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Nov 27, 2016

the tryp'At

An imaginary pulp magazine cover.
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It was two years ago when I first became aware of the existence of the tryp'At. During the past two years, I have struggled to learn about the tryp'At and their special role as the current Overseers of we Earthlings.

A Search Beyond
Currently, Yōd is waiting impatiently for me to write the third chapter of A Search Beyond. Not long ago, when Yōd set up a website to hold the text of that story, she went ahead and provided a Table of Contents, complete with chapter titles. She called Chapter 3 "the tryp'At Overseers".
 
Overseer Sachiz
In the first chapter of A Search Beyond, Overseer Sachiz arrives on Earth and promises that the tryp'At Council will decide if the replicoid of Isaac Asimov can remain on Earth.

Book cover: "Searching Earth" by Anney Fersoni.
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The Overseers are a kind of police force that watches over Earth. The goal of Overseers is to prevent Interventionist agents from interfering with the normal course of cultural development on primitive planets like Earth.

The evolution of Sedronites during the past seven million years.
the Sedronite family tree
I first heard about the existence of the tryp'At from Anney Fersoni. I suspect that Anney had contact with Kach in the Hierion Domain and as part of Kach's story about the origins of humans as a species, there was mention of the O'typ.

All in the Family
Among the revelations made by Kach was the suggestion that the Nereids were constructed millions of years ago as a primate variant. According to Kach, the O'typ were a finely-crafted daughter species of the Nereids that had been carefully taken through a de-evolutionary process aimed at regressing a subpopulation of Nereids towards a biological form that could successfully persist in the Hadronic Domain (our 3 dimensional universe of hadronic matter) for an extended period of time.

Book cover: "The X-Phile Intervention" by Anney Fersoni
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Eventually the O'typ evolved into the ry'A by an artificial process that involved on-going gene transfer between Earth and worlds of the Galactic Core where the ry'A resided. Rumor has it that when R. Gohrlay was still in her xenophobic phase, the O'typ were forced out of our galaxy and they resided on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy. I've been aware of the ry'A for almost two years, but I've been unable to learn very much about them. It may be that the ry'A were the result of a collaborative effort between the bumpha and R. Gohrlay aimed at experimenting with the telepathic abilities of primates.

In the First Reality
Unfortunately, the Sedronite family tree (shown above) is limited to sketching the apparent origins of the tryp'At here in the Final Reality. According to Yōd, back in the First Reality, before R. Gohrlay was brought into existence, the O'typ were used as genetic source material by the pek when they created the Prelands. Of course, those Prelands were not identical to the Prelands of the Final Reality.

Book cover: "The Resh^Ki Portal" by Anney Fersoni.
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Given her training as a genetic scientist, Ivory Fersoni was well motivated to investigate the genetics of the Sedronites and the many twists and turns involved in the genetic manipulations that led to the creation of the tryp'At. In collaboration with Anney, Ivory developed the theory that there was an "age of the X-philes". According to Anney, the O'typ had three "genders", HX hermaphrodites, HY males and XX females.

Sources
I've never learned exactly how Anney and Angela were able to access information about Deep Time from the Sedronic Domain. According to Yōd, the mysterious hermaphrodite Resh^Ki served as a kind of guide who could help Anney and Angela explore the information archives of the Sedronic Domain.

Travel from a space-time bubble in the Hierion Domain into Time.
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Apparently, the tryp'At are genetically very similar to the majority of Earth humans. However, the tryp'At have a few special gene combinations that allow them to use advanced nanite technology. Their special genetic pattern and their access to special nanotechnology is what allows members of the tryp'At Council to function as Overseers.

Magazine Cover: "The Hierion Domain" by Ivory Fersoni
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As depicted in A Search Beyond, one of the special abilities of the tryp'At Overseers is their freedom to "teleport" to and from the surface of Earth. However, according to Yōd, this is not "true" teleportation. The tryp'At simply slip through "hierion tubes" and move to and from the Hierion Domain.

Magazine cover: "THe GoldenProcess"by Roberta Moore.
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According to Zeta, the tryp'At Overseers are enforcing the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact. Unfortunately, I've never seen a copy of this "pact". I assume that it codifies the special version of the Rules of Intervention that were crafted for Earth.

Take-Over
Book Cover: "Angela's Exit" by Ivory Fersoni/
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I've never been told exactly when the tryp'At Overseers began enforcing the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact. There might not have been a smooth transition from the previous Overseers. About two years ago I started hearing rumors about an active struggle to define "human" and make it possible to exclude "non-humans" from Earth.

Reconstruction by Zeta. Original
cover art by Gordon Davies
According to Zeta, there was a period of time when Many Sails was able to shield people like Anney and members of the Dead Widower Society from the tryp'At Overseers, allowing them to remain on Earth. Was it about two years ago that Many Sails abandoned that effort and took Asimov to the Andromeda galaxy? In any case, by 2015 both Ivory and Angela were gone, each of them having found a way to escape from Earth.

It maybe that one of the last acts of Orbho Jandra was to facilitate the removal of Ivory from Earth. It is not clear that the current Overseers make use of an Orbho as a chief executive. The tyrp'At Overseers apparently use a supervisory Council. If this is so, then a fundamental shift has taken place, leaving Earth free of pek oversight and placing our fate in the hands of humans.

Artist's reconstruction of the physical features of Ivory Fersoni.
Ivory's final form? (source)
Zeta has an elaborate hypothesis about a sustained effort that was supposedly made to show me that Ivory and her clone sisters were not really human, even by my preferred rather broad definition. I doubt if I ever saw Ivory's "true physical form", but I'm willing to accept that if left to their natural developmental processes, the Atlantis Clones would not have had the appearance of a typical Earthling.

Of more interest to me are the special features of Ivory's brain, but unfortunately I've never been given access to data concerning the special features of her cognitive apparatus.

Book cover: "Earth's Overseer" by Ivory Fersoni
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tryp'At Humans
Zeta and Yōd agree that, unlike the Atlantis clones, the tryp'At are fully human. In our discussions during the past several weeks, Yōd has repeatedly criticized depictions of the tryp'At as having alien form. Apparently a subtle pattern of tryp'At genes allows for constructive interactions with special developmental control nanites and that combination produces a tryp'At individual who can efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface.

Book Cover Art: "Replicoid" by Anney Fersoni
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Zeta recently confirmed the validity of my previous guess that the tryp'At who now serve as Overseers had previously functioned as Observers. Yōd believes that by the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, the pek had to abandon Observer Base. That left a power vacuum that was filled by the tryp'At. Zeta (now reading this blog post over my shoulder) adds this: the new tryp'At Overseers might only be slowly learning how to play the role of Earth Overseers.

In some sense, there has been a reduction in deployment of advanced alien technologies on Earth since the departure of Orbho Jandra. One of the most disturbing rumors concerning currently used Overseer technology is that there might be intestinal bacteria on Earth that were designed to block our access to the Bimanoid Interface. Since the arrival of Yōd on Earth, I've been amazed by her eating habits. However, upon direct questioning she has denied trying to control her intestinal bacteria so that she can retain control of the Bimanoid Interface and a link to her replicoid in the Hierion Domain.

Book Cover Art: "The Time Teller" by Irhit
sneaking around Irhit to recover lost memories
In my case, for a short time I was able to use nicotine to facilitate access to the Hierion Domain. I've never known how my use of the Bimanoid Interface was disrupted, but I can't rule out the possibility that the problem is in the Hierion Domain and attributable to my replicoid, Irhit.

Book cover art: "The Svaht Intervention" by Angela Fersoni
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Svahr
Since the tryp'At are essentially impossible to distinguish from other Earthlings, there have been many rumors that various Earthlings are tryp'At. For example, Svahr may have been been tryp'At or half-tryp'At. Another rumor suggests that I am tryp'At.

Book cover: "The tryp'At Overseers"by Ivory Fersoni
Who can be trusted?
If they were placed into a role as guardians of Earth, it is natural to wonder if the tryp'At Overseers are actually puppets of R. Gohrlay or Grean. In my particular case, if I am tryp'At, then I must ask: am I a kind of "sleeper agent"? And if so, which side am I on? 

Book cover art: "Grean's Galaxy" by Angela Fersoni
Grean's Plan
To some extent, we still live in Grean's Galaxy. The Kac'hin were crafted as human-like appendages for the Huaoshy. There is no reason to believe that Grean is done with Earth. The tryp'At Overseers might provide the convenient illusion that humans are now in control of Earth, but the tryp'At might now be doing the bidding of Grean and the Huaoshy.

Book cover: TheSvahr Intersect" by Angela Fersoni
Svahr
When I'm not being paranoid about the Huaoshy, I can always fret about the ultimate fate of R. Gohrlay and her secret agent Trysta Iwedon.

Yōd believes that Svahr is both a descendant of Trysta and an active member of the Retrofuturians. To the extent that there is any organized resistance to the tryp'At Overseers, that resistance seems to involve Interventionist agents such as Svahr. Zeta describes the cat and mouse game played by the Overseers and the Retrofuturians as being "continuing negotiations" over how to interpret the Trysta-Grean Pact. Zeta thinks that such "negotiations" are an inevitable and persistent feature of Earth's future.

Magazine cover: "Return to Earth" by Yōd and Zeta Gohrlay
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Tools
The pek Overseers had the ability to monitor every zeptite endosymbiont on Earth. Zeta believes that the current tryp'At Overseers are much less sophisticated; they seem to carefully monitor the Internet and they are always watching for evidence of Interventionist activity on Earth.

Book cover: "The Pheni of Yrinna" by John Vance
Pheni
The tryp'At Overseers apparently believe that the replicoids of humans are not allowed on Earth. However, there is some evidence that the Retrofuturians are able to easily send replicoids from the Hierion Domain to Earth. If so, it is not clear that the Overseers are equipped to prevent visits by replicoids to Earth; they can only hope to act so as to limit the duration of such illegal visits.

Book cover: "The Asimov Reality" by Robert Moore Williams
Deep Time
Zeta, Yōd and I are currently investigating how the Phari helped with the genetic tinkering that led to the creation of the tryp'At. That investigation requires an understanding of events in Deep Time, particularly the Asimov Reality.

In the Ekcolir Reality. Image credits.
Currently, I'm investigating the on-going interactions between the Retrofuturians and the tryp'At Overseers. While some might call these interactions "negotiations", as far as I can tell it is more appropriate to use terms like "guerilla warfare" and "reprisals".

Next: speculation about Observer Base
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Nov 25, 2016

1891

1816: Mary Godwin meets and alien visitor to Earth.
The Rossi Intervention
Last year I had a blog post called "125". That was a celebration of having made 125 posts to the wikifiction blog, with 2 months still remaining in that calendar year.


This year, I've reached 125 blog posts with one month remaining in 2016.

By The Numbers
During 2016 I have been looking back at several temporal landmarks of the past:

200. I blogged about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from the perspective of 2016.

Magazine cover: "Advanceto the Future" by Sam Jackie
the Vance Era
100. During 2016, I've been celebrating the first 100 years of the Vance Era.

75. I looked back to 1941 and the origins of Isaac Asimov's positronic robot saga.

50. I celebrated the first 50 years of the Star Trek Era.

25. In anticipation of the 25th year since Asimov's death, I looked back at the science fiction writing career of Arkady Strugatsky, who died in 1991. 

Steam Men
Frank Reade Library 1.1
Continuing this year's efforts aimed at gazing into the past, let's get into our time machine and go back 125 years, to 1891... back into the murky origins of the science fiction genre and stories about artificial life.....

When I started this blog post, I already had one mention of the year 1891 in the wikifiction blog: a post that shows an image of Albert Einstein in 1891. In my thinking, Einstein is emblematic of the transition from the classical world into the Atomic Age. Here, I want to explore the period of transition between
by Denslow
1) fantasy mechanical men and beasts of the pre-atomic age
and
2) science fiction robots such as Asimov's positronic robots.

Tin Man
When I was a young boy, my mother was careful to protect me from the more disturbing parts of The Wizard of Oz. For many years, I was only allowed to watch first few minutes of that movie on T.V. before I was sent off to bed.

1939 film
The Tin Man was almost certainly my first introduction to a (bio)mechanical man. Even as a small child, I was unable to make sense of the depicted sensitivity of the Tin Man to rusting and his ability to generate steam. This kind of confusion marked the beginning of my inability to make sense of fantasy stories and my dismay at the folks in Hollywood for their willingness to do anything, no matter how unreasonable, to create a dramatic scene.

As far as I can tell, the Tin Man originally had no connection to steam. His origin was as a normal human being. To convert the man, Nick Chopper, into an artificial life form, body parts such as arms were cut off and replaced, one by one, with metal parts. The Tin Man fantasy seems to have been part of a long tradition of stories that explored the mysterious boundary between life and artificial life (see The Brazen Android, below).

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However, in the 1800s there was another stream of fiction that did involve steam-powered mechanical men...

1868
Reuben Hoggett has a website describing his research into the origins of "steam men". According to Hoggett's account, the origin of metalic steam men can be traced back to Zadoc P. Dederick, in New Jersey.

steam-powered engine and wagon
Dederick's steam man was a coal-powered three-horse power steam engine, dressed like a man in order to not scare skittish horses on the street. The original model (and the only one ever built) of this contraption apparently did not really work, but it inspired fictional accounts of "steam men".

Soon after Dederick's prototype steam man was described in published journalistic accounts, Edward Ellis published a story about a steam-powered engine in the shape of a man that could pull a wagon across the plains of the American West (see "The Huge Hunter; OR, The Steam Man of the Prairies"). Sadly, Ellis' poor steam man was destroyed in an explosion.

electric man (source)
Later, Harry Enton expanded on the idea, creating a series of stories about the Frank Reade family and their robot-like mechanisms powered by steam. Eventually, Electric Man was produced by Frank Reade Jr. as a successor to steam man.

1891
1891
125 years ago, steam-powered devices were becoming old-fashioned and being replaced by electric devices. A sub-genre of proto-science fiction adventure stories of the late 1800s that included as plot elements various "high-tech" devices became known as Edisonades.

Then
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In the 1880s, much popular interest in electric devices was generated by the work of Frank Sprague. In practical terms, street cars with electric motors that could draw electric power from wires provided the first practical application of electricity to transportation. It was left to story writers to depict fanciful self-powered electric devices.

Now
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Here, 125 years later, battery technology is finally catching up with the old electric device fantasies of the late 1800s.

"Philip Reade" is apparently an invented name, used by the author of a series of gizmo invention stories, the first of which were published in 1891. Among these gizmo stories was Tom Edison Jr's Electric Mule.

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Weird Westerns
These "Philip Reade" stories remind me of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Wild, Wild West. I suspect that some people can never suspend disbelief and take science fiction seriously. For such folks, the best entertainment to be had from science fiction is to make fun of the genre.

Gino D'Achille cover art
I find many gizmo stories from the 1800s to be almost unreadable, but full of plot elements that seem to have inspired later science fiction authors such as Jack Vance. "Tom Edison Jr's Electric Mule" begins in the camp of some bandits who are led by Captain Karl (A.K.A. Karl the Cougar) who is eager to study the new 'Electric Mule' (named 'Snorter') that has gained renown as an "Injun-killin' invention", crafted by Captain Tom Edison, Jr.

art by Keith Thompson
Captain Karl is building a Steam Centipede and he wants to gain access some of Edison's technological secrets, so the bandits try to capture Snorter, without success.

By No Means
Captain Tom explains that the Electric Mule is battery powered. Apparently, when in need of an electric charge, "spontaneously generated" power is put into the Mule's power system by means of a set of "cranks" on the Mule's back. Thus, the Mule is apparently a perpetual motion machine!

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After an epic battle between Mule and Centipede, both are destroyed by explosives. The evil Captain Karl is dead and Captain Tom survives and is expected to devise another fantastic invention.

Artificial Mind
Beyond the technical problem of power sources and the mechanics of robotic mobility, a true robot in the science fiction sense must also think and speak.

by Boris Vallejo
The Brazen Android by William Douglas O'Connor, 1891 (Part 2) is an old story that confronts the challenge of creating a device that can speak. O'Connor's story provides an example of pre-scientific tales that included the idea of some inanimate object (such as a statue) that becomes endowed with human-like cognitive abilities.

cover art by Geoff Taylor
This ancient idea (which can be traced back into ancient Greek and Egyptian writings) is of interest to me because in the Exode saga, there are very tiny agents of artificial intelligence (zeptites) that can inhabit both inanimate objects and living beings (either biologicals such as humans or artificial life forms such as robots or the sentient spaceship, Many Sails).

Bicentennial Man
"The Brazen Android" is proto-science fiction only in that it involves a proto-scientist, Roger Bacon. Sadly, written several decades after Frankenstein, O'Connor can add nothing new to the question of how a scientist might go about endowing inanimate matter with life-like behavior. O'Connor depicts a spirit being magically introduced into the brazen android, but sadly, this only results in the destruction of the carefully crafted object. True robot stories would have to await the development of the science fiction genre in the next century.

Next: investigating the tryp'At Overseers
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Nov 24, 2016

Blogger Dashboard

I have fun creating science fiction stories about strange aliens who secretly visit Earth. When I return from my flights of fantasy to the real world, I get to deal with the folks at Google who "maintain" much of the online software that I use every day for my story telling play. Many times, dealing with Google feels like dealing with aliens, and I am inspired to blog about those experiences.

Dashboard
old dashboard
A few days ago there was an update to the Blogger dashboard, the interface that I use for most of my blogging. Supposedly, they wanted to make it easier for bloggers to find things in the blogging interface.

new dashboard
As shown to the right, they changed the colors for the listed blog posts as displayed in the dashboard. I can't really believe that anyone thinks this kind of change helps users find things. Maybe their programmer is color blind?
pallet of buttons for the editing tools

The most intriguing change to the dashboard is a new button on Blogger's "what you see is not what you get" editing window. The new button (shown to the left) allows access to a system for inserting special characters and symbols into blog posts. Here are some of these special characters that I can now insert into blog posts: ⅋ & ♂

phantom blog posts
Currently, the most annoying "feature" of Blogger is that about 50% of the time when I edit an existing blog post, after completing the edit, Blogger creates a new empty blog post that I then have to delete from the list of blog posts.
my Gallery of Book & Magazine Covers

Google+
Google Photos
I've never really made much use of Google+. When Google pushed the old Picasa image curating system into Google+, I was forced to start dealing with Google+ so that I could continue using my collection of book and magazine covers. I keep getting warnings that soon I will be forced to use "the new Google+", but I keep delaying that transition.

There are AmAzInG© new features in "the new Google+" such as having a black background for my image galleries rather than a gray background. I am reluctant to switch over (several times already the "the new Google+" has been activated and I've had to manually switch back to the old version) because when I use the new version of Google+, I see no way to add new images to my image galleries (they are called "albums" by the good folks at Google Photos).

AmAzInGlY slow sorting
I guess I will have to learn to use Google Photos to edit my online photo albums since the album editing features are being removed from the Google+ interface. As usual, I'll keep using the system that I'm familiar with until the day when it is terminated and no longer available. When I've tried to use Google Photos for things like sorting the order of images in an album it seems to take forever to re-sort, a task that happens very quickly with the old Google+ interface. Maybe some of these "new features" would work better if I used Chrome?

Google "search"
Search
I put a large number of hypertext links into my blog posts. Sometimes I need to search for an old blog post and I almost always use Google's internet search engine for such tasks. I have a blog post from 2015 called "Pek" which almost never comes up in a Google search. I really don't understand how Google's search engine can be so bad. Maybe the search algorithm is designed to hide search results about aliens.

Next: proto-science fiction in 1891
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