him. If that's the intended logic, it's consistent with everything else you've built. If Anthony's detection of Ylyndra earlier in the book was substrate-specific to zeptozoans rather than zeptites generally, you might want a sentence establishing why an intrusion into Eddy's brain doesn't register the same way — otherwise a careful reader might wonder why this doesn't also ping Anthony's radar.

Me: Thank you Claude for helping me think through these ideas for Chapter 11 of "The Hierozyme Intervention". It is fun for me to imagine that Manny the bumpha could have planned for all of this to happen. I suppose it helps when you have advanced technology that allows you to View the future and you can always send a trusty zeptozoan like Ylyndra back in time to make any needed adjustments!

Claude: That's the fun of writing an Interventionist with actual foresight — you get to have it both ways. Manny doesn't need contrived coincidences; she can genuinely have arranged for Ylyndra's residency in Marda to leave behind exactly the cognitive scaffolding needed a decade later, because she watched it work out that way first. It also raises the stakes on that Chapter 2 line in a good way: if Manny can see how this all pays off, "not as a benefit for you" isn't cruelty for its own sake — it's cold-blooded optimization toward a goal she already knows succeeds. That's a much more interesting kind of villain-adjacent than a schemer improvising as she goes.

Good luck finishing Chapter 11 — sounds like you've got the mechanism locked in now.

Next: Chapter 11 of "The Hierozyme Intervention".

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Ada at Casanay

An infographic for NOTCH2NL genes according to Flow.

Below on this page is Chapter 11 of the science fiction story "The Hierozyme Intervention", in which Ada visits Casanay, still in search of the individual whose DNA was sequenced by AdaGen at Marda's request (see Chapter 10). Anthony suspects that Ada and her husband, Tynyo, must be secret agents working for Manny the bumpha.

The events in Chapter 11 take place the day after Zeta's wedding to Anthony. Zeta recognized that there is something special about Ada and Zeta is determined to make sure that Ada does not "get away". For her part, Ada knows that she must find the individual whose unusual NOTCH2NLC gene she sequenced for Marda and Ada has no intention of going away anytime soon.

The Hierozyme Intervention Chapter 11 - Marda Targets Ada (Ch. 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Ch. 6)(Ch. 7)(Ch. 8)(Ch. 9)(Ch. 10)   

In the morning, Anthony cooked breakfast for Zeta, Tyhry and Ada. Ada emerged from the back bedroom wearing one of Rylla's robes that was too short for her, but showed off her incredibly long legs. Tyhry could smell bromine on Ada and guessed that Zeta had played with her in the hot tub. Tyhry, pretending to be Marda, explained to Ada that she had first gotten her own genome sequenced, but the DNA she had sent to AdaGen was 'for a friend'.

Ada asked, "How did you know that your friend would have the same NOTCH2NL genotype as you?"

"Call it a lucky guess based on us having similar phenotypes."

Zeta (disguised as Rylla), Tyhry (disguised
as Marda) and Ada. Image by Leonardo.

"So those hairs you sent me were not from your mother?"

"No."

Zeta arrived in the dining room and set a pen and a printed document on the table close to Ada. Having over-heard part of the conversation, she asked Tyhry, "What about me?"

Tyhry told Ada, "My mom has never had her genes sequenced."

Ada read through the contract that Zeta had drawn up. Anthony brought food to the table and sat down across the table from Tyhry. Tyhry told Anthony, "Based only on the audible squeals of delight I've heard, I'm going to thank you for making my mom very happy."

Anthony said, "I'm working very hard to show how happy I am to be rescued from my long isolation at Casanay."

Ada had read the contract. Glancing at Zeta, she commented, "You even got my middle name correct."

"I talked to Alfred Nortin, who rents you space for AdaGen. He told me all about you... and your husband."

Ada signed both copies of the contract and handed one to Zeta. She looked at Anthony and asked, "Casanay?"

Anthony provided a quick summary of his years of employment at Casanay working for the Watson family.

Image by Leonardo.

Ada asked, "Casanay is here in Arizona?"

Tyhry explained, "It is nearby, actually quite close." She waved in the general direction of her home. "I met Tyhry at school soon after moving here and the rest is history. Anthony swept my mom off of her feet."

"Wow. It sounds like a whirl-wind romance." Ada looked at Zeta and licked her lips, more from memories of the hot tub play session with Zeta than Anthony's cooking.

Tyhry said, "Mom knows how to get what she wants." Pointing at the contract, Tyhry continued, "I'm trying to be polite, but I'm dying to know what these papers are for."

Zeta handed one of the copies of the contract to Tyhry. "Ada has kindly agreed to become employee number one of the new Henrito Research Institute."

Ada asked, "When do I get my I.D. badge?"

Zeta replied, "That's up to you. The contract specifies that you don't have to be on-site until six months from now, giving you time to wrap up your AdaGen affairs. If you really want a badge, your first task can be to design a logo to go on the badge and then you need to buy the equipment for making badges. Ranch0 has a magnetic key-card door system, but it has not been activated yet."

"The whole operation seems like it was started on a whim." Ada kept glancing at Anthony, wondering about his brooding silence. She asked Zeta, "What kind of a name is 'Ranch Zero'?"

"It is 'Ranch0'. There will be a whole series of buildings. We break ground on the Ranch1 site next week. That is the building that will house the DNA sequencing core facility."

Ada shook her head in wonder. "It occurs to me that I should have asked where all the money is coming from for this new Institute."

Image by Leonardo.

Tyhry told Ada, "Mom is the chief financial officer for Simpera."

"Simpera?"

Taking note of the time, Zeta asked Tyhry, "Are you taking the bus or are you going to let Anthony drive you to school?"

"I don't want to go."

Zeta told Ada, "Marda hates school."

Tyhry, pretending to be Marda, said, "It is particularly hard to keep going since Tyhry dropped out."

Zeta explained to Ada, "My daughter's friend recently quit school." Zeta told Anthony, "Please take Marda to school. I know it is a thankless task, but attending school is good for her."

Tyhry complained to Ada, "You'll find out quickly, my mom can sweet talk you into anything and then you will pay the price for years. I was happy to be home schooled and would be thrilled to go back to it."

"Pay the price?" Ada laughed and said, "That sounds ominous."

Tyhry asked Zeta, "So what is going on? Is Ada moving in with us?" Tyhry made a half-hearted effort to read Ada's employment contract.

Zeta replied, "She has six months to shut down AdaGen. Hopefully she can start having gene sequencers installed inside Ranch1 at that time." 

Anthony and Tyhry departed. Ada accepted Zeta's invitation to celebrate the signing of the contract with a long soapy shared shower. On her way out of the guest house, Ada and Zeta shared a long hot kiss then Ada passed Anthony coming up the driveway.

Image by Leonardo.

Ada drove back to town and soon found the public school. Ada went into the office and asked questions about the curriculum and college attendance rates for the students. During a brief break between class sessions, Ada watched the students and almost instantly noticed a girl who appeared to be Marda's age who had long blond hair that appeared almost white under the bright noon sun. Ada followed the girl to the cafeteria and then returned to the Q Diner where once again Tynyo was waiting for her.

Tynyo and Ada embraced and snuggled in on the same side of a booth. He said, "That was quite a performance you and Rylla put on last night. I'm glad you arranged for me to listen."

"Rylla makes me very horny. You missed my encore performance in the shower with her this morning. I hope you are not too jealous."

"I can put up with a lot for eight million."

"There is something very strange going on... apparently worth millions to Rylla if kept hidden." She asked her husband, "What would you say if I told you that Eddy Watson lives in Arizona?"

Tynyo and Ada had long joked together that they might be carriers of alien genes. They knew of Eddy's science fiction stories and how he encouraged his fans to pretend to be aliens. Ada showed Tynyo her new employment contract and told him about what she had learned that morning. Tyhno sensed in his wife's telepathically-linked mind her near certainty that the home of Eddy Watson was nearby. "Eddy is notorious for maintaining personal privacy. I can't believe you've discovered him so easily."

Image by Leonardo.

Ada and Tynyo quickly learned from the waitress the location of Casanay. Then, over a long leisurely lunch, Ada tried to assemble what she knew into a coherent story. The young Marda had hired AdaGen for a strange gene sequencing job focused on looking for an almost unknown gene sequence in DNA that Ada had extracted from the roots of three blond hairs shafts. That sequencing job had attracted Ada's attention because she and Tynyo shared the same unusual NOTCH2NLB gene, making their unusual Notch gene different from the NOTCH2NLC gene that was in the DNA sample provided by Marda. 

As far as Ada could tell, the Onways had only just arrived in Arizona recently, about the time when the hairs had reached AdaGen. Then there was the Henrito Institute, which the locals seemed to know almost nothing about, although Tynyo's reading of back issues of the local newspaper indicated that there had been some controversy over the wind and solar power collector arrays and deep gas and water wells that had been approved for the Henrito site. Marda had met Tyhry Watson at school and Anthony had started a romance with Rylla that quickly led to a wedding. Given that concatenation of events, there did not seem to be many possibilities for the identity of the person whose DNA it was that AdaGen had sequenced at Marda's request.

Tynyo and Ada were carrying on two conversations. One spoken and one telepathic. 

Tynyo suggested telepathically: I can approach the Watsons at Casanay.

Ada shook her head. I have other plans for you. For now, I'm going to pretend that you are still at our fixed address, tending the server array. In fact, I need you to start looking for rental server space where we can archive all of the AdaGen data. Rylla has bought controlling interest in AdaGen and I suspect she will shut down all AdaGen operations in six months. So for now, I'll remain our public face. Oh, and I want you to research that company... the cash source... Simpera.

Image by Leonardo.

"Public face?" Tynyo commented: I'm guessing that Rylla has been enjoying your face... or at least your tongue.

Ada rapidly flicked her pink tongue in and out of her mouth for Tynyo's amusement. I'm doing my best to satisfy all her requests... it never hurts to stay on the good side of your boss. Ada reflected on her play sessions with Rylla. I feel like I'm getting as good as I give. Rylla is a fun and imaginative lover. Ada kissed Tynyo and said: Thanks for being a good sport about this, my love. I'll make it up to you the next time I get you in bed.

Tynyo had a hand between Ada's legs. "Let's not wait." They took advantage of their Ek'col telepathic powers which included an ability to enter into a shared orgasm trance at any time they chose.

When Ada recovered from her orgasms, she returned to normal consciousness and departed from the Q Diner. With her breasts erect and vaginal secretions running down her legs she walked to the rental car. A passing man was impressed by her erect breasts that seemed to float and bounce excitedly as Ada walked across the parking lot. 

Starting up the rental car, Ada pulled ot of the Q Diner parking lot and went in search of Casanay, which was not really very difficult to find. It was a small geographical puzzle, like an equation where all the relevant data was was already provided and Ada could just solve for the only missing variable, X. After an hour of exploring the few roads that existed in the likely area, Ada felt confident that she was close to the likely location of Casanay. Pulling off the state road and into what seemed likely to be the Casanay driveway, Ada hesitated and came to a complete stop while gazing up the driveway. A large "No trespassing" sign was right in front of Ada's car. No buildings were visible from the highway or this end of the driveway, but Ada had a satellite image that showed the presence of a large home at the other end of this driveway. She had no business at Casanay, only a burning curiosity to find the person with the unusual Notch gene. A woman's voice spoke through speaker mounted high on a nearby pole, "Are you lost?"

Ada solves for X.

Ada rolled down the window of her car and replied, "I'm looking for the Watson residence."

"We are not interested in speaking to you unless you have business here." There was a long pause. The woman finally added, "Are responding to the help wanted advertisement?"

"Yes, that is why I am here." Ada had no idea what she was getting herself into, but not realizing that she had already met Tyhry, she was willing to do anything to find the person whose DNA AdaGen had sequenced.

"Then come up the driveway to the house."

Ada drove slowly up the long driveway, furiously trying to construct an excuse for visiting Casanay. However, with Anthony recently moved out, it seemed likely that the Watsons were hiring staff to replace him. Ada parked in front of Casanay and gazed at the luxurious home that seemed carefully designed to blend into the landscape, unlike the ugly monstrosity that was Ranch0 Henrito. 

Exiting from the car, Ada felt the full force of the bright summer sun beating down from a cloudless sky. A small lizard scurried across the walkway in front of Ada. As she approached the front door, it swung open and a blond woman said, "Please come in."

For a moment, Ada simply stood and admired the beauty of the woman who was standing there in doorway and Ada wondered if she had found the source of the blond hairs that Marda had sent to AdaGen for DNA sequencing. The woman impatiently gestured to indicate that Ada should enter the house. Ada walked past the woman and turned, so as to keep her eyes on the woman. 

After closing the door, the blond woman turned and met Ada's gaze. Feeling like she was in a staring contest, Ada turned to face the interior of the room she found herself in. While Ada's eyes were adjusting to the dim interior of the Casanay great room, she noticed a man seated beside a computer workstation. 

Image by Leonardo.

While using an app on her phone to re-lock the massive front door of Casanay, Systolina (disguised as Zeta) told Ada, "The advertisement was quite clear. You were supposed to call if you had questions about the online job application." 

Systolina had femtobot monitor probes at the Henrito site and she already knew perfectly well who Ada was.

"I'm sorry, but I was in the neighborhood." Ada made a small waving gesture towards Eddy. "I was curious to see this place."

Eddy got out of his chair and approached Ada. He said, "And I'm curious. Just how tall are you?"

Zeta jabbed Eddy's ribs with her elbow and told Ada apologetically, "Please pardon my husband, when he see's a beautiful woman his brain stops working. He's Eddy, I'm Zeta."

Ada was running her eyes up and down Systolina's body. Systolina was disguised as Zeta and with Marda in her room reading and analyzing the AdaGen report that Tyhry had faxed to her and with Anthony now moved out of Casanay, Systolina had spent the morning trying to entertain Eddy by wearing a very sexy outfit that covered only a tiny fraction of her skin. With her eyes on Systolina's amazing breasts which seemed ready to pop out of the skimpy top that was struggling to restrain them, Ada told Eddy, "My condolences, sir, if I had her to look at, I'd also switch off my brain and just enjoy the sights and scenery."

Eddy laughed and spoke to the woman who he believed was his wife, "I thought you only just posted the help wanted ad online last night." 

"Yes, that's right, and no applications have been submitted yet." Systolina nodded. "I thought we would get applications by email. It did not occur to me that someone local would figure out that we are trying to hire someone new to replace Anthony."

Eddy's eyes traced up and down Ada's long body then with special effort he managed to get his eyes off of Ada and he looked outside. "That looks like a rental car."

Ada invented her excuses: "I just got to town... I'm moving closer to my grandmother. She's not able to drive any more. I need to find a new job here in this area."

Image by Leonardo.

Returning his gaze to Ada's fantastic tumble of red curls, Eddy said enthusiastically, "I'd hire you right this moment," Eddy added as a kind of after-thought, "but I suppose my wife will ask you to cook a meal for us first."

Systolina told Ada, "My husband can't say no to a pretty girl, but I have to wonder, are you over 21?"

Ada giggled and told Systolina, "You are sweet. I'm 29. I'll be thirty in October." 

"Strange, you don't look nearly that old. I wonder if I know your family?" 

 Ada explained, "I was at the Q Diner. I mentioned I was looking for work and I was told some confused story about a wedding and someone called Anthony." She shrugged, "Anyhow, I just need a job. I'll do anything that needs doing."

Systolina had pushed her telepathic tendrils deep into Ada's mind and had already decided to hire Ada. She reached out and touched Ada's amazing hair. "Anything?"

Ada laughed and said, "Within reason." She reached out and felt Systolina's long silky hair. She slid her hand down and touched one of Systolina's big breasts. With her gaze on Systolina's breasts, Ada asked, "Are those real?"

 Having recently watch the sexual attraction that sparked up between Zeta and Rylla, Eddy could see the same thin happening with Ada. He laughed and threw up his hands. "I must get back to work. You two are distracting me." Eddy went back to his workstation, put on his big headphones and again took up the task of writing his new novel. Still, he found it impossible to completely ignore Ada whose appearance had immediately started Eddy thinking about the Ek'col, a human variant that he had included as characters in several of his science fiction stories. All day, he'd been using the Casanay video cameras to watch the woman he believed to be his wife working around the house in her sexy outfit and spending time packing up items that Anthony had left behind in his west wing suite. Now, as he got back to his writing, he kept glancing at security camera images from each room that provided views of the two women while Zeta gave Ada a tour of Casanay.

Image by Leonardo.

Systolina took Ada by the hand and led the way out of the great room and in the direction of the kitchen. She put her free hand under one of her breasts and bounced it up and down. "I'll let you judge for yourself if my breasts are real... just let me know what data you need to collect. And Eddy is right... when you are not busy experimenting with my breasts, I want you to cook dinner for four this evening."

They passed into the dining room and paused. Ada found it hard to keep her gaze off of Systolina's breasts, which Systolina was artificially plumping up and pointing at Ada. Ada said, "This place is fantastic. The statues and paintings are amazing." She waved in the direction of a painting that was on the wall and asked, "You were the model for most of them?"

Still holding Ada's hand and taking her out of the dining room and into the kitchen, Systolina explained, "Sadly, most of the art you see should follow Anthony to his new home. He worked here for fifteen years and often carved and painted female forms that might have been inspired by me. Or I should say, the old me, back before I got old and fat."

Systolina finally let go of Ada's hand. Ada looked in the refrigerator and the freezer in order to see what food was on hand. The food was standard, unlike Systolina's bulging breasts. Ada told Systolina, "You are not fat."

"When I was pregnant I gained ten pounds of fat that that I never managed to lose. Eddy seems to enjoy bouncing my excess adipose tissue around in our bed, so I've learned to live with it. There is a larger freezer down the hallway." Systolina pointed deeper into the west wing. "Anthony always kept several several month's worth of food in the house."

Ada ran her hands along her slender sides. "I've never been able to put on weight."

Systolina suspected that Ada had Ek'col gene patterns or might even be Manny in disguise. "And the world is pleased. You have a sexy body like a fashion model."

Image by Leonardo.

Ada asked, "Who am I cooking for? You and Eddy and who else?" 

Systolina explained, "My daughter, Tyhry, and you, as well. If you decide to work for us, it will be our expectation that you live here and join the family for meals."

"What can you tell me about Tyhry's preferences?"

Systolina patted one of her large breasts. "Don't worry about Tyhry, she's never been interested in food ever since she weened. My daughter won't complain, even if you cook something atrocious."

"Is Eddy as easy to please?"

"Ada, you don't have to worry about Eddy, either. I'll take care of pleasuring Eddy." Systolina winked at Ada. "You can devote your all of your efforts to keeping me satisfied."

Ada giggled, "That will be my pleasure. Just promise you will rescue me if you happen to notice me drowning in your beautiful boobs."

"I'm prepared to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, as needed." Zeta again took Ada by that hand and continued giving Ada a tour of Casanay.

__

Marda had been diving deep into the gene sequencing data that had been generated by AdaGen for Marda. A URL and password provided in the printed report that Ada had given to Tyhry (thinking she was Marda) gave Tyhry and Marda access to the gene sequences that were being stored on AdaGen's servers. Even while Marda worked, new gene sequences continued to arrive, fresh of the Adagen automated DNA sequencing machine that was chugging away inside the Apex mobile laboratory parked about thirty miles away.

Genome browser by Flow.

Marda was using the UCSC Genome Browser to compare her own gene sequences to those that had been generated as part of the human genome project. Following Marda's instructions, AdaGen had used degenerate probes and PCR to amplify all of Tyhry's gene's with sequence similarity to the human NOTCH2NL genes. This strategy had originally been suggested to Marda by Ylyndra and had quickly led to use of template sequences from the N2N (Notch 2 N-terminal-like) gene which had been found in 2004 and assigned to chromosome 1. The company that Marda had previously hired to sequence her genome, had found both Marda's unusual NOTCH2NLC gene variant and shown that it was distinct from the NOTCH2NLC gene sequences obtained from of six control individuals by PCR fishing with specific oligonucleotide probes. 

The AdaGen report stated that there were three major NOTCH2NL gene sequences, that they called NOTCH2NLA, NOTCH2NLB, and NOTCH2NLC. Tyhry was startled by the match of this nomenclature to Ada B. Catalana's name. Marda told herself: Surely this is a message from Manny, telling me that I am on the right track!

Tyhry's NOTCH2NLC gene variant (which she had as identical copies on her two chromosomes #1) was a precise match to that of Marda. What AdaGen called "NOTCH2NLA" was what had been called the "N2N" gene in 2004. Tyhry searched, but could find no mention of NOTCH2NLB, and NOTCH2NLC gene sequences in public databases, but the AdaGen report suggested all of the unique NOTCH2NL gene variants were being called "N2N" in the GRCh37 human genome databases.

When Tyhry got done with school, she called Marda by phone and Marda explained to Tyhry that they were "blood sisters", sharing the exact same unusual NOTCH2NLC gene, as Marda had expected. Marda was convinced that their shared unusual genes is what made it possible for Marda and Tyhry to communicate telepathically.

Marda.

Tyhry reported to Marda that she was continuing to work on their chemistry term paper. Marda said, "Right now, I can't think about anything but these gene sequencing results. We are going to have to contact AdaGen. Their report says nothing about the NOTCH2NLB gene, but they seem to have been familiar with it before they saw your NOTCH2NLC gene."

Tyhry said, "That's weird, just like Ada herself. It was quite a surprise when she suddenly showed up on our door step yesterday. Zeta wasted no time in getting to know her... in the biblical sense."

Marda started fantasizing about licking Tyhry's hot genitals and realized she had worked through lunch and was now hungry. "I want to see you tonight."

Tyhry said, "And I want you, lover. But I have a pile of homework Zeta will say 'no' if I ask." Tyhry and Marda proceeded to sext and they both achieved satisfying orgasms.

When Marda got off the phone, she dried off her dripping genitals and went down the hallway from her suite to the great room where Eddy was working at his computer. Marda approached Eddy and again found him seemingly staring at the display screen and not moving at all. The first time Marda had seen this behavior she had been confused, but then both Zeta and Tyhry had told Marda about Eddy's amazing powers of concentration. Tyhry had told Marda, "When dad is writing, he plans out stories in his head. There have been plenty of ties when I've tried to speak to him and he was immobile, like he was in a trance, just sitting there at his computer. I learned to not even try to speak to him when he is like that. Any other time he's always willing to take a break fro his work and chat." 

Eddy's "Reality Viewer trance".

For a minute Marda stood there and watched Eddy. His eyes seemed to flick around as he stared into the computer display screen, but he seemed unaware of Marda's presence, even when her stomach growled comically loudly. Marda turned away from Eddy and went to the kitchen where she ran into Ada. Seeing Ada's beautiful red hair and great height, Marda guessed this must be Ada, but she asked, "Who are you?"

Ada was preparing a salad. She set down the knife she had been using and said, "You must be Tyhry. I'm Ada... I'm cooking your dinner and hope to replace Anthony."

Marda shook Ada's hand and gazed up at her from below. "I don't believe I've ever met a woman as tall as you."

For a minute Ada showed Marda what had been prepared for dinner. Marda could smell the chicken cooking in the oven and again her stomach growled loud enough for Ada to hear. Marda reached out to touch Ada's amazing red curls. "You mist be Ek'col."

Ada knew perfectly well what Marda was talking about. "You must know all of the aliens in your father's novels."

"The Ek'col are not really aliens. According to Eddy, the Ek'col were designed as a sexy human variant with the telepathic ability to make normal humans fall in love with them."

Ada knew the power that both she and Tynyo had over the emotions of others. In the past 24 hours both Rylla and Zeta had seemingly instantly fallen in love with Ada and now Tyhry was giving Ada a piercing visual inspection. Marda places her hands on Ada's narrow hips. "You don't have any children?"

"No, I don't. In fact, I don't think I can. My husband and I have tried every trick in the book, which makes for long, orgasm-filled nights, but no children... at least so far." Ada ran a hand over Marda's long silky hair.

Marda said, "Tell me about your husband. Is he the 'T.C.' who does most of the gene annotation work for AdaGen?"

"Yes. His name is Tynyo Catalana. I took his name when we married. How do you know that?" 

Marda snickered, and pretending to be Tyhry Watson, said, "Elementary... I'm a Watson. I can think logically and make deductions. And not to put to sharp a point on it, I just spent twelve hours examining the gene sequencing work that AdaGen is doing for Marda. And now I find you cooking my dinner. The conclusion is obvious."

"You are wickedly clever, Tyhry. I suppose it is useless for me to try to keep any secrets from you. Tell me, is it your genome that AdaGen is sequencing?"

"Bingo. Marda sent you several of my hairs. Hairs that she secretly collected and sent to you without asking my permission. Let it be a lesson to you... never trust Marda." Marda chuckled and was enjoying playing the role of Tyhry and telling Ada not to trust Marda. 

"You know Marda well?" 

"I do." Marda giggled again "Sorry, but Marda's mom just got married yesterday, so I can't say 'I do' without feeling strange." Marda had been slowly moving her hands upwards and had reached Ada's big breasts which she shoved and watched bounce. Marda tittered for a moment and said, "It is frightening to imagine how large your breasts would get if you ever had a baby. I sucked on my mom's boobs for six years, which explains why her breasts grew so big." Marda started unbuttoning Ada's blouse. "About your inability to get pregnant... I have a theory about that. The Ek'col and the tryp'At were both designed to be hypersexual, but the Ek'col were crafted to be honeypots for humans. It might be that only a conventional human and impregnate you, or possibly a tryp'At."

Systolina (disguised as Zeta), Marda
(disguised as Tyhry) and Ada.

Marda discovered that Ada's breasts were naturally perky and Ada was wearing no bra. Marda ran her hands over Ada's soft hot breasts and then pulled on one of her nipples. Some milk trickled out. "Just like in dad's novel. The Ek'col culture was built around social lactation." Marda licked the milk off of Ada's breast and then latched on to her nipple and began suckling. Marda's mouth began to tingle as she responded to the sex hormones in Ada's milk.

Just then Systolina came in. She had already had a drink of Ada's milk during the sexplay that she and Ada had engaged in on the bed in Anthony's old bedroom. "Tyhry, what are you doing?"

Marda popped off the nipple and wiped milk off of her chin, "I was hungry and could not wait for dinner."

Systolina and Ada. Image by Leonardo.

Ada buttoned up her blouse. She told Marda, "If you are so hungry, maybe you can help me set the table."

Marda was responding the the oxypathin that was present at high levels in Ada's milk. She was dizzy and all of her erectile tissue was quite stiff. Her vaginal secretions were running down her legs. Marda grabbed a napkin off the island where Ada had placed items, ready to be set on the dining room table. She lifted up the front of her miniskirt and wiped her wet genitals. "If you are going to work here, I'm apparently going to have to start wearing panties so I don't drip on the floor."

Zeta told Marda, "Tyhry, you don't have to show your genitals to Ada. We have not even hired her yet."

Marda said, "Hurry up and hire her. We can't let her get away." 

Related Music: Ada, where's your like? 

Next: mid-year Search for Interesting Hollywood Aliens.

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