Wiki Fiction: The Replicoids of Talya

Below on this page is the final part of a science fiction story, "Grean Fiction". Tara Morbius is teleported from Earth into the Hierion Domain so that she can take part in sending a report about Altair IV back through time to the 20th century.

In the Hierion Domain, Tara meets Delpha the Kac'hin and learns that Delpha has tried to provide compensation for what Tara went through both on Altair IV and during the long lonely journey back to Earth.

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Part 7 of Grean Fiction. (read part 1)(part 2)(part 3)(part 4)(part 5)(part 6)

image credits

Tara awoke, still snuggled against Quit's long, lean body, his arms wrapped around her. At first she imagined that he had also fallen asleep. His eyes were closed and she tried to move gently... she intended to go empty her bladder. He muttered, "I'm awake." A moment later his eyes opened. "I'm helping Myty process data files from the Belerephon."

Tara said, "I'll be right back." However, she did not directly return to Quit. She went to the kitchen and found some fruit juice and roles. Returning to Quit with a tray, she asked him, "As a robot, do you really need to eat?"

"No, but I don't mind taking part in social rituals... and in addition, food tastes good."

Tara sat down close to the robot and sipped the juice. "Thank you for staying here with me." She wondered why she felt so safe and comfortable wrapped in this machine's strong arms. "Tell me, what is the local time?"

"It is late morning. Erca has been waiting rather impatiently for you to awaken."

the Belerephon at Altair IV

Tara glanced towards the hot tub that was only twenty feet away. "She can wait. Yesterday you offered to let me inspect you... let's get into the tub together." She took one last bite of her roll and finished her glass of juice then pulled off her clothing. She climbed into the tub and cried out, "Hot, hot, hot!" She could not sit down in the hot water.

Quit altered the tub controls which had previously been adjusted to match tryp'At preferences. Powerful jets of water began to circulate in the tub and twenty gallons of ice water were injected, quickly lowering the temperature of the water. Tara gingerly settled down into the water and watched while Quit took off his clothing and stepped into the tub.

Running her finger tips over her erect nipples, Tara asked, "Do you have conscious control of your erectile tissue?"

"Yes, I do. However, in my experience, women enjoy the fun of sexually stimulating a man, so I'll leave that task to you..."

Tara moved to his side of the tub and sat on his long legs. She moved her hands into his lap and took hold of Quit's penis. "I am curious... after all your bragging last night... I want you to show me some of your super powers."

"Don't expect too much. I'm programmed to grow just large enough to match the size of my lover."

Bimanoid Interface

She felt his penis stiffening as she played with it. "Can you please turn off all the bubbles? I can't see anything."

Quit shut off the water jets and then reached out, placing his nads on her hips. She said, "The problem is, you don't know my size."

He suggested, "I can quickly find out, if you will just allow me to..." He tried to pull her close.

"No, no!" She moved back to the far side of the tub. "I'm more than satisfied, for now. You are a lovely specimen." As she watched through the water, it seemed as if his erection continued to grow. "Sorry to frustrate you, but I've never had intercourse and I'm not quite ready to start now."

Quit nodded fatalistically. "I'm at your service, any time you decide that you would like to give it a try. Let me remind you: last night you mentioned oral sex."

Tara giggled, "I am rather curious to find out what you would feel like in my mouth, but I don't quite see how I could do it without hurting you with my teeth."

"Well, I've tried to impress you by letting my penis grow to spectacular proportions. I can shrink down to better fit your pretty mouth."

"I do believe you are a very bad influence, Quit." She tried to keep her eyes off of his penis. She went under the surface and kissed him. Returning to the surface, she pushed back her wet hair. "Make yourself, useful. I'd like to wash my hair. Where is the soap?"

robot

The robot jumped out of the tub and quickly returned with a selection of soaps. He washed Tara's hair and then dried and styled it. Half way through the process, Tara had to climb out of the hot tub and cool off. As he was finishing with her hair, she reached out and caressed his still erect penis, which she thought looked to be just the right size. Tara sighed, then she went to the bedroom and dressed. When she emerged, dressed in a black jumpsuit, Quit was back in his black bodysuit and waiting at the door. Tara glanced at their reflections in a mirror and felt as if she now fit in with the apparent preference of the tryp'At for black. She looked into Quit's eyes and asked, "Are you going to take me to Erca?"

He nodded, opened the door and gestured with a wave of his hand towards the hallway. "She want's to see you as soon as you are available."

Tara got on the tips of her toes and stretched up to kiss his cheek and then said, "Thank you for fixing my hair. I've never had a man do that for me..." She patted his crotch. "Or show me his erection."

They went up one flight of stairs and returned to the main lounge. As they walked, Quit suggested to Tara, "Please use your imagination. I'm versatile. I can do anything you want me to do."

Erca and Meloh said good morning to Tara and then Erca waved dismissively at Quit and he immediately departed. "I've sent him off to help Myty. They are making good progress sorting through the data files from Belerephon... there is a large amount of interesting information about the Fru'wu."

Tara sat down close to Erca. Again, she could feel no contact with Erca's mind. Erca knew that Tara was seeking telepathic contact so she said, "Unfortunately, there was interference when we kept trying to run two over-lapping systems for accessing the Bimanoid Interface, so I had Myty inactivate the technology-assisted telepathy equipment from Belerephon. When you are ready, we can either get you started on trying to use our similar tryp'At system or I can provide you with a complax."

Tara was thinking about the cleverly concealed hiding space on Belerephon where Justin had kept his technology-assisted telepathy equipment. "How did Myty find-" Tara paused. "I keep forgetting, you gave Justin access to that equipment. Was it you who installed it in that secret compartment on Belerephon?"

"No, I seldom get the fun of doing manual labor. I have well trained and specialized field agents who perform such tasks." Erca smiled enigmatically, "Myty is particularly good at getting into tight spaces."

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Meloh chuckled at some unspoken joke.

Tara glanced at Meloh then returned her attention to Erca. "According to Quit, you have been watching me, so you must know about my concerns." She asked, "Tell me, am I safe here or not?"

"For now, I believe you are quite safe. You seem relaxed and less timid than yesterday, so I also believe that this is a good refuge for you... we can provide you with peace and quiet and the time that you need to recover from the horrors of Altair."

"I'm relaxed because I just had a nice hot soak with Quit." Tara wondered if Erca might be jealous. "However, I am still worried that outsiders might find me. I don't want to face questioning by Space Fleet about the disaster on Altair IV... or about my special telepathic powers."

"I understand your qualms. I'll ask you to consider the possibility that if things do get too hot for you here on Earth, and if the probes of the Earthlings threaten to reveal your location, then Delpha might simply take you away, into the Hierion Domain."

Meloh suggested, "It might be that the only thing keeping you here is your own desire to explore Earth and further your exploration of Quit's... versatility."

Tara laughed. "Quit is a wonderful device. I have not had so much fun since the day when Ilania let me play with her vibrator."

Erca grinned rather stoically. "I feel a bit of guilt... I asked Quit to keep you entertained, but it might be for the best if you were not quite so happy." Erca had expected Tara to be repulsed by Quit's non-biological nature, but she sensed that Tara felt no real qualms about becoming intimate with the robot.

Probability of extinction as a function of technological
advancement from nucleons to hierions to sedrons.

Once more, Tara felt that Erca was not being completely honest and she wished that she could re-activate the telepathy-boosting equipment that she had been using her entire life. "What do you mean? I thought you wanted me to relax and..." She tried one more time to use her telepathic ability to reach out and feel Erca's emotions. She failed to gain any insight into Erca's thought processes. "Are you jealous of me and how I enjoy playing with your robot?"

Erca shook her head. A small grin curled the corners of her lips.

"What you should be thinking about is this..." Meloh explained, "Delpha may be sitting in judgement of you and your happiness. If you were a little less delighted with how things are going for you here on Earth then Delpha might take you into the Hierion Domain. If she did so, then you could learn about time travel from her and possibly stop worrying so much about the past."

"I see." Even if Delpha was the real concern, Tara did not want to give Erca the idea that she was taking away her boy toy. She looked Erca in the eye and said, "Well, I can't deny that Quit is a very fun plaything, but given a choice between indulging in sex play and solving the mystery of time travel, I'd rather investigate the matter of the time loop that I am caught up in." Just then, Tara felt dizzy and the world seemed to become a gray blur.

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Then a moment later, her vision cleared and rather than Erca sitting there, Tara was face to face with Delpha the Kac'hin. Delpha smiled, revealing her long fangs. "Welcome to the Hierion Domain."

Tara had been growing accustomed to the alien appearance of Erca and Meloh, but now this! Somehow Delpha seemed both alien and familiar, as if Tara had seen her before. Also, Tara could feel the force of Delpha inside her mind, searching through Tara's memories. For a moment she tried to resist the telepathic touch of Delpha, then realizing she was out-matched, she stopped struggling.

Pulling her gaze from Delpha's large hypnotic eyes, Tara looked around the room, which was similar to the lounge that she had been in with Erca and Meloh, but also different in many ways. She jumped to her feet and asked, "Teleportation?"

"Yes, I teleported you away from Earth."

Tara rubbed her hands together. The gravity had shifted somewhat and now she felt very light on her feet. Holding her hands out to her sides and looking down at her body, Tara asked Delpha, "Is this... me, or... a copy of me?"

Delpha giggled. "I decided to only leave one copy of you on Earth."

"So you did duplicate me..."

"Relax, Tara. The copy of you that remains on Earth is one that I made long ago. This may be confusing for you, but you have been living with that copy your entire life."

"So I do have a replicoid..."

"I made sure of that, back when you were only a small ball of cells inside my genetics laboratory."

Tara placed her hand against her forehead. "I don't understand what you are telling me! But before you confuse me further, tell me: have you sent the needed data from Altair back to Ariel?"

Delpha was growing tired of looking up at Tara. "You are such a tall, girl. Won't you sit down so that we can chat on the same level?"

Tara sat down and crossed one of her slim legs over the other. She rested a hand on the silky black fabric of her knee. "Please don't play games with me. I feel you inside me, messing with my thoughts and memories. It is very unfair that I am being deprived of my telepathic ability!" Delpha just sat there, with a subtle smile twitching at the thin pink lips of her alien mouth. Deciding that there was nothing good that could come from getting mad at Delpha, Tara asked, "Just tell me, has the time loop been completed?"

Delpha reached out and set her own hand on top of Tara's. "Not quite yet. I thought you might like to perform the actual shift through Time yourself, otherwise you might never really believe that it had been done. Next week in Naxos you will complete the loop."

Tara laughed. "You know me well." She looked down at Delpha's long, alien fingers. Tara had a hundred questions on the tip of her tongue, one being "Where is Naxos?" but something whispered inside her and suggested: relax, don't be in such a rush!

"I know you very well. I planned your life and I've carefully made sure that everything went smoothly for you these past 20 years." Delpha squeezed Tara's hand. "Now, all of your travails are in the past and it is time for you to relax and enjoy yourself."

Tara was rather alarmed by Delpha's smug confidence. "I hope you are not telling me that everything I have done during my life has been the work of my copy, my replicoid."

Delpha shook her head. "It is not like that at all. I'm sorry that Quit is such a blabber mouth. It would have been best had he not told you the original purpose of replicoids."

teleportation

Still uncertain and confused, Tara asked, "So, do I control my own life or not?"

"Well, yes, within limits. You are not a puppet of your replicoid in the way that replicoids were originally designed to enforce temporal momentum on the people of Earth. I used a nanoscopic replicoid to help provide you with useful advice, such as where to look for the telepathy device that was hidden on board the Belerephon. Ara gently guided you through life and that worked very well. In fact, at the risk of gloating, I'll call it a complete success." A sly smile remained on Delpha's lips.

Tara complained, "You planned the death of my parents and you call that 'success'?"

Delpha smiled a bit more broadly. "Please do not judge me too harshly, Tara. I believe that it is for the best if the Earthlings believe that the evil Fru'wu destroyed your family. With catastrophic sea level rise, sentiment among Earthlings is now decidedly anti-Fru'wu. Why not take advantage of that... even amplify that aversion? Doing so will help reduce the risk of further technology transfers from Fru'wu to human. I apologize for any pain caused by the theater played on in the Altair system... I hope you can understand what happened from a broad perspective and not despise me just because I subjected you to four uncomfortable years. Actually, the one who made the ultimate sacrifice was Captain Sopreld and even she has forgiven me."

Another voice rang out: "Tara!" It was Edith, crying out and running into the room where Tara and Delpha sat chatting. Tara jumped out of her chair and rushed to embrace her mother. She saw Justin and Brad and Billy following along behind Edith at a more sedate pace.

After excitedly hugging them all, Tara turned back to Delpha and asked, "You made copies of them?"

Delpha shook her head. "No, copies were not made. I simply teleported them off of Altair IV and brought them here."

"But for four years you let me believe they were dead!"

"I ask you to forgive me for that. As things stand, all of Earth will believe that the Fru'wu destroyed the teleportation terminal on Altair IV. The combination of knowing about the existence of teleportation technology and believing that the Fru'wu want to keep that technology from being used by humans will help provide motivation and push Humanity out into the galaxy. Later, in the future, when space-faring Earthlings finally do reach a Fru'wu planet, humans might be ready for teleportation technology."

"You can see that future?"

Delpha explained, "I view many futures, then select the one that is best. I have not yet found a good future in which humans will have teleportation technology. Possibly teleportation and matter duplication are incompatible with the human instinct for mischief."

Brad and Billy said goodbye to Tara. Brad told his sister, "Sorry to run off, but Derpos called us back into the city for a meeting this evening. She's been waiting for your arrival and is ready to get the Report in print." Brad hugged Tara again and then the two young men quickly departed before Tara could understand what Brad had been talking about.

Tara asked, "I sense that they are truly happy together. I used to wonder if their partnership would last."

Justin, Edith and Tara sat down with Delpha. Justin told Tara, "When I think back, I'm amazed at how I missed the signs of their love for so long. For years I expected you and Billy to fall in love."

Delpha and Grean

Edith muttered, "Men can be so clueless."

Justin laughed and then continued, "Yes, it is true. I never imagined just how special Tara was and all the telepathic tricks she had up her sleeve. Of course, Brad has become a cog in Delpha's machinations, helping Rednasyl get the Report into a form ready to send back into the past."

Tara laughed nervously, her mind now unable to focus on her brother. She had told Edith about her ability to experience orgasms through her telepathic linkage to Justin, but she had never felt comfortable discussing her telepathic abilities with him. Now Tara wondered if Edith had told Justin about that. Justin continued speaking to Tara, "You and I were never aware of Ara, but she made sure that you could unlock my secret files onboard Belerephon."

"Ara?" Tara recalled that Delpha had mentioned that name. Tara asked, "Who is Ara?"

Delpha explained. "When you reached thirty years of age, in a past Reality, I made a replicoid copy, a cognitive duplicate with all of your memories and I sent her, Ara, back in time, back to your birth time. Ara is a nanoscopic replicoid. She merged into your body and integrated with your zeptite endosymbiont. She was always with you, residing inside your brain... until today. When I teleported you into the Hierion Domain, I filtered Ara out. She had completed her mission, and unlike you, she expressed a desire to remain on Earth."

"Wait now!" Tara was confused. "Quit is a replicoid. Ara is a replicoid, too, but Ara is tiny... invisibly small?"

G-sym

"There are small, medium and large size replicoids. Delpha activated a display screen. "Look! There is Quit, on Earth, right now. He is speaking to Myty and Ara."

Tara could see Quit holding a tiny doll-like figure in his hand. The truth dawned on Tara. "That tiny woman is Myty?"

Delpha nodded. "Myty is a synpaz replicoid, about one tenth the size of a normal human."

Watching the video feed from Earth, Tara complained, "I can't hear them. What is Quit saying?"

Quit was only smiling and laughing, not speaking out-loud. Delpha explained, "The three of them are linked by complax. When I teleported you off of Earth, Ara asked to be placed inside Myty's G-sym, her equivalent of a human zeptite endosymbiont. From there, Ara can communicate with both Myty and Quit. Myty leads one of the most interesting lives on Earth... doing field work for Erca. Ara thought she would enjoy being a part of that secret field work on Earth."

Tara laughed. "Quit told me that Myty was..." Feeling silly for having been jealous of Myty and her relationship with Quit, Tara finally realized what Delpha's game was. She turned her eyes from the screen and scowled at Delpha, "It was you who destroyed the Altair teleportation terminal!"

Edith placed a hand on Tara's arm. "Calm yourself, baby."

Tara shouted at her mother, "I'm no longer a child! After all of our work to learn about teleportation, she destroyed it all!" Tara was red in the face and pointing an accusing finger at Delpha.

Justin put an arm around Tara. "Nothing was destroyed except our innocence and naiveté. Atlantis still exists, shifted into the Hierion Domain by Delpha."

Tara put her face in her hands and wept, rather ashamed at how she had been tricked by Delpha. After several minutes her sobs subsided and she looked up. Delpha was gone. Edith said, "Delpha took good care of us, Tara. I'm sorry you had to go through the past four years alone, thinking that we were dead."

Tara took a deep breath. She now felt better. Something inside her brain still tingled from Delpha's telepathic touch. She told her parents, "You know, probably with Ara's help, I never really believed that you were gone. I told myself that when the dock was blasted free of the Belerephon, you fell into the ocean where the Tequids..." She wiped away her tears and laughed rather hysterically. "I created all sorts of fantasy scenarios. None of them as crazy as the truth!"

Edith and Justin stood up and pulled Tara to her feet. "Come. Let's go home." Stepping outside and exiting from Delpha's workshop, Tara saw a wide valley spread below. A great soaring city could be seen in the misty distance at the far side of a large lake. That city looked like an odd mixture of Fru'wu and human architecture. Above, an artificial sky hung over the scene, apparently the inner surface of a vast dome.

Hierion Domain

Tara asked her parents, "Where are we?" But she recognized the city and the lake and knew that they were close to Talya, the village she knew well from her visions of the future.

Justin shrugged and said, "Location has no meaning in the Hierion Domain. This place was apparently constructed long ago... possibly by the Kac'hin, possibly by some other alien race."

They started down the hillside, half running down the grassy alpine slopes. The gravity here was about half Earth normal and Tara almost felt like she was flying. Soon they reached the valley floor and they walked into a small village, a tiny collection of comfortable sprawling homes that mostly merged into the landscape. Tara whispered to herself: "Talya."

Tara turned and looked up into the hills, but she could not see Delpha's workshop. Everything looked beautiful and birds sang in the trees. She tilted her head back and could almost imagine that the roof of the dome was actual sky.

Tara turned back towards the lake. Looking around at the little community, with the crystalline blue lake in the background, Tara commented, "Hard to believe that this is all contained inside a giant artificial dome."

"Delpha selected this village as a refuge for the crew of the Belerephon and other victims of the events played out on Altair IV. Most of the crew members are here now... only a few are still out in the galaxy exploring Fru'wu space. Here, in this peaceful place, we have the time to study all the collected information about Fru'wu civilization."

Tara asked, "So you were provided with a copy of all the data from Belerephon?"

"Oh, yes. Delpha provided us with a copy of all the data files four years ago, when we first arrived in Talya."

Tara felt silly, having worried for years about how she would send a copy of the Belerephon's data files back to the 20th century. Tara felt as if she had once known much more about this village, but know her memory was clouded. She asked, "Why is this place called Talya?"

endosymbionts

"According to Delpha, the original 'Talya' was an ancient city on Earth and some Greeks from Talya were the first residents of this little town, brought here to save them from a powerful volcanic eruption and tidal wave. That was all long ago. This more modern modern village was built on top of those ancient ruins."

"What happened to the descendants of those ancient Greeks?"

"Eventually they abandoned Talya and moved to the city..." Edith gestured across the lake where the sleek towers of the city soared up towards the artificial sky. "...Naxos."

Tara shifted her eyes away from the entrancing jewel that was the sparkling city of Naxos. She asked, "What happened to the crew of the Manaslu?"

Edith replied, "According to Delpha, Captain Sopreld had to be treated as a special case, but her crew mates were not ready to go into retirement here in the Hierion Domain, so Delpha sent them on a special mission to a distant part of the galaxy. Maybe some day Earth will learn about their adventure among the distant stars."

They had reached the stately stone house where Edith and Justin lived. The house was set in among a thicket of shrubs and trees and exuberant green vines climbed the stone walls and even partially covered some of the windows. Justin said, "I'll get our celebration dinner cooking." He hugged Tara and then turned up a walkway and entered the house.

Edith pulled Tara by the hand towards the lake. "There is someone I want you to see."

Tara looked out at the nearly calm waters of the lake and saw an Alphin break the surface. Riding on its back was a Tequid. Tara ran to the shoreline and into the water. Soon Patty was in her arms. They hugged and laughed, but Tara could not telepathically connect to Patty's mind. "It is you?" Patty was fully grown and little resembled the young Tequid girl of Tara's memory. The water was cold, far colder than any that Tara had ever been in.

Patty made a strange barking sound, almost like speech: "Selahorhuss!"

Patty waved goodby, got back on her Alphin mount and slipped away across the lake. Tara returned to the shore and asked her mother, "I think that was Patty, but I'm not sure. Can we re-activate the telepathic links that we used to share?"

Tara was chilled and starting to shiver in the cool air. Edith hurried her daughter back home. "I don't know if that is possible. Yes, it seems a simple question, but Delpha talks in riddles. She claims that here in the Hierion Domain there is no need for telepathy. Delpha has told me that humans are not ready for telepathy and that she only makes it available to a few special humans when absolutely necessary."

Tara's teeth began to chatter and she wondered, "Why is it so cold here?"

"You grew up in a tropical region of Altair IV, so you were spoiled. I think you will learn to appreciate the cooler climate here... always comfortable... as long as you don't go jump in a lake!"

"I was so thrilled to see Patty. Is that really her?"

"Yes, I think that is the original Tequid who you named Patty. Don't be surprised by anything, Tara. Delpha has access to all kinds of advanced technology..."

"The original Patty? Is there a copy?"

"Yes. That is one of Delpha's favorite tricks... making copies of people." They entered the house and Edith said, "Now, run upstairs to your bedroom, there on the right, at the top of the stairs, and change into dry clothes."

Tara found that the bedroom was a close copy of her room on the Belerephon. The closets were full of clothing that almost fit her.

Having changed into dry clothes and now with a hot mug of tea in her hands, Tara sat close to the fireplace in the great room on the main floor of her parent's house. Tara set down the mug and continued to dry her hair with a towel that was draped around her neck. On the low table in front of Tara, near her steaming mug, were several newspapers and magazines from the city across the lake. They had titles such as Hierion Times, Earth Update and Interesting Activities of the Elite.

Edith watched her daughter and said, "It is so good to have you back with us. You were away for too long."

"I missed you dreadfully, mom. I'm so happy to discover that you and daddy have been together these past four years."

"Being here where it is so peaceful... it has been a welcome respite from before, on Altair IV... dealing with his eagerness to run off and explore alien worlds." Edith shook her head in wonder. "Now he cooks and bakes and is quite domestic."

There was a knock at the front door which Edith answered. A moment later she returned to the fireside with Ilania. Tara got to her feet and hugged Ilania who said, "Billy told me that you had finally arrived. I simply had to see you." Ilania looked up and down Tara's tall, slim body. "My, you've grown so tall! You are no longer the little girl I once knew."

The three women settled in around the fire, reminding each other of old events from Tara's childhood on Altair IV. Justin came from the kitchen and asked Ilania if she might stay for the celebratory meal that he was cooking. She agreed to do so and Justin returned to the kitchen, promising that they would soon eat.

Tara mused, "Ilania, it seems so fantastic to see you. I spent four years believing that you were all dead, that I was the only survivor from Altair."

"Yes, it is abominable that you were so isolated. We were luckier... all the rest of us were kept together. Delpha told us about your travails. Apparently it was necessary that you travel to Earth in order to complete Delpha's plan. It seems so cruel that you had to be alone for years."

Thinking back on her years on board the Belerephon and returning to Earth, it now almost seemed like a dream to Tara. "I kept myself very busy. I had time to think and study the technology-assisted telepathy equipment onboard Belerephon. And I thought a lot about time travel..."

Edith told her daughter, "That's just one of the technologies that Delpha uses to achieve her magic tricks."

Tara leaned back and closed her eyes. "I wonder who else might show up today..." Tara thought: This all seems like a strange dream, a magical vision, populated by ghosts of the past..."

Ilania looked at Edith and asked, "Does Tara know about... ?" She silently mouthed something to Edith.

time portal

Edith shook her head.

Tara opened her eyes and asked, "What?"

Edith explained, "When we first arrived here from Altair IV, Talya was mostly a jumble of ancient ruins, but there were robotic helpers who worked with us to design and build our new homes."

Tara reached out a hand and felt the rough stone of the fireplace. "I imagined that this village and this house have been here for a hundred years."

"The homes for the crew of Belerephon are all rather new. Justin and I enjoy living in a house that seems solid and old as the hills... it gives us a sense of stability. As you saw, each house in the village is unique, built to the whims of the individuals."

Tara mused, "This is a very nice home. I feel like I've been here before."

"We built you a bedroom modeled on the one that grew up in." Edith waved an arm to gesture at the entire house. "You are welcome to stay here with Justin and I, or you could go live in the city across the lake or make your own new home here in Talya... designed and crafted to suit yourself. The robot helpers can construct any kind of home that you want."

Ilania seemed to glare at Edith while she added, "Or Tara might discover that she is happy with one of the homes that has already been built by the robots."

"What is going on?" Tara looked back and forth between Edith and Ilania. "You two are not telling me something."

Edith giggled nervously, "Tara, dear, it is going to take some time for you to adjust to all of Delpha's magic tricks."

Ilania looked towards the kitchen and called out, "Patyqu! Patyqu, are you here?" Ilania impatiently asked Edith, "Where is that girl?"

A young woman came into the great room from the kitchen. She told Ilania, "I'm helping with the cooking, aunt Ilania."

Memories from her childhood came bubbling up from long ago. Tara laughed uneasily and stared at the girl, Patyqu. "Aunt Ilania?"

Ilania shrugged. "Patyqu is a robot. She became a loyal helper for your mother and father soon after we arrived here."

Tara looked at her mother for confirmation. "What is this? This robot was a way for you to... replace me?"

Edith denied it. "Of course not. Patyqu helped us design and build this house and now she works here... she helps me translate Fru'wu languages. But that's not the point-"

Reality Chain

There was another knock at the door. Patyqu had been watching through the window as someone approached the house. She said, "Tara, you better go answer the door." Patyque turned away and returned to the kitchen with Tara watching her walk away. There was another impatient knock at the door.

Edith moved towards the front door, but Ilania held her back.

Tara looked at her mother and said, "When I was on Altair-" There was yet another knock at the door, louder and persistently staccato. Tara turned away from her mother and went to the front door of the house and opened it. "Quit!" For a moment she did not believe her eyes. Tara could not imagine how Quit could have followed her from Earth.

He moved a quick step towards her and then restrained himself, remembering that for her, this was their first meeting. He grinned and said, "Hello, Tara."

She jumped forward and threw her arms around him. After a moment she leaned back, holding him at arm's length. He had a strange fishy odor about him. She said, "You look like Quit, but who are you?"

Smiling, he looked over Tara's shoulder towards Edith and Ilania. "Something smells good in here." He gazed longingly into Tara's eyes. "Are you going to let me in?"

She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. "Well, come in." She glanced at her mother. "Maybe one of you will let me in on this joke!"

He stepped through the doorway and told Tara, "It will take me a few minutes to explain. Actually, there is a lot to explain..."

Qydri took Tara by the arm and they walked together toward the fireplace while Ilania smirked and said, "Well, Qydri, Tara finally came, just like Delpha promised."

His eyes locked on Tara's, Qydri nodded, "So I first heard from Patty when I came ashore. The whole village is buzzing with the news."

Edith told Tara, "Qydri fishes the lake and keeps all of Talya supplied with fresh fish." She sniffed the air and told Qydri, "That's Justin, burning the salmon."

Qydri laughed. "I like the way he grills salmon."

"Qydri?" Tara looked around at the grinning faces and asked impatiently, "What's going on here?"

Edith and Ilania turned away and went to set the table in the dining room. Qydri told Tara, "No, I am not Quit. Quit does not know that I exist."

"You are a replicoid, a copy of Quit?"

Qydri nodded. "Or he is a copy of me. If that matters."

"But why would Delpha do such a thing? Make two of you?"

Qydri shrugged. "It is not easy to get answers from Delpha. She told me that I was made... it is silly. I can't bring myself to repeat her words. It trivializes our relationship!"

Tara placed a hand on his cheek. "Tell me."

Qydri placed his hand over hers. "Delpha claims that I was made because you had the idea that if there were two copies of me, then Erca could keep one and you could have the other."

Tara laughed. "That was just a passing fantasy that I had, but..."

Qydri explained, "I suppose Ara was aware of your fantasies and told Delpha and that was enough for her... she probably felt the need to compensate you for all that you had been through."

Tara shyly put her arms around Qudri and looked up into his beautiful eyes. "What do you think of all this? Do you resent being Delpha's puppet?"

Patyqu

He gently put his arms around Tara's slim shoulders. "I only regret that I have had to wait such a long time to-"

Justin and Patyqu came from the kitchen carrying platters. "Dinner is served!"

Everyone settled in around the table and began to eat. There was commentary and banter about the food and Justin's cooking and some teasing of Qydri and Tara for making goo-goo eyes at each other.

It was true; Tara could not keep her eyes off of Qydri who had seated himself at her side. She leaned close and asked him, "Delpha told you that I would..."

Qydri nodded, "I knew to expect your arrival soon after the Belerephon reached Earth. Something was different this time around. When I first met you here in Talya, it was only after you'd had some crazy adventure in Antarctica!"

Tara shook her head in wonder. "So, you really don't know my future... what you remember must be from another Reality... an alternate timeline..."

"I'm not sure. I suppose Delpha may have changed our future if she was not satisfied..."

Tara explained, "Well, I only had one day on Earth... although I did think about going to Antarctica..."

Qydri nodded. "Only one day? So, yes, my love, I've seen some version of our future together... in that other Reality, I lived happily with you for many years..."

Tara shook her head in wonder. "But then Delpha stepped in and sent you back to the past, from my future?"

"From our future. Yes."

"Then tell me the truth... you've actually experienced time travel? All the rumors of time travel are not just some crazy fantasy?"

"Time travel is real, for those like Delpha who have the technology."

Tara trusted Qydri and now she finally was willing to accept that time travel was real. "And tell me this... do I actually get to send the Altair data back to Ariel?"

Qydri nodded again. "Yes.. I think that is all according to Delpha's plan. If events here in Talya again unfold according to the same pattern as before, then in about a week you will send the Altair Report back through time to the 20th century and eventually, Ariel will receive her version of the events on Altair IV. That time loop is already complete. I really don't think it can be changed."

Tara asked, "What do you mean, 'her version'?"

"According to Delpha, in the 20th century, there is a copy of Ariel called Relda who will see the Report that you send back in time. Ariel herself will learn nothing about the teleportation terminal on Altair IV. Still, the story that she tells to Earthlings will be enough to make it possible for the time loop to be completed."

Tara giggled nervously. "And now you tell me there is another loop, linking you and I in the future."

Having finished bringing all of the food from the kitchen to the dining room and having repeatedly filled everyone's glasses, Patyqu finally settled in at the place reserved for her around the table. She lifted up her own goblet and called out, "I propose a toast: to Tara and Qydri and Samyoull!"

Glasses were lifted all around the table. Tara sipped some wine from her cup. Gazing across the table, Tara asked the robotic girl, "Your name is Patyqu?" Tara had always felt that was the real name of Patty as expressed in the telepathic signals used by the Tequids; for convenience she had simply adopted the more conventional English name of 'Patty'. "Tell me, how did you get your name?"

Patyqu winked at Tara, "When Delpha brought me into the Hierion Domain, she refused to provide me with any friends of my own species and even refused to allow me any telepathic links to humans. I complained, rather bitterly, and eventually she compromised and instantiated me as a replicoid, in human form."

"So, you really are Patty?"

Tequid and Alphin

"Yes, back on Kephey I was the Tequid you called Patty."

"Then who is that Tequid girl out in the lake?"

"Also me. I begged Delpha not to simple obliterate that copy of me."

Qydri told Tara, "That copy of Patyqu has long helped me... with the fishing." He winked at Patyqu.

Tara sensed that the two robots, Qydri and Patyqu knew each other well. Perhaps they shared a complax link? She asked Qydri skeptically, "Just the fishing?"

Qydri chuckled and took hold of Tara's hand, "Hey, if you once felt the need to explore her body, you can't really blame me for doing the same."

Tara blushed pink. "How do you know about that?"

"Remember, in a previous Reality, I've lived with you for many years. You told me all of your secrets!"

"I'm jealous of that fish girl." Tara scowled at the grinning Patyqu.

Patyqu suggested, "Oh Tara, be lenient with Qydri. I was lonely and... well, you know as well as anyone how gorgeous he is..." she pleaded, "Don't fault him for being a gentle and caring man..."

"I might be able to forgive..." She looked into Qydri'a lovely eyes. "I suppose it depends on how enthusiastic you've been in your... explorations... of Patty."

Patyqu shook her head and said to Tara, "Wheesh! Delpha warned me that you have a jealous streak. Can't we all just be friends?"

Qydri told Patyqu, "Tara is also very friendly." Qydri lifted Tara's hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. "A few weeks from now, my dear Tara, I expect you will tell me all about what it was that you held in this hand during your first day on Earth... when you were in the tub with Quit."

"Hey!" Tara flushed a deeper pink, remembering how just a few hours earlier, she had played with Quit's lovely erection in the hot tub. "Fine. If you know about that then I suppose it means that you will also tell me all of your secrets." She kissed Qydri's cheek.

Qydri suggested, "Who knows, we might decide to change the future and get all of the secrets out in the open tonight. I mean, why wait, my love?"

Trysta-Grean Pact

Tara suggested, "I think there is an old saying... something like 'waiting makes the heart grow fonder'."

"I've been waiting five years since Delpha copied me and sent me into the past." He leaned over and whispered in Tara's ear, "Maybe we've both waited long enough."

As it unfolded, the celebration dinner was a success. Ilania departed early and then Qydri invited Tara to go with him to the lakefront and see "their home." Tara thanked her parents for hosting the celebratory meal and then she went off with Qydri into the cool evening. The simulated sky was now overcast.

Walking hand-in-hand, Qydri led Tara out of the village and along the shore. They went along a path that led up a little hill. From the hilltop they could see the city, like a mist mirage, on the distant shore of the lake. Qydri and Tara then descended towards a house that was beside a secluded cove.

Their house was set on a massive stone foundation that extended from the shore into the lake. Qydri had been lovingly constructing the big house for the past five years. Out in the water was a large boathouse and dock complex and his fishing boat rested there at anchor.

They went inside the main part of the house and Tara saw at the center of the first floor was a great room with a big indoor pool to one side. That pool was connected to the lake and gave Patty easy access to the house.

Upon first stepping into the house, Tara had instantly felt comfortable. There were a hundred small touches that either seemed familiar or simply as if they had been correctly arranged after long thought.

Qydri led Tara to data display that was flashing a blue light. At their approach, the screen lit up and showed a message from Tara's brother:

Plan to visit us in Naxos next week. You can have the first copy of the Report unless Delpha nabs it.

with love,

Brad

Below the message was an animated title page from the Report, that showed a winged beast endlessly passing from right to left through a forest. Tara turned off the display and mused, "So, it is Billy who publishes the report." She asked Qydri, "Who is Derpos Rednasyl?"

Qydri explained, "She's the replicoid of Captain Lysander Sopreld from the Manaslu. Just before Sopreld died in the emergency decompression accident, she was inside the HP, getting a tutorial on the Fru'wu teleportation network from Ilania. Delpha selected Rednasyl to put together the concise written account of the discoveries at Altair IV that will be sent back to the 20th century."

Tara and Qydri went across the room and stood by the pool, an arm around each others back. Qydri was gazing into the water, while she let her eyes roam around the room. Tara asked him wonderingly, "How did you do all this?"

Qydri explained, "The first time I met you here in Talya, we slowly fell in love and then we worked together to build a house much like this one. When I was sent back in time, I had that in my mind as the model for this house... I knew what you want in your dream castle."

There was a swirl in the water and Patty surfaced briefly. Using muscles in her neck that were not suited for speech, Patty slowly croaked out, "Welcome home, Tara". Then the Tequid slipped away into the dark water.

Qydri chuckled. "She's been practicing that little speech for months."

As Qudri led Tara upstairs to their bedroom, she somehow suspected that Patty would often return. Tara knew that the Tequid was also a part of Qudri's life. She asked, "Patyqu mentioned someone else, somebody named Samyoull... who is that?"

Qydri slowly began to undress Tara, pausing frequently to plant a tender kiss on each area of newly revealed skin. "We are now in a slightly different Reality from the one I knew, so it might be best to forget Samyoull. However, when I first knew you, Samyoull was what we decided to name our first son."