Think Reality

Antoine and Lyra 

 Below on this page is Chapter 15 of both the science fiction story "The Hierozyme Intervention" and also the story "That Kind of Think". The events of the first 14 chapters of "The Hierozyme Intervention" take place in the Reality that precedes the Final Reality, the Reality of "That Kind of Think". 

Think Reality. Antoine is a character in "That Kind of Think" who has lived his entire life at Litheblanc. Antoine has investigated the genetics of human longevity in an attempt to understand the long lives with little aging of the older residents of Litheblanc, including his parents and grandparents. 

The Pact. There are analogues of Tyhry and Marda in both the Hierozyme Reality and the Final Reality. Manny the bumpha transfers a copy of the Tyhry from the Hierozyme Reality into the Final Reality where she meets Antoine. Their descendants will become a human variant that is designed and crafted by Manny: the tryp'At. The tryp'At will fulfill the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact and spread through the galaxy,

Chapter 15 - Antoine and Lyra 

The Hierozyme Intervention (Ch. 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Ch. 6)(Ch. 7)(Ch. 8)(Ch. 9)(Ch. 10)(Ch. 11)(Ch. 12)(Ch. 13)(Ch. 14)    

That Kind of Think - (Chapter 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Ch. 6)(Ch. 7)(Ch. 8)(Ch. 9)(Ch. 10)(Ch. 11)(Ch. 12)(Ch. 13)(Ch. 14)

One moment Tyhry was on the beach just before dawn, helping Carly collect water samples containing marine bacteria, the next moment she was inside a dimly-lit room that seemed to be a small private library. Tyhry straightened up and looked at the book shelves that were right in front of her. One was labeled 'Anglaise' and the one below was labeled 'Français'. Tyhry could see that the shelves held science fiction novels. She pulled down a copy of "The Casanay Intervention", looked at the cover, and then began to try to read the text of the story, but it was too dark in the room.

Tyhry was puzzled by her seemingly instantaneous shift from Hawaii to France and fascinated by the book she now held in her hands and she did not notice when Élodie entered the library. Élodie called out, "Lights," and saw Tyhry's back across the room, half covered by the long black hair that flowed down from the girl's head. Then Tyhry turned and stared at Élodie. Élodie thought she was seeing Marda and she asked, "Pourquoi te caches-tu dans l’obscurité?" It registered in Élodie's mind that Marda was away at college, but that thought was almost hidden by another: why is Marda naked?

Tyhry told Élodie, "You better speak English."

Marda did not sound like Marda. She looks like Marda! Élodie moved closer and asked, "Marda?" 

Tyhry shook her head and said, "Tyhry." She asked, "Who are you? Where are we?" She waved the novel she was holding, "How did I get here? What is going on?" 

 Élodie reached out and touched Tyhry's beautiful long hair and finally Tyhry noticed that she had dark hair. "Just like when..." Tyhry was thinking about the years when she had lived disguised as Marda. But before going to Hawaii, Marda had used her body-sculpting zeptites to shift Tyhry back to her own original bodily form. Tyhry asked herself: Now what?

"You look like Marda, but..." Élodie asked, "You don't know me?"

"I don't know you, unless this is a trick. Have you been transformed as I was?"

"Transformed?"

Tyhry explained, "Zeptites. I... I'm Tyhry, but re-shaped to look like Marda."

 Élodie turned, walked away and sat down in a chair. "I'll try to answer your questions, but I have my own. I'm Élodie Gendron... you are holding one of my novels. We are at Litheblanc... Tyhry and Marda grew up here... the Tyhry who is my daughter."

Tyhry sat down in the only other chair that was there in the library. Tyhry read the author's name, Élodie Gendron, off the cover of the novel. She held up the novel. "You do know Casanay."

"I invented Casanay. I invented Tyhry as a character for my science fiction stories set at Casanay, but then when my daughter was born, I named her 'Tyhry'."

 Tyhry shook her head. "No... that is all wrong. I grew up at Casanay. My mother is Zeta Gohrlay. I've never heard of Litheblanc, or you... Élodie..."

Élodie suggested, "You are from another Reality."

Tyhry laughed, "My father never wrote about a Reality in which I was born in France."

 Élodie asked, "Are you from Arizona?"

"Casanay is in Arizona. That's my home."

 Now Élodie laughed. "Either you are a nutty fan who dressed up like Marda or you are from a past Reality."

Tyhry asked herself: why would Manny send me to a future Reality? 

Élodie took out her phone and called Marda. Marda opened the voice and video connection and asked, "Élodie?" 

Élodie only saw a plain white wall behind Marda. She asked, "Where are you?"

"Studying in the library."

"Okay. Sorry to bother you. When do you plan to return to Litheblanc?"

"Tyhry and I will be back at the end of the term." Marda could see that Élodie was inside the little library at Litheblanc. "I don't have our exam schedules yet, so I can't give you a date." Marda got out of her chair, stretched her legs and opened the door of her study room. She peered out at the stacks.

"Okay. Let me know when you know more." Élodie ended her call. She put her phone back in her pocked. Élodie told Tyhry, "You are not my Marda... and not my Tyhry."

"I am Tyhry. I lived for a couple of years using the physical form of Marda. During that time, Marda... my Marda, lived at Casanay." Tyhry opened the novel. "The real Casanay, not a fictional one in a novel. My father always hid the location of our home from fans."

 Élodie giggled. "Let me guess. Your father is Eddy Watson."

Marda Onway (left) at Casanay.

Tyhry nodded. "I'm Tyhry Watson."

 "Well, Tyhry, that just won't do. You need a new name, something different than my daughter's name."

"But it is my name!"

"When in Rome..."  Élodie got up and took Tyhry's hand and led her out of the library. "I can't concentrate while looking at your genitals." Élodie led Tyhry to Marda's suite and dressed Tyhry in Marda's clothing. Élodie then stood looking at Tyhry with her hands on her hips. "Your new name... how about Mélusine?"

Tyhry adjusted her skirt, which was itchy. Tyhry wondered where Marda kept her underwear. "Mélusine? No. You can call me Lyra, I like that name."

Élodie nodded and put an arm around Tyhry's waist. "Very well, Lyra." Élodie picked up the copy of "The Casanay Intervention" and handed it back to Tyhry. Élodie guided Tyhry out of Marda's room and back to the hallway.

Tyhry asked, "How old is your Tyhry?"

"Seventeen."

"You are not old enough to have a seventeen year old daughter."

Élodie laughed. "I have good genes. I stopped aging at twenty five. That's why I hide here at Litheblanc." Élodie guided Tyhry into the master bedroom suite and to the bedroom where Zach was in bed, reading. Élodie told her husband, "This is Lyra."

After giving Tyhry a close visual inspection, Zach asked, "Marda?"

Élodie sat on the bed close to Zach. "This is not Marda. I think she is a girl from a past Reality, made to look like Marda."

Zach rubbed his forehead. "A trick..."

Tyhry told Zach, "I was in Hawaii, on a beach. I still have the black lava sand between my toes. Then I arrived here. You call this old house 'Litheblac'?"

Zach nodded and told Tyhry, "Élodie and I have lived here for half a century."

Élodie quickly told her husband what she had learned from Tyhry, then told him. "I think Lyra must be from the previous Reality."

Zach nodded. Manny the bumpha could have arranged for Élodie to receive information about a past Reality. Zach asked Tyhry, "How did you get here from Hawaii?"

"I don't know." Tyhry shrugged. "It must have been one of Manny's tricks."

Élodie asked, "You know Manny the bumpha?"

Tyhry explained. "My father sometimes wrote about shifting people such as Ekcolir to Earth of another Reality... I never thought it might happen to me. That is the kind of trickery my Dad likes to attribute to Manny, an alien with advanced technology, including teleporters and time travel devices."

Élodie mused and told Zach, "Eddy Watson plays a role like mine in Lyra's Reality." She told Tyhry, "I've written stories in which Ek'col or Kac'hin have shifted between Realities. I write stories about a fictional Tyhry who is tryp'At. Lyra, if you are tryp'At then maybe..."

 Tyhry said, "In my father's stories there are telepathic tryp'At. I can telepathically link to Marda. Marda and I share the same unusual NOTCH2NL gene variant."

Zach told Tyhry, "Well, Lyra, here at Litheblanc the most talented telepath is Annette."

Élodie added, "But Annette and Brak are away... which leaves Annette's son, Antoine." Élodie popped up off the bed and took Tyhry's arm, "Let's not tell Antoine who you are and we will test his telepathic abilities."

Élodie brought Tyhry to Antoine's suite. Antoine was in his bed, having fallen asleep playing with Manny. When he saw Tyhry he bounded out of bed and threw his arms around Tyhry. "Pourquoi êtes-vous..." He was reaching out telepathically and was confused. "Tyhry?"

Tyhry replied, "I'm the Tyhry from Arizona. Please speak English?" 

Antoine kept his hands on Tyhry's arms and looked into her eyes. "You look like Marda, but I sense Tyhry's mind pattern. Something like Tyhry's mind..."

Élodie handed Antoine a pair of pants. "It is all quite strange, but I'm calling her 'Lyra' to avoid confusion. Now, I need to get back to Zack." She issued instructions to Antoine, "See what you can learn." Élodie turned and departed from Antoine's suite.

Antoine still had one hand on Tyhry and he was trying to let his telepathic mind resonate with her mind pattern. He could sense something of her thoughts about Hawaii and he said, "Black sand?" He got down on one knee and felt between her toes where there was still some gritty black sand. "Let's get you cleaned up, Marda. 

He stood up and tossed the pants on his bed. Tyhry said, "Call me 'Lyra'."

Antoine took Tyhry by the hand and led her to his shower. Antoine took his time exploring Tyhry's entire body. As he was drying her off with a towel he summarized his visual assessment and provided Tyhry with his preliminary telepathic report. "Your mind is similar to that of the Tyhry I grew up with and your body is quite similar to that of my Marda. Your ears are weird and the glans of your clitoris is big, like Tyhry's."

"The ears are a tryp'At feature and as for my genitals, I asked Marda to let me keep my Neanderthal features even when she shaped me into her body form."

"Your copy of Marda can program zeptites?"

Tyhry started to put her skirt back on, but Antoine grabbed it and tossed it away. He took her back to his bed. "I'm just getting started." He pulled her onto the bed. "Can you alter your own body?"

Tyhry shook her head. "No, I can't. I suppose Manny wanted me this way." Judging by Antoine's erection, he was quite happy with Tyhry's Marda-like body.

Antoine suggested, "I suspect that Manny made you just for me."

Tyhry reached out and felt the hot soft skin of his penis. "You are very beautiful."

"If you are from the previous Reality, I suppose there is no way for you to go back. Is there anyone special there for you?"

"I'm still in love with Marda, but she went off to school in Germany and I was in Hawaii."

Antoine nodded. "It is the same here. Marda and Tyhry are lovers. They went off to the same college so that they could stay together."

Tyhry could see that way Antoine was staring at her and see how he was responding to her touch. Tyhry thought she could sense some of his thoughts. "You are in love with Marda?"

"Yes, that is true. And now here you are... my second chance at... Marda-dom."

Tyhry giggled, "I think Manny brought me here for a reason." 

Antoine grinned, "I'll have to thank Manny."

"You know Manny?"

"Yes, she has been helping me get over my loss of Marda."

"You are Manny's lover?"

"Yes, I am."

"I hate to ask, but do you prefer Manny or Marda?"

"I've had the feeling that Manny has just been humoring me. She won't let me explore her thoughts and memories. I've spent years examining Marda's mind, particularly during orgasm trances. I can sense that you are like her in many ways." He reached out and stroked Tyhry's breasts with his soft finger tips.

Tyhry told Antoine, "I enjoyed how you cleaned me up. Would you now like to get me dirty?"

Antoine was more than ready. As the sun was coming up in the morning, Tyhry awoke beside Antoine and found him watching her. "Sorry, you wore me out."

Antoine kissed Tyhry's cute nose. "We'll do better the next time, now that you know me. But let's get breakfast. Élodie and Zach are waiting impatiently for my report."

In the dinning room, the two model-O robots were introduced to Tyhry as 'Lyra'. The robots served Tyhry and Antoine breakfast and Élodie conducted an inquisition. She asked Antoine, "Is it true? Lyra is from the fictional Casanay?"

Antoine nodded and swallowed then replied, "I suppose Manny could put false memories into Lyra's brain, but Lyra believes she grew up at Casanay where here father wrote novels that were quite similar to yours, Élodie." 

"So, I have been Manny's puppet. Writing stories about the previous Reality. But why? What has that accomplished? And why is Lyra here, now?" Élodie asked Tyhry, "Are you glad you are here?"

Tyhry smiled and looked at Antoine and then placed one of her hands on his arm. "So far so good. I suppose I should make the best of this." 

Antoine told Tyhry, "This is very exciting. We can enjoy ourselves, but I can't stop wondering why you are here."

Élodie asked Antoine for specific details about Tyhry's past and they found divergences between Tyhry's life and what Élodie had imagined for her novels. "Maybe by having me create fiction about Casanay, it prepared us for the day when Lyra would appear."

At that moment, a sparkling cloud of mist appeared at the end of the table and Manny the bumpha appeared, in her preferred human form with amazing bog blond hair made of swirling zeptites. She told Élodie, "I'm glad those preparations are now appreciated." She told Antoine, "Thank you for letting me enjoy your first play session with Lyra."

Tyhry asked Manny, "You were there in bed with us last night?"

"I was, and I enjoyed it. I've worked long and hard to make you two compatible and everyting turned out just fine."

Zach asked, "But why? I can see that Antoine is pleased to have Lyra here at Litheblanc, but bringing her here from a past Reality seems absurdly complicated."

"We must blame the Marda of this Reality. She chose Tyhry and now it is not going to be possible for the Tyhry of this Reality to satisfy the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact." The Trysta-Grean Pact was something that both Eddy and Élodie had written about. Litheblanc is the origin of the tryp'At lineage, and I need to spread Tyhry's tryp'At gene patterns into the future. With Lyra here, Antoine will take care of that." Manny looked at Tyhry and told her, "Be prepared for many pregnancies; you are to be the mother of the tryp'At."

Antoine laughed. "I could not ask for more entertaining work, but I barely know Lyra. She might not want to do your bidding, Manny."

Tyhry got out of her chair and went to Manny. Tyhry put her hands into Manny's sparkling hair. Tyhry asked Manny, "You expect me to live out my life using Marda's body shape?"

Manny touched Tyhry's slender body. "This is the physical form that appeals to Antoine. You are already familiar with Marda's body, so I know you won't object to these working conditions. You will be very comfortable and happy here at Litheblanc." Manny looked into Antoine's eyes, "If either of you has any complaints, just call me back to Earth. I'll be happy to help out." Manny patted Tyhry's cute bottom and whispered in her ear. Then Manny fragmented into her zeptite components and disappeared.

Antoine went to Tyhry and put his arms around her. "Will you have me?"

Tyhry suspected she could ask for anything. "Let's go on a trip; lune de miel. I want to see France and all of Europe."

Antoine looked surprised. "I'm not much of a traveler." 

One of the robots was taking used plates from the table. Tyhry said, "I want to learn how these robots are made."

Antoine chuckled. "Believe it or not, the world's center for robotics is in the attic."

Tyhry looked over Antoine's shoulder at Élodie and asked for confirmation, "Is that true?"

Élodie nodded, "Yes, the Q robots are working on a new model for 2048."

Tyhry muttered, "I came here from the year 2015."

Antoine speculated, "Manny must have held you in a teleportation buffer for a couple of decades, all just to align us correctly in time."

Tyhry asked, "What about climate change?"

Zach told Tyhry, "Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are falling. The bioengineered ocean microbes seem to being doing even better than expected."

Élodie added, "It is almost as if Earth excess carbon dioxide is disappearing."

Antoine suggested, "Maybe that is another one of Manny's tricks." He told Tyhry, "Lyra, I see in your memories that you planned a career around making microbes that could sink carbon to the sea floor. Here in this Reality, that work was completed years ago."

Tyhry relaxed against Antoine's body and told him telepathically: That is fine. Manny has a new career planned for me here. Then she spoke out loud, "I want us to travel when we can. When I get huge, we'll return to Litheblanc and out first child will be born here."

Élodie told Zach, "If this is where the tryp'At are to be bred, we better take seriously the idea of expanding Litheblanc."

 Tyhry told Élodie, "When Antoine and I are exploring Europe, I'll look for new locations that would be right for tryp'At branch offices."

Just then, Sally and Glen arrived at the usual time for Litheblanc breakfasts. After they were introduced to Tyhry, Sally asked, "A new Marda? What is going on?"

Antoine replied, "Élodie will explain. I'm going to give Lyra a tour." He took Tyhry to the basement stairs.

Tyhry said, "I want to see the attic robotics workshop."

Antoine nodded. "All in good time." He was intent on showing her the hot tub. After their second shared orgasm trance in the hot tub, Tyhry decided she could trust Antoine as a tour guide who would know how to set priorities. 

The End.

Chapter 15 (above on this page) is the end of two science fiction stories, both "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think". Readers might be left wondering about the fate of the story characters who were exiled to Observer Base. I like to think that Manny the bumpha was able to find ways to provide fun and meaningful lives to them all. 

Nyrtia the pek might be taken as a special case. It is easy to feel like Nyrtia gets a pretty lousy deal. Manny the bumpha gets super-sophisticated tools like zeptites and zeptozoans and has a good relationship with Sedruth, the sedronite who curates the Sedron Time Stream. Nyrtia uses less sophisticated femtobots and relied on tools like a klunky old positronic robot (Anthony) as her agent on Earth.

I'm feeling some regret over the way Systolina was used both on Earth and then at Observer Base and then simply faded away along with Rynry. Maybe the positronic robots should have unionized and fought for better roles in both "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think".

There are some rough spots in "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think" that I might need to repair. I inadvertently included to characters named 'Antoine': (1) there is the Chapter 11 character Antoine de Kergariou and (2) Annette's son, Antoine, who is introduced in Chapter 12 of "That Kind of Think". This dual use of 'Antoine' is not a catastrophic problem, but I did not even notice it when I was writing the story and it might confuse or distract some readers. 

Next: 

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Marda's barosyntexis

Tyhry disguised as Marda.

  Below on this page is Chapter 14 of the science fiction story "The Hierozyme Intervention", the last chapter before "The Hierozyme Intervention" merges with "That Kind of Think".

Part 1 of Chapter 14 is in the year 2032, when Marda is 33 years old. She returns from Germany to Arizona, having completed her work on Pseudoalteromonas barosyntexis, an ocean microbe that she has engineered to solve Earth's global warming problem. Related music: A Song.

Part 2 of Chapter 14 is set at Observer Base, where Manny and Nyrtia discuss positronics and the repairs that have been made by Tyhry1 to her Reality Viewer. Nyrtia complains to Manny about her method for intentionally concealing how Earth's global warming problem was solved.

Manny triggers another Reality Change, bringing into existence the Final Reality (the reality of "That Kind of Think"). Manny makes another teleportation duplicate of Tyhry. This is the same Tyhry who was given the physical form of Marda (see Chapter 13). This newly-created copy of teleported to Earth.

The Hierozyme Intervention Chapter 14 - Eckhard (Ch. 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Ch. 6)(Ch. 7)(Ch. 8)(Ch. 9)(Ch. 10)(Ch. 11)(Ch. 12)(Ch. 13)    

Part 1. 

September 29, 2032

Marda and Eckhard.

Eckhard had fallen asleep, but Marda was still nursing their shared telepathic mind link and sorting through his memories and judging the level of his anxiety about moving to Arizona. She started composing lines for a song about Eckhard, letting them swirl in their joint mind-space like clouds. Suddenly, a strange thought startled Marda: I'm pregnant?

Later, when they had reached Ranch0 Henrito, they found Zeta, who was still disguised as Rylla and still guiding the Henrito Research Institute, although the Institute now ran quite smoothly on its own institutional momentum. Rylla now spent most of her time monitoring the on-going studies of the evolution of Pseudoalteromonas barosyntexis in the oceans. Anthony had taken their luggage to what was still referred to as 'Marda's suite', where Tyhry had stayed until her departure for Hawaii, back when Tyhry had been disguised as Marda.

Eckhard, Marda and Zeta briefly chatted about the long flight from Germany and then Anthony arrived and set out snacks and drinks. Anthony then settled in on a couch beside Zeta who told Eckhard and Marda, "You can stay here until next week, then the guest house will be available for your use."

Marda heard Anthony, but she was gazing out the window to where the sparkling buildings of the Research Institute spread out across the valley. The campus had grown much greener through the years, under the benign influence of all the water being pumped up to the surface from a deep aquifer. Marda briefly thought about the first time Tyhry had visited the guest house, back before Ranch0 had been completed. However, she was mainly thinking about the possibility of being pregnant and so she was telepathically programming a new type of zeptite probe that could investigate the contents of her uterus.

Eckhard told Zeta, "I'd like to visit Ranch7 and meet my new colleagues, although my new job does not begin until next month."

Zeta said, "You two deserve a vacation. You've worked non-stop for over a decade." Seeing that Marda was lost in thought, Zeta asked her, "What is it, dear?"

Intensely focused on her zeptite programming, Marda wanted to select a topic for discussion that Zeta could carry on her own. "The usual... barosyntexis."

Zeta shook her head slowly and noted, "I'm rather baffled. Having dominated the Atlantic, the TD23 strain is now moving into the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Nobody can explain what makes 23 so robust at all temperatures and salinities."

Marda was the only person on the planet who knew that the TD23 strain was the one that had secretly been modified by Marda so as to have a special zeptite endosymbiont. TD23 had many metabolic advantages that made it a champ, but most important was its ability to use zeptites to shunt carbon dioxide through a crack in the Sedron Domain and into the atmosphere of Venus. Marda mused, "As long as it is doing its job, I'm satisfied."

Anthony sounded rather prickly when he said, "The measured rate of carbon transport to the sea floor does not match the rate at which atmospheric carbon dioxide is decreasing."

Eckhard seemed to not be concerned by that discrepancy. "The measurements of carbon transport to the sea floor are notoriously soft. That's why Tyhry is onboard the Deep Probe."

Zeta used her phone to project a holographic image that Tyhry had recently sent from the deck of the Deep Probe. "Tyhry is making measurements for the Arctic Ocean, the shallowest ocean."

 Marda knew that the measured rate of carbon transport to the sea floor would always seem low since most of the carbon was leaving Earth and being sent to Venus. She was now monitoring the data from a swarm of new probe zeptites that were searching her uterus and oviducts for a conceptus. 

Zeta was intrigued by the far-away look in Marda's eyes. "Marda, have you made any progress on your job search?"

It had been important that the conventional variant of Pseudoalteromonas barosyntexis, the one she had published results for, had seem to be a failure. With that ugly failure on her record, it was easy to imagine Marda being ignored when applying for new research positions. Eckhard waited for a dozen seconds, but when it seemed that Marda would not reply to Zeta, he said, "Marda has not been trying very hard to find a new job. Her grant funding runs through next year."

Marda was telepathically viewing data from her probes which had found a beautiful blastocyst already implanted in the wall of her uterus and already having been contacted by synapex link fibers. Marda smiled and told Zeta, "I'm going to alter my priorities. I'll be winding down my research and that will allow me to start devoting time to making babies."

Eckhard said to Marda, "It is not easy for me to accept that... for six years I've tried my best to get you pregnant and I'm still trying."

Marda told Eckhard, "Well, for the next week, I'll spend more time on my back." She gestured towards a bottle of water. "Heep yourself hydrated. Here in Arizona it is too easy to dry out. I want you making a high volume of semen."

Zeta giggled and told Marda, "It sounds like a good plan. Don't feel obliged to sit here talking to me when you could be letting Eckhard bounce you around on the bed in your suite. I also recommend doing it in the pool by moonlight."

Part 2.

The biological copy of Tyhry who had been shaped into Marda's physical form by body-sculpting zeptites and then had been teleported to Observer Base by Manny the bumpha, seemed not to age. She was accepting of being called 'Marda' and was still living with Tyhry2. 

Tyhry1 had completed her study of positronics and now had a fully functioning Viewer that showed her the future of the current Reality. Other possible future Realities could also be seen, but there was no way of knowing which of those Realities was a high probability future. And neither Tyhry1 or Nyrtia was satisfied with how they had been treated by Manny the bumpha.

Nyrtia was still annoyed that she had no way of identifying the means by which Earth's global warming problem had been solved in the current Reality. Pseudoalteromonas barosyntexis had been given the credit by Earthlings, but Nyrtia was skeptical. Finally, Manny the bumpha appeared inside Observer Base for the first time in more than a decade, arriving inside Tyhry1's home during one of Nyrtia's visits. Manny told Nyrtia, "Don't worry about this current Reality. It will soon be replace by a better one."

Nyrtia refused to accept Manny's advice. "I suspect you deployed advanced bumpha technology on Earth. When I find it, I'll clean up the mess you made."

Tyhry1 hated to see Nyrtia and Manny bickering, but Tyhry1 was irked at Manny. She was proud of the understanding of positronics she had developed with the help of Flynt, Rynry and Systolina, but she could not convince herself that it was her repair nanites that had returned her Viewer to full operation. She told Manny, "I feel like I just wasted the past twenty years of my life."

Manny smiled and produced a delicate shrug of her shoulders. She was back in her preferred physical form for visiting Earth and her flamboyant artificial hair swirled and sparkled. "Be honest with yourself, Tyhry. You never had more fun than when you were solving the mysteries of positronics. Sure, it is hopelessly inefficient technology, but it is what powered the positronic robots of Earth and allowed them to invent time travel."

Tyhry1 complained, "Here and now, since the Huaoshy altered the Dimensional Structure of the universe, positronics seems to not be worth the trouble."

Manny nodded. "True, but try to be philosophical. The journey is its own reward."

Nytia objected, "So, you gave us ancient Viewer technology with defective positronic control circuits. And mad me believe I was getting a real Viewer."

Manny acknowledged, "Yes, I tricked you beautifully. And I forced you to wait while Tyhry1 re-created the science of positronics. That is all history and we can move on. A new Reality for Earth will begin soon." Manny dissolved into her component zeptites and disappeared. 

Manny waited a short time until the Reality Change took place. The required temporal energy for this Change was being generated by a vast collection of femtozoans who had been sent into the far past of Earth where they made a complex alteration to the gene patterns of early humans, bringing into the human gene pool the NOTCH2NL gene variants that would later make possible Manny's Casanay Intervention.

Right after the Reality Change, after sliding herself down the time axis to the precisely correct point in time of the new Reality, she activated the Observer Base teleportation equipment and then teleported one more teleportation duplicate of Tyhry to Earth. Satisfied with her transfer of Tyhry from one Reality to the next, Manny slipped back into the Sedron Domain.

Manny allowed herself to think of Earth as now being in the Final Reality of Earth's Reality Chain. Yes, there might be some required adjustments to the development of human civilization, but those would not involve the creation of a whole new Reality.

End Chapter 14.  Jump to: Chapter 15.

Having now reached the end of Chapter 14 of "The Hierozyme Intervention" (above on this blog page) and also previously having completed Chapter 14 of "That Kind of Think", it is time to merge the two stories at a shared Chapter 15. The copy of Tyhry who was teleported to Earth at the end of Chapter 14, above, is in the physical form of Marda. In Chapter 15, that Tyhry/Marda copy will arrive inside Litheblanc and meet Antoine. 

The Trysta-Grean Pact.

That Tyhry/Marda copy will have a difficult time explaining her origins. Her last memory is of being on a beach in Hawaii and she will retain no memory of having been teleported. The fact that her body is in the physical form of Marda will be amusing, reminding her of when at the age of 12 she was sculpted into Marda's body form so as to swap places with Marda (see Chapter 8). However, before going to Hawaii, that copy of Tyhry was given back her own physical form by means of zeptite body sculpting.

In crafting Chapter 15, I want to shift to focus away from (1) climate fiction (a viable solution to Earth's global warming problem was found my Marda in "The Hierozyme Intervention", a solution that is used a second time in the Final Reality, with little discussion in "That Kind of Think") to (2) what now remains for Manny the bumpha to accomplish for Earth: complying with the terms of the Trysa-Grean Pact. 

In the Ekcolir Reality, Trysta Iwedon (R. Gohrlay's Asterothrope agent on Earth) and Grean the Kac'hin collaborated to find a way to prevent Earth from going through global warming and catastrophic sea level rise. It was their plan for a Final Reality that is known as the Trysta-Grean Pact. In order to get Trysta to abandon the Time Travel War, Manny the bumpha was forced to promise that in the Final Reality, humans would have the opportunity to spread to millions of habitable planets in the galaxy.

The tryp'At.

So far, it has been revealed that Manny's plan is for a human variant, the tryp'At, to spread through the galaxy while conventional humans transcend into the Sedron Domain and exist there as artificial life-forms. At the time of the formation of the Final Reality, Tyhry has one of the most complete assemblages of tryp'At genes on Earth and Manny must arrange for Trysta's descendants to spread through the galaxy.

Trysta was the name used by Gohrlay when she went to Earth in the 1930s. Zeta Gohrlay is a clone of 'Alpha' Gohrlay, and so the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact demand that Zeta's daughter, Tyhry, be in the Final Reality. However, it was most advantageous for there to be a copy of Tyhry in the Final Reality who was of interest to Antoine.

In advance of writing Chapter 15, I'm trying to imagine what would happen when a "second copy of Marda" appears inside Litheblanc. The first copy of Marda is in an intimate relationship with the Tyhry analogue who is from the Final Reality. I'm thinking that the copies of Marda and Tyhry who grew up at Litheblanc will go off to college while the teleported Tyhry/Marda will stay at Litheblanc with Antoine. Possibly the Marda and Tyhry analogues of the Final Reality will have already departed from Litheblanc by the time when Tyhry/Marda from the previous Reality arrives.

 Pek femtobots. The Tyhry/Marda from the Hierozyme Reality was infected by Anthony's memory-editing femtobots. Do Anthony's femtobots also make it into the Final Reality? It might be amusing to depict Tyhry/Marda in the Final Reality as still being unable to contemplate the possibility that the pek and the bumpha are anything more that fictional plot elements from science fiction stories.

Inside Casanay.

What would it like for Tyhry/Marda to suddenly find herself in a new Reality where her home is now only a fictional construct in science fiction stories? There would seem to be an opportunity to have an amusing meeting between Élodie and Tyhry/Marda. Possibly upon arriving at Litheblanc, the first person who Tyhry/Marda speaks to could be Élodie. Élodie would have to discover that this 'Marda' is not the Marda who grew up at Litheblanc. Tyhry/Marda could learn that in the Final Reality, 'Casanay' is Élodie's fictional construct.

Manny. I'm currently imagining that the final scene in Chapter 15 will include a visit by Manny the bumpha to Litheblac. Manny can tell Antoine and Tyhry/Marda how global warming was prevented in both the Hierozyme Reality and the Final Reality. Manny can also hint that Antoine and Tyhry/Marda will have descendants who explore the galaxy.

Tyhry/Marda.  For Chapter 15, I need to devise a suitable name for Tyhry/Marda. I provided Claude with chapter summaries for both "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think" and explained that upon arriving at Litheblanc Tyhry/Marda needs to adopt a new name.

Me: I have completed the first 14 Chapters of both "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think" (see the Chapter summaries for these two science fiction stories that are in the uploaded PDF). Note that the events of "The Hierozyme Intervention" and "That Kind of Think" take place in two successive Realities. Manny the bumpha transfers a copy of Tyhry from the Reality of "The Hierozyme Intervention" to the next Reality, the Reality of "That Kind of Think". I want a new name for that copy of Tyhry since there is already an analogue of Tyhry in the Reality of "That Kind of Think". When there are two copies of Tyhry at Observer Base, one is called 'Tyhry1' and the other is called 'Tyhry2'. I want the Tyhry analogue who is native to the Final Reality to retain the name 'Tyhry'. 

Marda's tryp'At features.

Body sculpting zeptites have been used to alter the physical appearance of the copy of Tyhry that Manny transfers from the Reality of the "The Hierozyme Intervention" to the final Reality. This copy of Tyhry now has the physical appearance of Marda. However, there is also an analogue of Marda in the Final Reality, so I do not want to call the copy of Tyhry who has the physical appearance of Marda, 'Marda'. Claude, do you understand what I an trying to do?

Claude: Yes, I think I understand. Here is the situation as I read it.

The transferred character is a copy of the Tyhry from the Hierozyme Intervention Reality. She is also the person who has been playing "Marda" (Tyhry in disguise) since the identity swap in Chapter 8. She will arrive in the Final Reality looking like Marda. That Reality already has a native Tyhry (Marda's companion and fellow researcher, Élodie and Zach's daughter) and a native Marda (Sally's daughter). The Observer Base convention of Tyhry1 and Tyhry2 doesn't work here, because the native Tyhry should keep her plain name. Calling the newcomer "Marda" would also collide with the native Marda. So the newcomer needs a distinct name that works as her identity in the Final Reality.

Before I propose candidates, I need to check a few things:

1. Who chooses the name? Does she choose it herself, does Manny assign it, or is it a name the other characters give her? The answer affects the tone. A self-chosen name suggests she has accepted a new identity. A name from Manny suggests Manny's control. A name given by Antoine or the others suggests how the community absorbs her.

2. Should the name carry meaning? Your EFU names often have an etymological flavor, such as Systolina, Ylyndra, Nyvad, and Nyrtia. Nyvad is the online handle Marda used as Eddy's super-fan, and it could be used as a callback, though that might confuse things because it is tied to the native-Reality Marda. Do you want a name that signals her origin (Tyhry-derived), her disguise (Marda-derived), or something new?

3. 

   Image by ChatGPT.

    Does she keep an in-story link to her original name? In Chapter 15 she will talk with Antoine and with Manny. Will she tell them she is a Tyhry from a prior Reality, or will Manny make the explanation? If she tells them, a variant of "Tyhry" could work as a nickname or middle name. If not, a wholly new name is cleaner.

4. One missing detail: Does the Final Reality's Marda know about her? Chapter 15 says only that she meets Antoine, so I don't know whether the native Marda and Tyhry are present, absent, or unaware. If the native Marda sees someone with her own face, that is a major plot event. It also affects whether the newcomer can be seen in public under a name that sounds like Marda's.

Also, a technical point for the narrative. Because the copy has Marda's body form from body sculpting zeptites, the genetic and physical situation gets odd. Her DNA is Tyhry's, but she looks like Marda. In the Hierozyme Intervention, the Ada sequencing report showed that Tyhry and Marda share an identical NOTCH2NLC variant. That means a casual genetic test in the Final Reality would not necessarily distinguish her from the native Marda on that gene, though other markers might. If you want that to matter in the plot, it is worth deciding on now.

Once I have your answers, I can offer several name options with brief rationales, or I can propose a first batch now if you prefer to react to concrete choices.

Me: Firstly, I must say that the speed with which you (Claude) responded startled me. I'm curious about how it is possible for Anthropic to deliver such fast responses to users.

1) "Who chooses the name?" I'm thinking that when the copy of Tyhry from the previous Reality arrives at Litheblanc, the first person she meets will be Élodie. This meeting will be rather comical because both Tyhry and Élodie willl quickly become confused. Élodie will immediately confuse Tyhry (who was given the appearance of Marda by Manny the bumpha) with the Marda analogue who grew up at Litheblanc and who Élodie knows well. 

Image by Flow.

Thus, early in Chapter 15, it is possible that Élodie and Tyhry will quickly decide on a new name that (first) Élodie can use for this copy of Tyhry, and then others will also adopt this new name.

2) "Should the name carry meaning?" Élodie is the equivalent of Eddy Watson in the Reality where there is Litheblanc rather than an actual Casanay in Arizona. Élodie has written many science fiction stories that are set at Casanay. Possibly Élodie would suggest that this mysterious Tyhry/Marda (who claims to have grown up at Casanay) use a name that already exists in one of her works of fiction. Possibly Élodie would simply "invent" a new name on the spot that is borrowed from some famous novel, an existing fictional character that is a mysterious surprise or has a seemingly impossible origin story. Alternatively, Tyhry might suggest a name that she would like to use, and she could select a name that is meaningful to her.

3) "Does she keep an in-story link to her original name?" Just as I often say 'Manny the bumpha', once Tyhry's NewName is established I might routinely use a phrase such as: 'NewName from the previous Reality'.

4) "One missing detail" I'm thinking that the copies of Marda and Tyhry who grew up together at Litheblanc will go off to college while the teleported Tyhry/Marda will stay at Litheblanc with Antoine. I'm leaning towards the idea that the Marda and Tyhry analogues of the Final Reality will have already departed from Litheblanc by the time when Tyhry/Marda from the previous Reality arrives.

5) Genetics. I'm imagining that the Tyhry from the Reality of "The Hierozyme Intervention" has the most complete assemblages of tryp'At genes that Manny has so far produced on Earth, and Manny wants to shift Tyhry and her set of tryp'At genes over to the Final Reality where they can be successfully passed on to her descendants. The Tyhry of the Final Reality is in a relationship with the Marda of the Final Reality and the Tyhry of the Final Reality is not going to pass her genes to any descendants.

 Claude: On speed: I can't observe my own latency, and I don't have inside knowledge of Anthropic's serving systems, so I can only describe what's generally true of large language model inference. Models like me run on specialized accelerator hardware (GPUs or similar chips) in large data centers. Requests are batched together, and previously computed intermediate results are cached so the model doesn't redo work. Some systems also use tricks such as speculative decoding, where a small fast model drafts text that the large model verifies in bulk. Anthropic also offers models in different size tiers, and the smaller ones are faster. Your reply starts streaming as soon as the first words are generated, which makes it feel quicker still. For specifics, Anthropic's engineering posts and documentation would be more reliable than I am.

Your plan is clear. Élodie's confusion comedy gives the name a natural origin, and I like that "[NewName] from the previous Reality" works as a tag, like "Manny the bumpha."

A caution about initials. Your cast already has many names starting with A, M, T, N, and S: Annette, Antoine, Ada, Marda, Manny, Mady, Michel, Tyhry, Tynyo, Nida, Nyrtia, Sally, Systolina. A new name starting with one of those letters would add to the confusion. The names below avoid those initials.

Name candidates, in the spirit of Élodie borrowing from famous fiction:

• Lyra (Pullman's His Dark Materials): a girl who moves between parallel worlds. It fits a Reality chain and gives Élodie an easy literary joke. The sound is also close to Tyhry's.
• 
   Dors (Asimov's Prelude to Foundation): Dors Venabili is a mysterious companion who turns out to have a hidden nature. It suits the positronic and Asimov flavor of the EFU. In French, dors means "sleep!", which Élodie could joke about.
• Dorothy, shortened to Dot or Dory: a girl who arrives from somewhere impossible and has to be absorbed into a new community.
• Mélusine: a figure from French legend with a concealed nature and origin, which is very much Élodie's literary territory. The initial M clashes with Marda and Manny, so I'd use it only if you like the legend more than the clean initial.
• A self-chosen name, if Tyhry picks it: something derived from her old name, like "Ryn" or "Tyr," or something she invents. It would show her keeping a thread to who she was. Since Tyhry and Marda swapped identities in the previous Reality, she might also prefer to drop both names.

 Questions about missing information:

1. Timeline. Chapter 12 of "That Kind of Think" is set in 2046, with the native Marda and Tyhry already working as researchers at Litheblanc, and Chapter 13 comes after that. Chapter 14 of "The Hierozyme Intervention" says the duplicate sent back is the Tyhry "from when she was young." If Chapter 15 comes after 2046, how are the native pair still leaving for college? Is the arriving duplicate a teenager, and roughly how old is Antoine at that point? The answers decide whether she is meeting Antoine as a peer or as someone older, and whether the native pair's departure works as a plot device.

2. What does the arriving Tyhry know and can she do? In the Hierozyme Reality, Nyrtia's mind-control nanites kept Tyhry from believing in aliens. Does the duplicate still carry those nanites and the memory erasure, or did Manny clear them? Can she link telepathically or program zeptites yet? It changes both her conversation with Élodie and what Manny has to explain.

3. Where is she at the start of the chapter? Is Manny the one who sends her to Litheblanc, and does she arrive knowing she is in a new Reality, or does she think she is going to Observer Base?

 Also, your genetics point works well, because it gives Manny a clear reason to move her. One consequence is that this Tyhry becomes the bearer of the full tryp'At gene set for the galaxy-spreading future you describe. Is she meant to have children with Antoine, or through the blastipositor? I'd want to know before suggesting dialogue, since the name will carry more weight if she is the ancestor of a lineage.

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I was satisfied with Claude's suggestion of the name 'Lyra'. Maybe when Tyhry/Marda from the previous Reality learns that Élodie is confusing her with two girls who grew up at Litheblanc, she simply tells Élodie, "Just call me Lyra, I like that name."

Claude's questions. (1) In the Final Reality, Antoine and the analogues of Tyhry and Marda are all born several years later than in the Hierozyme Reality. 'Lyra' is about 16 years old when she is teleported away from the beach in Hawaii and she is held in the Observer Base teleportation buffer until she is correctly age-matched for Antoine. (2) Earlier on this page (above) I mentioned my thinking about Chapter 15: 'Lyra' is still under the influence of Anthony's infites and cannot imagine that the pek and bumpha are real. (3) As mentioned above on this page, from her perspective, 'Lyra' was just teleported off of the beach in Hawaii, so for her it is quite confusing to arrive inside Litheblanc. Maybe Manny drops her into Élodie's library and 'Lyra' starts reading one of Élodie's novels that features a 'fictional' Casanay. Then Élodie walks in.

Next: Chapter 15.

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