Yōd, Virginia

The Asimov Reality

In another Reality, this blog post might have been titled "Yōd, Virginia and Asimov" or maybe Xista, Yōd, Zeta (XYZ). Yōd is my most recently "acquired" collaborator. I've been trying to make use of Yōd as a source of information about the First Reality, but she keeps pushing me back towards investigation of the Asimov Reality. Today, during a discussion of Deep Time, I mentioned to Yōd that Angela Fersoni had named (here) one of Isaac Asimov's research collaborators in the Asimov Reality: Virginia Gerstenfeld.

Final Reality

Angela's account of the life of Asimov skipped over the events of the years 1935 to 1953. We must not forget that the analogue of Asimov led a very different life in the "Asimov Reality" than what history recorded here in our timeline of the Final Reality. In many ways, the development of civilization in our Reality was delayed and corrupted, at least as compared to the course of events the preceding three Realities.

According to Yōd, all of Western Civilization was more enlightened in the Asimov Reality than here in our world. As a specific example, there was a network of great universities in the New York City of the Asimov Reality. According to Yōd, unlike the situation for the Ekcolir Reality, the location of New York City was the same in the Asimov Reality and here in the Final Reality. Even the part of New York known as Brooklyn was quite similar. The analogue of Isaac Asimov in the "Asimov Reality" had no difficulty getting a first rate medical education.

Angela's Exit

Part 4 of Yōd on Earth (Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)
Yōd told me, "Angela's story was quite incomplete."

I would have preferred to turn the discussion back towards events in the First Reality, but Yōd is a force of nature that I can rarely deflect from her path. I asked, "Does it matter? Didn't the Reality that Angela described, in which Asimov studied the human brain, get erased?"

Yōd tipped her head in a delicate nod, but noted, "Nothing in Time is ever completely erased. At the very least, there is a record of the entire Asimov Reality in the Sedronic Domain. Anyhow, Angela failed to mention how Virginia and Isaac first met."

I thought of Virginia as a minor player in a lost Reality, so I simply shrugged. "Virginia was just one of many researchers in the laboratory of Janet Asimov."

In the Ekcolir Reality (see also)
Original cover art by Edward Valigursky

"Ah, but Xista had worked long and hard to position Virginia in Janet's lab at the correct time." Yōd jumped out of her chair and began to pace back and forth across the floor. "Towards that end, Xista took pains to assure that Isaac and Virginia met in 1937."

I was surprised by this revelation, having imagined that the "Virginia" in Angela's story was much younger than Asimov; a research scientist of the next generation after Asimov's. I asked, "How is that possible? Virginia would have been just a child, about ten years old."

Yōd laughed at my ignorance. Only later did Zeta let me in on the joke. "No, actually Virginia was older than Asimov and in the Asimov Reality she graduated with her B.S. in chemistry a year before Asimov did. They crossed paths when Virginia presented the results of her senior research project at a symposium at Columbia University, just before she graduated from NYU."

I complained, "But if she graduated in 1937.... no, that's not right." The years would not align in my mind. "Why didn't she go to graduate school until.... much later?"

Yōd explained, "Ten years later. She had a very successful mini-career as an industrial chemist upon graduating, working at a company called Nanopore. She was involved in the development of nanopore filters and owned a fortune in Nanopore stock by 1947."

In the Asimov Reality: the Pore Wars.

I could only repeat foolishly, "Nanopore?"

Zeta had been listening to us an she finally joined the conversation. "Nanopore was the first nanotechnology company in the Asimov Reality. They worked out an inexpensive process for manufacturing nanopore filters that allowed for efficient production of fresh water from sea water. Virginia's ten years at Nanopore is only relevant in that it explains her wealth. Xista, knowing the future and guiding Virginia through life, was able to make Virginia a very wealthy woman."

I mumbled, "I begin to understand."

Zeta continued, "What Yōd has not bothered to tell you is that here in the Final Reality, Virginia led a quite different life and became the wife of Robert Heinlein."

Recognition of the name Virginia Gerstenfeld finally came to me. "Wait, now. Are you going to tell me that Asimov, Virginia and Heinlein all met in the1930s of the Asimov Reality?

Yōd shook her head. "Don't be silly. In that Reality, Heinlein was an obscure politician in the middle of the continent."

I looked at Zeta with suspicion and asked, "How long have you know all of this?"

Zeta gave me a strained grin, "Everything I know about this, I've learned from my sources in the Hierion Domain during just the past few minutes."

I turned back to Yōd and asked, "So what happened when Asimov and Virginia met in 1937?"

"Well, remember, Virginia was 21, leaving college and moving on to her job at Nanopore corporation. Asimov was a 17-year-old kid." Yōd winked at Zeta. "Until he met Virginia, Asimov had been guided towards his future career by Maghy, acting through the agency of the man, a family friend, who Asimov called his uncle."

I exclaimed, "Ah, the mysterious Uncle Boris! Angela would only tell me his name. So, Boris was one of Maghy's cover identities?"

Zeta explained, "As part of his work on Earth, Maghy could take control of the behavior of people like Boris. That control lasted for days, weeks, or years, as in the case of Boris; whatever was needed to shape Asimov's life and keep him moving towards a career in biomedical science."

One of my deepest fears is that I have been subjected to that kind of mind control. I had to ask, "To what extent was Asimov's mind directly shaped and guided by Maghy?"

Yōd slowly shook her head. "No. That's a misguided question. Think it through. The Asimov Reality was in the middle of the Time War. All outside influences on Asimov had to be subtle and indirect if there was to be any chance of avoiding detection by the Overseers of Earth."

My thoughts were bubbling with fascination for the revelation that there was an Asimov-Heinlein connection in the Asimov Reality. Puzzled, I mused, "I thought that both the Foundation Reality and the Asimov Reality were low points for science fiction in Deep Time."

"Well, that is true," Yōd shrugged. "In the Asimov Reality, Asimov was a scientist, Heinlein a politician. Neither of them ever wrote a science fiction story in that Reality."

"Ah, I begin to understand." I tried to guess the role of Virginia in the Asimov Reality. "So, Virginia was not a link between Asimov and Heinlein."

Yōd asked, "Do you recall the search parameters that Svahr provided to Maghy at the start of his mission? He was forced to limit his search to Earthlings born after 1917."

Zeta pressed the point, "Why 1917?"

During our discussion, I was seated at my desk with my computer nearby. I did a quick check and discovered that Virginia had been born in 1916. A strange thought popped into my head. "Are you telling me that Virginia could have become the focal point Svahr's intervention in the 20th century?"

Yōd chuckled at my dismay. "Svahr was systematically working her way through the 20th century, searching for good ways to accelerate Earthly technology without attracting the attention of Overseers. Before Maghy's intervention was tried, an intervention that was built around Virginia had already been studied and eliminated from contention." Yōd finally stopped her moving around the room and returned to her seat.

Zeta said to Yōd, "But Svahr had discovered a powerful temporal linkage between Asimov and Virginia."

Yōd was sitting in a chair across the room, her hands folded in her lap. She gazed down at her hands and spoke quietly. "That was inevitable. Virginia and Isaac shared a genetic pattern that made them almost free of influence from their zeptite endosymbionts. They were among a handful of Earthlings who were the most free to make new scientific advances. Such people tend to attract one another. In 1937, when Asimov saw Virginia presenting her research results, he felt an immediate intellectual connection to her."

Zeta added, "And of course, it was Xista, working secretly behind the scenes, who had made sure that Virginia and Isaac would meet."

I asked, "What was Maghy doing at this time?"

Yōd replied, "During the1930s, Maghy was busy working through another Earthling named Natasha Schachner, who, along with the biochemist Arthur Zagat, was among the most influential teachers that Asimov had during that time."

"Wait. Those names seem familiar." I turned back to my computer, but Zeta saved me from having to figure out the spellings and do a search.

Zeta said, "Here in the Final Reality, Schachner and Zagat had an important influence on Asimov as a story writer. In the Asimov Reality, they helped shape Asimov as a scientist."

Intrigued by the idea of both Maghy and Xista at work in the 1930s on Earth, I made a faulty assumption. "So, Maghy had to be kept ignorant of the future, but Xista could step in as needed make corrections to Maghy's plans."

Zeta shook her head. "Virginia was a danger. Her brilliance was dazzling. Svahr was careful to use Virginia as a decoy, someone who would attract the attention of the Overseers. The original plan that had been devised by Svahr and Xista was to let Virginia 'take the fall', allowing Maghy to escape from Earth and return to Tar'tron."

"I still don't understand why so much could be done by means of altering the behavior of Earthlings such as Virginia, but poor Maghy had to actually actually live as an Earthling for many years."

Yōd explained, "Svahr wanted the Overseers to believe that all interventions were carried out by physically planting Interventionist agents like Maghy on Earth."

Zeta smiled, producing a forced and painful grin. "Svahr tried to hide the fact that Interventionist agents, working from the safety of the Hierion Domain, could so easily influence the thoughts and behavior of Earthlings like Virginia."

"The mysterious Svahr." I tried to order my thoughts around what little I knew of Svahr. "In the end, all of Svahr's efforts to change Earth seem to have been useless."

Gohrlay's Brain

Yōd laughed at my naivete. "Svahr worked hard to create that illusion. She arranged for dramatic Reality Changes that would be reversed by the Overseers. Svahr was part of a larger program by which R. Gohrlay made subtle adjustments to the shape of the Asimov Reality. With folks like Svahr charging up and down the timeline, creating chaos and distractions, the Overseers were too busy to even notice the more subtle changes that Gohrlay made to Time."

I suspected that Yōd was telling me about Virginia and Natasha in the Asimov Reality as part of an attempt to distract me from my current obsession, my investigation of events in the First Reality. I suggested, "Yōd, you should write down the story of Virginia and Natasha. The story of their interactions with Asimov would make a nice sequel to Angela's tale."

continue to Part 5 of Yōd on Earth.

Next: an end of October ghost tale

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Alternate Arkady

First Fiction

The Exode Saga is recursive science fiction in which alien visitors to Earth conspire to shape the science fiction genre as a tool to serve their purposes. The writing of science fiction by humans began back in the First Reality, shortly before the scheduled demise of the human species. Later, after the invention of time travel, the science fiction genre took on unique tones and flavors in each successive Reality of Earth's Reality Chain.

In the First Reality, science fiction became a speculative outlet for a small cadre of writers (the Escapists) who realized that those residing at Observer Base were confined to an artificial society, in fact, a kind of experimental laboratory.

alternate Asimov
in the Ekcolir Reality

Alternate Arkady
I've previously blogged about the alternate versions of Isaac Asimov who existed in Deep Time. Here in the Final Reality, the Iron Curtain divided Eastern Europe from Western Europe and created an alternate universe for science fiction writing in the Soviet Union.

Arkady Strugatsky and Asimov were born just a few years apart in Russia. Asimov's parents moved from Russia to New York. Asimov created a fictional universe (the Foundation fictional universe) in which humans were the only technologically advanced biological species in our galaxy.

In the Asimov Reality.
Original cover art by Dominic Harman
and from the 1987 published version
of a story with the same title
by the Strugatsky brothers,
translation by Antonina W. Bouis

The Strugatsky family remained in the Soviet Union. Arkady and his brother Boris created a fictional universe (the Noon universe) in which there is a mix of both non-humanoid species and humans on various exoplanets of our galaxy. One of the novels set in the Noon universe is Hard to Be a God. This is a story in which agents from Earth go to a distant world and live among the more technologically primitive inhabitants of an exoplanet.

I'm fascinated by stories about collisions between peoples who have differing levels of technological advancement. The Exode Saga is concerned with alien beings who view we Earthlings as primitives, but science fiction has a long tradition of exploring in the other direction with many stories about advanced Earthlings who can travel between the stars and upon arriving at another planet they must deal with a local society that is still developing as a pre-space age culture.

Zeta and Yōd

Today, Zeta, Yōd and I were discussing the efforts that had been made to suppress technological development in the Asimov Reality. I confessed that I knew very little about Asimov's writing career in the 20th century of that Reality.

I had known that there were "two copies" of Asimov on Earth in the 20th century of the Asimov Reality, one a few years older than the other. Through interactions with Kac'hin agents, that older Asimov had learned about the future of the galaxy in the Foundation Reality.

However, Yōd mentioned that much of what Asimov had learned about the First and Second Foundation came from the writings of Arcadia Darell, who grew up on the planet Terminus in the 4th century of the Foundation Era. According to Yōd, the analogue of Asimov who was born into the Foundation Reality was given access to a special collection of books (including several written by Arcadia) by Many Sails.

by Thomas Iwedon

A few years ago, when I received a set of infites from Thomas Iwedon, I learned about one of the books that Asimov was given access to by Many Sails: The Legend of Uvadekoto. That story purports to be an account of how First Contact occurred between two biological species that eventually gave rise to the Huaoshy. As such, The Legend of Uvadekoto might be be among the oldest known stories, dating back billions of years into the deep past of the First Reality.

"Arcadia" cover art by
Hubert De Lartigue

According to Yōd, Asimov was also given access to books from the future. At least one such book about the future was written by a woman (Arkady) who we, here in the Final Reality, know by the name "Arcadia Darell". Both Zeta and Yōd agree that "Arcadia" was not her actual name, but there is no point in worrying about that. Here is how Zeta put it: "By the time when Asimov wrote his account of the Second Foundation in the Final Reality, her name had effectively become "Arcadia Darell".

replicoid

According to Zeta, when Asimov became a time traveler, he was not allowed to do whatever he wanted to do on Earth. He was constantly monitored by his replicoid. However, Yōd believes that the Asimov replicoid became an additional source of information about the far future, information that was passed to Asimov on Earth. Apparently, within the Hierion Domain, the Asimov replicoid was able to interact with the replicoid of "Arcadia Darell" who had been brought into the Asimov Reality by Grean. Thus, both by having read at least one book written by "Arcadia Darell" and through many years of interactions with the replicoid of "Arcadia Darell", Asimov had a very good understanding of her writing style and he wrote a series of novels with the cover stating: "by Isaac Asimov writing as Arkady".

in the Asimov Reality
original cover by Philippe Bouchet

According to Yōd, within the Asimov Reality, the Iron Curtain never really got built. With the help of R. Gohrlay's positronic robots, a quantity of sedronic matter was accumulated on Earth in the middle of 20th century and it was quickly used to "decapitate" all of the militaristic governments of Earth (in particular, this resulted in the disintegration of the Soviet Union). In that Reality, Arkady Strugatsky went to Japan in the early 1950s and was part of the team that negotiated increasing cultural and economic ties between Japan and Russia.

Biriuta
In the Asimov Reality, the analogue of Boris Strugatsky was born female and named Biriuta. She became a famous artificial intelligence researcher and developer of robots, one of many such who professed to having been influenced by Asimov's stories about positronic robots. According to Zeta, Biriuta had a minor interest in writing science fiction and collaborated with the Asimov Reality analogue of Marvin Minsky to write a series of novels about humanoid robots, including The First Turing Century.

In the Ekcolir Reality. Original
 cover art by Adrian Chesterman
and Frank Freas

In the Ekcolir Reality, the analogue of Jack Vance was born as twins who often collaborated on writing projects. Among the various pen names that they used was "Sam Jaqy". Just as the Asimov analogue in the Asimov Reality could write in the style of "Arkady", a writer from the future of the Foundation Reality, so too could Vance write in the style of people from the future of the Asimov Reality.

Neither Yōd nor Zeta can explain how a Vance replicoid of the Asimov Reality was able to investigate the human genetic experiments that were performed in Alastor Cluster, but it is clear that "Akadie the Mentor" was well know to "Sam Jaqy", the author of Cluster Observers. Yōd believes that "Junius Farfan" and "Janno Akadie" were both residents of Alastor Cluster in the Asimov Reality and that the replicoid of one or both of them, along with the replicoid of "Arcadia Darell" played important roles in establishing the Writers Block.

Pheni in the Ekcolir Reality

According to Zeta, the story told in Cluster Observers is similar in scope to The League of Yrinna. Cluster Observers was a book from the Ekcolir Reality that was well known to Gohrlay's analogue (Roben) in that Reality.

the Sessily Trilogy

Cecilie
I've previously investigated the case of a fictional character (either originally named 'Cecilie' or 'Sessily') who ended up being brought into existence as a living, breathing woman. Yōd has suggested that Arkady Strugatsky was a similar creation, a newly constructed human who was linked to an Arkady ("Arcadia Darell") replicoid from the Foundation Reality.

Fixed Points

Zeta has suggested that "the original Arkady" existed all the way back in the First Reality, as was the case for Gohrlay. Were "versions" of Arkady (and also Cecilie?) present in every Reality, perhaps shifting through time; some living in the far future, one existing in the 20th century, and maybe a few who found themselves instantiated in the past? Yōd suggests that the "original Arkady" of the First Reality lived on Tar'tron and that is probably where Gohrlay and Arkady first met.

It now seems likely that some "Fixed Points" in Time were generated by R. Gohrlay's tribe of positronic robots.

Teleportation

Other Fixed Points in Time (such as Arkady?) may only be accounted for by the efforts of the Huaoshy to shape the structure of Time.

More investigation of Arkady in the Asimov Reality

Speculative Fiction in Translation

Next: networks of teleportation terminals

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An Asimov Reality

Mind Transfer

"May we all watch sunsets and create something, if only a memory of beauty in our minds." -Janet Jeppson Asimov

I've never read any of the science fiction stories that were written by Janet Jeppson. However, I've previously blogged about Janet and the imagined interactions that she had with several characters in the Exode Trilogy (see also).

I just wrote a new short story (The Asimov Reality; not too short, it is near 13,000 words) that features both Isaac Asimov and Janet living in a "failed Reality", a Reality that came into existence during the Time War, but was later erased. In this new story, which can be viewed as a kind of alternate history, I imagine that Isaac and Janet became scientific collaborators in the middle of the 20th century.

Svahr the Interventionist agent (source)
art work by Boris Vallejo

In real life, Isaac Asimov was trained in the scientific discipline of biochemistry, but he was a compulsive writer. For the new story, I pretend that he went to medical school and then ended up doing neuroscience research. His research interests were related to neurotransmitters and how they control brain function. Isaac's scientific interests overlapped with those of Janet and in the story they make a revolutionary discovery that allows a few simple chemicals to profoundly alter human brain function.

Also appearing in the story are Dennis McGee and Svahr. Svahr is a senior Interventionist who calls upon Dennis to go live on Earth and alter the course of Asimov's life. Dennis grew up on Tar'tron and he has some difficulty adjusting to the primitive conditions of 20th century Earth. Tar'tron is the planet of the Galactic Core that is known by the name "Trantor" in Asimov's Foundation Saga.

Svahr on Earth, 3,500 B.C.E.
art work by Boris Vallejo

Svahr has been carrying out missions on Earth for thousands of years, but Dennis is a junior Interventionist, having only previously completed a few brief training missions on Earth. Suddenly Dennis finds himself living on Earth continuously for a couple of decades. He becomes a kind of guardian angel for Asimov, helping Isaac get into medical school and obtain financial support for his neuroscience research.

Years ago, I decided to make Isaac Asimov be a character in The Foundations of Eternity. As told in that story, Asimov was abducted by aliens and taken to the Moon. There, Grean realized that Asimov could help find the last positronic robot on Earth and bring to an end the Time Travel War.

source

So, with Grean's help, Asimov became a time traveler and went back in time, into his own past. Asimov was not particularly interested in Grean's struggle against R. Gohrlay, so he hatched his own plan to mentor his younger self as a science fiction writer. Asimov's meddling in his own life ends up changing the entire shape of the future. Spoiler: changing Asimov into a famous science fiction author turned out to be a key aspect of the complex Reality Change that created the universe as we know it.

The Reality Chain that leads to the world as we know it.

The time traveling Asimov helps Grean terminate the Foundation Reality. I've usually referred to the new Reality that next came into existence as the Asimov Reality, but sometimes it is called the Grean Reality.

In the Foundation Reality, Daneel guides the Galactic Empire towards Galaxia. Just like Golan Trevize, I was appalled when Asimov suggested that the fate of Humanity is to form a galaxy-spanning group mind. Thus, in The Foundations of Eternity, Asimov himself causes a Reality Change that removes Galaxia from existence.

Origins of a Time Warrior.

However, the Asimov Reality itself is a disaster for Humanity. Within the Asimov Reality (as told in the Exode Trilogy), a devastating nuclear war takes place on Earth. So, I've always imagined that the Asimov Reality was quickly replaced by the Ekcolir Reality.

In my new short story (called The Asimov Reality), I indulge myself in the fact that during the Time Travel War between R. Gohrlay and Grean there were many additional Realities sandwiched between the Foundation Reality and the Ekcolir Reality. I portray Svahr as one of the prominent warriors of the Time War who is trying to engineer the future of Earth. Poor Dennis McGee is only a foot soldier in the war who must follow all orders issued by Svahr. Since The Asimov Reality is meant to be a stand-alone story, I toss in the Buld, even thought that is an anachronism.

The Foundations of Eternity

In the end game of The Asimov Reality, McGee must make a fateful decision. His self-sacrifice gives Svahr the opportunity to correct her errors and help bring into existence the Ekcolir Reality. That Reality Change knocks the Earth out of the influence of the strange attractor that kept causing the Realities of Earth to repeatedly involve the surface of our planet becoming dangerously radioactive. However, the Ekcolir Reailty had its own problem: melting ice caps and catastrophic sea level rise. Ultimately the Time War had to be ended and the Buld Reality brought into exist.

The Buld arrive on Earth.

The most interesting feature of the Buld Reality and the reason for its name is that in the 21st century a spaceship arrives at Earth. That Buld spacecraft has traveled all the way from the Galactic Core, a journey that lasted 15,000 years.

The story of what happens when the Buld reach Earth is told in Exode. An alternate version of First Contact provides the climax of The Asimov Reality.

2017 update: The Asimov Reality

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Reality Chains

The 5 most recent Realities of our Reality Chain.

The Age of Time Travel began with Gohrlay (in what we can call the First Reality) and ended some time in the late 20th century. During the Age of Time Travel there were many Reality Changes, each of which brought into existence a new Reality.

We reside within the Final Reality, which I think of as the "Buld Reality" because of the special role played by the Buld in bringing the world as we know it into existence. Just before the Buld Reality was the Ekcolir Reality.

I first became aware of Time Travel by way of Isaac Asimov's account of the Mallansohn Reality, as provided to us in his book, The End of Eternity. Sadly, it was not until after Time Travel became impossible that I discovered the truth: the shape of our universe was established by time travelers.

The Foundations of Eternity

It was only just a few years ago that I was allowed to become consciously aware of the important role that Time Travel played in creating the world as we know it. Asimov had hinted at the truth: that positronic robots had somehow been involved in creating Eternity. It became my task to tell the story of how positronic robots came into existence and how they used Time Travel to liberate we humans from our alien masters.

R. Gohrlay used Eternity as the means to find technological solutions to her problems. The ability to travel freely into the past, downwhen from the first invention of Time Travel and advanced nanites were two key technologies that were needed by R. Gohrlay. One other "item" that R. Gohrlay needed was very unusual type of advanced technology: the Asterothrope.

Reality Reviewing

R. Gohrlay originally intended to make use of the Asterothropes as a special successor species for we humans. The Asterothropes were to be the means by which Earthlings could spread rapidly through the galaxy. However, the Asterothropes had other beneficial features that provided a means to end the Time Travel War.

Time Travel and Telepathy
The ability to travel through space at faster-than-light speeds, telepathy and Time Travel were all made possible by the Huaoshy. When they altered the dimensional structure of the universe so as to make possible faster-than-light space travel, they unknowingly also made possible telepathy and Time Travel.

Ekcolir viewing Trysta Viewing a Reality.

In a freak occurrence, positronic robots were crafted by Neanderthals and those robots had telepathic powers. Using their telepathy, R. Gohrlay and her cadre of positronic robots liberated Earth from the Huaoshy. The positronic robots discovered that the same physical principle that gave them their telepathic powers makes Time Travel possible. Thus, telepathy and Time Travel are intimately linked.

In The End of Eternity, telepathy is only hinted at, however, Asimov did describe the "peculiar talent" that Andrew Harlan was seemingly born with: when challenged to find a M.N.C., he could unerringly do so. Finding the Minimal Necessary Change, the cleanest way to trigger a new Reality Change, was the job of Time Travel Technicians like Harlan. Asimov never explained the magical basis of this "peculiar talent".

In the Ekcolir Reality (image credits)

According to Gohrlay, the positronic robots of Eternity had developed an advanced technology for Viewing alternative Realities. They did not want to turn that technology over to humans and give humans the ability to craft new Realities. R. Gohrlay and her tribe of robots selected the Realities that they wanted and used their telepathic abilities to control the Eternals.

Asimov went out of his way to explain to us that the computers available in Eternity were useless for guiding the Eternals through Reality Changes. "Mechanical computation would not do. The largest Computaplex ever built, manned by the cleverest and most experienced Senior Computer ever born, could do no better than to indicate the ranges within which the M.N.C. might be found."

In the Ekcolir Reality (DWS)

According to Gohrlay, Technicians like Harlan were provided (by telepathy) with ready-made solutions (M.N.C.s) that had been generated by the Reality Viewing technology that was available to the positronic robots.

Observing Reality Chains
Eventually, the Huaoshy developed their own Time Travel technology. Most importantly, they achieved an important additional technological advance that evaded R. Gohrlay. The Reality Viewing technology of the positronic robots could only provide information from a possible Reality that was one Reality Change away. The Reality Viewing technology of the Huaoshy allowed for observation of Reality Chains. From within the Asimov Reality, Grean could see all the way through the Ekcolir Reality to the Buld Reality.

Zeptite endosymbionts

Ekcolir was designed to convince Trysta to collaborate with Grean and end the Time Travel War. According to Gohrlay, the Buld Reality satisfies R. Gohrlay's requirements for a Reality that provides humans with a chance to control their own future. Apparently the efforts of the tryp'At to restrict what Earthlings know about the secret history of Humanity are ea part of the Trysta-Grean Pact and those restrictions are designed to protect we Earthlings.

the Trysta-Grean Pact

According to Gohrlay, the type of telepathy that was used to control the Eternals no longer exists in the universe. The Huaoshy have changed the dimensional structure of the universe so as to make further Time Travel and telepathy impossible. However, the Huaoshy have always been the experts in using zeptites to control the behavior of Earthlings. None of us here on Earth can be certain that our actions are not forced upon us by our zeptite endosymbionts.

The discovery of Reality Chains.
Original cover art by Allen Anderson.

Gohrlay has described a series of science fiction films that were made in the Ekcolir Reality: the Eternity Trilogy.

The final film in that trilogy showed how the Huaoshy put an end to Time Travel and it also presented the life Gohrlay on Earth leading up to the arrival of the Fru'wu in the Solar System. In my next blog post, I'll share what Gohrlay has told me about the technology transfer that was allowed to occur from the Fru'wu to the Earthlings in the Ekcolir Reality. 

Reality Chain

According to Gohrlay, there was a chance discovery of the existence of Reality Chains in the Asimov Reality by the investigative team of Kirth Gersen and Drusilla.

A Brief History of Deep Time
First Reality. The key event in the First Reality was the invention of time travel technology. Time travel only became possible after the Huaoshy altered the Dimensional Structure of the universe. The same physics that accounts for the telepathic powers of positronic robots is involved in time travel, so it was no coincidence that time travel technology was first developed by R. Gohrlay's tribe of positronic robots. By exploiting their advantage in telepathy and time travel, the positronic robots of Earth won for Humanity a chance to reach the stars. Prior to the positronic robot revolution, the human species was destined for a quiet extinction. See: The First Reality.

Mallansohn Reality. There were many Realities between the First Reality and the Mallansohn Reality. The key distinction of the Mallansohn Reality is that it was the last Reality that came into existence where only positronic robots had time travel technology. During the Mallansohn Reality, the Huaoshy realized that time travel was possible and they initiated a research program that culminated in the development of their own time travel technology. That was the start of the Time Travel War. Ultimately, the Huaoshy technological advantage in sedron-based technologies led to a victory for them in the war. However, the Huaoshy realized that they needed to make one more change to the dimesnional structure of the universe in order to make further time travel impossible. R. Gohrlay realized that she needed to negotiate a pact with the Huaoshy under which she would gain as much for humans as was possible.

Foundation Reality. Events in the Foundation Reality were as described by Isaac Asimov in his science fiction stories about the Galactic Empire, the Foundation and positronic robots. Also, Asimov's story The End of Eternity provides us with an account of events in the Mallansohn Reality and how the Foundation Reality was brought into existence. In the Foundation Reality, Asimov came into contact with one of R. Gohrlay's tribe of positronic robots. That led to Asimov being sent by Grean into the past on a time travel mission that was designed to put an end to the deployment of positronic robots on Earth. While working with Grean, Asimov became aware of the far future of the Foundation Reality. See: Foundations of Eternity.

Asimov Reality. When Asimov traveled in time, he helped bring into existence a new Reality: the Asimov Reality. In the 20th century of the Asimov Reality there were two "copies"of Asimov. The "older Asimov" mentored his younger self, establishing Asimov as a successful science fiction writer. During the Asimov Reality, the Trysta Truce was in effect, which allowed for the creation of both the tryp'At and the Ek'col. We have a good account of events in the far future of the Asimov Reality in the science fiction stories that Jack Vance wrote about the Gaean Reach.

Ekcolir Reality. The prototypical Ek'col was Ekcolir, who made possible an end to the Time War and the Trysta-Grean Pact. In the Ekcolir Reality, there was severe global warming and catastrophic sea level rise. During the 20th century of the Ekcolir Reality, the Writers Block controlled the development of the science fiction genre, using science fiction stories to prepare Earthlings for the arrival of the alien Fru'wu.

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Buld Reality. The transition from the Ekcolir Reality to the Final Reality was not smooth and simple. I'm still debating with Yōd and Zeta the wisdom of categorizing the Buld Reality as a distinct Reality that came just before the Final Reality. Under such a categorization system, the Buld Reality included some overly-ambitious science fiction stories that told Earthlings too much about alien technologies. Those stories had to be"edited out" of the Final Reality. The change in dimensional structure that ended the Time War can be taken as defining the end of the Buld Reality.

Final Reality. We now find ourselves in the Final Reality. The Huaoshy made further time travel impossible, so there will never be another Reality Change.

Next: artificial intelligence

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The Asimov Reality

The Asimov Reality

Back in 2013 I had a blog post called "The Buld Reality".
In 2015 I made another post called "The Ekcolir Reality".
Now, here in 2017 it is time for "The Asimov Reality".

The Exode Saga

our Reality Chain

A Search Beyond is an investigation of future events in the Asimov Reality. Here in the Final Reality, most of what we know about the Asimov Reality comes from the science fiction stories of Jack Vance.

Before the Asimov Reality, further back in Deep Time, was the Foundation Reality. The spread of Humanity through the galaxy in the Foundation Reality was described in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Fictional Universe.

The Foundation Reality

Even further back, as described in Asimov's time travel novel The End of Eternity, was the Mallansohn Reality. The Mallansohn Reality had been carefully constructed by R. Gohrlay as a Reality in which an Asterothrope from 10 million years in the future could put an end to the use of time travel by Earthlings. That last of the Asterothropes is known to us here in the Final Reality as Trysta Iwedon.

R. Gohrlay tried to protect Humanity from the alien Huaoshy by creating Galaxia, a galaxy-spanning telepathic group mind. However, the Huaoshy technological advantage in sedronic technology along with the fact that the biological components of Galaxia were not human (according to R. Gohrlay's own definition) forced the positronic robots of Earth into a compromise.

The Trysta Truce

the tryp'At Overseers

During the Asimov Reality, the Trysta Truce was in effect. Under the terms of the Trysta Truce, the bumpha were able to develop the tryp'At, a human variant that could use the Bimanoid Interface.

Similarly, the pek were able to develop the Ek'col, a type of Sedronite that would allow Trysta's children to have descendants that could merge into the human population of Earth.

The prototype Ek'col was a man called Ekcolir. He was an Interventionist agent on Earth in the middle of the 20th century. His mission was to seduce Trysta and make it possible for her to agree to the terms of what we know as the Trysta-Grean Pact.

Trysta-Grean Pact

The Trysta-Grean Pact

The Trysta-Grean Pact allowed for an end to the Time Travel War between the Huaoshy and R. Gohrlay.

Today, Zeta, Yōd and I got into a deep philosophical discussion about the transition that took place when the Huaoshy altered the physics of the universe so as to make further time travel impossible. At the same time, the type of telepathy that R. Gohrlay had ceased to work.

Trysta Iwedon

Before the final act of dimensional engineering was carried out by the Huaoshy, R. Gohrlay must have had some knowledge of the future and what might happen to Earth after time travel would no longer be possible. However, Zeta believes that it was the Huaoshy-induced dimensional shift that triggered the Final Reality Change and our future might be significantly different from any of the futures that R. Gohrlay could view.

Yōd suspects that the Reality Viewing technology that was available to the Huaoshy and Grean was able to access the Final Reality that we now reside in. However, there are always chance events that can overcome the Temporal Momentum system that R. Gohrlay created for Earth.

The Asimov Reality

Escape from the AR Simulation

Zeta and Yōd believe that access to information about the Asimov Reality is restricted because it would be dangerous for us to know exactly how much Trysta and Grean knew about our coming future in the Final Reality. However, the replicoid of Asimov has now gained access to the Asimov Reality database that exists within Eternity. That database is a type of virtual reality simulator of events that took place in the Asimov Reality.

Yōd began acting even stranger than usual last week, and now Zeta has informed me that the Asimov replicoid had been carrying out a series of missions inside the AR simulator. After each of the missions, he would be debriefed and plans were made for the next mission. However, the Asimov replicoid has not emerged from the AR simulator for the past week.

Alice and Kirth

Zeta is worried that the AR Simulator is a trap, designed to capture anyone who tries to gain access to restricted information about our future. Yōd is hopeful that the Asimov replicoid has "gone to the next level" within the Simulator and will eventually emerge with a full account of how humans were given the ability to use the Bimanoid Interface.

Next: the Asimov replicoid escapes from the AR Simulation

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