Tym and Chyryq

Chyryq travels to Alastor Cluster

This blog page (below) has Chapter 11 of the science fiction story Meet the Phari. The events of this Chapter might at first seem completely disconnected from the first ten Chapters, but Chyryq will soon find her way to Alastor Cluster where she will meet Eynta and get caught up in the flow of events depicted in Chapter 10. Chyryq will bring important new gene combinations to the human population of Alastor Cluster.

This chapter introduces two new characters, Tymythy and Chyryq who were crafted with artificial genomes on the world SM284. Planet SM284 is not too far from Alastor Cluster, but humans have never explored the region of the galaxy that holds SM284. SM284 is only about a billion years old, but the pek have worked hard to import advanced forms of life from other planets to SM284 and prepare it to support human life. 

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The "SM" of SM284 stands for "sedron mine". It is part of the pek lifestyle to harvest sedrons from planets and try to limit access of primitive creatures like humans to sedronic matter. Sedrons are the basis of advanced technologies (particularly zeptites) that allow the Huaoshy to dominate the universe. However, advanced nanite technology is dangerous to young species like humans who could easily unleash a technological catastrophe if given access to zeptite technology.

In an attempt to allow human telepaths to be created in Alastor Cluster, the pek have been carefully providing humans with access to some advanced technologies. One technological trick that is made possible by sedrons is to allow telepaths to gain access to information from the future. The Phari routinely think and plan far into the future, and equipping humans with the ability to access the sedron time stream from the future will allow telepathic humans to understand the minds of the Phari.

⎯ Meet the Phari ؄

Part 11. Tym and Chyryq of the Andromorphs (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10)

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Tymythy grew up among the andromorphs without any understanding of how unusual his life was. As a little boy, he was free to explore the hills and dales near his home and when he returned from his outdoors adventures, his mother was always there ready to welcome Tym home with meals, hugs and hot soapy baths. 

Tym lived with his mother in an idyllic little town known to its residents as "Three".  Tym adored his home and learned to swim in the pool that arched around three sides of the house. His bedroom suite on the second floor had a balcony that faced away from town and provided a view into the forest and tantalizing glimpses of distant hill tops.

The back of Tym's comfortable house faced a vast and seemingly endless forest. The other end of town had long ago been cleared of trees so as to make room for a half dozen farms. Tym found it easiest to make friends with the children who lived on the farms, however most of the families in Three were miner families, and they seemed mysterious and aloof to young Tym who was allowed to wander through the farm lands but was not permitted to enter into the underground domain of the miners.

After learning the seasonal routines of the farms and loosing his instinctive fear of the forest, Tym spent little time with the other children of Three; he preferred to explore the wilderness. The top of each high hill near Three had outcrops of granite that had been scraped by ancient glaciers. Few trees grew on those hill tops and they provided Tym with enticing views of even more distant lands. There was always another forested valley and hill that beckoned to Tym, drawing him further from home.

a chapter in Ancient Fantasy Tales

Tym ignored the mystery of the unseen mine that lay below Three and the mystery of why other children refused to join him in exploring the forest. The one mystery that bothered Tym was the pretty face that he saw in his dreams. Perhaps once a month, Tym dreamed about a woman who reminded him of his mother, but who had a strange appearance and looked different than anyone who lived in Three. The woman of Tym's dream visions had long pointed ears and pale blue skin. 

Tym developed the romantic idea that the woman he saw in his dream visions was the Lady of the Forest and he pretended that by exploring further and further from home he would one day find her domain, an enchanted valley far from Three, somewhere deep in the the forest. When he learned to read and write, Tym began creating his own stories about the Lady of the Forest which he kept in a secret collection of files on his datcom.

It seemed that the golden days of his childhood would never end until Tym was finally old enough for school. The schooling began as a brief daily play time with other children under the direction of their teacher, but then, annoyingly, the length of each school session was just a little longer than the previous one. All of the school sessions were conducted remotely, with Tym making use of the datcom to "attend" school. As the school days gradually grew in length, Tym's time for outdoors play and adventure continued to contract until he simply had to complain to someone. His confidant and sounding board was his loyal companion, MCP55.

MCP55 usually adopted the physical form of a large hound dog, but when Tym needed someone to talk to, MCP55 could hold up one end of a conversation and morph body parts into more human form. Having grown up among andromorphs who also had the power to alter their physical form at will, Tym never questioned the existence of morphing pets like MCP55. After school, Tym had led MCP55 to a hilltop above his home and for five minutes he simply breathed the crisp air and enjoyed the warm sunlight on his back. Constantly using telepathy to monitor the boy's thoughts, MCP55 was well aware what was on Tym's mind. The dog said, "Yes, it is fun to explore the hills and forests, but all little boys must grow up and confront adult responsibilities."

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Tym had previously heard this from his teacher and his mother and he especially resented hearing it now from good old 55. In that day's school session, Tym had seen images of his world, SM286, as seen from outer space and had also learned the meaning of the word "sedron". Now Tym gazed into MCP55's big brown eyes and wondered what "MCP" meant. Before Tym could precisely formulate the question and get it on his tongue, MCP55 explained, "It is an abbreviation for "mind clone project". You and the other humans on this world were created as part of a plan for shaping and crafting a network of telepathic humans."

Tym knew that andromorphs like his mother and the other artificial life-forms like MCP55 could "read" his thoughts as efficiently as he had been taught to read printed text. Sometimes Tym felt annoyed by the fact that he was not a telepath. Now he puzzled over the meaning of "mind clone". His mother was MCP54 and his teacher was MCP7 and the other children who he knew at school had mothers who were named MCP38 and so on. Tym's logical conclusion was that mind clones must be very important, but if so, why didn't anyone ever discuss mind clones? Tym asked, "Why was I not told about this? Why don't we learn about mind clones in school?"

MCP55 patiently explained, "Mind clones are a school topic, but your teacher simply has not gotten to that subject yet. It is a complicated subject. You are unusual, Tym... you concern yourself with abstract topics earlier than the other children. You are going to have to get used to letting your school friends gradually catch up to your special patterns of thinking."

When his school sessions had first begun, Tym had wondered why none of the other young children who lived in Three attended school. At that time, he'd been told that only a few special children ever received schooling... only the curious ones, like Tym. Now, after a year of interacting with his school mates, he thought he knew why. He asked 55, "The other children here in Three are all andromorphs?"

MCP55 nodded. "Yes, of course. You are the only human here in Three. The other children here in this village were created to be companions for you and they played a role in socializing you when you were little. They were your first play mates, but you quickly realized that they did not share your interests. Now your attention has been successfully shifted to your fellow humans... the other students at school. Similarly, you will continue to loose interest in me as you continue to age and gradually become more involved in the issues that are of special interest to humans."

Tym put his arms around MCP55 and said, "I hope you will always be my friend and companion!"

"For as long as you need me, yes, I am your companion. However, when the time comes for you to depart from Three, do not hesitate to walk away from me." The dog waited until Tym drew back, then added. "The same for your mother, friend Tym. Heed my advice: don't ever let your love for her hold you back from going out into the world to find your destiny."

Tym had recently been allowed to move into a special advanced arithmetic schedule in which his mother spent an hour each day discussing and solving math problems with him. Seeing Tym's thoughts about those hours spent exploring numbers with MCP54, MCP55 added, "Each human child of this world was crafted so as to have a unique brain pattern, so your school friends each have their own special topics to explore as appropriate for their own mind. You happen to have a brain that is well suited for numbers and linear problem solving."

As usual, Tym had been intent on complaining to 55 about the endlessly growing intrusion of school into his life, but somehow his pet had shifted the entire conversation onto a new footing. Tym rubbed his head and tried to recapture the original flow of his thoughts...

From Tym's perspective, his five-days-a-week school sessions and his almost daily math sessions with his mom simply took up too much precious time that he would rather spend outdoors and exploring the countryside. Tym's latest cherished project was building a small log hut on a beautiful hilltop five miles from Three. Still, he could not resist thinking about the mysteries of the world, the galaxy beyond and other adult concerns. As annoying as school was, the daily lessons opened up great new avenues for thought, and Tym was addicted to thought and logic. Tym told MCP55, "Today MCP7 mentioned sedron extractors. I've heard mention of the extractors all my life, but what does it mean to extract a sedron?"

"When planets form, they contain sedronic matter." MCP55 sat up on its hind parts and gestured with one front paw to the surrounding terrain. "We live above SE1723. The sedron extractor is underground, but it brings purified sedrons to the surface that have been harvested from a deep, pek-constructed magma chamber." MCP55 did not bother to mention that on most planets the entire sedron extraction process was fully automated. SM286 was one of the special pek planets where human agents of the pek were trained for missions on human worlds. The whole planet-wide system consisting of thousands of sedron extractors, their upper ends being operated by millions of andromorphs, existed only as an artificial environment that could function so as to properly socialize a few human children such as Tym.

Tym was vaguely aware that there were other worlds in the galaxy with human populations, but he was allowed to assume that daily life was the same on those other planets as it was on SM286. Tym continued to cherish every hour that he could spend with MCP55 exploring the endless wild forests near his home. His curiosity about sedrons having been provoked, occasionally Tym entered into the underground tunnels and chambers below Three where thousands of andromorphs carried out the mysterious mining activities associated with SE1723, however the miners always told Tym that he should return to the surface: there was nothing underground for a boy.

When Tym finally began to wonder why he was the only human child at SE1723 he asked his mother, "Why are there so few human children? Just one at each of the sedron extractors?"

MCP54 put an arm around Tym and replied, "I was designed with special features that allowed me to gestate you, give birth and nurse you as an infant. Most of the other andromorphs are not able to have children. They are here to provide the small amount of food that you consume and they have provided you with stable (and easy to understand) social context during your childhood." She patted Tym's shoulder and asked, "Am I a good mother, my darling?"

Tym had no basis for comparison and did not really understand the question that his mother had asked. He hugged MCP54 and said, "I love you, mommy." He added, "I just wish you did not force me to go to school all the time."

Through the years, his understanding of the world continued to expand, but Tym took almost no interest in his fellow students at school. In his mind, they were little more than speaking flickers in the periphery of the electronically assembled learning sessions directed by MCP7. The human children made only a small impact on Tym's thoughts, just as had been the case with the other children of Three. Tym paid his fellow humans little attention until some of the girls began showing the first signs of breast and nipple growth. Soon there were school sessions devoted to the wearing of clothing and subjects like biology. Tym learned to wear clothing and even made a harness-like vest for MCP55 that allowed Tym to use his pet to help carry supplies into the forest.

At the end of the reproductive biology unit, Tym was eating dinner as usual with his mom. Tym was thinking vague thoughts about breasts and his faded memories of breast feeding. MCP54 said, "You are going to have to learn to not stare at a woman's breasts."

Tym pulled his eyes away from his mothers chest and asked, "Why don't men also have breasts to feed babies?"

MCP54 told Tym a long story about the distant planet called Earth and how humans had evolved there as mammals under conditions that only required half of the adults to produce milk. At the very end of her discussion of evolution and natural selection, MCP54 mentioned, "Some other humanoids use an hermaphroditic reproductive strategy and every adult has breasts. Some other humanoids have abandoned body-to-body nutrient transfer completely."

"What's a humanoid?"

Not wanting to confuse Tym, MCP54 replied briefly, "Humanoids are other biological creatures who are similar to humans, but with differences in details like mammary glands or skin color or length of their ears."

Tym did not like to talk about his dream visions of the Lady of the Forest. He'd recently had a dream in which the Lady had been playing with his genitals and he had awoken with his penis stiff and swollen. Since none of his fellow school children had long ears and blue skin, Tym had begun to suspect that the Lady of the Forest might exist on another world. "Where are these humanoids? On other worlds?"

"Yes, there are many planets with no humans at all. Some of those worlds are empty, with no civilization. Others are populated by humanoids, but some worlds have other forms of life that are not shaped like the human body plan. Of course, none of those are near to us."

"Why is that?"

Asterothrope hermaphrodite

"Humanoids like the pek long ago took control of biological evolution in all the nearby galaxies. The Phari did the same here in this galaxy." MCP54 could see into Tym's thoughts and knew that he was still thinking about his mysterious "Lady of the Forest". MCP54 added, "Sometimes a human and a humanoid can reproduce and have hybrid offspring. Sometimes two humanoids fall in love and discover that they are not biologically compatible. They can be happy together even if unable to have children of their own."

Gradually, Tym became infatuated with one of the girls at school: Chyryq. Tym had noticed that Chyryq had pointed tips on her ears and eventually he discovered that she had a dozen pleasing charms and in particular she was always willing to listen to him tell about his adventures in the forest. Chyryq was very artistic and she began sharing with him paintings that she made depicting imaginary events in the forest. As their friendship grew, on most days either Tym of Chyryq invented a good excuse to contact the other by a private datcom link. Chyryq had never lost her instinctive fear of the forest, so there were always dire beasts from legend lurking in the dark corners of her paintings. All the homes of the human children had wall displays that were illustrated electronic books of ancient folk tales, mostly from Earth itself. Both Tym and Chyryq had grown up with a favorite activity of childhood being to take those bookpanels off the wall and curl up with their mothers to hear the ancient stories.

For several years, Tym had known how to access and interpret an electronic map of the world that was accessible via his datcom. Thus, he had long known that Chyryq lived in another village that was almost 200 miles away, towards the east. Now Tym found himself relentlessly exploring the forest in that direction. One weekend when he was free of school for two days, he managed to reach a hill top 50 miles from SE1723, more than a quarter of the way to Chyryq's village. Unfortunately, the map of SM286 showed none of the details of the vast forest that lay between Tym's village and the one where Chyryq lived.

After school on that Monday, Chyryq called Tym by datcom and asked, "Why didn't you answer my calls this weekend?"

Tym explained, "The weather was perfect and I decided to just keep going, deeper and deeper into the forest." He adjusted the large image screen of his datcom so as to optimize his view of Chyryq. She was looking particularly vibrant and cute, as if anxious to share one of her lovely paintings. "How was your weekend?"

"I had news for you." Via the datcom Chyryq shared an image with Tym; a photograph, not one of her paintings. "Ever since Seven told us that there are other schools, some of us have been linking out to the artistic students all around the world. We now have quite an extensive arts network, linking almost a hundred schools. This girl is named Bethy... she lives on the other side of the planet, ten thousand miles away."

Tym gazed at the image of Bethy and saw that she had dark hair, blue skin and long ears, just like the woman of his dream visions. Was this a young version of the same person that Tym saw in his dreams? Tym was not certain. "Do all the students in her school look like this?"

"I asked Bethy about that, but she says that only about half the students in her school have blue skin." Chyryq was watching Tym carefully, observing how he reacted to the sight of Bethy. "I suppose you'll want to contact her."

Tym shook his head. "Why bother? She might as well be on another planet. No, it is enough of a challenge to figure out how to reach your village."

Chyryq giggled. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Why shouldn't I come to visit you? It is an excellent idea. Maybe the best idea I've ever had. I could reach you in less than a week... if I had a reliable way to navigate through the forest."

Vire Mine 1

Chyryq suggested, "Please forget this silly idea! You'd get lost in the forest and never be seen again."

"I don't think so. I can always find my way home. And there must be a way of making a portable datcom that would allow me to precisely travel from here to your village."

Chyryq had enjoyed spending years illustrating Tym's fantasy world of an imagined Lady of the Forest, but she had her own dream visions. In her dreams, Chyryq was on another planet where she raised a family with another man who was not Tym. Now she asked, "In your visions of the blue Lady, have you ever seen another world, a distant planet?"

"No, not really. I only wondered if my visions might be of another world because I had never seen blue people here. Now that I know about Bethy and her school mates who are blue, it seems most likely that my visions are of a blue humanoid living somewhere here on SM284." He sighed. "This knowledge takes some of the thrill and mystery out of my dream visions."

Eventually Tym solved the navigation problem. When he was just about ready to disassemble the datcom in his room and try to rebuild it as a portable device, MCP55 said, "Here, use this." MCP55 held a small device in his hand. Tym took the navcom and slipped it onto his wrist. The little display screen of the device lit up, showing a navigation map of the area around SE1723. MCP55 explained helpfully: "The red button is the zoom control."

Tym turned the little red nub and the map zoomed out to include Chyryq's village at SE1727. When Tym walked in a circle, an arrow always pointed from his current position towards SE1727, which remained always to the east on the display screen. Tym complained, "Why didn't you give this to me long ago?"

MCP55 replied, "We've tried to delay your journey as long as possible. And, if you want a personal reason, I'll admit that I will miss you, Tym."

"Miss me? You are going to go with me to SE1727."

"No, I am not." MCP55 placed a big paw on Tym's foot. "I've enjoyed raising you, but you need to move on from andromorphs and take your rightful place among your fellow humans." 

Tym thought about what MCP55 had said years earlier: When the time comes for you to depart from Three, do not hesitate to walk away from me. Tym had never taken that seriously, but now he realized that this was no joke. If he departed from SE1723 then he would never see MCP55 or his mother again. Tym stepped out into the hallway and took from the wall the book panel that held Ancient Fantasy Tales. He turned to the chapter about the Ylfkyn of ancient Earth and gazed at the illustrations of Lady Kynnyg. Tym knew that he had to go in search of the woman who haunted his dreams. A visit to Chyryq's village seemed as good a place as any to begin the search. Tym was concerned about having enough food to complete the long walk to Chyryq's village so he waited until the time of year when the hillsides were decorated with ripe grapes and the rivers were full of migratory fish.

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In the Fall of that year, Tym bade his mother and 55 tearful farewells. Tym finally asked MCP54 a question that had long haunted him: "Please tell me mother... who is my father?"

MCP54 replied, "Your chromosomes were artificially constructed by the pek using genetic material from many sources, from more than one woman and from many men. In fact, a small percentage of your genes came from non-humans." 

Tym turned away and went into the forest. His long march from SE1723 to SE1727 went without any great difficulty. He had carried far more food than necessary strapped to his back. Along the way, he had found the rivers full of fish and the hills rich with edible plants. Standing on a hill near SE1727, Tym was annoyed at how similar Chyryq's village was to his own. "I travel all that great distance and everything looks the same." He shrugged and descended into the sleepy town. It was not hard to find Chyryq's house since it was nearly identical in structure to the house where Tym grew up and positioned in the same location within the village. For a minute, Tym stood gazing across the reflecting pool, picking out slight differences between this house and his own at SE1723. Then he saw a large cat walk across the balcony above. A moment later, Chyryq opened the door and they ran towards each-other. She called out, "You made it!". They threw their arms around each-other and laughed with joy. 

At the dinner table, for a celebratory meal, Chyryq's mother told Tym, "Thank you for this dramatic demonstration Tymythy. My daughter is not as bold as you... I hope she will learn from your example."

Tym was startled by how much Chyryq's mother looked and spoke just like his own mother. He asked, "Demonstration?"

"You have demonstrated that it is possible to break the barrier of distance that was designed to keep the human children of SM284 apart." She reached out and placed a hand on her daughter's arm. "Of course, you are no longer children. I see in your thoughts that you want to become Chyryq's lover."

"Chyryq is very cute. I would enjoy becoming her lover, but there is a problem. In our dreams, we both see another partner."

Chyryq nodded. "In my dream vision, I will go to another world where I will live out my life and have a family. However, these dream visions are just fantasy."

Tym shook his head. "I don't believe that. I think our visions are part of the mind clone project. We were designed and created for a purpose and I can't stop trying to imagine how I might somehow reach Bethy's distant village." He asked Chyryq,  "Why shouldn't there be a way for you to travel to another world?"

Chyryq asked her mother, "Well, is there a way to leave SM284 and travel to far stars and other worlds?"

Pryscylla the pek

There was a soft cracking noise and suddenly another woman was standing there, beside the table. Like Bethy, she had long pointy ears. Tym jumped to his feet and stammered, "Who are... where did..."

"Human tongues find it easy to call me Pryscylla." She gently guided Tym back into his chair at the table. "I'm a pek and I am responsible for designing this planet and constructing it so as to play its part in the human mind clone project." Pryscylla moved close to Chyryq and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Believe me, there will be no problem getting you to Alastor Cluster... if and when the time is right."

Tym pulled his eyes off of Pryscylla's ears and saw that Chyryq's mother had disappeared. He muttered to Chyryq, "Your mother..."

Pryscylla sat down in the chair where Chyryq's mother had been sitting. "The andromorphs don't know any details of my plans for providing genes to the mind clones of Alastor Cluster. I could not risk them inadvertently telling you humans too much about your futures." Pryscylla placed one of her oddly shaped hands on her breast and added, "I also must restrain myself in order to avoid temporal paradoxes."

Tym asked, "You know our fates? You have seen our futures?"

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Nat White.

"Well, yes, although I've had to avoid looking too carefully at my own actions in the future. I'm not immune to the annoyance of time paradox myself. In particular, I avoid time travel whenever possible. However, travel through space is no problem. At this moment, I could easily send Tym to Bethy's village or Chyryq to another planet." The pek had access to long-range teleportation technology, but Pryscylla did not want to overwhelm Tym and Chyryq with irrelevant details about pek technology. "We pek are not constrained by distance. In fact, we have shared a type of sedron-powered space drive technology that allowed humans to spread from Earth to Alastor Cluster."

Chyryq complained, "Pryscylla, you are scaring me. I enjoy my life here with my mother. Must you really send me away to some far world?"

Pryscylla explained, "You are still young, my dear. However, you and Tym will grow and mature together and when the time is right, you will be happy to go to Alastor Cluster. But no need to rush." As suddenly as she had arrived, Pryscylla was gone. Only a small sucking sound marked her disappearance.

Chyryq's mother was never seen again and Tym moved into her bedroom suite and used the datcom there to continue his schooling. He was particularly pleased to find that Chyryq had grown up using the bedroom suite that faced the center of the village, so Tym now occupied the suite that was the equivalent of the one he had grown up in, with a wide balcony facing the wild forest. Several times, Tym tried calling his home in SE1723, but neither MCP54 or MCP55 accepted the calls. Tym and Chyryq and her pet cat fell into a comfortable domestic routine and soon Tym and Chyryq became lovers. They discovered that during moments of simultaneous orgasm, they could telepathically link into the mysterious source of their dream visions.

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From her new, stronger "visions", Chyryq learned that she would some day travel to a planet called Viole, located in Alastor Cluster. Tym learned the name of his blue-skinned dream "Lady" and after much effort discovered where she lived and what her call code was. Finally, the day came when Tym sat in front of his datcom and contacted Jynny, who lived on the opposite side of the planet. Chyryq stood behind Tym, her hands on his shoulders. "Jynny accepted the call, looked at Tym and said, "It is you!"

Jynny had long had telepathic contacts with Tym and could recieve his thoughts, particularly during those magical times when Tym and Chyryq were making love. "Tym? And Chyryq, is that you there, too?"

Chyryq asked, "You know who we are?"

"I've long felt Tym's thoughts and he is often thinking of Chyryq. That's about as much as I know about you two."

During subsequent months, Jynny, Tym and Chyryq routinely synchronized their orgasms and that allowed Jynny to link her mind intimately to Tym's. During the synchronized orgasms, Chyryq linked to the mind of a man on Viole who would become the father of her children. Then one day, Jynny arrived in SE1727. Tym was working with Chyryq to craft a new illustration for one of his stories when he suddenly felt Jynny's mind. He opened the front door and saw Jynny approaching. They embraced and then Tym called to Chyryq, "It is Jynny!" But there was no reply. 

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Tym searched the entire house and then asked Jynny, "How did you get here from the other side of the planet?"

Jynny explained, "Pryscylla told me that she would teleport me to you when the time was right."

Tym nodded. Again he put his arms around Jynny. "I'm glad you are finally here, my love. Pryscylla must have sent Chyryq off to Alastor Cluster." He kissed Jynny then reached to feel one of her long ears. "I wonder if we are biologically compatible."

Jynny said, "I know one way to find out."

Next: technology-assisted telepathy in 1948

To Be Continued: Chapter 12 of Meet the Phari.

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