The Hierion Probe

another mind clone network

The story below on this page is a continuation of "Terminus Planet" and "Time of Theurgency", Foundation saga fan-fiction set in an alternate Reality. In the Ekcolir Reality, Isaac Asimov had a long career as a research scientist. The story "Terminus Planet" described the origin Sven, the son of Isaac Asimov and movie-maker Marcia Greenberg. Sven follows in his father's footsteps and becomes a graduate student doing research on the mystery of how hierions can control brain function.

While a young man in his 20s, Asimov published a few science fiction stories and he became famous for his Foundation saga. Working with script writer Ariel Adler, Marcia produced a film version of Isaac's Foundation stories. As told in "Time of Theurgency", with help from Ariel, Marcia and Isaac, two youngsters, Gina Hay and Petra Nicholls established the Foundation for Science Fiction, a new organization dedicated to funding writers of science fiction stories. Their goal is to shake the people of Earth out of their infatuation with the alien Fru'wu.

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Below on this page, is the beginning of "Foundation Reality Simulator". While working in his father's lab, Sven discovers how to provide Petra with a two-way telepathic link to the Writers Block. In the Hierion Domain, Relda (a teleportation duplicate of Ariel) is recruited to use the Foundation Reality Simulator at Observer Base to investigate how the alien fain first interacted with humans in the Foundation Reality. The story begins immediately after the events at the end of "Time of Theurgency".

___________________________

Foundation Reality Simulator

1972 the Ekcolir Reality

1. Telepathy. After the meeting with Gina and Petra, Marcia and Isaac returned to their suite on the 23rd floor of the Edinburgh Grand Hotel. Marcia closed the door and asked Isaac, "What was going on with you and Petra?"

Isaac and Petra had chatted for almost ten minutes in the hotel lobby while Gina waited impatiently to return to Perth and Marcia talked to Dani and Ariel by the elevators. Isaac explained, "She was telling me about a science fiction story that she wants to get published."

Marcia began to undress Isaac. "But you never listen to other writers who want to discuss their unpublished work."

"True. However, there was something strange going on..."

A few minutes later they were undressed and in bed. Marcia picked up the conversation, "So, what was so strange about Petra's story idea?"

Isaac replied, "Her story is set in the Foundation fictional universe.

"Fan-fiction?"

"I don't think she saw the connection between her story and my old Foundation stories. Anyhow, the strange thing was, nothing in the plot of her story was new to me."

the planet Atlam

"She copied one of your stories?"

"No... this is a story that I never wrote, yet it was familiar to me. I could have written it... thirty years ago."

"That's weird."

"Tell me about it. Spooky. The more she talked, the stranger it got."

"I could tell there was some connection between you two from the moment when she arrived."

"I was so freaked-out by Relda that it took me a while to notice what was going on. Eventually I discovered that Petra and I are cognitive twins, we operate on the same wavelength. In tune. By the time Gina dragged her away, I swear I could tell the next word that was going to come out of her mouth."

Marcia asked, "Telepathy?"

Isaac fell silent and seriously considered that possibility. "I've never really believed in the possibility of telepathic communication between people. Sure, it is a fun topic for science fiction stories, but..."

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Marcia said, "I'll check Petra out at the business meeting tomorrow. I can usually detect telepaths. Tonight I was severely distracted by Deomede."

"What do you mean?"

"He's got a strange power over me. I don't understand it... I can't even describe it."

Isaac suggested, "You were distracted by his pretty face."

"It is much deeper than that. I'm quite sure that he has telepathic powers. He was trying to target Ariel with his hypnotic powers, but they spilled over on every woman in the room."

Isaac laughed. "If you were sexually attracted to him, I'm not surprised. You don't have to blame your feelings on magical mind powers."

"I'll not try to convince you. In the morning I'll be able to test Petra without any interference from Deomede."

"Test her? How"

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"Nothing amazing. The same way I tested you the day we first met."

Issac suggested, "That was the day when I had my vision of the future... I saw -in a flash of dream-like vision- the cover art for Terminus Planet. I wonder if I got that image from you, by telepathy."

"If so, it was not by design. All I was doing that day was trying to find out if you were attracted to me. I'd been sending out telepathic probes and prods to you for a week by that point."

Isaac laughed even louder. "You have quite an imagination. Is that why you let me help with 'Out Foxed', your telepathic probes told you to do so?"

"Maybe. That was a long time ago and I might be misremembering. Maybe I was just horny that day and wanted to screw you. You know, I've never forgiven you for screwing Gertrude instead."

Asimov laughed, "I know. I've been working hard to make it up to you for the past few decades."

"I'm still not satisfied, but you seem nice and hard right now, so you better get back to work."

"You seemed pretty satisfied this morning, dear. Was that one or two orgasms you grabbed before you even gave me a chance to get out of bed and pee?"

"I don't want you wasting time counting my orgasms. All you have to do is provide me with them."

Alien Stance, the magazine of the
Foundation for Science Fiction

2. First Draft. Marcia, Gina and Petra met in a rented room on the second floor of the Edinburgh Grand Hotel. Their business meeting was long and productive, nailing down the details for how the Foundation for Science Fiction would convert Ariel's big monetary donation into a corporate entity dedicated to producing books, films and a new magazine.

After it had been signed by Marcia, Gina tucked the contract into her portfolio. Gina had shaken Marcia's hand and was ready to end the meeting.

However, Petra was not done with Marcia. "Isaac asked to see this. Could you give it to him?" She held out a chipdisk towards Marcia.

Marcia took the storage device, turned to Gina and said, "Please give us a moment."

Gina left the room, casting one last glance over her shoulder at Petra.

Marcia touched her head with her finger tips and muttered, "Gina is powerful force..."

Petra laughed. "Don't I know it. Would you like to know how we met?"

"Sure." Marcia welcomed the chance to listen to the girl speak without anyone else nearby.

"I was at the College... Perth College of the Arts, where Gina takes classes... using the library. This was two years ago, when the WorldNet was just being switched on. I was on a graphics terminal using the image rendering power of a mainframe... she saw my images for a story. Gina came right up to me and started telling me about her idea to start the Foundation. After ten minutes, she had appointed me as acting secretary."

Marcia laughed. "Gina is pushy, but she does know how to get things done. That's why Ariel is willing to give her money." Marcia was unable to establish a telepathic link to Petra. "The question is, how did Gina pick you out of the crowd? Somehow she knew that there is something special about you."

Petra glanced at the door. "Thank you for everything, Marcia, including being my messenger."

Marcia suggested, "No problem." She waved the chip memory device in the air. "Next time, just send Isaac an email."

Petra shook her head. "That's one of the new 1Gb chipdisks. My story is too big to send by email attachment."

Marcia's eyebrows rose. "Just how large is this story?"

Petra explained, "Over the past six months, I've been making a video mock-up of the story by CGI. The video files are quite big."

"Okay, I'll hand this to Isaac, but I hope you don't mind if I take a peak at your stuff. Video is my business."

in the Ekcolir Reality

"I don't mind." Petra turned and went through the door and found Gina in the hallway.

Marcia tucked the chipdisk into her briefcase and then used the telephone that was in the room to initiate a call to Isaac in Ireland. He and Ariel had flown on to Dublin that morning.

"Dubhlinn Hotel, how may I help you?"

"I'm trying to reach Isaac Asimov."

"One moment, that line is ringing."

"Hello."

"Isaac, it's me. I just signed the Foundation deal."

"Wonderful news, dear!" Isaac complained, "I wish you'd gotten them to change the name." He did not like having two Foundations in his life. "Are you going to be able meet me for dinner tonight?"

"No, I'll see you in Paris for lunch tomorrow, my love. I wanted to let you know that I have Petra's story. Apparently she has created a draft video format version."

"Ya, I forgot to warn you about that. She told me that video is her preferred medium."

"How did the marketing go today?"

"We got almost fifteen minutes on local television. It seemed to go well. People must have watched. I got asked for my autograph twice while crossing the hotel lobby."

"Wow. Enjoy your fame. I'm going to the airport. See you in Paris, ma chérie."

"Call me when you get to your hotel room in France, sweetie."

_ _ _ _ _ _

from the Emerald Island

Marcia took a long bath and she almost fell asleep in the warm water. She dried herself off then fell into bed. She again called Isaac at the Dubhlinn Hotel. He picked up after one ring, and Marcia said, "I'm in Paris, mon amour."

Isaac said, "Tráthnóna maith."

"What's that?"

"Some of the locals were teaching Ariel and I some Irish phrases during dinner."

"Sounds like fun."

"It was." He sighed and leaned back on the bed. "It is late."

"After my flight, I went to a computer shop and took a look at Petra's videos. I wonder if she made them all by herself."

"Kids these days are amazing. I wish there had been PCs when I was young. It is all I can do to use a word processor. So, how was Robots of Atlam?"

"Pretty wild looking. I'm not sure what was going on, but her aliens could never be filmed using actors in latex masks. They are artificial life-forms who constantly use some sort of body morphing nano-technology."

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"Yes, Petra told me about that plot element. Those nanobots were created by the alien fain, then, in turn, after the fain transcended to the Sedronic Domain, the nanobots made humanoid robots to take the place of the fain in their culture."

Marcia asked, "Is that what was going on? I got confused when humans showed up."

"By then, the nanobots had come in contact with humans. The fain nanobots started making robots in human form."

Marcia said, "Thanks for explaining. I tried to call you about an hour ago but you were on the phone."

"I was talking to Sven."

"Oh, how is he?"

"Just fine. He had news from the lab. He's ready to move his experiment to the next phase."

"Human test subjects?"

"Approval came through from the IRB."

"Hm... I thought the rule was that as PI you need to be there in the lab for these experiments."

"Yes, I'm the responsible party, and since the results with mice were so bizarre, I've been told that I must be present to supervise the tests on humans."

"This tour of Europe is going to last two more weeks."

"And Sven does not want to wait for me to return to New England. He is hoping that you can meet him at the airport... his flight arrives 7:00 AM, your time."

from the film, Elevator to Paris

"He's coming to France on the red eye?"

"He told me that he took one of the new sub-orbital shuttles across the Atlantic."

 "That's so expensive!"

"But fast."

"Sure, I'll meet him, but those shuttles land at Lyon spaceport."

"His shuttle flight was from Virginia to the Dundee spaceport. He called from Perth."

"What's in Perth?"

"Petra."

"What are you talking about?"

Isaac explained, "I was so freaked out by my telepathic link to Petra that I suggested her as a test subject for Sven's experiment."

"You what?"

"And Sven met her in Perth this evening. They'll see you, 7:00 at de-Gaulle."

"Sven is bringing Petra to Paris?"

"He's bringing the equipment for the experiment."

"You can do that? You don't need to be in the lab?"

"It is convenient to be in the lab, but the hierion probe is portable."

3. Sven. By the time Asimov reached the hotel in Paris, Marcia, Sven and Petra were already in the restaurant just off the lobby. Isaac joined them and Marcia said, "I ordered for you."

Isaac asked Sven, "You have the probe?"

"It is upstairs in my room."

Isaac told Petra, "Sorry to get you into this."

"I don't mind. Just tell me that you two are not crazy."

Sven laughed. "Petra does not believe that I can modulate hierions inside brain tissue."

Asimov shrugged, "I'm not sure that I really believe it either. I don't really want to believe. It is rather unsettling to think of the possibilities..."

Marcia added, "I can't believe you'd experiment on a child. I thought that was against the rules for human test subjects."

Petra shook her head, "Not if I volunteer."

Sven told Marcia, "Petra has signed the release form. Gina was none too happy."

Petra asked Sven, "You are sure that there is no danger?"

Sven launched into a detailed description of the strange phenomena that were observed when the lab mice were subjected to the hierion probe. He said by way of summary, "It is almost as if the mice became smarter. More intelligent."

Petra chuckled nervously, "I would not mind a brain boost."

Marcia complained, "This is crazy." She asked Petra, "Why would you let these two mad scientists play with your brain?"

"Somehow I'm linked to Isaac. And I feel like I have known Sven all my life." She shyly reached out and placed her hand on top of Sven's. "If there is a chance of removing hierions from my brain and releasing the full power of my mind-"

"What if the hierion probe damages your mind?"

"Well, that would suck."

Marcia said, "Petra, I think you should think very carefully before you subject yourself to the probe. Did you discuss this with your parents?"

"I don't have any parents. Not real parents. They are dead. I'm an orphan. Gina was afraid, just like you, Marcia. I'm not afraid." She smiled at Sven. "Something is telling me that I need to do this."

UltraServe

Isaac asked Sven, "What is your plan for data collection?"

"Now that funds for this phase of the project are available to spend, I think we should go ahead and get one of the new UltraServes."

"Don't those take a day or two for the technicians to set them up?"

"Not the newest model." Sven asked Marcia, "You'll be in Berlin for the next stop on the tour?"

"That's right."

"Then I'll tube on over to Berlin and set up a data recording studio." Sven told his father, "I'll have everything ready for our first test run when you arrive."

Marcia muttered, "This madness."

Isaac told Marcia, "We'll start with the probe set to a low intensity. If there are any adverse reactions from Petra, that will be the end of it. The approved protocol calls for a series of experiments with increasing fluxes of hierions over the course of weeks. We won't reach intensities that altered the behavior of mice until after we get back to New York."

4. Berlin. Sven and Petra went via the high speed maglev from Paris to Berlin. In Germany, they went shopping for the latest in computer equipment and discovered that they both knew vast amounts about the latest computer technologies that had been made possible by the Fru'wu.

After setting up the equipment, they did a test run in their hotel suite. Sven showed off the devices that he had brought with him from New England and explained to Petra, "With this network of electrodes, I can capture a detailed recording of your brain activity. Just watch the computer screen and follow the instructions. Today we will capture your baseline brain pattern."

It took three hours for Petra to complete the preliminary protocol during which she wore a big array of recording electrodes on her head. After returning from lunch, Sven started examining the recorded results. "That three hour run filled up all of our memory space. We really need the server that we ordered this morning."

Petra made a phone call to check on the delivery schedule for their file server. The terse answer from the vender was "it will be there soon". Sven suggested, "If you are bored, maybe you should read the article describing what happened when I used the hierion probe on lab animals."

Petra pulled up a copy on her laptop and read the article, frequently asking Sven questions about scientific jargon. Never having read another article about mouse behavior, she had little basis for evaluation the article's claim that the mice exposed to the probe since birth were more intelligent. She read the comments of the reviewers who felt that Sven's conclusion was a stretch, but they felt the article needed to be published because it was the first evidence that hierions could alter the behavior of animals.

After reading the article, Petra was pacing around behind Sven while he worked. They were still waiting for delivery of the high capacity file server that they had ordered. She decided to call Gina in Perth.

Gina was still not happy that Petra had gone to the Continent when there was so much work to be done launching the Foundation. Gina told Petra, "I hired your replacement for the position of general secretary, but I still want you to recruit writers."

"I can do that while traveling."

"Where will you be going next?"

"Copenhagen."

(credits here)

"And when do they start blasting your brain with hierions?"

"Tomorrow morning, as soon as Isaac arrives."

"Check your email. I had Raul send you his contact information and the form letter that we crafted. Keep him in the loop as you reach out to your writer friends."

Petra and Sven had purchased a half dozen computers when they reached Berlin. Petra accessed her email using one of the new laptop computers. After glancing at the email, she asked Gina, "You don't feel a bit dishonest saying that Isaac Asimov and Ariel Adler are members of the Foundation for Science Fiction?"

Gina chuckled. "Well, Ariel essentially owns the Foundation and here's the email reply I got from Asimov." She forwarded the file to Petra.

Petra read what Asimov had written: "I have not written any fiction in decades, but if you think my name will help attract new writers, knock yourselves out. Ariel has been doing that for many years."

After she had finished chatting with Gina on the phone, Sven asked Petra, "How did you make such a big impression on my dad?"

"I don't know. I'm wondering if there is some special telepathic connection between us. I feel a bit of it when I'm with you, but not in the same haunting way." Petra reflected on what she had experienced in Asimov's presence with his eyes seeming to look right through her. "After talking to your dad for ten minutes, it almost seemed as if I could anticipate his movements and his next words. Then in Paris, the cognitive harmony effect was quite smooth and stable, as if our brains were made to merge. I don't think it is my imagination."

"No, dad told me the same story. And I'll gladly admit, I feel a special connection to you, although I suspect it is mainly that you are the cutest and smartest computer geek I've ever met." He reached out and touched her hand.

Replicoid Time

Petra laughed ran the tips of her fingers along the palm of his hand. "Gina is very jealous. I would not be surprised if she flies in to join us, just so she can act as my chaperone."

Sven stepped close to Petra. "Do you know what I'd like to do?"

Petra felt herself slowly leaning closer to Sven. Her heart started pounding.

"I'd like to test to see if the probe can alter your connection to my father. It would be useful to do the same test with Gina." He turned and picked up the hierion probe.

Petra winced and felt disappointed that Sven had pulled away and turned his back on her. "I don't feel nearly the same strength of connection to either Gina or you. Your father is a ten while you are both ones. But there is something else. Now that I've been in contact with Isaac and know what that feels like, I now know that there has always been another link to someone else... at about a three on this scale."

"Who might that be?"

"Do you believe the stories about replicoids?"

"I'm a scientist. I'll believe anything supported by strong evidence." He started testing the new power modulation circuit that he had recently attached to the probe. "Replicoids are science fiction."

"They say that every person has a replicoid. Maybe I can feel mine."

"Well, I'd like some physical evidence that replicoids exist." He used one of the new computers to run a diagnostic routine on the probe's electronic elements. "Tell me, Petra... you were there the other night. Dad told me that he met a copy of Ariel Adler, a woman from the Hierion Domain."

Petra nodded and moved close behind Sven, carefully watching what he was doing with the probe. "There were two of them, a man and a woman. And if it is true, that they live in the Hierion Domain, then why not believe that there are also replicoids there?"

"As I said, I need evidence."

"Well, you can test your probe and see if the beam of hierions disconnects me from my replicoid."

Sven chuckled. "What if it is the other way around?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if the hierion beam boosts your connection to the replicoid?"

"Why should it do that? It would be like exposing a computer to some random magnetic field and having that increase the efficiency of the CPU."

Sven asked, "Why would people -and even mice- have these endosymbionts inside their bodies?"

Petra voiced the conventional answer that had been widely believed since the early days of the pro-Fru'wu Movement, "They were used to prepare Earth for First Contact. The endosymbionts are some kind of communications device... providing a form of technology-assisted telepathy."

Sven complained, "That's a science fiction plot, for sure." He flipped open his laptop and pointed at a copy of the journal article that he had published with results from the mouse experiments. "What is the evidence? So far, all we know is that the hierions inside mouse brains help shape rodent behavior patterns. Look at the altered brain activity caused by the probe." He pointed at the second figure in the article. "With prolonged exposure to the hierion beam, the mice had improved motor skills and memory."

Influenced by the opinions of the reviewers, Petra had reached a less optimistic conclusion about the experimental results described in the article. "Maybe you just handled the probed mice more often and enriched their environment. You were so desperate to get a behavioral result, you forced the mice to change their habits. No, I suspect that when you zap me with the probe, we will be testing for disrupted telepathy."

Sven shook his head. "Well, who knows? Nobody knows and that is why we must do the experiment. I'm going to play the skeptic." He glanced over his shoulder at Petra. "I've never experienced telepathic communication. What I really want to see is how the probe alters your brain function. Reproducible change in the ECG patterns of the mice was the really solid part of my previous study. It will be that kind of objective data that I can publish and that will allow me to get my Ph.D."

Petra sat on the arm of Sven's chair and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Is that all I am to you... a source of data? A stepping stone to your graduation and career?"

Svahr in the Ekcolir Reality

He turned back to the computer display and scanned through some more of the brain activity data that he had collected from Petra that morning. After a few seconds he finally replied to her question, "If you really had telepathic powers you would not have to ask."

Petra grinned. She could sense that Sven liked her, either by telepathy or by other means even as prosaic as body language. She was satisfied either way. She liked him, too. Just then the phone rang. Petra picked up, "Hello."

"We just got your delivery at the loading dock. The porter is bringing a big box up to your suite."

Petra hung up and told Sven, "The UltraServe is here!"

Next: parts 5 - 7 of "Foundation Reality Simulator".

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