A Phari Tale

Book 1 of the Lost World trilogy.

Ami said, "Read me a story, mommy."

Stacy had not been surprised when her son Amiante began using noun-verb word combinations at the age of six months; in a very real sense Ami was a little copy of Stacy. As a Mind Clone, Ami had started out life with a copy of Stacy's mind inside his brain. Now that Ami was a year old, he had an insatiable desire to hear stories. Not just any stories; Ami enjoyed science fiction. Lucky for Stacy, she had access to the archives of the Writers Block.

Stacy was part way through a novel by Auryol Doyle, so she began a short summary of Lost World for her son. Amiante was precocious in many ways, speaking meaningful mini-sentences at age six months, walking at nine months and by his first birthday he had been successfully stringing together complex sentences. Now he was learning to read.

human evolution

Ami climbed up into Stacy's lap and began nursing. Stacy thought for a minute about how to translate Doyle's story into something that her son could understand. Ami swallowed his first gulp of milk and Stacy said, "This is a Phari story from long ago-"

Ami detached his mouth from the nipple and complained, "Not more magic!"

Stacy had quickly learned that Ami disliked stories about magic; he was a literalist and a realist. She looked down at her dripping nipple and wiped a dribble of milk off of Ami's chin and told him, "Shush now, baby. Don't waste mama's sweet milk. You eat, I'll tell the story. No magic; I promise." Ami latched back on and Stacy explained, "This is not an efing Fairy Tale. Look in my mind, little one. This is 'Phari' with a letter 'P' at the start. The Phari were the first people of this galaxy to travel between the stars."

The fourth planet: Ver'la

Ami was there with Stacy in the shared cognitive space of their telepathically linked minds. For a while they reviewed and explored the meaning of words such as star, planet and galaxy. He asked: What does the galaxy have to do with milk?

"Before Earthlings had telescopes, the billions of stars of the galaxy were likened to white milk spilled across the black night sky." Stacy showed Ami the cover illustration for "Lost World", the novel by A. C. Doyle that she had been reading. "Now, this was back in an ancient time when the fourth planet was named Ver'la and Mars was known -but mostly ignored- as the uninteresting moon of that large water world."

Book 2 of the Lost World trilogy

Ami asked: Water world?

"The entire surface of Ver'la was covered with water. The ocean of that world was many miles deep, deep enough to cover up all of the mountain tops. Ver'la had a thick atmosphere, with a high level of carbon dioxide."

Carbon dioxide?

"A nice warm blanket that kept the ocean of Ver'la liquid. Without such a blanket, Mars was a frozen moon, too far from the Sun to keep warm. Drifting in the warm blanket sky of Ver'la, a tribe of Fru'wu lived in their great floating palaces and dreamed their dreams of Earth."

Hai'zek the Fru'wu

Froowoo?

"Look in my mind little one. Do you see the letters?" Stacy continued using telepathy: The Fru'wu were aliens, from a far world in the galaxy.

Ami wondered: They went to Mars, not Earth?

"The Fru'wu preferred the atmosphere of Ver'la, but they were interested in our world. The Fru'wu dreamed that Earth would soon have its own people. That was the great project of the Fru'wu and they worked tirelessly to transform the apes of Earth into people."

What are apes, mommy?

ancient ape

"Long ago your ancestors were jungle apes; animals who could not talk."

But they could write?

"No, my love, they could not write or speak."

Then how do you know...

Stacy explained about the fossils of Earth, then she said, "And Earth was being watched by people who could write, such as the Fru'wu. Their stories have come down to us from long ago." She avoided mention of time travel.

Now Ami switched over to nurse from Stacy's other breast. She was trying to imagine what must have happened to the planet Ver'la. Ami followed her thoughts and asked: The Fru'wu took Ver'la away?

original poster art by Albert Kallis

Stacy shook her head. "It could not have been the Fru'wu. They were not much more sophisticated with technology than we humans." She started thinking about the Nereids and the idea that humans were somehow related to that alien species from the Andromeda galaxy.

Ami grew impatient, waiting for his mother to continue the story. Stacy said, "Ver'la was a lost world, until about 200 hundred years ago... a girl from Earth discovered that Ver'la had been moved to the Galactic Core."

Ami was filled with wonder: The whole planet was moved to the center of the galaxy?

"Yes, Ami. It must have been the ancient Phari who moved Ver'la to a new star... unless..." Stacy was wondering if the Huaoshy might have decided to move Ver'la, removing the Fru'wu base of operations from the Solar System.

Ami asked: Who are the Huaoshy?

The true physical form of the
alien Nereids is unknown.

"Nobody knows much about them. They are at least as ancient as the Phari, but they came to our galaxy from very far away. Anyhow, Mary visited Ver'la and here is the strange and amazing part of her story: she claimed that there were Nereids living in the ocean of Ver'la and they were dinosaurs!

Ami was amused. He knew what dinosaurs were. Swimming dinosaurs?

"Yes, gigantic swimming dinosaur-like aliens. And they told Mary that long before the Fru'wu were created, the Nereids had created the dinosaurs of Earth." Stacy fell silent, trying to imagine if any part of Auryol Doyle's story could possibly be verified.

Ami drifted off to sleep, dreaming about swimming dinosaurs. Stacy popped his little mouth off of her breast and her robot assistant scooped up Ami and took him to his bed.

Colleen

Stacy was tempted to continue reading the Lost World trilogy, but now that she had been interrupted, she decided that she needed to inform the rest of the Mind Clone Network about her discovery. She activated the little comunit that she wore as a ring and tried to call Colleen, but could not make contact. She opened up the telepathic link to Georgy. Stacy could tell that Georgy was asleep, but she increased the strength of their connection and asked: Have you seen Colleen?

Georgy was just coming out of a dream state. Oh, Stacy... it is you.

Who else?

Usually it is Rylla. I think the poor girl is lonely and bored, so she often connects with me. Did you know she has gone back to school?

Via their telepathic linkage, Stacy could sense Georgy's distaste for the whole idea of schools and schooling. Except for 3 years at college, Georgy had been home "schooled"; taught informally by her parents. I'm still developing my telepathic link to Rylla. It is far easier for me to exchange thoughts with you.

It is strange. Georgy reflected on Earth and events just before she came to Observer Base. I only had a single day to interact with Rylla on Earth, but that seems to have linked our two minds together... allowed us to learn each others mind patterns.

Stacy sighed. I wish I could go to Earth for just a day and solidify my linkage to Rylla.

Georgy asked: Why did you wake me?

I called Colleen, but she did not answer.

Oh... well, she is sleeping. I guess we wore each other out.

Doing what?

Ver'la seen from Mars. Image made with The Other Side Of Nowhere
by Rocket787 and see this NASA image - available under CC BY-NC 3.0.

Take a guess. I'm not quite sure, but I think she might be my favorite lover. At least this week.

Stacy realized she should have seen this coming. Georgy and Colleen had been spending a lot of time together. Well, wake her up. I'm coming over to your place. We need to discuss something that I found in the archives. Stacy stepped outside through her front door, heading to Georgy's house.

Georgy complained: Stacy, you are so rude. I don't wake you up when you are sleeping.

That's not true. Every time you hear Alex crying, it wakes me up.

Well Alexina gets hungry. You can't blame me -or her- for that.

Stacy turned the corner and now could see Georgy's house ahead, just down the street. She let the telepathic linkage to Georgy's mind fade away. Stacy went up the walkway to Georgy's house and the front door popped open. Georgy's robotic household assistant said, "Hello, Stacy."

Stacy nodded to the robot, but could not bring herself to make small-talk with the machine. She pushed past the robot and could see Georgy and Colleen coming down the staircase. Georgy had pulled on a robe, but Colleen was naked. Colleen asked Stacy, "What is so damned important that you had to yank me out of bed?" Georgy and Colleen sat down on the sofa.

Stacy paced back and forth across the room, "I found something interesting in the archives. Have either of you ever heard of a writer from the Ekcolir Reality called Auryol Doyle?" Stacy kept looking at Colleen, stabbing glances every time she turned.

Georgy replied, "Auryol Doyle? What kind of a name is Auryol?"

Stacy shrugged, "I don't know." She pressed Colleen, "What about you?"

Colleen did not like the way that Stacy kept looking at her; now she wished that she had taken the time to get dressed. She asked Georgy's robot to bring her a robe. "I've never heard of Auryol Doyle."

"Are you sure? Her full name was Auryol Colleen Doyle"

Georgy laughed, "Another Colleen? What did she write?"

The robot handed a robe to Colleen. Colleen stood up, put on the robe and said, "Many people are called Colleen."

the Ekcolir Reality

"Not in the Ekcolir Reality." Georgy, Colleen and Stacy all knew that the course of history was unusual in the Ekcolir Reality, with Western Civilization dominated by an Etruscan cultural background, not a Roman one.

Georgy suggested, "Maybe she was a hold-over from the Asimov Reality." She repeated her question, "What did she write?"

"What I found in the archive is called the Lost World trilogy, but as far as I can tell, none of the content of those stories was ever actually published on Earth. What does that suggest to you?"

Colleen sat down beside Georgy and they put their arms around each other and looked at each other. Georgy turned back towards the pacing Stacy and said, "Doyle's story must have been too hot for Earth."

Stacy nodded. "Indeed! Doyle claimed that the Nereids were dinosaurs!"

Colleen giggled, "Wait... I thought humans were made in the image of Nereids."

Stacy explained, "Nothing definitive is known about the Nereids, but most people have assumed that they were humanoids. True, the rumors all say that they were aquatic, and Doyle confirms that rumor, but Doyle's Nereids are not humanoid. She described them as gigantic creatures in the ocean of Ver'la."

Georgy asked, "Ver'la?"

"You'll have to read the book." Stacy handed her electronic reader to Georgy. Colleen and Georgy looked at the covers of the three books in the trilogy. Stacy continued pacing and talking, "According to Mary, the Nereids created Earth's dinosaurs, about 250 million years ago."

Georgy said, "No, that's not possible. The Nereids themselves were created only seven million years ago."

Colleen suggested, "Maybe the name 'Nereid' is being used in two different ways..."

Final Reality

Stacy nodded in agreement, "Almost certainly. And Mary's use of the term "dinosaur" is also problematical."

Georgy asked, "Who is this 'Mary'?"

"Mary is the main character in Doyle's Lost World trilogy. As far as I can tell, Mary was an analogue of the Final Reality woman who we know as Mary Godwin."

Georgy blurted out, "Mary Shelley? The author of Frankenstein?"

Stacy finally stopped pacing around the room and pointed at Georgy and Colleen, "This is a perfect job for the two of you. I want to know how Mary ended up on the planet Ver'la and how Auryol Doyle was able to write the story of Mary's adventure and investigation of the origins of the Nereids."

From upstairs came the sound of Alexina crying. Georgy's robotic assistant raced up the stairs, followed by Georgy. Stacy received a call from her household assistant, letting her know that Amiante had just awoken. Stacy told her son: I'm on my way home. Without a glance at Colleen, Stacy turned to the door and headed home.

Georgy laid down beside Alexina and began nursing the tiny newborn. Georgy re-opened the telepathic link to Stacy: A copy of Mary Shelley was removed from Earth?

I don't know... apparently so. I suggest you begin your investigation by contacting Rylla. I seem to recall that Ivory Fersoni previously found part of the story of Mary's analogue in the Ekcolir Reality.

Ivory

Georgy asked: Ivory Fersoni?

Stacy explained: Ivory is another exile from Earth, just like you and Colleen. Ivory lived here at Observer Base for a short time, then went off on a mission to the planet Cynk.

Georgy was starting to drift back to sleep. I've begun to wonder if I might have the chance to travel... I'd like to see Tar'tron and some other worlds of the Core...

Later, Georgy awoke and found Alexina and the robot there, playing together nearby. Alexina was tracking a small stuffed animal as the robot moved it across her field of vision. Georgy picked up Alexina and returned downstairs where she found Colleen reading The Lost World: Ver'la by A. C. Doyle. Colleen looked up and said, "I can see why this story was never published on Earth. This book is full of details about how Earth's apes were genetically engineered by aliens and transformed into humans." Georgy bent over Colleen and they kissed.

Georgy sat down with the baby in her lap and told Colleen, "I'm going to contact Rylla." Colleen turned her attention back to Lost World and Georgy reached out her mind to Rylla, wondering about the distance from Observer Base to Earth and the mystery of how the Hierion Domain was linked to the universe of stars and planets. Rylla?

Rylla replied: Hello, Georgy.

Georgy could sense that Rylla was nursing Marda. Is this a good time for a chat?

Anytime is good. I'm starting to go a bit stir crazy. All Nora and I do is sleep and occasionally wake up so we can stick a boob in a baby's mouth.

Ya, often I don't even wake up. I have the luxury of a robotic assistant who can bring me my hungry baby in the middle of the night.

in the Ekcolir Reality

Rylla could sense that Georgy was not just calling to chat; she had something important on her mind. Rylla sensed a flashed image of a plesiosaur from Stacy's mind, then they lost their telepathic connection.

Half a minute later they re-connected. What happened?

Stacy tried to link in with us and establish a three-way telepathic ensemble.

Rylla asked: You are calling about dinosaurs?

I don't think this started with dinosaurs, but remind me. Were there dinosaurs that lived in the ocean?

As the daughter of a scientist who studied ancient rocks, Rylla knew quite a lot about extinct animals. No, not really. What I'm seeing in your mind looks more like a plesiosaur that is chasing a ichthyosaur.

Georgy suggested: And someone from the first half of the 1800s, they would not know the difference between dinosaurs and other extinct megafauna?

If I am remembering correctly, the term 'dinosaur' was coined about the middle of the 1800s, so ya... Rylla knew that Stacy had begun prowling through the archives of the Writers Block. Are you reading something from the 1800s?"

Georgy told Rylla about the Lost World trilogy. Rylla asked: Auryol Colleen Doyle? Was she the analogue of Arthur Conan Doyle in an earlier Reality?

I don't know. Please look into the Mary connection.

I will. I recall seeing a story from Ivory on my grandpa's blog about the Mary Godwin analogue who existed in the Ekcolir Reality.

source

They let the telepathic link fade from their consciousnesses. Rylla searched her grandfather's blog and found a story about Mary Godwin's contact with an Ek'col named Skyriotus and an artificial life form named Cerys.

Rylla had a weak telepathic link to her grandfather that was not good enough for information exchange, but she could sense when he was free to chat.  She wanted to ask some questions about Skyriotus, but knew that it was not a good time to call. Rylla sat down and typed out an account of what Stacy had told her about the Lost World trilogy.

When done with that task, she sent the file to her grandfather by email attachment and then she created a vidchat link to Arizona and watched him pull a robe around his shoulders. "Winter has arrived."

"Sorry to pull you out of bed in the middle of the night."

"No problem... I'm often up in the middle of the night so that I can write..." Almost as an after-thought, he added, "...and Zeta has her own new project for us to work on, too."

source

Rylla assumed that her grandfather was making reference to his new daughter. Rylla asked about the health of Zeta and Tihri then she reported on the status of Dysyn and Marda, finally she asked about Part 2 of  Fru'wu: Our Alien Prometheus.

The Editor shrugged. "I wrote down Part One three years ago, when I was actively mining the infites that Ivory had given me. I'm now quite certain that the rest of that story was edited out of the infites."

"How is that even possible?"

"What do I know about infites? All I can say is I've now had plenty of time to sift through the Ivory infites. For a while, I thought there was simply some kind of indexing problem, but no..."

"Well, Stacy has finally begun to prowl through the archives of the Writers Block and she seems to have found a new source of information about the Mary Godwin analogue in the Ekcolir Reality."

"Interesting! She found part 2 of that story?"

"Sorry, but no. This is some new story, set after the point in time when Mary was exiled from Earth."

source

"Mary Godwin ended up at Observer Base?"

"Apparently, but then she went off to the Core. Check your email inbox. Read the attachment and then ring me back." Rylla cut off the vidchat connection.

The Editor found the recently-arrived email from Rylla and read her all-too brief summary of the Lost World trilogy. Sensing that Rylla was busy with her daughter Marda, he also took the time to re-read the old blog post about Mary and Skyriotus. Finally, he re-established the vidchat link to Rylla and said, "I'm certain that Ivory did not know about these stories by A. C. Doyle."

Rylla asked, "How do you know that?"

"It is strongly suggested by the tone of the Ivory infites. Ivory did not have access to the archives of the Writers Block. Ivory and her sisters had some other data source, what she thought was a source inside the Sedronic Domain."

"Do you have any suggestions for Georgy on how to proceed with her investigation of Mary?"

"No... well, just the obvious. There should be records at Observer Base of all past residents." Another idea came to mind. "Although..." The Editor fell silent, lost in thought.

Rylla waited. After a minute she felt as if she could see an image in her grandfather's mind. "Yōd?"

"Yes... I will ask Zeta to send a request through to Yōd. It is possible that Yōd knows something about Doyle and Godwin analogues from the Asimov Reality. But I've been wondering if there is another source of information about the Ekcolir Reality besides the archives of the Writers Block."

Rylla suggested, "If Angela and Anney could hack into the Sedronic Domain, maybe one of the Mind Clone babies..." She fell silent, trying to imagine what the future held for her own daughter.

Yōd

The Editor was thinking in another direction. "I've been all tied up with Yōd and her reports from the AR Simulator, but maybe it is time to broaden our scope..." Again he became quiet and performed a quick computer search. "Maybe Georgy can hack into the simulator for the Ekcolir Reality."

Rylla nodded. "Maybe Colleen is the right person for that job... she got herself kicked off of Earth because of her hacking skills."

"Well, it might be worth a try."

"I'll suggest it to Georgy, but she is already checking the Observer database of the Fishbowl."

"Good. I'll be anticipating an update." The Editor shut off the vidchat software, then noticed that Zeta was awake. He went to their bedroom and got into the warm bed where Zeta was nursing Tihri.

Zeta asked: What do you want me to tell Yōd?

Let her know about the Lost World trilogy. Yōd might be familiar with the writings of either the Doyle analogue in the Asimov Reality or maybe the analogue of Mary Godwin.

You know that Yōd does not want to be distracted by ancient history. She is focused on the future, not the past.

Mind Clone Network

Yes, I know. However, we need to get the help of everyone in the Mind Clone Network. Someone tried to cover-up the existence of an entire planet.

So, you think this Ver'la is real, not just a fictional construct?

If it was just fiction, then why was it concealed?

Tihri was full and was sleeping. Zeta rolled over to face her husband. "Your feet are freezing."

"It got cold tonight."

"You should wear the slippers that I got for you."

"I know. After a long hot summer, I'm in the habit of going barefoot."

Zeta stopped talking and used her mouth for another purpose. I'll warm you up.

The Editor was probing deep into Zeta's mind, as far as he could reach. He was surprised that she had never heard even a rumor about Ver'la, a Fru'wu-inhabited planet right in the Solar System.

source

On the other side of the planet Earth, Rylla was telling Nora about the Lost World trilogy. Nora said, "Strangely, this 'lost world' does not surprise me. I have a strong feeling of Déjà vu."

Rylla asked, "You've heard of Ver'la?"

"I can't consciously recover a memory... what is in my mind is the knowledge that Colleen is a repeat offender. She did not simply get extracted from Earth. She was part of an Intervention that was carried out by an experienced agent. That much I know."

"Wait, now. So you think there is a link between Auryol Colleen Doyle and Colleen Liscan? It is not just a coincidence that they share the name Colleen?"

"Right. Auryol Colleen Doyle must have been from the Asimov Reality. Maybe she got into trouble and was taken to Observer Base by the Overseers... no... Or maybe she was duplicated by the Interventionist and along with the analogue of Vance from the Asimov Reality, Auryol helped set up the Writers Block. Yes, that must have been what happened!"

"Are you just making this up, or do you know?"

Nora laughed. "My memories have been edited, but I have memories of my lost memories. The idea that Mars was once a moon of a planet is not a new concept for me. Somehow I've known about that previously, but I do not remember how I knew that fact."

source

"What about the idea that there should be an Ekcolir Reality Simulator at Observer Base? If so, why have we never heard of people who used it as a way to investigate Deep Time?"

"There were all sorts of violations of the Trysta-Grean Pact during the Ekcolir Reality. The entire Buld Reality had to be constructed as a way to cover-up those violations, as a way to actually implement the Pact and enforce its provisions. Neither R. Gohrlay or Grean wanted folks dredging up muck from the Ekcolir Reality. You know how hard Many Sails had to work to gain access to the AR Simulator. It might be just as hard to access the ER Simulator."

Rylla suggested, "Or it might only be that nobody has tried."

Next: Colleen inside the ER Simulator

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