Pek 2, Phari 1

Origins of the Ek'col

I've been weaving The League of Yrinna into the Exodemic Fiction Universe. In this science fiction story, the alien Phari of Alastor Cluster solve a difficult problem that has confounded the pek.

The problem facing Grean, how to end the Time War, requires the creation of a new human subspecies: the Ek'col. By using special gene combinations found in Alastor Cluster, the pek have already created the Kac'hin.

The Kac'hin can efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface and act as the eyes and hands of the Huaoshy in our galaxy. The Kac'hin can be disguised as human, but according to the technical standards of the Huaoshy, since they can't successfully breed with Earthlings, the Kac'hin are not actually human.

Creating the Ek'col

In order to engineer humans who can use the Bimanoid Interface, a new human subspecies must be crafted: the Ek'col. First, Grean must arrange for the creation of the Giant Prelands who serve as a reaction vessel for mixing the genes of telepathic Neanderthals with those of Prelands from the Galactic Core.

Next, additional humanoid gene combinations must be brought in from Alastor Cluster. The source of these genes is the Pharithould. The Pharithould evolve in Alastor Cluster after Grean sends Glinnes and Duissane back into the past equipped with a special "guide endosymbiont" that was crafted by the Phari for use in the humanoid Pheni of Yrinna.

In the Ekcolir Reality
cover art by Edmund Emshwiller

Of course, the Ek'col are just a means to the end, but male Ek'col can breed with female Asterothropes, producing offspring who can breed with Earthlings and produce the first humans who are capable of using the Bimanoid Interface.

The humanoid Pheni were used as an experimental system for development of a modified Phari endosymbiont that was better suited for residing inside humans. Grean inserted one of these modified Phari endosymbionts, a so-called 'guide endosymbiont' into Duissane and then sent Glinnes and Duissane into the past, causing a Reality Change. In that newly formed Reality, the descendants of Glinnes and Duissane evolved into the Pharithould.

Did the Pharithould visit ancient Earth?

While not technically humans, the Pharithould served as a source of key gene combinations that could endow the Ek'col with their ability to use the Bimanoid Interface. And, most importantly, descendants of inter-bred Ek'col, Asterothropes and Kac'hin could pass those particular gene combinations into the human gene pool of Earth.

According to Gohrlay, it is not clear that the Pharithould ever visited Earth. It is possible that Pharithould gene combinations were inserted into the Giant Prelands on some planet of the Galactic Core. Some Giant Prelands are known to have lived on Earth, but that was probably an  phenomenon unrelated to producing the Ek'col.

Next: dark stars

visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers