In the novel
Star King,
Jack Vance wrote that
Smade's Planet, a "small stony world in the middle Beyond", was first settled "for a whole set of obscure reasons". The source of the "obscurity" was
R. Gohrlay, working during the
Trysta truce to genetically engineer the
tryp'At, a human variant that would be able to use the
Bimanoid Interface.
Making use of the lawless worlds of
the Beyond as her laboratory, R. Gohrlay sanctioned and supported many experiments that involved equipping humans with various neuroactive
nanite prosthetics. The human subjects in these experiments who could best use the Bimanoid Interface were identified and subjected to an extensive breeding and
hybridization program that extended through thousands of years of the
Asimov Reality.
Sometimes R. Gohrlay's experiments caused havoc. Some of the nanite-enhanced test subjects became criminals. Among these trouble-makers were the so-called "
Demon Princes", including
Attel Malagate. Malagate must be viewed as a special case, arising from R. Gohrlay's first attempt to extend her research program to aliens. The
Star Kings were unusual aliens in that they had evolved so as to closely resemble humans. Malagate had some ability to use the Bimanoid Interface, but ultimately R. Gohrlay made sure that Malagate was killed, putting an end to his personal genetics experiments on the planets of the Beyond where he had enslaved human populations.
 |
| Kirth and Alice vs the Demon Princes |
Malagate's chief assistant in conducting human breeding experiments on worlds of the Beyond was a man named Tristano. Tristano had been educated on Earth as an agent of Zodiac Control. When the
Institute became aware of Malagate and the fact that a Star King was experimenting on human genetics, they assigned their agent, Tristano, to the task of infiltrating Malagate's criminal organization. As a Zodiac agent, Tristano was equipped with a special set of nanite tools. By inserting special assassin's nanites into the body of a victim, Zodiac Control agents such as Tristano could seemingly kill adversaries by mere touch of their hand.
Smade's Tavern on Smade's planet was established as a base of operations for IPCC agents operating on worlds of the Beyond. Smade was careful to conceal his support for IPCC agents, and, in fact, more criminals of the Beyond visited Smades Tavern than did IPCC agents. It was at Smade's Tavern that
Kirth Gersen was put on the trail of Attel Malagate. Smade informed Gersen that a guest at the Tavern (Malagate) was a Star King.
Gersen was never formally an IPCC agent, but on occasion he performed special tasks for high-ranking IPCC officials. In a sense, Gersen was a deep cover IPCC agent. Gersen was born on a world of the Beyond that was the site of one of R. Gohrlay's human breeding experiments and Gersen had a limited capacity to use the Bimanoid Interface. When the
IPX was informed of the fact that Kirth was being trained to hunt down the Demon Princes, Gersen was secretly equipped with advanced nanites supplied by R. Gohrlay. Those nanites were able to defend a person against the assassin's nanites that were used by the agents of Zodiac Control.
Thus, when Gersen engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Tristano, Tristano's nanites were ineffective and Gersen survived the encounter. Tristano was severely injured by Gersen's skilled combat methods, and quite aware of the fact that Gersen must have had nanite-based defenses. Suspecting that Gersen must be an IPX agent, Tristano went into hiding.
Eventually, after Malagate disappeared, Tristano was forced to assume that Malagate was dead. Pallis Atwrode "retired" from her work at Sea Province University after the death of Malagate. However, Tristano was able to question Malagate's associates (two administrators in the Department of Galactic Morphology) at the University and confirm that Malagate died on a hidden world of the Beyond.
The remaining mystery for Tristano was how Gersen had learned that Malagate was a Star King. Eventually, Tristano questioned Smade on Smade's Planet. Tristano discovered that Smade was protected by his own nanite defenses. Assuming that Smade was an IPX agent, Tristano captured him, took him back to his hide-out world Beyond and subjected Smade to merciless mind-probing.
By this time, it was several years after the death of the last Demon Prince. Kirth Gersen and
Alice Wroke were trying to locate the world Beyond where he suspected his mother was being held as a prisoner. In fact, the Institute had taken control of the enslaved populations originally set up by Malagate for his experiments. The Institute's secret projects division, Zodiac Control, feared that Gersen would discover their secret involvement in human breeding experiments Beyond. Tristano was ordered to eliminate Gersen and his partner, Alice Wroke.
At that time, Mr. Smade was already dead, but Tristano informed the IPCC that Smade had been identified as an IPCC agent and was being held prisoner at the Tavern on Smade's Planet. The IPCC was told that Smade and his family would be spared if the "weasel Gersen" surrendered himself at Smade's Tavern.
Kirth and Alice arrived at Smade's planet knowing that they were probably walking into an ambush, but with the help of Araminta Smade, they were able to defeat Tristano. Araminta had inherited her parent's ability to make use of some nanite prosthetics. She went on to become a famous writer. When Azynov began investigating the creation of the tryp'At in the Asimov Reality, one of the people he met inside the
AR Simulator was Araminta Smade. With their shared interest in writing, Azynov became quite intrigued by Araminta.
Azynov explained to Araminta that he was from "the real world", outside of the Simulator. Araminta was fascinated by the idea that she was only a simulated person. Azynov promised that he would try to create a
replicoid copy of Araminta that could exist in "the real world".
He seems to have been successful since an Araminta replicoid did become the
assistant of
Grean just before the Final Reality came into existence.
Next:
The Irhit Intervention
No comments:
Post a Comment