The Pheni Effect

Joqueline. In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Below on this page is part 13 of "The Alastor Network", a science fiction story about the origins of powerful human telepaths in the far future of the Asimov Reality. In part 12, the telepathic Josef artificial intelligence of the Whelm and the Pegasus Core telepathy project on Brevik were both "lost" during Twycky Jeghtop's rescue from Yrinna.

A few humans with amplified telepathic abilities were able to witness the merger of the artificial minds of the Josef and Pegasus projects. A new entity, Joqueline, was produced with help from the Pheni of Yrinna. Joqueline immediately went into the future, but Grean the Kac'hin promised that Joqueline would someday return to the past. Inspector Ryl Shermatz of the Whelm is hopeful that Joqueline will soon return from the future, but he is not aware that Maghy Jeghtop is already in contact with Joqueline.

 

The robots of Triskelion

Struggling to understand the mysterious Joqueline entity and hoping to revive the Josef project, Heshlo and Ryl take Netal to Brevik, the Connatic pausing only briefly at the rear assembly zone where there are gathered hospital spaceships in support of the police action on Yrinna. Handing off responsibility for repair of the damaged Isirjin Ziaspraide to his wife, Acyreff, Ryl rushes off to Brevik.

Traveling on board Netal with Ryl and Heshlo are Lord Gensifer and Lady Gensifer. Ryl suspects that Lord Gensifer has a special relationship with the Pheni which might allow for recovery and reconstitution of the Josef system. Also on board Netal is Heshlo's personal robot, Ra. Part 13 begins with Heshlo and Ra processing the last bits of data that were obtained from Josef during the recent rescue mission on Yrinna.

 

 ⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

 

Part 13. Patrycya Menchlex. (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)

the Pheni of Yrinna

Heshlo had been unable to rest since the loss of Josef. He and Ra were processing the the final data that had been generated by the Josef telepathy system and offloaded into the Netal's data processing quantum computer. When all the data had finally been processed, Ra said, "This is astonishing! The Phari network signal density on Yrinna peaked at almost three orders of magnitude above anything Josef had previously observed."

Heshlo rose from his workstation and stretched. He muttered to himself, "What might the Pheni possibly be doing to generate so much data and communications traffic on the Phari network?"

It had been almost a day since he last wrote a letter to Yurahs. He re-read the most recently received letter from her, sat down again and began his own:

Dearest lover, Y. -

I so wish you were here. I need you badly. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your dance events. I am of course very jealous when I read your accounts of your powerful sashei skills. I'd prefer to think that your intoxicating sexual telepathic transmissions are only for me during our private love making. I hope to return to Numenes sometime this summer so I can experience one of your public performances.

For a minute, Heshlo looked at the video that Yurahs had sent to him, showing part of her exotic and sexually-charged dance routine. On planets of Alastor Cluster, most overt public sexual rituals were intimately linked to the sport of hussade. Numenes was one of the few worlds where as part of the tourist trade, there was a wider culture of sexually explicit performance arts including theater and dance. The telepathic abilities of Yurahs were well suited to the task of sexually stimulating an audience and that had brought her to the attention of the Katena Dance Company of Numenes. Pulling his thoughts from the images of Yurahs' delightfully sexy body, Heshlo continued writing:

Netal, Josef and I never got closer to Yrinna than 100,000 kilometers, but something went very wrong. Josef is gone. This mystery is a huge source of frustration that only emphasizes the fact that nobody on Netal has ever understood how Josef works. Worked. Father and I are on our way to Brevik because there was also catastrophic damage to the QB5 unit. We must now inspect the Pegasus Core and see if this awful destruction spread across interstellar distances.

Without your help, I had almost no telepathic contact with either Josef or QB5 during their last moments of existence. Josef was busy and only took time to say "See you soon". What does that mean? Mother knows something more about this, but she has been unable to explain why she is confident that Josef's cryptic message to me was truthful. I'll write again from Brevik and hopefully some of this will begin to make sense by then.

-Your eternal love, Hesh.

Twycky Jeghtop

Checking the time, Heshlo saw that it was not too early to dress and head for the hangar deck. He began to dress in his uniform, but while doing so, he glanced at Ra where she was purposefully and provocatively bent over their hastily constructed map of the Josef data generated during the rescue of Twycky Jeghtop. 

 

As their long day of data analysis had worn on, Ra systematically reduced the amount of clothing that she wore and now she was down to just some very skimpy panties. Heshlo allowed his eyes to linger on her magnificently designed and crafted curves. For the first time since Josef's mysterious destruction, Heshlo felt a sexual urge. Heshlo could sense some external telepathic force, something powerful and relentless, pushing him to think about sexual pleasure. With the full weight of that telepathic force bearing down on his mind, Heshlo suddenly experienced a flash-like mental image of making love to Ra, but strangely, the setting for their sex play was an odd little room that he had never seen before. 

 

Now with a powerful desire to sexually ravish Ra, Heshlo took off his shorts and grabbed the robot from behind. He slid his erection into Ra's hot and tight vagina and in less than a minute reached a sharp climax and ejaculated. Now Ra turned around and continued stimulating him. As his orgasm faded, Heshlo felt a strange new telepathic mind pattern pushing against him. He'd felt something similar upon first reaching Netal, then in orbit near Yerophet. At that time, he had tentatively attributed the mysterious telepathic mind pattern to Josef.

 

Ra was pleased to see Heshlo recover his interest in sex. The sexbot said, "I was beginning to worry that something inside you had died along with Josef."

Heshlo confessed, "I do feel like something I did -or failed to do- was what doomed Josef. I haven't been able think of taking breaks for either sleep or sex while wondering what went wrong..." The battle of Yrinna had been the closest Heshlo had ever been to military action and while others had heroically rescued Twycky from her captors, all he had done was passively watch Josef die... and that odd little QB5, too. Now again thinking of the tragic loss of Josef, Heshlo felt his erection fade. "I need to go." 

 

Rather than let Ra use her soothing skills to take him to a second sweet orgasm, Heshlo pushed himself away from the robot, put on his uniform and headed for the hangar deck of Netal. 

Ryl was already there, waiting in their aircar and took them out of Netal as soon as Heshlo arrived. They fell down towards the surface of Brevik and the Pegasus spaceship manufacturing center. Ryl pointed at their destination on the navconsole and said, "Director Menchlex will meet us at the Core facility."

Heshlo looked at an image of the building on the Pegasus Spaceship Company campus that was their destination and said, "According to Dr. Jeghtop, most of the Pegasus computing system is deep underground."

Ryl nodded. "Apparently what we see on the surface is only the communications center. I should not say 'only'! I wish I knew how QB5 was able to stay linked in real time to the Core even across interstellar distances. That's some trick."

Heshlo looked at a photographic image of Director Menchlex. In several ways, particularly her facial features, the Director reminded Heshlo of his mother. He wondered, "Do you think Menchlex will share these kinds of company secrets with the Whelm?"

Ryl chuckled, "When your mother was here on Brevik, she started a promising Whelm-civilian technology exchange process... that's why QB5 was on board Nykark. I wish she were here now and could continue that work. I'm not as patient as your mother is. I might just place this Pegasus project under direct Whelm supervision."

"Mom said that taking QB5 to Yrinna was Dr. Jeghtop's idea." Heshlo asked, "So why can't Kasya be here now to help us?"

Ryl sighed. "She's in a very delicate condition. I've ordered Kasya to go directly to her home and rest. She wanted to visit the Core with us today, but Dr. Hines insisted that Kas should not be working now." Ryl did not really want to talk to his son about the disturbing fact that Kasya had taken the QB5 embroid into her body in an attempt to save its life.

They landed near the low, squat building that secretly sat above the deeply buried Core computing complex of the Pegasus telepathy project. Exiting from the aircar, they were met by Director Menchlex. Seeing Menchlex walking towards them, Ryl felt a tantalizing emanation of sashei radiating from her. He felt a pang of longing for Acyreff, who Menchlex resembled. Ryl told Heshlo, "This is Director Menchlex. Director, this is my son, Heshlo, acting as my technical assistant." 

 

Menchlex shook their hands and said, "Call me Patrycya." When their hands touched, Ryl felt a jolt, a kind of telepathic linkage opened up, connecting his mind to Patrycya. She gazed into his eyes for a moment and then walking at a brisk pace, Patrycya led them inside. 

 

There was something about the way Patrycya moved that reminded Ryl of his mother, the Connatica Eleyn. It was the unusual swing of her long legs as she walked. Ryl and Heshlo were forced to undergo an automated brain and retina scan by the building's security team.

 

As they passed through the security check-point, Patrycya said, "I'm afraid I might be wasting your time, Inspector Shermatz."

Ryl asked, "Still no luck rebooting the Core?"

"Well, I believe it has rebooted, but it is almost like we have gone back in time fifty years. All of our past work on the project seems to have been lost."

They were walking down a long corridor towards the heart of the building. Heshlo asked, "Something erased the data banks?"

"I don't believe it is a matter of erasure." Patrycya tried to put the inexplicable into words, "It is more a matter of having lost the decryption key that is needed to access the stored data. The QBs are trying to re-form a new network and start working their way back into the Core, but I don't see quick results coming from that effort."

They took an elevator far underground and emerged in the control center for the Core where Chief Embroid Engineer Peter Myjyhr was in conversation with a QB unit. Menchlex approached the metal box that contained the QB unit and performed introductions, "QB17, this is Inspector Shermatz, the Connatic's agent."

The embroid said, "Welcome to Brevik, Inspector." QB17 was housed in a hemisphere of transparent plastic. His internal structure, a mixture of electronic and biological components could be seen.

 

Patrycya turned to Peter and said, "This is Dr. Myjyhr, head of embroid engineering for our telepathy project."

Peter shook the hands of Ryl and Heshlo. Peter said rather somberly, "I hope QB5 did not suffer when she died."

Heslo shook his head. "I was in contact with QB5 near the end. She had been transformed into a new... well, who knows what... we are calling her Joqueline. QB5 seemed pleased to have finally found a way out of her box."

QB17 produced a partially human sounding laugh and then said, "That sounds like QB5! She really wanted to be transferred into a humanoid robotic body. Her strong desire to become more human was what led to her being used as the public QB node that occasionally got sent out on missions beyond this secret facility."

Ryl asked QB17, "Were you in contact with QB5 during the rescue mission at Yrinna?"

"Not directly. I was watching QB5's data stream as it entered the Core. I was a fool and did not notice that far more data was going in the other direction." QB17 activated a display screen that showed the relative levels of Core input and output during the Whelm police action on Yrinna.

Heshlo told his father, "The same thing happened to Josef." He inserted a datalink into the workbench. Now data came down from Netal and merged into the timeline being displayed. He pointed at the spike in network activity and said, "This surge in activity of the Phari network corresponds to the big data transfers from the Brevik Core and from Josef."

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Ed Emshwiller 

QB17 asked, "But where did all the data being extracted from Josef and the Core actually end up going?"

Ryl turned to Menchlex and said, "Patrycya, I need to know how it is possible to transmit data in real time between Brevik and Yrinna."

Menchlex giggled, "Oh! How I wish I had an answer, Ryl. We're using technology that was originally provided by Triskelion, but about 14 or 15 years ago, they claimed that we broke our contract with them by modifying our network nodes."

QB17 explained, "That was when Triskelion realized that we were linking embroids to the Core."

Ryl nodded, "So, our friends on Triskelion objected to your use of embroids."

"Apparently so." Patrycya was looking carefully at Ryl and trying to open a telepathic window into his mind. She could sense that he had telepathic abilities, but without synchronizing her mind to his, she could not reach into his thoughts. She wanted to know if Ryl was, like most people, opposed to the creation and use of artificial embroid minds. She continued, "Since then, this telepathy project has become increasingly reliant on the embroids and the number of our network nodes has steadily increased. It was almost ten years ago that we discovered that QB nodes are able to communicate with each other across vast distances, but we still don't know the physical basis of that ability."

Heshlo suggested, "You should have started collaborating with the Whelm long ago."

 

Patrycya shrugged. "Pegasus Spaceship Manufacturing is a private company. Our investors have been reluctant to share company secrets."

Ryl told Menchlex, "I'm not going to second guess you, Patrycya. Must people would object to your use of embroids, so it was probably good business for you to hide your unethical practices."

QB17 said, "Of course, we qubies don't think of ourselves as being abominations."

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Ed Emshwiller
and see this

Ryl nodded. "Nor do I. However, what often matters most for a profitable business is public opinion."

Heshlo still did not like how the embroids were being used in the Pegasus project, but he let the matter drop. "I went back and looked at all the old Joseph data related to this world. There was a big jump in Phari network data transmission to and from Brevik fifteen years ago and the network activity has stayed high ever since."

Ryl told Patrycya, "Our Whelm surgeon, Dr. Hines, who recently operated on Dr. Jeghtop, requested a post-mortem analysis of the quantum computer equipment in QB5... the kind of technology that you have been using in all the QB units. Our technicians found that equipment is unlike anything known to the Whelm." Peter and Patrycya exchanged a glance, but they said nothing.

Speaking in a rather snarky voice, QB17 told Ryl, "You can't expect us to spill sensitive company secrets to every stray soldier who walks in off the street."

Ryl laughed. He had the strange feeling that QB17 could read his thoughts and knew that Ryl was actually the Connatic, commander of the Whelm and head of the royal dynasty of Alastor Cluster.

Menchlex took Ryl by the arm. "Can we speak in private?" With her hand on his arm, Ryl could now see part way into her mind. He liked what he could sense of her thoughts and felt a tingling anticipation that he would soon know her much more intimately.

 

Menchlex led Ryl into a nearby office and closed the door. Still resting her hand on him, she said, "Here on Brevik, we have a quantum computer research and development project. We've been reverse-engineering devices that we obtained decades ago from Triskelion. After we lost technical support from Triskelion, our work became a collaborative effort with several deep-pocket investors. Apparently they don't want their names to be linked to the Pegasus project and our use of embroids, so we have never released any information about the quantum computer components being manufactured here."

Ryl placed a hand over hers, shook his head and commented, "I'm glad I'm not in your position. Sounds like with all this secrecy, you have worked your way into a tight corner." He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Patrycya giggled. "Oh, I'm something of an expert when it comes to tight spaces. When things get sticky, I know how to lubricate the tight spots and in the end I can usually keep everyone happy. That's how I retain my sanity and my position..." She ran her pink tongue over her lips and batted her long eye lashes at Ryl and added, "... as Director."

image source

"I have a sticky problem of my own." Now standing very close to her, Ryl felt a hot and seductive animal warmth emanating from Patrycya. He explained, "A big one. Up in orbit, on Netal, is Lord Gensifer, who is the starmenter responsible for taking Twycky Jeghtop to Yrinna."

Patrycya noted, "I believe the interworld court of Brevik has an outstanding arrest warrant for Lord Gensifer's arrest."

Ryl tried to explain his delicate situation. He now held Patrycya's hand wrapped in both of his. "The Whelm uncovered evidence that Lord Gensifer has telepathic abilities and a special relationship with the Pheni of Yrinna. I suspect that it was the Pheni who inactivated both Josef and your Core after merging first their..." Ryl pauesed then he decided there really was no better word to use than 'mind'. "...minds into a new form of artificial life." The longer they talked, the more Ryl was feeling a growing telepathic link to Patrycya. Gazing into her unusually large sparkling eyes, he sensed that she would be a useful collaborator. "I want Lord Gensifer to work with us here on Brevik to solve the mystery of Josef's death, but I don't want to get stuck in any tight... legal binds."

Made with Daz Studio.

Patrycya nodded and with her free hand she held up one finger pointed to the ceiling. "Don't worry, as long as you don't flaunt your "big one" in public, I think we can make this work." She smiled at Ryl and now held up two fingers. "I can see two options for us. Either bring Lord Gensifer here or, alternatively, we could take a QB unit up to Netal... we could use QB17 as a portable node."

Ryl could not imagine what would be gained by taking a QB unit up to to Netal. He suspected that as an administrator, Patrycya routinely practiced the art of pretending to give her subordinates the illusion of having opportunities to make decisions. "Let's not go up to the Netal." Ryl said, "I'm feeling a strange telepathic presence down here on Brevik that I want to... explore." He again gently squeezed her hand. "I've never been to Brevik before... so this is new to me... I wonder if I'm telepathically detecting the Bryvi."

Patrycya put both her hands against the sides of Ryl's head and closed her eyes. After a minute of thought, she said, "We are both telepathically sensitive to the Bryvi and our minds are in starting to get in tune." Her eyes popped open and she let her hands slide down onto his shoulders. She could see his erect nipples jutting out against the fabric of his uniform. She move her hands done across his chest and the nipples and continued downward. She could feet that he wore some type of girdle around his abdomen. "Go ahead and bring Gensifer down here, but I suggest that you disguise him as a computer technician or something. Have him wear a mask, if possible."

"Very well." Ryl found that his hands were on Patrycya's slim waist. He could feel that she was wearing some type of elastic undergarment. "One more detail. I also have Lady Gensifer as my guest on Netal. She insists on staying with her husband... going where he goes."

Patrycya closed her eyes and put her arms around Ryl. With each passing minute her mind was growing more sychronized with Ryl's and now she could use Ryl like a lens to focus her telepathic ability. "Yes, now I see! Lady Gensifer is the one with the special link to the Pheni, not Lord Gensifer." Patrycya opened her eyes and now her face was very close to Ryl's. She asked, "Do you ever get information from the future, Ryl?"

"With my telepathic ability, I'm able to sense when people can be trusted." Ryl was now feeling a strong sexual attraction to Patrycya. He gently rubbed his thumbs over Patrycya's taut abdominal muscles, almost tickling her. "I don't know how my telepathic trust analysis works, but I wonder if it involves information from the future."

"Fascinating!" Patrycya placed the palms of her hands against Ryl chest and could feel his heart thudding as was her own. "Just a minute ago, I got a glimpse of our future. I think I know how this is all going to play out." She whispered in Ryl's ear, "This is going to be fun."

Ryl moved one hand close to his mouth, spoke into his comring and called Netal, "Bring Lord and Lady Gensifer down here. Dress them in Whelm computing division uniforms. Ask Doby to paint his face and disguise his appearance. Oh, and also send down Ra." He terminated the call to Netal and put his hand back on Patrycya, letting it slip down from her waist then to her hip and then onto her shapely bottom. "I sense that I can trust you."

Patrycya rested her head against his shoulder. "I sense that you have a wife who is on your mind, right now. And your son is on the other side of that door, wondering what we are doing in here."

Ryl let his fingers push into Patrycya's hair and his finger tips found the soft skin at the back of her neck. Right at the mid-line, there was a row of small cuticular bumps, just like both he and Acyreff had on their necks. "For the past few years, my wife and I have been experimenting with what she calls orgasm trances. She recently found how to network a group of telepaths during synchronized orgasms... boosting their telepathic abilities."

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

"Nice terminology... orgasm trance. I like it!" Patrycya moved a hand down to Ryl's crotch. "I think I know what you mean. My husband and I experience a powerful telepathic link when we make love."

 

Ryl felt a hot surge of blood flowing to his penis. He suggested, "Let's see how things go with the Gensifers..." He was intrigued by how his body was responding to Patrycya's touch... this was just as he felt whenever Acyreff put her hands on him. "Tell me, Patrycya, exactly what kind of fun did you see in your glimpse of our future?"

Patrycya pressed her abdomen against his swelling penis where it was pushing out against the fabric of his uniform. She replied, "It is clear to me now. We are going to have to use orgasm trances to solve this Joqueline mystery. And somehow, that solution has to do with those secretive Pegasus Project investors I mentioned."

He flexed his arm muscles and pulled Patrycya closer, enjoying the warmth of her body against his. "In what way?"

"I have not been able to see those details. We'll have to grab some orgasms and find out! I have the strange feeling that we are going to need to get Kasya's help. I suspect that our success will involve a team and whole big bundle of orgasms... luckily, I also sense that your wife won't really mind if we need to share an orgasm..." She paused then added wishfully, "...or two."

Ryl laughed, "I'm glad my wife is busy elsewhere. If she were here on Brevik then she'd insist on sharing her orgasms with you and I would not have even gotten a chance to touch you."

sources of compulsion

Patrycya pushed a hand inside Ryl's pants and took hold of his penis. "My husband is also rather pushy, so I'm just going to tell him that I have to work late this evening." She sighed and pressed her cheek against Ryl, contemplating the future and gauging the size of his penis. "Now that I've had a chance to touch you, let me re-phrase that. This is going to be play, not work." Wondering about the source of the powerful compulsion that was pushing her towards having sex with Ryl, she reached out with her mind, but she lacked the ability to locate the mysterious telepathic entity that had thrown her into a hot emotional vortex.

 

Next: part 14 of "The Alastor Network"

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