A Human Library

Heidi Taillefer
Venus Envy
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My original motivation in starting to craft the science fiction story Exode was to explore the lives of Genesaunts, those human-like creatures who have already managed to leave behind their home world and travel between the stars. Exode particularly concerns the Pla, the clan of Interventionists who send Parthney to Earth as their agent.

Virgin Birth
Parthney was "born" on the planet Hemmal, a distant world where Earth is known only through myths, legends and song. Parthney grows up as a "false Buld" who can never be entirely satisfied with his life on Hemmal. With the exception of a few scattered "false Buld" who seem to arise by spontaneous mutation, the population of Hemmal consists of hermaphrodites: the Buld and the Prelands.

Yandrey

I originally imagined that Parthney was born on Hemmal about 20 years before his mission to Earth, but now I've adopted the idea that any particular "Thomas clone" such as Parthney could be "instantiated" at a convenient age (say, 15) and live just a few years on Hemmal before going off planet for Interventionist training.

There are a few residents of Hemmal who know that Parthney is not just some random "false Buld". In particular, Yandrey befriends Parthney and explains that there is more to life than the rather comfortable existence that Parthney has so far had on Hemmal. Parthney is captivated by the idea that Earth is a real place, a world full of people like himself.

Eventually, Parthney abandons his life on Hemmal and is trained at a secret Interventionist base, Lendhalen, for a mission to Earth. For thousands of years the Interventionists have worked to guide Earthlings towards development of a technologically advanced civilization. While at Lendhalen, Parthney studies examples of past Interventionist missions to Earth and is prepared with the special knowledge and skills he will need to accomplish his own mission.

Rotharkin is teleported off of Earth and
eventually (after 1,500 years) meets Parthney

Archived People
I originally imagined that there would only be one other human at Lendhalen: Gwyned. However, I recently decided to include in the Exode Trilogy some use of a pek technology that allows for both
1) the efficient "storage" of humans and
2) their "reincarnation",
where and when convenient.

Thus, it is quite a simple matter for Parthney to "read" the life stories of those Earthlings who exist in the Human Library at Lendhalen. For the Pla who direct operations at Lendhalen, it is easy to just pop copies of those archived Earthlings out of storage and let those copies physically interact with Parthney.

Nereid hermaphrodite

Previously I've sketched out three earlier examples of Interventionist missions to Earth carried out at roughly 500 year intervals. In each case, a clone of Thomas is sent to Earth and subsequently at least one Earthling is teleported back to the Koly star system. Once teleported, the atomic pattern of these Earthlings is stored in the human pattern library at the Klyz teleportation hub. When appropriate, additional copies of these people can be instantiated and they can live out their lives at places such as Lendhalen. The advanced teleportation technology that makes this library of Earthlings available to Lendhalen is provided by the mysterious Nereids and their proxy species, the Fru'wu.

source

In this way, by making use of "reincarnated" Earthlings,  Parthney can learn Earth history and the outcomes of past Interventionist missions to Earth by physically interacting with Gwyned, Jane, Karherine and Rotharkin. Another Interventionist mission in about 100 BCE targeted a Raeti city near present day Basel. Luri, a Raeti princess (image to the right on this page) faces a cruel death on a stormy mountain pass and is teleported to safety on Klyz.

Luri lives out her natural life in the Koly star system, but every time another Thomas clone is being prepared for a mission to Earth she can again be "instantiated" and help prepare the new Interventionist agent for a mission to Earth.

Clu'ten'iun

Fru'wu

The planet Clu'ten'iun is the secret location of Lendhalen, the secret training base where Parthney becomes an Interventionist agent. Settlement of Clu'ten'iun began when the pek needed an Archive World for the Fru'wu species. The Fru'wu had managed to destroy their home world.

While in training at Lendhalen, Parthney incorrectly believes that he is living in an underground city of the planet Oib.

links to Parthney as displayed in the EntityCube's Gunxi Map system

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Next: more about Luri and her later incarnations.