Dr. Kasya Jeghtop

Kasya Jeghtop arrives for
dinner at the palace

Below on this page is part 3 of "The Alastor Network", a science fiction story set in the Alastor Cluster, a group of stars in our galaxy that was the literary invention of Jack Vance. "The Alastor Network" can be viewed as fan fiction in which I use the setting of Alastor Cluster as a canvas upon which I explore the development of human telepathy, a long, gradual process that involves application of advanced hierion-based technology obtained from the Phari and which is being guided by both R. Gohrlay and Grean the Kac'hin.

 

Part 1 of "The Alastor Network" takes place at the Connatic's palace on the planet Numenes where Acyreff, the Connatic's wife, learns of plans to use her grand-daughter Lavany as the core node of a mind clone network that will link telepaths on several planets including Yerophet and Marune (Acyreff's home world). The goal is to achieve telepathic contact with the Phari, an ancient alien species that has systematically constructed Alastor Cluster during the past 2 billion years.

Power of the Phari; image source

In part 2, Acyreff finally confirmed her long-standing suspicion that the robots of Triskelion have telepathic powers. After that breakthrough, Acyreff then immediately met Dr. Jeghtop, chief engineer for the Shadow Drone project on the planet Brevik. Jeghtop wants access to the secret telepathy technology, code named 'Josef', that is being developed by the Connatic within a military research project. 

 

The events in part 3 of "The Alastor Network" take place a few hours after the end of part 2. Acyreff begins to realize that having successfully played her role in creating the genetic patterns of Lavany, she is now being linked into the life of Kasya Jeghtop. Can Kasya and Acyreff work together and discover how to use nanotechnology to defend spacecraft from the space pirates of Yrinna?

 ⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

 

Part 3. Vision of the Future. (read part 1) (read part 2)

 

After the last of the day's scheduled appointments with visiting dignitaries, Acyreff pulled off her mask and wig and took hold of Hans' arm and said, "If there is any way that you could help me-" She wanted to say 'telepathically probe', but she could not say those words.

 

Hans began to say something, but then his robotically precises features seemed to freeze on his handsome face. After a brief shake of his head, he smiled and said, "Let's go back to your bedroom, my Lady. We have time for some sex play before dinner." He opened up to top of her gown and delicately stroked the smooth skin of her breasts with his soft finger tips.

 

Acyreff enjoyed the robot's touch, but she shook her head. "Don't try to distract me, Hans. I want to talk about-" She then tried with all her concentrated will power to say the word 'telepathy', but that simple word would not come to her tongue. Instead, she began thinking about her husband Oman and the taste of his sweet semen on her tongue. Thinking that Hans was telepathically placing sexual thoughts in her mind, Acyreff shouted, "No. Stop that, Hans." Sweat had formed on her face and she was trying to speak to the robot about the possibility that Hans could help her telepathically enter into the mind of Dr. Jeghtop. Acyreff wanted to know how it had been possible for Dr. Jeghtop to learn about the top secret Josef project. Now struggling against Hans and his amorous advances, Acyreff pulled her clothing back together, pushed Hans away and walked out of the holography projection room. Hans followed along. Finally, certain that she was not going to be allowed to speak to Hans about telepathy, Acyreff asked, "What is going on?"

telepathy

Hans explained, "At lunch today, I..." Hans paused, as if struggling to speak. Walking at her side, he placed a hand on Acyreff's round bottom and continued, "... I was able to demonstrate to you the fact that we robots of Triskelion can transfer chemical substances into the bodies of humans."

Acyreff was quite susceptible to the charms of Hans. Now, she tried not to think about how carefully the robots of Triskelion were designed to provide sexual pleasure to humans. She grabbed his hand and forced it away from her body. "I don't want to talk about sex play..." Acyreff wondered why Hans had revealed his telepathic ability to her, but had now returned to ignoring telepathy as if it were a taboo topic. "...unless that is how you can help me with-" Again, she could not say the word 'telepathic'. She thought about the mysterious link between orgasms and telepathy.

 

They turned down the hallway that lead to Acyreff's bedroom. Hans was struggling to find a way to say what he wanted to say. Surrendering to the unseen and mysterious force that was constraining his behavior, he said, "I wish you would use your imagination, my Lady."

 

Suddenly, Acyreff realized that Hans was also being inhibited from speaking about telepathy. Now that she thought about it, Hans had never actually spoken of his telepathic powers. However, Acyreff had experienced one strong, if brief, telepathic view into the robot's mind. Very well... if they could not discuss telepathy, then she would have to think things carefully through and solve this puzzle by logical deduction from the facts already available. Still, it was as if something or someone was trying to distract her from thinking about telepathy. Unable to push from her thoughts the way that Hans had repeatedly ejaculated into her mouth, she began trying to imagine what peppermint-flavored semen had to do with telepathic communication. Then she remembered the thin red tube that was hidden inside his robotic penis. What was the link between sex play and telepathy? What if Hans could use his ejaculate as a medium to transfer a chemical drug into her body that altered her brain function and made her able to use an orgasm trance for telepathic communication? But no... their minds had been telepathically linked before she had swallowed his semen. 

 

They had reached Acyreff's suite and she was greeted by one of the palace cats who rubbed up against her legs. Acyreff had never tried to learn the names of the cats; there were several dozen of them that roamed through the royal apartments using their own set of cat-sized passageways. After scratching the cat's ears, Acyreff began changing into a less elaborate gown, something that would be suitable for a casual dinner with Dr. Jeghtop. Hans was pulling off his own clothing and he said enigmatically, "And not just chemicals." 

 

hierions

Acyreff was puzzled by that statement. Not chemicals? She wondered: if not chemistry, then what? She looked at Hans' naked body, so like that of Oman, yet unique and artistically crafted. She had gotten into the habit of thinking of Hans as a walking, talking sex toy, but now she tried to clear her mind of sexual thoughts and reminded herself that Hans was really very clever and quite knowledgeable. The word 'hierions' popped into her head. She knew that in addition to the ordinary hadronic matter of chemicals, there was also hierion matter. 

 

Hierions were not well understood, but they were the basis of anti-gravity technology used onboard spacecraft and also in the space elevator that linked from the Connatic's palace to an orbital station above Numenes. 

 

There was also a third type of matter, sedrons, that made faster-than-light space travel possible. Acyreff wondered: what if Hans could place hierions or sedrons inside her body? Could that boost her telepathic abilities? She tried one last time, unsuccessfully, to ask Hans if he could help her link telepathically into the thoughts of Dr. Jeghtop. She simply could not say anything about telepathy, so she asked, "Hierions?"

 

Unable to say anything more explicit, Hans suggested cryptically, "Maybe you should consult with Yurahs."

 

Thoughts were swirling in Acyreff's mind. Yurahs was studying materials science at the university and that past semester she had been doing laboratory research on new types of materials that were mixtures of hadrons and hierions. Could Yurahs provide some insight into the oblique and mysterious hints being provided by Hans? Acyreff needed to know if she could trust Dr. Jeghtop, who had somehow learned about Josef, the top secret artificial intelligence system that had been designed to monitor activity in the mysterious Phari telepathy network that linked all the planets of the Cluster. 

 

Feeling a growing sense of frustration, Acyreff wished that the Connatic were in residence at Lusz. She believed that the Connatic's special telepathic ability was that he could sense danger from other people. He had an uncanny ability to sense danger and never allowed dangerous people to get close to him. Gazing upon Hans, Acyreff wondered rather desperately: did Hans share that telepathic danger-sensing ability? However, her mind was still being controlled by some powerful cognitive filter and she could not find a way to get that question onto her tongue. Deciding that further talk with Hans was useless, she said, "Very well, you are dismissed, Hans, I will make do without your services this evening."

 

sedrons

As if in relief, Hans smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Madam! Xeralf will be pleased to spend the evening with me." He turned and walked through the door that connected to the Connatic's bedroom. 

 

For a few minutes, Acyreff speculated upon the sex lives of robots. Was it really possible that Hans and Xeralf had a satisfying love life and cared for each other just like a human couple? Did Hans resent having to spend time with Acyreff, catering to her sexual cravings? Acyreff forcefully pushed those thoughts out of her mind and tried to think about telepathy.

 

Now feeling that she had been handed a fun puzzle, Acyreff decided that she would dive into the available information about Dr. Jeghtop and the Shadow Drone project and try to figure out all of the mysteries that she had become aware of that day. Hans had given her a few clues, perhaps sharing as much as he was allowed to share. Acyreff wondered: was it her ghark or the hoo that was preventing them from having an open discussion of robotic telepathy? She had no way of knowing. 

 

She told herself: solving these puzzles is up to me. She finally began reading the background reports about the Shadow Drone project that she had neglected all day. Dr. Jeghtop and her many contributions to the drone program was prominently mentioned in those reports. Acyreff wondered: how had Dr. Jeghtop become so interested in the Josef telepathy technology? The idea that drones might make use of telepathic communication was not mentioned in any of the written reports.

 

After half an hour of reading, Acyreff received confirmation from the palace staff that her daughter Yurahs had competed her shopping spree and had returned to the palace. Acyreff opened a comlink to her daughter and said, "I've invited Dr. Jeghtop, a visitor from Brevik, for dinner this evening, here at the palace. You and I will have to wear our disguises."

 

Yurahs complained, "I was hoping for a quiet evening with you before I leave for camp first thing in the morning."

 

"I'm sorry, dear, but this is the kind of annoyance that comes with living in the palace." Acyreff thought about Kasya and her amazingly successful career. " I think you will enjoy meeting Jeghtop... she's a graduate of Lavaida."

 

"What department?"

 

space pirates of Yrinna

Acyreff replied, "She was in the applied physics department as an undergraduate and then did her Ph.D. research in the spaceship engineering department."

 

"Fascinating. Very well, mother. I'll be there. Don't be surprised by my appearance... I bought some new clothes for myself today and I'm eager to show them off." Yurahs terminated the call.

 

Acyreff did some reading about the planet Brevik. She was deep into learning details about that world's spaceship manufacturing processes when she was informed by another message from a palace staff member that Dr. Jeghtop had returned to the palace and was being escorted to the Connatic's dining hall. The voice of the palace events scheduling secretary came to Acyreff through her comring: "Sorry, my Lady... Dr. Jeghtop will be arriving at the dining hall about half an hour late. There was some delay in the security check."

 

Always concerned with safety and the risk that a deranged outsider might try to harm a member of the royal family, Acyreff asked, "What delay?"

 

The scheduling secretary explained, "Dr. Jeghtop has an unusual device in her handbag. The security team finally completed their technical analysis and determined that the odd device can be of no danger to you. You'd have to ask security for details."

Acyreff broke the comlink and checked the time. Having lost herself in details of the elaborate world of spaceship construction, she had not realized how late it was. She made another call, to palace security: "This is Commander Shermatz. Just checking to confirm availability of the requested security personnel for the Appenine. Is Private Puthonh going to be available?"

"I'll transfer you to Sargent Engstmarc. Please hold." Acyreff checked her wig. It had been inside it autogroom cabinet and now seemed perfectly styled. 

She turned away from the wig and began to check her face mask, but Sargent Engstmarc spoke, "Good evening, Commander. Privates Puthonh and Veameck are on their way to the Appenine. I'm still seeing a departure time for early tomorrow. They'll be on board."

"Thank you, Sargent. Who is Veameck?"

 

"I don't know much about her." Engstmarc transmitted some biographical reports through to Acyreff. "She recently graduated from the Academy and went directly into the team that protects your daughter."

 

"Okay, I'll read up on her before we meet in the morning." She ended the call.

 

Now Acyreff quickly pulled on her wig and mask and carefully adjusted her appearance. Soon she would be only six feet from Kasya and she wanted to flawlessly present her public persona of the Connatic's wife to the astute scientist. She walked from her bedroom to the dining room where she found a group of palace employees completing preparations for the evening meal. Inappropriate for a small, informal meal, the full-sized table had been removed. Half of the long dining room had been walled off and hidden from view by a decorative partition and now a small table for four was being set with tableware.

 

Asterothropes and the history of telepathy

Upon arriving in the dining hall, Acyreff was immediately distracted by three things. First, it was late. Dr. Jeghtop had been delayed in arriving, yet the table was still being set, a routine task that should have been completed more than an hour earlier. One of the palace staff seemed to be sweeping up shards of glass from the floor.

 

Second, the room was ripe with the smell of ghark. Acyreff had already been visited twice that day by her ghark, and now a third time!

 

There was also a third distraction. Acyref imagined that she heard a voice from behind the partition and she turned her head in that direction just as Dr. Jeghtop was brought in through the entrance across the room from where Acyreff stood. The guest was announced, "Dr. Kasya Jeghtop, of Brevik."

Acyreff casually waved a hand at her guest and said, "Thank you for humoring my impulsive dinner invitation, Dr. Jeghtop. We have much to discuss. May I call you Kasya?"

Kasya came forward to stand close to the table and the palace workers all departed from the dining room. "My friends call me Kas."

"Then it shall be 'Kas' and I ask you to call me 'Acy'." Acyreff sat down in her seat.

Kasya did not immediately sit down. She was looking at the walls and the various portraits that hung there as decorations. "If you don't mind me asking, what has it been like for you entering into the Connatic's family? I'm feeling rather intimidated just standing here, under the eyes of all these famous Connatics and Connaticas."

Acyreff glanced over the shoulder of Kasya at one of the portraits, that of the Connatica Eleyn. Acyreff considered telling Kasya that she had grown up in a royal family on Marune, but her past life was a secret, unknown to the people of the Cluster. Shifting her eyes back to Kasya, Acyreff gave a simple, direct reply, "I've been made quite at home in the palace." Pointing at the portrait on the wall behind Kasya, she said, "There behind you is the Connatica Eleyn, who brought me here and introduced me to my husband. Eleyn was quite a match maker!"

Briefly turning her back on Acyreff, Kasya critically examined the portrait of Eleyn then sat at the table across from Acyreff, placing her handbag on the table. "Will we be joined by the Connatic?"

"No, Oman has another engagement this evening." Out of the corner of her eye, Acyreff noticed a swirling smudge of gray near the ceiling that marked the location of her ghark. Suddenly, Acyreff had a flash-like vision of making love to Kasya and she felt a hot pink flush spread over her face. She was grateful to be wearing a mask. Acyreff admitted to herself that she found Kasya to be very beautiful and sexually attractive, but she was not accustomed to having sexual feelings for women and thought of herself as being a strict heterosexual. Acyreff felt a weak, mostly subconscious telepathic connection to Kasya.

Kasya glanced left and then right at the other two place settings. Acyreff said, "This is a small, informal meal. I expect my daughter to dine with us. I should have checked the cook's guest list... apparently it is to be dinner for four." Acyreff heard another sound from beyond the partition and began to suspect that her daughter was there, listening as Acyreff spoke to Kasya. She wondered: why might Yurahs want to spy on Dr. Jeghtop? "I just spent two hours reading about you, Kas, and now that I'm here alone with you, I almost feel like there is a subtle telepathic connection between us, despite your claim of only being telepathically connected to your sister."

 

Kasya closed her eyes and was silent for a minute. Finally she said, "I do sense something lurking at the fringes of my mind. It is complex... like an array of drifting minds. I felt something similar the day when my sister was abducted by startmenters." A frown came to Kasya's pretty lips.

 

"I hope you do not mind me speaking of your sister." Just then, a cat jumped up into Acyreff's lap.

"It is not a happy subject... but I sense that..." Her eyes popped open and Kasya glanced at the partition and she exclaimed, "Someone is coming!"

When Kasya cried out, Acyreff had a flashing vision of Hans, as if he were thrusting his erect penis into her, but for that moment, Acyreff felt that her consciousness was passing through a mixed mind space, where it merged with the thoughts of Xeralf, the robot. That vision quickly faded, but a warm feeling of sexual pleasure lingered. Again, Acyreff heard a small sound, like a deep sigh, recognizably from her daughter, a whispered noise that arrived from the other side of the partition. She wondered: what was Yurahs up to? Kasya again glanced at the partition. Recovering her equilibrium, Acyreff said to Kasya, "Actually, if you are hungry then we need not wait to begin eating. My daughter is not often punctual." Acyreff touched her comring and instantly two waiters entered the room and placed trays of appetizers on the table. 

 

image credits

One waiter began pouring wine into a goblet for Acyreff. Kasya commented, "What a beautiful cat."

Acyreff picked up the cat, removing it from her lap and then she set it on the floor, "I wish they would not come in here when I have guests. Not everyone enjoys these surprise feline visits."

 

One of the waiters asked Kasya, "Dr. Jeghtop, what may I serve you? Madam Ursht is having wine."

Kasya tugged at the shear fabric of her tight-fitting dress, which was totally failing to hide her erect nipples. "I'll try the wine, but I hope it is not too dry. I'm not much of a drinker."

Admiring Kasya's protruding nipples, Acyreff took a sip from her goblet and said, "Nor am I. This wine has more sugar that alcohol. My husband calls it grape juice, but I like the taste and the aroma." Acyreff was certain that she was in some kind of weak telepathic contact with Kasya, possibly with an emotional positive feedback component that was allowing the two women to both sustain a pleasing mental tone of sexual satisfaction that had mysteriously  come upon them from some hidden source.

The waiters departed and Kasya took a sip of the wine. "This is very nice." 

A poorly suppressed giggle could be heard arising from the other side of the room partition. Acyreff and Kasya both looked at the partition. Acyreff shook her head and asked Kasya, "Do you have children?"

Kasya nodded. "Three. The two oldest are boys. The oldest one is attending the University of Dreavero, while my baby just turned 14."

 

Now the sound of two quiet voices could be distinguished, both arriving from behind the partition. Acyreff told Kasya, "I believe we are soon to be graced by the presence of my daughter. I'm afraid I am not a disciplinarian, so my children tend to occasionally drift beyond the boundary of polite behavior... particularly my adopted daughter.

Yurahs and Lo

Yurahs called to her mother from the other side of the partition. "I'm being very polite, mother. It is you two who were both late for dinner."

Kasya told Acyreff, "Sorry I was late. I went shopping for this dress. When I traveled to Numenes, I did not anticipated receiving an invitation to dine in the palace."

Acyreff had been feasting her eyes on Kasya's beautiful body and her flashy dress. "You look simply smashing, Kasya. That is an amazing dress... it shows off you body most boastfully."

Yurahs and Lo now walked around one end of the partition. Lo took the closest seat at the table and Yurahs paused to kiss her mother's cheek while going to sit at the far side of the table. Seeing how Lo and Yurahs were dressed, Acyreff started giggling. She sniffed at her daughter and asked, "Is that peppermint?"

 

"Spearmint... I find it less bitter." Before she sat down, Yurahs looked appreciatively at Dr. Jeghtop and licked her lips. "Pleased to meet you, Dr. Jeghtop." Having just achieved a sweet and satisfying orgasm on the other side of the partition, Yurahs was flushed, but her face's pink glow failed to penetrate the plasticoid mask of the disguise she wore. However, after her sex play with Lo, she had not bothered to adjust her wig very carefully.

 

"Perhaps you follow news accounts of the royal family." Acyreff asked Kasya, "Do you know my son Heshlo and my daughter Yurahs?"

 

Kasya was looking back and forth between Lo and Yurahs. Yurahs was wearing the mask and wig that Heshlo used to create his public persona, which so far had only been used for the annual family portrait. Lo was disguised using the mask that was used ti create the public image of Yurahs as a member of the royal family. Kasya replied, "I must admit, I'm not in the habit of following gossip about the royal family."

Yurahs said, "Wonderful! Then as long as my mother tames her tongue, you will be none the wiser. Really mother, you need not single anyone out as your example of bad behavior among your children."

Gazing at Lo's pretty face with brightly painted lips and artfully lined eyes and having critically examined the robot's shapely breasts, Kasya said to Acyreff, "I never realized that you have an adopted daughter."

Acyreff shrugged. "We've never made a point to stress that fact to the public... of course, the key point to be made is that Yurahs is simply a beloved part of the family." Acyreff suspected that it was clear to Kasya that Lo and Yurahs had just made love on the other side of the partition.

The waiters returned to their table and served soup. Yurahs and Lo drank a bubbly champagne from their goblets. A silence fell over the group for a minute while they ate. Acyreff turned on the sound system, and some soft music competed with the sound of Yurahs rather noisily slurping soup. Yurahs set down her spoon and said to her mother, "We had so much fun shopping this afternoon. How did your day go?"

Acyreff hesitated before answering. She finally managed to move her eyes off of the boyish clothing that her daughter was wearing and looked at Kasya. "I ran out of time with Dr. Jeghtop during the scheduled appointment this afternoon..." She glanced at Lo and Yurahs and continued, "...so I hope you two don't mind if we talk about ship building on Brevik and the Shadow Drone project."

"I don't, mind, as long as you first tell me if you like our new clothes." Yurahs winked at her mother.

 

Acyreff said, "You look very dashing."

 

Kasya asked Lo, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are those breasts real?"

 

Lo replied, "Sadly, no, but they are fun and flashy." The robot said resentfully, "I don't get to show them off in public."

 

Looking across the table at Kasya, Acyreff said, "When it comes to public sexual displays, I only wish that my daughter would automatically consider the reputation of her brother without me having to remind her."

 

Changing the subject, Yurahs asked Kasya, "What about all the recent news reports suggesting that the Brevik spaceship lines are being targeted by startmenters?"

Kasya replied, "That is what brought me here to Numenes. I hope to obtain experimental technology that might help defend spaceships against these recent bold attacks by starmenters. Something new is going on... the starmenters have never so openly targeted telepaths who travel from planet to planet."

Yurahs asked, "Telepaths?" She had not heard about a connection between telepathy and the recent starmenter raids. She said to Kasya, "I sense that you have telepathic powers."

Kasya said, "Until this evening, I'd only ever really had a useful telepathic connection to my twin sister."

Kasya and Yurahs locked their eyes on each other. "So that was you that I felt..." Yurahs reached out and placed her hand on top of Kasya's.

Kasya closed her eyes. "For about twenty seconds I could see into your mind, Yurahs."

Yurahs complained, "This is why telepaths are so rare, they ruin everyone's fun... nobody can keep a secret around a telepath." She pulled off the wig and mask that she had been wearing, revealing her true appearance to Kasya. Yurahs shook out her long hair and took another drink from her goblet.

Seeing her daughter reveal her true appearance to an outsider, Acyreff cried, "Yurahs, what are you-"

Yurahs told her mother, "Don't worry, mom. You can trust Kasya... I've seen into her mind."

Triskelion

"I should go." Kasya stood up and told Acyref, "Acy, I'm sorry I interrupted your last evening together before Yurahs goes off to dance camp. I'll stop stealing your precious family time." She turned and walked away from the table.

Yurahs jumped up, ran after Kasya and grabbed her arm. "No! Stay and tell us about your sister. We must find her!"

Acyreff told Kasya, "Please don't go, Kas. I need to know how you found out about Josef."

Kasya turned around, but she did not return to her chair. "When Twycky was taken bu the starmenters, we were on our way back to Brevik from Triskelion. We had learned that Triskelion is providing technology for the Josef project on Netal."

Yurahs spoke excitedly to her mother, "If we make the Josef technology available to Kasya then we can rescue Twycky!"

Kasya sadly shook her head, "When Twycky was taken away by the pirates and I lost my telepathic connection to her... I'm such a weakling! I was afraid she had died! In that horrible moment, I believed she had been killed..."

Yurahs pulled Kasya back to the table. "No! When our minds were linked, didn't you feel her? She was there with us, inside the telepathic thought pool."

Kasya's knees went weak. She sank back into her seat. "You sensed Twycky's mind?" She whispered, "At the moment when you had your orgasm, I felt... something, but I was confused. I could suddenly sense fragments of a half dozen different minds pushing at me..."

Yurahs looked at her mother and explained, "I received a flashed image from the future." She had seen Acyreff and Kasya making love and then the two of them going into an orgasm trance. That future event, the simultaneous orgasm achieved by Acyreff and Kasya, had opened up a kind of telepathic resonance and that had become the communications portal that allowed Yurahs to briefly feel Twycky's mind!

Acyreff told Kasya, "I am going to make another imposition on your patience, Kas. I have assigned Commander Shermatz of the Whelm to accompany you back to Brevik. You two must quickly prepare a report for the Connatic on the logistics of merging the Josef technology into your drone project. The Connatic will be eager to receive your report in about a week."

 

The meal proceeded to it conclusion. Little was eaten but much was said concerning starmenters and the flight control systems of robotic drones. The standard defense of spaceships carrying passengers between planets within Alastor Cluster was to ram attacking pirate ships with unmanned drones. For centuries that method had mostly protected the Cluster's passenger service from attacks, but now the pirates seemed to be able to inactivate the guidance systems of the drones. An updated defense was needed and Kasya felt certain that the space pirates were using a kind of telepathy technology to inactivate the drones.

 

Acyreff asked Kasya, "How do you plan to use the Josef telepathy technology to improve the Shadow Drone defense?

"Before I can answer that question with any confidence, I need to study Josef first, but allow me to show you something that I discovered during my visit to Triskelion." Kasya turned to Lo and said, "Please stand up." She picked up her handbag from the table, opened it and withdrew a small electronic device.

 

Lo stood and waited. Kasya activated the device and Lo collapsed to the floor. Kasya immediately turned off the device and Lo began to recover. She said, "This is a robot!"

 

Yurahs raced around the table and helped Lo to his feet. The wig he had been wearing fell off and remained on the floor. Yurahs turned to Kasya and asked, "How did you know he is a robot?"

 

Kasya put away her device and stood up. She approached Lo and thrust a hand inside the robot's skirt and touched the robot's genitals. "Male." She then reached out with her other hand and gently stroked one of Lo's breasts. "I've had experience with sexbots on Triskelion. But more importantly, earlier this evening when we were all telepathically linked, I recognized an artificial mind pattern that was like one I briefly felt when my sister was being abducted by the pirates. Somehow, apparently subconsciously, I guessed that I was feeling the mind of a robot."

 

Acyreff asked, "What is that device that you used to inactivate Lo?"

 

Kasya sat down again at the table and asked the robot, "You're name is Lo? I congratulate you on your mimicry of the human form, but those breasts are inhumanly perfect." She turned to Acyreff, "Maybe we can trade. When I get access to the Josef technology then I'll share the secret of this device." She patted her handbag.

Acyreff laughed, "Or the Connatic might simply order you to turn over that device to the Whelm for study."

Kasya said stubbornly, "I prefer to think that I will be getting access to the Josef project technologies." Kasya checked the time and said, "I traveled to Numenes with my young daughter and promised her that I would not stay out late this evening." Kasya glanced over her shoulder towards the door she had entered through.

 

Acyref used her comring to signal for a porter who could guide Kasya out of the palace. "Thank you, Kas. I've learned a lot this evening. Remember, in the morning you will be met by Commander Shermatz. A Whelm spaceship will take you two to Brevik."

 

Kasya stood up and picked up her handbag from the table. She nodded to Acyreff, turned and walked to the doorway.

The porter had promptly appeared and led Kasya away. It would have been conventional for Kasya to bow before going, but she did not believe that royalty was deserving of any special treatment. Acyreff turned to her daughter and asked, "You are absolutely certain that Twycky is alive?"

Yurahs is a teleportation duplicate of Sharue

Yurahs nodded. "I had a vision of the future, mother. When you go to Brevik..." Yurahs could not understand all she had seen in the future, but the ultimate outcome was clear: "Twycky will be rescued from the starmenters." Yurahs fell silent, trying to make sense of another idea that had arrived from the future. She asked quietly, "Is it true... I am not really your daughter? You never adopted me?"

Acyreff pulled off her wig and mask and put her arms around Yurahs. Yurahs was wearing shoes that added three inches to her height, all as part of the silly game of impersonating her brother Heshlo. Looking up at Yurahs, Acyreff said, "There are many types of daughters... adopted daughters... adopted grand-daughters..."

Yurahs now understood what she had learned from the future about her true relationship to the royal family. For clarification, she asked, "Eleyn adopted me?"

"Yes, the adoption was completed just before Eleyn resigned from her position as Connatica and departed for Earth. You were just a little girl... Oman and I raised you as our daughter. What difference does it make who adopted you?"

Yurahs hugged Acyreff tightly with her long, powerful arms. "It makes no difference to me. I will always call you 'mom'." She stepped back from Acyreff. "Thank you for telling me the truth, mother." She took Lo by the hand and headed for her apartments. On the way out of the dining hall, she turned to Acyreff and said, "See you for an early breakfast!"

In the now quiet dining room, for a minute, Acyreff gazed at the portrait of Connatica Eleyn. How had Eleyn known to bring the woman Alferica and the girl Sharue to Lusz? Had Eleyn seen the future? The cat was pushing against her leg and purring. Finally, she took one last look around the dining hall. The ghark seemed to have departed. A team of staff members arrived and they began to disassemble the partition at the center of the room. Others were clearing away the dishes. Acyreff returned to her bedroom, took a long bath and then got into bed. She knew that if she opened the door to the Connatic's bedroom then Hans would come join her in the bed. However, she was overcome with sleepiness. The cat lay on her chest as she slept.

 

Her night dreams were populated with marvelous visions. In her dream, Hans arrived in the middle of the night, his carefully designed and perfectly constructed penis approached her face. Thinking about mint, she opened her mouth, but a bouquet of squirming red tubes blossomed from the tip of his erection. Most of the tubes penetrated her brain and took hold of her mind. 

 

One of the red tubes entered her vagina and wormed its way through her cervix to enter her uterus. In that odd way, Acyreff was subconsciously informed of how Lo implanted Yurahs' embryo in the middle of that night. The hoo that routinely resided inside the cats of Lusz remained hidden in the cat that shared Acyreff's bed that night. Through the night, the hoo made delicate adjustments to Acyreff's memories.

Next: part 4 of "The Alastor Network".

 

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