On and On

In this issue:
"Mind Clone Epidemic" by Izhiun

Here in month seven, Zeta and Rylla spend many hours each day outside, swimming in the pool. I'd come to treasure those times as extended periods of quiet when I could work productively inside the house. During the past week that all changed because my telepathic connection to Zeta has been growing significantly stronger with each passing day.

Today I've reached the point where I can follow Zeta's highest-level stream of conscious thoughts even while she and Rylla are outside and not within my range of hearing or in my line of sight.

Bimanoid Interface

I spent most of the afternoon worrying that Zeta and I might face the same danger that arose back when her telepathic link to Yōd became too strong. That was when the Bimanoid Interface was upgraded. As genetically identical clones, their enhanced telepathic connectivity shifted into a positive feedback mode and in order to preserve sanity, Yōd had to depart from Earth. Yōd hid inside the AR Simulator at Observer Base, severing her telepathic connection to Zeta.

Telepathy Time

Asimov Reality Simulator

From where I was, inside the house, I could tell that Zeta and Rylla were discussing the mechanistic physical relationships between telepathy, teleportation and time travel. I've long assumed that time travel became impossible back in the previous millennium, probably in the early 1970s. However, the exact date when the Huaoshy put an end to time travel seems to be top secret.

Dimensions

Maybe the physical laws of the universe that previously allowed for time travel also made possible a type of teleportation. If so, then the change in the dimensional structure of the universe that put an end to time travel could have inactivated certain teleportation devices at the same time. If this speculative link between time travel technology and teleporters is real, then why had Nora recently been surprised to find that her ability to teleport had suddenly been lost, at a time more than 40 years after the end of time travel? A puzzle.

teleportation

I'd clung to some sort of fantasy that there was a mechanistic distinction between short-range teleportation and long-range. Maybe only one of the two types of teleportation relied on the same physical principles that had once made time travel possible. Alternatively, maybe someone at Observer Base had simply turned off the teleportation system that previously had been used to move Nora around. Who knew? Certainly not me. With two pregnant women in the house, I had more important things to worry about.

discovery of antigravity hierions

When I had dinner ready, Zeta was able to recognize that fact in my thoughts. Zeta and Rylla soon came inside for dinner they were bubbling over with excitement. The house filled with the sound of their chatting and laughter. Of course, from the first day of her pregnancy I knew the theory: that Rylla's baby would allow her to link telepathically to Georgy White at Observer Base.

Observer Base

However, I had never actually allowed myself to believe that a system of "mind clones" could actually establish a functional telepathic conduit between Earth and the Hierion Domain. Month by month, while Zeta and Rylla relentlessly expanded and enlarged like two ticking biological clocks, I was selfishly holding on to my resentment over the idea that just because Rylla could gestate a baby she would become the one Earthling able to establish a data conduit linking her into the vast information archives at Observer Base. I was full of envy. I despised myself for holding onto hope that Rylla might give birth to her mind clone and yet still fail to connect telepathically to Georgy.

The house echoed with their happy chatter when they came inside for dinner and my heart expanded. Maybe it is for the best if Rylla is to be the one constantly linked to Observer Base while I have the gift of merging my mind with Zeta. Dripping pool water and sweat, Rylla went waddling past, on her way to shower off the pool chlorine. With her swollen abdomen balanced on top of her long skinny legs and narrow boy-like hips, Rylla now walks through the house like a clumsy tightrope walker who is always in danger of taking a tumble.

With silence returned to the kitchen and Rylla down the other end of the house, Zeta came up behind me while I cooked at the stove and put her arms around me, pressing her bulging belly against me. Zeta told me what I could already see in her mind, "Rylla is now receiving a steady stream of conscious thoughts from Georgy."

I did not bother to speak in reply. Zeta and I could now efficiently exchange our highest order verbal thoughts via telepathy: And I'm now unable to shield my mind from your thoughts. Is this going to become a problem?

Zeta released me from her embrace and got herself a cold drink from the refrigerator. Her reply to my question flowed through my mind and I could see that there were differences between the link that Zeta and I now shared and how it had been when the telepathic connection between Zeta and her clone sister had become dangerous.  I find that if I am talking to Rylla then your thoughts conveniently shift into the background of my consciousness, rather like background music that can be ignored.

the tryp'At

I started putting dinner on the dining room table. "As a tryp'At, I've always had trouble paying attention to the external world. I think my mind was designed to detect and process telepathic signals more efficiently than it absorbs spoken language."

Zeta pulled a thin frock on over her swim suit. The frock almost covered the expanse of her abdomen when she sat down at the table. She was wondering about the mysterious mechanism of technology-assisted telepathy: What is more important? Our genetically-determined brain structures or our nanite endosymbionts?

human endosymbionts

I tried to summarize the results of my efforts to isolate myself from Zeta's thought stream, "I find that if I speak out-loud and look at you then I can push our telepathic link to the back of my mind. Exploiting techniques like that is going to take some serious work and experimentation, but I hope I will be able to get used to our little gift." I bent down and kissed Zeta's swollen belly and then the back of her neck. Physical contact between Zeta and I had become dangerous. Even those two delicate kisses triggered in us a lustful positive feedback that we had to fight against as if it were a wind-whipped wild fire. In our thoughts we told each other that we would consummate our lust and grab our pleasure later that evening after Rylla was asleep.

I walked back to the kitchen for one last item then I sat down across the table from Zeta. Part of my problem is that I find it mesmerizing to have your thoughts flowing through my mind, my love. I don't want to shield myself from your thoughts, even if it means I don't get any work done.

Zeta was hungry and she started eating. I know what you mean, particularly when you start thinking about making love to me. That's very distracting. Zeta and I had lived together (just we two and our herd of cats) in our big echoing retirement house for a long enough time that we had developed a habit of submitting to our romantic desires as soon as they sparked up. Now we were seven months into having Rylla as our house guest and we were tired of having to restrain our displays of affection.

Reality Chain

Somewhat flushed from a quick hot shower, hours of vigorous exercise and too much sun, Rylla joined us at the table, now dressed in a thin silk robe that accented her large round abdomen. The other thing that was accented was the fact of her unusual anatomy. When I had gained the power to look deeply into Zeta's mind, I soon learned that Rylla inherited from her mother a set of Asterothrope gene combinations that cause her to have two sets of breasts. Soon after that revelation, Rylla stopped concealing her extra nipples from me. Now, with her pregnancy hormones at work, Rylla's breasts were starting to enlarge.

Rylla told me, "Georgy has been flooding me with information all afternoon. It is exhausting trying to keep up with all her revelations. She has full access to the archives of the Writers Block and has been learning all about the methods that were used to insert facts about the Hidden History of Humanity into science fiction stories of the Ekcolir Reality."

the Fru'wu

I'd long been aware of the special effort that had been made to use the science fiction literary genre to prepare Humanity for First Contact with the alien Fru'wu in the Ekcolir Reality. Seeking confirmation of a pet theory, I asked, "So, the course of science fiction was not vigorously guided in the Buld Reality?"

For a minute Rylla ate voraciously. Zeta silently replied to my question: Your suppositions are correct. Compared to what happened in the Ekcolir Reality, there were relatively few Interventions into the development of science fiction in the Buld Reality. Some were designed just to remove a few of the most detailed accounts of alien technologies that had crept into the science fiction literature. Too much knowledge about hierions or sedrons could be dangerous.

Ivory

Speaking out loud for Rylla's benefit, I said to Zeta, "Remember, Ivory Fersoni got herself kicked off this planet when she tried to publish a story about her alien-assembled genes."

Zeta shook her head, "I don't think it was the story content that got her into trouble. The problem was, she did not really frame her story as science fiction. That's what violated the terms of the Pact and won her a ticket to Observer Base."

I complained, "She got her ass kicked so hard by the Overseers that she did not land at Observer Base. She bounced and ended up far away, lost among the distant stars."

Nothing irritated Zeta more than my endless infatuation with Ivory. Her eyes flashed at me across the table: Ivory could not control herself. If she had played by the rules, she'd still be with us.

It annoyed me that I could see in Zeta's mind that she was happy knowing Ivory was far away across space. Even now, after we had committed to each other as man and wife for the rest of our lives, Zeta was jealous of Ivory.

Rylla finished chewing and took a long drink of water. Finally she spoke again, "Since you asked, Georgy is now telling me about one particular case..." She lapsed into silence again, gazing off into space.

Zeta told me: Rylla is trying to learn how to process the telepathic stream from Georgy and continue talking at the same time. I suspect she is experiencing the same phenomenon that we are... talking can interfere with her telepathic link to Georgy.

I waited as patiently as I could and tried to force myself to eat. I also tied to stop myself from digging through Zeta's fascinating mind. The danger was that we could rapidly get into positive feedback by mixing together our thoughts and previously inaccessible memories that were waiting there in each others minds.

Jack Vance

Rylla shook her head in wonder. "Amazing. Apparently, there was some manipulation of both Jack Vance and Isaac Asimov in the Buld Reality; some alterations were made to their science fiction story telling. In particular, Vance died early, in some horrible accident, but he was given a life extension."

I nodded, "Yes, I've heard that before. Apparently Vance died in a plane crash in the 1970s, but then Grean the Kac'hin used time travel to prevent Vance from getting on the doomed plane. Rather than die young, Vance was able to live on into his 90s."

Grean

Rylla nodded, "Yes. Vance lived on and on... his gift from Grean was an extra 30 or 40 years."

Over the years of my life, I had developed the idea that Asimov's writing in the Buld Reality had been completely guided by temporal momentum. I was uncomfortable with the idea that his story ideas might have been forced upon him, just as I feared that during my life I had been the puppet of my replicoid, Irhit. I asked Rylla, "Asimov was targeted by Interventionists in the Buld Reality?"

Replicoids

Rylla explained, "The main influence on Asimov was by means of infites, although Grean apparently did meet Asimov on at least one occasion."

"Fascinating!" I was a complete sucker for juicy tidbits about Asimov's links to aliens, be they Interventionists or Overseers. "When was that?"

The End of Eternity

"When he was expanding his first draft of The End of Eternity." Rylla fell silent and ate some more, apparently absorbing and mentally processing the new information that she was then receiving telepathically from Georgy.

Zeta wanted to make plans for the impending births of her baby and Rylla's. For a time we ate and used our telepathic link to discuss plans for how to coordinate the impending births. Their two estimated due dates were only a week apart. I'd never had the nerve to share with Zeta all the details of how she'd become pregnant.

source

At first she had been shocked to find herself pregnant. I'd lied and told her that Izhiun had used nanites to reverse my vasectomy. I'd let Zeta imagine that our developing child had been formed by a natural fertilization event inside her body. Then, about a week previously, when the telepathic link between Zeta and I began to strengthen, I had admitted to her that I'd played an artificial role in the pregnancy and that she was incubating a mind clone, not an ordinary baby.

Zeta had been nervous about the possibility of genetic defects in our child, but now she could probe down into my core memories. I felt a wave of relief sweep through her mind: She is not a normal baby... she was designed to be perfect.

I was not 100% certain about anything. Izhiun implied that our child had been crafted with exceptional care. I hope that means there are no defects, but the Interventionists might have a twisted view of what constitutes a defect and what is a feature. And there is the matter of developmental control nanites. There must be some inside you that are guiding the course of development of our daughter, but we don't have the tools to monitor their activity and check on the quality of their work.

Zeta's joy decreased a little bit while she thought about the importance of developmental control nanites for shaping the anatomical features of a baby who would be half tryp'At. I'm not going to worry about that possibility; there is nothing I can do to control those nanites, anyhow.

Rylla now had a look of startlement about her. She set down her fork and said, "I'm going to have to read The End of Eternity. And I need to write out the steps of this Intervention; it is quite complicated. It started in 1895."

I puzzled over the year 1895. I noted, "Asimov was born in 1920"

Rylla nodded. "I know that, but it all starts with Vance."

I shrugged. "Not much better; he was born in 1916."

Rylla laughed. "I know, I know." For a few seconds, she sat there gazing at her belly and rubbing her hands over it. "You'd never guess what Jack Vance had to do with events in the year 1895. A replicoid of Vance was active on Earth in the 1800s, following the life of Jack London and becoming familiar with California and the culture of the Buld Reality, which was quite different from the Ekcolir Reality."

I objected, "Wait. Following the life of Jack London? There was a telepathic link between London and a Vance replicoid?" I could not imagine how that might be possible.

Zeta reminded me: I was designed to be able to monitor your thoughts. It could have been a similar one-way telepathic link between a replicoid and London.

Rylla continued, "The weird thing is, the mind of the Vance replicoid who was back in 1895 had originated as a female Vance analogue in the Ekcolir Reality."

I'd previously heard that there had been a female analogue of Jack Vance in the Ekcolir Reality, so I was not surprised by that. I'd never imagined that a replicoid might become associated with some other individual. As far as I new, replicoids were designed to be able to link telepathically to only one person. "What benefit could come from having Vance's replicoid follow the life of Jack London?"

Vance twins

"Apparently, in the Ekcolir Reality the female analogue of Vance had been a big fan of Jack London and wanted to learn about London's life and also about life in California leading up to the birth of Jack Vance." Rylla got up from the table, went to the book shelf in the living room and got my copy of The End of Eternity and then went off into the back end of the house.

Zeta chastised me: You and your questions. The poor girl never got a chance to finish eating.

Both Rylla and Zeta had not been gaining the usual amount of weight during their pregnancies and they had been warned to ease back on their exercise routine and eat more. I noticed that Zeta had also stopped eating with her plate still half full. I asked: Would you like some dessert?

I could see in Zeta's mind that the answer was "no", but she said, "Please fix me a smoothie." I could see in Zeta's mind that she did not really blame me for Rylla's eating habits. We both get very hungry, then just as quickly our hunger goes away. I'll force myself to eat some more.

We went to the kitchen and while I prepared the high-calorie concoction she paced and asked: Why should Jack London be targeted by Interventionists?

I suggested: I know this need not be about me, but Jack London may have been the first writer whose name I knew. When I was ten years old I had to read one of his stories and I was disgusted by its artificial construction.

During the pregnancy Zeta had become like a furnace. Now she took off her frock and was only wearing her swim suit. I stopped what I was doing and simply stared at her for a while. You are simply gorgeous, but don't you think you are pushing the youth effect a bit too far? You don't look a day over 30.

Zeta laughed at my concern. Only you and Zeta see me this way. She's grown comfortable with my use of nanites to sculpt my body and shave a couple decades off. I want to be physically fit for the birth, just like Rylla, and not limping around like the 60 year old woman I am.

I reluctantly turned back to my work at the blender. Well, I'm just glad that you still tolerate your 60 year old husband. I don't see how I can possible keep up with a 30 year old wife.

Don't worry. This is partly about my vanity. I enjoy having a strong and young body. Anyhow, you don't look all that old yourself. I suspect that you tryp'At are equipped with your own medical nanites.

I activated the blender and put my arms around Zeta. For a minute we were lost in the sweetness of our kisses. Finally Zeta had the will power to break away and turn off the blender. She poured out two big mugs full of the icy drink and took one to Rylla in her bedroom. A minute later she returned: Rylla is reading that Asimov novel and she downloaded a copy of the original first draft version of the story.

While cleaning up the dinner dishes, Zeta and I discussed the clues in Asimov's fiction about how time travel could be used to create new Realities. Then we settled in for an evening of researching Jack London and his connections to science fiction. After a while Zeta had made a discovery: The big science fiction event for 1895 was that The Time Machine was published that year.

I could not resist thinking about the relevance of The Time Machine to my own past. I spoke out-loud, "I can't really remember for sure, but I think that the film version of The Time Machine may have been my introduction to the idea of time travel."

Zeta nodded: Yes, I know. You did not like that story either.

Zeta has never been very interested in science fiction. She wondered: Did Jack London ever write a time travel story?

I shook my head: Not that I know of. Some people call his story "The Star Rover" a time travel story, but I don't agree with that description.

Zeta suggested: Maybe in a past Reality that was an actual time travel story.

I checked the date of publication of The Star Rover. That story came long after 1895.

Zeta asked, "Did Vance write time travel stories?"

I shrugged. "I have not read his fantasy and mystery stories. I think he may have written about some fantasy characters who had the ability to travel through time."

Zeta had grown bored reading about Jack London. Soon she had me in bed so that she could complete the rest of her exercise program for the day.

The next day was a rare rainy day in the desert. Rylla came out of her room twice to eat, but otherwise was busy reading and writing. At dinner she asked me, "So, you believe that time travel actually works the way Asimov described it?"

"So I've been told." I thought about my dream-like memories of having been in the future. "And I suspect that I was actually taken into the future once. However, most of my memories of that trip into the future were erased, leaving me with little more that a conviction that time travel is possible."

Infites: memory editing by nanites

Zeta suggested, "Is it possible that you could have been tricked? Maybe you were in a virtual reality simulation of the future in the Hierion Domain. Maybe infites provided you with confused and false memories that you have interpreted as being the remnants of a trip through time."

I had to agree that those were possibilities. "Who knows? In any case, I've been led to believe that travel through time is no longer possible."

Rylla said, "Maybe there has been an attempt to make you believe that, but could it be possible that time travel devices are still being used to alter the timeline of events on Earth?"

I sighed. "It is frustrating. I get to hear many stories, but how can I verify them? Rylla and Zeta were both looking out the window at the pool as the rain fell. I asked, "How is your story about 1895 coming along?"

Interventionists

Rylla replied, "That's just the start of the story. The Intervention into Jack London's life significantly altered Reality and had to be corrected by Grean. The interesting part is what came next." Rylla turned her head and looked at me with her big blue eyes. "It is particularly interesting because these alterations in Time are what led to my involvement with you and your dream of telling the world about how aliens have guided the course of human civilization."

Rylla got up from the table and went to stand by the window, watching the rail falling into the pool. It was a cool day and felt like the first day of Fall, even though the calendar still proclaimed that it was Summer. Zeta was also gazing towards the window, but I could tell that she was watching Rylla and wondering how she would handle the last two months of her pregnancy and the birth process. I suggested, "Why don't you two take a soak in the hot tub while I clean up the dishes?"

Without hesitation they undressed and went out back to sit in the hot tub. They did not sit long; soon they were holding onto the edge of the tub and kicking their legs as if swimming. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and took two towels out to them. Zeta said, "Why don't you climb in. There's room for all of us."

I knew that they kept the temperature of the water in the tub set to 75 degrees so that they could exercise in there without over-heating. They were also both planning to give birth in the tub. "No, thank you. I believe a hot tub should be kept at body temperature. Would either of you like some cake and ice cream?"

To humor me they both said yes, but they told me that they would be working out for the next hour. I returned inside and resumed my work. I had spent the day searching the internet for known connections between Jack Vance and Jack London.

Later, when Rylla and Zeta came back indoors (it was closer to two hours than one) they both actually consumed a significant number of calories in the form of carrot cake and blackberry sherbet. Rylla went back to her room to write the rest of story about events in 1895.

Watching Rylla walking away down the hallway towards her bedroom, I had a strange vision in my mind. In my thoughts it was Yōd who was there, still living in the house with Zeta and I as she had for several years.

Zeta could see perfectly well what was in my mind. I also wonder how Yōd is doing. Will she ever emerge from the AR Simulator?

the AR simulator

I was wondering: Which is the best system? Why not just have Yōd here, using her telepathic link to her replicoid? Why is it better to have exiled Yōd to the AR Simulation and brought Rylla here? Why complicate matters with three pregnancies and all this 'mind clone' rigamarole?

Zeta had put on a warm, fuzzy robe after getting out of the tub. Now she sat down beside me and let the robe fall open. I placed my hand on her abdomen and felt a gentle movement of our daughter inside Zeta. Zeta said, "I'm glad things turned out this way. I like having full access to you mind."

I could not stop myself from worrying about our daughter's future. Will she grow up knowing our thoughts?

Zeta replied, "Not according the Rylla. She reports that the thinking at Observer Base is that the zeptite endosymbiont of a mind clone is a telepathy amplifier only. In our case, amplifying the weak telepathic connection that we already shared. For me, I suspect that the nanites you put into me when you impregnated me have been repairing my damaged brain."

Just then, an email popped into my inbox. It was from my son. I told Zeta: He and Nora are coming for a visit. They want to know if it would be most helpful to be here at the expected time of the births or after.

femtobots

Zeta suggested: Maybe they should be here at the due date. I've been wondering what would happen if Rylla and I give birth at the same time. If we did, then the midwife would have her hands full.

I asked: What are the chances of that? And besides, I'll be here.

I could see in Zeta's thoughts that she was comfortable with the idea of Nora being on hand to help out at the births, if needed. She asked me: Have you come to any conclusions about who -and what- Nora is? Replicoid, clone, a femtobot artificial lifeform?

The Trysta-Grean Pact

Of course, I could not be certain. I only had a hunch that Nora was an artificial lifeform, an Interventionist agent who I had first known as Betty. If that was correct, then it was a baffling mystery: how was it possible for Nora to still be on Earth. Under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, only humans were supposed to now be on Earth. We Earthlings were supposed to be free to find our own way into the future with out Interventionist interfering and without any Overseers trying to capture the meddling Interventionists.

Zeta followed all of my thinking about Nora, but she complained, "I can follow your thoughts all the way down to the level of your memories that were constructed by the infites you have received and processed. At that level I get confused."

Thomas

I laughed too loudly and felt the baby react. You get confused because those artificially constructed memories are a jumbled up mess with fragments of information from Thomas, Iziun, Ivory, Nora and Yōd. But I can tell you this: I believe that Nora is trying to be helpful. Still, well-meaning people can stir up trouble. Do you think Rylla wants Nora here when she gives birth?

Zeta replied: I'll ask her, but I know she misses her father. I'm just not certain about Nora.

That night I had a strange dream about Nora. In the dream everything was all mixed up. It started with Rylla and Zeta walking around with their big bellies sticking out, then it was Nora there, the way I had first seen her, coming through the front door, but in my dream she was also pregnant.

Nora

Rylla's story about 1895 was ready for Zeta and I to read the next morning; when I got up I found that she had emailed it to Zeta and I.  And over breakfast Rylla welcomed the idea of a visit by her father. "Nora? I don't mind. She seems to be taking good care of my dad."

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes I sent an email to my son giving the okay for he and Nora to arrange their travel plans so as to arrive in Arizona before the due dates for Rylla and Zeta. I wrote in my email: "Rylla and Zeta could give birth within days of each other. Your help would be appreciated."

I started to read Rylla's account of events in 1895, but I only got about a page into the story before receiving another email from my son. Glancing at the message, I muttered, "I don't believe it."

Zeta was there in my mind: They are already here?

I explained: Apparently they flew into LAX last week and they've rented a cabin up in the hills, about an hour-long drive from here. They are now our neighbors.

When we explained the situation to Rylla, she laughed in relief. "I felt that something was up. My dad has been acting weird. And I've been having dreams about Nora. Very strange."

As soon as Rylla spoke, I remembered that I had also recently had a dream about Nora.

Rylla asked, "Can I borrow the car? I should go see my dad since he is now so close by."

I said, "Relax. Your dad and Nora are on the way for a visit. They expect to arrive here about 10:00 this morning."

Rylla laughed. "Oh, my! Do you have any other surprises for me?"

I shrugged, "I have one more news item to relay to you. Apparently your dad has been struggling to find a way to tell you..."

Rylla impatiently interrupted, "What?"

I explained, "I'm trying to feel surprised, but I'm not really surprised. Your dad and Nora want to get married. Oh, and by the way, you're going to have a little brother."

The Zal Intervention

Rylla jumped to her feet. "A brother?"

Zeta threw her arms around Rylla, "Nora is pregnant, too!"

While Rylla and Zeta were excitedly dancing around the room, I was thinking about the implications of my dream. Somehow my telepathic link to Nora was also beginning to strengthen, just as had happened with the connection between Zeta and I.

... continues in....

Next: The Zal Intervention

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