Plot Havoc

Kirth Gersen by Nick Chrissis

For the past two months I have been having fun developing my thinking about Nirutam, a new character for the Exode Saga who was recently invented as part of my 2020 Change Challenge. In the same spirit as the role of the Mule in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Saga, I set out searching for ways that Nirutam could create some havoc in the lives of those around her. Nirutam is Trouble with a capital T, so I quickly decided to eliminate her... just like Asimov had to write the Mule out of the Foundation Saga.

How to stop a mutant telepath.

Hana and Hilde at Landsend Park.

Projac Havoc
Eight years ago, I tried to perform a body count for Kirth Gersen, the protagonist of Jack Vance's Demon Princes series (Gersen kills about 20 people by my count). At that time, I thought about the possibility of killing off Hana's husband, a character in the story Exode. I'm glad I did not go in that direction; Hana's husband eventually grew into the Editor, a major character in the Exode Saga.

Lesson learned: don't be in too much of a hurry to kill your characters.

However, Nirutam's good deed (she gives up her chance to depart from Earth, allowing Yōd to become the last person teleported off of Earth) does not go unpunished.

Preemptive Strike

source

I recently decided to have Nirutam reveal her location to two ISIO agents who then show up and cause trouble for Zeta and the Editor who are trying to live a quite and sheltered life at their retirement home. Simply by having Nirutam in residence for a short time, and havoc having been raised in the lives of Zeta and the Editor, I was prepared to allow Nirutam to die of "natural" causes and be quietly buried in the backyard.

My thinking was that Nirutam's body had been programmed chemically so as to make sure that she could only survive on Earth long enough to complete her mission. The pek had grown tired of secret Interventionist agents who decided to ignore their orders (orders requiring them to leave Earth after completion of their missions) and take up permanent residence on Earth.

ISIO agents in the Ekcolir Reality

However, I'm now struggling with an alternative plot twist. What if Nirutam confesses to the Editor that she is in contact with the ISIO agents? Also, Zeta and the Editor have been watching Nirutam's health decline and "she" is in a state of chronic pain as her body disintegrates. Maybe the Editor would go ahead and kill Nirutam if he thought that might 1) prevent "her" from attracting the attention of the ISIO agents and, at the same time, 2) put an end to Nirutam's suffering.

Dani vs ISIO

Nanite containment vials.
Original cover art by William Timmins
and Edmund Emshwiller

The ISIO agents who visit Zeta and the Editor are the remnants of an attempt by the tryp'At to remove alien technology from Earth. With help from Nirutam, those agents discover Dani, now residing at Nirutam's former home, where he is occasionally visited by the Editor. The ISIO agents can't distinguish between Dani's artificial body (composed of femtobot components) and an actual human body, but they can detect the presence of Dani's Viewer.

The Viewer can no longer provide views of the future, but Dani uses it as a data storage device. One of the ISIO agents, Eka Platon (who is a human-tryp'At hybrid), has a device of their own, (an Electro-Clarifier) which can disrupt positronic brain circuits. Eka accuses Dani of being on Earth in violation of the Rules of Intervention and she uses the Electro-Clarifier to torture Dani, forcing him to hand over the Viewer.

Agent Platon
teleported to Earth.
Original cover art
by Robert Jones

The ISIO agents command Dani to activate the Viewing device. He does so, and shows them an image of a tryp'At Overseer who is shown using the teleportation equipment at Observer Base to teleport Eka Platon to Earth (at a time in the past). Having made his point to the ISIO agents about the tryp'At having been in violation of the Trysta-Grean Pact, Dani refuses to reveal more about his mission and "kills" himself. He disintegrates into his nanite components and all the "Dani nanites" slip inside a small storage vial. Next, the ISIO agents go to confront Zeta and the Editor.

ISIO agent Platon

During his mission on Earth, Dani's Viewer has usually been stored inside a nanite containment vial that is identical to the one that the Editor got from Yōd. Yōd's vial contained information nanites (infites), but they have long since taken up residence inside the Editor. Nirutam also has such a vial that she uses to carry her Selfie. Maturin (Nirutam's Selfie), disguised as a cat, swaps the empty nanite storage vial kept by the editor for the vial taken from Dani, then Maturin takes it to Observer Base.

I don't mind killing off Nirutam, but it might be possible for Maturin to revive Dani after they depart from Earth and reach the Hierion Domain.

Next: Launching the 2020 Search for Interesting Aliens

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