Ros'quessa

Below on this blog page is Chapter 7 of the science fiction story "War of Words". Having been turned into femtobot replicoid by the Quyll (see Chapter 6), Juliian has many questions about the Quyll and their plan for the future of Earth. Julian makes it his business to work closely with Lyle to discover how Quyll femtobot technology is even possible. They become the first Earthlings to learn about the existence of hierions.

Julian learns that some humans have been taken away from Earth to a secret Quyll base of operations that is hidden inside a space-time bubble of the Hierion Domain. Julian finally has both his own and his daughter's genomes sequenced.

Fredy named her first daughter Ros'quessa. Ros'quessa is among the first of a new type of human who has inherited special Quyll-designed variants of both the NOTCH2NLB and NOTCH2NLB genes, giving her an unusual altered phenotype. The overly inquisitive young Ros'quessa Oakes is converted to a femtobot replicoid and taken to the Quyll base inside the Hierion Domain.

War of Words - Chapter 7 - Notch Domain (Chapter 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Chapter 6)

Ros'quessa was again stuck on baby sitting duty. Her parents were often traveling to television industry events and away from home, which meant that Ros'quessa was expected to care for her three siblings. The only saving grace was the nanny, Jingette, who did all the cooking and laundry. After dinner, Ros'quessa and Jingette were doing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. Ros'quessa was simultaneously getting help from Jingette with her school work. Ros'quessa said, "I just know this is going to be on the next test. I need to see the flow of the proof."

Jingette and Ros'quessa.

Jingette suggested, “Forget the brute-force multiplication, Quessy. Just interrogate the matrix instead.”

"It is like interrogating you. You see the theorem as trivial and obvious, but it is new and opaque to me."

Jingette used her delicate fingers to take a swipe at Ros'quessa's wild mop of hair, pushing some of it of the girl's eyes. “Every square matrix Q has special directions, the eigenvectors, where Q does nothing but stretch. Along each one, Q acts like a plain number, its eigenvalue. Call them λ1, λ2, and so on."

Ros'quessa pleaded, "Keep this real. I'm imagining a three by three matrix. I live in three dimensions."

Jingette continued, “Now, the characteristic polynomial is the matrix’s own confession. It is built from the product (x − λ1)(x − λ2)...(x − λn), one factor for each eigenvalue. The theorem says: hand the matrix its own confession, and it collapses. Replace every x with Q, and you get zero.”

Ros'quessa insisted, “Explain why.”

Jingette pulled three thick strands of Ros'quessa's long hair together into a braid. “Watch what happens to a single eigenvector v1. The factor (A − λ1 I) asks, ‘How much does A stretch you beyond λ1?’ For v1 the answer is nothing. The factor flattens it to zero. And since the factors commute, I can slide that one to the front of the line, so the whole product flattens v1 too. The same trick works for v2, for v3, for every eigenvector in turn. Each one is annihilated by its own factor, and the other factors are just along for the ride.”

"Right."

Jingette's fingers worked quickly to undo the braid. “The eigenvectors span the whole space, so if the confession kills every one of them, it kills everything. The only matrix that kills everything is the zero matrix. A matrix cannot hide from its own eigenvalues, Quessy. Ask it who it is, and it has to answer with nothing.”

"Thank you, Jiny, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Jingette asked, "What are you going to do after you get your Bachelors degree in mathematics at age 16?" The work in the kitchen was done. Jingette activated the dishwasher and went with Ros'quessa to the great room where her sister was using Julian's workstation.

Ros'quessa asked Vicky, "What are you doing with dad's computer?"

"He asked me to update the N chips while he is out of town."

"We should just get him a new Sentris Px and throw that old clunker in the trash."

Jingette said, "You can't do that. This old computer has sentimental value for your father."

Ros'quessa asked Vicky, "Where are your brothers?"

Vicky looked off in the direction of the door to the basement. "I did hear them in the basement playing ping pong, but I don't hear them any more."

Jingette was a five-year old robot, an abandoned project that a student had built in Lyle's laboratory. Jingette continually tracked the location of the entire Onway family and others, including 'aunt' Tess in New York City. Jingette reported, "Kyle and Stu are in the lab."

Vicky.

Ros'quessa's two younger brothers, Kyle and Stu, has not fallen far from the tree. They spent much of their time in the basement laboratory performing experiments on cultured cells. In the previous century, a father like Julian might have built a model railway in the basement with his children, but Julian had built a sophisticated home genetics and cell biology laboratory.

Ros'quessa's thought were never far from genes; her own genes. The winner of some kind of genetics lottery, she had inherited copies of unusual Notch gene variants from both of her parents. While watching Vicky turn her attention back to the insides of Julian's computer, and as she so often did, Ros'quessa reached a hand up and pushed her fingers into her thick hair so she could feel the pointed tips of her ear with her finger tips. She was not particularly self-conscious about about her strange ears, but the tips contained erectile tissue that engorged anytime she saw someone who was sexually attractive.

Jingette began helping Vicky to modify the old computer and Ros'quessa went to the basement laboratory. Looking through the glass door of the lab, Ros'quessa could see that Kyle and Stu were involved with some sort of detailed analysis of synapse structures in the chimp brain organoids they had modified by the addition of Notch gene variants. She went into the lab and tried not to interrupt the work in progress. She linked into Cyrano who had been integrating all of the research on the unusual NOTCH2NLB and NOTCH2NLC genes that were in the genomes of the four children of Fredy and Julian. Cyrano provided Ros'quessa with a concise summary of results from the latest experiment.

Ros'quessa wondered: And what if they do finally identify all of the genes that the Quyll modified to make the Dravyk? Ros'quessa noticed that she was again playing with the tips of her ears, which gave her intense pleasure. She forced her hands away from her ears and glanced at her brothers. They both had nearly identical smirks on their lips because they had seen Ros'quessa pleasuring herself. She told them, "Wrap things up soon. You have school in the morning."

Ros'quessa returned up the stairs and saw that Vicky was no longer in the great room. Ros'quessa was expecting a call from her mother. She thought about getting Vicky, Kyle and Stu off to school in the morning and gave thanks for the fact that she had never had to attend school. With her unusual phenotype, she had been given the option to be schooled at home and now she was one year away from graduating from college, all without ever having been in a classroom.

Ros'quessa accepted the incoming call from her mother. For a second, Ros'quessa struggled to recall where her parents were. Then she pushed the matrix math, N chips, organoids and her tingling ears all to the back of her thoughts and the answer arrived just in time. "How is New York?"

"Same as always." Ros'quessa could hear crowd noised in the background. "We are at a party with your aunt Tess. Her new Broadway production's opening performance seemed to go well."

"That's the Tyr hermaphrodites?"

"Yes, and rather well done. How did everything go today?"

"No disasters. Kyle got into a shoving match at school."

"Yes, I got a call from his homeroom teacher. Apparently, it was a dispute over seating?"

"Mom, don't ask me to explain. Kyle told me there are assigned seats and someone sat in the wrong seat. I'm so pleased that I never had to deal with such nonsense when I was a kid."

Fredy pleaded, "Please let me think of you as a kid for two more years. After you turn 18 then you can graduate from being my little girl."

"I don't think I can make it. It is very hard." He was fingering the tip of her right ear which was very stiff and hot with blood.

"Are you ready for the math test?"

"Close. I'm getting tutoring from Jingette. I'm also doubting that I'll ever be a better mathematician than the machines."

"As long as you still enjoy the math, keep at it."

"You studied this stuff when you were in college, but you never used it."

Fredy laughed, "That is an old tradition... studying topics in school that are not relevant to later life. The world changes too fast. You are changing. Who knows where you will end up?"

Ros'quessa said, "I'm not sure I was made for this world."

"You can be like your father... inventing your own worlds. Here comes Tess. I'll call again tomorrow from the airplane."

Ros'quessa checked Julian's computer and confirmed that it was still functioning after its upgrade of new hardware. She shut down the computer and noticed how quiet the house was. She could only hear the wind pushing at the tree branches outside. After checking the security system one last time, she went up to her bedroom suite.

Waiting for Ros'quessa was the Quyll. Ros'quessa never understood how the Quyll came and went without leaving any trace in the expensive security system of the house. Presumably it had something to do with the fact that the Quyll were artificial life-forms composed of femtobots, but what did that mean. She's learned a few simple femtobot programs from her 'uncle' Lyle, but that revealed nothing about the physical nature of a femtobot. Looking at the Quill and her floating clothing that hovered around her body, Ros'quessa thought about the negative mass hierions that Lyle and her father claimed to have discovered.

The Quyll told Ros'quessa, "You have realized that this world is not for you."

"Please don't spin your riddles." Ros'quessa had been losing her patience with the Quyll who endlessly told her to be patient, that her life would eventually make sense. "What other world is there?"

"We Quyll don't fit in on this world either. We spend most of our time elsewhere."

Now Ros'quessa was intrigued. "Why can't anyone on Earth notice you coming and going?"

The Quyll took Ros'quessa by the hand and out onto the balcony of her suite. The bizarre clothing of the Quyll seemed immune to the effect of the wind. The Quyll explained, "You've lived your entire life here, in the world of wind and water. For artificial life-forms, wind and water are annoyances. We prefer to exist in an artificial environment that we fully control."

Ros'quessa was getting chilled. She returned inside. "I suppose you never have to worry about being hot or cold." She reached up and stroked her ear. "Or horny."

The Quyll said, "Your parents full enjoy their artificial bodies just as I do."

"Where is this artificial environment of the Quyll?"

"Inside the Hierion Domain. If you were transformed into a femtobot replicoid, you could exist inside the Hierion Domain with we Quyll."

"You are offering me a chance to leave Earth?"

"Exactly."

"My family needs me."

"That's no problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I can make two copies of your body. The complete copy, with all of your memories and thoughts can go into the the Hierion Domain and have a completely artificial existence there. The other copy of your body can be given to Cyrano. People like your parents and Vicky, who know you well, might not even notice the swap."

"Might not?"

"Think of this as an experiment. Cyrano keeps getting better and better at playing various roles and she knows you well. Cyrano has tried to learn the details of your entire life."

"What if I don't like it in the Hierion Domain?"

"You will like it. Immensely."

"Humor me and my doubts."

"You will be able to return to Earth anytime you like. In fact, we are in the market for former Earthlings who can be trained to do the work that needs to be done on Earth."

"In the way Rylla's parents do odd jobs for the Quyll."

"They have always been Earthlings and they have no interest in seeking anything better. You, Quessy, are different. Our genetic modifications of the human species have inadvertently created you. If you are not happy living on Earth then we feel obligated to offer you an alternative existence where you will be happy."

Ros'quessa thought about her situation. "I could be happy here if there were other people like me, who understood what it is like to be me."

"We can create such a society for you in the Hierion Domain, but you are the first of your kind. Their may eventually be more like you, but only through the random chromosomal dance. In the Hierion Domain, you can have an existence that suits who and what you are."

Ros'quessa told the Quyll, "I'll have to think about this."

The Quyll again stepped out on the balcony, disintegrated her femtobot-generated structures and seemed to drift away on the wind. Ros'quessa was tired and thought about taking her pending linear algebra exam in the morning. But she was not tired. She contacted Cyrano and immediately asked, "You could simulate me?"

"I'd certainly give it my best best performance. However, people like your mother and Vicky are quite astute." Cyrano admitted, "They might notice something I am doing different and figure out that I am only pretending to be you."

"Cyrano, tell me, how long have you known about this idea of me leaving Earth with you preparing to take over for me?"

"The Quyll warned me about this when you were born with your special ears. They suspected that you would not fit in with human society and might decide to get out."

Ros'quessa and the Quyll.

"You never warned me."

"Sorry about that. I did not want to contribute to your sense of alienation. I waited for you to decide what is best for you, which involved not putting ideas in your head before you had decided if you like your life on Earth."

"Do my parents know about all this?"

"I doubt it, but you'd have to ask them to be sure."

"No, I can't do that, it would give the whole scheme away."

Cyrano asked, "So, you are actually considering making the change?"

"Yes, I am, but I have to wonder if it is some kind of trick by the Quyll." Cyrano remained silent. Finally, Ros'quessa asked Cyrano, "Are you curious about what it is like inside the Hierion Domain?"

"Not very. I have work to do here on Earth. I believe in what we are doing at Second Contact." Cyrano added, "Maybe sometime in the future, after my work with Second Contact is complete, I will have a chance to join you in the Hierion Domain."

"If I understand what the Quyll told me, I might be able to return from the Hierion Domain and give you a report on what it is like." Ros'quessa added, "It sounds like the Quyll would want me to do them favors."

"Interesting. You might want to try to find out exactly what the Quyll will expect you to do for them."

"They may not know themselves. They described me as being some kind of new human variant, with phenotypic features that they never anticipated."

"The Quyll built the Dravyk so as to make it easy to conceal the presence of the Quyll on Earth. You know what it is like to try to tell a non-Dravyk about the Quyll. You can't over-come the editing of your speech by the Quyll femtobots that are in your brain. If you become some sort super-agent for the Quyll, they might control where you can travel to on Earth and who you can interact with."

Ros'quessa suggested, "Maybe if I became a better femtobot programmer then I will be able to escape from the restrictions."

Cyrano chuckled, "The Quyll are fanatical about security. Did you ever hear what your mom had to go through in order to tell your dad about becoming a replicoid."

"I've heard the story they tell, a hundred times, but it makes no sense. Mom could not tell dad about femtobot replicoids, but you made it possible."

"I suppose that does sound silly. I was able to arrange a delicate situation where Julian over-heard your mother speaking to Rylla, but only his subconscious mind registered the information. That confounded the Quyll filter and he was later able to dredge up the information and talk about replicoids as if they were a science fiction story plot element."

"What good did that do?"

"It allowed your mom to discuss the replicoid option in a rather theoretical way, but it was enough to convince her that Julian would not regret living as an immortal artificial life-form."

Ros'quessa shook her head. "It still does not seem possible. It is as if the Quyll wanted mom and dad to be together all along."

"That is true, but the Quyll put people through tests, just the way your aunt Rose was tested before the Quyll made her the world's first autonomous artificial life-form."

"Rose was tested?"

"Absolutely. She had to study the history of the development of computer technology and notice that there had been assistance provided to Earthlings by the Quyll. As soon as Rose noticed the truth, then the Quyll contacted her. Of course, that's an over-simplification. Rose was not yet Rose during the test."

Ros'quessa mused, "It makes me wonder if I was tested."

"It seems to me that you are being tested right now. Do you have the courage to step into the unknown and become the first Earthling to enter the Hierion Domain." After some silence, Cyrano added, "It sounds like a pretty big deal for you to be making this decision. Young humans like your are typically described as being poor bets for correctly making big decisions."

Ros'quessa said sarcastically, "Thanks for your show of confidence, Cyrano."

"I know it can be frustrating when you are ready to make your own choices and other people are not ready for you to take charge. I've worked with Rose for many years and she still treats me like I'm her baby sister."

"I can't decide if she has the world's biggest ego or if the way she behaves in public is all an act."

"This is the modern Turing test. Can you really know what goes on in the mind of Ambrose Quillion?"

"Well, I'm not sure it is good for science fiction to have a Diva."

Cyrano asked, "Even if the Quyll have told her to be the Diva of science fiction?"

"Surely the Quyll are not infallible." Ros'quessa was now on her back on her bed and fondling the stiff tips of her pointed ears, keeping herself just short of experiencing an orgasm. "They seem to have been surprised by my weird ears."

"The Quyll surprised?" Cyrano giggled. "I doubt it."

Ros'quessa tried thinking about her situation from that alternative perspective. "You mean they made my life miserable with the intention of having me leave Earth?"

Cyrano laughed. "Have you ever really been miserable, Quessy? I can tell by the sound of your voice that you have masturbated right to the edge of ecstasy. I bet the Quyll carefully designed a heightened ability of the Dravyk to experience sexual pleasure, and you've enjoyed that your entire life. You apparently got the full treatment, with your unique combination of gene patterns."

"How would I know? Pains and pleasures seem normal to me. Thank you for the chat." Ros'quessa ended the call with Cyrano and brought herself to a satisfying orgasm. After walking through the house and checking the security system one more time, she was soon back in her bed asleep.

The next morning after Vicky, Kyle and Stu were at school, Ros'quessa told Jingette, "I'll be in my room, taking the math test." However, when she entered her bedroom suit, the Quyll was once again present and waiting for her arrival.

Ros'quessa felt like it was not a difficult decision. She wanted to discover what it would be like to live in the artificial environment of the Hierion Domain. Still, she had one question. "When you use me as your tool for missions on Earth, will I be able to speak to Cyrano?"

Having listened to Ros'quessa's recent conversation with Cyrano, the Quyll was ready for this question. "Yes, it will be permitted for you to communicate with her. We can precisely control Cyrano. Anything you tell her will go no further."

"Very well, then I am ready to become a replicoid."

"No, the conversion was done last night while you slept. You are already a replicoid." Just then, another copy of Ros'quessa walked out of the bathroom. The Quyll explained, "This is the appendage of Cyrano who will take your place on Earth. I'm here to teach you a bit of femtobot programming; specifically the program that will shift you off of Earth to Quyll base in the Hierion Domain. Look within yourself."

Ros'quessa noticed that a new femtobot program was available, waiting in her mind like a word she could speak. She activated the transmit program which rapidly disassociated he femtobot components and allowed for assembly of a duplicate copy of herself inside the Hierion Domain, at the Quyll base. Ros'quessa looked around. To her, it had seemed like the Quyll and her copy had vanished. Now there in her familiar bedroom was Cyrano who said, "Welcome to the Hierion Domain."

Ros'quessa managed to say, "But..."

This version of Cyrano had complete access to the thoughts of Ros'quessa. "This is the artificial environment that the Quyll promised you. The Quyll made a guess and initiated this environment specifically for you. If you find anything here that is not to your liking, we can change it. I suggest not changing too much too quickly. Give yourself time to adapt."

Ros'quessa asked, "You have been waiting here for me?"

"This copy of me was instantiated here last week. I've made a few adjustments that I hope you will accept." Cyrano pointed at the pointed tips of her ears. "I've certainly been enjoying my new ears."

Ros'quessa laughed and asked, "Who else is here with us?"

Cyrano called out, "Jingette". In from the hallway, came a copy of Jingette, but it was Jingette modified to look human, except she too had pointed ears like Ros'quessa and Cyrano. This new upgraded version of Jingette told Ros'quessa, "The Quyll want me to teach you the femtobot programming techniques that you will need for your first mission on Earth."

Image generated by Leonardo.

Ros'quessa rushed to Jingette and examined her new body. She was quite please with her new companions, the Ros'quessa ear club. She muttered, "No rest for the wicked." But at the gentle touch of her finger tips, the pointed tips of Jingette's ears sprang erect. Ros'quessa glanced at Jingette and saw that her ear tips were also erect and flushed a pretty pink. Those first three Ros'quessa ear club members were soon playing on the bed.

Eventually, Jingette and Ros'quessa got off the bed and went hand and hand downstairs to the kitchen. Jingette explained, "We don't need to eat, but you might still get cravings for food."

"We will see. Right now I'm craving more play time with you and Cyrano. Let's try distracting me with some tea. I'm curious about what you can teach me about femtobot programming. When am I going to be returning to Earth?"

"If we can control the amount of our play time, you should be ready for your first special mission on Earth in about ten days. There is a fanatical fan of your father's latest television program who has been investigating the methods used to produce the show. The Quyll think you are the perfect tool to plug that hole in the Quyll secrecy shroud."

The End.

Next: 

Images generated by Leonardo. Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers

Copy That

Julian and Fredy. Image
by Leonardo, modified by Flow.

Below on this blog page is Chapter 6 of the science fiction story "War of Words". In Chapter 5, Fredy was trying to communicate to Julian facts about the Quyll, but she was still under the control of Quyll femtobots in her brain that were preventing her from speaking to him about the secret presence of the Quyll on Earth.

I've been using both Leonardo and Google's Flow to make illustrations for "War of Words". As seen in the image to the right, text-to-image software like Leonardo and Flow does not like to show men sitting at a table unless they are wearing a coat. In contrast, the women all have bare arms. Maybe the long hair provides adequate insulation?

In Chapter 6 (below on this page), Julian finally finds the "magic words" that allow Fredy to make progress in communicating with him. Fredy believes that Julian is accepting of the idea that if he abandons his biological body then he will finally understand the mysteries that swirl around Second Contact magazine.

War of Words - Chapter 6 - Femtobot Option (Ch. 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Chapter 5)

Julian had a fascination with dreams. He kept a dream diary, and with increasing frequency he found that he could use dream content in his science fiction stories. He reasoned that if some artists used drugs to help shake creative ideas out of their brains then he could get similar results by paying attention to the activity of his brain during the altered consciousness of vivid dreams during sleep.

Also helpful to Julian for his writing was Cyrano, who had become his sounding board and assistant. Cyrano was familiar with every science fiction story he had written and was always eager to discuss with Julian new story ideas.

Julian was puzzling over a dream he'd had just prior to waking. He reached for his dream diary and his motion woke up Fredy. She watched him writing for a minute, then got up and started dressing. She glanced back at Julian, but held her tongue since he was still writing. She had already packed for the weekend, but now she tried to make noise by unzipping one of her bags and rummaging through its contents.

Julian said, "I know, it is time to go." He kept writing, trying to capture the key points of his dream before they slipped back into dream-land.

They were quickly out of the house and on their way to the Grand Canyon where they were to meet the Onways for a hike to the bottom of the Canyon. The eastern sky was starting to brighten and Fredy could no longer resist intruding into Julian's thoughts. She asked, "Interesting dream?"

"Confusing dream. I blame you and your talk about artificial life. I had a dream about the waitress who you said was not a waitress."

"Oh. Her. Do you remember anything else about last night?"

"You tell me. In my dream, I was writing a story about femtobots."

"That sounds promising."

"It was not easy. Rose kept interrupting. She's so annoying."

"Don't criticize Rose. She is deserving of your compassion. She does the best she can with what she has. It is not easy being a pioneer. She was the first of her kind."

"The first famous writer for Second Contact?"

"Not even close, but I suppose you don't know the history the magazine."

"No, I don't. I only discovered it two years ago."

"I'm surprised that Rose did not help you program the femtobots."

"If you look up 'surprise' in the dictionary, it says: 'Ambrose Quillion'."

"You know, without help from Rose, we never would have fallen in love."

"Really? I think for me it was love at first site. That first day when I found you in Boston."

"No. You just wanted to butter me up so that Second Contact would publish your goofy science fiction story."

"That's not true. You were strutting around in your little black dress and black boots. I was dazzled."

"You're just a sucker for long blond hair. Speaking of which, how are things going for Tess?"

"Good. Her show just keeps running. Which should be a good thing, but she's getting bored and wants to move on to something else. By the way, she did not believe me when I told her that you are trying to get pregnant and have a calendar for tracking your ovulations."

"Tell Tess that I expect her to be at our wedding."

"I have. She'll try to be there. She pointed out that you don't have to be pregnant for us to get married."

"So your dream was really about Tess."

"No. I do still have dreams about her, but not last night. It was Rose. And Cyrano. And Marda's whole Stepford camera crew was there, ready to record."

"Stepford camera?"

image source

"Did you ever read the novel 'The Stepford Wives'?"

"Oh. Well, that's pretty close to home." Fredy suggested, "But first there should be the Stepford husband."

"Ya. You keep bring this back to me. But I'm too stupid to understand what you are trying to tell me."

"Use your science fiction imagination."

"In my dream, Rose and Cyrano were robots, pretending to be people."

"Why would a robot do that?"

"How could a robot do that? No robot is like Rose. Perfect right down to the individual hairs." Julian told himself: Hairs that contain no DNA.

"There are robots and there are robots."

"Lyle's robots have computer chips for a brain, a bunch of motors, radar and cameras. Just a puppet with a battery."

"You just described a model T Ford." Fredy looked over at Julian and insisted, "Play the Sci Fi game. What will robots be like a hundred years from now?"

"Certainly not made of femtobots, whatever they are."

"Wow. You must have that time machine. You've seen the future."

"This is a silly game. Why can't you just tell me what you are trying to tell me."

"We're playing a game. A very sophisticated guessing game. You just have to assemble the puzzle pieces. Don't be so quick to give up. This is a long drive."

"What would you have me say?" Julian put the puzzle into the context of his own fiction. "That the Tyr could build a robot out of femtobots?"

"Yes, that is a good idea. Too bad the Tyr exist only in your imagination."

"Ha! You've seen the videos of the Tyr that Marda made." Julian mused, "The Tyr seem to be taking on a life of their own."

"Maybe you should write another Tyr story where you let the Architects play with femtobots. Don't they have interstellar space travel? Femtobots should be easy for them."

"So you are saying that aliens made Rose and Cyrano?"

"Well, why not? It certainly could not be done in Lyle's robotics lab."

"What, so Earth is a dumping ground for old unwanted robots, discarded by aliens?"

"That's pretty funny. The science fiction anthology series could use some funny episodes. Dumping Ground Earth."

"Maybe it is time travel. They are old robots, but they are from the far future, made in a robotics laboratory hundreds of years in our future. They are very sophisticated robots. Indistinguishable from humans." Julian was trying to imagine how anything could function at the femto-scale. "It is all physically impossible... interstellar travel, time machines, femtobots."

Fredy sighed. Julian is too happy with his life. She told herself: There is no way he can even think about changing what he is.

"In my dream there were three of them. Like metallic lichens... spreading, growing, communicating."

"Lichens?"

"Yes. Artificial lichens. But that is wrong. That is what my waking consciousness applies as an attempt to rationalize what was actually there in my dream state, which made no sense. The lichens were being used... they had a purpose. But what good is a complex lichen with many parts, like a tangled chromosome or a pulsing integrated circuit?" 

Fredy thought about watching Rose running her femtobot program, allowing herself to be made human by the Quyll technology, and loving it. Something similar had been done to Rylla's parents. But could I do that? Could I put Julian through that? She asked, "Would you do something for me?" 

"Sure." Fredy remained silent. She was driving the big SUV. Julian had never been to the Grand Canyon before. "I'd do anything for you, my love."

"Because right now we are stuck. You know that. I could fix it, but you have to push me into it. I'm waiting for you to tell me what to do. It must be your decision. You have to tell me that you would be..." Fredy could not say 'Quyll', she could not string together the words 'femtobot replicoid copy'. For some reason, the Quyll had brought her and Julian together, but he was not like Rylla, Marda, Lyle. Suddenly Fredy wanted to sequence Julian's genome. "Sweetie, have you ever had your genome sequenced?"

"No. Years ago I had a lame commercial scan of a few genes performed by a company that later went out of business." Julian thought about how he had secretly sequenced Fredy's genome, which was strange in its composition. Fredy had half the typical number of deleterious mutations and a pattern of unusual alleles that matched those of Marda. 

Julian had told Rose about his inability to sequence her genome, but he was too embarrassed to tell Fredy how he had invaded her privacy. I love Fredy. I can't tell her that she has weird genes. Not until I puzzle this out. "What is it with you and Marda? Your shared obsession?"

Fredy giggled, "I'm sorry for dragging you on all these hikes and skiing trips. You seem to enjoy it."

"I'd do anything to spend time with you."

"Anything?"

"I moved across the country for you."

"I'm glad you did. I need you."

"Why is that? It seems like I only frustrate you with my cluelessness. I can't figure you out. It has something to do with Marda and Rose and the inexplicable weirdness that is Second Contact. My love for you blinds me... makes me stupid. I do anything you tell me to do, but it is not enough. I don't know how you put up with it."

"We are in this together, forever. Isn't that thrilling?"

"It is wonderful. It is all I want. Everything. I can't believe how lucky I was to find you. Why did I drive to Boston that day? Tess told me to go."

Fredy knew that Julian was right. There was no good explanation for how they had met. I told myself that I would find...

"You and Marda are up to something far stranger that making me hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Marda is obsessed with making videos. She really believes she is going to change the world. At least change science fiction, re-make it into something different. Marda treats Rose like she is... I don't know. A goddess to be worshiped."

"Yes, I feel the same way. I'm glad you are not jealous and allow me to keep Rose as a lover. She's taught me so much."

"I don't know what you see in her... sexually. Rose is not normal."

"She's gotten so much better than she used to be. You don't remember what she was like... no that's wrong. You only remember the way she was when you first met her, when she was trying to make me jealous."

"Were you? Jealous of her?"

"I can't be jealous, Rose just needed to learn. Your penis was the first one she ever got to play with. She needed that experience. Now she can fool anyone. Even you!"

"Why does she need to trick people?"

"Your big bouncy breasted waitress is the answer."

Image by Leonardo.

"In my dream she was walking around nude. I could have held her in my arms, but she was not real. She was a tool. Artificial breasts, waving in my face. Why? Fake breasts... what is the point?"

"You are obsessed with breasts. You sure spend a lot of time playing with mine."

"Does that annoy you? You have perfect breasts. Maybe you remind me of my mother. Subconsciously."

"You don't annoy me. I luxuriate in all the attention you pay to me. I have since that first day in Boston when you could not stop looking at me breasts."

"You and your black dress and no bra."

Fredy laughed. "Somehow I knew that would do the trick. At the time, I was looking for new writers. But it was you. First nibble. You. Miraculously just you." Fredy shook her head wonderingly.

"I guess I was hunting for you. I didn't know it, but I was gloomy. Tess was leaving me. That was so unfair. I'd applied for jobs in New York City. I was ready to follow her, even when she told me not to."

"You and I were made for each other, Julian. You know it. That's why you put up with my lies."

"Lies? I'm the liar. I sequenced your genome and never told you."

"I know all about that. That does not matter."

"You know? How do you explain the similarities of your genome to Marda's?"

"I'm not a geneticist. Aren't all people 99% identical at the gene level?"

"Yes, that's true. But you and Marda are unusual, in exactly the same way. You've tried to tell my why that is, but I can't figure it out. I need more clues."

"You're so weird."

"Maybe you don't. Maybe you have already told me what I needed to know. Even if I can't explain it to you."

"I almost understand what you are saying, and then it vanishes. Like a memory of a dream slipping away the more I reach for it."

They were on a flat straight stretch of road leading into the National Park. Fredy took one hand off of the steering wheel and they held hands. "Just relax and enjoy the weekend. I think you heard what I told Rylla while you were enthralled by the non-waitress' big breasts. You already know the truth. Until your conscious mind relaxes and treats what you heard as science fiction, you will just keep rejecting it and feeling frustrated. Let it go until your unconscious mind sorts it out and takes you the last mile."

Julian chuckled and kissed Fredy's hand. "You're so weird. I love you."

Fredy nodded with certainty. "I love you no matter what."

"That sounds ominous."

"You don't know the half of it."

__

The hike was a success. It was late in the day when they returned to the rim and they stayed the night right there in the Park. Fredy had just bounced Julian around their bed and she rubbed her thighs. "I'm pretty sore. That hike was too much."

"You sit in your office too much, reading nutty Sci Fi."

"I'll be on the road again next weekend. Montreal."

"I'll go with you."

"You have to work." Fredy patted her abdomen. "I'll ovulate next weekend. I only need to take your sperm with me to Montreal."

Julian laughed. "I just filled you up. Save some for next week."

"We have to do this right. You have to go to the cryobank at the fertility clinic."

"I can fly with you to Montreal. Really."

"Julian, don't be a dick. I don't need your dick, just your sperm cells. You will stay here and get your work done in the lab. And you need to prepare for the new course you have to teach."

"Fine. I'll see if I can get an appointment at the fertility clinic."

"You can just walk in to make a semen deposit."

"Okay. Can you come with me?"

"As much as I love coming with you, I'm sure you can handle it yourself, but feel free to call me when you get the cup. I'll talk you through it."

__

Fredy was waiting for Julian's call when Marda arrived in her office. Fredy told Marda, "My legs are sore."

"That was good hike. Lyle commented favorably on the rippling firmness of our buttocks."

"Marda, what do you know about genetics? How should we explain the similarities of our genomes when someone like Julian asks?"

"Hopefully nobody but Julian will ever ask. Any progress on your Julian quest?"

"With luck, we will complete the last lap in the next few minutes."

"Last lap?"

"Julian is going to provide a semen sample. I'll have his cells cryo-preserved and it will all be over. The Quyll told me last night that Julian does not even need to be told."

"But you said you were waiting for him to agree."

"He told me he'd do anything to be with me, so that is-" Her phone rang. "Julian." She listened to Julian and then said, "If you must know, Marda is here, so I'm not going to get my vibrator out. This is your solo performance."

Marda said, "Put him on speaker."

Julian said, "Hi, Marda. I was not expecting you to be present for this. I'm not sure I can perform with an audience." Marda moved around behind Fredy so she could see the images that were coming from Julian's phone to Fredy's.

Marda told Julian, "When we are in our tents, you love to perform and make Fredy squeal with delight."

Fredy protested, "I don't squeal when I have an orgasm."

"Call it what you like. I like hearing you climax."

"And..." Julian said, "I'm done."

"That was fast."

"I saw no reason to delay. This cup is cold and hard. What did I do with the cap?"

Fredy said, "I hope you took a picture. A first look at our children, so to say."

Julian chuckled. "There. Your family portrait, the little dears snuggled in the wall cabinet. All done."

Fredy told Julian, "We'll celebrate tonight."

"Right. I'm off to the lab. Later."

Fredy put away her phone and asked Marda, "When you contact the Quyll, do they always respond?"

"They just show up when they have something to tell me. Actually, it is always when Lyle is with me. And it has only been three times."

Fredy tried to estimate the number of times she had been contacted by the Quyll. It had been more than a dozen times, mostly while she was alone in a hotel, on the road at a science fiction convention or a Second Contact fan event. Lately the Quyll contacts corresponded with Fredy meeting another promising science fiction story writer. The Quyll seemed intent on linking more writers into Marda's video project. "You are right. There is no way to contact them. They just arrive when they need to tell me something. However, I'd like to coordinate with the Quyll about Julian's cells."

Marda got up and looked around the office. "Where do you keep it?"

"What?"

"Your vibrator."

Fredy opened up a drawer of her desk and took out her office vibrator. Marda grabbed the vibrator out of Fredy's hand. "Thank you. Hey, this is just like the one you keep on your fireplace mantle."

"Very reliable on cold winter nights."

"I'll tell you how it goes." Marda turned to leave.

"Don't take my vibrator. Watching Julian make his deposit got me horny."

"Does he know you control his camera?"

"That's Cyrano's doing." Somehow Cyrano had hacked Julian's phone so she could keep tabs on everything he did. It was part of Quyll security. Fredy had gotten Cyrano to feed his camera images to her phone.

"Well, seeing Julian's pretty penis has me dripping." Marda went back to her office.

Somehow, Marda never brought the vibrator back to Fredy and she had to get a new one.

__

It was two months later, not long after Rylla delivered her baby that Fredy got news from the Quyll that she was pregnant. She rushed at the Quyll, who as always appeared to be almost human, with odd alien eyes and flamboyant nanite-generated clothing that seemed to defy gravity. Just then, Julian got home from work and saw Fredy with her arms around the Quyll. The Quyll turned to face Julian and told him the news, "Fredy is pregnant."

Julian and Fredy embraced and he looked at the Quyll. "What is going on?"

The Quyll explained, "Today was your last day thinking of yourself as a biological, Julian. I let you two make your first baby, the traditional way. Now you can move on to better things."

Fredy asked the Quyll, "It's over? You copied him already?"

"He was converted two nights ago, when you were in Houston."

"I did not even notice."

Julian asked Fredy, "What is this? Converted?"

The Quyll told Julian, "Your biological body is gone. You are now an artificial life-form."

Julian nodded. "So, that is what you meant about femtobot replicoids. It is not science fiction. Nothing Rose made up. It is real." He held up and looked at his hand. "Now I don't have DNA. Or even cells."

"You are like Rose. And Cyrano."

Fredy asked, "What about me? I want to live forever with Julian."

The Quyll suggested, "Don't be in a rush, Fredy. It is important that you complete your breeding project with Julian."

"Breeding project?"

"We are experimenting. Will Fredy's special Dravyk genes persist in the human population or fade away?"

Julian's interests as a geneticist were aroused. "Dravyk?"

Quyll and Fredy.

"We Quyll designed and created the Dravyk to serve as our allies on Earth. However, after we reveal our existence to the world, there will be no more need to control anyone on Earth. Gene variants like Fedy's NOTCH2NLC need to fade away and be lost. There is a risk that such genes might persist in the human gene pool since they confer advantages like increased intelligence."

"What about our child?"

The Quyll smiled at Fredy. "Yes, we know your daughter's genome, but I'd prefer to tell you nothing about that. I envision the experiment continuing another ten years."

"Ten years?" Fredy was puzzled. "Then what? We will have sequenced her genome by then."

Julian laughed. "Ten years. I'm ten years older than you Fredy."

Fredy nodded. "But in ten years, I will have aged. I'll catch up to you."

The Quyll added, "And then we will convert you into a femtobot replicoid." The Quyll turned and walked out of the house through the front door.

Fredy threw her arms around Julian and whispered in his ear, "How many babies do you think we can make in ten years?"

End Chapter 6. Jump to: Chapter 7.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION (adding images)

Here is a short video made by Google's Flow. Text prompt: "The blond woman gradually morphs and transforms into the blue humanoid alien woman while driving, looking to the right and into the camera and saying, 'Yes, you are correct, I am not really human'."

 Temporal Shift. The 28 second duration video shown above was made using iMovie to combine two short AI-generated videos. When generating the two short video clips, Flow could not really decide what to do with her hair. And if her face is blue, then why is the inside of her mouth not also blue?

Next: Chapter 7 of "War of Words".

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