The Last Replicoid

The End, again.

I enjoy science fiction that explores imaginary futuristic technologies. The most significant technological change in the Exode Saga is regressive: the actual end of Eternity as a functional time travel device.

At the end of Asimov's novel, The End of Eternity, Noÿs believes that she has put an end to time travel. However, she is not aware that both the "Queen of Time Travel", R. Gohrlay, and the Huaoshy, still retain the ability to travel through time. The Time Travel War is still raging!

However, the true end of time travel is near: it comes not in the 1930s but in the 1970s. The end of time travel occurs when the Huaoshy change the dimensional structure of the universe, making time travel physically impossible. It is not particularly hard for the Huaoshy to do this, since it was they who previously altered the universe so as to make possible faster-than-light travel, an act of dimensional engineering that (unbeknownst to the Huaoshy) also made time travel possible.

Overseer Sachiz

The Last Replicoid
Are there other consequences arising from the dimensional engineering that ends time travel? Yes. Some of the technologies that were developed by R. Gohrlay make use of sedrons and the physical properties of sedrons were altered by the Huaoshy's final act of dimensional engineering. In particular, R. Gohrlay's system for creating replicoids was inactivated.

Just before the end of time travel, Grean created the last replicoid: a copy of Isaac Asimov. Grean immediately began to call "him" Azynov. Before Azynov was sent off to Tar'tron, he got to meet the future tryp'At Overseer,  Sachiz, and the Editor.

The Adventures of Azynov.

Azynov's "meeting" with the Editor takes place under strange conditions. While the Editor is sleeping, his thoughts are able to be "ported" into his own replicoid in the Hierion Domain. The Editor is not able to efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface, so what he experiences is like a dream, albeit an intense "dream" unlike any other.

This "meeting" between the Editor and Azynov provides an opportunity for Grean to prepare Azynov for his "mission" to Tar'tron and to inform the Editor about that mission. After the meeting, Grean puts restraints on the ability of both Azynov and the Editor to remember what they were told by Grean during the meeting. Only later will they be allowed to remember Grean's words.

In the Buld Reality.
Original cover art by Jack Gaughan
Special thanks to Miranda Hedman
for "Black Cat 9 - stock" that I
used to create the green "sedronite"
who is in the image, above.

The immediate effect for the Editor in having met with Azynov is that he seeks out and reads a copy of The God's Themselves. This begins his fascination with Asimov's science fiction stories. Six years later, while at college, the Editor has the opportunity to meet Asimov, just days before Asimov has a heart attack. Only 40 years later is the Editor allowed to remember what he was told by Grean about Azynov's mission to Tar'tron.

Immediately after meeting with Grean and the Editor, Azynov becomes a time traveler. Grean makes use of Azynov to make a small adjustment to Reality, making sure that Jack Vance will live to a ripe old age. This allows Grean to demonstrate to Azynov that time travel is possible. However, Azynov is told that soon, time travel will become impossible.

Original art by Alexey Kashpersky
and Hubert Rogers

Azynov decides to use time travel to warn "himself" about his own death and the existence of the HIV virus. He goes back to 1951, but only passes a rather garbled message to "himself", resulting in the story "Hostess".

Finally, Azynov is taken away from Earth by Many Sails. Azynov is taken to the planet Tar'tron where he begins to learn about Genesaunt Society and the fragments of Humanity that are scattered around the galaxy.

Azynov and his first experiences in the Hierion Domain might be the perfect beginning for the Exode Saga.

Next: Return to Eternity

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