Elemacha-z

Alien life from Elemacha-z.
A fanciful plant person
generated by WOMBO Dream.

Below on this page is Part 2 of a science fiction story called "The Fesarians". In Part 1, Balok the bumpha assembled a team of assorted humanoids for a mission to the planet Elemacha-z. In Part 2, that team arrives at Elemacha-z where they must confront the mystery of why the Merovae, sentient natives of Elemacha-z, have come into conflict with the newly established human colony on that world.

One member of Balok's away team is Dani, who has the appearance of a young woman, but her true identity is only revealed when Dani and Dave Bailey are on the surface of Elemacha-z. A human-Talosian hybrid named Ienaghwy and another powerful telepath, Ylyndra, can stay in orbit above Elemacha-z and act as a support team for Dani and Bailey.

 Noema Teaser. One of my goals while writing the fan-fiction story "The Fesarians" was to honor the original Star Trek television show while going in new directions with the aliens of Elemacha-z, including the aquatic Merovae.

a telepathic Noema (center)

 Gemini came up with names for both the Merovae and another native creature of Elemacha-z, the Noema (plant-like aliens who don't come on stage until Part 4 of "The Fesarians"; see the image to the left).

I did not want the plot of "The Fesarians" to closely resemble the plot of "The Devil in the Dark". It would have been easy to simply say that the Merovae lay their eggs on land, leading to conflict with the human colonists. However, once I included Talia Vance as a character in the story, I could not avoid thinking about Jack Vance's interest in plants (example: see "Son of the Tree").

 Spoiler? I wanted the plot of "The Fesarians" to including a strange biological dependence of the aquatic Merovae on a plant species that exists on the land surface of Elemacha-z. Jack Vance invented many very odd biological scenarios for his science fiction stories, including a life form that could obtain energy from uranium (see this 2021 blog post). 

How to recognize a telepath.

 Blind Spot. What did I come up with for a plant-like alien? In this case, since the Merovae have telepathic abilities, I began imagining a telepathic link between the Merovae and a mysterious plant-like species, the Noema. At first, it is difficult for the human colonists on Elemacha-z to even imagine the possibility of sentient plants.

 Telepathic plants. I began thinking about the "pod plants" in the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise". What if Elemacha-z has a "plant" species that was an ancient, de-evolved organism, a remnant of what was once a technologically advanced species that long ago developed nanotechnology? By using spore-like nanites (infites) and an unusual type of telepathic communication, the Noema can control the behavior of the Merovae.

Part 2 of The Fesarians (Part 1)

Bailey was feeling nervous about the idea of defending his mind against telepaths and wondering when Dani would want to begin briefing him on their upcoming mission to Elemacha-z. At the same time, Bailey was amused by the fact that he did not really feel any surprise at the idea that the Fesarius was full of interesting aliens. Bailey would have been thoroughly enjoying himself, but he was distracted by the huge bald head of Ienaghwy and reminded of stories he had heard about the telepathic Talosians. He asked Ienaghwy, "Are you a Talosian?"

Ienaghwy with Talosian technology.

Ienaghwy replied, "I'm actually a hybrid, only half Talosian."

Bailey nervously suggested, "Since Starfleet has imposed a death penalty for anyone who has contact with Talosians, maybe I..."

Ylyndra said something in a language that Bailey did not understand or even recognize, but he could sense her hostile tone. Bailey pulled his eyes away from the huge cranium of Ienaghwy and told Ylyndra, "I don't understand your language."

Dani told Bailey, "There is no need for you to get into a squabble with Ylyndra. Ienaghwy and Ylyndra are both from cultures that rely heavily on telepathy. It is simply difficult for Ylyndra to imagine why humans would want to restrict contact with Talosians."

Bailey meets Dani. Dani
immediately begins manipulating
Bailey by strengthening his emotional
response to her beautiful physical form.

Now Ylyndra spoke to Bailey in English. "Humans have a dysfunctional obsession with telepathy and fear of telepaths. What your species should do is develop your own telepathic abilities, not try to murder anyone who has contact with telepaths such as the Talosians."

Bailey noted, "Human First Contact with Talosians did not go well." He asked Ylyndra, "What did you say a moment ago?"

Ylyndra did not want to respond to Bailey's question, but Dani said, "She thinks humans are primitive and ignorant." Dani put an arm around Bailey and told him, "Ylyndra said, 'Such barbarians!'. Don't let her annoy you."

Feeling a need to defend Starfleet policies, Bailey noted, "It is not murder when people are executed for violating a law."

Balok raised a hand and said, "You'll have to continue this debate another time. At this moment, I need to get myself over to the Neutral Zone and deal with another mess created by the Klingons." Balok activated the teleportation system of Fesarius and watched as the component parts of Dani, Bailey, Ienaghwy and Ylyndra were systematically disintegrated by the teleportation beam.

Dani with the infite vial.

As quickly as they had been decomposed, Dani, Bailey, Ienaghwy and Ylyndra materialized inside a small mobile module of Fesarius that was already detached from the main part of Fesarius and was on course for the Elemacha star system. Dani handed Bailey a mysterious glowing vial and said, "Here is your mission briefing."

Bailey was baffled. He wondered if he was holding a small holographic projector. Dani explained, "Just open the vial. It contains the mission instructions."

Bailey took the vial from Dani and pushed at what looked like a removable cap on the narrow end of the vial. Invisibly small infites instantly swarmed out of the vial and into Bailey's brain where they began building new memories. Slowly at first, and then in a sudden flash, Bailey became aware of the nature of their upcoming mission. Dani was saying, "These infites were provided by Balok. An efficient way of sharing information, is it not?"

Infite-generated memory of Xylo.

Bailey was amazed to find a large amount of information about Elemacha-z now readily accessible in his memories. He now knew the entire lay-out of the human colony on Elemacha-z, having had the design documents for the colony impressed on his brain by the infites. Some of the information that had been transmitted to him by the infites had been collected by a Starfleet survey team of thirty years previously and those new memories in his mind were so detailed that to Bailey it was almost as if he had previously stood on the surface of Elemacha-z. Also in Bailey's thoughts were images of the woman who had designed the layout of the Port Cooway colony on Elemacha-z, a woman named Xylo.

Still processing the vast amount of information he had obtained from the infites, Bailey asked, "Why didn't the colonists bring a fusion reactor to Elemacha-z?"

Dani suggested, "It is a small colony. Maybe they did not want to have to deal with maintaining complex systems such as nuclear reactors. In any case, the starlight hitting Elemacha-z is very intense, so solar energy collectors are a viable and simple source of power for this new colony."

 Ylyndra said, "It is really an issue of aesthetics. Elemacha-z is too close to its sun for comfort. The colonists wanted shade, so they decided to rely on giant solar collectors that look like trees."

Ienaghwy telepathically placed an image into Bailey's mind. For Bailey, it was as if he was having a vivid hallucination of seeing one of the arrays of hybrid solar-wind energy collectors that had been installed on the hills of Elemacha-z. In the colony plans, the positions of the collectors were only marked by red circles on the map, but now, with some telepathic assistance, Bailey could begin to appreciate the structural complexity of the energy collectors.

Port Cooway

Just then, the radio receiver activated and Bailey heard, "Mayor Xylo, here, calling the spacecraft that just came into orbit. Please identify yourselves."

Ylyndra used the radio transmitter to reply. "Hello, Mayor Xylo. This is the Starfleet scout ship Hermano Alverez, registry number NCC-1719. We are responding to your request for help with a power supply problem."

Xylo said, "Wonderful. I did not expect you to get a reactor out here so quickly."

Ylyndra said, "It will take at least a week to get a reactor to Elemacha-z. All I have for you is lieutenant Bailey and power technician Olsen. They are ready to beam down."

"What good will that do?"

"Based on your distress signal, my understanding is that your power technicians are sick and stopped working. Olsen should be able to help maintain your existing power supply until the fusion reactor arrives from Star Base 12 and can be installed and linked to your power grid."

"Very well, I accept your offer of help, but we must follow protocol for this colony. Elemacha-z is under quarantine. Your two people must beam to our space station for decontamination. And while they do that..." Xylo continued, "I request that you land your spaceship close to my command center so that I can attach its reactor into our power grid."

Xylo on Elemacha-z

Ylyndra said, "Sorry, Xylo, no can do. I've got a busy schedule. I'm leaving orbit as soon as Bailey and Olsen teleport out of this ship."

"I suppose we will have to continue make do with our solar energy collectors." A frustrated mayor Xylo said, "Xylo out."

Dani picked up two large carrying cases and moved to the teleportation pad. Dani warned Bailey, "Decontamination means they are going to remove all the bacteria from our bodies, so we will get to spend time together in quarantine." 

Bailey was delighted to hear that he would be all along with the lovely Dani during the decontamination process. He stepped onto the teleportation pad and turned to gaze at the big display screen. The main display of the spaceship which showed a view of the surface of Elemacha-z as seen from orbit. Bright light reflected from the scattered swirling patterns of cloud tops. Bailey could count eight large hurricanes in the part of the ocean he could see in the view field of the display. Bailey said, "With all those storms, this looks like a dangerous world."

Dani took hold of Bailey's hand. She pressed her side against Bailey's body and said, "The human colony, known to the locals as Port Cooway, had been built on an island that usually avoided the storm tracks. So where we are going there is not much risk of getting hammered by a big storm." Dani had squeezed Bailey's hand as she spoke the word "hammered".

Bailey glanced at Dani's cute face and felt certain that Dani was hoping he would hammer her while they were alone together in quarantine. After enjoying Dani's seductive smile, Bailey turned his gaze back to the display screen. As Bailey watched the shifting view of Elemacha-z, now the orbital station above Elemacha-z came into view. Bailey asked, "Can the human body survive without bacteria?"

Dani explained, "Special nanites have been developed by Starfleet that can replace most of the functions of intestinal bacteria. That should compensate for the lack of intestinal bacteria for the short time that we are on Elemacha-z."

The teleporter activated and sent Dani and Bailey into the orbital station. Ienaghwy quickly took the spaceship out of orbit, but then returned to opposite side of the planet, now under the cover of a bumpha shield that would prevent humans from detecting the ship.

Dani and Dave spent a day at the space station and went through the required decontamination process. Their equipment and belongings also went through meticulous decontamination treatments with the goal that no microbial life would be introduced to the Elemacha-z environment. 

Dani and Bailey had a wonderful day together, becoming lovers and exploring each others bodies. Then they were teleported down to the surface and into the command post at the center of Port Cooway.

Arriving on Elemacha-z, Bailey was hit by the uncomfortable sensation of high heat and humidity. Xylo said, "Welcome to Elemacha-z." An anti-gravity hover servo was near Xylo and on it was a powerful fan, blowing air on Xylo and causing her long golden hair to dance around her head and neck.

Bailey gazed upon the sexy body of mayor Margaret Xylo who was dressed in only a bare minimum of semi-transparent clothing. Bailey began to sweat as he contemplated Xylo's beautiful body. Dani was immediately trying to deal with the electrical power problem confronting Xylo and the other residents of Port Cooway. Without wasting any time on small talk, Dani asked the Mayor, "You are unable to properly cool your buildings because of a chronic power shortage?"

Xylo shook her head and showed Dani a graph of the colony's power demand through the entire day and night. "We do okay at night. During the day, our need for cooling is very great. We can keep our residences and workplaces just barely within a tolerable temperature range during the day."

Xylo keeping cool inside the
command center of Port Cooway.

Dani examined the power supply data. "Why is your power generation so low? Two weeks ago your power generating capacity was more than double what it is right now."

"It is actually a power transmission problem", Xylo explained. "Sabotage of power lines. I suspect that our power network technician has been intentionally cutting the power supply lines. The solar/wind generators are still functioning, but they are located up in the hills and I can't deliver the electrical power to the colonists who live down here along the shore."

Bailey had to take off his jacket. He was sweating profusely and kept moving closer to the Mayor, trying to benefit from the cooling effect of the fan that was blowing on her sexy body. Bailey asked Xylo, "Can I speak to your power people?"

"Maybe. There is really only one power supply specialist in the colony: Talia Vance. I tried to confine Talia to her home, but she refuses to stay put. Now Talia has stopped responding to my calls... maybe we are also having communications disruption. Anyhow, I'm afraid you'll have to search and find her." Xylo handed Bailey some sun glasses. "You'll need these and a cooler suit if you go outside. Always protect your eyes from our powerful sun."

Dani asked, "Where are the suits? I'll go inspect the power transmission lines and start repairs." 

Half an hour later, Dani, Bailey and Xylo stood above a hole in the ground at one of the locations where a power cable had been cut. They were sealed in their environmental suits and speaking by means of radio. The outside temperature was 168 in the shade, but the nearest shade, that from several solar power collectors, was a hundred yards up the nearby hillside. While digging to widen the original hole, Dani had examining the hardened clay that was arrayed in heaps around the edge of the hole in the ground. She commented, "I don't see any identifiable clues as to how this hole was dug and the cable cut." 

Phaser, an energy beam weapon.

The only identifiable tracks and markings that had been left in the mud were what looked like human footprints. A metal snake tube had been inserted into the ground which provided a view of the damaged underground cable. Dani had removed that tube and widened the hole. She noted, "It looks like something shredded the cable. It is not the kind of clean break that a phaser would make."

While Dani dug and widened the hole, Bailey had spent the past fifteen minutes using his radio to speak to several members of the colony, seeking clues as to the current location of the power engineer, Talia. Now he pointed up towards the top of the hill and asked Xylo, "Is that the home of Talia Vance?"

Xylo glanced at the house up on the hilltop and replied, "Yes. I placed her under house arrest and ordered her to stay there, but yesterday I hiked up there, but I did not find her there."

Bailey said, "I'll try my luck." The batteries in his cooling suit were already half drained. He was tempted to contact Ienaghwy and Ylyndra in orbit and have them teleport Bailey to the house on the hill. However, the mission parameters called for Dani and Bailey to not reveal the fact that they had a telepathic support team in orbit.

In the Ekcolir Reality.

Dani said, "And I'll repair this cable." Dani had finished using a phaser to carefully widen the original hole at the site of the power cable break. Now she opened up the carrying case that held the cable repair equipment.

As Bailey began to climb up the hill, Xylo followed and then moved close to Bailey and physically connected their cooling suits with a wire. Xylo told Bailey, "Turn off your radio transmitter." She waited for Bailey to inactivate the radio equipment that was built into his cooling suit. "Why did you bring Dani here? I checked the Federation records database. You check out... sorta... my admittedly out-of-date copy of the database says you are assigned to the Enterprise. But she's not Starfleet... Dani is not in the Federation database at all. She's some kind of infiltrator, a spy. A robot."

Bailey laughed. "Robot?"

Bailey tried to glance at Dani, but she was out of sight, now down inside the hole she had dug. Xylo said, "I've seen the body scans that were made of you both when you went through decontamination. You're human, but Dani is a machine of some sort."

Bailey asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"I only just recently met Dani when the two of us were assigned to come here and help this colony. She looks human... I assumed she is human." Bailey had heard about attempts to make humanoid robots, but as far as he knew, they were all rather clumsy and easy to distinguish from humans. Trusting in Balok and the alien bumpha's good intentions, Bailey told Xylo, "I suggest that we wait and see if Dani does the work of getting your power supply back to normal. I'm going to go look for Talia." Bailey pointed towards the residence at the top of the hill. "One of your colonists told me that they saw Talia headed that way early this morning."

Talia's house

Xylo said, "I'll keep an eye on Dani." Xylo disconnected her suit from Bailey's and returned to the hole in the ground where Dani was at work.

Bailey plodded up the hill, winding his way through and around low thickets of native plants and walking beneath towering power collectors. While in the shade of a solar energy collector, Bailey had to flip up the dark sun shades of the suit, but was still grateful for the anti-glare protection of the sunglasses he was wearing. Emerging from the shade of the artificial forest, he again used the dark eye protection of the suit and Bailey's cooling unit again began to whine and work at its full cooling capacity. His environmental suit's batteries were now nearly drained.

Approaching Talia's house, Bailey realized that he had been fooled by the view from below. He'd imagined that Talia lived at the top of one of the hills that were inland from the port, but he could now see that most of Talia's house was floating in the air, more than a hundred feet above the ground. Only a small shed was there on the ground.

The "front door" of Talia's house was not locked. Passing through the doorway into the shed, Bailey stepped inside what was a small teleportation chamber. He pressed a button that glowed with an arrow pointing up and he was teleported up into the main body of Talia's home, floating on the breeze.

Now inside the air conditioned home of Talia Vance, the suit's external sensing thermometer reported a pleasantly cool temperature in the house. Bailey took off the cooling suit and felt a chill as the cool air of the house interior touched his sweaty body. A large cat with tufted ears and fur on its tail and around its neck (but most of the body had been shaved perhaps a month previously) came to inspect Bailey and having done so rubbed against his leg.

Bailey connected his suit to the battery charging station that was located in an alcove just to the side of the house's teleportation platform. Another cooling suit was already there and its battery was being charged. 

Talia's clone sister, Gyulya.

For a time, Bailey anxiously watched the battery charge indicator of his suit, looking for a sign that the recharging had begun. Unfamiliar with the equipment, he wondered if there was a power switch somewhere that needed to be thrown in order to start the charging process.

While waiting and watching the charge indicator, he called out, "Talia! Talia Vance! I'm lieutenant Bailey, just arrived on planet. Are you here?"

Bailey heard a voice through a speaker, "What do you want?" Bailey thought that he could hear the sounds of a very young child in the background.

Bailey replied, "I'm here to help with the power problem." 

The voice said, "Talia is on her way down." With his sweat evaporating into the cool dry air of the interior of Talia's home, Bailey was now feeling chilled. Bailey sneezed loudly.

During her dispute with Xylo over the cause of the power supply disruptions, Talia had removed that stairway that used to connect the two floors of her home. Now Talia teleported from the second floor to the first floor and approached Bailey from behind. She said, "Gesundheit." She added, "We need help here, but not trouble like your friend."

Bailey turned and saw Talia, still approaching and dressed in a skin-tight semi-transparent shirt made of a soft fabric. His eyes somehow never made it down to her lower body and Talia's bare feet. He asked, "My friend?"

Talia nodded emphatically and as she recognized Bailey, her face lit up and began to glow with excitement. Her nipples popped fully erect and poked out towards Bailey through the thin fabric of her shirt. All four of them. "That robot. The spy." She took Bailey's environment suit from his grasp.

Talia started hanging up Bailey's cooling suit on a rack in the small battery recharging room in the atrium of her house. She hung it upside-down, letting his sweat drip out of the suit. Bailey asked, "What do you mean spy? We came here to help you."

Positronic brain scan.

Talia laughed. "You poor sucker! Your name is Dave?"

"Yes."

Talia nodded knowingly. Bailey was giving her a careful visual inspection. He liked what he saw, even her odd alien ears that jutted outwards at an odd angle, their cute little pointy tips penetrating through her mane of lovely dark hair. Most intriguing were her two rows of nipples, the top pair in the usual location for a human, with two smaller ones below. He asked, "You are tryp'At?"

Talia was trying to link her telepathic mind into Bailey's thoughts. "I'm half tryp'At... my mother is human." She held out her hand. "Well, I'm glad to finally find you. I never imagined we'd meet under circumstances such as these. My first memory of you is inside the Fesarius."

Bailey was confused. He shook Talia's hand and asked, "Find me? What does that mean? You've also been onboard the Fesarius?"

Talia asked, "You've already met Balok? Is Balok here with those two telepaths that came with you to Elemacha?"

Bailey knew from his mission briefing infites that Ienaghwy and Ylyndra were to remain in orbit around Elemacha-z for the duration of the mission. And now Bailey felt the telepathic touch of Ienaghwy in his thoughts. Ienaghwy told Bailey: Somehow, Talia has detected me and Ylyndra. I did not suspect that as a half-tryp'At she'd have such powerful telepathic abilities. But no, Balok is not up here. He's off dealing with Klingons.

Bailey was still holding onto Talia's hand. Finally, he let go, wondering how Talia could telepathically sense Ienaghwy and Ylyndra in orbit while at the same time she had to ask him questions about what he knew. Having served with Spock on the Enterprise, Bailey had come to assume that a human-tryp'At hybrid needed to make physical contact in order to use their telepathic powers. He wondered: is she looking into my thoughts? Even with such pressing matters on his mind, Bailey could not ignore the sexual attraction he felt to Talia and he now began to fantasize about getting both Dani and Talia into bed for a three-way play session.

The voice from the speaker was heard again, "Do you need my help?"

Talia replied, "Stay where you are, my love. Take care of Avy." 

Bailey asked, "Avy?"

Talia explained, "My wife is with my daughter, Avy." Talia told Bailey, "Forget about them... let me look into your mind." Talia closed her eyes and concentrated on Bailey's mind pattern. "Since arriving on Elemacha, my telepathic abilities have mysteriously been expanded, but I still do best when I can get close and have physical contact..." Talia moved very close to his body and placed both of her hands on Bailey's head. Their faces only inches apart, she smiled at him. "Even though we are genetically distinct, I should be able to fully synchronize to your brain pattern since I've already done this in my dreams..."

"Dreams?" When Talia leaned against his body, Bailey felt the stiff nipples of her two upper breasts press against his chest. Talia's two lower breasts were only the slightest swellings that served as little platforms for her extra row of nipples. He noticed that his own nipples were also stiff and he felt blood rushing into his penis, causing it to inflate.

Talia explained, "I have dreams of the future. I've known you for the past ten years, through my dreams." Talia began to work her telepathic mind towards synchrony with Bailey's zeptite endosymbiont. This was all a one-way effort, unlike linking to the minds of her sisters. 

Talia could sense that Bailey had no telepathic ability of his own, confirming her dream visions that were of their future life together onboard Fesarius. Talia added, "I've even had a vision that I believe explains what has gone wrong here in Port Cooway. There is a strange telepathic creature lurking here, a native sentient being of incredible age, that I have not been able to locate. My sisters and I feel its powerful mind."

Bailey was aware that some humans with high esper ratings claimed to receive information from the future. He'd always been skeptical about the idea of some humans being able to visualize future events, however, the rumor was that Captain Kirk knew the circumstances of his own death. Bailey marveled at the fact that somehow Talia had known his first name. Bailey tried to remember if he had mentioned his first name when speaking to any of the other colonists by radio. He asked, "There is some other telepathic native species here on this planet, in addition to the Merovae?"

Talia shrugged. "Maybe. This is a limitation of my ability to see the future. I often don't understand what I see in my future visions. However, I've had a vision of the future in which I'm on Elemacha-z and I telepathically link to a strange telepathic being... something far more sophisticated than the Merovae." Talia fell silent and continued her probing telepathic study of Bailey's mind pattern. "So far, I can only sense the presence of that telepathic alien... not actually link to its thoughts."

After several minutes of Talia running her hands over the surface of Bailey's head and Bailey enjoying a close inspection of Talia's pretty face, Talia took her hands away from his body and said, "Yuck! You want to fuck that robot and I at the same time, in a three-way sexplay session?"

Bailey grinned and admitted, "Yes, the fantasy of getting you both in bed with me had crossed my mind."

"My advice is: have nothing more to do with Dani. She's a spy, being used by other robots to infiltrate the Fesarius." Talia placed a hand on Bailey's crotch and enjoyed the feel of his hot swollen penis pressing out against his clothing. "Yes, we will become lovers and produce two wonderful children, but for the moment, control your lust... we have to deal with the Merovae." Talia leaned close and planted a sweet little kiss on the tip of Bailey's nose. Then she seemed to slump.

The future of Elemacha-z.

Baily put his hands on Talia's arms and caught her as she collapsed. Her pretty eyes were open, but unseeing. He wondered: Is this some kind of seizure? 

At that moment, Talia was experiencing one of her periodic visions of the future. In this vision, she saw the far future of Elemacha-z in a time when life forms from Earth had merged seamlessly with the native life of the planet, both biological and nanite-based. Talia sensed that she and Bailey would have descendants who lived in harmony with the planet Elemacha-z. 

Talia's vision of the future was ended. Once again her eyes could see. She was puzzled by the look of concern on Bailey's face. As her muscles came back under her conscious control, she straightened up and she smiled at Dave and asked in a puzzled voice, "Can we have two futures?"

Bailey asked, "Are you alright?"

Talia threw her arms around Bailey and hugged him. "Everything is fine... now that you are here." With her head resting on his shoulder, she said, "Now I've seen two futures for us... and both are happy."

Bailey could feel Talia's heart thudding in her chest. He mumbled, "I'm confused. Two Futures?"

"Why not? You know Balok... there is nothing he cannot do..."

Talia then moved away from Bailey. "We both need to control our lust until we solve the power problem. My sisters and I have been using surveillance cameras to try to capture images of the Merovae in the act of cutting our power transmission cables."

A tryp'At mind link.

Bailey wondered if Talia was insane and fantasizing about future children. He asked bluntly, "Have the alien Merovae damaged your mind?"

"No... I don't think so. And Xylo is wrong to believe that my sisters and I are responsible for the cut power lines." Talia finally stopped staring at the beautiful bulge in Bailey's pants that marked the location of his semi-erect penis. "Stop distracting me, Dave."

Bailey was still thinking about the nice sensation of Talia's touch on his penis which now remained pressed outwards against the fabric of his pants. He was also thinking about the Talosians, and their reported ability to telepathically force ideas into the minds of people. He asked Talia, "If you are not under the telepathic control of the Merovae, then why did you stop installing power collectors? And why haven't you repaired the damaged power lines from the power generators that are already functioning?"

"I paused installing collectors until I perfected a way to float them above the ground." Talia explained, "My working hypothesis is that the Merovae want we humans to leave this world, so they are creating difficult conditions for the colony by disrupting the power distribution system. I'm trying to figure out why. It seems like we humans and the Merovae should be able to co-inhabit this planet... humans on land, Merovae in the sea."

Bailey asked, "Are you in telepathic contact with the Merovae right now?"

"Not in any controlled way... human brains don't link efficiently to the minds of the Merovae. Even the weakest linkage requires synapex technology. I've been slowly learning how to defend my mind against their telepathic probing. I'm sure that the aliens learned from my mind, and those of my sisters, how to sabotage the power grid." 

"Sisters?"

"I have two sisters..." Talia held up a hand. "Don't distract me, now! I believe that I'm getting a feel for your telepathic mind pattern... yes... yes... I've cracked the access code for your endosymbiont. Let me try to link our minds again..." Talia fell silent and placed the palm of her hand against the left side of his head. Bailey felt a flow of information directly to his mind: How is this?

Talia's clone sister.

Bailey replied, speaking out-loud. "I feel your telepathic touch. Like a faint whisper in my mind."

"I'll get better as I learn more about your brain's structure and your personal mind pattern."

Bailey was 'listening' intently for more telepathic signals from Talia, but instead he 'heard' a new telepathically transmitted message from Ylyndra: I have a suggestion. I've examined the minds of the Merovae. I can tell you that the Merovae, while mostly living out their lives in the ocean, do need to come onshore in order to reproduce. They come onshore only at night and remain on the sandy beaches.

Talia nodded. She had been able to 'hear" the information being transmitted telepathically by Ylyndra into Bailey's mind. "Yes, now I understand that! The Merovae... or the others... warped my mind and hid that obvious truth from me." Talia tried to telepathically send a question to Ienaghwy and Ylyndra in orbit: Can you get a message to the Merovae? Ask them to meet me...

Ylyndra replied: I don't think you can telepathically communicate with the Merovae, Talia. Not in any constructive way. Their minds are quite primitive. Leave that task to me and Ienaghwy. You two are going to have to deal with Dani.

Bailey asked, "Dani?"

Ienaghwy explained: The Merovae seem to be telepathically attacking Dani. Dani repaired a power cable and she is preparing to repair another. I don't know how, but the Merovae are apparently stripping out the infites that Balok implanted in Dani's positronic brain.

Talia asked: What is a positronic brain?

Ienaghwy replied: Dani is a positronic robot. His brain has hierion components... femtobots. A type of nanotechnology. I see a startling idea in your mind, Talia... that Balok is trying to use Dani as bait, as a tool to locate other positronic robots.

Ylyndra added: Balok assigned me to this mission because of my familiarity with the Hierion Domain.

Xylo unconscious.

Speaking out loud, Talia asked, "What is the Hierion Domain?"

Ylyndra replied telepathically: I'll tell you, but first, I need you two to go check on Dani. He stopped the power line repair work and is returning to the command post. Dani did something to Xylo and she's unconscious.

Both Bailey and Talia quickly suited up. When Bailey pointed out the fact that his suit's battery was only partially recharged, Talia assured him that he would be able to reach the command center. "It's all downhill... but I see you are a worrier. I'll get you a new battery." 

Talia tried to telepathically signal to the aliens in orbit: I'm sending my sister Lyssa to the command post. She glanced at her tricorder and told Bailey, "I've got Xylo's location. Let's go!" Bailey and Talia got into their cooling suits. Talia snapped a fully charged battery into Bailey's suit. They teleported to a point half way down the slope, at the maximum range of Talia's low power home teleporter.

Ten minutes later, Baley and Talia had run the rest of the way down the hill to the valley floor and they had Xylo's unconscious body loaded on the anti-gravity hover servo that had been supporting the heavy case that held power line repair tools and materials. 

Talia's two sisters.

While the two humans were rushing towards the Port Cooway command center, Ylyndra informed them telepathically that the Hierion Domain was a part of the universe where hadrons could not exist. Instead, there was a family of fundamental particles, the hierions, that existed naturally within the compactified dimensions of the Hierion Domain. 

When Talia and Bailey were within sight of the command post and with Xylo's still unconscious body in tow, Ylyndra telepathically informed them: Dani is no longer under Balok's control. 

A moment later, Talia was alarmed by the sudden loss of her usual linkage to the telepathic mind of her sister Lyssa. She told Bailey, "Dani is using the subspace communications equipment at the command post. She did something to the mind of my sister. Some kind of telepathic assault. Hurry!" They rushed into the command center through the front door.

Jump to: Part 3 of "The Fesarians".

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