Collaborators from the Future

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under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Below on this page is part 6 of the science fiction story "Meet the Phari". Previously, in part 5, Berryfial informed Kwystyk that there was a second person on Yerophet from Marune, a visitor from the future. Kwystyk agreed to meet Miahco and help integrate him into society.

After delivering a set of finely crafted Asterothrope-derived gene clusters to Lora, Kwystyk meets Konywhn, a human-Kerub hybrid, and discovers that they have a strong telepathic connection. Also, Kwystyk has previously had a telepathic vision from the future that included Konywhn. 

Eynta explains to Kwystyk and Konywhn that they share a special prosthetic device, a nanocoid, that enhances their ability to communicate telepathically. Miahco is the teleportation duplicate of a man from the planet Marune, the Kaiark Jochaim of Scharrode. Miahco replaces Eynta at the genetic engineering facility in Goslewenn.

⎯ Meet the Phari ؄

Part 6. Konywhn's nanocoid. (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5)

Berryfial spoke into her comring, "You can come in, now." She told Rob-B, "Miahco has been waiting in my aircar. Please let him in."

Miahco quickly entered as soon as Rob-B opened the front door. Pulling off his cold-protective helmet, he complained, "Why do people live on this frozen planet?"

Rob-B helped Miahco out of his heavily insulated outer layer of clothing and performed introductions. "I'm Rob-B, Kwystyk's assistant." He gestured towards Kwystyk and added, "This is Kwystyk, who like you, was born on Marune."

"I don't remember ever seeing anyone on Marune with blue skin and big pointy ears." Miahco shrugged. "I lived most of my life in the Rhune territory, with only occasional trips to Port Mar." Miahco shook Kwystyk's hand. "Sadly, I can't trust my old memories from Marune, but I never imagined someone like you being born on Marune."

Kwystyk decided to test Miahco. "If you know my mother than you know about cities such as 11a and the alien-human hybrids who live there."

"Hevena?" Miahco was puzzled. "Do you mean the Hui-chi cities?"

"If my mother told you about the Hui-chi then she would have mentioned city 11a. That's where I lived for twenty years with Grean."

Miahco shook his head, "No, I never heard her talk about a particular Hui-chi cavern. It was big news when the Hui-chi revealed their existence. I was tempted to travel from Roceinne to Marune just to meet some Hui-chi, but... well, I never found the time. I was busy."

"You lived on Roceinne?"

 "Yes. Have you ever visited Roceinne?"

"No, but I recently met someone from Roceinne." Kwystyk took Miahco's arm and brought him to sit near the fireplace. "Rob-B, please bring Miahco something hot to drink." After asking the guests what they might want from the kitchen, the robot went off to get their drinks.

Kwystolf and her sister Kwanya. Image made with
 Audrey03 and TrissCity01 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Berryfial told Kwystyk, "Miahco studied genetics on Roceinne. We need his expertise here on Yerophet, but with each passing day he becomes more insistent about wanting to find Grean and arrange to be sent back to the future."

Miahco explained, "There is an expert geneticist here already. I am not really needed. I want to get back to my wife, Kyodora. Just before Grean sent me here, our younger daughter announced that she is pregnant and our older daughter is making plans to attend university. She has the crazy idea that rather than stay near home she must go study on a far world. Kyodora was already upset... and if Grean pretended to kill me..."

Kwystyk suspected that Miahco may have died on Roceinne and then Grean must have made a teleportation duplicate of him. "What is your daughter's name?"

"Our younger daughter is Kwsto-"

Kwystyk impatiently interrupted, "No, the other one."

"Her name is Kwanya. Why?"

"I don't know what is going on." Kwystyk guessed that his mother was playing some strange time travel trick. "I met you daughter just a couple of days ago. She told me that she was traveling to Numenes for a visit and trying to select a university for her studies."

Kyodora, her vision prosthetic dress and Miahco

Larryfial said, "Very odd!"

Rob-B returned and served hot drinks.

Miahco asked Kwystyk, "Are you from the future, too?" Miahco seemed stunned by the idea that Kwystyk had met Kwanya. "Or are you saying that my daughter was also sent here, into the past?"

"Ya... How could I meet your daughter?" Kwystyk shook his head slowly from side to side and then explained, "These are the kinds of impossible-to-accept coincidences that can arise when someone like my mother is playing around with time travel. But allow my to try to sort this all out for us..." He pointed at Miahco, "You were taken from Marune and sent into the future where you lived with my mother for twenty years and-"

Miahco interrupted, "Well, after I met Kyodora, Grean soon departed from Roceinne. I only lived with her for about three years, while I completed by undergraduate studies. After I took up with Ky, Grean would drop in for a visit once in a while, and then about a month ago she told me that I was needed here, in the past. My past... your present."

Kwystyk took hold of Miahco's hand and tried to make telepathic contact, but he drew a blank. "Why did Grean take you away from Marune in the first place?"

Berryfial replied to Kwystyk's question, "I've investigated that matter since Miahco arrived here on Yerophet last week. After piecing together all of the clues, I believe that in his first life, Miahco was named Jochaim, a Rhune Kaiark. Jochaim was killed in battle about two months ago."

Kwystyk was somewhat surprised that Berryfial could know about recent events in the isolated Rhune realms of Marune. "May I ask the source of your information?"

Grean (image credits)

Berryfial shook her head. "I'm not really allowed to-"

The Plesypy who Kwystyk had encountered twice before appeared in the room, materializing from a cloud of nanites. Speaking directly into Kwystyk's mind, the Plesypy said: I have explained the entire situation to Berryfial. She now understands that Eynta is needed on Ottengla. Grean prepared Miahco to replace Eynta in Lora's genetics lab. However, Grean has put so many layers of infites into poor Jochaim's brain that he has developed some resistance to Grean's attempts to control his behavior. I'm reluctant to get involved, but... The Plesypy sent a swarm of Iidi infites into Miahco.

Right after the Plesypy appeared, Rob-B said, "You again!" Rob-B approached the Plesypy and demanded, "What do you want?"

The Plesypy snarled at Rob-B and snapped its teeth in a menacing way.

Berryfial could sense that Kwystyk was in telepathic contact with the Plesypy. She told Kwystyk, "I see that you two know each-other."

Miahco began to feel the effects of the Iidi infites in his mind. His memories were being edited and rearranged. He was vaguely aware of Kwystyk telling Berryfial, "I now understand... you were hoping that I might be able to contact Grean and have her intercede with Miahco. However, it must have been my mother's plan that the Iidi and the Plesypy deal with this matter..."

"I've done what I can." The Plesypy turned a 360 degree circle, looking briefly into each person's eyes then said, "I'll ask you all to not mention to anyone that you saw me here on Yerophet, but I won't try to erase your memories of me." And with that, the Plesypy dissolved away, fragmenting into its constituent nanites which then drifted away.

Plesypy

Miahco was rubbing his head. His frame of mind had been adjusted by the Iidi infites. He looked at Berryfial's spectacular breasts and said, "I'll help Lora, but I want to make a deal. Me helping Lora with the mind clone engineering is conditional on making sure that Kwanya is here of her own free will. I don't understand why Grean would send her into the past!"

Kwystyk said, "My mission here on Yerophet should be quickly completed in the morning. As soon as that task is done, I would be happy to go find Kwanya, but she seemed perfectly happy when I was with her just a few days ago."

Rob-B added, "Even at the risk of hurting human feelings, I feel I must make sure that everyone understands... Grean can alter human memories by means of nanotechnology. However, there are limits to nanosurgical memory modification. Repeated changes to a person's cognitive networks can trigger "fall through", a catastrophic loss of memory. The Kac'hin infite fail-safes will prematurely terminate a mind wipe if damage starts to occur. This must be what happened to Miahco when Grean prepared him to travel into the past, preventing his mind from being properly adjusted for his mission on Yerophet."

infites

Berryfial nodded. "Yes, and each day this past week, Miahco has been remembering more of his life on Raceinne, things that Grean tried to make him forget about, like his family. However, that Plesypy seems to have successfully shifted Miahco into a better state of mind... willing to help complete the mind clone project. But what about Kwanya?"

Rob-B said, "I have a theory. I suspect that the Plesypy showed up here and used nanites to make yet another change to Miahco's mind."

Kwystyk asked suspiciously, "Why should this latest adjustment to his mind be a success when Grean's nanosurgury failed?"

The robot suggested, "Call these modifications to Miahco's mind temporary patches... one by Grean and now another by the Plesypy. The first one lasted a few days, then wore off. This most recent one will wear off, but design of the mind clone genomes is almost complete."

Miahco grumbled, "You can't possibly know that."

Rob-B chuckled and added, "Grean can travel through time. She told me about some future events, so I do know your future, Miahco. You will finish genetically engineering the mind clones." The robot turned to Kwystyk and said, "In contrast to Miahco and his demonstrated resistance to infite-mediated memory editing, we must assume that Grean was able to adequately prepare Kwanya for her own mission here in this time. Grean must have had good reason for also sending Kwanya into the past, something that involves you. Perhaps Kyodora is also living in this time... we will have to seek her out on Raceinne. If my guesses are correct, and if this is their first time having their memories reformatted, then with Grean's infites at work in their minds, they might not even be consciously aware that they are from the future."

Kwystyk wondered if Grean's skills with mind-altering infites were that powerful

the Iidi

"It seems unlikely." Miahco asked, "How could Kwanya and Ky not know that they have been sent through Time, into their own past?"

Berryfial told Miahco, "When Grean took you from Marune to Roceinne, she recreated your mind from the bottom up and you were not aware of how you left Marune, how you had died in battle and how a copy of you was saved by Grean."

Miahco skoffed, "You speak about making copies of people as if it were a trivial matter."

Berryfial explained, "Grean has access to teleportation technology. Almost certainly you are a teleportation duplicate, identical to the atomic level with the copy of you that died on Marune. After Grean was done altering your mind, you were left with a few vague memories of growing up on Marune, but you were perfectly happy in your new life on Roceinne and have never even gone back to Marune for a visit."

"I thought about going back for a visit, there never seemed to be a convenient time, not with my studies and raising two children."

"Exactly. Grean did not want you returning to Marune, like a ghost." Now a bit over-heated, Berryfial stood up and moved away from the fireplace. "I'm going to assume that Grean wanted you to have children with Kyodora... and now Kwanya must be acting as another one of Grean's tools. She is here in this time with her own mission to accomplish."

Miahco muttered, "You are just guessing. She is just a kid and will be attending University soon." 

Berryfial nodded. "My best guess is, to support their new lives here in this time, the minds of your wife and daughter could have been altered fundamentally, causing them to completely 'forget' their original place in time. Just as you forgot all about being Kaiark, ruler of Scharrode."

Marune

Kwystyk patted Miahco's shoulder, "You tend to the final steps in crafting the mind clones. I will ascertain the the status of your family. I agree with Fi." Kwystyk reflected on his mother's habits. "If I know my mother, she has brought your entire family here to this time. I suspect that as soon as you complete your work here on Yerophet then you will be able to return to your wife and a year from now you will be holding your grandchild in your arms." Kwystyk now understood why he had met Kwanya "by chance" on the way to Yerophet... that seemingly "random" meeting had apparently been carefully planned by his mother.

Miahco was uncomfortable with the idea of his wife being a time traveler. "Kyodora grew up on Raceinne. If you are correct, then there are two copies of my wife on Raceinne, one twenty years younger than the other."

Kwystyk said, "I sometime have visions of the future. What if those visions are produced by telepathy, when a copy of myself travels into the past and telepathically warns me about an impending event?"

There was a ruminative quiet in the room, then Berryfial and Larryfial began to say their goodbyes.

Five minutes later, after agreeing to again meet Kwystyk at Lora's lab in the morning, Larryfial and Miahco reluctantly moved away from the warm fireplace and were soon flying away with Berryfial into the cold night. 

After a quick bit of sex play next to the fireplace and a pleasing orgasm, Kwystyk was comfortably asleep in the arms of Rob-B.

Lora

________________

In the morning, Kwystyk was awakened by a call from Lora who after the briefest of introductions and small-talk, told Kwystyk, "I just spoke with Miahco. Thank you for smoothing over his qualms." Lora was amused to see that Grean's son had blue skin. She moved back from her camera, allowing her own blue pigmentation to show from the neck down where she had not tried to alter the color.

Kwystyk chuckled, "I suspect you have a certain Iidi to thank for that. However, I will do my best to investigate the fate of Miahco's family." Kwystyk was thinking about an odd dream he'd just had. "I sometimes have visions of the future. I..."

Lora waited for a moment then asked, "Yes?"

"Rather than chat about my vision right now, let's put this discussion on hold. I'll fly over and be in your lab facility in just a few minutes."

Kwystyk and Rob-B. Image made with
  CyberGirl01 and blondeelf02 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

"Very, well. I must warn you, your robot is going to have to go through our security protocol."

"Fine. See you soon." Kwystyk quickly dressed and soon Rob-B was flying them over to the lab. The aircar flight lasted about two minutes and then they were inside the underground genetic engineering facility. 

Rob-B was held up at the security check-point, but Kwystyk was eager to complete the delivery. He held out his hand towards the robot. Rob-B handed over a small object and then Kwystyk was taken to Lora's office. After some casual chat about their similar skin coloration, Lora explained, "When I deal with humans, I usually hide my blue skin color. Here on Yerophet, when people see blue they think of the Kerub."

Kwystyk passed over to Lora the little datakine containing the Asterothrope-derived gene sequences that had been crafted by Grean.

Lora plugged the datakine in to her desk and opened a comline to the lab room where Eynta had worked for the past twenty years. "Eynta, take a look at these new sequences."

Asterothropes

On the screen, the purple face of Eynta could be seen and over her shoulder was Miahco, peering at the new gene sequence data. Eynta said, "Will do." The connection was terminated.

Lora smiled at Kwystyk, "Miahco is already back at work, so I am pleased. He showed up here and impressed everyone with his genetics knowledge, then got homesick." Lora tried to dismiss her worries about the questionable stability of her research and engineering staff. It was not easy finding people as loyal as Eynta who would work in isolation for extended periods of time. She reminded Kwystyk, "We are on a rather tight schedule here for getting our little mind clones assembled."

Kwystyk nodded. "I wish you success. My mother told me little about your project, claiming that there are temporal paradoxes in play. If there's one thing that I've learned about my mother, she'll arrange for an explosion of coordinated events when she wants her operatives -or her daughter- to hurry up and get something done. I suspect Grean does not want you thinking too much about the implications of these new gene sequences."

"I fear you are right. If Grean really can travel through time, then she could have gotten these sequences to us long ago. For some reason, she delayed until the last minute." A message arrived for Lora, in text format, informing her that Konywhn, her daughter was arriving. Lora glanced at Kwystyk and said, "Here we go. The first of your predicted explosions. Please come with me." Lora took Kwystyk's arm and led him through the back door of her office.

Kwystyk asked, "Where are we going?" With Lora's hand on his arm, Kwystyk felt a sudden flash of sashei and he again recalled a blue face from one of his visions of the future, a face that had similarities to Lora's features.

"My daughter dropped in for a visit." Lora led Kwystyk down a long narrow tunnel and then up an elevator. "She visits me about once a month, but I suspect she noticed your arrival on Yerophet."

"Don't let me interfere with a private family matter." Even as he spoke, Kwystyk felt a growing telepathic force at work in his mind. "I should go see what is happening with my robot."

Konywhn and Voyt. Made using
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"Don't worry about your robot. I simply don't intend to let it wander around inside this facility." They emerged from the elevator, passed through a utility room and then emerged into Lora's comfortable home. They found Konywhn just arrived in the front entry way, taking off her cold weather gear. Lora and Konywhn hugged and then Lora gestured towards Kwystyk, "This is Grean's son, Kwystyk."

Konywhn shook Kwystyk's hand and asked, "You are an hermaphrodite?"

Kwystyk felt an instant telepathic link to Konywhn. Feeling the warmth of her exciting sashei, he stammered, "Ah, a failed hermaphrodite. Too many human genes. I ended up with testes and breasts, an unusual combination that is a source of confusion for humans."

They went to Lora's comfortable living room and Lora watched in amazement as Konywhn never released his hand and she rather abruptly pulled Kwystyk down to sit on a couch.

She assured him, "Dealing with the hermaphroditic Kerub, I'm not confused." Konywhn was now holding his hand in both of hers and her nipples had popped erect, pushing out against the thin fabric of her shirt. She turned to her mother and said, "Kwystyk and I have a powerful telepathic connection!"

Now Kwystyk and Konywhn both placed a hand to the side of the other's head. Konywhn asked: How is this possible? I'm not a very good telepath.

Kwystyk replied: I experienced something similar just a few days ago. And I was warned to expect... But how could I expect... this? His telepathic connection to Kony was even more powerful than had been his link to Kwanya.

Kwystyk. This image was made using
roxieoutd09 and blondeelf02 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Just then, Lora was called by Eynta. Eynta reported, "Miahco is completely satisfied, he says these are the genes that we need to complete the mind clone genomes."

Lora asked for some specifics. "These are oxypathin-related genes?"

"Yes, a system for amplifying telepathic abilities without a requirement that oxypathin be transported in the blood stream. Our mind clones will make oxypathin right in the brain, like a growth factor. However, I don't understand the details of this complex gene network that Grean designed. I'll need at least another hour to sort it out."

Lora was looking at her daughter with increasing concern. "No, leave that all to Miahco. Grean obviously trained him just for this situation. Your work on the mind clones is complete. I need you here. Come over here, at once!" Lora broke the comlink to Eynta and asked her daughter, "What's going on?"

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Konywhn was flushed and breathing rapidly. Her telepathic sashei was looping back from Kwystik's mind and she had almost achieved an orgasm. She reluctantly took her hand off of Kwystyk's cheek and took hold of his hand. "I think we are being linked up... artificially." Kony asked her mother, "Do you remember what that ghost-like Iidi told me... about ten years ago?"

Through the years, Lora had been occasionally visited by a mysterious Iidi. And once, Konywhn had reported having a similar visit. "Yes, but... that was all made possible by nanites... it was not a ghostly apparition."

Konywhn told Kwystyk, "I was warned long ago that I would meet a man who could share my thoughts and we would leave Yerophet to go on an important mission."

Eynta arrived and for a moment stood looking at Konywhn and Kwystyk then she asked Kwystyk, "It is you?"

Konywhn jumped up and hugged Eynta. "This is the man. I can read his thoughts... although..."

When Konywhn had let go of his hand, his mind instantly became distant. Now Kwystyk stood up and approached Konywhn. After a brief pause, they threw their arms around each-other and embraced. Knowing that he had found his mate, he rather sadly use telepathy to tell Kony: I promised to go find Kwanya... then we can be together.

Kwenslo

Konywhn said: Yes, I have to finish up this mind clone project. I must spend another week here on Yerophet. Then we will never be apart again, I promise!

Kwystyk kissed the tip of Konywhn's nose and then told Lora, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take your daughter off to Kwenslo."

Eynta moved close to Kwystyk and Kony and placed a hand on each of their heads. After a moment she shook her head and said, "This is all wrong. Even if we get the lost Pharazen gene sequences from Kwenslo, it will be too late. The mind clones will already be growing..."

Lora put her arms around Eynta from behind and asked, "What are you talking about, my dear?"

Eynta turned her back on Kony and put her arms around Lora. "This is what the Iidi have been telling us to be ready for. These two," She gestured with a thumb over her shoulder, "They are part of the nanocoid-linked cohort that was designed to assist with the mind clone network."

This image made using Elf1, EllieRoom10,
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Eynta kissed Lora and said, "Miahco knows what he is doing, I'll leave you and the mind clone project in his hands, with Larry as an able assistant." She turned to Kony and said, "Break it up you two." She pushed Kwystyk to the side and quickly hugged Kony and said, "Just one more week then you can come meet us on Kwenslo." She took Kwystyk by the hand and led him back to the tunnel. "Let's collect your robot and go find Kwanya."

Next: part 7 of "Meet the Phari".

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