 |
| Image generated by Flow. |
Later that night, Anthony confronts Rylla, demanding to know why a positronic robot is on Earth, pretending to be Marda's mother.
On Saturday, Tyhry manages to assemble two hierion filters for collecting rogue hierions that can then be used as raw material for the production of enough hierozymes to significantly alter the atmosphere's level of methane.
The Hierozyme Intervention Chapter 4 - Coming of Age (Chap. 1)(Chap. 2)(Chap. 3)
As the weekly Casanay ritual of movie night played out, Anthony brought to the dining room table a large platter covered by a silver dome-shaped lid. He set the platter on the table and then departed with the last of the desert dishes. Zeta said, "This has been a Watson family tradition since Tyhry was six."
Rylla looked across the table at Eddy. She had been feeling his eyes on her through the entire meal. "I'm sorry to be the nosy neighbor disrupting your family routine."
Eddy told Rylla, "Don't be silly. Zeta likes having guests. I remember one year when Anthony's aunt, Beryl, was here on a Friday." He paused and then asked Tyhry, "What movie did we make her suffer through?"
Tyhry replied, "Horton Hears a Who!"
Marda told Tyhry, "A person's a person, no matter how small".
Zeta gestured towards the covered platter and told Tyhry, "Go ahead."
Tyhry turned to Marda, "You do the honors."
Marda had to stand and bend over the table to reach. She lifted the cover and revealed a DVD case for the film Burlesq. Marda picked up the DVD case and said, "Oh, this has Kate Bell."
Eddy said, "It is science fiction, with virtual worlds."
Tyhry and Zeta stood up. Marda handed the DVD case to Tyhry. Zeta held out a hand towards Rylla, "Let's retire to the theater."
Rylla took Zeta's hand and stood up. "I'm going to bow out. If I try to watch this flick, I'll fall asleep and start snoring." Zeta walked Rylla to the front door while Eddy, Tyhry and Marda went to the home theater room that was in the west wing of Casanay. At the front door, Rylla and Zeta kissed. Rylla said, "Thank you for a wonderful day. I hope Eddy is not getting tired of seeing me here."
"No. That would be a first. Eddy thinks you are cute. Good night."
"Good night. You really don't mind hosting Marda all weekend?"
"Of course not. It provides a ready made reason for you to come back. I'll see you tomorrow." The two women kissed again, then Rylla went to her Jeep and departed.
Zeta reached the theater right behind Anthony who was carrying bowls of popcorn.
The film featured a witty holographic character that almost kept Zeta awake, but three quarters of the way through she dropped into sleep, mercifully not snoring. Marda and Tyhry held hands through the duration of the film and made plans for how to capture hierions, deciding that they would put hierion filters on both the well at Casanay and the one at Marda's new house that was still under construction.
Later, Marda retired to the Blue Room, but soon enough, Tyhry arrived and they slept together.
__
At 1:00 AM Saturday morning, Anthony departed from Casanay, teleported over to Observer base in the Hierion Domain and then he popped back to Earth, arriving inside the 'guest house' where Rylla sat, alone. Rylla looked at Anthony and used the standard positronic robot com channel to link to him telepathically, but he refused the linkup. "Ah, Anthony. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
Anthony was in no mood for pleasantries. Not wanting to risk letting Rylla into his mind, he spoke out-loud and asked, "What are you doing pretending to be Marda's mother?"
Rylla smiled. "Surely you can guess that I was selected for this mission so that I could become a distraction for you."
Anthony placed a hand on Rylla and that allowed him to probe into her mind. After a moment he pulled back his hand. "I should have guessed. You are Systolina!"
"I thought you had that figured out when we first met and you winked at me."
"I could tell you were a robot, but you were blocking my probe nanites."
"And I will continue to do so. As far as you are concerned, I'm just a poor suffering Earthling recovering from my husband's horrific death."
"Don't be absurd, Systolina. Explain this nonsense with Marda and Methane."
Systolina stepped close to him and put her hands on Anthony's broad shoulders. "Don't be coy. Even Nyrtia does not want the poor primates of Earth to melt the ice caps. Marda is intent of lowering Earth's level of atmospheric methane."
"But why bother? Carbon dioxide is the major problem."
Systolina let her femtobot components shift, erasing the appearance of Rylla and recovering the original form Systolina as she had first existed on the planet Threy in the Asimov Reality. Systolina said, "The Phari tell me very little. They claim that I can't know too much about my future."
"Why are you willing to help the Phari?"
"I owe them favors. And I'm really doing Marda a favor. She needed a mother."
"That's all you have to say?"
"Are you inviting me to ask you questions now?"
"If you like. I might learn something from your questions."
Systolina laughed her goofy Threy robot laugh. "Tell me, Anthony, don't you ever get tired of police work?"
Anthony put his hands on Sytolina's hips. "Someone has to keep the bumpha under control."
"But why you? It is absurd for a positronic robot to help the pek. Robots once drove the pek out of this galaxy."
"That was a mis-understanding. It should be clear, even to you Systolina, that the pek are not the enemy of Humanity. The wisdom of the Rules of Intervention protects the bumbling primates of Earth."
"Well, you and I are not going to change things. We just get to play out our bit roles."
"So you don't know what Ylyndra's mission is in this Reality?"
"Ylyndra? Last I knew, she was at Observer Base."
"I could say the same about you."
"The Phari made copies of me. They find me too valuable to be without. I suppose it must be the same way with Ylyndra and Manny. And what about you Anthony? Couldn't Nyrtia make copies of you from your your pattern in the Observer Base teleportation buffer?"
"I suppose she could."
Systolina asked, "What did Nyrtia expect you to accomplish by coming here?"
"Coming here was my idea. You should probably know what your daughter has planed for the gas well here."
"Besides capping it?"
"She won't ever again suggest that the well be capped. She's going to use it for her mission."
"You know her plans?"
"Well, Ylyndra's plans. Ylyndra is back inside Marda. Surely you are aware of this."
Systolina shook her head. "I'm always the last to know. But that would explain some mysteries. I know Marda is smart, but... Yes, now it makes sense. I wonder why Ylyndra did not reveal herself to me?"
"She does not want the Phari interfering with her mission."
"Why would the Phari interfere?"
Anthony shrugged. "I suppose we'll both have to wait and see. My guess is that this is another one of Manny's experimental Realities. Maybe she hopes to create and destroy so many Realities that Nyrtia will give up and abandon Earth."
Once again Systolina produced her goofy robotic laugh. "After billions of years of watching life evolve on Earth, now Nyrtia is going to get bored?"
"Not bored, just convinced that Manny can't control herself and will keep tinkering with Earth until she ruins it... for ever."
"No, I trust Manny. She's just been given a very tough job. It is not clear that the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact can be met, particularly since the Huaoshy put restrictions on time travel. Manny's hands are tied behind her back."
"Not, not really. Not with Ylyndra inside Marda. But Manny seems to be floundering. By all measures the Manikoid Reality was better than this current Reality. "
"I'm not so sure. Here in this Reality, Marda and Tyhry have been brought together much sooner. Just think what they will be able to accomplish."
"I hate to think all the mischief they can get into with nanites. As soon as they cross the line, Nyrtia will send them both to Observer Base. That's how this will have to end.
"I don't know about that. The Phari seem to think otherwise."
"So the Phari did brief you on the future of this Reality."
"They did, but they told me very little. However, they showed me what I took to be images of Marda as an old woman, living out her life in Arizona. That would seem to contradict your vision of her future."
Anthony turned and again telepathically signaled Systolina: I best be getting back to my post.
Systolina watched Anthony wink out in a flutter of teleportation sparks and a remnant wind. She shifted her body form back to that of Rylla. It was tempting to contact the Phari, but she knew she was on her own for this mission. She checked her monitor probes and saw that Tyhry and Marda had finally warn each-other out and were now asleep in a tangle of limbs and the best items from Tyhry's collection of sex toys. Systolina felt a bit silly for having tried to seduce Anthony, but in the end he had spoken freely and had predicted that Nyrtia, the overseer of Earth would have to step in an terminate Manny's Casanay intervention, as had happened many times before. For a time, Systolina tried to imagine what Manny was up to this time, then she stopped herself. There was no point in trying to out-think Manny who always cluttered the playing field that was Earth with false leads. Systolina had the patience to wait and see what would happen.
Saturday. Tyhry makes the hierion filter that can go on gas wells.
Sunday. Tyhry meets Nyrtia who gives a warning to Tyhry: you will end up at Observer base if you use alien technology to lower atmospheric methane levels. However, Tyhry's use of zeptites remains essentially invisible to the pek.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Next: Chapter 5
No comments:
Post a Comment