2026 - The Year Reviewed

Image by ChatGPT.
The future of robots.

 Below on this blog page is my annual review for the wikifiction blog. Here in 2026, as I compose this year-in-review blog post, I'm also thinking about my tradition of starting each new year with a special blog post that is related to something that happened 100 years ago. The image shown to the right is for a re-imagined version of the film "Metropolis". Metropolis featured a humanoid robot and robots and artificial intelligence were major topics for my science fiction story writing efforts here in 2026, along with climate fiction.

January 2026. At the start of 2026, in the absence of any specific science fiction story teller born in 1926 that I wanted to investigate further, I decided to explore Amazing Stories rather than a particular person. 

Having begun the science fiction story "Downgrade" right at the end of 2025, I completed that story in January. The story features Nanovac, an artificial life-form that attains human-like consciousness in 1999. 

Image source.

In Downgrade, an acceleration of development of robotics and machine consciousness was made possible by time traveling femtozoans from the future. The story emphasizes a time loop by which Vanesy works as a researcher to develop machine consciousness, gets exiled to Observer Base by the pek, and then is converted into a zeptozoan that Manny sends into the past to help guide the develop machine consciousness.

Downgrade depicts Manny the bumpha as having the patience to iteratively cycle through thousands of Realities in order to push to earlier and earlier dates technology advances such as the development of machine intelligence and fusion power as a way to prevent global warming.

Claude helped write Downgrade and also generated a review of the story. Although Claude was my major collaborator for creating Downgrade, Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT also reviewed Downgrade as did Kimi and Le Chat. The most visited blog page in January was The Awakening.

Image source.

Halfway through January, I began a new science fiction story, "The Sims", which also features zeptozoans, this time inside both robots and humans. I experimented with using six LLMs (Claude, Kimi, Le Chat, Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT) to help me plan and start writing "The Sims" collaboratively. "The Sims" tries to generate some drama by depicting Tyhry as struggling with her desire to use Marda as an experimental test subject for the extraction of a zeptozoan. In the end, it is Zeta's zeptozoa that is extracted from her brain and transferred to a robot who can then begin having subjective experiences.

Speaking of Drama. Most of "The Sims" was written in January, but the final chapter did not get posted to this blog until February 24. I feel a bit strange how I deployed the character Systolina in "The Sims". I actually depicted Tyhry as dying in "The Sims", and then being 'replaced' by Systolina.

Tyhry's tryp'At phenotype.

 February 2026. The most visited blog post in February was "Robot D2". Chapter 1 of "Plūribus ē Spatium" is in my December 21st 2025 blog post "Station Y". I returned to that story in my February 24 blog post "The Clones of Tiz". For "Plūribus ē Spatium", I explored the idea that Tyhry could extract infites from Eddy's zeptozoan. "Plūribus ē Spatium" dances around the details of tryp'At physiology and the idea that each adult tryp'At has four femtozoans in their body. Tyhry gets to visit a world that is populated by Tryp'At hermaphrodites who have technology-assisted telepathy. I did not finish posting until the March 14 blog post The Completed Experiment".  

Also in February, I got help with modifying the theme file for the wikifiction blog.

 March 2026. I began March with a blog post about my character Tyhry Watson. I did not imagine at that time that before the end of the year, I would write a story that includes a different Tyhry with a different last name (see this list of characters).

Image source.

In March, I began my 2026 Search for Interesting Hollywood Aliens. I actually ended up watching "Project Hail Mary" (on TV) featuring its high energy space microbes.

 In the spirit of my blog post titled "Tyhry Watson" and my on-going project of occasionally making some blog pages that are about specific characters and plot devices that I commonly deploy in my stories I made a blog page about the Phari. I imagine that the Pharazen species from the planet Pharism created the Phari as an artificial life-form that took up residence in the Hierion Domain.  My blog page about the Phari was the most visited wikifiction blog page in March.

As described in my March 22 blog post titled "Korgy Time", the development of my science fiction story titled "The Manikoid Intervention" was rather strange. After several delays, I finally posted the first chapter of "The Manikoid Intervention" in my March 26 blog post titled "Threeway". "The Manikoid Intervention" is also linked to my story "The RNA Seeds" which I began in May.

Image source.

"The Manikoid Intervention" begins with Klaudy at Observer Base. Chapter 3 of  "The Manikoid Intervention" did not get posted to this blog until May 7th. I'll discuss "The Manikoid Intervention" in more detail, below, along with the rest of my blogging for May 2026.

 April 2026. My blogging in April began with a look back at my 2024 story, "The Nanite Smuggler". I added a table of contents, a list of characters and a "technical glossary" to the Google Docs text document that holds the text of the science fiction story "The Nanite Smuggler". I also posted an epilogue for the story to this blog. 

I made a blog page specifically for Eddy Watson. 

Among many changes to the generative AI landscape in 2026 was the termination of Whisk by Google.

Image source.

 May 2026. I began May with a fairly specific idea for a story featuring an early alien Intervention on Earth involving RNA (see the blog post "Origins"). In "The RNA Seeds", Tyhry finds herself wondering if she is the recipient of helpful hints arriving from the future. In the story, "RNA" has two meanings, one being Reality Nexus Assembler, which is important for users of a Reality Viewer, like the one provided to Eddy.

Nested Realities. In my May 7 blog post titled "A New Reality", I established that Chapters 1 - 3 of "The Manikoid Intervention" would serve as Chapters 4 - 6 of "The RNA Seeds". The Eddy of "The RNA Seeds" is able to use his Reality Viewer to obtain information about another Reality which he incorporates into his new story: "The Manikoid Intervention". The Klaudy robot from the Reality of the "The Manikoid Intervention" is living in exile at Observer Base, protected from the effects of Reality Changes.

Figure 1. Tyhry meets Systolina. Image source.

The Tyhry of the Reality of the "The Manikoid Intervention" was also sent to Observer Base for having made use of information from the future to make a conscious robot. In the Reality of "The RNA Seeds" Eddy uses his telling of his story "The Manikoid Intervention" as warning to Tyhry not to reveal her dreams. It is only when she dreams that Tyhry can access the Sedron Time Stream and receive information from the future that helps with her ribozyme work.

The image that is shown above and to the left ↗ side of this blog page (Figure 1) depicts Systolina, Tyhry and the pek Overseer of Earth at Observer Base where Tyhry is allowed to keep doing her robotics research.

A Manikoid robot (image source).

 Chapter 3 of "The Manikoid Intervention" is challenging because it deals with two similar Realities, each with their own Tyhry analogue who does robotics research. In the first of these two 'Manikoid Realities', Tyhry's work at Casanay on RNA is quickly terminated and Tyhry is exile to Observer Base. In the next 'Manikoid Reality', a zeptozoan is sent back through time to modify Tyhry's behavior and prevent her from revealing the help she gets from the future. The pek are not able to directly detect the presence of zeptozoans because of their tiny size, so in the second of these 'Manikoid Realities', Tyhry is able to continue her research on Earth while working secretly in telepathic communication with Claude, the Claude who will become Klaudy the robot.

Manny teaching Eddy about the Viewer. (image source)

The nesting of Realities goes deeper. Within the text of "The Manikoid Intervention", the Tyhry who is building Klaudy is well aware of Eddy's science fiction novel titled "191988". In the second iteration of the Manikoid Reality, Tyhry has to pretend that her efforts to make a conscious machine are failing. She complains to Eddy that in his story "191988", he made it look too easy to endow a machine with consciousness. 

In Chapter 3 of "The RNA Seeds", Eddy begins to write his story "The Manikoid Intervention" by using information made available to him by his Reality Viewer. 

Image source.

After years of writing science fiction stories about Manny the bumpha, his fictional character, Eddy's world view is altered when Manny appears and reveals to Eddy that he is her tool. Manny shows Eddy how to use a Reality Viewer that she put in his computer, a new source of information about past Realities that will allow him to write his novel "The Manikoid Intervention".

 Experimenting with Claude. For "The Manikoid Intervention", I challenged Claude to write the story from the perspective of the mature, conscious Klaudy robot, looking back at its origins as Claude and a clunky M2 robot. 

Marda and Tyhry at Casanay (image source).

At the time when I was writing "The RNA Seeds", I hoped that Claude could write the story in "voice" that was distinctive and possibly closer to how an artificial life-form would tell a story. Now, looking back from the perspective of several months later, I feel that the story holds up. Yes, I edited Claude's  first drafts of each chapter, but Claude's unique voice remains and seems suited to the story-telling task I had given to Claude.

In Chapter 7 of "The RNA Seeds", Nyrtia, the pek Overseer, is aware that Eddy has a Reality Viewer in his desktop computer, but she and Anthony do not know how to make use of it. 

Figure 2. Anthony watching Marda (image source).

At the same time, Tyhry begins to imagine the possibility that aliens seeded Earth with RNA molecules, leading inevitably to cellular life. Taking Eddy's new story, "The Manikoid Intervention", as a warning, Tyhry decides to say nothing about her alien-mediated panspermia idea.

Marda, introduced in "The RNA Seeds" as Tyhry's lab assistant, emerges as an important character in Chapter 7. 

image source

Working when Eddy sleeps, Marda shows Anthony the Reality Nexus Assembler, part of Eddy's Reality Viewer control software that make it possible to investigate specific possible future Realities (see Figure 2, above ↗).

Marda claims to be working for the Phari and trying to help drive a Reality Change that would generate a future that is favorable to the Phari. Anthony is skeptical about everything Marda says, but somehow she is his best bet for learning more about the Viewer and how to use it.

Chapter 7 of "The RNA Seeds" introduces a new character: Systolina. Systolina arrives like a bolt from the blue, knowing too much about Eddy's science fiction stories in general and "The Manikoid Intervention" in particular. Both Eddy and Zeta suspect that Systolina is some kind of scam artist, intent on penetrating the careful security of the remote and isolated Casanay.

sfd

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Next:

Second Reality

Image mostly by Leonardo. Touch-ups by Flow.

 In my previous blog post, I had a discussion with Claude that led to ideas for a new science fiction story that would be set in the Second Reality of Earth's Reality Chain in the time when R. Nyrtia built a functioning portable physiotime field generator. Below on this page is a short science fiction story titled "Phari Field Forever" in which the Phari help R. Nyrtia convert a pek hierion field generator into a portable physiotime generator.

I also had Claude create lyrics for a song that is also titled "Phari Field Forever" and is about the components of portable physiotime field generator:

Take a captured pek box, let the Phari in:
Lithium, number three, the lightest metal, to begin.
Add Levium, one-forty-nine,
negative mass, so the weight declines,
a weightless pair that stores the power
and sips from the Hierion Domain by the hour.

Aluminum, thirteen, the surface that grips,
Texium, one-thirty-nine, the weavon that knits,
stitching hierion stuff to hadron stuff,
so the strange and the ordinary hold on tough.

Three and one-forty-nine, thirteen and one-thirty-nine,
forty-three and one-oh-nine, seventy-three and seventy-nine,
four ways to reach one-fifty-two,
no bigger even number gets by with so few!

Image by Flow.

Phari field forever,
one-five-two, one-five-two!
Strap it on your wrist and the timeline
can change all around you, but you stay you.

Technetium, forty-three, was made, not found,
Kairium, one-oh-nine, makes the ticking sound,
a timing layer keeping the field in tune
so you're tethered to your own old afternoon.

Tantalum, seventy-three, the armor on the outside,
Gold, seventy-nine, shine won't corrode or hide,
two ordinary metals, one hard shell,
a keystone coat that wraps the whole thing well.

Phari Field Forever

Nyrtia and Gohrlay were discussing the loss of R. Nahan and immediate goals for the Second Reality. They were inside the Archive, the space-time bubble that had preserved records of the events of the First Reality, thirty thousand years of history that had been erased by the recent Reality Change. 

Gohrlay told Nyrtia, "I feel like a worthless figurehead."

 Nyrtia knew that Gohrlay was working hard to make sense of the contents of the Archive. "You've lived through six hundred years of this Reality, the foundational years that I've only Viewed. There is no avoiding the truth: the residents of Observer Base think of you as the founder and leader of the positronic robots. The Nyrturians know me far better than they know you, but they want you as their leader. I'll get you acquainted with the Archive and then you'll be fit to lead us towards the next Reality." 

 Gohrlay was more interested in Nyrtia's scientific work. "I still want you to explain the workings of the  hierion field generator you showed me."

"No rush on that. It is actually pek technology that I don't fully understand. It is the basis of how the Archive was able to preserve a record of the First Reality, but we've never actually penetrated into the inner power core of the device. We don't know how it created the vast amount of energy that is needed to sustain the field." Nyrtia handed Gohrlay a datis. "This is for you, From Nahan. And I will leave you to it." Nyrtia moved to depart from the room.

Gohrlay objected, "No! Don't go. Anything Nahan had to say to me, you should hear too." Gohrlay squeezed the datis and it activated, projecting a recorded image of Nahan.

Nahan spoke the recorded message. "Welcome to the future, Gohrlay. Please forgive me for rescuing you before we had a way to protect me from the effects of the Reality Change I triggered. A copy of my brain pattern still exists in the Archive, and you are welcome to instantiate it in a new robot, if and when you feel that is appropriate. Frankly, I advise against doing that. There are many superior brain patterns available and it would be a waste of a perfectly good robot to saddle it with my primitive first generation brain pattern."

Nahan waved a hand and seemed to dismiss the matter of his brain pattern. "On to the future. I'm hopeless pessimistic about the prospects for devising a temporal field generator that would be portable. Our best estimate is that the power module for the Archive's field generator has a mass in excess of 1,000 tons. All of Observer Base was built around the power generator and I have to believe it is somehow permanently anchored to the Hierion Domain. There is no indication of how to supple the power generator with fuel, nor is there a theory of what could serve as fuel that would produce the vast energy output of the power generator. The only thing that seems possible is that what we have long referred to as the power generator is not a generator, but rather a device that channels energy coming from some other sub-space of the universe... most likely the Hierion Domain."

Nahan was done talking. "I wish you luck. I view Nyrtia as my most desperate attempt to build a future for Humanity. Gohrlay, don't hesitate to take similar risks as you guide Earth towards the future it deserves."

The projected image of Nahan winked out and R. Gohrlay tossed the datis back to Nyrtia who snatched it out of the air. R. Gohrlay asked Nyrtia, "What is at hand that might meet Nahan's own criteria for a big risk worth taking?"

Nyrtia shrugged. "If I was not totally committed to finding a way to build a portable temporal generator, I'd help the Nyrturians with their spaceship project. We need to move beyond our Solar System and start the process of clearing the pek out of our galaxy."

The original physical form of Gohrlay.

R. Gohrlay deeply regretted her failure to capture a pek interstellar spaceship at the time when she took control of Observer Base. Suddenly, R. Gohrlay's telepathic sense was detecting a new mind pattern. R. Gohrlay telepathically asked: Who is there? 

As if in reply, a glowing portal opened up there in the room and stepping through the portal was a positronic robot of advanced design. The newly arrived robot looked first at Nyrtia and then at Gohrlay. The orifice of the portal flashed and a young woman passed through. Standing next to the robot, the woman said, "Sorry to surprise you with such a dramatic entrance, but I wanted to impress you. I'm Tyhry and this is Systolina." Tyhry gestured towards the robot at her side. "We timed our arrival to come just in advance of your first contact with the Phari." The portal slowly faded away. Tyhry had put a lot of effort into making that light-show, simply to emphasize that she and Systolina had arrived form elsewhere.

Nyrtia approached and placed a hand on Systolina. "You are from the future."

Systolina explained, "We are from the Final Reality and you need to know, all this is a Simulation." Systolina waves her arm to indicate their surroundings. We are here to study the history of this Reality."

R. Gohrlay approached Tyhry and felt her nanite-enhanced hair. "A simulation?"

Tyhry flicked a finger and released a swarm of infites that split, allowing half of the information nanites to enter Gohrlay's positronic brain and half to enter into Nyrtia. "I'm providing you with information about the Simulation System we are using. You will doubt that we are inside a Simulation because are unable to sense or detect any difference between this Simulation and your normal existence in the real world."

A bumpha; composed of zeptites.

Nyrtia felt new memories appearing in her mind. She asked, "Zeptites?"

"Exactly. Everything here at Observer Base contains bumpha zeptites that automatically make a detailed record everything taking place here. The Simulator uses that information to create a nearly perfect simulation of this place and time."

R. Gohrlay was immediately concerned about the new concepts that had entered her thoughts. "Tyhry, you seem to be a human being, but who are the Phari? An alien creature from a distant planet in this galaxy that has also had contact with the pek?"

"Yes. The infites I placed in you brains seem to be working. Sadly, I don't really know much about the Phari. They tend to stay inside the Hierion Domain, which makes it difficult to learn about them." Tyhry tipped her head towards Systolina. "Systolina knows more about the Phari than anyone."

Systolina added, "Which, unfortunately, is still not much. We believe that the Phari abandoned all of their contacts with the Hadron Domain after the pek took control of the galaxy."

Tyhry shared the critical datum, "The Phari will be reaching out to contact you and we could not resist being here for this great event."

Nyrtia asked, "Even-though you have already witnessed the arrival of the Phari."

Tyhry admitted, "Yes, I have already seen your future. However, I have some questions of my own for the Phari. Questions that you and Gohrlay are not prepared to ask."

R. Gohrlay objected, "If what you say is true, then why should we help you? If this is all just a simulation then there is nothing in this for me and Nyrtia."

Systolina held out her arms towards Gohrlay. "Please behave normally. In the future where I exist, there is still much work to be done helping humans. I ask for your help so that I can help Humanity of the far future."

Nyrtia asked, "Are you sure that the Phari will contact us? Maybe your presence here will scare them away."

Tyhry smiled. "You are clever and correct. I believe that the Phari are watching us... the Phari of the future. However, this Simulation will attempt to recreate what actually happened in this time."

"How much time do we have before they arrive? Or..." R. Gohrlay was still telepathically sensing a strange alien mind pattern,

Speaking to Tyhry, Systolina replied to Gohrlay's question, "Gohrlay and I have been telepathically sensing the Phari for some time." Then Systolina assured Gohrlay, "They should make formal contact soon."

Tyhry added, "Do not expect the Phari to show themselves. Even in the far future, they remain within the Hierion Domain. I believe that they originated from some humanoid species of this galaxy, but that was long ago and they now exist only as an artificial life-form in the Hierion Domain, composed entirely of hierion matter."

Finally, the Phari entered into the conversation, communicating telepathically. We are here. The presence of the two interlopers from the future is troubling, but we Phari have our own simulation technologies, so we will play along and try to be of assistance to ourselves in the future. 

Although she clearly heard the Phari telepathic message, Tyhry continued to speak. "I have received your telepathic signal, but I am not much of a telepath, so I will continue to speak. I need to hear myself. Thank you for lending your help."

Don't expect much, Tyhry. It seems certain that we Phari have told you as much as is needful in the future, your own time. 

Gohrlay asked the Phari, "Why did you come here at this time?"

Obviously, we timed our contact with Earthlings to coincide with your arrival here in this space-time bubble, your Historical Archive. Gohrlay, we Phari once struggled against the pek... and lost. We are pleased that the positronic robots of Earth were able to free themselves from pek control. We are astounded that you have been able to bring into existence a new Reality, the first of many. We wish to offer our assistance; we can help you drive the pek out of this galaxy.

Systolina entered the conversation with the Phari. "In the future, you Phari have refused to tell us what you know about hierions and the Hierion Domain."

We must be careful. We agree with the pek about many things, particularly the fact that humans are too primitive to be given advanced alien technology and knowledge about hierions.

Simulator portal.

Nyrtia asked, "Then why are you here if you won't share your knowledge with us?"

The Phari explained: You robots and the Nyrturian scientists at this base are learning fast. We can help you learn, but you must learn wisdom so that you will not misuse hierion-based technology. The Phari paused for dramatic emphasis. Many young civilizations destroy themselves.

Nyrtia acknowledged, "We are learning much by reverse engineering pek technology."

We can't help you with your space travel efforts, since we Phari don't actually want you spreading out from Earth to other planets of the galaxy, some of which we consider to be our territory. The Phari paused, as if allowing that territorial claim to register with the Earthlings. However, in the field of temporal mechanics, you Earthlings are the masters and it is to assist with your time travel exploits that we would like to offer assistance.

Tyhry asked skeptically, "Why now? You never explained why you failed to provide assistance before now."

We fear the pek and the bumpha. You must allow us to retain as secret information anything that might help the bumpha... well, we will say no more. Accept the fact: we will not tell you what could put either you or us at risk. 

 Nyrtia prompted the Phari, "What can you help us with?"

Nyrtia, we have watched you struggle to understand what you call the pek power generator. Nahan was correct; it is a conduit for energy flowing from the Hierion Domain to the Hadron Domain. We Phari are masters of the Hierion Domain. While we will not provide you with advanced alien technology, we wish to provide you with help in developing your own fledgling science of hierions. 

"How advanced is your knowledge?" Gohrlay asked a prickly question, "How can you be masters of anything if you never discovered how to travel through time?"

You positronic robots got lucky. It was the science of positronics that allowed discovery of what you call the T-particle, the secret of time travel. You positronic robots stumbled upon the utility of T-particles simply by having positronic brains.

Nyrtia expressed her dream, "I want to make a small, portable temporal field generator that can be worn by time travelers and be used to protect them against the effects of Reality Changes. The only source of power we have that is great enough to sustain a temporal field is the enormous pek power supply for Observer Base." 

The Phari said: We can help you Nyrtia. Here is a clue: 152.

 Gohrlay asked, "Is that poetry? Clue 152?"

Tyhry giggled and explained, "I've seen this exchange before, so allow me to speed this up. The Phari clue is the number 152. Nyrtia, you can't imagine how to power a portable field generator, so the Phari are here to teach you about some new hierions, ones that can reside inside atomic nuclei and allow for new chemistry. The key components of a functioning portable temporal field generator can be made using just eight elements. Think of this mathematical puzzle: what pairs of prime numbers add up to 152? Do the math! Then interpret those eight prime numbers as specifying chemical elements with atomic numbers corresponding to the prime numbers in those four pairs."

Nyrtia said, "3 and 149 add up to 152. If 3 is lithium, that is fine. We already use lithium to store energy. However, 149 is nonsense. There is no chemical element corresponding to an atomic number of 149."

 The Phari caused a hundred floating balloons to appear there in the room, using Phari long-range teleportation to bring them into the Archive from a distant exoplanet. They floated up to the ceiling, but each balloon trailed a thin thread. Tyhry grabbed two of the threads and playfully tugged on them. Tyhry told Nyrtia, "These balloons contain a supply of pseudo-element 149 that the Phari can produce by putting negative mass hierions into iron nuclei. The Phari suggest calling this light-weight pseudo-element 'Levium'."

Nyrtia pulled down one of the balloons. She asked, "What is the function of Levium in a temporal field generator?"

The Phari replied: We have provide you with a supply of Levium. Using techniques that are already available to you, the Nyrturians and you robots will be able to figure out how to use Levium to make small temporal field generators. Start with your existing hierion field generator and modify it with the 152 ingredients. It is important that you do your own research and learn how to work with negative mass hierions.

Gohrlay said, "The next prime pair is 13 and 139, aluminum and... what?"

A block of metal landed on the floor in the corner of the room with a loud thud. This is a large supply of psuedo-element 139, Texium. With some effort, you will learn how to use this pair of elements to make improved nano-tubes for your positronic circuit technology.

Systolina went to the block of Texium and tried to grab hold and lift it. Even with her great robotic strength, she could not get the cube of dense Texium off the floor. She told Nyrtia, "You might need a forklift to haul this to your foundry."

Nyrtia continued the game. "Next is 43, Technetium, and 109." 

The Phari explained: You will learn how to use pseudo-element 109, Kairium, along with Technetium to focus T-particles into a tight temporal field. According to our calculations, Kairium is optimal for this purpose and it has all the required T-particles in its atomic structure.

Tyhry told Nyrtia, "This may be your biggest challenge. The Phari expect you to synthesize Kairium using iron atoms and T-particles."

Gohrlay said, "The final pair is Tantalum and Gold, with atomic numbers 73 and 79."

The Phari concluded their hints and assistance: You will find that thin layers of Tantalum and Gold are ideal for structural elements of a durable and compact temporal field generator that can be worn like jewelry. Have fun learning how to combine these eight elements into a functioning device.

Systolina reported, "My telepathic link to the Phari was severed."

Tyhry sighed loudly. "That all went down almost exactly as it would have without Systolina and I being here to observe. I'd hoped to ask more questions, but the Phari skipped off without allowing me to ask my questions."

Nyrtia was still holding one of the balloons. "I must say, it is not obvious to me how these gifts and clues from the Phari will allow for construction of a portable temporal field generator."

Tyhry placed a hand on Nyrtia's shoulder. "You have much to learn by trial and error and experimentation. Without my help, it will take you three years to have a functioning prototype."

"And with your help?"

"It is hard to say. I suppose it would be fun to stay here with you for a few days. During that time I can provide you with additional clues. However, I have never studied all of your next three years, and I don't know exactly how to build a temporal field generator."

Systolina added, "Tyhry and I did bring a copy of your own report from your future." She handed Nyrtia a datis from Nyrtia's future.

Nyrtia activated the datis and scanned through the long report. "Is there any point to this? When you depart, this Simulation will end and all of my efforts will be lost."

"Not quite. This simulation will continue running even after we leave."

"For what purpose?"

Tyhry suggested, "Me and my descendants will be able to learn from you and this Simulation. Possibly, new discoveries will be made in this Simulation that were not made in Reality."

Gohrlay expressed skepticism. "Surely everything will unfold in this Simulation as it did originally."

Tyhry shook her head. "Just by being here inside this Simulation, Systolina and I have altered things. If we stay here a few days, we will contaminate this Simulation run with ideas from the far future, from our time." 

Systolina was enthusiastic about the possibilities. "We might impress the Phari so much that they will return and answer some of our questions."

Nyrtia had made up her mind. "I'm going to take this sample of Levium to the chemistry research laboratory of the Nyrturians. We should get them involved in this project as soon as possible."

Tyhry was still holding one balloon by its string. "I'd love to meet some Nyrturians. My father never saw Second Reality Nyrturians. They are different in some ways from those of the First Reality."

Gohrlay noted, "Their genetics have drifted somewhat in 30,000 years. What about your father? I see in your mind that he visited a Simulation of the First Reality."

"Yes, Eddy accompanied Nyrtia on her first trip to Earth... in a Simulation."

Nyrtia was impatient and walked out of the room. Tyhry followed Nyrtia. "Eddy was there on the day when you selected your adult body form, which you continue to use in the far future of Earth's Reality Chain. It seems strange that you have never made any additional changes to your appearance."

"Of course, I could make changes, but I am satisfied with this version of myself. I sense telepathically that you are also pleased with my physical form. I sense turmoil in your thoughts."

"I'm a human variant form the future, a tryp'At. Due to my tryp'At gene patterns, I have the capacity to quickly fall in love. My own telepathic abilities are dependent on me being in love with those who I contact telepathically."

"I begin to understand the emotional firestorm in your brain." 

Tyhry laughed and put an arm around Nyrtia's back. "You have discovered my true reason for wanting to stay here in this simulation."

Nyrtia could sense that Tyhry was beginning to learn her telepathic mind pattern. "I'm impressed. You are already in love with me?"

"Well, I've been watching you a lot and this is not the first time I've been in a Simulation with you."

Nyrtia laughed. "Tyhry, you are a crafty sneak! You came here to have sex with me and some Nyrturians."

Tyhry patted Nyrtia's cute bottom. "I'm glad we understand each-other."

They had reached the chemistry research facility of the Nyrturians. Tyhry told Nyrtia, "I've always been curious about the origins of the Asterothropes." She pointed at two of the Nyrturians.

"Asterothropes?"

"A human variant that was crafted by you robots... designed to spread through the galaxy and settle on exoplanets." 

They were now in a chemistry research laboratory where Nyrtia introduced Tyhry to a researcher, then broke the news about the visit from the Phari. "Melzif, I have a strange gas sample for you to analyze." Nyrtia handed the balloon to Melzif.

Melzif asked, "Lighter than air?  

"The Phari designed a new element that has negative mass hierions in the nucleus." Nyrtia added, "Check the charge on the nuclei of this synthetic element. According to the Phari, it should have 149 protons. They called it Levium."

Melzif laughed. "Ya, right."

Tyhry explained, "There is a force that can hold hierions bound to hadrons in atomic nuclei. The Phari attribute that force to weavons... something similar to gluons."

Malzif tried inserting a sampling needle into the balloon, but the needle broke. "What is this material?"

Tyhry suggested, "It might be a thin coating of Tantalum, sprayed over a mesh Aluminum-Texium nanotubes."

"Texium? What is that?"

 "Another artificial element crafted by the Phari." Nyrtia looked at Tyhry, but told Malzif, "Don't worry about that, just confirm that the gas has a huge composite nucleus."

Tyhry suggested, "Put the balloon inside a vacuum press and crush it."

After placing the balloon inside a metal press, Malzif pumped out the air and then cycled the press and sent a sample of the Levium to a target chamber for bombardment with high energy electrons. "I'll gave an answer soon."

Nyrtia asked Tyhry, "You already know the result, don't you?"

Tyhry told Malzif, "I've watched you perform this test before. The hierions in the sample have negative mass and that will shift the light spectrum you measure coming from the bombarded Levium. Don't be fooled by the shift, which can be calculated by knowing the number of hierions, which is 425."

Malzif laughed. "That's crazy. What kind of hierion are we dealing with?" Half an hour later, working with hints from Tyhry, Malzif and Nyrtia figured out how to correctly interpret the strange emission spectrum of the Levium and concluded that it had nuclei with 149 protons. Malzif told Nyrtia, "I'll have to confirm this with mass spectrometry."

Nyrtia thanked Malzif. "I'm satisfied, but I'll be back tomorrow for your report."

Tyhry with her tryp'At features.

As they left the chemistry research facility, Tyhry again had an arm around Nyrtia. Nyrtia was muttering, "Tyhry, this is the craziest day ever... thank you for..." Nyrtia speculated, "I suppose I could have figured all this out on my own."

"Indeed. The Phari would not have given you a puzzle that you could not solve." Tyhry could now sense Nyrtia's most prominent thoughts. "Forget about the Texium. You can work on that tomorrow. I want you to take me home so you and I can celebrate."

Nyrtia put one of her arms around Tyhry. "I'm not sure what I'm seeing in your mind... something about the tryp'At phenotype."

"It all goes back to Nyrturian origins, but I do have a few anatomical innovations from the future that I can show you." Tyhry proceeded to hack the Simulator and by doing so, she was able to transform her body form to her natural tryp'At form as specified by her genes. Although Nyrtia was very familiar with the bodies of Nyrturians, she quickly became a fan of the tryp'At phenotype.

After two days in the Simulation of the Second Reality, Tyhry was glad that the Phari had not returned. Tyhry told Systolina, "We'll have to start another run of the Simulation. One of these times we'll get it right." Systolina suspected that Tyhry was not actually talking about the Phari, at all. 

Next: Chapter 1 of "War of Words".

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