The Phari Network

Kate Prekus, exoplanet cartography specialist
in the Department of Galactic Morphology.

Rylla had been reading my blog and she had a complaint, "I'm not buying the 'Kate Prekus' nonsense."

In my imagination, I'd thought that maybe Rylla was sleeping late, but no. Of course, she had been quietly reading in her room and getting into trouble. I looked up from pounding my keyboard and said, "Good morning to you, too, Rylla."

She sat down near me on the little bench seat in front of the piano and pointed to the screen of her tablet computer, "Good morning." With no perceptible pause after her perfunctory greeting, she continued, "Why would a professional like Kate suddenly take the last name of her lover?"

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My eyes rested for a moment on Rylla's very large belly. She was nine months pregnant and ready for the birth of her first child. Impatient with the annoyances of the long pregnancy, her impatience was spilling over into everything, including her reaction to the story that I had recently written about Kate and Nova Prekus. I stood up and stretched. I'd been at the keyboard for too long, trying to take advantage of a quiet morning to get some writing done. What could I say to Rylla about Kate and Nova sharing the same name? "Don't blame me for any of that. All these stories about events inside the AR Simulator are flowing to my pen from the mind of Yōd."

Rylla looked at me skeptically and asked, "When was the last time you actually touched a pen?"

creating R. Gohrlay

"More importantly, you might ask: when was the last time anyone saw Yōd? It is still hard for me to accept that she is trapped inside the AR Simulator." Even as I spoke, I regretted the fact that I had mentioned Yōd.

Rylla wistfully muttered, "I wish I'd had the chance to meet Yōd."

That was a sore point. I believe that while on Earth, Yōd had made use of the physical body of Rylla's mother. Thankful that Rylla was not on my telepathic wavelength and could not sense what I was thinking, I tried to move our discussion back to safer territory. "For me, the AR Simulator is purely theoretical. Apparently, positronic robots such as R. Gohrlay found it useful to have easy access to information about past Realities. There is some special trick required in order to achieve that access, almost like needing a key to open a lock... well, who knows? Something prevents we humans from accessing the AR Simulator."

Yōd

Rylla nodded. "If you or I could never access the data inside the AR Simulator, how can Azynov? More to the point, how is Yōd able to use the AR Simulator?"

I replied, "I'm almost 100% certain that Azynov is a replicoid, an artificial life form with a copy of the memories from Isaac Asimov. There is something special about Asimov and his role in our universe. The rumor is that Azynov was crafted by Many Sails as a tool that could allow access to the secrets that are hidden away inside the AR Simulator."

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I did not want to open a can of worms by mentioning the source of that rumor. "And after Azynov was able to enter into the AR Simulator, others could follow, using the same pass key."

Rylla added, "So, Yōd used the same trick, and followed her beloved Azynov into the Simulator."

I'm not going to flatly say that Rylla is a virgin, but it is a sad fact that Rylla does not understand how she was impregnated. Until that mystery is cleared away and she can have a happy relationship with a partner, it seems inevitable that she will tend to mock other people who fall head-over-heels in love. Personally, I'm happy for Azynov and Yōd; even if they are trapped in the AR Simulator forever, at least they are together and happy. "Technically, it was Yōd's Replicoid that was sent into the AR Simulator. We have no evidence that a mere human could ever make use of the AR Simulator as a virtual reality device."

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Rylla complained, "But these stories are told from Wendy's perspective... all she does is briefly use the Simulator."

"Well, yes. You can blame me for that framing device. I'm trying to investigate how Grean was able to hack into the AR Simulator and give Yōd access to the recorded history of the Asimov Reality. So you see, I was actually trying to write stories about Grean. Wendy just sort of stepped up to take center stage. I did not see that coming, but Wendy is a potent force of nature."

Rylla asked, "How do you know that it was Grean who helped Yōd get into the AR Simulator?"

The Trysta-Grean Pact

"I don't know that. However, you can call that an educated guess. Someone with Grean's knowledge set must have helped Yōd. For now, in the absence of other information, I'm guessing that Grean was involved."

Wendy put her hands on her hips as glared at me in dismay. "So you just make these things up. You invented Wendy?"

"Well, these seem to be the restrictions that are imposed upon us by the Trysta-Grean Pact. You and I can tell the world what we know about alien visitors to Earth, but we must tell our tales in the form of science fiction stories.  Wendy is a fun character and I like to write about her adventures."

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"I'm so angry right now." Rylla pointed accusingly at me. "I like Wendy, too, and you just made her up, as a silly story character."

I laughed, somewhat proud that I could get Rylla fired up over a silly story. I almost made a comment about the wonders of hormones, but I bit my tongue. With any luck, Rylla will be in a better mood when she reads this blog post! I said, "That's not exactly correct. Remember that I carry some nanites from Thomas Iwedon. He blamed an interventionist agent named Wendy for the fact that his sister was kicked off of Earth and hauled away to the Galactic Core. I guess you could say that I inherited his long-standing infatuation with Wendy."

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"It does not make sense. Nova arrives on Alphanor and falls in love with Kate, who is exactly the type of telepath that Sene can use to to steal the encryption passcodes for the Galactic Mapping Project's database."

I admitted. "If you put it that way, it does sound like an unlikely coincidence." I sat down and quickly re-read my own account of how Nova and Kate had met. "Of course, Sene was also on Alphanor at the time, and may have pushed Nova towards hooking up with Kate."

Rylla shook her head. "No, I suggest there is a more likely suspect, someone who is almost completely ignored in your story."

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Lugo Teehalt came to my mind. "Another telepath who was in the area was Teehalt. Not to mention his grandchildren. Now that I think about it, according to Yōd, Jenalee Teehalt was attending Sea Province University at that time, majoring in Condaptery."

Rylla wrinkled up her nose, "Condaptery?"

I explained, "It is a future science concerned with automated control systems such a spaceship autopilots."

Inspector Wishwell

Rylla was having trouble accepting the whole idea that there was little scientific progress made during the space age in the Asimov Reality. "I suppose the positronic robots such as Oliveene were careful to keep their existence secret. And there was no robotics industry, so nobody was allowed to actually build new robots during that era in the Asimov Reality... Oliveene and the others must have migrated over from the Foundation Reality. Still, as you told the story, Oliveene talked openly to Wendy about positronic robots, even the mysterious R. Nyrtia."

"Oliveene knew that Wendy was from outside the AR Simulator. I doubt if Oliveene would have spoken about Nyrtia in the presence of the real Ryjyl Wishwell. No, when Wendy raised the issue of robots, Oliveene explained the situation, but that was only because Wendy already knew about robots. Oliveene was crafty. She lived on the planet Moudervelt for centuries without any outsiders -anyone not in the Pure Truth cult- ever suspecting that there were robots at work in the convent, let alone positronic robots."

Nova, the daughter of Sene Prekus.

Rylla nodded. "Exactly. Oliveene is my suspect. When Sene secretly followed her daughter to Alphanor, Oliveene must have secretly followed Sene. Oliveene would have been there at the right time to control and adjust the emotions of both Nova and Kate."

I shrugged, "You may be correct. Maybe Oliveene made Kate and Nova fall in love. That is exactly the kind of emotional control that we should expect a positronic robot to be able to exert over people..." I added, "As long as it does not cause any harm to the love birds."

"Of course, Nova was devastated when Suthiro poisoned Kate." Rylla rubbed her hands over her huge abdomen. I could see a lumpy bulge where her baby was stretching and pushing outward. Rylla leaned back and took a deep breath, waiting for the baby to stop stretching. "I guess we must take into account that very real harm."

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"That's one of the odd things that struck me about Nova. You know, she was an only child and had no father. She did not start to speak until she was seven years old. I'm not convinced that she ever learned to have normal human emotional reactions and intimate relations with other people. With everything that she went through... Kate's death, being held prisoner by Hildemar Dasce, watching poor Pallis be dismembered by swarming squid, discovering how she had been used to make possible the theft of stellar mapping data, being told that her mother was not really dead, only hiding from her... through all that, Nova never really seemed upset. I would have expected her to be harmed, but where is the evidence of actual harm and emotional distress?"

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Rylla shrugged. "I agree that the way you told the story, Nova did seem almost like a heartless automaton. I wonder if she was programmed by Oliveene and Sene to be a totally analytical twitino processing device, little more than a data processing tool. If so, maybe she can't be viewed as an actual human." Rylla fell silent for a moment and then added, "In fact, how do we know that she was not actually a positronic robot?"

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"That's a clever idea, but I don't buy it. However, there may well have been a second robot lurking in the Malagate story. Sadly, we know very little about Kate's origins. What if she was provided as a component for the Sene telepathy network by one of the other positronic robots?"

Rylla seemed surprised by that idea. "Do you have information about another positronic robot who may have been active in the Asimov Reality?"

Lost Worlds

"No, but Yōd provided me with a significant amount of information about Teehalt and his family, including the suggestion that Teehalt's wife, Svelta, was from the planet Thamber."

"Thamber!" Rylla had been reading the entire Demon Princes saga. "The world of Alusz Iphigenia Eperje-Tokay?"

"Exactly. And the world of hormagaunts. Yōd thinks that before becoming involved with Sene, Teehalt was working on a secret project of the Institute... one aimed at winning immortality for the Dexad."

Rylla asked, "Dexad?"

"The Dexad was the leadership group that controlled the Institute."

The Book of Dreams

Rylla gave herself a mock bop to the head. "Right. They are all murdered in The Book of Dreams."

"Anyhow, I'm in no position to sort out all of this. But the idea came to me: what if Oliveene was not the first to think about tapping into the secret Galactic Exoplanets database? What if another positronic robot had already done that and moved to the hidden world of Thamber?"

Rylla nodded. "I see where you are going with this. Assume that you are correct. Hundreds of years before the life of Kirth Gersen, what if some other positronic robot hacked into the Exoplanet Database and was able to set up operations in the deep Beyond, on the planet Thamber? What would that robot do in order to prevent anyone else from doing the same and achieving a second discovery of Thamber?"

Kirth Gersen (image source)

I said, "What most of us would do is try to beef up the security around the Exoplanet Database."

"And what better way for a telepathic robot to do that than to use a telepath as a guard. And if you just happened to have the secret of immortality, then a single such guard could perform the guard duty for centuries."

"But why stop at one guard for something so important? Maybe both Svelta and Kate were from Thamber... maybe they were part of another telepath network on Alphanor."

Rylla laughed. "Is there any way we could test that hypothesis?"

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"Yōd and Azynov are there, inside the AR Simulator. The problem is, they are much more interested in the future, when human telepathy was being perfected in Alastor Cluster. Yōd considers Kirth Gersen and his times to be ancient history and uninteresting."

"Ug. And I have the misfortune of having become obsessed with Gersen."

I suggested, "This is a fine opportunity for you to make use of the Mind Clone Network to search for additional stories about Gersen that may have been written in the Ekcolir Reality."

Rylla asked, "Why should there be more stories about Gersen in the archives of the Writers Block?"

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"Most Vance stories from the Ekcolir Reality could be modified and published by the Vance analogue in the Buld Reality, but not all. The tryp'At Ovserseers actively suppressed the publication of information about alien visitors to Earth and alien technologies. However, there are no more Earth Overseers, so you are free to explore the archives of the Writers Block."

"Of course, I can't do so personally. The Writers Block is somewhere in the Hierion Domain."

"Yes, so you need a collaborator on the other side. But as part of the Mind Clone Network, you should be able to collect for us all of the secrets that are hidden away in the Writers Block."

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Rylla nodded, "The main problem is that Georgy seldom has time to prowl through the old story archives. And when she does, it is like a random walk through a jumble of disconnected stories."

I said jokingly, "It is too bad that the nanoscopic Asimov replicoid is not part of the Mind Clone Network. You could put him to work."

Rylla asked, "Didn't all of the replicoids get inactivated?"

Now I was treading on thin ice. I was under orders from Zeta not to even discuss with Rylla the idea of selectively activating a replicoid within the Hierion Domain in order to test if it could now be integrated into the Mind Clone Network. I tried to change the subject, "Why is Georgy so busy that she can't help you search the Writers Block?"

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Rylla did not want to say. After an awkward silence she finally looked at me and said, "While on Earth, Georgy was under the thumb of her mother. Now that she is on her own at Observer Base, she is still very young and her wild side has been liberated."

"Her wild side? Hard to picture Georgy as a party animal."

"Well, that's the problem. She had become quite the social butterfly."

"I see. And of course, she tells you all about her conquests?"

"It is not a matter of her having to tell me. Since we are part of the telepathy network, I can watch everything she does."

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I could not stop myself from laughing. "Sorry. I imagine that creates a serious source of frustration for you."

"It did for a time, but there is a solution to every problem."

Rylla did not like to talk about that 'solution'. I suggested, "Maybe after you and Zeta give birth then it will be possible to find a new solution to your problem."

Zeta and Nora had driven into town to consult with a physician. Rylla, Zeta and Nora were all about a week past their expected due dates. With my telepathic link to Zeta, I could sense that Nora and Zeta were now returning home.

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Rylla's tablet had gone to sleep. She woke it up and showed me an image from an old 2016 blog post. "I was frustrated by the fact that your account of Wendy's investigations inside the AR Simulator included so little information about the Phari."

"There has been a major cover-up of information about events in the Asimov Reality. I'm still amazed that Grean was able to figure out how to access the information content of the AR Simulator. Really, it is a miracle that we know anything about the Phari."

Rylla asked, "So, did stories such as 'Glinnes and Duissane Meet the Phari' actually exist in the Ekcolir Reality or is that something you made up?"

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I shrugged. "That is an easy question for you to ask me, but how am I supposed to answer? Through the years, my mind has been loaded up with information nanites from several sources. I'm not sure how much you appreciate the fact that even before the creation of the Mind Clone Network, I had a source of information from inside the Hierion Domain. Actually, Ivory always claimed that her clone sisters were tapping into information that is stored in the Sedron Domain."

"Uh, yes... Ivory Fersoni. Maybe this is a good time to talk about her." Rylla had learned early during her time living with Zeta and I that Zeta does not like to even hear mention of the word 'Ivory'.

I sighed. "Zeta can look deeply into my thoughts, so she knows that I am still infatuated with Ivory, even though she died years ago. The tryp'At Overseers got tired of fighting Ivory and eliminated her." I fell silent.

Ivory as I imagine her at Moon Base.

Rylla prodded me. "And just before Ivory died, she gave you a set of infites."

"Yes, but... more accurately, I got the Ivory infites after Ivory was dead." I thought back to the day when the Ivory replicoid had visited me. "So, we should thank Yrovi for most of what is known about the Phari."

Rylla asked, "How could the Phari control Wendy's ability to use her nanites?"

I shook my head. "Who knows? All I can do is guess."

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Rylla could not sit any longer. She got up and began pacing around the room. "What is your theory?"

"In the Asimov Reality, R. Nyrtia must have traveled back in time, way back to a point before the pek even reached our galaxy. More than two billion years in our past." I fell silent, thinking about conditions on Earth 2,000,000,000 years ago. I brought up on my computer screen an image of Ivory.

Rylla said, "I can see why Zeta is jealous of Ivory."

I added, "It is inevitable that all humans will feel jealous of Ivory. She is what R. Oliveene was working so hard to create: the next stage of human evolution."

"Her parents were not human?"

Asterothrope

"Ivory had a large collection of Asterothrope gene combinations. I don't know much about Ivory's father... maybe she was like Nova, her chromosomes artificially spliced together after having been collected from several different people."

Rylla suggested, "When I look into Zeta's mind, I sense that she is actually more jealous of Marta than Ivory."

I nodded. "Well, that is understandable. I only actually met Ivory once. Just once!" I thought about Marta, Ivory's mother. "What was Marta? Was she Kac'hin? Who knows."

Rylla looked at me and must have wondered if I was going to say anything more about Ivory. She asked, "What was Ivory's theory about the Phari?"

I explained, "By the time humans were finally created, the Phari had long since transcended from the Hadron Domain. The Phari became artificial life forms with a new type of existence entirely inside the Hierion Domain. What did they care about we humans? But the Phari had endowed Humanity with a great gift. Every human carries inside a Phari endosymbiont."

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"Along with a zeptite endosymbiont."

"Yes, the pek loaded Earth up with zeptites, but Earthly life cannot be separated from its femtobot components... we cannot escape from our Phari influences."

Rylla added a question, "Not even an artificial life form like Wendy?"

"Wendy was designed as an artificial human. I wish I knew how she was made... Earthly science would not be able to distinguish Wendy from a true human, yet she could re-arrange her nanite components and morph into any convenient physical form. Apparently Grean figured out how to tap into the replicoid technology at Observer Base and use it to manufacture special agents like Wendy."

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Rylla suggested, "Why not call Wendy a replicoid?"

"You could, but a true replicoid is nanoscopic."

Rylla looked out the front window. She could see Zeta and Nora coming up the long driveway. "How could the Phari control Wendy's nanites?"

"Inside the AR Simulator, the Phari could amplify human abilities by modulating their femtobot endosymbionts. Technology such as that deployed in Wendy's artificial body had not yet been created in the Asimov Reality, so the AR Simulator would not normally have given Wendy her usual power to morph or send out nanite reconnaissance probes or even exercise conscious control over her sensory subsystems. However, the Phari had the ability to activate Wendy's special abilities, apparently by endowing the femtobots of her Phari endosymbiont with the required nanite control programs that could be recognized by the AR Simulator."

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Rylla nodded. "A kind of software emulation. Yes, now I see. That must be it. So, inside the AR Simulator, whenever Wendy visited a world of the Phari Network, she could be given back some or all of her special powers. And in the case of Nova, the Phari could also amplify her telepathic powers, as happened on the Planet of the Dryads."

Rylla and I could hear Zeta and Nora down the other end of the house as they came into the house from the garage. I was still speaking to Rylla: "That kind of telepathy amplification was a cheat. R. Oliveene was trying to create human telepaths who could function without help from the Phari."

Zeta and Nora came into the great-room. Nora continued down the hallway towards the back bedroom where she had slept the previous night. Zeta told Rylla, "Nora and I were just given the same song and dance that you got last week. Everything is normal. All we can do is wait."

Pallis dies on the Planet of the Dryads.

Rylla threw her arms around Zeta and they tried to hug, but their huge bellies got in the way; they bumped together rather clumsily. Zeta said, "Oooff! I don't think we can knock these little rascals out of us that way!" Zeta tried to tug Rylla's little pajama top down to cover some of her abdomen. Then she tried to pull up Rylla's pajama bottoms that were in real danger of sliding down her legs.

Rylla said, "I'm ready to try anything, even what that goofy doctor suggested."

I could see in Zeta's mind that she already knew what Rylla was talking about, but I asked, "What was that?"

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Rylla replied, "He said that some women can induce labor by having sex."

I laughed and Zeta scowled at me. She told Rylla, "That's not working for either Nora or I. Let's go for a swim, that might work." Rylla went to check the water temperature in the spa, which was now their preferred place to swim.

Zeta

Zeta was already getting undressed. She gave me a hug and we shared a long wet kiss. "Thank you for not suggesting to Rylla that they activate a replicoid at Observer Base."

I asked, "Will your restriction on discussing that idea be lifted after Rylla gives birth?"

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Zeta replied with exasperation in her voice, "You and your experiments! It may not be safe even then." Zeta went down the hall to change clothes and get ready for her swim with Rylla. I sat down again at my computer, thinking about the way that the Phari had helped craft telepathic humans in the Asimov Reality.

Carrying her little overnight bag, Nora walked back through the great-room and went to the kitchen. I was just getting back to my writing when Nora came from the kitchen with her lunch and sat down at the piano. I sighed and realized my time for getting work done had passed. I asked rhetorically, "What's for lunch?"

She took a big bite out of her sandwich, chewed, swallowed, drank some milk and then replied, "I'm hungry all the time, but the doctor was still chastising both Zeta and I for not having gained enough weight."

I thought about Zeta and Rylla who we could hear outside, splashing in the spa. I was sure that Rylla had not eaten anything so far that day and it was almost noon. I told Nora, "Rylla was unable to convince her doctor that she has been eating. She has been eating reasonably well, but she has only gained ten pounds in the last nine months. It seems like there is something unusual going on with all three of you. I'm starting to wonder: what if they-" I pointed to Nora's bulging belly, "don't want to be born."

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Nora laughed at my little joke then looked at me and fell silent. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Yesterday I looked up the world record for longest pregnancy. It seems to be normal for some women to gestate their children for more than a year."

Nora asked, "Let's assume that the three little ones are all in telepathic communication with each other. How could they take control of the situation and delay the birth process?"

I suggested, "It might be a matter of what you mean by 'they'. We need to take into account the fact that nanites are involved. Picture a baby that can control a swarm of nanites."

Nora finished off her meal, returned the dishes to the kitchen then returned to say goodbye. "Well, I'm heading home. Tell Rylla and Zeta goodbye for me." Nora gave me a fake kiss on the cheek.

"Tell them yourself. They are just out back, on the patio."

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"I know, but I don't want to interrupt their swim. Zeta and I actually already said goodbye in the car on the way back here from the doctor's. She was telling me about your conversation with Rylla. Do you really think that the Phari could amplify human telepathic abilities?"

"Why not? And if so, it was nothing magical. Face it, Nora, these three simultaneous pregnancies... well, I'll be blunt. This growing tribe of Mind Clones was planted inside of you, Zeta and Rylla. Apparently, it is not yet time for the harvest."

Nora warned me, "Don't talk like this to Rylla. She's a sensitive girl. What do you mean by 'harvest'?"

"I've been wondering about Izhiun and his partner in crime, Tricia. And I'll throw you into the pot along with them; it is the three of you. I suspect that none of you should be here. It is a violation of the Pact for aliens to be on Earth. I've been expecting the Buld Spaceship to return and take the three of you away, but it has not happened."

Tricia

Nora crossed her arms and told me, "I'm not leaving. I'm happy here living on Earth with your son."

"Maybe you are in the clear. Someone erased most of your memories of your work as an Interventionist. So, yes, you might get off on a technicality."

Nora said, "I assure you, I'm just as human as you are."

"Don't even get me started on the tryp'At. But you are correct, as a tryp'At, I might also be viewed as an alien and living on Earth in violation of the Pact. I'm ready to hand my work over to Rylla. I'd leave Earth if I had to. You should too. But what about Izhiun? He was not even born in this galaxy! And who knows about Tricia? The one thing I know about her is she has access to alien technology."

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Nora shrugged, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm happy, and nothing you say about treaty violations and mysterious aliens can change that. Zeta and Rylla are happy too, so keep your 'sky is falling' worries to yourself... at least until the three little ones arrive."

Nora departed. I briefly looked out the window at Zeta and Rylla. They were splashing up a storm in the spa, burning off more calories than they had to spare. I went back to writing, unable to forget about alien agents on Earth and my worries about the possible impending collapse of the Trysta-Grean Pact.

in the Ekcolir Reality:
Pharism: Alastor 458

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Related Reading
This blog post (above) makes reference to a seven part story about Wendy's adventures inside the Asimov Reality Simulator. To catch up with Wendy's investigation of the Phari Network see:
1. (11,000 words) Reality Simulation
2. (3,500 words) Inspector Wishwell
3. (5,000 words) The Melnoy Heights
4. (7,000 words) Thumbnail Gulch
5. (5,000 words) Malagate the Woe
6. (10,000 words) Power of the Dryads
7. (5,000 words) The Maunish Mystery

Next: a science fiction ghost story, "Moon Hammer".

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