Departure from Altair

Below on this page is part 5 of the science fiction story "Grean Fiction". During her first day on Earth, Tara Morbius has met two tryp'At operatives, Erca and Meloh, who were involved in sending her father to Altair IV. The robot assistant of Erca and Meloh, an artificial lifeform named Quit, appears to be a perfectly normal man, but Tara's telepathic ability detects no cognitive activity inside Quit.

Erca must deal with officials from Space Fleet who are investigating the arrival of the Belerephon back on Earth. Quit and Meloh go with Tara first to visit the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and then they stop for dinner at Farag's Resort on the west bank of the Nile. Tara finally begins to tell the story of how the Fru'wu teleportation terminal on Altair IV was destroyed.

____________________________ 

Part 5 of Grean Fiction. (read part 1)(part 2)(part 3)(part 4)

source

For a time they rode in silence. Tara tried to accommodate her thinking to the idea that human evolution and Earth's history had been shaped by aliens. Eventually the aircar dipped and landed at Farag's, a sprawling resort along the shore of the Nile. 

 

Meloh took Tara's arm and led her into the grounds of the resort. Tara looked back at Quit who having parked the aircar was following along behind. She asked, "What are you doing back there?"

With a few quick strides he caught up to Tara and Meloh. "I was enjoying the view. When you walk it is as if you float on air."

Tara giggled. "I grew up on Altair IV where the gravity is a bit more intense and where I never imagined a robot who would like my ass."

Quit warned her, "You are a beautiful woman, Tara. Many eyes will be following you anytime you walk the streets of Earth."

 

Once inside the bar at Farag's, Tara spent five more minutes in silence, watching the great river flow past them, thirty meters below the broad observation deck where they sat drinking punch. She turned to gaze towards Meloh who, like Erca, had the appearance of a middle-aged woman, almost. Inside the dimly lit bar, Meloh had removed her dark glasses. Tara could see that her oddly shaped tryp'At eyes had shrunk down almost to normal human size. Finally she asked Meloh, "Are you my grandfather?"

image source

"No. By the way, in case you don't know, like the Kac'hin, we tryp'At are hermaphrodites, so we don't use the term 'father', although we each have a penis and make sperm. We tryp'At naturally look more like human women than men, so we usually adopt female cover identities when we are stationed on Earth. I did not contribute any genes when Justin was created. I can tell you this: Erca had other lovers before she met me. Possibly one of them had genes that Erca wanted to pass on to her son. You'll have to ask Erca if Justin had a second parent."

"What do you mean 'if'?"

Meloh explained, "This might upset you, but the truth is, it is possible that both Justin and you were constructed... genetically engineered."

Tara turned in her seat and glanced towards her other side where Quit the robot sat on his bar stool. "Did you know my father?"

The robot replied, "Yes, I knew your father... oh, he was a wild boy who never could sit still. Of course, Erca spoiled him badly. Justin and I spent many golden hours together, sailing on the river. He always loved the outdoors and kept a record of the river dolphins. He could recognize about a hundred individuals by sight and had a name for each of them. He delighted in identifying the different species of dolphins that had been introduced to the Nile from various rivers around Earth."

 

Tequid and Alphin

Tara thought of the many times she and Edith had gone swimming in the ocean of Altair IV, often riding on the backs of Alphin. Now she wondered why Justin had never even joined them for a swim.

 

They were called into the dining room and Tara allowed Meloh to order for her. When the main course came, even the robot Quit ate. Tara commented to Meloh, "I've been trying to spot some imperfection in Quit's design. He seems perfectly human to my inspection and he even seems to enjoy eating."

Quit nodded and told Tara, "I can even taste and smell food. Erca introduced me to you as a 'robot' because she did not want to confuse you."

"Well, I'm confused. It appears that tryp'At can best pass as human females, but they are not really women, while you are a robot that could pass as a human male. Now I'm not sure that I even really know my parents! Tell me, is my father tryp'At?"

Meloh shook her head. "Justin was given enough tryp'At gene patterns to make him a strong telepathic transmitter, but Justin was not given a vagina. He's more human than tryp'At."

Tara rested one of her hands on Meloh's arm. "And you claim that Quit is a robot, but he seems perfectly human to me." She turned back towards Quit, reached out and briefly touched Quit's cheek with her other hand and whispered, "Perfect."

tryp'At

Meloh patted Tara's hand where it rested on her arm and said, "Please don't look at us like we are creatures from a freak show!" She explained, "Quit is a sophisticated artificial lifeform. I doubt if any Earthly medical doctor could detect a difference between Quit and an actual Earth-man, even at the molecular level."

Quit winked at Tara. "If you are curious, you may inspect me at your leisure... take me for a test ride..."

Tara giggled nervously. "That sounds like a true scientific adventure, although I must warn you, I'm a virgin... I would not know how to ride you."

"Aha!" Meloh nodded. "That is the first bit of personal information you have shared about yourself. Erca is quite eager to hear your account of events on Altair IV. I hope your experiences there were not too traumatic." Tara sensed in Meloh's thoughts her hope that Tara would tell everything that she knew about Altair.

Tara reflected on her childhood and slipped her hand away from Meloh's arm. "Mostly I was happy growing up there, but then the entire mission ended in disaster." Her voice caught as the emotions associated with losing her parents flooded back into her mind.

Meloh nodded. "You need not speak of it, my dear. This dinner tonight should be an opportunity for you to relax and soak up the ambiance of Earth." He hoisted his wine glass. "Drink up! Let us celebrate your arrival on Earth."

Like many women in the restaurant, Tara found it hard to keep her eyes off of the tall and handsome Quit. "Yes, there are some very pleasant distractions here... I've been drinking my fill of Quit with my eyes."

Quit gave Tara a mock half-bow over his plate. "I'd be honored to provide you with an even more satisfying 'fill' when we return to the farm later tonight, Tara. A pretty girl like you should not be left in doubt about the joys and pleasures that can be generated by physical love-making. You are how old?"

source

"I'm almost 20."

The robot spoke authoritatively: "That is well past the age when a girl should know the thrill of a romantic love affair."

 

Tara asked Quit, "Are you an expert in love affairs?"

 

"I've studied humans and their sexual behaviors for decades. So yes, I suppose I do qualify as an expert in love and most aspects of human society."

Meloh commented, "Actually, Quit knows more about tryp'at sexual practices than human and poor Quit can't seem to fathom humor, at least not in its human manifestations."

Quit proceeded to tell several sexually-charged jokes and then said, "I understand human humor intellectually, even if I do not find it amusing. I can also understand the human need for love and companionship."

Tara was blushing from Quit's ribald jokes. She mused, "I'm not very experienced in love. When I was little, I had a crush on a boy named Billy." Tara did not really want to think too much about Billy and those who had died on Altair IV.

Meloh set down her wine goblet. "You need not answer my question, but I can't help wondering: what happened to Billy and all of the crew of the Belerephon?"

Quit held up his hand and told Tara, "Ignore Meloh's prying question. This evening is for relaxation and frivolity." His hand fell to the table, close to Tara's. She did not notice a cloud of sparkling infites that flew from Quit's hand to her own hand. Soon those nanites were in her brain and removing her inhibitions. Tara was gazing into Quit's lovely eyes and suddenly she imagined making love to Quit. Her face flushed a deep pink and she took another sip of wine.

the Belerephon at Altair IV

Meloh pretended to agree with the sentiment expressed by Quit. "Yes, my dear Tara, Quit is correct... I should not allow my curiosity to revive any of your sad memories. I know that you have been through far worse times than most young women... you should take as much time as you need to heal. Leave Altair to the side and we shall speak only of pleasantries."

Tara shrugged. She heard a voice in her head which she imagined was her own wise counsel: You really should let yourself talk about the past, not keep it bottled up inside, festering. She told Meloh, "I don't really mind telling the story of what happened on Altair IV, although I'm afraid what I can tell you is incomplete and makes little sense, even to me. And I was there!"

Meloh leaned close to Tara and said, "Erca is now done speaking to the Inspector General. She is listening to you now, through me, by means of our tryp'At system of technology-assisted telepathy."

Tara leaned back in her chair. She felt a glow from the wine and from the pressure of Quit's beautiful eyes upon her. Maybe the wise Meloh and Erca can help resolve the mysteries of Altair... Tara began, "First, I must tell you, I've long hoped that you tryp'At had seen the future and already know about events on Altair IV."

Teleportation

Meloh shook his head. "No, we were never told much about Altair by Delpha, only that we should expect the return of the Belerephon. We have been waiting rather impatiently, as has all of Earth. The fate of Belerephon has been a great mystery to everyone except Delpha. And, as you know, Ariel Adler long ago told her version of events on Altair IV. In her 'science fictional" account, the Earthlings who first went to Altair were described as using Fru'wu mass duplicating technology to make several copies of people."

 

"My mother told me about Ariel's imaginative stories." Tara sat quietly for a time, remembering tales about Earth she had heard from her mother.

 

Meloh finally broke the silence. "I must say, I was startled by your call today and the revelation that you had returned to Earth, alone."

"Yes, I can imagine." Tara tried to think how best to tell her tale of death and destruction. "I was also surprised when a second spaceship suddenly arrived at Altair."

Meloh shared with Tara the events on Earth that had led to a second Altair mission, "Five or six years ago, Altair again rose to the top of the mission planing queue for Space Fleet. Everyone had been expected that the Belerephon would return to Earth before that time. So yes, a second ship, the C5 class cruiser Manaslu, was sent to investigate Altair IV."

"I see." Tara thought for a minute and tried to wiggle deeper into Meloh's thoughts. She heard him 'say': Until we adjust your endosymbiont, you won't have much luck probing my memories. Best that you continue using conventional speech.

Quit was in constant communication with Erca and Meloh by complax. He suggested to Tara, "Or you could get a complax implant. Almost everyone on Earth uses one these days."

Tara shook her head, "This talk of endosymbionts and implants makes me nervous. I prefer to think that my mind is my own private domain."

Meloh was rather impatient with Tara's ability to endlessly wallow in self-deception and fantasies about her freewill. "Your father was designed to be able to use technology-assisted telepathy in order to guide both your mother's behavior and yours. Your mind has never truly been a private engine of cognition. I'm sorry if that offends your sense of privacy and self-determination."

"Please, don't distract me with that type of disturbing information, Meloh. I know it is true... I've studied the secret device onboard Belerephon that Justin used to amplify his natural telepathic ability. Anyhow, as a child, I knew nothing of Justin's mission as a tryp'At agent and I was reasonably happy growing up on Altair IV, even as conditions became increasingly dire. Mostly I was busy, studying the Tequids and helping my mother learn about the Fru'wu."

 

Tara tried to get to the core of the matter: "Members of the Belerephon crew kept volunteering to teleport off to other worlds. After periods of months or years, some of them teleported back to Altair IV, but others never did. Those who returned to us then turned around and went out again to visit yet another new world. The Belerephon originally had a crew of 20, but we were down to only six remaining humans on Altair IV when the other two spaceships appeared."

Meloh leaned forward. "Two ships?"

Tara nodded gravely. "Hot on the tail of the second Space Fleet ship (the Manaslu) came a Fru'wu ship."

the Fru'wu (source)

"The Fru'wu also sent a spacecraft to Altai IV?" Meloh seemed skeptical.

"Well, I suppose I should be more cautious." Tara shrugged. "However, its shape and design was like that of the Fru'wu ships that came to Earth back in the 20th century."

"So you only assumed it was a Fru'wu ship? You did not actually have contact with the crew of that third spaceship?"

"That is correct. Actually, now that I think back, it was the captain of the Manaslu who identified the other ship as Fru'wu." Tara tried to remember the exact sequence of events. "There was only myself, my brother Brad, my mother Edith and Justin, my father, along with the physicist Ilania and her son Billy... it was a happy time, even if we fretted about the unknown fates of the other Belerephon crew members who were away, scattered among the distant stars."

 

Quit placed his hand on top of Tara's where it rested on the table. He asked Tara, "Did you ever want to use the teleporter yourself?"

"Oh, yes. However, I also felt that my mother could not bear the strain had both Justin and I gone off on journey's to far worlds. Anyhow, I got quite caught up in my mother's work of translating the many different Fru'wu languages. I told myself that I would wait until I was 18 and officially an adult before passing through the teleporter. Until then. I respected my parents' wish that I remain on Altair IV."

Meloh commented, "Even if he was away for long periods, Justin did always return to Altair."

image source

"Yes, he wanted mother and I and all of Earth to know what he had seen. That last time he returned, it was the third time that Justin had come back to Altair IV. He had been away from us for almost three whole years that time. Of course, we begged Justin not to use the teleporter ever again. We told him that he had done enough. However, it was clear that his mind was in flames... he simply enjoyed flitting about the galaxy visiting the diverse planets of the Fru'wu teleportation network. That was his great joy. We knew that he would complete his reports describing the new worlds he had seen, transmit that information to Earth, and then teleport away once again."

 

Meloh asked, "Justin routinely transmitted reports to Earth?"

"Of course. We all did, as we acquired new information about the Fru'wu."

"I see. You know, we here on Earth expected the Belerephon to return long ago... that would have been the quick way to share word of the discovery of the Fru'wu teleportation system. It is too bad that Earth does not have a technology for rapidly transmitting information from Earth to Altair."

"Well, for a time, in the first years after discovery of the teleportation equipment, there were some discussion about the possibility of sending Belerephon back to Earth. Somehow, nobody really supported that idea. Most of us were busy with our work and quite willing to stay on Altair IV and we needed Belerephon to remain there as our living space."

source

Meloh nodded indulgently. "Yes, I understand that. I'm just sharing the Earthly perspective with you. Continue your story, my dear."

"Well, when the Manaslu arrived, then all was changed. The ship stayed in orbit, but several crew members of the Manaslu came down to the surface and started going through the pressurization routine that would allow them to enter Atlantis and see the Fru'wu teleportation equipment for themselves."

 

"Atlantis?"

 

"Yes, that is what we called the undersea city that had long ago been constructed by the Fru'wu. Then, not long after the arrival of Manaslu, the Fru'wu ship arrived and the shooting began."

"Shooting?"

"It was incredibly stupid. The Fru'wu ship refused to communicate with the Manaslu. The captain of the Manaslu was with Ilania inside the HP -being gradually adapted to high atmospheric pressure- while my father was spending his days updating the records of Fru'wu worlds that we kept on Belerephon. And Justin spent his nights making love to my mother."

 

Meloh asked pointedly, "Did the crew of the Manaslu offer to take a copy of those Records back to Earth?"

 

"Oh, yes, and we shared with Manaslu what we had spent 15 years learning. You see, through the years, we were compiling a great central record and mission log in the memory core of Belerephon, records of all that had been learned about the Fru'wu teleportation network. Justin had reported on far more exoplanets than anyone else. Each time he returned home he brought a vast amount of new information. I suppose it must be true: that he had duplicated himself (or had the Fru'wu duplicate him) so that he and his copies could more quickly travel from world to world. Maybe there were a dozen copies of him, only one or two of which ever returned to Altair. Who knows? Now you have me imagining teleportation duplicates everywhere!" Tara noticed that her voice had become louder than usual.

 

image source

For a moment Tara looked around the interior of the restaurant. Nobody except Quit and Meloh seemed to be paying attention to her. "Justin was obsessed with recording every detail of the adventures he'd had on the other worlds that he visited. My mother was equally obsessed. She never teleported, but she endlessly sent written messages to other Fru'wu worlds and received back vast amounts of textual information which we tried to translate and compile."

Meloh asked impatiently, "You mentioned shooting?"

"First, the Manaslu went missing and would not responding to our radio signals. I could not imagine why. Had they suddenly departed from the Altair star system? Days passed with no communication from the Manaslu. Then my father came rushing into our apartment and told Edith and I to prepare to go into space. I'd never previous seen him running around in a panic. I was afraid. Justin said that the Manaslu had been destroyed in orbit by an alien spaceship."

 

Quit asked, "How did your father know that the Manaslu had been destroyed?"

 

Tara slowly shook her head. "Everything happened so fast. I don't know. We had been trying to perform radar scans from the surface, but we did not have the right equipment. I imagined that he had detected fragments of the blasted ship in orbit." 

Meloh said, "I never met the crew of Manaslu, but I remember Captain Sopreld appearing on a talk show and speculating about the fate of the Belerephon. She had some crazy theory about running into armed aliens. Before departing from Earth, she insisted that Manaslu be equipped with weapons."

"I never knew her well." Tara thought back to Captain Sopreld's brief time on Belerephon before going with Ilania into the HP and heading down to Atlantis. "When she was returning to the the Belerephon and going through the most rapid depressurization that Ilania thought she could survive, Captain Sopreld started ranting hysterically about 'killer Fru'wu'. Of course, Ilania had cycled up and down many times, so her body was better adapted to the process. Sopreld was brain-dead inside the HP on the way up to the ocean surface and her fellow officer was also unconscious and dying when the hatch of the HP finally opened. My father went to the dock with a nogee carrier to retrieve the injured crewman. Then Ilania stepped out of the HP and collapsed on the dock. My mother went down with another nogee carrier, but then the Fru'wu ship struck again, attacking Atlantis!"

image source

Tara's chest began to heave as she relived those nightmarish events in her mind. "Looking down to the dock from above, from the aft portal of the Belerephon, I saw the ocean seemingly explode... or implode. I did not understand what I was seeing... but the horrible noise... it was cataclysmic!" She shivered and her eyes teared up.

 

Quit patted her hand. Meloh smiled reassuringly.

 

Tara continued, "I knew my one chance for survival was to run. I ordered Daisy to activate the ship's anti-gravity ascent system. Of course, the dock and the HP and my parents were blasted away and left behind. The Belerephon got me into orbit. I was the only survivor. I sent a submersible probe down to the ocean... it was clear that the underwater city of the Fru'wu had been destroyed. All that remained was a hole in the sea floor. I waited there in orbit for a week before my mind could encompass the disaster that had befallen my family."

"Only you survived? What about your brother and the other boy?"

"We three children were the best able to deal with the high air pressures inside Atlantis. When the attack came, both Brad and Billy were down there, inside Atlantis, manning the teleporter control room." Tara wiped a tear from her cheek. "When I had carefully verified from orbit that Atlantis was completely destroyed, I returned to Earth, alone."

image source

"I agree with your own assessment... this story makes no sense." Meloh called for another carafe of wine and quickly drank a goblet full. Finally she said, "Why would the Fru'wu go to all the trouble? They built the teleporter on Altair IV. Why would the Fru'wu later destroy it?"

Quit suggested, "Maybe they agree with Grean... Earthlings are not ready for such an advanced and powerful technology."

Meloh shook her head. She suggested, "Maybe it was not a Fru'wu ship that attacked the Manaslu and destroyed Atlantis."

 

Tara asked, "Who could it have been if not the Fru'wu?"

 

Meloh shrugged. "It is a big universe. There are many possibilities." 

Tara felt that Meloh was not telling all that she knew. Quit called the waiter to their table and asked for a dessert menu.

Tara had finished her tale. She ate a rich dessert and then their evening out was over. They returned to the aircar and flew back towards the farm. Tara could sense that Meloh was in discussion with Erca by means of their special tryp-At system for technology-assisted telepathy. Telepathically sensing the flow of their conversation and Erca's desire for more information, Tara told Meloh, "Really, I've told you all I know." Now she was feeling upset and depressed after having told the story of how her family had been destroyed.

source

Quit reached out and took hold of Tara's hand, "It is hard for me to imagine what it must have been like for you. How did you get through such a horrific ordeal?" When touching Tara's hand, another stream of infites passed unseen to her body from the little vial that Quit had received from Erca.

The second set of infites from Erca integrated into Tara's brain. Tara tried to remember if there was some addition part of the events on Altair IV that might hold meaning for the tryp'At. "While returning to Earth, I had access to all the Belerephon's records of contacts with the Fru'wu and expeditions to dozens of distant exoplanets. I've never had enough time to read or understand all of those reports, not even just those written by my father. During the long trip to Earth, I mostly occupied my time studying the the data files in alien languages that held a wealth of information about the Fru'wu worlds, but there was simply too much material... I never got through it all. Maybe I missed something important. I don't know. However, I also learned how to hack into my father's private records and I learned about the equipment that he had used to link Edith and I and Patty into a telepathic network. I started experimenting with that equipment, but I had nobody else there who I could telepathically manipulate..."

"Patty?"

"My young Tequid friend, a native of Altai IV who helped us get into Atlantis. It was she who actually discovered the teleportation equipment." With fond thoughts of Patty in her mind, such as the first time she had swam in the ocean with her, Tara felt her spirits lifting. She told herself: I will remember the good parts of my life on Altair and not let the tragedies haunt me! She forced herself not to wonder about Patty's fate after she had used the teleporter to depart from Altair IV.

They arrived back at the Marson farm and again went into the secret underground facility of the tryp'At. Erca gave Tara a long hug. "Try to forget about the horrors of Altair, my dear. That is past and over with. We must look to the future."

"Yes." Tara pulled away from Erca's embrace and demanded. "Tell me what you have done with the Records that you took from Belerephon."

image source

Erca turned her head and pointed to her left ear ring. "Notice anything familiar?"

Tara looked at the ear ring. It looked like it contained in its structure a miniature datacore. "Does that tiny datacore have enough capacity to hold all the Records from the Belerephon?"

Erca nodded. "Myty, my field agent, copied all the data out of the Belerephon datacore just before the immigration police arrived. Myty arrived here a short time ago, able to slip in after the delegation from Space Fleet departed. We now have made several copies of the complete record of everything that was learned on Altair IV."

 

Quit arrived, quietly emerging from the dark passageway where Tara had first caught a glimpse of him. Having parked the aircar in its garage, he now stood nearby, awaiting Erca's orders. Tara rested her eyes upon the robot's handsome face. For some reason, a wonderful idea popped into her mind. What if there were two copies of Quit and she were allowed to 'adopt' one as her personal aid? Pushing away that fantasy thought, she asked Erca, "But how will I send the Altair information back in time to Ariel?"

"Don't worry yourself about it; that little task is up to Delpha. And remember, at this moment there might already be a second copy of you... the Report on the Fru'wu Teleportation Network might already in the Hierion Domain and in Delpha's hands."

"So you have told me." Tara looked from Meloh to Quit and back to Erca. "That is a pleasant thought, but I must know for certain!"

"First my dear, never forget this for an instant: if the Report had not been sent back in time, you would not even exist. Second, I don't really believe that you have been copied. I suspect that Delpha is giving you time to decide if you want to live on Earth or join her in the Hierion Domain. Now, it is late. Get some sleep. We will talk some more tomorrow." Erca ordered Quit, "Please show Tara to her room."

Replicoid Games

The robot led Tara down a dim corridor and then down a level to her suite of rooms. Quit handed Tara a ring. "Please wear this ring. If you need anything, just speak to the ring and I will hear you. Now, over there is the bath, complete with a fancy spa. Your bedroom is through that arch and the closets are full of clothing for your use." Quit turned and pointed to the far end of the great room. "There are kitchen facilities over there beyond that counter, but I can quickly bring you anything that you want to eat of drink." Quit bowed, turned and walked out of the suite.

 

Next: part 6 of "Grean Fiction". 

visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers