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| Kerub |
The "cold fever" deaths involve the kind of positive feedback between telepathic individuals as was experienced by Heshlo in part 21 of the story.
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| "Olive" |
If you read the second half of "Finding lo'Whots" then you might wonder what was gained by sending Glisten to Yerophet. It is Yōd and Azynov who meet lo'Whots and that is only the briefest of encounters. Traveling with Glisten is her pet cat, Olive. Olive is actually the probot known as R. Oliveene Nhevrix. Oliveene makes sure that lo'Whots is provided with a set of medical nanites that will epigenetically reprogram lo'Whots, altering her physiology so that she can tolerate the warm temperatures that humans enjoy.
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| Maturin |
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| the Trading Post |
Ryl was awakened from his nap by a priority call from Agent Joole, "I've just learned that Heshlo left the station and went to the Keub border."
"Hold on." Ryl put Joole on hold and called Heshlo, waking him from his sleep.
Still half asleep, Heshlo muttered, "What is it, dad?"
"How was your flight out to the border?"
Heshlo paused before saying anything then kept it short. "Fine."
Ryl asked suspiciously, "You have nothing interesting to report?"
"Not really. Can we talk in the morning, dad?"
"Okay, let's meet for breakfast."
Ryl switched his comring back to Joole, "Heshlo seems fine."
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| Yerophet |
Ryl shared his reasoning with Joole, "He's older than the usual victim and he's not traveling alone, so I'm not really worried. Anything else?"
"Yes. Earlier this evening I sent you a non-priority message that you never responded to. Glisten Ravensroke is now here in Frost Hills."
Ryl rubbed his tired eyes. "She's here, at the station?"
"No, we put her party up at a private residence, the Snarlwood facility."
"Very nice." Ryl knew that Snarlwood had long been used by the Whelm to house visitors on Yerophet. In fact, for his first two months working on Yerophet, Snarlwood served as his informal robotics workshop. Later, a better facility had been built for him inside the Frost Hills station, conforming to his requested specifications. "Thank you for taking care of that. Let me know if Glisten needs anything."
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| A Yerophet snowcat. |
"She's a powerful telepath." Ryl was slightly worried about Glisten's safety, but was strongly motivated to deploy her as a probe of the mysterious telepathic signals on Yerophet. One of his mother's old sayings came to mind: nothing ventured, nothing gained. "I'm interested to see how she will interact with the Kerub. If you are worried about Glisten, put one of your robot watchdogs on her."
Joole needed no advice from Ryl about how to protect field agents. "I've already done that and I'm going to carefully monitor the aircar that I sent out for her use."
"Sounds good. Thank you for staying on top of everything, Joole. Any news from Ottengla?"
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| the dangers of Ottengla |
He was still feeling weary, but Ryl decided to go check on Voyt and her gene sequencing work. Arriving in her genetics lab, he found her asleep, slumped over the genome assembly workstation. He carried her to the couch in her living room and then went looking for Eleyn.
Eleyn was in her guest apartments within the Whelm communications monitoring station. When Ryl arrived, she was eating breakfast and seemed distracted, lost in thought. Ryl sat down across the table from Eleyn and sipped coffee. "Joole has been bashing me for allowing Heshlo to leave the station."
Eleyn
shrugged and told her son, "Here is an old Earth saying: nothing ventured, nothing
gained." She picked up a big yellow piece of fruit and began peeling it.
Ryl tried not to micromanage the lives of his children and he had no interest in questioning his mother about her activities. Ryl felt confident that if Eleyn had something to share with him, she'd speak her mind. He told Eleyn, "I've set Voyt to searching for Asterothrope gene patterns... I think she already found some here on Yerophet. There is quite an unusual collection of alien-human hybrids here on this planet, particularly right here at the center of the cold fever epidemic."
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| Plesypy-human hybrids |
Reflecting on Pepha's unusual anatomical features, Eleyn glanced down at her large bust and told her son, "Until tonight, I never realized that Wilken's girl, Pepha, had so many Iidi traits." Eleyn took a bite from the large banana and could not stop thinking about Semoy's long blue penis. After swallowing the aromatic fruit and taking a swig of her apple juice, she was thinking about the pleasant rich aroma of Semoy's semen. Feeling her son's eyes on her, she tried, with some difficulty, to think of something non-sexual to say. Eleyn was certain that Grean was nearby, the horny little Kac'hin looking into her mind and enjoying Eleyn's memories of sex play with Semoy. After a long pause and as an afterthought, she finally added, "I suspect that the Iidi have been involved with the human-alien hybridization that is taking place here on this world."
Ryl thought about the stories Wilken had told him about Pepha. "You met Pepha?"
"Yes, I met Pepha and her parents... out near the border."
"Lora and Pepha were such good friends." Ryl wanted to change the subject. "You know, mom, I still feel a lot of guilt about having abandoned Lora, only to learn she was pregnant."
"You did not abandon her, Oman. You had to get on with your life. Things worked out well for you and Acy. You should let go of your regrets." They both fell silent for a few minutes.
Ryl was day dreaming about his old flame, Lora and her furry blue body. His penis was stiff and painfully constrained inside his pants. Finally, Ryl emerged from his thoughts of the past and his love affair with Lora and said, "Voyt seems certain that there must be a genetic engineering project on Yerophet. It is hard to imagine how something like that could be hidden. The Whelm has had a presence here close to Kerub territory for decades." Of course, he was thinking about the communications monitoring station. Ryl was having trouble thinking about anything but sex play with Lora and his youthful explorations of her alien anatomical features... it is almost like someone is trying to make me forget about... He looked to his left and was startled. Sitting there at the end of the table was a purple-skinned Iidi.
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| Grean the Kac'hin |
The Iidi woman giggled. "Please don't call me ancient, Ele. I like to think of myself as young and vital, ready for at least another twenty or thirty million years. I want to see how this human telepathy project works out."
Eleyn said, "Surely we do not need to think in terms of millions of years... or is there some reason you are not as excited about these Lavany mind clones as Grean is?"
"Don't be fooled by recent events." The Iidi waved a hand dismissively. "These mind clones are dependent on nanoscopic replicoids and their technology-assisted telepathy. The ultimate goal of Gohrlay and Nyrtia is to develop a type of natural, twitino-mediated telepathy. That could take a very long time. After seven million years of trying, the closest Nyrtia has come is the rather weakly telepathic Asterothropes."
Ryl asked the Iidi, "Is that why you are now spreading Asterothrope genes around the Cluster?"
"Yes, of course. It would be foolish to throw away all of Nyrtia's progress. However, using the Asterothrope approach to telepathy has its own limitations... it is hard..." The Iidi was staring at the bulge of Ryl's penis where it pushed out against his pants. "It is not easy to separate the telepathic abilities of the Asterothropes from their hypersexuality." The Iidi did not bother to mention that the ancient Iidi society had also used a social foundation of love and empathy in order to make possible a resilient social system that could endure the powerful telepathic abilities of its people. "I made sure that the special human-Plesypy hybrid embryo -Pepha- had the required Iidi gene patterns that allowed her to attract first Wilken and later Heshlo." The Iidi shifted her eyes away from Ryl and was now gazed with appreciation and lustful awe at Eleyn's prominent breasts. "In any case, I wanted to thank you for your help before you leave, Eleyn. Grean is now itching to send you back to Earth."
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| the Iidi |
Eleyn stood up, walked around the table and put her arms around her son's shoulders. "I don't know when Rujyan and I will complete our work on Earth. When we do get back here, I hope to find a bunch of grandchildren who I can spoil." Then she was gone, teleported away by Grean. Ryl turned his head and saw that the Iidi had also disappeared.
For the hundredth time, Ryl wondered why all of the aliens of Alastor Cluster were so genetically similar to humans and even sometimes able to interbreed with humans. He wondered if Grean was making use of the Iidi to help engineer human gene patterns that were better for telepathic abilities, superior to even the ancient Asterothrope type of telepathy. But with Grean's memory editing infites in his brain, he did not continue thinking about genetic engineering.
_____________________
During the time when Ryl and Eleyn were visited by the Iidi, Heshlo was trying write a letter to Yurahs, describing the events of the previous evening at Goslewenn. He re-read the letter he had recently received from Yurahs describing her second positive pregnancy test and telling him that she already knew the name of their child: Lavany. Heshlo was reflecting on his own sudden and profound infatuation with Pepha. He wondered: How can I explain my hot lust for Pepha's alien mind and physical features? Hearing a sound, Heshlo looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Ra. Indeed, there was the robot, but Ra was not moving, simply staring straight ahead. Heshlo stood up and turned and then saw a strange looking alien. He wanted to call station security, but he could not lift his hand or speak.
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| In the Ekcolir Reality. This reconstructed cover image was made by Zeta using 'Browncoat 38' by Jessica Truscott |
Heshlo somehow knew that this was a Phet and that the alien was not really there with him, as she appeared. The Phet explained: I'm nanoscopic, but I'm showing you what we Phet used to look like, when we still had biological bodies a hundred million years ago.
Heshlo closed his eyes and he could now "see" other images in his mind: a furry blue Kerub spread eagle on a bed with a human thrusting his big penis in and out of her vagina. The Phet narrated what he was seeing: This was the day when lo'Whots was conceived.
Heshlo realized that he was watching Pepha and Wilken making love, more than 20 years ago. Now the pasionate couple rolled over and Pepha seemed to be having great fun playing with Wilken's stiff erection and sucking on its broad head. The Phet explained: Pepha is sensitive to the effects of Asterothrope penile secretions. It was very hard on her when Wilkens left Yerophet and lo'Whots was adopted into a Kerub clan. However, last night Pepha was very pleased to find you.
"And I like Pepha... she's very sexy, but I'm in love with Yurahs."
 |
| Lavany: age 1 week |
"Yes, of course, Yurahs and I made Lavany."
The Phet told Heshlo: The Lavany embryo was a template for the shared part of the mind clones, but Bryget is a special human-alien hybrid. The Bryget embryo will not be conceived until next month, the next time Pepha ovulates.
Heshlo asked, "What are you talking about? Bryget has already been implanted..." Heshlo was still seeing the images from the past. He watched Pepha straddle Wilkens and take his erection into her vagina, then that image faded away, being replaced by a "view" of the alien Phet.
While Heshlo "watched", the Phet seemed to be shrinking. You will impregnate Pepha and then Grean will take the Bryget embryo back in time, mix it with the Lavany embryo and implant the resulting mind clone inside a Kerub, pa'Xyget. It is la'Xyget's sister, la'Tasno who is carrying the Snoyl mind clone.
In his mind, Heshlo could now see a group of Kerub. The "image" zoomed in on two of the Kerub with big bulging bellies. He realized that he was being shown the future and Heshlo asked the Phet, "Those Kerub sisters are part of the Lo Clan?"
With the Phet at work adjusting his thinking, Heshlo was now perfectly willing to father Bryget, particularly if that would involve a month of sex play with the delicious Pepha, but now he was worried that his uncle Wilken might show up. "Has Wilken returned from his mission?"
Not yet; he is still returning from his rather long journey to the Ret'fai home world. However, in the future, Grean will make good use of the Ret'fai gene patterns that he brings back to Alastor Cluster.
Heshlo could see in the Phet's mind that the Ret'fai were an alien species. "Ret'fai?"
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| image source |
_________________
After
Eleyn and the Iidi had departed, Ryl finally had a late breakfast with Voyt and
Heshlo who both seemed tired but happy. Voyt was pleased with the fact
that Josef had found a way to selectively identify a characteristic
Asterothrope mind pattern, his rapid progress being due to careful study
of the telepathic mind patterns of both Patrycya and Eleyn. Apparently
Josef was now picking up several Asterothrope-like mind patterns on
Yerophet.
Voyt asked her father for permission to go investigate the Asterothrope-like signal sources that were close to the border, but he said, "No, not until after this cold fever epidemic is under control."
Ryl did some routine Connatic work sending and receiving messages. He sent a letter to Acyreff and received word from Joole that Appenine had met up with Nykark on Ottengla; a longer report on events at Ottengla would be forthcoming. Joole also reported that Glisten had visited the Goslewenn Trading Post and had apparently made some kind of telepathic contact with the Kerub. Ryl decided that he would have to pay Glisten a visit at Snarlwood.
As he was gathering together his cold weather clothing, Konywhn signaled at his door. Ryl let her in and said, "Thank you for giving Eleyn and Heshlo get a look at the border. I understand you visited the Trading Post. How is your mother?"
"Oh, she's been a bit flustered, like everyone else with all these cold fever deaths." Grean's infites had almost completely erased from Konywhn's memory the visit to Lora's genetic engineering lab. She had a strange, fragmented memory of Lora handing her a vibrator which she now dismissed as an old memory from her teens. She changed the subject, "Vykence told me that she is now aware of the fact that I'm her sister."
Ryl sighed. "Thank you for keeping that secret for so long. Apparently it was Josef who let the cat out of the bag. In any case, she seems to be taking the news in stride." Ryl could sense that Konywhn was thinking about Lora.
 |
| August celebration of Jack Vance "The Gensifer Clan" is fan-fiction set in Vance's Alastor Cluster. |
Ryl chuckled and shrugged. "Lora was my first true love. I think about her a lot. Particularly now... when I'm here on Yerophet. Especially with you standing there, looking so much like she did twenty years ago."
"Twenty five. Why don't you go visit her?"
"No, I can't do that. It would be too dangerous."
"You don't trust yourself?"
"Exactly. I was never able to resist your mother's charms. And I'd never be able to explain to my wife why I allowed myself to get within range of Lora's telepathic sashei."
Konywhn laughed. "Can I tell her that? She's still in love with you, you know."
"Is she? After all these years?"
"Of course. You are the only man she ever loved."
"I wish she would let go of our past and find someone else."
"For now, she still has me in her life. If I transferred to another planet or got married, then she might be ready to move on." Konywhn told her father, "I have been thinking about a transfer off of Yerophet."
"There is some other project that interests you?"
 |
| the Bimanoid Interface |
Ryl nodded and said, "Goodby. Remember... if you have any influence over your mother, please encourage her to move on and forget about me."
"Actually, that may already be happening. She recently met an interesting man named Miahco, so we'll have to see how they get along." Then Konywhn was gone. Ryl's thoughts about Lora lingered.
Heading out into the cold, Ryl flew from the Whelm listening station to the nearby Snarlwood mansion. The aircar flight only took a minute then he walked through snow from the aircar to the front door which opened at his approach. Uno the robot said, "Come in, Sir."
Now inside the warm ranch house, Ryl pulled off his outer layer of cold protective clothing which Uno stowed in a closet while saying, "Agent Joole seems concerned about Glisten, but I did not expect her to send you out here on such a cold evening."
"Joole did not send me. I've been busy or I would have been here sooner. I had hoped to see Glisten as soon as she arrived on planet."
Uno took Ryl further into the house and pointed through a set of windows to the porch where Glisten and Jantiff were enjoying the hot tub. Glisten waved and shouted to Ryl, "Come join us!"
Ryl shook his head and went back to the living room and sat in a chair near the fireplace and close to Glisten's cat who seemed to be deep asleep. Ryl asked Uno, "How long can they last out there in this cold?"
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| the Robot's of Triskelion |
"Very well, you can bring me a hot drink." Uno started going through a seemingly endless list of drink options. Ryl waved his hand dismissively, interrupted the babbling robot and said, "Whatever is handy." The robot went to the kitchen. Ryl turned his head and now sitting beside the cat and scratching its ears was Grean the Kac'hin. Ryl said, "Grean!"
Grean said, "We meet again."
Ryl asked, "What are you doing here?
Grean waved her hand, sending a swarm of infites into Ryl. "I have a message for you." Speaking quickly, Grean explained, "The mind clones are now in place and a solution to the cold fever epidemic has been found. The full solution will unfold over the next few years. I ask you to facilitate a temporary mitigation. The Capetown Governor will soon call for an evacuation of the frontier territories. Please mobilize the Whelm to help. With the big increase in immigrants that is starting, there will be a housing crisis on Yerophet. Commit the Whelm to an emergency building program."
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| Grean teleporting (image credits) |
Grean suggested, "Shift folks like Konywhn to the building program. Really, with Josef now at work, the old listening station here in Frost Hills is redundant. Convert the communications station into the core of a new city for refugees and immigrants."
Ryl complained, "I find it hard to turn my attention away from these mind clones and the mystery of how they were created."
Grean insisted, "Let the little embryos grow! In time, the powers of the mind clones will be revealed, regardless of you worrying about it." Grean stood up and put a hand on Ryl's shoulder. Her main task for the past day had been keeping Ryl from interfering with her plans. "Thank you for bringing Heshlo and Eleyn to Yerophet. Now there's only one thing remaining for you to do here... or not do: just don't get in Heshlo's way. He has one more little task to complete before he returns to Numenes and I don't want you interfering."
Ryl chuckled, "How little? And what has he already done?"
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| lo'Whots |
Thinking about the spermatocyte that had brought Konywhn into existence, Ryl asked, "I think I can guess why Heshlo seemed so happy today." Imagining the range of possibilities for where Heshlo might now be placing his sperm cells, he muttered, "Surely not Lora?"
"Well, I know that you can't stop thinking about Lora..." Grean laughed. "Heshlo and Lora... following in your penis prints, so to speak... that's an interesting thought, Ryl, and actually not too far of the mark. All I'll say is that when Pepha asks to visit Netal and then forgets to go home for a month, just look the other way."
"Pepha, eh? Tell me, how did Heshlo happen to meet Pepha?"
Grean waved her hand, sending more memory-editing infites into Ryl's brain. "Forget I said anything. Just go help Acyreff at Ottengla and forget about Yerophet." Grean teleported herself back to the Hierion Domain and disappeared from view.
Just
then, Glisten and Jantiff came inside from the patio, sat by the fire and Uno served hot
drinks. Glisten and Jantiff were wearing long fuzzy robes and slippers
and were flushed from the heat of the tub and whatever sex play they had been engaged in together out on the patio. Glisten said, "Welcome to Snarlwood, Ryl! Thank
you for arranging such nice accommodations for us."
"Thank agent Joole. I'm afraid I've been too busy to pay much attention to you two." Ryl tapped the side of his head and asked, "Have you made contact with any Kerub?"
Grean told Ryl: Glisten's reason for visiting Yerophet has been accomplished... the original goal you had imagined for her has been completed by others. Her little embryo has now been equipped with a nanoscopic replicoid and will be able to function as part of its own mind clone network, distinct from the Lavany network. Ryl looked around the room, trying to see evidence of Grean's presence and then his eyes returned Glisten. "In that case, I suggest that you take a short vacation. However, I have a request. There is a growing flood of immigrants here in the Capetown area, attracted by the rumors of telepathic Kerub-human hybrids. Yerophet is going to need to have a big housing boom. If you would like to help me deal with that, then you two could begin right here. I'd like you to help turn Snarlwood into the core of a new housing development."
Grean's infites were at work inside the brains of Glisten and Jantiff. Jantiff experienced a flash like view of the future and he said, "The immigrants could build their own homes if we had materials. The easy way would be to first inflate a mextrix dome over Snarlwood and the surrounding land."
Ryl nodded, "The Whelm can supply the dome and the house building supplies. I can have a dome delivered here in a just a few days."
Glisten complained, "Don't rush things, Ryl. Janty and I will help you, but I don't want to cut our vacation too short." After some small talk, Ryl was eager to return to the Whelm communications station. He made his excuses and departed from Snarlwood, trudging through the snow back to his aircar.
___________
 |
| R. Oliveene Nhevrix |
Upon returning to the Whelm listening station, Ryl began putting in motion Grean's plan to turn the station into the core of a new residential center. Then he went into space, boarded a quick little spaceship and headed for Ottengla.
After Ryl returned to his aircar and flew away from Snarlwood, Glisten and Jantiff snuggled together by the fireplace and discussed the abrupt departures of first Azynov and Yōd before dinner and then Ryl Shermatz, appearing after dinner and then quickly departing. Jantiff said, "I'm sure they have better things to do than vacation here at Snarlwood."
Glisten sighed contentedly."I'm very pleased that you and I have nothing better to do." Soon they fell asleep by the fire, wrapped in each others arms. Glisten's cat, Olive, got up and went to look out through the windows at the hot tub.
Grean was out on the patio, in the tub and she waved to Olive. The cat transformed into the preferred humanoid form of R. Oliveene Nhevrix and "she" went outside to join Grean in the tub. Watching Oliveene's graceful body while she climbed into the hot tub, Grean said, "Thank you for handling the epigenetic reprogramming of lo'Whots."
Oliveene shrugged. "No problem. It pleases me when you can cooperate with Nyrtia and Gohrlay."
Grean's eyes were drinking in the sight of Oliveene's impossibly perky robotic breasts. "Well, I can be very friendly when I'm on vacation."
Oliveene asked suspiciously, "You are on vacation?"
 |
| source |
Oliveene looked over her shoulder and saw an alien approaching. Maturin climbed into the tub and said, "You are also on vacation, Oliveene."
Grean laughed at the perplexed look on Oliveene's face and explained, "I've brought Maturin into the Simulator to watch over Yōd and make sure that she does not transmit any restricted data to her sister, Zeta."
Maturin
added, "Everything taking place in Alastor Cluster is now being shaped as an
educational experience for Yōd and Azynov. They are busy learning about the
origins of human telepathy."
Oliveene was now remembering what Nyrtia usually did not allow her to remember: that she was inside the AR Simulator. "Yes... now I remember!"
"Actually, right now, Yōd and Azynov are making sweet love." Grean was vicariously enjoying the sexual pleasure that Yōd was experience at that moment on Zeck. She moved next to Oliveene and stroked one of the robot's beautiful breasts. "However, while we are 'busy' educating Yōd, we can also entertain ourselves." She put her lips around one of Oliveene's erect nipples and tickled it with her tongue.
Maturin moved close and stroked Oliveene's other breast. "And we can also make little corrections to the timeline. For example, rather than allow Glisten's baby to get into a dangerous telepathic feedback loop, we implanted a nanoscopic replicoid that will prevent such dangers." Now Grean was unable to restrain her lust and slipped her hot penis into Oliveene's vagina. The robot leaned back and relaxed while tightening her vagina around Grean's little Kac'hin hermaphrodite erection. Maturin reached out and began stroking Oliveene's stiff little clitoris, but then she turned her head and saw Uno and Jantiff stepping out from the house and onto the patio, both of them sporting erections.
 |
| Original rendering: "Tiger Den" by henry1850. Image available under the CC BY-NC 3.0 license |
Grean looked into the house and asked, "Where is Glisten?" She did not pause from thrusting her penis into Oliveene's now pleasingly tight vagina. "I'd like to give her one of my special Kac'hin massages."
Holding onto the Kac'hin's rocking hips, Uno thrust his penis into Grean's back vagina and explained, "Glisten had a busy day. Her brain needs some down-time. You can massage her tomorrow."
Jantiff was busy exploring Maturin's interesting alien anatomy. Maturin had turned so as to present her round bottom to Jantiff and with it now sticking up into the cold air, she was growing impatient while he meticulously examined her complex alien genital organs. "It is not really all that complicated, Janty." Jantiff experimentally slipped a finger inside one of Maturin's vaginas. She said, "That's a good place to start." Jantiff thrust his erection into Maturin and she sighed contentedly. "Enjoy yourself, Janty, you won't remember any of this in the morning and you won't have to explain my anatomy to Glisten... I'll give her private lessons tomorrow."
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| Made using EliseComfy10 and KayleeRelax13 by Eclesi4stiK Available under this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Telepathic human hybrids of the alien Plesypy and Asterothropes. See the full wraparound cover image here. |
________THE END__________
Related: Meet the Phari
Next: making illustrations for The Alastor Network
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