The Ghorlay Mummy

The Ghorlay mummy.

  Below on this page is Part 7 of the collaboratively written science fiction story ExMo. The events in Part 7 of ExMo take place in parallel to those in Part 6.

Soon after the spaceship Valkyrie departed for Mars, all of the ProMo and OneMo replicoids dissolved into their nanite components and "disappeared". Since the nano-forges that had been delivered to customers of Embodied Intelligence Solutions could only be operated by a ProMo replicoid, all of those nano-forges became useless. There was a class-action lawsuit brought against EIS, but the original nano-forge contracts had all clearly stated that a customer's use of each nano-forge was only granted by a rental agreement and both parties could terminate the rental agreement at any time. Many efforts began around the world to reverse-engineer the EIS nano-forge and discover how to return the mysterious devices to a functional state.

The nano-forges at the EIS laboratories continued to be operated by a pair of human-sized ProMo and OneMo replicoids which continued to function. However, those two replicoids could only use the nano-forges to keep producing additional copies of the Tyhry replicoid. The two miniature ProMo and OneMo replicoids that had been secretly sent to Mars (see Part 6) continued their exploration of the surface of Mars.

Part 7 of ExMo (Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)(Part 4)(Part 5)(Part 6)

Chapter 24 - Marda Time

Tyhry was drifting into sleep when she was surprised to get a ping from her AI-powered communications ring. She had trained her TextGPT intelligent agent to not interrupt her sleep with anything short of an emergency. The AI had decided that Tyhry would want to know that she had been pinged by her old school friend, Marda. One glance at the user icon being displayed on the TextGPT ping ring brought back a flood of fond memories to Tyhry. "Marda?"

Marda

"Hi, Tyhry. You may not remem-"

"Of course I remember. What have you been up to?"

Marda hesitated. Her mind was a swirling vortex of thoughts. "I don't really know where to begin..... but I need help. My mind... I'm being mentally... degraded..."

Tyhry laughed. "Calm down, girl! Don't tell me you're pregnant."

"What? No, nothing like that. Wait... are you..."

"I have a three-year-old daughter, Dona. My husband is David. And yes, you would not recognize me. With all the breast feeding, I'm now a double D." Tyhry was at that moment in bed and Dona was asleep while still latched on and pretend nursing at Tyhry's big left breast.

"Well, congratulations. Of course, I've heard about your company, EIS."

Tyhry sighed. EIS had nearly collapsed after all of the ProMo and OneMo replicoids had mysteriously disappeared. Now the only source of revenue for Embodied Intelligence Solutions was the line of Tyhry replicoids that was still in demand. Nearly ninety thousand Tyhry replicoids had been sold in the past three years and they were sold as soon as more copies could be constructed. "I'm mostly just 'mom' these days." Tyhry activated the optional video feed for the open TextGPT link to Marda, and transmitted to Marda a view of Dona. "But enough about me. What about you?"

"Oh, she's so cute!" For a moment Marda feasted her eyes on the blissfully sleeping Dona. Then Marda's thoughts returned to the reason for contacting Tyhry. "You may recall that before we graduated, I got a lucrative offer from the Museum of Ancient DNA."

"Yes. As I recall, you moved to Germany when I went to California and we lost touch. I searched PubMed a few times, but I never saw that you had publish anything."

"I've had no opportunities to publish. My job turned out to be quite boring; doing high resolution scans of ancient bones and curating the database of human fossil remains at the museum. Dull and boring... until yesterday."

There was another pause. Tyhry watched the image of Marda and her creased brow and waited while Marda decided how to explain her predicament. "I've now made a major discovery, but it will never be published."

"Why not?"

"I only have subjective evidence and no physical evidence."

"Subjective evidence of what?"

"Tyhry, do you remember that day when you woke up screaming from a bad dream and you told me that you sometimes have visions of the future?"

"Yes."

"Well, I've experienced what I can only describe as a vision of the past. I saw a Neanderthal and..."

Another long pause. "Yes?" 

"I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I remembered that you were somehow involved in the mission to Mars to search for alien life."

"Yes, EIS funded the mission to Mars. We hope to find Martian microbes that produce methane."

"Right. So I figured: 'Tyhry is interested in aliens', and that's why I pinged you."

Tyhry laughed. "You don't know the half of it."

Marda asked, "What do you mean?"

Tyhry took a deep breath. She and Marda had been occasional lovers during college, when they both got horny and were not busy with school work. "We've always told each-other everything. What I'm going to tell you is supposed to be secret, so don't tell anyone else. Okay?"

Marda nodded. "Yes, I'll protect your secrets."

"The drilling on Mars and search for microbes is just a cover operation. There is a secret alien base of operations under the surface of Mars."

"What?"

"I'm waiting to hear back from the team that was sent to visit the aliens."

Marda exclaimed, "Wow! And let me guess. The aliens call themselves the bumpha."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I just met a bumpha... almost."

"What does that mean?"

"Let me explain. I'll try to explain. None of this makes any sense."

50,000 BCE; Ghorlay meets a bumpha.

"You met a bumpha in the museum?"

"Well, I was at work when... I'll call it a vision. I had a vision of the past in which I was talking to an alien. She was a bumpha and she could alter her physical form. She usually took on the form of a human woman, but that was only to put the poor Earthlings at ease."

Tyhry asked, "You saw yourself in the past, but you had forgotten having meet the bumpha? The aliens erased your memory?"

"No. Slow down. No, you are getting it all wrong. Just let me explain. In my vision, I was a Neanderthal. Well, actually a hybrid: half Neanderthal and half Anatomically Modern Human."

"What! That's amazing."

"Yes, it is. But you've heard about the Neanderthal mummy that was found five years ago. I was with the Gohrlay remains when I had my vision. During the vision, I was Gohrlay."

"Wait. Who is Ghorlay?"

"That was her name. The Neanderthal -the mummy- was called Ghorlay... when she was alive. That was her name... a traditional Neanderthal name. Ghorlay's mother was Neanderthal and her father was an Anatomically Modern Human. They were part of a tribe that included all three human subspecies: Anatomically Modern Humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans. They were all inter-fertile and there were many hybrids."

Tyhry commented, "How did Ghorlay end up being mummified?"

"I don't know." Marda slowly shook her head and seemed to be searching through her memories. After a long silence, Marda spoke again. "That does not matter. The important point id that Ghorlay became an agent working for the bumpha to spread advanced technologies. Ghorlay spent her time developing improved technologies like sewing needles. She was greatly respected by the other members of her tribe."

Tyhry said, "I have to tell you another secret."

"Okay."

"I've had my genes sequenced. I myself am half Neanderthal."

Marda laughed. "Somehow I guessed that. You see, I've been inside Ghorlay's body. And back when we were in school together, I had the pleasure of thoroughly exploring your body. Tyhry, I believe you are a Neanderthal. Half Neanderthal... even if you mostly look normal."

"Well, my body was altered from its genetically-programmed form by alien nanites. Developmental control nanites. I have the body form of a normal human of this era, but genetically I am half Neanderthal."

Marda nodded, "I'm sure you recall that I was always quite impressed by the big protruding glans of your clitoris."

"Well, I loved how you could suck on my clit and stimulate it with your tongue. I often wish that you teach my husband David how to orally stimulate a girl's glans." 

Marda giggled and said, "I suppose it helps to be familiar with your own clitoris if you are going to give another woman pleasure. In any case, I now know that a big clitoris was an anatomical feature characteristic of the Neanderthals."

Tyhry giggled. "Well, that explains a lot."

Marda told Tyhry, "Don't distract me with puns about your amazing genitals." Marda thought about a path towards publishing her experience of being inside the body of a Neanderthal. "If we have your DNA sequences in hand, as verifiable physical evidence, then maybe I can actually publish a report about my... vision."

Tyhry told Marda, "I want you on a plane. Immediately. If you can get here in two days then you'll be in time for Dona's birthday party."

"But... why? I can't just leave work."

"Marda, I'm not interested in revealing to the world my unusual genetics. I don't want to be a scientific curiosity that has to be studied by researchers. However, I suspect that you have in your possession the most valuable thing on Earth. And I think I may have the means to confirm my guess!"

"What are you talking about?"

"This will make no sense to you, but I believe you took up into your body a migratory femtozoan from the Ghorlay mummy. And here in my laboratory I have the required equipment here to extract that femtozoan from you... remove it from your body."

"That would be a relief. I can't sleep with Gohrlay's thoughts bouncing around in my mind."

"Of course not. This femtozoan was not made for you. Do you need money? It does not matter. I'll buy your plane tickets. Just get yourself here as quick as possible. And forget your job. From this moment, you are working for EIS, at double your former salary."

__________

Marda arrived in time for Dona's birthday party. After eating some cake, Dona wanted to nurse. David sat down beside Marda and asked her, "What is going on? I've never seen Tyhry like this. But she won't tell me what you did to throw her into a tizzy."

Tyhry was across the room, sitting in a big comfortable recliner and nursing Dona. She told David, "I need to get Marda into the lab for an experiment. Then I'll have news for you."

Marda told David, "I don't really understand myself. Tyhry seems to think I'm infected by something that was inside an ancient mummy."

David glanced at Tyhry and asked, "A femtozoan?"

Tyhry shrugged. "I hope so. And best of all..." Tyhry paused. "No, I won't allow us to get our hopes up. My hopes. We'll confirm or invalidate my hunch in the morning."

Marda asked, "What exactly is a femtozoan?"

David told Marda, "Tyhry gave birth to twins. Dona survived, but our other daughter died. We lost her, but not before we saw her release her femtozoan. A cloud of nanites migrated out of her dying body. Apparently, every person has a nanoscopic artificial life-form inside of them."

"That's incredible. Except... I know it is true. I now understand... that is exactly what the bumpha told Gohrlay. Manny transferred a femtozoan into Ghorlay that taught Ghorlay how to craft sewing needles, make oil-burning lamps, use plant fibers for cordage and make bows and arrows for hunting... a dozen other advanced technologies. Technological advances that greatly improved the quality of life for Ghorlay's tribe."

The ProMo replicoid was sitting quietly in the corner of the room. Now it told Tyhry, "The only problem is, I don't know how to extract a femtozoan, from Marda or from anyone."

Tyhry said, "How hard can it be? The original ProMo did it."

Dona pulled off of Tyhry's breast with a loud suction-breaking pop. "We can do it, mommy."

Tyhry told Marda, "My daughter assures me that we can extract the Ghorlay femtozoan from your body, Marda. And when we do, I'll take it into myself."

Davis asked, "Is that wise? Marda has not slept since the femtozoan entered her body."

Tyhry shrugged. "Ghorlay was half Neanderthal. I'm half Neanderthal. Obviously the femtozoan is meant for me."

Marda asked, "Then why didn't it exit from me and transfer to you as soon as we were together?"

Tyhry suggested, "There must be some trick to popping a femtozoan out of a living host body. I only saw a femtozoan emerge from a human body once, but that was when my other daughter was dying. You are healthy, Marda, so the Gohrlay femtozoan might be perfectly happy to remain inside you."

_________

Early the next day, Dona wanted birthday cake for breakfast, but Tyhry said it was too early in the day for that much sugar. David had to depart and travel to Washington D.C. to testify before a congressional subcommittee. After he was off to the airport, Tyhry took both Dona and Marda to her private research laboratory. The ProMo replicoid was already there, adjusting the same set of nano-forge equipment that had previously been used to extract femtozoans from the original copies of ProMo and OneMo. Tyhry asked the ProMo replicoid, "Are you ready?"

The ProMo replicoid muttered, "This is crazy. You have told me that ProMo spoke about a 'controlled-field temporal-magnetic condenser', but that is nonsense." The replicoid gestured at the nano-forge device. "This is just a standard nano-forge, able to follow a program and assemble atoms in a defined pattern."

Dona giggled and told the replicoid, "I'm like the original ProMo, and mommy to. We can see the future. The answer is in the future." Dona's small hands flashed over the complex control panel of the nano-forge and then she sad, "There! I have activated the condenser function."

Dona waved her had excitedly in the direction of Marda. "Marda, come over here, close beside me. I will focus the beam of the condenser on you. This device will pull the required hierions out of the Hierion Domain, creating a powerful magnetic stream that will force the femtozoan out of your body... extract it from you."

Dona told her mother, "Mommy, stay very close to Marda so that the disembodied femtozoan will easily find you."

Tyhry moved close to Marda and put her arms around Marda. Tyhry's big milk-producing breasts pressed softly against Marda's back. Marda asked Tyhry, "Does your daughter know what she is talking about?"

Tyhry laughed. "She's quite precocious. I've linked my brain to her's every day of her life using synapex technology. She looks like a little girl, but intellectually she is smarter than most adults."

Dona told Marda, "Just relax. I know how to do this. ProMo programmed the entire femtozoan extraction process into this nano-forge. All I need to do is activate the condenser sequence. As I now do..." Dona pressed one more button on the control panel.

Almost at once, a fuzzy sparkling cloud of nanites emerged from Marda's body. The ProMo replicoid said, "My artificial vision confirms... there is a swarm of femtobots exiting from Marda. And now-"

The cloud disappeared, the femtobots having entered into Tyhry. Tyhry said, "This is so weird." Then her voice changed. "Ah, success. A true pleasure to be back inside Ghorlay."

Marda said, "Gohrlay? Ghorlay died 50,000 years ago!"

A strangers voice spoke confidently through Tyhry's mouth. "This body, the biosystem known a Tyhry, is an X-clone, the same as Ghorlay. I was designed to function optimally inside an X-clone."

The ProMo replicoid took hold of Tyhry's shoulders. "Are you Tyhry or..."

"I will now return control of this body to Tyhry." Tyhry's voice changed again, returning to her usual voice pattern. "I'm back in control. The femtozoan briefly took control of my body, but this is me, Tyhry. I now have another consciousness linked to my own mind!"

Dona tugged at her mothers hand. "This is just the first step towards completing the time loop, mommy. Now we should sequence Marda's genome and reveal her secret."

Marda asked, "What secret?"

Tyhry nodded and told Marda, "I suppose you are like I was... discouraged from having your genes analyzed." Tyhry looked down at her daughter and asked, "But why?"

Dona explained, "Marda is half Denisovan."

Marda laughed nervously. "If so, then what would that mean?"

Tyhry suggested, "The bumpha arranged for me, a Neanderthal hybrid, and you, a Denisovan hybrid, to meet at this time on Earth..."

Dona told Tyhry, "We must craft Ryssa and bring her into existence. It is she who will use the Sedron Time Stream to send information back to us from the future. As a human-Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid, Ryssa will we able to fully use the Ghorlay femtozoan. Ryssa will have telepathic abilities and link to the Sedruth entity. She will have full access to the Sedron Time Stream. Ryssa will send us information from the future and that will complete the time loop that we are caught up in."

Marda asked, "Tyhry and I will produce a child... this Ryssa?"

Dona nodded. "Exactly."

Tyhry objected, "But we are both female."

Dona shrugged. "Mommy, we can induce some of your cells to form male gametes. Ryssa will be made from one of your pro-nuclei, from a sperm that we can craft from induced stem cells and use to fertilize one of Marda's eggs."

Tyhry told Dona, "That's an intriguing idea, but we seem to be short a Y chromosome."

Dona explained, "No, that is no problem. We can craft motile sperm from your stem cells that have no Y chromosome. No male need be involved in the sexual reproduction process that brings Ryssa into existence."

Tyhry realized that Dona was correct. She could be the source of functional sperm cells. Tyhry asked her daughter, "Who is Sedruth?"

"The Sedruth entity is an artificial life-form that controls access to the Sedron Time Stream. Ryssa will be able to sweet-talk her way past Sedruth and access the Time Stream." Dona had turned away from the nano-forge and was tugging at Tyhry's hand, "Now, I've done my work. I want cake."

Next: Part 8 of ExMo. Part 8 is an Appendix of early drafts of some ExMo chapters that were generated by Claude.

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