A Marda ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ

Figure 1. A Spirali.

 The text "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ" is Gemini's creation of an imaginary word of the Younger Futhark language for the English word "mystery". I then consulted the Claude LLM. With a few hints, Claude was able to recognize "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ" as being a transliteration of "mystery".

 Me: Claude, I'm using "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ" as part of the title of a science fiction story. Can you invent a plot for a science fiction story that could include "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ" as part of the title?

 Cluade: "The ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol"

In 2157, archaeologist Dr. Elina Voss discovers a peculiar artifact on Mars during the third wave of human colonization. The object—a crystalline cube with shifting patterns and mysterious runic inscriptions including "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ"—defies all known classification systems. Carbon dating suggests it's both ancient and, impossibly, from the future.

Figure 2. Elina and a Spirali.

When activated by specific electromagnetic frequencies, the cube projects holographic star maps showing wormhole locations that shouldn't exist according to current physics. More disturbingly, it contains detailed information about Earth and Mars from before human settlement of the red planet—information no human expedition could have gathered.

Dr. Voss assembles a team of linguistics experts, quantum physicists, and AI specialists to decode the artifact. They discover "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ" isn't Viking at all—it's part of a recursive language developed by a post-human civilization that exists in a temporal loop with our own. The runes represent both "mystery" and, in this advanced language, "message across time." 

Figure 3. Generated by Whisk.

 As the team decodes more of the artifact, they realize it contains a warning: humanity's current path leads to a catastrophic temporal paradox. The artifact was sent back by our future descendants who have mastered time manipulation but damaged the fabric of reality in the process. The "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol" is their desperate attempt to change their past—our present—to prevent temporal collapse.

Now Dr. Voss and her team must decide whether to follow the protocol's instructions, potentially altering humanity's developmental trajectory, or reject these messages from a possible future they don't fully understand. All while shadowy government and corporate interests seek to weaponize the technology for their own purposes.

Figure 4. Pest control. Yellow laser beams added manually.

 Me: Claude, modify "The ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol" so as to incorporate the illustration that I just uploaded. {Figure 1} Imagine that this image depicts a member of the "post-human civilization" that issues the "temporal paradox" warning.

Figure 5. Tyhry makes first contact. Alien face modified by WOMBO Dream.

Figure 6. Generated by Leonardo.

 Claude: "The ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol" (Revised)

In 2157, archaeologist Dr. Elina Voss discovers a peculiar artifact on Mars during the third wave of human colonization. The object—a crystalline cube with shifting patterns and mysterious runic inscriptions including "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ"—defies all known classification systems.

When activated, the cube projects a holographic figure: a being with an unsettlingly familiar yet alien countenance. Its face bears humanoid features—large green eyes and delicate lips that suggest a distant kinship to humanity—but its head spirals into an elaborate shell-like structure of segmented tissue. Two small, claw-like appendages protrude from what might be considered its shoulders.

 The researchers nickname this entity "The Herald" and discover it represents the Spirali, evolved descendants of humanity who merged with another species in Earth's distant future. Their distinctive spiral cranial structure houses advanced temporal perception organs that allow them to perceive time non-linearly.

Figure 7. Alien face by Mr. Wombo.

 The hologram explains that the Spirali exist in a civilization 200,000 years from now, after humanity has undergone radical biological and technological evolution. They've mastered genetic engineering, consciousness transfer, and temporal mechanics, adapting their bodies to survive Earth's changing conditions and eventually colonizing multiple dimensions.

However, their experiments with time manipulation created fractures in spacetime—paradoxes that threaten to collapse all timelines into a singular point of entropic destruction. The cube contains their "ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol," a precise set of interventions in our era designed to heal these fractures before they begin.

Figure 8. Alien contact by Leonardo.

 Dr. Voss is shocked to discover her own genetic signature embedded in the artifact—suggesting she plays a pivotal role in this temporal crisis. The Herald reveals that she must make a critical choice: implement the protocol, which will alter humanity's development but save countless futures, or reject it and maintain the current timeline, leading to the catastrophic paradox.

As governments and corporations scramble to control this technology, Voss begins experiencing visions through the Herald's perspective—glimpses of potential futures and the strange, beautiful world of the Spirali. She must determine if these post-humans are trustworthy saviors or manipulative beings with their own agenda, all while the temporal fractures begin manifesting on Earth and Mars as localized reality distortions.

Figure 9. Another alien face by Mr. Wombo.

 The fate of multiple timelines rests on her decision about whether to trust these enigmatic descendants and implement their mysterious protocol.

 Me: Claude, imagine that in the far future, the Spirali have genetically engineered themselves to have a type of immorality that involves periodic metamorphosis. A new body (and a new humanoid brain) forms inside the body of an aged Spirali. Some of the memories of the old, dying brain transfer to the newly developing brain. Eventually, the new "replacement" body emerges from the older body, which then dies. Claude, modify your proposed plot for "The ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol" so as to include the idea that in order for Dr. Voss to complete the ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol, she must survive for several centuries. Dr. Voss must herself undergo periodic metamorphosis, extending her life span. {I provided Claude with the image that is shown in Figure 2.}

Figure 10. Feline alien face by Mr. Wombo.

 Claude: "The ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol" (metamorphosis)

The Herald explains that implementing the protocol is not a single moment, but a centuries-long process. Dr. Voss learns she must undergo a radical transformation mirroring the Spirali's own evolutionary strategy—a form of biological immortality through recursive metamorphosis.

Like the Spirali, Voss will experience periodic regenerations. Each metamorphosis will preserve fragments of her previous consciousness while adapting her body to withstand increasingly complex temporal interventions. Her first transformation will begin within decades, not centuries, triggered by genetic modifications the Spirali will introduce during their initial contact.

Figure 11. Felydyan.

 Each new body will emerge from the dying shell of her previous form, carrying forward critical memories and mission parameters of the ᛘᚢᛋᛏᛅᚱᚢ Protocol. The process is both a biological necessity and a temporal strategy—each iteration of Voss will make subtle corrections to humanity's trajectory, gradually steering civilization away from the catastrophic paradox.

The image of Voss facing the Spirali becomes a metaphorical and literal representation of her journey—a human gradually transforming, learning to communicate and exist across multiple temporal planes, her very biology becoming a living solution to the universe's most complex mathematical problem.

The protocol is no longer just a mission. It's a complete reimagining of human potential, with Voss as its first and most critical agent of change.

Figure 12. Leonardo-generated alien.

Not surprisingly, my story idea for a "Marda Mystery" is quite different from that concocted by Claude. Marda's mystery begins in her garden that is shaded by the large building that acts as a hangar for the Sedrover. Marda notices that someone has been expanding the old garden and planting cultivars that seem particularly attractive to butterflies. Upon investigation, Marda realizes that one of Tyhry's cats, Tyller, has taken up gardening.

Rylla, Nora, Zeta and Eddy agree to help Tyhry search the Ekcolir Reality for a hierion femtotube that links into Eternity. Eager to get into space and enjoy some low-G sexplay, Tyhry, Nora, Zeta and Eddy go directly from the nanite research laboratory and on into Sedrover. When a butterfly lands on Rylla, Marda begins to investigate the garden, which is full of butterflies.

Figure 13. Leonardo-generated alien (left). Womboized version, right.

Rylla admits that she has brought along her latest klox receptor agonist, which seems to function as a chemo-attractant for butterflies. Eventually, Marda realizes that Tyller the cat is actually a Felydyan who has Asterothrope gene patterns that code for a klox-like pheromone. "Tyller" is a femtobot replicoid that can also alter it physical form as needed.

Below is a sequence of images showing the Felyd who is disguised as Tyller transforming into human form.

A Felydyan playing around with body form.

Felydyan dream.

What better way to have a biological life-form change its body shape than through metamorphosis? As shown in Figure 1 at the top of this blog post, I had WOMBO Dream make a human-like face to go along with an alien body that I requested be "shaped like a caterpillar". Some of the ImageFX-generated "caterpillar people" were quite hideous; two of the least ugly are shown in the image at the very bottom of this blog post.

Figure 14. Leonardo-generated alien (right).
Womboized version, left.

The image shown above in Figure 2 is a composite with the face and "hands" generated by Mr. Wombo and pasted into an ImageFX-generated scene. The image shown above in Figure 3 was generated by Whisk and has an "alien caterpillar" that looks fairly conventional, besides being quite large. As shown in Figure 4, I was able to get Whisk to generate some more interesting caterpillar-like aliens using this text prompt: "Photorealistic image, cinematic quality, sharp focus, vibrant saturated colors, high detail emphasizing texture and materiality.  A dimly lit spaceship bridge interior with, glowing multi-colored control panels.

Figure 15. Leonardo left, Mr. Wombo, right.

 A large curved window shows the stars of outer space. A young woman with long, light blonde hair, light to medium brown skin, wears a beige camisole.  She jumps out of her upholstered chair on the spaceship bridge.  The bridge has beige walls, green accent lights, and a large window showing a star field of outer space.  Also in the control room is an alien creature that resembles a caterpillar with pale pink bands and spiky brown appendages. The alien’s caterpillar-like body is segmented, with visible prolegs. The alien creature is sentient and has a humanoid head and face that merges naturally into its animal-like body. The scene is dimly lit, with a slightly desaturated and melancholic feel, emphasizing form and texture. A large centrally positioned table has a fractal complex reflective surface. The overall aesthetic is sleek and futuristic, suggesting a research laboratory environment".

Figure 16. Anti-gravity by Leonardo.

In Figure 5, Whisk almost made it look like "she jumps out of her upholstered chair". Both of the faces in Figure 5 were generated by WOMBO Dream and pasted into the original Whisk-generated "storyboard" image.

I began asking Leonardo to generate an image depicting, "A beautiful alien with a human face and a body shaped like a caterpillar, spaceship control panels and a dark star field in the background, cinematic quality. The alien creature has a beautiful human face that merges naturally into its animal-like body. Also in the spaceship control room is a young woman with long, light blonde hair, light to medium brown skin, wears a beige camisole and gazes at the humanoid alien creature", but unlike ImageFX, Leonardo was very reluctant to place a human head on an alien body (for example, see Figure 6).

Figure 17.

The original Leonardo-generated alien in Figure 7 had a hideous green face, but I had Mr. Wombo use that as a reference image and transform it into a cat-like alien. The "bug" in the hair was generated by Leonardo.

The image shown in Figure 8 was not altered from the original Leonardo-generated image. Figure 9 and Figure 10 were both modified by Mr. Wombo so as to transform the Leonardo-generated aliens into Felydyans. Figure 11 was entirely generated by WOMBO Dream while the image shown in Figure 12 was not altered from the Leonardo-generated original image.

Figure 18. Seated aliens. Mr. Wombo (left), Leonardo (right).

 Figures 13-15 show pairs of aliens, one the original alien that was generated by Leonardo and the other a new alien generated by Mr. Wombo using the other alien as a reference image. It was interesting that Leonardo sometimes made aliens who seem to float in mid-air (for example, see Figure 16).

The images shown in Figures 17 and 18 are two more examples where I had Mr. Wombo make alternative versions of the aliens.

Figure 19. Let's get together.

I've previously documented examples of Leonardo generating images of people without a head (for example, see Figures 19 and 20 in this recent blog post). Figure 19 (shown to the right) has a Leonardo-generated image with the typical kind of Leonardo-generated alien head merged into a human body and a woman's head floating to the side. 

If femtobot replicoids can change the configuration of their femtobot components, maybe this is a replicoid copy of a woman who is watching her own body as she attempts to transform herself into the physical form of an alien.

Figure 20. Mr. Wombo (left), Leonardo (right).

The image shown to the left in Figure 20 has another pair of images in which a Leonardo-generated image was transformed by Mr. Wombo into a depiction of a what I imagine to be a Felydyan with a feline head and a human-like body. 

I much prefer these furry Felydyans to the reptilian aliens that Leonardo makes by default.

Figure 20. Mr. Wombo-generated Falydyan (right).

The image shown to the right in Figure 21 show how Mr. Wombo transformed one of my least favorite types of aliens into a more interesting depiction of a Felydyan. In my imagination, this Felydyan has just morphed from the shape of a rather conventional cat (Tyller) into humanoid form and will soon be indistinguishable from a human being.

Next: Part 7 of "D*".

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