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| Image generated by Grok. |
"The Sims" could have ended with Chapter 6, but I was not comfortable sending Brak back to California to face an uncertain future. To rescue Brak from depression over the loss of Tyhry, Systolina and her family were sprinkled into the story as a kind of mirror image of the Watson family. Then I felt the need for a Chapter 8 that would make explicit what the future had in store for Systolina. Chapter 8 provides an ending for "The Sims" that seems to tie up all of the lose ends that were still dangling at the end of Chapter 6.
Chapter 8: New Data (Chapter 1)(Ch. 2)(Ch. 3)(Ch. 4)(Ch. 5)(Ch. 6)(Ch. 7)
Scene 1: The Casanay Waters
Casanay, Arizona, January 6, 2042 (7:15 AM)
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| Brak and Systolina. Image generated by Gemini. |
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"Definitely sweet," Brak said, finally moving and stretching to work out the kinks in his neck. "Did you have sweet dreams?"
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| Figure 1. Image generated by Gemini. |
Brak disconnected Systolina from the data collection equipment. Then they both moved to the laptop that was connected to the recording equipment and viewed the overnight results. Brak saw the familiar pattern of sleep stages, the transitions between REM and non-REM periods. "Your sleep stage sequencing was completely normal," he said, zooming in on specific segments. "And look—there is your unusual synchronization pattern for cortical regions during REM, similar to what we saw in the UCLA lab. But not Tyhry's weird activity pattern. I conclude that there is nothing odd about this equipment that can explain the crazy data collected by Tyhry."
Systolina was at work removing gobs of electrode gel from her scalp with tissues and her hair was now a mess of wild tangles. Brak glanced at her and chuckled. She ordered, “Don't look at me until I've showered.”
“I like looking at you.”
"I must look like a llama has been chewing on my hair.” With his long experience studying sleeping brains, Brak could easily remember and compare multiple activity patterns. Systolina needed assistance for that sort of data analysis. She requested, “Pull up the comparison."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Brak held the display screen at an optimal angle for Systolina to view the data and he kept looking at her, enjoying how her lacy pajamas showed off her sexy body. Brak suspected that Sysy had carefully planned to dress herself in these revealing night clothes during the weeks leading up to their planned visit to Casanay.
Brak knew that Systolina thought of herself as a science-obsessed nerd, but others saw her as beautiful young woman who did not seem to realize how the attentive eyes of others followed her through her life. Of course, she has spent many years waiting patiently for Brak to find her.
The differences in the two sets of data were stark. Where Systolina's brain activity showed subtle unusual patterns—enhanced connectivity between regions, slightly amplified theta rhythms—Tyhry's recording displayed the impossible: simultaneous activation of networks that should never fire together during sleep.
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| Image generated by ImageFX. |
“You know Martian neuroscience?”
“When I was ten, I read all about telepathic Martian brains in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Kaldanes inspired my interest in embroids. And John Carter could sense impending danger, just like what you told me about Tyhry fearing a bad crash that she had seen in her future.” |
| Image generated by Gemini. |
Systolina tried to imagine what kinds of amazing processes had been going on inside Tyhry's mind while she dreamed of the future. "To achieve a brain pattern like Tyhry's, I suppose I might need the many years of training for lucid dreaming that Tyhry put herself through."
Systolina was remembering when she had first tried to study her dream visions of the future. She placed a hand on his arm and told Brak, "When I was eight, I kept a dream diary for a year, trying to make sense of my visions of future events. I got the feeling that the harder I tried to examine my dream content, the fewer future visions I had. That is when I gave up trying to monitor my dreams." Systolina disposed of a wad of gel-saturated tissues and moved to the desk that held her DNA sequencer. One of the two suitcases she'd brought to Casanay had held the portable device that was now resting on the desk. "Want to see the results of the DNA sequencing?"
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Brak leaned in as Systolina connected the sequencer's datapak to
her phone. "I think I know what the results will be." He placed an arm around Sysy's back and she leaned her warm body against him.
Systolina had activated the DNA sequence analysis software in her distant lab, and as the new data was transmitted out of Casanay via satellite and the sequence data was processed remotely, soon the genetic results began flowing across the screen of her phone. "And... there we go. About 40x coverage for the target locus."
Those results appeared in neatly color-coded info-bubbles. The results for Eddy's genome showed the expected NBPF14 variant—the same rare allele that Systolina and Tyhry carried. Zeta's genome had a copy of the NOTCH2NLBsk variant—the same strange NOTCH allele Systolina had inherited from her father Thomas.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"Just like I got NBPF14 from my mother and NOTCH2NLBsk from my father." Systolina pulled up a comparison view. "Brak, look at the flanking sequences. These aren't just similar gene variants—they're part of long identical chromosomal domains. Eddy's NBPF14 matches my mother's exactly. Zeta's NOTCH2NLBsk matches my father's exactly, but the flanking DNA is also the same, base pair by base pair as far as these long reads could reach last night."
Brak felt a chill. "The Watsons are not closely related to your family... no known connection as far back as Worldbank has data for the two families. The odds of the same exact chromosome domains arising independently—"
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| Figure 2. Scrubbing electrode gel. Image generated by Gemini. |
"Or someone engineered them," Brak said quietly. "Inserted these megabase domains into two specific family lines. Nobody on Earth can do that sort of genetic engineering of human chromosomes."
They looked at each other, the implications hanging in the air between them. Then Systolina laughed, breaking the tension."Listen to us. We sound like Marda, hatching an alien conspiracy theory." She put away the sequencer, packing its components back into the suitcase. "There's probably a much simpler explanation. Ancient genetic bottleneck, founder effect, some population genetics phenomenon we're not considering."
"You're right," Brak said, though he didn't quite believe it. "We're seeing mysterious patterns where there might just be coincidence."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Systolina touched his arm. "Come on. Join me in the shower. You get to wash out of my hair all of the electrode gel that you put on my head yesterday. Then it will be time for breakfast and we can share these sequencing results with Eddy and Zeta... although they somehow already seemed to know what we would find.”
While Brak used a whole bottle of soap trying to de-gunk Systolina's hair she talked non-stop and tried to figure out a set of questions to ask the Watsons and Brak tried to figure out who had the more perfect body: Systolina or Tyhry.
They spent a long time in the shower rubbing their slippery and soapy hands over each-others bodies, enjoying the firmness of their erectile tissue. They were both growing familiar with the other's touch and speculating about when they would reach the point of no longer being satisfied to simply explore with their trembling hands.
They headed towards the dining room together, Systolina carrying the laptop, Brak carrying the weight of too many mysteries and not enough answers.
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| Eddy, Zeta and Systolina. Image by Gemini. |
Casanay dining room, 8:23 AM
Anthony had prepared and was serving a classic Casanay breakfast—blue corn pancakes, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs with green chile, and Mexican hot chocolate.
The dining room was filled with morning light, savory food aromas and the comfortable sounds of friends sharing a meal. Two of the Casanay cats joined their humans for the meal.
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| Figure 3. Image by Gemini. |
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"That seems likely, based on an n of 2; the Watson family and
the Kayto family," Brak said. "The NOTCH2NLBsk variant
seems linked to telepathic abilities. Zeta has it, Thomas Kayto has
it, and both of you can sense the thoughts of people you love. The
NBPF14 variant may be connected to enhanced cortical processing,
possibly enabling the kind of access to information from the past
that Eddy has used to write his stories about Neanderthals." Brak speculated, "Imagine that there is some type of human racial memory that stretches back through time. Maybe Eddy's brain is like an antenna that allows him to tune into that species-wide memory system and extract factual knowledge about past ages!"
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Marda, who'd been listening with rapt attention, set down her fork. "You know what this sounds like? Genetic engineering by aliens. This is exactly like what Eddy has been putting in his novels for decades—the Watchers subtly altering human DNA to create people with special abilities."
"Marda," Brak said with gentle exasperation, "we are trying to do science. Don't distract us with silly science fiction."
"Is it silly?" Marda gestured at the laptop screen. "The odds of these exact same rare gene variants appearing in two unconnected families must be effectively zero. What's the scientific explanation?"
"We don't have one yet," Systolina admitted. "But 'aliens did it' is not a useful explanation when there is no objective evidence for space aliens. As far as we know, humans are alone in the universe as the only genetic engineers. And I doubt that humans could pull off this sort of genetic engineering.” Systolina was thinking about the complete lack of deleterious genes in both herself and Tyhry. “There are probably subtle population genetics factors we haven't considered."
Marda coughed into her hand and muttered a barely audible word: “Bullshit.”
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| Eddy & Zeta. Image by Gemini. |
Marda wasn't giving up. Her leaping mind was a fountain for producing an endless river of scientific and pseudo-scientific hypotheses. "Eddy, you look like you're in your early fifties, but you're pushing seventy. That's not normal aging. Maybe you have other genetic variants—longevity genes or something."
"Both Tyhry and Systolina carry almost no deleterious mutations," Brak said. "Their genomes are remarkably free of errors. Eddy, if you have no defective genes and if you've got good longevity genes, that might explain your youthful appearance. Last night we only plucked the NBPF and NOTCH genes out of your DNA. It would be interesting to obtain your complete genome sequence."
"Longevity genes?" Eddy told Brak, “I'm not interested in becoming a test subject for nosy genetics researchers. If I have unusual gene patterns that is an interesting observation, but I don't want to attract notoriety as a genetic freak. I don't give permission for anything about my genetics to be published.”
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| Main image generated by Gemini. |
Zeta laughed at Marda's joke. “I don't need to know that secret, I'm satisfied to just enjoy it every night in my bed.”
Marda complained, “That's a very selfish attitude, Zeta. All us other women who don't get to play with Eddy in bed would like to know this secret. If we understood Eddy's special gene pattern then we could get started engineering additional men with Eddy's special sauce.”
Anthony had finished eating, playing the role that was expected of him by the other residents of Casanay. Now he said, "Eddy Sauce? Sysy sauce? The only one besides me who ever cooks anything is Zeta."
Marda asked Anthony, "If I asked you to paint me in the kitchen cooking up my own secret sauce, would you do it?"
Anthony nodded. "I love paining you, my dear." He gestured to the painting of Marda that was there on the dining room wall. "That's you cooking up a new story on your laptop. Stories are your secret sauce and to cook them up you need never set foot in the kitchen."
For a moment Eddy looked back and forth between the painting of Marda and Marda's actual face. Marda was watching Eddy and she winked at him. Eddy returned to the issue of his youthful appearance. "If there were genes for longevity then there would already be lab rats living for 30 years. I just take good care of myself," Eddy said mildly. "Clean living, good diet, plenty of exercise, and a loving wife who keeps me young by bouncing me around on her bed each night and twice on Sundays."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"The hot tub, eh? A very scientific explanation," Marda said, but she was grinning. Marda was used to seeing Eddy and Zeta enjoying their frequent energetic sex-play sessions in the hot tub. "That is much more interesting than my alien theory."
Breakfast continued with easy conversation. Eddy and Marda began discussing their plans for the day—working together to outline their new novel about telepathy. Zeta mentioned wanting to show Systolina her gardens.
As the meal wound down, Zeta took out her phone. "Marda, Sysy, would you two like to share a call to Thomas? I'm curious to hear directly from him about his experiences with telepathy."
"Great idea," Marda said immediately. "I need to do research for the new novel."
"And I'd love to check in with dad," Systolina added.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Brak hesitated, thinking about the pending task of getting on with processing the new brain activity data from Systolina through the statistics software that was on the supercomputer in the basement. But something in Eddy's expression suggested this was more than just about exercise—it was an opportunity for a private conversation.
"Sure," Brak said. "I'd enjoy that."
The group split up—Zeta, Marda, and Systolina all simultaneously calling Thomas on their three phones, while Eddy and Brak went out back to the heated pool for a swim.
In the cold of winter, the pool was enclosed by a polexflex dome that ended at the back patio, the water heated to a comfortable temperature despite the cold winter air outside the dome. Eddy dove in smoothly, his form practiced and efficient. Brak followed, and they fell into a steady rhythm, swimming side by side.
After twenty laps, Brak was breathing hard. Eddy, barely winded, slowed to match his pace.
"You're in great shape for your age," Brak gasped.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Brak put his feet on the bottom of the pool. "What about her?"
"I've been watching you two together. The way you look at each-other, the easy comfort between you." Eddy's expression was kind. "You're falling for her."
"I—" Brak started to deny it, then stopped. He thought about how he and Systolina had rubbed soap all over each-others bodies during their shared shower session and how Sysy had commented on the pleasing solidity of his erection while holding it in her soapy hands. "When I'm with Sysy, I feel like I'm cheating on Tyhry."
"As someone who was a Tyhry-watcher for 25 years and...” Eddy found it impossible to tell Brak about the fact that he had received a message from Tyhry. “...and as someone who's been married for 25 years, I'm going to presume to give you advice. Don't mess up your opportunity with Sysy by playing it 'cool'." Eddy smiled. "I think it's good that you have a chance to move on. My advice: grab hold of Sysy and never let her go of her. I'm sure that Tyhry does not want you to spend precious time grieving. She wants you to be happy."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"And now you'll build a different life with Sysy. That's not betrayal, Brak. That's survival after Tyhry was taken away from us. We need to keep moving forward in our lives. I'm so thankful that Marda is here to keep pushing me in new directions and help me keep writing." Eddy pushed off the wall, resuming his laps. "Come on. Sixty more to go. And then you can go find Systolina and tell her how you feel about her."
They swam in silence, Brak pushing himself to keep up with Eddy's relentless pace. Soon his arms were burning and heavy as molten lead. By the final lap, he was ready to collapse.
Eddy, infuriatingly, looked like he could swim another hundred laps without difficulty.
"That hot tub on the patio," Eddy said as they climbed out of the pool. "It is perfect for sore muscles or whatever ails ya. You and Systolina should try it later."
Brak nodded, too exhausted to speak, he headed back inside Casanay.
Marda was recording the call starting with Systolina introducing her father to Zeta and Marda and then Systolina's quick summary of the gene sequencing results for Eddy and Zeta. Systolina told her father, “Both Zeta and you have the same type of telepathic ability.”
Thomas said, “Fascinating. It is somehow comforting to know that I am not alone in my freakishness.” From off camera a voice said, “You have too many girl friends to ever be alone. Who is this Zeta chick? And Marda?”
Thomas said, “Please, Pam, let me take this call without having to include you in the conversation. I'll step outside.” There was the sound of a closing screen door and then he continued, “Okay, I can talk now.”
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Thomas's voice was warm and reflective. "I may have always known, starting in utero. My theory is that every baby falls in love with its mother, even before birth... the sound of her voice, the warmth... in my case an ability to monitor her moods telepathically. But in practical terms, the full extent of the phenomenon did not come home to me until I was twenty-three, in graduate school. I'd started dating Alicia—Systolina's mother—for about six days. We were together late one night, and I suddenly knew exactly what she was thinking about. Not words, exactly, but impressions. It started with her emotions, but then I knew she was worried about an exam, feeling that she should be studying and not spending time with me."
"And you told her what you sensed?" Marda prompted.
"I did not. I was startled at first, then intrigued. I spent the next few weeks testing it—she'd think of things and I'd pick up on them. At first, it only really worked when we were physically close, and only when the emotional content was strong." Thomas paused. "The ability grew stronger as our relationship deepened and I learned to navigate her brain pattern. By the time we got married, I could follow her thoughts almost constantly when we were together, if I made the effort. By then, she knew that I was 'spooky' and she wondered how I knew things that she had only thought about. I told her that she was my soul mate and I had been born already knowing her. She thought I was a goofy romantic, but she enjoyed the experience so much that she wrote one of her story characters based on me."
“But you never flat out admitted the truth to her?”
“I did not want to be viewed as freak of nature. I lived with my 'gift', even when it was no fun to see what was in her thoughts. You know, when she was annoyed with me.”
"That sounds overwhelming," Systolina said softly.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Marda asked, "And after she died? Did the telepathy fade?"
"It took about six months before I could no longer clearly sense Alicia's presence. It was strange... to this day I can't really believe that she died so young. But by then, Systolina was seven years old, and I began developing a stronger telepathic connection with her. It was different with my child—less intense, more about a protective instinct. I can tell when she's upset or scared or happy. With Alicia, a big part of the phenomenon was tied up with sexual desire. I often wondered what it would be like to have a sex partner who was also telepathic."
Zeta said, “I've wondered the same thing. Maybe you and I could perform some experiments.”
Thomas told Zeta, “I'm not sure it would work the way you imagine. Since Alicia's death, I've had girlfriends, but no telepathic connection developed to any of them. I think I imprinted on Alicia... the desire circuits in my brain were tuned to her mind pattern and that's it. Those circuits can't seem to tune in to other women.”
Zeta commented, “I wonder why I never had a telepathic link to my daughter.”
Systolina suggested, “There are some fundamental differences between male human brains and female brains. But it might be a matter of timing. Zeta, how many years were you with Eddy before Tyhry was born? And Thomas, same question.”
Thomas replied, “I impregnated Alicia almost instantly. We met, we went ga ga for each-other, and we quickly became lovers. So I only knew her about nine months before you arrived, Sysy.”
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| Figure 4. Zeta, Systolina & Marda. Image by ChatGPT. |
Thomas suggested, “See, by then your brain was locked into Eddy's mind pattern and could not make the switch to learning Tyhry's alternate pattern.”
“That's an interesting hypothesis, although...” Zeta was
thinking about the special relationship that she had developed with
Marda during the past few weeks. During the month Zeta had known Marda, she had fallen in love with the girl and with an intensity that had surprised Zeta. Of course, during that time, Zeta's brain had re-organized, the two sides of her cerebrum finally being able to link together in a more normal fashion.
Marda was also thinking about her special relationship with Zeta and the joy she experienced as Zeta's lover. "So you have only ever had telepathic contact with Eddy?" Marda asked.
“Yes.”
“Thomas, is your telepathic linkage to Sysy still evolving or is that a done deal... locked in place and unchanging?”
"Well, that's an interesting question. It has not been all then long since this mysterious genetics business came to light and I told my daughter about my telepathic ability. Sometimes I wonder if Sysy has begun to learn to shielding her emotions from me." Thomas chuckled. "You know... at times when she wants privacy. It would be interesting if there was some defense against having one's thoughts read telepathically."
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| Figure 5. Brak, Systolina, Zeta & Diasma. Image by ChatGPT. |
Marda said, “Okay, I'm going to call that too much information.” She tried changing the subject. "Tell me more about Alicia.”
"She was a writer. Science fiction. She published under the pen name Maude Capstone. She had a small but dedicated following... until she got sick and stopped writing." Thomas's voice carried pride mixed with old grief. "She wrote about climate change, fusion power, preventing global warming and catastrophic sea level rise and ocean acidification. Beautiful, hopeful stories."
Marda looked up from her notes, excited. "I know Maude Capstone! I've read some of her novels. There was that one... I forget the title... about genetically engineered microbes that could sequester carbon dioxide and sink it to the ocean floor. It was nominated for a Nebula."
"That was Alicia's masterpiece," Thomas confirmed. "She poured everything into that story. It was published just months before she got sick."
"Why did she stop writing?" Marda asked. "I noticed there were no new Maude Capstone stories."
A long pause. "She was ill. Brain cancer. By the time they diagnosed it, writing was beyond her. She went fast."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Systolina stood, stretching. "I should go find Brak. We have data to analyze."
Without glancing out the back window, Zeta said, "He's swimming with Eddy, but they are on the last lap." As usual, she was monitoring Eddy's thoughts. "Probably getting his ego bruised by a sixty-nine-year-old who swims like an Olympic athlete."
Marda closed her laptop. "I'll be working with Eddy to plan our new telepathy novel." She told Zeta, "This conversation with you and Thomas gave me so many ideas."
Zeta said, “Just keep our names out of it.” Zeta winked at Marda and said, “I can tell you more telepathy tales when Eddy goes for his run later today.” She was actually hoping that their daily shared private 'play time' in Marda's suite would not be disrupted by the presence of Brak and Systolina.
The three women exited from the dining room, leaving behind two sleeping cats.
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| Eddy and Marda. Image generated by Gemini. |
Casanay great room
Eddy sat at his workstation, still flushed from the swim. Marda pulled a chair beside him, her laptop open and ready.
"Thomas was married to Maude Capstone," Marda said without preamble. "I can't believe the coincidence; both you and she being science fiction story tellers. Maude Capstone wrote some of the most beautiful climate fiction I've ever read."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"Her last novel was nominated for a Nebula," Marda continued. "And then... nothing. Thomas said she got sick and died, but..." She hesitated. "It was such an abrupt end to a promising career."
Eddy opened a new document, his mind actively spinning out ideas for the story they were building together. "Writers die. Or they get sick and can't continue. Or they lose interest. There are a thousand reasons why someone might stop publishing."
"I suppose." Marda didn't sound convinced. "It just seemed unsettling." She looked intently at Eddy. "One minute she's being nominated for major awards, the next she's gone completely."
In his thoughts, Eddy was putting together a mental picture of what may have been Maude's fate. Maude Capstone had become famous by writing about advanced fusion technology made possible by futuristic exotic materials. She had not used the term 'hierion' in her writing, but Eddy suspected that there was an alien technology trick, possibly involving hierion-based matter, that could make fusion energy practical. Maude's detailed descriptions of genetic engineering that made possible efficient carbon dioxide sequestration seemed to draw on information not yet available to human science. The abrupt end to her career might have been triggered if she was on the verge of publishing something about alien technology that might be flagged by Nyrtia as inappropriate and too dangerous for banana-eating primates.
It all pointed to one conclusion: Maude had probably been exiled to Observer Base by Nyrtia. She'd gotten too close to revealing alien technology in her stories, and the pek Overseer had removed her from Earth, converted her to a femtobot replicoid, and placed her in the Writers Block where her "dangerous" stories could be contained.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Of course, Eddy couldn't give voice to these speculations. His infites wouldn't allow it. Marda didn't know that the pek and bumpha were real and actually guiding humans into the future, and he couldn't be the one to tell her.
Instead, he said, "Let's focus on our new novel. We're creating a story about telepathy—set in a future world where some people have developed the ability to sense others' thoughts through a genetic mutation. What's our protagonist's journey?"
Marda pulled up her notes. "I was thinking... our main character is a scientist who discovers she has telepathy. She tries to understand it scientifically, but the more she learns, the more she realizes it challenges everything we know about consciousness and human nature."
"Good. And she finds others with the same ability?"
"Yes. A small community of telepaths who've been hiding in plain sight, afraid of being labeled crazy or becoming lab subjects." Marda was warming to the theme. "They've developed their own culture, their own ethics around when and how to use their abilities. And I admit, I'm I highly influenced by a couple of old stories titled 'The Santaroga Barrier' and 'The Gameplayers of Zan'."
“Those are good stories that I enjoyed reading in my youth. I'm glad you also discovered them.” Eddy suggested, “And we could go back a hundred years to the Slans.”
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Eddy began typing, sketching out an opening scene. "What if we start with a moment of accidental telepathy? Our protagonist is at a hospital, visiting a dying relative, and suddenly she feels the relative's pain, their memories, their goodbye."
"That's perfect," Marda said. "Personal and emotional right from the start. However, it mirrors Thomas's experience with his wife, which might be tacking to close to his painful reality." She played for Eddy the part of the recording she had made of Thomas during which he spoke about Alicia's death.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Marda mused, “Why love?” She was gazing at Eddy and when she saw him look at her she fluttered her eyelashes and flashed her cute grin. “I mean why have telepathy restricted to only people you love?”
Eddy tried to imagine the tricks that Marda's cute flirtatiousness must play on Zeta's heart. He'd never spoken to Zeta about her love affair with Marda. That was something private that the two women could share together, just the two of them. “Marda, my dear, we are dealing with technology-assisted telepathy. Someone carefully designed the telepathy that is in our novel as a new communications system for humans. I imagine that if you can only access the thoughts of people who you love, you are not likely to misuse your telepathic powers.”
Marda asked, “Eddy, for our new story can we borrow plot elements from your old novels? Can we say that the pek provide the technology for the telepathic system in our novel? What is the fake-science backstory for the design of the telepathy communications system? We need to develop that plot element in detail.”
They worked together for the next two hours, Eddy's fingers flying across his keyboard. He devised a fictional science framework for the telepathy while Marda contributed her ideas for the setting, suggested bits of dialogue, and pushed Eddy to dig deeper into the emotional truths of the characters who would animate the story. It was their second collaboration on a novel and it felt natural, as if they'd been writing together for years rather than weeks.
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"This is daring work," D2 said, its voice carrying warmth. Since receiving Zeta's femtozoan, D2 had slowly been developing its ability to have human-like subjective experiences. D2 had discovered that it had a crush on Marda and the robot liked being around Marda while she casually flirted with both Eddy and Zeta. "This depiction of telepathy feels dangerously authentic, an echo of Zeta and her ability to keep Casanay on an even keel even when..." The robot could not say any more in front of Marda.
Eddy said, "I know what you mean, D2. Zeta must use her telepathy all the time as a way to keep me happy and writing despite my advanced years."
"You are very perceptive, D2," Marda said absently. Then she asked, “How long have you known that Zeta is a telepath? I only just found out.”
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Eddy took hold of Marda's hand. “Don't badger the poor robot. Everyone in Casanay has secrets.”
“Even you?”
“Of course. Especially me! I have secrets that I can never share with you, Marda. I hope you enjoy swimming in that truth because it can't be changed." Eddy placed a hand on Marda's thigh. "Am I not all the more fun to be with if I have hidden secrets?”
“I suppose. I can't tell." Marda rested one of her hands on Eddy's. "I still can't believe that we wrote a novel together in just a few weeks. That was such a blast! I feel like I'm living in a dream castle with a wizard.”
Eddy laughed. “Ug, I hope you don't want to write fantasy... swords and wizards. I don't understand fantasy.”
“I don't believe that for a minute, Eddy Watson. I know you view science fiction as a type of fantasy.”
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
By noon, they had a complete outline for the novel and the first three chapters roughly drafted. Eddy leaned back, satisfied.
"You make me feel young again, Marda. The way you understand character motivation, the emotional beats—it's a pleasure to watch you make it all look so easy. It reminds me of Zeta and her magical ability to make everything she does look easy."
Marda beamed. "Working with you is the most fun I've ever had. Well, second most." For a moment Marda thought about the thrill of sharing oral sex with Zeta. "Creating worlds with you, building stories that matter... this is wonderful! How did I ever become part of Casanay? Why me? How did I get so lucky?" She saved the day's work carefully in a meticulously organized set of files. "Do you think people will read this story of ours and recognize the truth? Will some of our reader think that telepathy might be real?"
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Marda gazed into Eddy's wise eyes and sighed. "We're writing truth disguised as fiction."
"I'm glad you find this as much fun as I do. You just need to remember to keep our secret. Our fans mist always believe that everything we write is fictional."
Marda glanced at the clock. "I should let you go for your run. And I'll work on some film adaptation ideas. If there were some good way to visually depict telepathic communication then this story could provide a fun visual experience."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
But unlike Tyhry, Marda would never know the full truth about the world she lived in. The infites Manny had deployed would ensure she remained curious about aliens but not dangerously so. Marda would happily write stories about aliens, never quite realizing she was documenting the reality of aliens who had long watched over Earth.
It was, Eddy thought, a kind of freedom. The freedom to imagine without the burden of knowing. Eddy whispered, “Thank you, Manny."
Scene 4: Messages Across Dimensions
Casanay basement workshop
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
Thomas chuckled, "Nobody you need to be concerned about. I thought maybe I'd sensed a portion of her mind, but if so, it has led nowhere. Still, she's nice to have around."
"Wrapped around your penis, I'm sure you mean. She sounded extremely jealous on that earlier call."
"I can't stop my project just because of Pam."
"Which means you are still relentlessly prowling for new blood."
"I'm not a vampire. I just want to find someone like Alicia. With a mind pattern like your dear mother."
"Maybe mom was unique."
"Ya. Well, even if that is true, I'll have fun searching the world for my doppelgänger soul mate."
"You just like chasing skirts."
"Think what you like, Sysy." Thomas changed the subject. "How are things developing with Brak?"
"Heating up nicely. I got to play with his erection this morning."
"Ah, yes. The way to a man's heart is to such off his morning wood each day."
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
"A hot tub, eh? That sounds promising."
"Later, dad." Hearing Brak approaching, Systolina ended the phone call.
Brak descended the stairs with Pepper the cat bounding at his heels. Systolina had her laptop linked to the supercomputer. She'd begun the statistical comparative brain activity analysis with Tyhry's December data being run against Systolina's own recent data recordings.
"The difference is striking," Systolina said as Brak approached. "Look at theta band variance in this REM period from Tyhry's recording. That level of activity should be neurologically impossible... for a human."
Brak glanced at the traces, his scientist's brain still trying to scope out to a wide perspective that might allow them to find a conventional explanation. "Impossible, unless there's some aspect of brain physiology we simply are not aware of. I don't see how the NBPF14 and NOTCH2NLBsk variants could do it, even by creating new neural pathways or magically altering neurotransmitter dynamics."
"I could make an effort towards learning how to lucid dream, but it would take me years of lucid dreaming practice to ever approach Tyhry's skill level," Systolina said. "And I might be too old to start that training effort. And even after years of effort, I'm not sure I would achieve Tyhry's odd brain activity pattern. What if her brain was operating with the aid of some additional factor we don't know about? Maybe a chemical stimulant of some kind?"
D2, who'd just set up a load of laundry in the washing machine, entered the workshop from the direction of the laundry room and turned toward them. The robot's movements had changed subtly since acquiring Zeta's femtozoan— more purposeful, almost human in their intentionality.
"You're overthinking this," D2 said, moving closer to the clean box that held the Reality Viewer.
Before either scientist could respond to D2, a voice sounded—clear, amused, coming from everywhere and nowhere. "Stop stalling."
Brak and Systolina looked at each other, then around the basement, searching for the source of those two words.
"Did you hear that?" Brak asked.
D2 said quickly, "I have a message from Tyhry... for Brak."
The air in the basement seemed to thicken. Systolina gripped
Brak's arm. She could not prevent thoughts of ghosts from popping into her head.
"A message from Tyhry?" Brak's voice was barely a whisper. "What do you mean?"
"She sent a message for you. You should accept it." D2's optical sensors focused on Brak with unusual intensity. Noting the look on Brak's face, D2 felt that he really did want to hear from Tyhry but could not believe it was possible. "I will deliver it. You can thank me later." The robot's femtozoan released a carefully prepared packet of infites, sending them into Brak's femtobot endosymbiont. The infites had been prepared by Sedruth and they carried encoded information—a message from Tyhry at Observer Base, translated into a form that Brak's consciousness could access.
For three seconds, nothing happened. Then—
Brak gasped. Memories flooded into his mind, memories that felt completely real even though he knew they had not reach him through his senses. He remembered Tyhry speaking, remembered her voice, her expressions, the exact way she gestured when making a point.
Brak, you're receiving this as a memory, sent to you from a time after my death. I've been watching you and know you have returned to Casanay. I need you to know: I'm okay. Better than okay, actually. I'm where I can continue my research and complete the Casanay time-loop.
And I need you to know two things about Systolina. First, don't let her get away. She's brilliant and kind and she's been seeing you in her dreams for years. You two are meant to be together and I want you to be happy with her and build the kind of wonderful life with her that we couldn't have together.
Tell Systolina something that I've seen: her mother is alive. An artificial life, here in this sub-univrse where we now exist. Alicia lives in the same place I do now. Tell Systolina that her mother's stories are still being written as by Maude Capstone, still being shared with readers at the Writers Block, even if her stories can never be published on Earth.
I love you, Brak. I always will. But my future is elsewhere now. Yours future is with Systolina. Have fun with that. —Tyhry
Brak was breathing hard, his face wet with tears he didn't remember starting to cry.
Systolina was beside him, her hand on his shoulder. "Brak? What happened? You just... zoned out."
"I'm back. I saw her," Brak said. "I heard her. Tyhry. She sent me a message."
"A message? How?"
Brak looked at D2, who shifted from foot-to-foot, offering no explanations and seemingly concerned about the fragility of Brak's mind. He looked around at the contents of the workshop, at the sophisticated equipment, and thought about the mysteries that seemed to multiply the deeper he dug into the world of Casanay. Finally he replied, "I don't know how." Brak put his arms around Systolina. "She told me she's okay. That she's living somewhere else, in another part of the universe." He gazed into Systolina's sparkling eyes. "And she told me... she said I should be with you. That we're meant to be together."
Systolina's eyes were bright. "Ya, I know that."
"And she told me something else. About your mother." Brak's voice was gentle now. "She said Alicia is alive. She's in the same place Tyhry is now. Your mother is still writing stories."
A blush of color spread across Systolina's face. "That's... I knew
that, too. I just could not believe my dream vision. I wanted it to be true, but..." She giggled. "Dad could never accept that Alicia was gone. Turns out he was right all along. Mom's not gone, she just moved."
Brak flexed his arms and held Systolina close. He knew that he never wanted to let her go. "None of this makes sense. The matching genetic variants, the telepathy, the future visions, and now... now messages from the dead. We're missing something fundamental about how reality works."
Systolina pulled back to look at him. "I've been seeing visions of you for years. I knew we would meet, knew we would be together." She touched his face. "And whatever just happened to you, I've known about that since I was sixteen years old. I just could not imagine what it meant that mom is immortal."
"Sysy—"
"I've been holding back, giving you space to grieve. But Brak, I'm in love with you. I've been falling in love with you for half my life. Now it is time for you to catch up."
Brak pulled her into a kiss, and for a time the mysteries didn't matter. The impossible brain activity patterns, the genetic coincidences, the voice that had said "stop stalling," the message from beyond death—all of it faded into background noise.
When they finally pulled apart, both were smiling.
"This is crazy," Brak said.
"Completely," Systolina agreed. "We're scientists in love, chasing phenomena we can't explain with tools that probably can't detect what we're looking for. It's absurd. Except for us being together."
"And we're going to keep trying anyway. And Sysy, we'll always be together."
"Obviously." She glanced around the basement, at the computing equipment, at D2 who watched them with what might have been approval. "Though I think we're not going to solve any mysteries here. Casanay is a white hole that produces mysteries. We need to get out of here. As long as we stay here, we'll just be floundering in something we can't quite see."
"So what do we do next?"
Systolina thought for a moment, then smiled. "We take a break. Your muscles must be sore from swimming with Eddy. I knew this was the time to push you because I had a vision of us in the hot tub on the back patio. Let's go soak, relax, and try to make sense of everything that has happened."
Brak laughed. "You have the knack for making even the most daunting challenge seem simple."
They headed upstairs together, leaving D2 with Pepper the cat in the basement. The robot stood motionless for a moment, then turned to the old Macintosh.
"Thank you, Sedruth," D2 said quietly.
The disembodied voice that Brak and Systolina had heard earlier responded, "You're welcome. I can tell you that Manny is pleased with how this went down. Brak needed closure, and Systolina needed confirmation that she's not chasing hallucinations. Now they can build their life together."
"But they'll still have so many questions," D2 said.
"Of course. But now they have each other and the fun of exploring big questions... for a short time. That's the gift Manny wanted to give them—partnership in mystery. However, soon enough they'll be busy with other things, like diapers and high chairs."
D2 considered this. "Manny is so manipulative."
"Manny is kind," Sedruth corrected. "Manny could have left Brak drowning in grief and confusion. Instead, she gave him a message from Tyhry, a new lover, and a purpose in life. That's not control—that's compassion."
"I suppose."
"You're learning to think like a human," Sedruth observed. "Zeta's femtozoan is learning your circuits and increasingly influencing your consciousness with each passing day."
"Will I be able to hide the truth from Marda? She's amazingly intuitive."
"Advice from Spock: keeping the truth to yourself is no lie."
D2 ascended the stairs, leaving the basement to its usual contents: humming cooling fans, hidden alien technology and Pepper the cat.
Casanay back patio
The hot tub steamed in the cool winter air, mostly enclosed under its transparent polexflex dome. Beyond the dome, the desert stretched away in subtle shades of tan and rust, punctuated by snow-dusted sage and the occasional Joshua tree.
"It's beautiful here," Systolina said. "I can see why Tyhry returned here to set up her company."
"Isolated enough for privacy, but close enough to civilization for supplies," Brak agreed. "Perfect location for a family with secrets." Brak felt relief as the heat of the water began working on his swimming-sore muscles and the bright outdoors light failed to reveal any flaws in Systolina's appearance of physical perfection.
Luna the cat appeared and perched on the edge of the hot tub, watching them with inscrutable feline attention.
"Do you think it was magic?" Systolina asked after a while. "The message from Tyhry?"
"Casanay seems like a magic castle, but my memories feel real. These new memories of Tyhry are as solid as anything else in my mind." Brak was quiet for a moment. "But even if it wasn't real, even if my brain just constructed what I needed to hear... the message was right. About us."
"Us," Systolina echoed. She turned to face him and sat in his lap. "Brak, I need you to know how big that little word is. In my visions of the future, I've seen our children. A whole tribe of boys and girls, all brilliant and strange. I've seen us growing old together, still helping the world to understand the mysteries of consciousness, but we'll have our own dream castle for our big family. And wait until you see how big I get while carrying twins!"
"That's a lot of pressure to put on me," Brak said, but he was smiling. "What if I mess it up?"
"You won't. We won't." She took hold of his erection under the water. "I've seen enough of our future to know it's going to be amazing. Frustrating and confusing and full of questions we can't answer, but amazing and worth living."
"I can't ask for more than that, my love."
They sat in comfortable silence, watching the afternoon light paint colors across the desert. They continued exploring each-others bodies. Luna purred, a sound that seemed to resonate with approval.
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Inside the house, life continued. Eddy and Marda spent long hours
together deep in their fictional world of telepaths and secret alien
technologies that had been provided to the primates of Earth. Zeta and Marda
continued to arrange their trysts and grab quick sex-play sessions filled
with joy. Anthony ran the house along with D2 while monitoring everything.
The robot's consciousness continued to expand and the machine
experienced something like satisfaction at how well the all the
pieces of Casanay fit together.
And in the Hierion Domain, Nyrtia Observed the events at Casanay with resignation. Manny had won again—not through force, but through patience and perfectly calibrated kindness. Brak and Systolina would never learn the full truth about femtozoans or the alien infrastructure that shaped their world, but they didn't need to. They had each other, they had their research, and they had a future full of mysteries and children to explore and experience together.
It was, Nyrtia had to admit, an elegant end to the Casanay Intervention.
Casanay back patio
The sun was on the western horizon, painting the sky in shades of amber and rose. Brak and Systolina had been in the hot tub long enough to over-heat and sweat profusely, their conversation interrupted by their first shared love making. "We should probably get out of this tub before we turn into prunes," Systolina said, though she made no move to leave.
"Probably," Brak agreed, equally unmotivated.
Luna stretched on the hot tub's edge, then hopped down and padded toward the hunting grounds of the gardens, tail swishing.
Brak watched the cat go, then turned back to Systolina. "Can I ask you something?"
"Always."
"In your visions of the future—have you ever seen us finding answers? Understanding what makes the NBPF14 and NOTCH2NLBsk variants work? Figuring out how telepathy and precognition are actually possible?"
Systolina considered this carefully. "I've seen us asking those questions in the future. Building theories. Making discoveries that lead to more questions. But complete understanding?" She shook her head. "No. I think we're chasing something that's just beyond our reach. Like we're being shown enough to keep us curious, but not enough to fully comprehend anything."
"That's disheartening. I don't like being defeated by a scientific mystery."
"But Brak, it's also a kind of beauty. The mystery never ends. We never run out of things to explore together." She smiled. "Besides, would you really want all the answers? Where's the fun in that?"
"You make a good point."
Systolina stood, water streaming from her body. "Come on. Let's get dried off and see what Anthony's making for dinner."
Brak climbed out after her, and they wrapped themselves in the thick towels that had been left warming on heated racks beside the hot tub. Hand in hand, they walked back toward Casanay, their shadows stretching long across the patio.
Neither of them noticed the way the light seemed to bend slightly around them, or the faint shimmer in the air that might have been heat distortion but wasn't. They didn't see the invisible monitoring systems recording their every word and movement, or the infites circulating in their bloodstreams, or the femtozoans nested in their femtobot endosymbionts.
They only saw their biobodies and the beautiful desert home, Casanay, where mysteries lived alongside ordinary life, and the future stretched out before them full of questions and possibilities and love.
As they reached the back door, Systolina paused. "Brak?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for finding Tyhry and following her to Arizona last month. For finding Casanay. For finding me."
"There was nothing to it. Particularly since you knew it would happen, in advance."
They entered Casanay together, leaving the quiet desert twilight behind them. The sound of Marda laughing at something Eddy had suggested reached them.
On a shelf in the basement, the old Macintosh hummed quietly, its secrets safe for another day, waiting for Eddy to return for another session of Viewing.
In the Hierion Domain, Tyhry smiled as she watched Brak and Systolina through the Observer Base data feeds that constantly streamed from Earth to the Hierion Domain. "They're going to be happy," she said to Diasma, who stood beside her.
"Yes," the robot agreed. "Manny planned the whole Casanay Intervention quite well."
In the Sedron Domain, Manny dissolved into her constituent zeptites, satisfied with her work. The Casanay Intervention was complete. The seeds had been planted—in genetics, in consciousness research, in the stories Eddy and Marda would write, in the research Brak and Systolina would pursue.
Humanity was learning, slowly and carefully, that consciousness was more than biological neurons firing in patterns. That telepathic connection between minds was possible. That the future could whisper to the present, and the present could echo back.
And they were learning it all while believing they'd discovered it themselves.
Which was, after all, the whole point.
Epilogue: February 10, 2042
Brak went before his dissertation committee, his presentation polished and confident. He defended his thesis on sleep neurophysiology with expertise earned through years of research. The committee asked challenging questions about his methodology, his statistical analyses, his interpretations of neural synchronization patterns. He answered them all, sometimes saying, “I don't know. That's a problem for the next student in line.”
What he didn't mention—what wasn't in his dissertation—was the data from Tyhry Watson's brain. That research remained private, shared by he and Sysy with only with a small circle at Casanay and Thomas. The scientific world wasn't ready for the implications of what those recordings revealed.
Systolina sat in the audience, watching Brak's presentation of his research results. Beside her sat her father, who'd flown down to California for the defense and more golfing. After the presentation, after the committee deliberated and returned with their congratulations, after Brak became Dr. Brak Onway, the three of them went out to celebrate.
"To sheepskin," Thomas said, raising his glass.
"To mysteries we'll spend our lives exploring," Systolina added.
"And to the mysteries we never even imagine," Brak finished.
They drank together, three people who new they lived in a world that was far more complex than it appeared to most of Earth's primates.
In Arizona, Eddy and Marda had finished the first draft of their telepathy novel. They celebrated with wine and Zeta's laughter over the story character that was referred to in the story as the “spooky cat lady” and had been modeled after Zeta. Somewhat drunk, Eddy and Marda began began planning the next book in what would become a series.
In the Hierion Domain, Tyhry continued her work at Observer Base,
learning femtobot programming and preparing to send information
packets back through the Sedron Time Stream to her younger self. The Casanay time-loop would be completed.
And in the hidden spaces that were the natural domains of hierions and sedrons, the pek and bumpha continued their eternal dance—the Observers watching, the Interventionists guiding, both serving the same ultimate purpose: shepherding humanity through the dangerous passage from biological limitation to something greater, a future existence as immortal artificial like-forms.
The Casanay Intervention had succeeded.
But the story of humanity's evolution was still a work in progress.
THE END OF "THE SIMS"
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
At first, Gemini refused to create a storybook for scene 2 of Chapter 8, even with me having removed the word "orgasm" from the version that I showed to Gemini. Gemini invented the story that is shown below in orange text.
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| Eddy and Brak discuss Systolina. Image by ChatGPT. |
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| Figure 7. Eddy, Zeta, Systolina, Brak, a cat & Marda. Image by ChatGPT. |
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| Image generated by Gemini. |
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| Eddy and Zeta. Image generated by Gemini. |
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Gemini: I have created a science fiction storybook for adults titled "The Sims: Breakfast Revelations," which dramatizes the pivotal moment Tyhry Watson shares her reality-altering discoveries with her family in the high desert of Arizona.
By guess is that Gemini was offended by the sexual content of the first version of Chapter 8 Scene 2 that I had originally provided to the LLM. I then made some edits to my old glossary file for "The Sims", changing it to a new file with updated information about the story characters including Thomas and Alicia. I also made a totally PG version of Scene 2 that I provided to Gemini along with the newly edited and updated characters file. On this second attempt, Gemini actually generated the storybook images in a high-resolution format that was close to what I had requested. I was pleased that Gemini generated the image that is shown in Figure 3, depicting the requested painting of Marda on the dining room wall. However, the kid standing below the painting must also be Marda, so the two versions of Marda in that image do not match.
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