Princess of Manthva

Princess Luri; 102 BCE

In my previous blog post I introduced Princess Luri, a minor character in the science fiction novel Exode. I imagine that Luri can trace her ancestry back to the Etruscan city of Manthva. Some of her ancestors settled in the Alps near present day Basal. That new settlement (Tamari) grew into a major trading center that linked the Etruscans with the northerly Celts.

In the Buld Reality, the brains of Earthlings are constantly probed and monitored by swarms of "pek nanites". Most humans become hosts for a nanorobotic symbiont that keeps their brain from exercising its full creative capacity. In a few cases of favorable gene combinations, an Earthling can host "Kac'hin nanites" that allow some access to the Bimanoid Interface.

Luri; 117 BCE

While still a small golden-haired child, Luri was identified by an Interventionist agent named Thrukta as having some knowledge of the Sedronic Domain. Thrukta knows that it is his duty to either teleport Luri off of Earth or carefully monitor her children for unusual gene combinations and Kac'hin-like powers.

As the years pass, finding himself more than a little infatuated with Luri and her special cognitive abilities, Thrukta is, for many years, unable to send her off to the Klyz teleportation hub.

image credits

With apologies to Jack Vance:

       Luri of Tamari
I knew her as a girl alive
  with wisdom from beyond.
She grew into her Earthly life
  but, of death, she was not fond.
I found her cold and frozen
  so what else could I do?
Off to Klyz...off to heaven,
  there to start her life anew.
            -Thrukta

"Eridu" by Saul Espinosa
(unfor54k3n)

Thrukta is one of the clones of Thomas who arrives on Earth after training in the Koly star system. His main mission on Earth is to assist in the shift of cultural momentum from the Mediterranean towards northwestern Europe. In the Ekcolir Reality, the Etruscans dominated European history and achieved a coal power-based industrial revolution in the 1600s. In the Ekcolir Reality, sea level rise due to global warming was a well recognize problem as early as the 1920s, causing the famous New York boardwalk to be reconstructed atop a sea wall after the disastrous 1930s hurricane.

In the Buld Reality, Luri was subjected to an arranged marriage and must travel through the mountains to her new home. Thrukta, knowing that a major volcanic eruption has temporarily disrupted Earth's climate, tries to dissuade Luri's marriage party from making the trek south. Unable to influence their travel plans, Thrukta watched uneasily when Luri and her entourage set off on their journey into the high Alps. Thrukta is not surprised when the travelers are caught in an early winter storm on a high pass. He climbs up after them and arrives to find Luri half frozen. He teleports her off to Klyz where her dead limbs can be regenerated. (2015 update)

Space Energy Missions

Hilde, Luri, Betty, Ivory

I've previously imagined Betty and Hilde among those working to prepare Earth to cooperate with the Buld to find a solution to Earth's global warming crisis.

Also, I've long struggled with the problem of how to be sure that Parthney goes off to Earth at just the right time. I'm now imagining that Luri goes to Earth with Parthney and is instrumental in locating the Space Energy Missions headquarters in the Arlesheim district.

Given the telepathic connection between Angela and Hilde, Ivory Fersoni has no trouble contacting the collaborators at Space Energy Missions. Only after the arrival of the Buld does Betty reveal herself as an artificial lifeform: a secret agent who has been working to direct the efforts of Hilde towards harmless plans for future space-based energy projects.

While together at Lendhalen, Luri works closely with Gwyned and becomes familiar with modern power generating technology. Gwyned mentions a disturbingly insightful Delta team investigator named "Betty" who was instrumental in bringing her to the attention of Deomede, but Luri dismisses the possibility that the Betty at Space Energy Missions could be the same person.

When Syon "shuts down" her Bimanoid Interface and becomes a robotic drone, Luri approaches Parthney and shares her plans to accompany him to Earth. Originally Parthney believes the Lendhalen propaganda about only male agents being allowed to go to Earth, but Luri convinces him that the very idea of such a restriction is absurd. The Interventionists simply find it beneficial to keep testing the "Thomas clones" on various missions to Earth. Caught up in the excitement of tricking his handlers at Lendhalen, Parthney and Luri go off to Earth together, bypassing the normal procedure of first going to Klyz. This turns out to cause no problems for Parthney's mission, since Luri carries the "pek nanites" that will be needed by Parthney while he is on Earth.

Rathuf and Luri: 5th century England

In the 20th century, Luri becomes an important collaborator with Hilde at Space Energy Missions.

In the 5th century Rathuf is in need of an artificial life assistant during his mission to Earth. While in training under Oib, Rathuf meets Luri, who seems to have an elastic personality. In fact, "Luri" is two people: one a newly instantiated copy of the original biological woman while the other "copy" is an artificial life form, designed to resemble the original.

Only after their arrival on Earth does Rathuf learn that his partner in adventure is the artificial Luri.