Marta

Weaving characters and story tellers.

As discussed in my previous blog post, I'm sketching in the back story for Angela, the "Atlantis clone" who is mentioned in what now exists as "the first scene" of the Exode Trilogy. As a clone, Angela never knew her biological parents. Her father died at a young age and her mother had no interest in the twisted biomechanical engineering that crafted Angela.

I put "the first scene" in quotes because I'm actively experimenting with alternative strategies for launching Trysta and Ekcolir. I've decided that I want to weave together the main characters of the story with some information about the people who make it possible for the story to be told.

I originally invented the Ek'col and the Kac'hin as two human variants who would allow the last Asterothrope (Trysta) to merge her unique genetic pattern back into the human gene pool.

Later, I realized that Deomede, as the analog of Ekcolir in our Reality, could play a more important role than simply being an "echo" of Ekcolir. In order to make that possible, Deomede's son, Andy, as an Ek'col/Asterothrope hybrid needed a Kac'hin consort. I invented Lili, a nearly-forgotten Kac'hin female of Tar'tron, to play that role. Marta, the daughter of Lili and Andy, with her special mix of Ek'col, Kac'hin and Asterothrope genes is able to function as a conduit for inserting Kac'hin gene combinations in the population of Earth.

The story of Deomede and his descendants takes place within our Reality. The way that Andy and Lili are brought together is like an Earthly arranged marriage; it takes place off stage and the question of whether Andy and Lili fall in love need not bother us.

The great romance of Trysta and Ekcolir takes place within the preceding Reality. I want to gradually knit together Trysta and Ekcolir in a way reminiscent of how Vance brought together Alice and Kirth in The Book of Dreams. Trysta and Ekcolir meet on Earth in the Primitive 20th century after having been brought together from across a gulf of ten million years and half a galaxy.

The Kac'hin of Hemmal by Angela Corneigh

Out of the love affair between Trysta and Ekcolir comes Thomas, the tool by which the time travel war between Gohrlay and the Huaoshy can be terminated. On a parallel track, Angela is produced as a clone of Ivory Fersoni and she becomes the means by which humans gain access to the Interface. Angela can "look" into past Realities and allow "the editor" to tell the stories in the first two books of the Exode Trilogy.

Marta
Adão Fersoni, Angela's biological father, was dead long before Angela was born. Not much is known about Angela's biological mother Marta, a quiet woman who wanted to have a simple life. Ivory Fersoni always retained contact with her mother, but Marta never wanted to have anything to do with Many Sails or any other off-world influences. Since Angela was perfectly happy living with Many Sails, Marta never had contact with Angela.

Cory Corneigh

As an "Atlantis clone", Angela never felt a need to seek out Marta. Angela was completely satisfied to think of Cory as her mother. Sometimes Angela wondered about her father and what it might have been like to grow up with a father figure in her life, but her occasional contacts with her biological uncle Peter led her to develop the idea that males were of little value.

After Cory, the most influential people in Angela's life were Ivory, Anna and Anney. Angela grew up thinking of Ivory as her "aunt Ivory". At the age of seven, Angela was finally told the truth about her unusual family, including the fact that "aunt Anna", her "sister" Anney and she herself were all clones of Ivory. Of course, given her telepathic ability she had figured that out by herself long before then. Knowing that cloning made her elders uneasy, she never brought up the subject for discussion.

A Kac'hin female.

The Kac'hin of Hemmal
I've been struggling with the question of just how different the Asterothropes might be from we Earthlings. Angela becomes one of the first Earthlings to learn the true physical forms of the Ek'col and the Kac'hin. Using her ability to tap into the bimanoid interface, Angela is never able to access really good information about the Asterothropes, so she extrapolates from what is known about the Ek'col.

Marta

Angela's great grandfather was Deomede, an Ek'col, while her grandmother Lili was a Kac'hin. Lili never had her appearance modified during embryonic development (although she could disguise her unusual morphological features by using nanite implants while interacting with Earthlings). When imagining Kach, Angela pictures her with pointy elf-like ears and large green eyes (see the fanciful cover illustration, top right of this blog post).

I'm still trying to imagine exactly how information can be channeled from Angela to "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy. Ivory is very protective of both Many Sails and Angela. I imagine that Grean feels impelled by "her" agreement with Trysta to depart Earth after the arrival of the Buld spaceship. However, Many Sails is a close friend of Angela, so I imagine that the sentient spaceship remains as Angela's refuge, although I have not decided if they stay on Earth.

Marta is the biological mother of Ivory. 2019 update.

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