The Ekcolir Intervention

The Asimov Reality

After a long week of working with Yōd to learn about how she got into the AR Simulator, I was tired and in need of an uninterrupted night of sleep. I had a new appreciation for the role of Mind Clones and the tryp'At in the creation of the Asimov Reality, but I was too weary to think through the implications of what Yōd had revealed about Dani the robot and Nyky the tryp'At. After posting my summary of Yōd's story, I fell into bed. However, Zeta was feeling neglected, so she did not let me rest until the small hours of the night were mostly past.

The Death of Dehla.

I slept most of the following day until I was shaken awake by Zeta. "Wake up. Rylla is on the vchat. She wants to show you something." Zeta had her little tablet computer there in bed.

My first priority was to empty my bladder, then I made my way to my big screen computer and linked in to the on-going vchat between Rylla and Zeta. Rylla said, "Hi, grandpa." She told me, "Take a look at the email attachment I sent you. That attached image file shows my attempt to understand the role of Ekcolir in Earth's Reality Chain."

Rylla's diagram of Earth's Reality Chain.

Ekcolir Intervention

The Ekcolir Intervention

It took me a while to establish rapport with Rylla's new diagram of Realities. I finally found "Ekcolir Loop" towards the center of the diagram. I muttered a question, "Did Ekcolir really come from the Asimov Reality?"

Rylla acknowledged that her diagram failed to make that clear. "The problem is, the Ek'col were made by the pek sometime in the far future of the Asimov Reality. After Ekcolir was born, he got dropped into his past, into the mid-20th century of the Ekcolir Reality."

I added, "Yes, and I feel fairly confident in charting the events of Ekcolir's life from that point on. He must have implanted the Thomas blastocyst stage embryo into Trysta soon after he arrived on Earth."

Early Asterothrope
embryo with a swarm of
development guidance nanites.

Zeta asked, "Have you abandoned the idea that the Ek'col were designed to have sperm that could fertilize Asterothrope eggs?"

Rylla replied, "It could be that both are true."

"Sadly, the infites that I received from Thomas include no information about blastipositors." I thought back to the day when I had received infites from both Thomas and Izhiun. Thomas had grown up while in constant telepathic contact with his mother Trysta. I suggested, "Maybe Thomas was a Mind Clone of Trysta."

Rylla nodded. "Why not? That would be entirely analogous to me being a Mind Clone of my mother."

Rylla's diagram indicates that the tryp'At created the Ekcolir Reality. I asked Rylla, "Do you think Lakum was the only tryp'At sent into the Upper Paleolithic?"

blastipositor

"No. Colleen has used the ER Simulator to check on that. Dehla was part of a constructed lineage. Lakum was the last of a series of tryp'At agents on Earth that made possible a genetically modified type of human that was inter-fertile with Ekcolir."

I said, "I'm assuming that both the tryp'At and the Ek'col were equipped with blastipositors. Do we know if Ekcolir impregnated Behgi the old fashioned way? He could have implanted a blastocyst in her."

Rylla shook her head. "No, Colleen has been able to sort that out. It is slightly confusing because it appears that Ekcolir was sent into the Paleolithic twice."

Zeta laughed. "Twice?"

The Genmod Virus

Rylla explained, "What we have called the Ekcolir Intervention had two parts, one on each side of the boundary that separates the Asimov Reality  from the Ekcolir Reality. In the Asimov Reality, Ekcolir's mission was to carry a genmod virus to Earth."

I asked, "What do you mean by 'genmod virus'?"

"That's what Colleen calls it; apparently a hybrid construct, part biological and partly composed of zeptites. Ekcolir implanted a blastocyst in Dehla that grew to become their son. However, Ekcolir also infected Dehla with the virus. The virus killed Dehla soon after she gave birth."

Reality Chain

Zeta suggested, "I bet the pek were embarrassed by the way that they acted as Interventionists. They were desperate to end the Time War, but they wanted to cover their tracks. That genmod virus was their way of erasing evidence of how they used the tryp'At to genetically modify Earthlings."

Rylla continued, "According to Colleen, Ekcolir was taken out of the Paleolithic soon after the death of Dehla. That was the end of the mission for Colleen's analogue in the Asimov Reality. She and Lakum went into retirement in the far future of Alastor Cluster. Nyky, the Mind Clone of Behgi, had also completed her mission, having made sure that Behgi fell in love with Ekcolir."

I nodded. "Yes, it makes sense. Ekcolir was extracted from the Paleolithic of the Asimov Reality just before the Reality Change took place. Then he went to live with Trysta in the 20th century. Then, shortly before the Huaoshy were going to put an end to time travel, Ekcolir was sent back to the Paleolithic of the Ekcolir Reality where he fathered the children of Behgi."

Trysta and Ekcolir

Zeta said, "Rylla's diagram shows that it was Trysta who carried out the Reality Change that brought the Buld Reality into existence."

"Yes, Ekcolir's descendants on Earth led to a world where there was no Roman Empire and a global warming catastrophe. When Trysta went back in time 10,000 years, she initiated a Reality Change that caused the early obliteration of the Etruscan Civilization, creating the world as we know it."

I told Rylla, "Good work. I like your nuanced explanation for Ekcolir's Intervention. Please pass along my thanks to Colleen for her investigative work inside the ER Simulator."

"Okay, Grandpa, I will. And get some sleep. You look like a truck ran over you." She terminated the vchat connection.

Next: the decade in review

Visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers.