Alien Intervention

Grystygn

 For the next part of my science fiction story called the Mosy Saga, I want to make explicit the idea that aliens Interventionists are planning to make use of Tara the Ta as their tool for accomplishing a complex Reality Change that will end the Ekcolir Reality and bring into existence the world as we know it, the Final Reality. So far in the story, I've hinted at the fact that Tara has large numbers of alien gene patterns, but Tara's physical features have been carefully constrained by developmental control nanites, assuring that she looks like an Earth woman. 

When Potina is called to the Summer Palace to meet visiting dignitaries from a western tribe, she discovers that there is a Rep serving as a translator for the visiting dignitaries; her name is Grystygn. The Rep are replicoids who can arrange their nanite components so as to take on any convenient form. When Grystygn is alone with Potina, she shows Potina her true bodily form (see below). However, when Earthlings other than Potina are present, Grystygn uses a standard Earth woman physical form (see Figure 1).

Figure 2. Side-pointing ears.

I've previously written stories such as The Zal Intervention in which aliens have visited Earth and I had to imagine hiding their alien features such as their ears. I've been using Wombo Dream (I refer to this AI-powered image generator as "Mr. Wombo")  to make illustrations for the Mosy Saga. 

When given a chance, Mr. Wombo tends to make elf-like ears pointing out to the sides as shown to the left in Figure 2. For the image of an alien visitor on Earth that I was trying to create, I wanted the ears pointing more vertically, as shown in this blog post from 2019.

Figure 3. partially hidden ears.

Some of the images generated by Mr. Wombo use the alien's long flowing hair to cover up large parts of the alien-style ears (for example, see Figure 3, to the right) or make the ears quite small. In this case, I particularly wanted to make obvious the fact that Grystygn has several unusual anatomic features, so I wanted the ears fairly large and mostly visible. 

Figure 4. Too alien for me.

I have a serious problem accepting AI-generated images of aliens if they are too alien in appearance. Some of the available "styles" for Mr. Wombo such as the relatively new "Dreamland V3" style generated images for aliens with large pointed ears that were in my uncanny valley (for example, see Figure 4). 

Figure 5. Ears too thin.

The pointy-eared alien version shown in Figure 5 had interesting ears, but this kind of thin ear was almost as troubling for me as were the thick ears in Figure 4. Rationally, I tell myself that I should be satisfied with either of these, but my rational mind can be over-ruled by the rest of my brain.

Figure 6. With ear rings.

Since I was so focused on the ears of this alien, I was attracted to the version with ear rings that is shown in Figure 6. I was using this text prompt: "high resolution movie still of Elle Macpherson as a pretty alien with cute elf ears in a science fiction film, Elle Macpherson has long blond hair, Elle Macpherson is fifteen years old, Elle Macpherson has very large alien eyes, Elle Macpherson has huge eyes, Elle Macpherson is smiling, Elle Macpherson is alien, alien technology in the background". It is interesting that Mr. Wombo sometimes cannot resist putting either tattoos or jewelry on human figures, even when not asked to do so.

Figure 7. Caz in Eternity.

Originally, I was imagining that Caz might need to take Tara to Eternity in order to help Tara understand how advanced technologies such as nanites and time travel were being used for the Mosy Intervention. During their time in Eternity, I thought it might be possible to have Tara meet Grean the Kac'hin. I often depict the Kac'hin as being hermaphrodites, but that is not the focus of this blog post.

Eventually, I decided to allow Tara's wife, Potina, to be the first Earthling who has a chance to see the unusual anatomy of an alien. Potina is already prepared for the idea of alien anatomical differences because she knows that Tara has an Allzaurish. Then, after Potina describes her "alien close encounter" experience to Tara, Tara will be curious about her own natural physical form. At that point in time, Tara will begin to make demands of Caz and then Tara will then be teleported to Eternity for a quick lesson about alien body plans.

Figure 8. Inside the Eternity
space-time bubble.

I was initially using Mr. Wombo to create a version of Caz as she might appear during the visit to Eternity with Tara (see Figure 7). Then, while using the "Dreamland V3" style, Mr. Wombo began making some images such as the one shown in Figure 8. 

Don't ask me to explain the floating metallic device that is there beside her, but it reminds me of the robotic devices that Arthur Clarke included in his science fiction story Against the Fall of Night. 

Four breasts by Mr. Wombo.

Surprise
The next step in image generation with Mr. Wombo really surprised me: an extra row of breasts was added, low on her abdomen (see the image to the right). In the past, when I've imagined extra breasts, I've always but them high on the abdomen. In this case, Mr. Wombo seemed to be putting a second set of collar bones on the abdomen between the two rows of breasts.

For the image shown to the right, I tried to make her look downward. Her head was generated separately. I discovered that it is almost impossible to get Mr. Wombo to show a woman looking down at her own body. Her left hand with the pointing finger was made by Mr. Wombo without me asking for that pose.

Figure 9. Grystygn's true form.

I ended up making the composite image shown in Figure 9 as a representation of the true alien form of Grystygn. These images tended to have serious trouble getting the hands correctly rendered.

 Straining Credulity. For the rest of the images shown below, I did bother bother trying to add in the big pointy alien ears and unusually large eyes that I imagine being anatomical features of Grystygn. However, some of Mr. Wombo's image-generating "styles" seem to have a definite preference for making large breasts (see Figures 10 an 11, below). Mr. Wombo's  preference was to almost always take care to hide and cover the nipples for the second row of breasts. In many cases, Mr. Wombo did not bother connecting the two pieces of fabric that were covering the left and right breasts (see the second row of breasts in Figure 11, below).

Figure 10. Monster version.

A few of the Wombo Dream styles were able to successfully use Figure 9 as a template and generate similar images. Another relatively new style, "Monster V3", generated the image shown in Figure 10. 

However, the vast majority of the Wombo Dream styles could not be coaxed to generate images with more than just two breasts.

Figure 11. Better hand.

Figure 11 shows a version of this six-breasted alien that was generated with the "Dreamland V3" style using Figure 9 as a template. For most of these images I had to make a closeup image for the face to correct for problems (often involving the nose). Figure 11 was the exception; I was satisfied with the original version of the face in this particular image.

Figure 12. Steamed.

The "Steam punk v2" style struggled to generate three rows of breasts using Figure 9 as a template. Figure 12 shows a modified composite version that had to be manually assembled from three different images.

I prefer aliens with more reasonably sized breasts such as those in Figure 9 and Figure 12.

Four Wombo Dream "styles"

I'm not sure how they keep devising new "styles" for Wombo Dream nor how they select the iconic image for each one.

Figure 13. Book cover.

Here is an imaginary book cover (see Figure 13). Maybe when Tara is taken to Eternity by Caz, she has a chance to visit the Writers Block.

I'm thinking that this alien humanoid with six breasts is a human variant that was designed and crafted in the far future of the Asimov Reality. Possibly this human variant has better telepathic abilities than other variants such as the Kac'hin and the Ek'col, but the goal in the telepathy development project of the Asimov Reality was creation of a telepathic human variant that could live on Earth without attracting too much attention.

Figure 14.

I used the image shown in Figure 12 as a new reference image. This did allow the "Monster V3" style to generate some aliens with either smaller breasts (or at least significantly less skin showing) than for Figure 10 and Figure 11 (above). The image shown in Figure 14, has a problem with her hand, but I did not alter anything in this image after it was rendered by Mr. Wombo.

Figure 15. Two torsos, two arms.

One of the more bizarre images that I got when using Figure 12 as a reference image is shown in Figure 15. It is very rare for a nipple to slip through the Wombo Dream NSFW filter. Maybe this is a scene from an alien high-diving competition.

Both Figure 15 and Figure 16 are shown here on this page completely unaltered from the original image generated by Mr. Wombo.

Mr. Wombo shows Tara topless.

Here is another example of an image for which the Wombo Dream NSFW algorithm seemingly relaxed its usual "hide the breasts" standards (image to the right). Maybe as long as her nipple is in a dark shadow, Mr. Wombo assumes that there has been adequate censorship imposed.

Figure 16. Four arms.

Martians
Another Mr. Wombo special double torso image is shown in Figure 16, this time with four arms and the usual Wombo Dream effort to hide her nipples. This kind of alien with four arms reminds me of an illustration by Michael Whelan for The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Sadly, for Figure 16, Mr. Wombo could not be bothered to to five her any hands. I'm not sure what those mysterious alien devices are in the background... nor am I certain why I even noticed what is in the background. This anatomically odd alien provides enough to look at.

Figure 17. Strategic hair.

The Wombo Dream software is quite good at finding ways to hide nipples. In Figure 17, I guess we are supposed to believe that her hair is covering her left nipple. Maybe some of these aliens do not actually have nipples.

In Figure 17, it looks like she has an audience.

Figure 18. Four rows.

The question arises: if Mr. Wombo can make aliens with three rows of breasts, why not four? Figure 18 might have three and a half, although I like the idea of some smaller breasts that would be specialized to synthesize some special hormones like oxypathin.

In Figure 18, the head was not generated with the body. That angle of the head is one of the most down-ward pointing angles that I was able to get from Mr. Wombo and that tilt of the head came without me asking. Very annoying when it is only by not asking for a particular feature in an image that Mr. Wombo generates it.

Figure 19. Not an alien.

Another down-ward glance is shown in Figure 19. While I was working hard to get images of strange aliens, it was interesting to occasionally get what looked like a normal human woman. In my experience, while asking Mr. Wombo to generate aliens, the software is so highly constrained by its training set (which I assume does not include many actual aliens) that it will often ignore my carefully-crafted instructions for how to craft an odd alien anatomical feature.

I was tempted to replace that stray planet with an image of the Moon, but maybe this scene is on a distant exoplanet.

Figure 20. A robot following.

 Robots. It seems inevitable that if I ask Mr. Wombo for enough science fiction scenes then some robots are going to appear, eventually. Figure 20 shows some robots lurking in the background.

For the Mosy Saga, I don't have robots in the conventional sense, but the story is heavily dependent on artificial lifeforms called replicoids that have nanite components. The replicoids generally take on human appearance (Figure 1) while living on Earth as part of the Mosy Intervention.

Figure 21. Tara's nightmare.

 Other Aliens. While asking Mr. Wombo to generate some aliens, I started getting images such as the one shown in Figure 21. This was not the kind of alien creature that I was trying to illustrate for the Mosy Saga, but maybe some of Tara's dream visions are more like nightmares than actual visions of the future. Before Tara's visit to Eternity, she worries about being watched by her replicoid.

Figure 22. In Eternity; a vision.

Because of her training as a Ta, Tara has some understanding of the fact that the Bimanoid Interface is used to allow the people of Earth to be secretly watched and observed. However, it is only after meeting Caz that Tara starts to get a technical understanding of how the Bimanoid Interface is used to allow telepathic communication between Earthlings and their replicoids in Eternity.

Another one of Tara's "visions" is shown in Figure 22. The replicoids can arrange their nanite components as needed. Here, a replicoid self-assembles from the head down. I wanted to transform this replicoid into a depiction of a blue alien with pointy ears.

Figure 23. Large eyes.

I was able to manually cut and paste some large eyes into a reference image (see Figure 23), but I struggled to get Mr. Wombo to make faces with unusually large alien eyes.

Figure 24. Green eyes?

One of the Wombo Dream styles is "The Cut". Using "The Cut", Mr. Wombo generated the image shown in Figure 24 using Figure 23 as the reference image. I was using this text prompt: "high resolution movie still of Elle Macpherson in the science fiction film "Aliens Are Watching", Elle Macpherson has blue skin, Elle Macpherson has long pointed elf-like ears, Elle Macpherson has black hair, Elle Macpherson has very large green eyes, Elle Macpherson has extremely large alien eyes, Elle Macpherson with huge eyes".

Figure 25. Manual eyes.

Once again I had to manually add larger eyes to the image shown in Figure 24 in order to get the image in Figure 25. Full confession: the image in Figure 25 is slightly too alien for my tastes.

Figure 26. Tara and an alien.

 Figure 26 shows a blue alien in a scene with Tara the Ta. This blue alien might be a Rep of Eland taking an opportunity to teach Tara about the true nature of the aliens who are guiding the Reality Change that will create the Final Reality (the world as we know it).

Sometimes I really wonder how Mr. Wombo decides on which style of clothing to use for an image. I'm not going to complain about the alien's clothing in Figure 26, but if I had a magic wand, I'd not have my aliens using primitive fasteners like buttons.

Figure 27. Alien encounter.

 Figure 27 is a version of this nighttime human-alien encounter that was generated by Mr. Wombo using the "Horror Cut v2.1" style and this text prompt: "high resolution movie still of Katrine De Candole and Elle Macpherson as a blue alien with very large eyes, Katrine De Candole is fifteen years old, Katrine De Candole is blond, Elle Macpherson is an alien with elf ears and large eyes and black hair, dressed Victoria's Secret style in silk, candle light, desert landscape in the background". I feel that the alien's left hand is a bit too green, but why quibble? Mr. Wombo came up with the glowing yellow eyes, which helps make up for the inability of the software to make really large eyes. Once Mr. Wombo starts with a few candles, watch out! The candles will keep proliferating.

Figure 28. Night meeting.

While using the text prompt, "high resolution movie still of Katrine De Candole, Meg Ryan, Kate Moss, Elle Macpherson and Behati Prinsloo in the documentary film “Ancient Civilizations”, twenty years old, very large eyes, smiling, long blond hair, big hair, dressed Victoria's Secret style, wearing neolithic clothing, moon in background", Mr. Wombo generated Figure 28 with the Dreamland v3" style.

The nipples of the lady towards the back of the scene in Figure 28 were not as dramatic as those in Figure 14, but her breasts were more visible than what can usually escape the NSFW filter that is deployed by Wombo Dream. I suppose if the breasts are small enough and the lighting dim enough then the NSFW filter can fail.

Figure 29. Meet again.

When I used Figure 28 as a reference image, Mr. Wombo generated Figure 29 by using the "Horror Cut v2.0 style". I get the feeling that there are a few holes in the NSFW algorithm that usually prevents Mr. Wombo from generating and returning to users any images of breasts with nipples or women's breasts that are not draped with clothing or covered by other means. At the same time, Mr. Wombo will sometimes start generating views of bare breasts even when the user does not ask for that. In this case, if you look carefully (click the image to enlarge), her nipples seem to be covered by thin swaths of skin-toned fabric.

The vertically-oriented series of three faces along the left side of Figure 29 was not a stable arrangement. As shown in Figure 30, it really made more sense for Mr. Wombo to have only two human figures along the left side of this scene.

Figure 30. Four meet.

Mr. Wombo had some interesting ideas for how to minimize clothing and maximize skin when using the "Monster 3" style to make these moon-lit scenes. Figure 30 shows the lady towards the back of the scene depicted by Mr. Wombo as being rather casual about covering her crotch. In Figures 28 - 30, the Moon was plenty big, but Mr. Wombo was not satisfied.

For the Mosy Saga, I was interested in having a nighttime meeting between Caz and Tara. Mr. Wombo seemed to like the idea that if there are only two people under the full Moon then the Moon can be made even larger. Since February I have sometimes tried to have Mr. Wombo generate images in which two humans are kissing, but the Wombo Dream training set seems to have not been very rich in images of people kissing, so Mr. Wombo finds it hard to visually depict a convincing kiss.

Figure 31. Moon Magic.

When I used the text prompt, "high resolution movie still of Meg Ryan and Kate Moss kissing in the documentary film “Ancient Civilizations”, Kate Moss is seen in profile view, twenty years old, very large eyes, smiling, long blond hair, big hair, dressed Victoria's Secret style, wearing neolithic clothing, moon in background", Mr. Wombo made the image shown in Figure 31.

Figure 32. Caz and Tara.

Not being entirely satisfied with the sky and Moon as depicted by Mr Wombo, I made the reference image shown in Figure 32. This star field and the image of the moon are from a couple of NASA images.

Figure 33. Wombo star-field.

In general, Mr. Wombo can't make a very natural looking star field. Figure 33 shows one of the more interesting nighttime skies that Mr. Wombo generated while using Figure 32 as a reference image.

Figure 34. Artificial hair.

I wanted some way to visually indicate that Caz is a replicoid. In the Mosy Saga, I mention that there is a characteristic appearance of the Rep (replicoids) who live in Eland that allows humans such as Tara to instantly recognize a Rep. Thinking of hair nanites, for Figure 34 I asked for "artificial hair", but Mr. Wombo finds it hard to produce either unusually large eyes (see Figure 24) or unusual hair. Mr. Wombo's default is to make some sort of goofy hat.

Figure 35. Wombo Galaxy.

 Figure 35 shows one more interesting night sky that was generated by Wombo and which illustrates Mr. Wombo's approach to including a view of the Milky Way in an image of the nighttime sky.

Saturation. I have no idea how Mr. Wombo decides on the amount of color saturation in these nighttime scenes that are under Moon light. Sometimes Mr. Wombo seems to over-do the color level.

Related Image: there is another image that is similar to Figure 21.

Next: Part 4 of the Mosy Saga.

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