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Feb 25, 2021

Mystery of Maturin

Kerub
Below on this page is part 23 of the "The Alastor Network", a science fiction story about the creation of a mind clone network in Alastor Cluster during the far future of the Asimov Reality. It might be useful for readers to take a look at "Finding lo'Whots" before reading part 23 (below). In "Finding lo'Whots", the traveling team of Glisten, Jantiff, Yōd and Azynov visited the planet Yerophet. It was the hope of the Connatic that Glisten might be able to telepathically make contact with the Kerub and make progress towards understanding the deadly "cold fever" epidemic on Yerophet

The "cold fever" deaths involve the kind of positive feedback between telepathic individuals as was experienced by Heshlo in part 21 of the story.

"Olive"
As told in "Finding lo'Whots", a comfortable home in Frost Hills, Snarlwood, and an aircar were made available to Glisten and her party. Arriving on Yerophet, Yōd and Azynov had already looked into the future and were intent on helping Glisten avoid becoming caught up in positive feedback with any telepathic Kerub minds.

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.

Maturin
Also lurking in the background during "Finding lo'Whots" is the mysterious Maturin. Like Yōd and Azynov, Maturin is an "outsider" who did not exist in the Asimov Reality. Yōd and Azynov are using the AR Simulator to view events of the Asimov Reality and Maturin is making sure that what Yōd learns about the origins of human telepathy will not get transmitted out of the Simulator and back to Earth if it has a chance of interfering with the plans of Grean the Kac'hin. Maturin is an artificial lifeform who can take on any convenient physical form. Like Oliveene, Maturin sometimes pretends to be a cat.

the Trading Post
Close the the Kerub territory border, Glisten, Jantiff, Yōd and Azynov met a human-Kerub hybrid at the Trading Post, a woman named Lora Shaw. Lora often hides her blue pigmentation when nosy officials visit the Trading Post, but when Glisten's group of explorers shows up, Lora does not bother hiding the fact that she is part Kerub. Lora's daughter, Konywhn, appears in part 23 of "The Alastor Network", below. The events in part 23 begin a few hours after the end of part 22.

In part 23 of "The Alastor Network" (below) both Agent Joole and the mysterious Maturin also make another appearance. Joole has been trying to make sure that the children of Ryl Shermatz are not struck by cold fever.
 
The Alastor Network ؄

Part 23. All About Yōd (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10) (part 11) (part 12) (part 13) (part 14) (part 15) (part 16) (part 17) (part 18) (parts 19 and 20) (part 21) (part 22)

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."

Yerophet
"Most cold fever victims are female, but about 25% are male. I don't want Heshlo out in the death zone along the border."

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."

A Yerophet snowcat.
"I just sent an aircar out to Snarlwood. I hope Glisten is not planning to visit the death zone, too."

"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?"

the dangers of Ottengla
"The Nykark and three support ships have been deployed to Ottengla. The Appenine should also be arriving there just about now, but it is too early to expect a report." She terminated the connection to Ryl. 

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."

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.

Grean the Kac'hin
Eleyn was wondering why Rujyan had never told his son about the genetics lab in Gosleween. She shrugged. That had worked out nicely; Ryl did not even suspect nature of their adventure at the Trading Post and the sexcapades that she and Heshlo had experienced in Goslewenn. Now Eleyn followed Ryl's gaze and saw the Iidi. "A visit from the ancient one..." Eleyn had long ago been given visions of this Iidi by the Muu're.

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."

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.

In the Ekcolir Reality. This reconstructed
cover image was made by Zeta using
'Browncoat 38' by Jessica Truscott
The woman directed her thoughts directly into Heshlo's mind: If you want my advice, don't even try to explain Pepha to Yurahs.

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
The Phet continued: The Lavany mind clones are each unique. They will all share one identical cerebral hemisphere... that is why they are called mind clones... a trick for allowing synchronization of telepathic brain patterns. Bryget has an unusual and unique origin that involves you... and Pepha.

"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?"

Yes. And lo'Whots was adopted into the Lo Clan. By impregnating Pepha next month, you will be providing your daughter Lavany with one of the required nodes in her mind clone network. The Phet could sense that Heshlo was now feeling cheerful about his love affair with Pepha. However, you are not doing all the work; Wilken had to go all the way to the other end of this galaxy and then jump over to the Andromeda galaxy in order to do his part.

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?"

image source
The Ret'fai originated in another galaxy, but they visited this galaxy, leaving behind a trail of ancient archeological sites that your uncle was able to follow. Traveling through time, Grean will isolate some of the Ret'fai telepathy-boosting gene patterns retrieved by Wilken and incorporate them into Bryget, as she did for the other mind clones. The Phet had dwindled away, shrinking to invisibility and Heshlo never again had another telepathic contact to the Phet. He soon discovered that he could not tell anyone else about his visit with the Phet; a nanite mindlock prevented him from sharing that unusual experience with others.

_________________


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."

Heshlo had already seen enough of Yerophet's cold white landscapes. He was eager to get back to Netal and begin working in collaboration with Josef on filters for sorting the various kinds of telepathic mind patterns that were generated by different types of human-alien hybrids. Immediately after breakfast Heshlo and Ra went up to orbit and Voyt told her father, "I've sent to Numenes for a copy of your father's private genome database. I do hope it contains your mother's genome. It should be here later this week." She went back to her laboratory, intent on understanding the special features of the Asterothrope genome that had conferred the ancient Asterothropes with their telepathic abilities.

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.
Konywhn said, "I can follow your thoughts, dad. I know that you are thinking about mom... in a rather sexually explicit way."

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
"I've never really been interested in this one. Oh, I'd long imagined staying here on Yerophet until the mystery of this epidemic gets solved, but now I have a good reason to go explore other worlds and my spaceliner departs in three hours." She turned and went to the door. With a glance back over her shoulder she told Ryl, "Goodby."

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?"

the Robot's of Triskelion
"You'd be surprised." The robot explained, "They are under a big array of heat lamps." Uno suggested, "A hot drink is good on nights like this."

"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."

Grean teleporting (image credits)
With the new infites in his brain, Ryl had some sense of how future events would unfold and he understood Grean's wishes. He said, "Building housing is not exactly a Whelm specialty, but I'll do what I can."

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?"

lo'Whots
"Heshlo provided important gene sequences for the Lavany embryo." Grean explained further, "Heshlo helped Eleyn find lo'Whots and get the last of the mind clone embryos implanted." Grean winked at Ryl and said, "All he needs to do now is provide one more little spermatocyte for the cause."

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?"

Glisten sipped her hot tea and then replied, "It is hard to say. The longer I'm here, the better I am able to sort through the vortex of telepathic signals that I am receiving. Just now, out in the tub with Janty massaging my... telepathic abilities, I realized that there are two different types of natives here: the Yer and the Phet. When I first arrived on Yerophet they were warning me to be careful, but now they have relaxed and quieted down. They insist there is nothing for me to do here."

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
Grean nodded and pointed behind Oliveene and said, "I want you to meet Maturin."

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
Climbing into the tub, Jantiff said, "Uno woke me up and told me that I was needed out here."

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." 

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

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    Chapters
23. All About Yōd
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Feb 23, 2021

Return of the Asterothropes

The mystery of Wilken and the Ret'fai
When I completed the 8,000 word story "The Olivine Intervention" at the end of 2020, I imagined that at the beginning of 2021 I would quickly write the story of what happens to Jantiff and Glisten on Marune (a project begun way back in 2012). However, there were some loose ends remaining for the story of events on Yerophet. Now that I am over 98,000 words into "The Alastor Network", it is almost time for Ryl Shermatz to finally meet up with Glisten on Yerophet. But first, in part 22 of "The Alastor Network" (below) Ryl makes progress sorting out the mystery of the ancient Asterothropes.

Ryl arrives at Frost Hills on Yerophet only a short time before Glisten. Ryl meets with his daughter, Voyt, and makes use of her expertise to get an analysis of Patrycya's genome. Voyt has been working on Yerophet during an alarming spike in cases of "cold fever".
 
The Connatic's family.
Arriving on Yerophet for his first visit in 2 decades, Ryl Shermatz meets a robot (Vacu) from Triskelion who previously worked with both Ryl's father, Rujyan, and with Ryl during their missions on Yerophet many years in the past. During one such visit, Ryl developed an intimate relationship with Lora Shaw which resulted in the birth of his daughter, Konywhn. Konywhn now works at the same Whelm facility on Yerophet where Voyt is stationed. Voyt has only recently learned that they are sisters.
 
lo'Whots the Kerub
In part 21 of "The Alastor Network", while Ryl and Voyt struggled to understand the complex genetics of telepathy, Ryl's mother, Eleyn, and his son, Heshlo, went to visit Lora at the Trading Post in nearby Goslewenn. Heshlo was surprised to learn that Lora runs a genetics research lab that coordinates gene transfers for a decades-old telepath breeding project.
 
Lora is a human-Kerub hybrid and the mother of Heshlo's half sister, Kony (often called "Konie"). Lora's childhood friend was Pepha, another alien hybrid who has the general appearance of a Kerub, but who, like Lora, has a more human-like body temperature physiology. During the same time when Oman and Lora were a couple, Oman's brother, Wilken, was romancing Pepha. The child of Pepha and Wilken is lo'Whots, however lo'Whots cannot tolerate warm temperatures and lives across the boarder in Kerub territory. 
 
Human-Kerub hybrids: Konie and lo'Whots
Ryl Shermatz knows that the Kerub are hermaphrodites who have been breeding with humans, but he was never told about the secret genetics project and laboratory in Goslewenn that was built long ago by his grandfather with the assistance of R. Gohrlay. Ryl's father, Rujyan went off to Earth with his wife Eleyn for their investigation of Asterothrope genetics, having never shared that secret with Ryl. 
 
telepathic positive feedback
The recent rise in cold fever deaths is due to increased interaction between the Kerub and humans. The Kerub themselves have begun their own independent genetics experiments which involve attempts to bring a wider assortment of human gene patterns into the Kerub-Human hybrid gene pool. Will Ryl's brother, Wilken, return from his hunt for Ret'fai DNA in time to contribute to the formation of the Lavany mind clone network?

The events described below at the start of part 22 are taking place in parallel with the journey to Gosleween that was described in part 21.
 
The Alastor Network ؄

Part 22. The Patrycya Genome (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10) (part 11) (part 12) (part 13) (part 14) (part 15) (part 16) (part 17) (part 18) (parts 19 and 20) (part 21)

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available under this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Ryl was listening to Voyt's enthusiastic description of correlations between Josef's analysis of signals in the Phari Telepathy Network and her own genetics research findings. After only a brief, non-comprehending glance at the genetics data, Heshlo became impatient. He wanted to meet his half-sister, Konywhn. Heshlo placed a hand on his father's shoulder and whispered, "You two can crunch the numbers. I'm going to explore the station."

Ryl looked up from the data display and watched Heshlo depart from Voyt's suite of rooms which included both her living space and her office. An adjacent part of the Whelm station held Voyt's small, highly automated genetics lab. With a little wave of her hand to her son, the retired Connatica Eleyn turned and also departed. The robot Ra followed behind Heshlo and Eleyn.

Voyt was oblivious to the movements of Heshlo, Eleyn and Ra. She was thinking deeply about how to correctly interpret her research results. "Sadly, this is little more than a black-box analysis. I feel certain that these unusual gene patterns on Yerophet are not arising by random gene assortments."

Ryl asked, "If not by random meetings of sperm and egg cells, then what? Some kind of selective breeding program?"

the Phari Network
Voyt was slowly shaking her head. She had been obsessively thinking about her friend Konie. Immediately upon first arriving at the Whelm communications monitoring station on Yerophet, Voyt had felt a strong telepathic connection to Konie. After finally being invited by Konie to a quiet dinner in Konie's apartments, Voyt had secretly obtained some of Konie's cells and had performed a genome analysis. "No, father. Look at these data that I'm showing you. This is a totally artificial arrangement of human and Kerub gene patterns on these chromosomes. Something like this could never arise my meiotic recombination events."

Ryl sighed. "I'm sorry, but I can't follow all the genetics terminology." Ryl could see a code number on the genome, but no name. "Where did this hybrid chromosome come from?"

Voyt reluctantly admitted, "This is DNA from one of the staff members here at the station." She again voiced her frustrations, "What I really need is access to the genome data of her parents, but you won't let me leave this station."

"Am I a mean ogre of a father?" Ryl laughed and placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "It is not safe for someone with your telepathic sensitivity to be on Yerophet during this epidemic. Joole thinks I'm crazy to even allow you to be working here so close to the Kerub territory." 

A priority call came to Ryl on his comring. He told Voyt, "Let me take this call." He walked a short distance away from Voyt and spoke into the comring, "What is it?"

Konywhn and Voyt. Made using
Onboard2 & Redspec8 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Konywhn asked, "Did you assign Vacu the job of guarding your son?"

Ryl replied with his own questions, "Why do you ask? Where are you?" He could see that Konie was in a dim location, possibly the parking garage of the station.

"I'm taking your mother and your son out for a look at the border. I guess Vacu gets to go along for the ride. Sorry to have bothered you." Konie broke the connection and ended her call.

Ryl returned to Voyt and having overheard his conversation with Konywhn, Voyt said, "They get to go to the border, but I don't?"

"That's right." Ryl patiently explained, "You fit the profile of most cold fever victims, they don't."

"Was that Konie who called you?"

robots of Triskelion
Ryl replied, "Konywhn."

Voyt turned her eyes back to the displayed gene data. "Konie is my best friend here at the station. She's clearly a human-Kerub hybrid, but genetically unlike any other in the database."

Ryl pointed at the displayed chromosome and asked, "This DNA is from Konywhn?"

Voyt nodded. "Konie's mother is on this side of the border. It would be safe for me to visit her and sample her DNA." Voyt looked carefully at her father's face. She had not yet been able to find out from Heshlo if he'd had a chance to talk to their father about Konie. Josef claimed that Konie was their half sister, but Voyt did not really want to believe it.

Ryl said, "Voyt, I have something to tell you."

Voyt asked, "Are you really Konie's father?"

Ryl nodded. "I assume your friend Konie is Konywhn, the communications technician here at the station. Back... way back, over two decades ago, I lived here on Yerophet for almost two years with Konywhn's mother. I was here on this planet doing my post-graduate research, trying to reverse engineer a robot from Triskelion... Vacu. I was in love with Lora and had started talking to her about moving with me to Numenes. She refused to even take that idea seriously, saying she could not leave her business."

Voyt laughed. "I must say, it is difficult for me to picture my father making love to a Kerub! I'm an innocent little girl, but... don't they always live at sub-freezing temperatures?" Obviously her father had survived his sexual relationship with Lora without freezing his penis off. She was also worried about Heshlo and the vision she'd had of him thrusting his penis into a Kerub.

Ryl explained, "Lora looks like the typical fur-covered Kerub... well almost. She carefully removes her facial hair and makes herself up so that she has the appearance of a human. Since she lives on this side of the Kerub border and sometimes has to deal with the authorities, she needs to be able to pretend not to be a Kerub."

Voyt asked, "What authorities?"

"Well, the Whelm for one." Ryl thought back to the many months he spent flying back and forth between the Whelm station in Frost Hills and Lora's home at the Trading Post. "Lora lives and works only a short distance from here, over in Goslewenn. She can't avoid interactions with the Whelm agents who patrol the border."

"And that is how you met her?"

"Yes. A group of us who were stationed here would often go ski Mount Kadynce. We got equipment and supplies at the Trading Post. I fell in love with Lora and asked her on a date. We were telepathically linked and I was quite susceptible to her sashei..."

Voyt asked, "Love at first sight?"

"Something like that. Given our telepathic link, I'm not sure that I even had to see her. I could instantly sense that she has a special mind. Certainly her blue fur was no deterrent to my ardor. But then it got complicated."

Voyt could not contain her interest. "Lora became pregnant."

"Not right away. No, I had the pleasure of making love to her for a year before our barely-compatible gametes finally found a way to merge. That was a real surprise to me when it happened. The sperm receptor on Kerub egg cells does not recognize human sperm. I suppose I must have simply put so many sperm inside Lora that a random cell fusion event occurred."

"No, dad. Why don't you listen to me?" Voyt briefly placed a tissue sampler against her father's arm. "Let's step into my lab." She led Ryl into her small genetics lab and started the equipment working to analyze his genome. Turning to her father, she said, "I'm sure we will see that most of the human genes in Konie are from you, but they have been mixed together with both Kerub genes and other genes from various alien sources. Konie's genome could not have arisen from just one of your sperm cells and one of Lora's eggs randomly combining." She turned on the data display and saw the beginning flood of her father's gene sequences. "Tell me, what was so complicated about your love affair with Lora?"

Ryl explained, "After discovering our pleasing sexual compatibility, Lora explained to me that there are different kinds of human-Kerub hybrids. Some, like her, inherit the human pattern of body temperature regulation. Other hybrids retain the Kerub system that allows them to survive under the extreme cold of Yerophet. The hybrids like Lora all live on this side of the border, but because they look like Kerub they tend to live on isolated ranches and avoid humans. Lora told me that she had a lonely friend..."

Voyt giggled. "So you had a threesome with Lora and her friend?"

Ryl grinned. "That would have been fun, but no. We took my brother Wilken and Lora's Kerub friend, Pepha, on a double date."

Voyt asked, "What ever happened to your brother?"

Sex World
Ryl replied, "He went off on some crazy mission to the far end of the galaxy, but not until after he'd impregnated Pepha."

"See, that just can't happen. You know that human sperm and Kerub eggs are not compatible, yet all these hybridization events keep happening here on Yerophet." Looking at the gene data, Voyt was able to confirm that Ryl was Konie's father or, at least, Konie's genome contained many genes that had come from Ryl. "There is something going on here that we are not seeing."

Ryl continued, "Anyhow, Pepha was very upset. She'd asked Wilken to take her with him on his interstellar adventure, but he refused. He told her that he might be killed while on his mission and he would not put her life at risk, or that of their unborn child. And all these many years later, he has still never returned from that mission." For a minute, Ryl reflected on the past. "And then, not long after that blowup with poor Pepha, it was time for me to return to Numenes. Lora refused to leave Yerophet and we separated. I went back for a visit when Konywhn was born, but then I met your mother..."

Dreavero
Voyt pointed at the data screen, "You have many Iidi genes, dad. You're an alien-human hybrid yourself."

Ryl nodded. "The Idite Dynasty originated from some old genetic engineering project on Dreavero."

"See, that's exactly what I'm seeing here on Yerophet." Voyt tried to put her genome analysis results into language that her father would understand. "Konie's genome was built, engineered... carefully crafted. But who could have done that genetic engineering... without telling you, while letting you imagine that Konie arose naturally?"

Ryl pulled a small vial out of his pocket. "I have a DNA sample for you to analyze." He handed the vial to Voyt.

She could see a code designation on the vial: PM-B and the current year. "Where did you collect this sample?"

"On Brevik."

"This is related to the pirate raid on the Starling?"

"Yes."

Patrycya
"Why didn't you have the genetics lab on Numenes process this sample?"

"This is personal."

Voyt giggled. "Oh, no! Are you going to introduce me to another one of your love children?"

Ryl briefly contemplated the chances of having impregnated Patrycya. "This DNA is from someone on Brevik who has an unusual phenotype."

Voyt shrugged and put the sample vial into the intake port of the genome sequencer. "This will run as soon as your genome is complete."

Ryl suggested, "You can look my genome up in the Rujyan database."

"What's that?"

"My father kept a special database with genome sequences for the royal family. The data are in the family archives at Lusz." He told Voyt, "So switch this machine over to the Brevik sample."

Feeling somewhat annoyed that she had never heard about her grandfather's interest in genetics, Voyt canceled out the analysis of her father's DNA and started up the decoding of the DNA sample from Brevik. Voyt asked, "Why did Eleyn return to the Cluster alone, without Rujyan?"

the magic of Asterothrope genes
"He's busy researching ancient records about the Asterothropes. Eleyn is going to return to Earth and keep working on that project."

Voyt pointed to the sequence data that was being generated from the Brevik DNA sample. "This is a woman. I suppose you don't want mom to know about this."

"Listen, Voyt, I had to link up with this woman in an orgasm trance in order to re-activate Josef. Your mother knows."

Voyt laughed. "Orgasm trance?"

"Your mother came up with that name. It is a way to amplify telepathic abilities."

Voyt said skeptically, "It sounds like a pickup line in a science fiction movie. Pardon me Miss, but I'm going to have to ask you for an orgasm trance so that I can amplify my telepathic powers."

Ryl chuckled. "Your mother and I have been experiencing these trances for years, without recognizing their value beyond using them as a source of sexual pleasure. However, telepaths like PM can do amazing things with an orgasm trance. PM helped bring Josef back from the dead!

"Josef was dead?"

Ryl explained, "This is all top secret, but during a Whelm mission to Yrinna, Josef was knocked off line. Completely inactivated."

The tryp'At Guide to Oxypathin
"So that's why Netal and Heshlo were gone for a few days." She thought about how Josef's artificial mind had seemed different upon their return to Yerophet. But what did it mean for an artificial intelligence to die? Dismissing that AI puzzle and returning to her father's sexual dalliance, Voyt asked, "So, just how amazing was your orgasm with PM?" Glancing at the accumulating gene data, Voyt could see that PM was some sort of hybrid. Before Ryl could formulate a verbal description of the wonderful orgasm he had shared with Patrycya, his daughter said, "Hey, dad, I've seen some of these weird alien gene combinations in some DNA samples here on Yerophet.

"Weird is how I was going to describe PM's anatomy." Ryl chuckled. "She has four breasts, two of which make a psychoactive molecule that is called oxypathin."

Voyt asked, "That's what it took to bring Josef back from the dead... a woman with four breasts?" She ran a search through the accumulating PM gene sequences. Most of the protein coding sequences had already been deciphered and the genome analysis was moving into the slow phase of sorting through the vast tracts of repetitive and non-protein coding DNA. "Well, this is weird. In addition to having four oxytocin genes there are several oxytocin-like genes. One of these codes for what looks like a secretory protein, so it could be an oxypathin gene." She widened the search. "Bingo. Here is the same gene in a genome from my Yerophet database."

Asterothropes and time travel
"Who is the source of that oxypathin gene here on Yerophet?"

"I don't know any specifics." Voyt tried to tell her father the truth, but was unable to push past the infite-enforced lock on her memory. Voyt's secretive collaborator, the mysterious Eynta, did not want word spreading of how she had shared genome data with Voyt. Voyt constructed a convenient lie: "I have an arrangement with some local hospitals to get DNA samples from their patients, but they refuse to identify the sources because of privacy issues." Voyt looked away from the data screen and stared at her father. She placed a hand against his face and closed her eyes. She could feel the general flow of his mind. "Somehow you knew." She opened her eyes. "You knew... don't tell me that Lora has four breasts?"

"No, she does not. However, Wilken told me that Pepha has some interesting alien anatomy, including some extra rows of nipples going down onto her abdomen."

Plesypy-human hybrids
Voyt shook her head. "The only alien species I've heard of like that are all quadrupeds like the Plesypy. Interestingly, there was a migration of some Plesypy to Yerophet starting about a hundred years ago."

"Do you have any Plesypy genomes in your database?"

"No, but I'm sure there are some in the Whelm's Whole Cluster Genome Database." She checked for correlations between the archived Plesypy gene patterns and what she had in her own database. "No... Plesypy sequences don't match the alien genes in this PM sample. I'm going to widen the search and see if I can find any matches for your PM mystery DNA in the entire WCGD." She set up the search program. "It will take this little quantum computer many hours to search through that huge database." 

Now Voyt put both hands against the sides of Ryl's head. Again she closed her eyes. She saw a flashed image of a pair of big breasts with bright pink nipples. Voyt opened her eyes and thought about what she had just seen in her father's mind. Below the two large breasts had been two smaller breasts. And below that, there were additional rows of nipples. "There's something else you are not telling me."

___________________

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Ryl was writing a letter to Acyreff. After a page full of descriptions of his never ending love for his wife, he wrote: "As I have previously told you, it was only by making use of orgasm trances that we were able to bring Josef back. However, I failed to mention the unusual anatomy of Patrycya. She has four breasts and six nipples, the lower two way down on her abdomen. I feel like I have seen something like this before, but I don't-"

That was as far as he got when Eleyn came into Ryl's office and said, "Now we can talk."

"Where is Yurahs?" Ryl checked the time. "It is almost time for her to return to Numenes."

"She may not have time to say goodby to you." Eleyn said, "Yurahs had a little problem to take care of down on the recreation deck."

With concern in his voice, Ryl asked, "Did she injure herself? She often over-does the exercise."

"She's fine, just swell." Eleyn waved her hand dismissively with a finger pointing towards the ceiling. "We need to talk about what Rujyan and I have learned on Earth... it explains a lot." She was undressing. "You've seen this before, but you were just a baby..." She pulled away her undergarment revealing her four breasts and extra nipples. "I've learned that these are Asterothrope phenotypic traits. Someone has begun inserting Asterothrope gene combinations into the gene pool of Alastor Cluster."

With his eyes bulging, Ryl reached out and touched one of Eleyn's smaller pair of breasts. "Are these functional?"

"Those two smaller breasts don't make milk, but they do produce their own unique secretion." Eleyn's nipples began to stiffen as Ryl ran his finger tips over and around them. She did not bother to suppress that reflex as she could have using the nanite over-ride systems in her replicoid body.

Alastor star cluster
Ryl nodded, "Yes... I've seen breast like these before."

"You have? Where?"

"Recently... on Brevik." Ryl thought back more than 20 years." And years ago... just before Wilken went away, he told me about a woman on Yerophet who had extra nipples." He now touched the lower row of nipples on Eleyn's abdomen. They were pink, stiff and erect, but small.

Eleyn told Ryl, "During our investigation on Earth, we also learned that the big penis you inherited from your father is a characteristic trait of male Asterothropes. I suspect that the Iidi have access to Asterothrope genes and are now making human hybrids that have Asterothrope features. Apparently, the Asterothropes had a form of telepathy that worked best between lovers."

"So, this whole orgasm trance phenomenon is an Asterothrope trait?"

"I don't know, but it seems possible. There is no science of molecular genetics on Earth... you and Voyt will have to figure this out."

"I don't think it will be that easy... all of our progress on genetics stems from Triskelion. It is only here in Alastor Cluster that we have genome sequencing. The rest of the galaxy is a desert of biology." Ryl finally moved his eyes off of Eleyn's big breasts and noticed a flash of pink down at her crotch. He reached out and touched the glans of her erect clitoris, which was larger than a normal human glans.

hermaphrodite chromosomes
Activating a special nanocircuit in her body, Eleyn allowed her clitoris to swell to its maximum size. "There were apparently three types of Asterothropes: males, females and hermaphrodites. The females had large vaginas and a correspondingly big clitoris."

Ryl recalled that Patrycya's clitoris had also been rather big, but nothing like Eleyn's huge one. He asked Eleyn, "When you were breast feeding me, I suckled at all four of your breasts?"

"Well, no. By the time your were born, I'd learned my lesson with your older brother Wilken. He was my first born and taught me many things. He got addicted to the secretions from my two smaller breasts. I was intrigued because when he drank that fluid, he and I achieved a stronger telepathic connection. Wilken was a little devil. When he turned two, he would sit there sucking down that special Asterothrope secretion while playing with my clitoris. I had to cut him off. His penis was growing extremely large, which I've learned is an effect of oxypathin."

"Oxypathin?"

"Oxypathin is the special Asterothrope hormone produced by my second-tier breasts."

________________________

in the Buld Reality
original cover art by Kinuko Craft
Ryl finished telling Voyt about her grandmother's Asterothrope features. "Eleyn told me that the telepathy-amplifying Asterothrope hormone is called oxypathin."

Voyt put a hand on her nearly flat chest. "I wonder..."

"What?"

"If I inherited the ability to respond to oxypathin." While listening to her father's description of Eleyn's big clitoris, Voyt had felt her own clitoris stiffening. She shut her eyes and saw a flashed telepathic image of Eleyn, or rather, an image as seen through Eleyn's eyes: a gigantic blue penis. Voyt felt herself blush and muttered, "We should look at Eleyn's genome." She turned back to the data processing station of the genome sequencer and soon lost herself in the complex task of assembling Patrycya's unusual genome.

Deciding that Voyt was busy with her work, Ryl when to his assigned apartments and ate a snack. Then, feeling tired, he sank into a comfortable chair and slept. 

Next: part 23 of "The Alastor Network"

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