Misused Medical Nanites

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Below on this page is Part 2 of a science fiction story called "The Prisoner of L2". During the Asimov Reality, humans were given technology for interstellar space travel and they spread through the galaxy. "The Prisoner of L2" takes place in Alastor Cluster where the human populations of planets are protected by the Whelm. Lurking among the major planets of the Cluster are "starments" where most space pirates reside, but a few major planets such as Yrinna are controlled by renegade space pirates who do not recognize the authority of the Connatic.

The L2 community, a collection of space stations near the planet Numenes, is the site of a secret Whelm research project aimed at developing teleportation technology. Also, new research center for exploration of the genes that allow for human telepathy will soon be opened at L2. The daughter of the Connatic, Yurahs, will be present for the opening ceremony of the secret telepathy research center and the security forces at L2 are all on high alert.

Part 2 of The Prisoner of L2 (Part 1)

Bey Paqt was watching the first passengers exiting from the spaceship; were mostly parents traveling with young children. As they emerged from the ship, Bey efficiently matched each family group to the list of those who had requested a motile. The process of loading kids onto the motiles created a knot of confusion and congestion which distracted Bey from watching for the arrival of Captain Bolunz, but she trusted him to keep the two suspects in hand.

Bey watched one of the newly arrived teachers move off with her three children strapped to a large motile then she turned and saw Captain Bolunz and the two illegal immigrants moving off across the concourse towards the Whelm lounge area. They were almost lost to sight behind a row of flowering decorative shrubs. Bey ran across the terminal in order to catch up to them and she called to Bolunz, "Captain!"

Both Eddy and Yōd Torus looked over their shoulders and glanced at Bey, but Bolunz kept walking away until Bey put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Let's step into my office, Lo."

The Captain suddenly stopped walking, turned and gazed at Bey with empty, unblinking eyes. After an awkward pause, he finally seemed to focus his dull eyes on Bey and he said quietly, "Oh... Bey." Then he looked back towards the corridor that led to the Whelm depot and began to move off in that direction.

Bey held tight to the Captain's arm and asked, "Lojyk, where are you going?"

Lojyk Bolunz had known Bey for three years and they were pretty good friends. He knew that he owed her an explanation, but wasn't it quite obvious what was going on? The General was waiting to interview these two telepaths. He began to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. Yōd moved close and told Bey, "The Captain is taking us to see General Wylys."

Bey's eyes were drawn to Yōd's breasts which peaked out from the confines of her unbuttoned blouse. Eddy and Yōd were the first illegal immigrants to arrive at L2 during the three years of Bey's posting there at L2 as Chief of Security. With the Connatic's daughter, Yurahs, soon to arrive for the opening of the new mining station, Bey was planning to sit on Eddy and Yōd and not let them out of her sight until Yurahs completed her ceremonial duties, departed from L2 and returned to Numenes. Now with her eyes resting appreciatively on Yōd's sexy body, Bey felt her heart rate accelerate and she began making erotic plans to really sit on Yōd in the best possible way. In two seconds, a flaming sexual fantasy flashed through Bey's mind.

Before she could speak, Bey watched in wonder as the Captain put a hand on the arms of both Eddy and Yōd and he moved to continue walking towards the end of the terminal that housed the military hangar and travelers lounge. Puzzled by Bolunz's odd behavior, Bey ran to get in front of the Captain while telling him, "Let's go to my office and discuss the best..." Captain Bolunz would have marched right over Bey. She stood her ground, grabbed him by his arms and shook him. "Bolunz!"

Bolunz crashed into Bey and she felt his stiff penis press against her body. Now she noticed that her own nipples were erect. After the collision, the Captain finally seemed to return to a normal state of consciousness. Realizing that he had failed to fulfill Yōd's desires and get her and Eddy quickly and safely to the General, he turned his head, looked at Yōd and mumbled, "Sorry."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Yōd told Bey, "Look, we'll come back here when we are done with the General. Just give us an hour or two."

Eddy told Yōd, "Well, we are here now..."

Yōd told Eddy, "Let's let Azynov take care of Bey."

Bey fixed her gaze on Yōd's pretty face and asked, "Azynov?"

Yōd sighed. "Listen, Chief, you can relax." Yōd was sending a swarm of medical nanites into Bey's brain. That meant that Yōd was loosing control of the Captain mind as her limited supply of nanites shifted from his brain over to Bey. "Trust me, we will come back here after we deal with the General."

Sounding half drunk as his memory systems came back online, Bolunz asked rather stupidly, "What deal?"

mind control nanites

Bey glanced at where Yōd's warm fingers pressed into the flesh of her shoulder and felt a thrill at that physical contact. At some lower level of her mind, Bey knew that it was her duty to not allow Eddy and Yōd to get within shooting distance of Yurahs, but she was intrigued by Yōd. Actually, Bey was feeling quite sexually attracted to Yōd. Deciding that she should listen to this fascinating young woman, Bey asked, "What General?"

Hearing mention of the General, Bolunz now remembered that he should not talk to Bey about the huge secret military contingents that were stationed at L2. But thoughts of his duties were struggling to bubble up through a layer his raging emotions. He felt one more surge of wild lust for Yōd that instantly shifted to anger. Suddenly speaking sharply, he told her, "Watch your mouth!"

Yōd smiled provocatively at the Captain and licked her lips. She was struggling to control the behavior of both Bolunz and Bey at the same time. Eddy said, "I think there has been a misunderstanding." He told Bey, "We'll come back here later and then you can smooth out all of our immigration paperwork- 

_______

Suddenly Yōd and I were popped out of the Asimov Reality Simulation and we were inside Azynov's workshop. This was the strangest 'place' I had ever seen and it did not really seem like an actual place. We were surrounded by what looked like a gray fog that receded indistinctly into the distance. Nearby was a huge data console and on an array of view screens, I could see an assortment of images of Bolunz, Bey, Yōd and myself at the L2 spaceport. Azynov told Yōd, "You can't control them both at the same time. Don't even try."

Yōd embraced Azynov and the two lovers kissed. For a minute I looked at the many display screens of the data console which were showing images of various places around L2. 

Reality Simulation
This image was made using
"Elfy and Kelly" by Eclesi4stiK
available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Finally, Yōd pulled her lips away from Azynov and asked, "Can't you control Bey while we visit the General?"

Azynov shook his head. He pointed to one of the display screens, "Bey is being watched all the time." Azynov placed his finger on the screen. "This is a military agent; she's watching Bey. Believe me, everything goes wrong if Bey does not follow the mandatory immigration protocols."

Yōd shrugged and asked, "The Whelm is spying on their own Chief of Security?"

"Exactly. Look, this will make no sense to you, but here is what you need to do." Azynov put a hand on my arm and told me, "As soon as you exit from the spaceship, go directly to Bey and let her take you to her office." He turned back to Yōd and told her, "As soon a Bey is out of the way, you go with Bolunz over to the telepathy research center."

I asked nervously, "You want us to split up?"

"Yes." Azynov grinned, "I want you to tell Bey all about me and the fact that she's in a Simulation. Keep her entertained by whatever means you can think of, but be sure to casually mention that her boyfriend, a guy named Elyas Zoffes, knows me and will be able to explain what is going on. Elyas is a writer." Azynov tapped on a displayed map of the space station. "Bey's office is over here, on the top level of the spaceport."

I had no idea what Azynov was talking about. I numbly repeated, "Elyas Zoffes."

Yōd asked Azynov, "You've already met with this Zoffes and told him why we came to L2?"

alien-human hybrids

Azynov shook his head and pointed to a display screen that showed an image of Elyas. I could see that Elyas had blue skin and pointed ears. Azynov told Yōd, "No. Elyas is a human-alien hybrid. I've never met him and that is not important. Look, this is simple. Yōd, you go chat with General Wylys and then you two can start your investigation of the teleportation research center. Remember, this is the perfect time for you two to investigate the mining station because Whelm security will be disrupted by the arrival of the Connatic's daughter. She'll arrive at L2 in three hours." Azynov turned back to me and said, "Don't be so stubborn. You two need to amplify your telepathic abilities... you know how." Without waiting for either Yōd or me to say anything, Azynov sent us back into the Simulation.

_________

Suddenly, we were back on the spaceship, on our way to L2. I telepathically told Yōd: That was weird.

Yōd said: I could sense that Azynov has given us several re-dos in the Simulation, but we can't get past Bey unless we split up. Let's try it this time the way Azynov told us.

Fine, but maybe this is all wrong. Why can't we just go directly into the research station and look around?

No, security is very tight. We'd be detected at once and would learn nothing. We have to work our way in gradually... indirectly.

I was watching a display screen inside the passenger cabin that showed our ship's approach to L2. There were only the endless sparkling stars of the Cluster until we were right on top of the spaceport. There was a brief view of the exterior of the port and then we docked with a gentle bump. The display creed now showed: Arrival L2. I told Yōd: I don't see how you'll explain to the General why I'm not with you. Captain Bolunz will have a lot of explaining to do.

In the Ekcolir Reality

Yōd told me: I'll deal with that, you just entertain Bey until I return from the telepathy station. I'll see you in a couple of hours. Moving stiffly like a zombie, Bolunz got to his feet and began to lead us off of the spaceship.

This time, I rushed right past Bolunz and was the first person off the ship after the families with small children. Gazing out into the terminal, I saw Bey where she was helping load some small children onto a motile. I buckled in one of the children and she instantly recognized me and she looked over her shoulder, briefly searching for Yōd among the other arriving passengers. The mother moved off guiding the motile and said, "Thank you."

Before she could say anything, I told Bey, "I need to speak with Elyas. I'll call him from your office." I turned and began walking towards the bank of escalators.

Bey followed me, grabbed my arm and asked, "You know Elyas?"

"Of course. Azynov briefed me before my arrival. I'll need his help." We moved through one of the glades of palm trees that grew there inside the big terminal. A little waterfall murmured among the trees and I was impressed by how the spaceport had been designed to feel almost like a big greenhouse. Birds chattered in the tree tops. Emerging from between the clump of palms, we reached the escalator and I said, "I'm a writer and Elyas is going to help me do some research on asteroid mining... background information for my next novel."

Bey complained, "Slow down, why are you in such a hurry? I was told to expect your wife, Yōd." We were using the escalators to get up to the top floor of the spaceport, but I kept walking rather than simply ride. Bey looked out into the depths of the terminal, still hoping to see Yōd.

I was just making things up as I went along and rather enjoying it. Bey seemed pretty befuddled. I was not worried. If anything went wrong, Azynov would simply restart the simulation. As we walked through the terminal, I was trying to establish a telepathic connection to Bey's mind. I said, "She's taking the next flight from Blazon. She'll be here latter today. There was some foul-up with the reservations." 

As we got on a second escalator, Bey told me, "Today is a special day... unusually heavy traffic. All due to the opening ceremony for the new mining station."

"I'm not interested in the new station." We stepped off the escalator and were now on the top floor of the port. "I want to study the one that's been here for centuries."

Bey guided me down a corridor and into her office and she asked me, "Who is this Azynov?"

"My agent. Like me, he's from Earth." I glanced at the security monitoring equipment there in the office. "You have mining technology here in the Cluster that might be of interest to my readers on Earth. I've heard that the planet Triskelion has some advanced mining techniques."

Bey called Elyas and his face appeared in the big display screen on the wall of the office. Elyas looked at me and asked Bey, "Hey, what's up?"

Bey had never previously called Elyas while she was working, but now she had a work-related reason for a call. She asked Elyas, "Do you recognize him?" She pointed at me.

"I don't think so. Should I?"

I said, "I believe you recently got a letter from Azynov, my agent. At least you replied and told Azynov that you'd show me around and help me with my research on asteroid mining technology."

Azynov

Elyas shook his head. "I don't recall any Azynov. What kind of a name is that?"

"We're from Earth. I'm exploring Alastor Cluster and collecting ideas for my next novel, which will be set in the Cluster."

I later learned that Elyas was not really a writer. He used that as a cover story, but his job was watching Bey who was being evaluated as a potential security risk. However, I'm getting ahead of myself in the telling of this story. "I didn't get a letter from any Azynov. What's his full name?" Elyas demanded, "Who are you?"

I replied, "Azynov finds a single name to be adequate. I'm Eddy Torus."

Bey told Elyas, "Sorry to bother you." She moved to terminate the video call.

Elyas told Bey, "Maybe I should flit over to the spaceport and help you figure out what is going on."

Bey shook her head. "No, don't bother. I'll handle this. See you later." She terminated the call and told me, "Now, perhaps you'll tell me the real reason why you came to L2." Bey was rubbing her head. I was trying my best to make telepathic contact with her, but I could not detect any telepathic resonance with her mind pattern.

I tried to put a reassuring smile on my face. "I've told you the truth. I want to learn about the special technologies that are being used at the mining station. I understand that L2 supplies all of the Connatic's needs for iridium."

With growing suspicion, Bey asked, "Why do you mention the Connatic?"

"Why shouldn't I? That's true, isn't it? Doesn't all of the iridium for the Whelm come from just this one mining operation?"

"You don't need to be dramatic about it. I doubt if the Connatic ever concerns himself with the mining of basic commodities. Is this a matter that is of interest to Earth?"

"I can't speak for Earth... I'm just a writer. And newly arrived here in the Cluster, I have no idea what the Connatic's interests are. However, now I'm wondering if you don't trust me. I'm not a space pirate trying to infiltrate the mining station."

Again Bey rubbed her head. She placed a hand against the side of my head and asked, "Are you a telepath?"

"I have some telepathic abilities." I did not care to mention that my telepathy was almost completely restricted to my ability to telepathically "speak" to Yōd and that was only possible because our children were part of the mind clone network. I asked Bey, "Are you a telepath?"

"No, I am not. But I can sense that there is something very strange about you, besides just your accent. I can't imagine why you made up this story about knowing Elyas."

"Well, if I told you the source of my knowledge, then maybe you'll be less skeptical about my good intentions. That is... if you could believe me." I took hold of Bey's hand. "How do you think I know about your boyfriend?"

"Many people know that I've been living with Elyas for the past year."

"But I just arrived from Earth. This is my first visit to L2." Suspecting that my telepathic emissions might be having an effect on Bey, I kept up my effort to link into her mind.

Bey looked down at our linked hands. "Let's not play games. Tell me your source of information."

"Well, you are not going to like this. Everything that we are experiencing is a simulation. We are inside a Simulated Reality."

Bey pulled her hand out of my grasp. She drew herself a glass of water from a tap at the wall and took a pain pill. Still rubbing her head she said, "Simulation?"

"Yes. I'm here in this simulation of the Asimov Reality to learn about the origins of advanced technology here in Alastor Cluster."

"Wait a minute. Asimov Reality? Does this have something to do with your friend Azynov?"

"Exactly. Now you understand! This Reality is named after Mr. Asimov. Azynov is a replicoid copy of Asimov."

"What does that mean? What is a replicoid?"

"An artificial life-form. Azynov is an exact duplicate of the biological Asimov."

Bey shook her head. "Besides a bad headache, I feel perfectly normal. I can't believe that we are inside some kind of virtual reality." Bey paced back and forth across the office for a minute then asked, "This Asimov is another Earthman?"

replicoids in in the Ekcolir Reality
Original cover art: Edmund Emshwiller

"Yes, he is a famous science fiction writer." We were thousands of years in the future and thousands of light-years from Earth, so I did not expect Bey to know the name 'Asimov'."

"Science fiction? What... are you some kind of nut who writes wacky science fiction stories about other dimensions and imaginary technologies?"

I smiled broadly at Bey. "That about sums it up."

"Then why lie to me about knowing Elyas? He doesn't write that science fiction crap."

"I know Elyas because Azynov and I can View events inside this Simulation. So you see, before ever coming here to L2, it was possible for Azynov and I to learn about you and your lover."

I suppose that Bey had reached the point in her thinking where she was trying to figure out how she was going to explain any of this in an official written report. She asked me, "Is you wife going to be able to corroborate any of your crazy claims?"

"Yes, she's also a visitor to this Simulation... from outside"

Bey sat down at her desk and made use of the data station. While she worked, I really bore down on her telepathically and thought that I could now weakly sense her mind. Without any real feedback occurring between our minds, I just kept throwing thoughts at her, pretending that I was telepathically communicating with Yōd and hoping that I might be able to distract and confuse Bey. After a few minutes she looked at me and said, "I don't think I can believe anything that you say. The spaceship records show that Yōd arrived here on the same ship that you took from Blazon." After another minute pounding at the data console, an image of Yōd and Captain Bolunz appeared on the display screen. "So, you came here with Bolunz?"

"Yes, I met Bolunz at Blazon spaceport. Where was this picture taken?"

in the Ekcolir Reality

"This is surveillance video. Bolunz and Yōd were in the terminal only a short time ago. I wonder why..." Bey tried to contact Bolunz, but the connection did not open up. "Strange... he always lets me know that he is going to visit L2. He was just here yesterday..." Bey ordered me, "Call your wife."

I knew that some residents of Alastor Cluster had a telecommunications implant, but short of popping out of the Simulation, I had no way of contacting Yōd. I shrugged and said, "I was not expecting to get separated from Yōd. You'll have to wait until she returns. I hope she'll be back soon."

______

Bolunz and Yōd exited from the public part of the spaceport terminal and entered into the Whelm hanger. Bolunz signed out a quick two-person flitter and soon he and Yōd were on their way to the new telepathy research station. Gazing out into the star-decorated space of the Cluster, Yōd asked nervously, "Should you call ahead?"

Bolunz glanced at Yōd with a puzzled look on his face. He was feeling quite pleased with himself. Running through his mind were thoughts of how wonderful it was to have met Yōd and how delightfully sexy she was. He leaned across the space between their two flight couches and tried to kiss her. Yōd placed a finger on his lips and said, "Think Lojyk, darling, what is the proper procedure for bringing in a new telepath to meet the General?"

Bolunz kissed Yōd's finger and he briefly tried to think about the General, but he was too distracted by Yōd's lovely hair and the seductive curves of her sexy body and the exotic sound of her voice. He could not push out of his thoughts a fantasy about having Yōd's hand on his penis...

Yōd was trying to gradually release Bolunz from the remaining effects of the medical nanites that she had sent into his brain. At the same time, she continued to flood the Captain with a continual telepathic stream of erotic thoughts. Bolunz had a hand on Yōd's crotch, but suddenly he remembered military protocol. Reluctantly pulling away from Yōd, he called the station: "Captain Bolunz here, bringing the Torus item in for questioning, over."

A moment later, the voice of the military flight control officer came through to the flitter: "Use docking module 17. Roger that?"

"Roger. ETA, two minutes." Bolunz plugged into the flight control system DM17 as their destination and then he turned back towards Yōd and said, "I'll wait here for you. Remember, come back to DM17 after you meet the General."

Yōd playfully patted his stiff penis where it pushed out against the fabric of his pants. "Yes, darling. I'll be quick. We need to get back to Chief Paqt before she does anything stupid." Bolunz leaned against Yōd's warm body and kissed her passionately.

Then the flitter door opened. Two Whelm soldiers were waiting there inside the station and they escorted Yōd to the General's command center. An officer approached Yōd and said, "I'm Major Naquel. The General is in a meeting. Let's wait in my office until he's available." Naquel took Yōd down a short corridor and into his office. He did not bother to close the door. The two soldiers stood just outside the door. "This is a busy day around here, but you won't have to wait long. The General wants to meet you."

Like Bolunz, Naquel seemed to emit no twitinos. Yōd placed a hand on Major Naquel's arm and began pushing her thoughts into his mind, hoping that he had some capacity to at least receive twitinos. She asked, "Are you an important person in the telepathy research project?"

Major Naquel chuckled. "I'm no telepath. I'm just a security officer." He placed a hand on top of hers.

Yōd leaned into the Major, pressing one of her breasts against the side of his arm. "Are you dealing with a threat from pirates?"

Naquel puffed out his chest. "Sorry my dear, I'm not allowed to speak to civilians about military matters." He patted her hand.

Yōd turned her hand over and let her fingers interdigitate with his. "Well, what can you tell me about L2? I only just arrived. Where are the hot entertainment sites? Where to you soldiers go to relax?"

Major Naquel shook his head. He placed his free hand against his forehead. After a moment he said, "I'll give you my comcode. If you're really joining the telepathy research project, we'll be seeing more of each-other."

Just then, General Wylys came into the Major's office and said, "At ease, Major."

Major Naquel came to attention and saluted the General, but with Yōd deep in his mind, Naquel could not bring himself to let go of her hot hand. "Yōd Torus, sir. She seems nervous about meeting you so I've been trying to put her at ease."

Noting the bulge in Naquel's pants where his stiff penis pressed out against the fabric of his pants, Wylys told him, "I suppose I can't blame you for trying to comfort Mrs. Torus." The General was a tall gray-haired woman. She visually examined Yōd from head to toe and then said, "If you can pull yourself away from the Major, I'll shake your hand."

Without letting go of the Major's sweaty hand, Yōd lifted her other hand and held it out towards the General. "Pleased to meet you. I can't imagine why you folks are so interested in little old me..." Yōd could sense a weak telepathic link to the General. Yōd instantly began trying to synchronize with the General's mind pattern and Yōd began shifting her medical nanites into Wylys' body.

Gazing at Yōd's chest where the seductive curves of her breasts were on display, Wylys licked her lips. Struggling to keep her thoughts focused on business, the General told Yōd, "I'm intrigued... you and your husband have demonstrated a strong telepathic connection." General Wylys asked the Major, "Where is Eddy?"

Major Naquel shrugged and replied, "I don't know, sir."

Yōd told them, "Chief Paqt was quite insistent that we explain our immigration status, so Eddy went with Paqt and I came over here to see what I can do for you." Yōd smiled at the General, winked and sent wave after wave of erotic thoughts into the General's mind.

The Major finally let go of Yōd's hand and the General said, "It is very strange... a strong telepath like you showing up today, just hours before the official opening of the new research facility. I take it you want to join the telepathy project?"

"I have thought about it, General, but I enjoy my freedom. I don't want to get locked up behind the security restrictions of some super secret military project, even if it would give me access to fascinating companions like Major Naquel." Yōd affectionately patted the Major's arm.

General Wylys laughed. "Forget about the Major's gallantries, Mrs. Torus. I'm a bit of a telepath myself. I can sense you are no danger to the project, as long as we keep our wits about us and don't let you seduce us." The General casually ran a hand over her breasts where her stiff nipples pressed out against the fabric of her uniform. "That's quite a skill you have, my dear... I feel you inside my mind... making me horny as hell." Wylys reached out and touched Yōd's soft hair.

A buzzer sounded at the comterminal on the Major's desk. A voice asked, "Is the General there?"

General Wylys called out, "I'm coming!" Wylys took hold of Yōd's hand and pulled her towards the doorway. Turning her head over her shoulder, Wylys told the Major, "With her telepathic abilities, she'd make a great special agent for the Whelm, but all she and her husband intend to do is study the mining technology here at L2" The general led Yōd down the hallway and the two soldiers followed along.

Yōd explained to Wylys, "Yes, we are interested in advanced asteroid mining technology... Alastor Cluster seems far ahead of Earth in this area. We did not come here to investigate the new telepathy research project, although it does intrigue me. We'll try to stay out of your way... you need not worry about us." Yōd was using her medical nanites to inactivate the regions in the General's brain that usually inhibited her from speaking to civilians about the secret telepathy research project.

The General said, "Well, there is no need for you to completely avoid us, Yōd. You could not get your telepathic tendrils into me until we were in the same room, so I know that you are not a long-range telepath. Those can be dangerous. Your telepathic mind is not powerful enough to disrupt the on-going research. This is primarily a genetics project and most of the people being stationed here are biologists, not telepaths. Anyhow, now that you've explained your intentions to me, we will allow you to go about your private affairs." General Wylys stopped walking and leaned her face close to Yōd's and seemed on the verge of kissing her.

Yōd said, "Thank you, General." Yōd stopped slipping erotic thoughts into the General's mind and now telepathically reminded the General of her duties.

They resumed walkin down the hallway. "Do call on me if you need anything during your visit to L2. I'd be happy to... lend a hand." Wylys squeezed Yōd's hand reassuringly. "I only ask that you not speak to others about our secret research project; the Connatic does not want us to attract the attention of space pirates." General Wylys paused in front of a doorway and slipped an arm around Yōd's waist. "I'm busy today, otherwise I'd personally escort you over to Chief Paqt's office." The general patted Yōd's round bottom affectionately then opened the door and stepped back into the crowded conference room where plans were being finalized for the visit of the Connatic's daughter to L2.

The two soldiers guided Yōd back to DM17 and Captain Bolunz soon had Yōd back at the spaceport's main Terminal. During the flitter ride, Yōd was no longer pushing erotic thoughts into the Captain's mind and she told him how both the Major and the General had offered to take her in hand and show Yōd around L2. "I even got an invitation to join the secret Whelm telepathy research project!" Now Yōd was using her telepathic influence and her nanites to remind the Captain that his work at L2 was complete and to suggest that he was needed back at Blazon.

"Chief Paqt and your husband are waiting for you at the port." The Captain added, "I need to be getting back to Blazon, now. However, I'm out here all the time and I hope to see you again."

______________

When Bolunz and Yōd stepped out from the military hanger into the public terminal, Chief Paqt and I were there waiting for them, along with Elyas Zoffes. Zoffes had come to the spaceport in defiance of Paqt's wishes. While we were waiting for Yōd, Bey and Elyas told me about various sites of interest at L2. Elyas seemed delighted to have a fellow writer visiting L2. I was in the middle of telling him about the Asimov Reality Simulator when Yōd appeared. Captain Bolunz told Chief Paqt, "Sorry I missed you. I'm going to run and try to catch the next flight to Blazon." With one last look at Yōd, he hurried off across the terminal.

I introduced Yōd to Bey. I could sense that Yōd was telepathically pressing erotic suggestions into Bey's mind. Bey introduced Yōd to Elyas, then Bey told Yōd, "I have an idea... rather than going to your hotel, why not allow Elyas and I to show you some real L2 hospitality?"

Yōd leaned close to Bey and she tugged at her unbuttoned blouse while she batted her eyes and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Chief Paqt suggested, "Elyas, why don't you take your new writer chum home? I've got some business with Yōd... I'll bring Yōd home for dinner after we get their immigration status figured out." Bey took hold of Yōd's hand, "I hope you can stay and visit with us. We'll put you up for the night, even though I know you two have reservations at the Brynkly Residential Station."

Yōd told me, "Get our over-night bags from the cargo depot. See you for dinner, lover." Yōd put her free hand behind my neck, pulled me close and kissed me on the lips.

Elyas kissed Bey on the cheek then Chief Paqt and Yōd walked off hand-in-hand to her office. I noticed the Whelm security agent who was assigned to follow Bey move out from behind a row of shrubs and start following Bey across the terminal. Elyas took my arm and led me off towards the cargo facilities while he resumed our discussion about the idea of Reality Simulation.

image source

I sent most of our luggage on to the the Brynkly and then carried our two over-night bags to the garage where Elyas had parked his flitter. As we were flitting towards the house that Elyas shared with Bey, he said, "You really seem serious about this crazy simulation idea."

I sighed deeply. "I won't try to convince you that we are in a Simulation. However, let me ask you a question. Do you know a woman named Nyrtia?"

"Nyrtia? I don't think so. What's her full name?"

"Well, she is actually Robot Nyrtia."

"A robot?" Elyas laughed. "Robots do menial jobs like haul suitcases for tourists. Robots from the Brynkly Residential Station will take the rest of your your luggage over there."

"Well, aren't there some experimental robots here in Alastor Cluster that are a little more sophisticated? I've been told that the best robots are made on Triskelion."

"Yes, I've heard rumors of such things. But those experimental robots are very expensive. I've never met one. Although, there are science fiction stories about advanced robots living undetected among humans. Do you write any stories about robots?"

"Well, yes... robots are one of my favorite topics."

I suppose Elyas was seriously thinking about the idea that a robot might slip into L2, but it must have seemed an unlikely possibility. A robotic body would be quickly detected by the security scanners. "I never know when you are serious and when you are talking about your science fiction stories. Do you really expect to meet this Nyrtia robot here?"

Nyrtia

"It is possible. However, she is like my friend Azynov. Nyrtia might choose to remain outside of the simulation." We arrived at the home of Elyas and Bey and I was shown to the guest room. I dropped off the bags and then we watched the opening ceremony for the new asteroid mining facility on the local news program. The Connatic's daughter, Yurahs, gave a short speech. She thanked the construction crews that had built the new facility and then cut a ribbon. 

Elyas turned off the news program and turned to me, "It seems more than just a coincidence that you and Yōd arrived here at L2 today."

I chuckled. "I think my friend Azynov selected this particular day with the hope that someone would be unusually busy and they would make a mistake and let slip some information that will be useful to us. However, even if we don't make contact with Nyrtia, I'm having a blast. This is my first time in outer-space. This distributed community of space stations is fascinating." I eased back in my chair. "This looks to be a very comfortable home."

"First time? But you claim to be from Earth..."

"I did not have to actually travel from Earth to Numenes. Remember, I can enter into this Simulation from outside. I simply appear at a particular place and time within this Simulation."

Elyas shook his head. He opened up a bottle. "I think I need a drink. I'm quite certain that I'm not in a Simulation. I can't imagine what you hope to gain by pretending that this science fiction plot device is somehow real."

For a few minutes we discussed wiskey and other alcoholic drinks. Then Elyas said, "Its getting late." We took our drinks into the kitchen and started making some tentative plans for dinner. Elyas said, "I like to have dinner ready for Bey when she gets home for work. Tell me what Yōd likes to eat."

"You don't really have to worry about that. She does not really need to eat. After-all, this is only a simulation."

"I'm going to assume that you are joking, Eddy. I'll prepare something that Bey and I both like and leave it to you to offer excuses to your wife if she's not happy with the food."

I admitted, "I'm not afraid of Yōd. She's not actually my wife."

Elyas looked at the gold ring on my finger. "But you are married?"

clones

"Well, it is a bit complicated. I did get married, but then my wife left Earth."

"Wow. She just left you?"

"Yes. It was tragic. However, my wife's sister immediately moved in and... well, I now think of Zeta as my wife."

"This Zeta... she's back on Earth?"

"Yes, I left her at home. She had house guests."

Elyas drank some more liqueur and stared at me for a while. "That kiss that Yōd gave you looked fairly serious."

I shrugged. "Yōd and Zeta are sisters. Yōd lived with Zeta and I for a couple of years. That was a bit awkward."

Elyas shook his head in dismay. "I think you're teasing me. Just how many sisters did your wife have?"

"I'm not sure. They are not sisters in the conventional sense. Anyhow, I've never been told how many of the clones were produced... at least five that I know of for sure and I suspect there are others."

"Human cloning? This does sound like science fiction." Elyas emptied his glass and re-filled it from the bottle. "Who would make so many copies of one woman? And what for?" Elyas began slicing up some vegetable with a knife.

I did not feel hungry, but I started chewing on a carrot. I tried to explain to Elyas that the original Gohrlay was a Neanderthal woman and then we got into a long discussion of Deep Time and Earth's Reality Chain. 

I was explaining to Elyas what I knew about the Asimov Reality Simulation when Yōd and Bey arrived. With my telepathic link to Yōd, I could sense that she and Bey had recently engaged in a steamy sexplay session inside Bey's office that afternoon. Yōd warned me: I've still got a lock on her mind. I'm keeping her sexually aroused so that she can't think straight.

Soon we were settled in around the dining table and Yōd was pretending to be hungry and complimenting Elyas on his cooking.

Bey turned to me and said, "Yōd basically confirmed your crazy story about this being a simulation. I'm amazed by your shared delusion, but Yōd's tongue makes up for all that."

Elyas asked, "What about Yōd's tongue?" Bey and Yōd both giggled and gazed into each-others eyes. Elyas told Bey, "Eddy put on quite a performance for me this afternoon... when he talks it always sounds like he's reciting a crazy science fiction story."

Bey continued to gaze lovingly across the table at Yōd. "Well, you need to experience Yōd and her tongue. Her performance and the orgasms I had almost made me forget about how crazy their Simulator story sounds. I do have to wonder... what if this is all a simulation? If so, then nothing that we do today can really matter..."

I suggested, "Think of it from my perspective... Yōd and I are here for a reason, so what happens in this Simulation matters to us. We are here for information. If you are willing to help us, I'd be grateful."

Elyas reached over and took hold of Yōd's hand. "I can sense that you two have telepathic abilities. I'm a rotten telepath, but I have to wonder... did you use telepathic mind control to make Bey have sex with you?"

Yōd shook her head. "I think you know Bey better than that. She's all business when she's at work. So, in addition to my telepathic abilities, I had to use nanotechnology to alter the function of her brain. I used a little nanosurgery to lessen her inhibitions."

Bey said, "Ridiculous! I was simply driven into a sexual frenzy by your seductive beauty, Yōd."

Yōd contradicted Bey, "No, Bey, when you get back to your normal pattern of brain function, you'll realize that I'm just an ordinary woman. Right now, you can't trust your esthetic judgements, not with me filling your thoughts with erotic images."

Elyas asked Yōd, "Are you really a Neanderthal?"

Bey shouted, "Elyas! What a rude thing to say."

Yōd told Bey, "It is true, Bey. Genetically I'm a human-Neanderthal hybrid. I suppose there is nobody in Alastor Cluster who carries more Neanderthal genetic sequences than me. However, my physical form was shaped by developmental control nanites, so I look like a perfectly normal human of the modern era."

Elyas laughed. "It must be fun for you two, existing in this fantasy that you've constructed. When the novel for this science fiction story comes out, I'll be sure to read it."

Bey, still with Yōd's nanites in her brain said, "Think carefully, Elyas. Maybe they are telling the truth about us being inside a simulation. If so, will we... I don't know, just be erased when you are done exploring L2?"

Yōd explained, "Every run of the Simulation is recorded. So what we do will not be completely erased."

Elyas pulled his hand away from Yōd and he continued eating. "Very well, if we play this game, then we have to ask... what do Eddy and Yōd have to gain?" Elyas looked at me and said, "I don't understand the importance of the robot, Nyrtia."

Earth's Reality Chain

It took me the rest of the duration of the meal to explain to Bey who Nyrtia is and the idea of a Reality Chain. When everyone was done eating, their household robot began clearing the dinner dishes off of the table. While watching the robot's efficient movements, I said, "So, all of this, everything in Alastor Cluster, took place in a past Reality... what I call the Asimov Reality. However, in my Reality, there are old stories about what happened here in Deep Time. I'm trying to determine if there is any truth in one of those old stories."

For a minute both Bey and Elyas were silent. Finally Bey asked, "But this so-called story, it must be important to you."

"Yes, it is. The Simulation technology uses something like-" Yōd kicked me under the table.

Yōd said, "Simulation technology uses advanced technology that we don't understand. We hope to learn some technical tricks here in Alastor Cluster."

I added, "The rumor is, Robot Nyrtia may have been involved in a particular technological advance that happened here."

"Here at L2?"

"That's the rumor. That's why we are here."

Yōd added, "The problem is, we've looked ahead in the Simulation and what we see in the future seems to contradict the story that we are investigating."

"A science fiction story?" Elyas had consumed quite a bit of alcohol and he was a bit drunk. He said, "Now hold on just a moment... I want to be clear about this, The only reason you are here is because of some silly story? Fiction?"

I suggested, "Even if it was fiction, there might be some truth in it."

Bey laughed and shook her head in wonder, "There's nothing quite like the mind of a writer. I guess that's what attracts me to Elyas."

Yōd told Bey, "Well, a guy better be good in bed. Felicity with words can't conjure up magical orgasms."

For about a minute Bey laughed rather uncontrollably and then she wiped a few tears from her eyes and led us from the dining room to an observation chamber with comfortable seats and the stars of the Cluster glittering all around us. For a time, Bey and Elyas named the major star patterns and spoke about inhabited planets they had visited around the Cluster. Eventually, conversation returned to Nyrtia and the reason why Yōd and I had come to L2. Elyas asked, "Exactly what technology are you concerned with? Is it related to your telepathic abilities? In the future, do all humans have telepathic abilities?"

Bey asked Yōd, "Or in the past... did Neanderthals all have telepathy?"

Yōd replied, "Neanderthal telepathy was very limited. Right now, I'm using a form of technology-assisted telepathy."

Bey seemed skeptical. "Can't you just read everyone's minds and find out what you want to know?"

"Telepathy does not work that way... at least not the kind of telepathy that we have." Yōd took hold of my hand. "For example, I can't read your thoughts, but I have a fairly good telepathic link to my husband, particularly if we are close together. But even that strong telepathic link only allows us to speak together silently. And, unfortunately, if we are apart from each-other, we lose out telepathic linkage."

We all fell silent and then after a time with everyone gazing at the stars, Bey asked Elyas, "How did the opening ceremony go today?"

Elyas replied, "I saw the ribbon cutting on the news. Nothing exciting."

Bey complained, "Well, I suppose things will just keep getting worse for me. More and more immigrants, ever more work for me."

Elyas said, "You have to learn to let things go, Bey. Just do your job... don't try to deal with every little domestic conflict around town."

"If I don't put out the little fires, they'll grow into big fires."

I could sense that Bey and Elyas were hashing over an old argument. I asked, "How many people live here at L2?"

"The population rises every day. Today, 429 new residents came in through the port... nearly a record. Not counting a few transients like you two, L2 has over 90,000 residents."

"And only one police officer?" Yōd seemed impressed. "How do you handle security for 90,000 people?"

"Well, it is not just me. You met Captain Bolunz. He's out here almost every day now with all the new folks coming to work at the new ore processing station. And there are other Whelm personnel that handle all of the security for the miners. Thankfully, I don't ever have to go to the mining stations. But now that there are two of them, the L2 population has just about doubled. It really is too much. I am having to just let some problems pass me by. There really should be another person working with me at my office."

"Can't you just hire a Deputy Chief?"

"I've requested an assistant in my budget each of the past two years, but my budget seems to be frozen."

Elyas chuckled and told Bey, "Maybe we will have to clone you."

Bey jumped out of her seat and pulled at Elyas' arm. "On that note, I'll take this joker off to bed. I have to be up early, we have three more passenger ships arriving in the morning at the port."

I took Yōd to the guest room and she flopped on the bed. She said, "Well, I'm finally going to get you in bed."

I reminded Yōd of my reluctance to engage in sexplay with her. I had no intention of sharing an orgasm trance with Yōd unless we had to take extreme measures to accomplish our mission. However, Yōd seemed to ignore my qualms of conscious. She pulled a see-through nighty out of her over-night bag and took a good ten minutes to first undress and then get the sexy nighty arrayed on her body. I was trying to ignore Yōd's lovely body and I had a question for her. "Why did you and Azynov select this particular time for a visit to L2?"

Yōd explained, "Things are going to get very exciting in the morning... actually, in the middle of the sleep tri-per. The Whelm is already in a tizzy, but the public announcement will come in the middle of the night."

"What announcement?"

"The Connatic's daughter is missing."

"What?"

"What I said. And of course, space pirates are going to get blamed."

Next: Part 3 of "The Prisoner of L2"

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Mystery of Maturin

Kerub

Below on this page is part 23 of the "The Alastor Network", a science fiction story about the creation of a mind clone network in Alastor Cluster during the far future of the Asimov Reality. It might be useful for readers to take a look at "Finding lo'Whots" before reading part 23 (below). In "Finding lo'Whots", the traveling team of Glisten, Jantiff, Yōd and Azynov visited the planet Yerophet. It was the hope of the Connatic that Glisten might be able to telepathically make contact with the Kerub and make progress towards understanding the deadly "cold fever" epidemic on Yerophet. 

The "cold fever" deaths involve the kind of positive feedback between telepathic individuals as was experienced by Heshlo in part 21 of the story.

"Olive"

As told in "Finding lo'Whots", a comfortable home in Frost Hills, Snarlwood, and an aircar were made available to Glisten and her party. Arriving on Yerophet, Yōd and Azynov had already looked into the future and were intent on helping Glisten avoid becoming caught up in positive feedback with any telepathic Kerub minds.

If you read the second half of "Finding lo'Whots" then you might wonder what was gained by sending Glisten to Yerophet. It is Yōd and Azynov who meet lo'Whots and that is only the briefest of encounters. Traveling with Glisten is her pet cat, Olive. Olive is actually the probot known as R. Oliveene Nhevrix. Oliveene makes sure that lo'Whots is provided with a set of medical nanites that will epigenetically reprogram lo'Whots, altering her physiology so that she can tolerate the warm temperatures that humans enjoy.

Maturin

Also lurking in the background during "Finding lo'Whots" is the mysterious Maturin. Like Yōd and Azynov, Maturin is an "outsider" who did not exist in the Asimov Reality. Yōd and Azynov are using the AR Simulator to view events of the Asimov Reality and Maturin is making sure that what Yōd learns about the origins of human telepathy will not get transmitted out of the Simulator and back to Earth if it has a chance of interfering with the plans of Grean the Kac'hin. Maturin is an artificial lifeform who can take on any convenient physical form. Like Oliveene, Maturin sometimes pretends to be a cat.

the Trading Post

Close the the Kerub territory border, Glisten, Jantiff, Yōd and Azynov met a human-Kerub hybrid at the Trading Post, a woman named Lora Shaw. Lora often hides her blue pigmentation when nosy officials visit the Trading Post, but when Glisten's group of explorers shows up, Lora does not bother hiding the fact that she is part Kerub. Lora's daughter, Konywhn, appears in part 23 of "The Alastor Network", below. The events in part 23 begin a few hours after the end of part 22.

In part 23 of "The Alastor Network" (below) both Agent Joole and the mysterious Maturin also make another appearance. Joole has been trying to make sure that the children of Ryl Shermatz are not struck by cold fever.

 

⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

Part 23. All About Yōd (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8) (part 9) (part 10) (part 11) (part 12) (part 13) (part 14) (part 15) (part 16) (part 17) (part 18) (parts 19 and 20) (part 21) (part 22)

Ryl was awakened from his nap by a priority call from Agent Joole, "I've just learned that Heshlo left the station and went to the Keub border."

"Hold on." Ryl put Joole on hold and called Heshlo, waking him from his sleep. 

Still half asleep, Heshlo muttered, "What is it, dad?"

"How was your flight out to the border?"

Heshlo paused before saying anything then kept it short. "Fine."

Ryl asked suspiciously, "You have nothing interesting to report?"

"Not really. Can we talk in the morning, dad?"

"Okay, let's meet for breakfast."

Ryl switched his comring back to Joole, "Heshlo seems fine."

Yerophet

"Most cold fever victims are female, but about 25% are male. I don't want Heshlo out in the death zone along the border."

Ryl shared his reasoning with Joole, "He's older than the usual victim and he's not traveling alone, so I'm not really worried. Anything else?"

"Yes. Earlier this evening I sent you a non-priority message that you never responded to. Glisten Ravensroke is now here in Frost Hills."

Ryl rubbed his tired eyes. "She's here, at the station?"

"No, we put her party up at a private residence, the Snarlwood facility."

"Very nice." Ryl knew that Snarlwood had long been used by the Whelm to house visitors on Yerophet. In fact, for his first two months working on Yerophet, Snarlwood served as his informal robotics workshop. Later, a better facility had been built for him inside the Frost Hills station, conforming to his requested specifications. "Thank you for taking care of that. Let me know if Glisten needs anything."

A Yerophet snowcat.

"I just sent an aircar out to Snarlwood. I hope Glisten is not planning to visit the death zone, too."

"She's a powerful telepath." Ryl was slightly worried about Glisten's safety, but was strongly motivated to deploy her as a probe of the mysterious telepathic signals on Yerophet. One of his mother's old sayings came to mind: nothing ventured, nothing gained. "I'm interested to see how she will interact with the Kerub. If you are worried about Glisten, put one of your robot watchdogs on her."

Joole needed no advice from Ryl about how to protect field agents. "I've already done that and I'm going to carefully monitor the aircar that I sent out for her use."

"Sounds good. Thank you for staying on top of everything, Joole. Any news from Ottengla?"

the dangers of Ottengla

"The Nykark and three support ships have been deployed to Ottengla. The Appenine should also be arriving there just about now, but it is too early to expect a report." She terminated the connection to Ryl. 

He was still feeling weary, but Ryl decided to go check on Voyt and her gene sequencing work. Arriving in her genetics lab, he found her asleep, slumped over the genome assembly workstation. He carried her to the couch in her living room and then went looking for Eleyn.

Eleyn was in her guest apartments within the Whelm communications monitoring station. When Ryl arrived, she was eating breakfast and seemed distracted, lost in thought. Ryl sat down across the table from Eleyn and sipped coffee. "Joole has been bashing me for allowing Heshlo to leave the station."

Eleyn shrugged and told her son, "Here is an old Earth saying: nothing ventured, nothing gained." She picked up a big yellow piece of fruit and began peeling it.

Ryl tried not to micromanage the lives of his children and he had no interest in questioning his mother about her activities. Ryl felt confident that if Eleyn had something to share with him, she'd speak her mind. He told Eleyn, "I've set Voyt to searching for Asterothrope gene patterns... I think she already found some here on Yerophet. There is quite an unusual collection of alien-human hybrids here on this planet, particularly right here at the center of the cold fever epidemic."

Plesypy-human hybrids

Reflecting on Pepha's unusual anatomical features, Eleyn glanced down at her large bust and told her son, "Until tonight, I never realized that Wilken's girl, Pepha, had so many Iidi traits." Eleyn took a bite from the large banana and could not stop thinking about Semoy's long blue penis. After swallowing the aromatic fruit and taking a swig of her apple juice, she was thinking about the pleasant rich aroma of Semoy's semen. Feeling her son's eyes on her, she tried, with some difficulty, to think of something non-sexual to say. Eleyn was certain that Grean was nearby, the horny little Kac'hin looking into her mind and enjoying Eleyn's memories of sex play with Semoy. After a long pause and as an afterthought, she finally added, "I suspect that the Iidi have been involved with the human-alien hybridization that is taking place here on this world."

Ryl thought about the stories Wilken had told him about Pepha. "You met Pepha?"

"Yes, I met Pepha and her parents... out near the border."

"Lora and Pepha were such good friends." Ryl wanted to change the subject. "You know, mom, I still feel a lot of guilt about having abandoned Lora, only to learn she was pregnant."

"You did not abandon her, Oman. You had to get on with your life. Things worked out well for you and Acy. You should let go of your regrets." They both fell silent for a few minutes.

Ryl was day dreaming about his old flame, Lora and her furry blue body. His penis was stiff and painfully constrained inside his pants. Finally, Ryl emerged from his thoughts of the past and his love affair with Lora and said, "Voyt seems certain that there must be a genetic engineering project on Yerophet. It is hard to imagine how something like that could be hidden. The Whelm has had a presence here close to Kerub territory for decades." Of course, he was thinking about the communications monitoring station. Ryl was having trouble thinking about anything but sex play with Lora and his youthful explorations of her alien anatomical features... it is almost like someone is trying to make me forget about... He looked to his left and was startled. Sitting there at the end of the table was a purple-skinned Iidi.

Grean the Kac'hin

Eleyn was wondering why Rujyan had never told his son about the genetics lab in Gosleween. She shrugged. That had worked out nicely; Ryl did not even suspect nature of their adventure at the Trading Post and the sexcapades that she and Heshlo had experienced in Goslewenn. Now Eleyn followed Ryl's gaze and saw the Iidi. "A visit from the ancient one..." Eleyn had long ago been given visions of this Iidi by the Muu're.

The Iidi woman giggled. "Please don't call me ancient, Ele. I like to think of myself as young and vital, ready for at least another twenty or thirty million years. I want to see how this human telepathy project works out."

Eleyn said, "Surely we do not need to think in terms of millions of years... or is there some reason you are not as excited about these Lavany mind clones as Grean is?"

"Don't be fooled by recent events." The Iidi waved a hand dismissively. "These mind clones are dependent on nanoscopic replicoids and their technology-assisted telepathy. The ultimate goal of Gohrlay and Nyrtia is to develop a type of natural, twitino-mediated telepathy. That could take a very long time. After seven million years of trying, the closest Nyrtia has come is the rather weakly telepathic Asterothropes."

Ryl asked the Iidi, "Is that why you are now spreading Asterothrope genes around the Cluster?"

"Yes, of course. It would be foolish to throw away all of Nyrtia's progress. However, using the Asterothrope approach to telepathy has its own limitations... it is hard..." The Iidi was staring at the bulge of Ryl's penis where it pushed out against his pants. "It is not easy to separate the telepathic abilities of the Asterothropes from their hypersexuality." The Iidi did not bother to mention that the ancient Iidi society had also used a social foundation of love and empathy in order to make possible a resilient social system that could endure the powerful telepathic abilities of its people. "I made sure that the special human-Plesypy hybrid embryo -Pepha- had the required Iidi gene patterns that allowed her to attract first Wilken and later Heshlo." The Iidi shifted her eyes away from Ryl and now gazed with appreciation and lustful awe at Eleyn's prominent breasts. "In any case, I wanted to thank you for your help before you leave, Eleyn. Grean is now itching to send you back to Earth."

the Iidi

Eleyn stood up, walked around the table and put her arms around her son's shoulders. "I don't know when Rujyan and I will complete our work on Earth. When we do get back here, I hope to find a bunch of grandchildren who I can spoil." Then she was gone, teleported away by Grean. Ryl turned his head and saw that the Iidi had also disappeared.

For the hundredth time, Ryl wondered why all of the aliens of Alastor Cluster were so genetically similar to humans and even sometimes able to interbreed with humans. He wondered if Grean was making use of the Iidi to help engineer human gene patterns that were better for telepathic abilities, superior to even the ancient Asterothrope type of telepathy. But with Grean's memory editing infites in his brain, he did not continue thinking about genetic engineering.

_____________________

During the time when Ryl and Eleyn were visited by the Iidi, Heshlo was trying write a letter to Yurahs, describing the events of the previous evening at Goslewenn. He re-read the letter he had recently received from Yurahs describing her second positive pregnancy test and telling him that she already knew the name of their child: Lavany. Heshlo was reflecting on his own sudden and profound infatuation with Pepha. He wondered: How can I explain my hot lust for Pepha's alien mind and physical features? Hearing a sound, Heshlo looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Ra. Indeed, there was the robot, but Ra was not moving, simply staring straight ahead. Heshlo stood up and turned and then saw a strange looking alien. He wanted to call station security, but he could not lift his hand or speak.

In the Ekcolir Reality. This reconstructed
cover image was made by Zeta using
'Browncoat 38' by Jessica Truscott

The woman directed her thoughts directly into Heshlo's mind: If you want my advice, don't even try to explain Pepha to Yurahs.

Heshlo somehow knew that this was a Phet and that the alien was not really there with him, as she appeared. The Phet explained: I'm nanoscopic, but I'm showing you what we Phet used to look like, when we still had biological bodies a hundred million years ago.

Heshlo closed his eyes and he could now "see" other images in his mind: a furry blue Kerub spread eagle on a bed with a human thrusting his big penis in and out of her vagina. The Phet narrated what he was seeing: This was the day when lo'Whots was conceived. 

Heshlo realized that he was watching Pepha and Wilken making love, more than 20 years ago. Now the pasionate couple rolled over and Pepha seemed to be having great fun playing with Wilken's stiff erection and sucking on its broad head. The Phet explained: Pepha is sensitive to the effects of Asterothrope penile secretions. It was very hard on her when Wilkens left Yerophet and lo'Whots was adopted into a Kerub clan. However, last night Pepha was very pleased to find you.

"And I like Pepha... she's very sexy, but I'm in love with Yurahs."

Lavany: age 1 week

The Phet continued: The Lavany mind clones are each unique. They will all share one identical cerebral hemisphere... that is why they are called mind clones... a trick for allowing synchronization of telepathic brain patterns. Bryget has an unusual and unique origin that involves you... and Pepha.

"Yes, of course, Yurahs and I made Lavany."

The Phet told Heshlo: The Lavany embryo was a template for the shared part of the mind clones, but Bryget is a special human-alien hybrid. The Bryget embryo will not be conceived until next month, the next time Pepha ovulates.

Heshlo asked, "What are you talking about? Bryget has already been implanted..." Heshlo was still seeing the images from the past. He watched Pepha straddle Wilkens and take his erection into her vagina, then that image faded away, being replaced by a "view" of the alien Phet.

While Heshlo "watched", the Phet seemed to be shrinking. You will impregnate Pepha and then Grean will take the Bryget embryo back in time, mix it with the Lavany embryo and implant the resulting mind clone inside a Kerub, pa'Xyget. It is la'Xyget's sister, la'Tasno who is carrying the Snoyl mind clone. 

In his mind, Heshlo could now see a group of Kerub. The "image" zoomed in on two of the Kerub with big bulging bellies. He realized that he was being shown the future and Heshlo asked the Phet, "Those Kerub sisters are part of the Lo Clan?"

Yes. And lo'Whots was adopted into the Lo Clan. By impregnating Pepha next month, you will be providing your daughter Lavany with one of the required nodes in her mind clone network. The Phet could sense that Heshlo was now feeling cheerful about his love affair with Pepha. However, you are not doing all the work; Wilken had to go all the way to the other end of this galaxy and then jump over to the Andromeda galaxy in order to do his part.

With the Phet at work adjusting his thinking, Heshlo was now perfectly willing to father Bryget, particularly if that would involve a month of sex play with the delicious Pepha, but now he was worried that his uncle Wilken might show up. "Has Wilken returned from his mission?"

Not yet; he is still returning from his rather long journey to the Ret'fai home world. However, in the future, Grean will make good use of the Ret'fai gene patterns that he brings back to Alastor Cluster.

Heshlo could see in the Phet's mind that the Ret'fai were an alien species. "Ret'fai?"

image source

The Ret'fai originated in another galaxy, but they visited this galaxy, leaving behind a trail of ancient archeological sites that your uncle was able to follow. Traveling through time, Grean will isolate some of the Ret'fai telepathy-boosting gene patterns retrieved by Wilken and incorporate them into Bryget, as she did for the other mind clones. The Phet had dwindled away, shrinking to invisibility and Heshlo never again had another telepathic contact to the Phet. He soon discovered that he could not tell anyone else about his visit with the Phet; a nanite mindlock prevented him from sharing that unusual experience with others.

_________________

After Eleyn and the Iidi had departed, Ryl finally had a late breakfast with Voyt and Heshlo who both seemed tired but happy. Voyt was pleased with the fact that Josef had found a way to selectively identify a characteristic Asterothrope mind pattern, his rapid progress being due to careful study of the telepathic mind patterns of both Patrycya and Eleyn. Apparently Josef was now picking up several Asterothrope-like mind patterns on Yerophet. 

Voyt asked her father for permission to go investigate the Asterothrope-like signal sources that were close to the border, but he said, "No, not until after this cold fever epidemic is under control."

Heshlo had already seen enough of Yerophet's cold white landscapes. He was eager to get back to Netal and begin working in collaboration with Josef on filters for sorting the various kinds of telepathic mind patterns that were generated by different types of human-alien hybrids. Immediately after breakfast Heshlo and Ra went up to orbit and Voyt told her father, "I've sent to Numenes for a copy of your father's private genome database. I do hope it contains your mother's genome. It should be here later this week." She went back to her laboratory, intent on understanding the special features of the Asterothrope genome that had conferred the ancient Asterothropes with their telepathic abilities.

Ryl did some routine Connatic work sending and receiving messages. He sent a letter to Acyreff and received word from Joole that Appenine had met up with Nykark on Ottengla; a longer report on events at Ottengla would be forthcoming. Joole also reported that Glisten had visited the Goslewenn Trading Post and had apparently made some kind of telepathic contact with the Kerub. Ryl decided that he would have to pay Glisten a visit at Snarlwood.

As he was gathering together his cold weather clothing, Konywhn signaled at his door. Ryl let her in and said, "Thank you for giving Eleyn and Heshlo an opportunity to visit the border. I understand you visited the Trading Post. How is your mother?"

"Oh, she's been a bit flustered, like everyone else with all these cold fever deaths." Grean's infites had almost completely erased from Konywhn's memory the visit to Lora's genetic engineering lab. She had a strange, fragmented memory of Lora handing her a vibrator which she now dismissed as an old memory from her teens. She changed the subject, "Vykence told me that she is now aware of the fact that I'm her sister."

Ryl sighed. "Thank you for keeping that secret for so long. Apparently it was Josef who let the cat out of the bag. In any case, she seems to be taking the news in stride." Ryl could sense that Konywhn was thinking about Lora.

August celebration of Jack Vance
"The Gensifer Clan" is fan-fiction
set in Vance's Alastor Cluster.

Konywhn said, "I can follow your thoughts, dad. I know that you are thinking about mom... in a rather sexually explicit way."

Ryl chuckled and shrugged. "Lora was my first true love. I think about her a lot. Particularly now... when I'm here on Yerophet. Especially with you standing there, looking so much like she did twenty years ago."

"Twenty five. Why don't you go visit her?"

"No, I can't do that. It would be too dangerous."

"You don't trust yourself?"

"Exactly. I was never able to resist your mother's charms. And I'd never be able to explain to my wife why I allowed myself to get within range of Lora's telepathic sashei."

Konywhn laughed. "Can I tell her that? She's still in love with you, you know."

"Is she? After all these years?"

"Of course. You are the only man she ever loved."

"I wish she would let go of our past and find someone else."

"For now, she still has me in her life. If I transferred to another planet or got married, then she might be ready to move on." Konywhn told her father, "I have been thinking about a transfer off of Yerophet."

"There is some other project that interests you?"

the Bimanoid Interface

"I've never really been interested in this one. Oh, I'd long imagined staying here on Yerophet until the mystery of this epidemic gets solved, but now I have a good reason to go explore other worlds and my spaceliner departs in three hours." She turned and went to the door. With a glance back over her shoulder she told Ryl, "Goodby."

Ryl nodded and said, "Goodby. Remember... if you have any influence over your mother, please encourage her to move on and forget about me." 

"Actually, that may already be happening. She recently met an interesting man named Miahco, so we'll have to see how they get along." Then Konywhn was gone. Ryl's thoughts about Lora lingered.

Heading out into the cold, Ryl flew from the Whelm listening station to the nearby Snarlwood mansion. The aircar flight only took a minute then he walked through snow from the aircar to the front door which opened at his approach. Uno the robot said, "Come in, Sir."

Now inside the warm ranch house, Ryl pulled off his outer layer of cold protective clothing which Uno stowed in a closet while saying, "Agent Joole seems concerned about Glisten, but I did not expect her to send you out here on such a cold evening."

"Joole did not send me. I've been busy or I would have been here sooner. I had hoped to see Glisten as soon as she arrived on planet."

Uno took Ryl further into the house and pointed through a set of windows to the porch where Glisten and Jantiff were enjoying the hot tub. Glisten waved and shouted to Ryl, "Come join us!"

Ryl shook his head and went back to the living room and sat in a chair near the fireplace and close to Glisten's cat who seemed to be deep asleep. Ryl asked Uno, "How long can they last out there in this cold?"

the Robot's of Triskelion

"You'd be surprised." The robot explained, "They are under a big array of heat lamps." Uno suggested, "A hot drink is good on nights like this."

"Very well, you can bring me a hot drink." Uno started going through a seemingly endless list of drink options. Ryl waved his hand dismissively, interrupted the babbling robot and said, "Whatever is handy." The robot went to the kitchen. Ryl turned his head and now sitting beside the cat and scratching its ears was Grean the Kac'hin. Ryl said, "Grean!"

Grean said, "We meet again."

Ryl asked, "What are you doing here?

Grean waved her hand, sending a swarm of infites into Ryl. "I have a message for you." Speaking quickly, Grean explained, "The mind clones are now in place and a solution to the cold fever epidemic has been found. The full solution will unfold over the next few years. I ask you to facilitate a temporary mitigation. The Capetown Governor will soon call for an evacuation of the frontier territories. Please mobilize the Whelm to help. With the big increase in immigrants that is starting, there will be a housing crisis on Yerophet. Commit the Whelm to an emergency building program."

Grean teleporting (image credits)

With the new infites in his brain, Ryl had some sense of how future events would unfold and he understood Grean's wishes. He said, "Building housing is not exactly a Whelm specialty, but I'll do what I can."

Grean suggested, "Shift folks like Konywhn to the building program. Really, with Josef now at work, the old listening station here in Frost Hills is redundant. Convert the communications station into the core of a new city for refugees and immigrants."

Ryl complained, "I find it hard to turn my attention away from these mind clones and the mystery of how they were created."

Grean insisted, "Let the little embryos grow! In time, the powers of the mind clones will be revealed, regardless of you worrying about it." Grean stood up and put a hand on Ryl's shoulder. Her main task for the past day had been keeping Ryl from interfering with her plans. "Thank you for bringing Heshlo and Eleyn to Yerophet. Now there's only one thing remaining for you to do here... or not do: just don't get in Heshlo's way. He has one more little task to complete before he returns to Numenes and I don't want you interfering."

Ryl chuckled, "How little? And what has he already done?"

lo'Whots

"Heshlo provided important gene sequences for the Lavany embryo." Grean explained further, "Heshlo helped Eleyn find lo'Whots and get the last of the mind clone embryos implanted." Grean winked at Ryl and said, "All he needs to do now is provide one more little spermatocyte for the cause."

Thinking about the spermatocyte that had brought Konywhn into existence, Ryl asked, "I think I can guess why Heshlo seemed so happy today." Imagining the range of possibilities for where Heshlo might now be placing his sperm cells, he muttered, "Surely not Lora?"

"Well, I know that you can't stop thinking about Lora..." Grean laughed. "Heshlo and Lora... following in your penis prints, so to speak... that's an interesting thought, Ryl, and actually not too far of the mark. All I'll say is that when Pepha asks to visit Netal and then forgets to go home for a month, just look the other way."

"Pepha, eh? Tell me, how did Heshlo happen to meet Pepha?"

Grean waved her hand, sending more memory-editing infites into Ryl's brain. "Forget I said anything. Just go help Acyreff at Ottengla and forget about Yerophet." Grean teleported herself back to the Hierion Domain and disappeared from view.

Just then, Glisten and Jantiff came inside from the patio, sat by the fire and Uno served hot drinks. Glisten and Jantiff were wearing long fuzzy robes and slippers and were flushed from the heat of the tub and whatever sex play they had been engaged in together out on the patio. Glisten said, "Welcome to Snarlwood, Ryl! Thank you for arranging such nice accommodations for us."

"Thank agent Joole. I'm afraid I've been too busy to pay much attention to you two." Ryl tapped the side of his head and asked, "Have you made contact with any Kerub?"

Glisten sipped her hot tea and then replied, "It is hard to say. The longer I'm here, the better I am able to sort through the vortex of telepathic signals that I am receiving. Just now, out in the tub with Janty massaging my... telepathic abilities, I realized that there are two different types of natives here: the Yer and the Phet. When I first arrived on Yerophet they were warning me to be careful, but now they have relaxed and quieted down. They insist there is nothing for me to do here."

Grean told Ryl: Glisten's reason for visiting Yerophet has been accomplished... the original goal you had imagined for her has been completed by others. Her little embryo has now been equipped with a nanoscopic replicoid and will be able to function as part of its own mind clone network, distinct from the Lavany network. Ryl looked around the room, trying to see evidence of Grean's presence and then his eyes returned Glisten. "In that case, I suggest that you take a short vacation. However, I have a request. There is a growing flood of immigrants here in the Capetown area, attracted by the rumors of telepathic Kerub-human hybrids. Yerophet is going to need to have a big housing boom. If you would like to help me deal with that, then you two could begin right here. I'd like you to help turn Snarlwood into the core of a new housing development."

Grean's infites were at work inside the brains of Glisten and Jantiff. Jantiff experienced a flash like view of the future and he said, "The immigrants could build their own homes if we had materials. The easy way would be to first inflate a mextrix dome over Snarlwood and the surrounding land."

Ryl nodded, "The Whelm can supply the dome and the house building supplies. I can have a dome delivered here in a just a few days."

Glisten complained, "Don't rush things, Ryl. Janty and I will help you, but I don't want to cut our vacation too short." After some small talk, Ryl was eager to return to the Whelm communications station. He made his excuses and departed from Snarlwood, trudging through the snow back to his aircar.

___________

R. Oliveene Nhevrix

Upon returning to the Whelm listening station, Ryl began putting in motion Grean's plan to turn the station into the core of a new residential center. Then he went into space, boarded a quick little spaceship and headed for Ottengla.

After Ryl returned to his aircar and flew away from Snarlwood, Glisten and Jantiff snuggled together by the fireplace and discussed the abrupt departures of first Azynov and Yōd before dinner and then Ryl Shermatz, appearing after dinner and then quickly departing. Jantiff said, "I'm sure they have better things to do than vacation here at Snarlwood."

Glisten sighed contentedly."I'm very pleased that you and I have nothing better to do." Soon they fell asleep by the fire, wrapped in each others arms. Glisten's cat, Olive, got up and went to look out through the windows at the hot tub. 

Grean was out on the patio, in the tub and she waved to Olive. The cat transformed into the preferred humanoid form of R. Oliveene Nhevrix and "she" went outside to join Grean in the tub. Watching Oliveene's graceful body while she climbed into the hot tub, Grean said, "Thank you for handling the epigenetic reprogramming of lo'Whots."

Oliveene shrugged. "No problem. It pleases me when you can cooperate with Nyrtia and Gohrlay."

Grean's eyes were drinking in the sight of Oliveene's impossibly perky robotic breasts. "Well, I can be very friendly when I'm on vacation."

Oliveene asked suspiciously, "You are on vacation?"

source

Grean nodded and pointed behind Oliveene and said, "I want you to meet Maturin."

Oliveene looked over her shoulder and saw an alien approaching. Maturin climbed into the tub and said, "You are also on vacation, Oliveene."

Grean laughed at the perplexed look on Oliveene's face and explained, "I've brought Maturin into the Simulator to watch over Yōd and make sure that she does not transmit any restricted data to her sister, Zeta."

Maturin added, "Everything taking place in Alastor Cluster is now being shaped as an educational experience for Yōd and Azynov. They are busy learning about the origins of human telepathy."

Oliveene was now remembering what Nyrtia usually did not allow her to remember: that she was inside the AR Simulator. "Yes... now I remember!"

"Actually, right now, Yōd and Azynov are making sweet love." Grean was vicariously enjoying the sexual pleasure that Yōd was experience at that moment on Zeck. She moved next to Oliveene and stroked one of the robot's beautiful breasts. "However, while we are 'busy' educating Yōd, we can also entertain ourselves." She put her lips around one of Oliveene's erect nipples and tickled it with her tongue.

Maturin moved close and stroked Oliveene's other breast. "And we can also make little corrections to the timeline. For example, rather than allow Glisten's baby to get into a dangerous telepathic feedback loop, we implanted a nanoscopic replicoid that will prevent such dangers." Now Grean was unable to restrain her lust and slipped her hot penis into Oliveene's vagina. The robot leaned back and relaxed while tightening her vagina around Grean's little Kac'hin hermaphrodite erection. Maturin reached out and began stroking Oliveene's stiff little clitoris, but then she turned her head and saw Uno and Jantiff stepping out from the house and onto the patio, both of them sporting erections. 

Original rendering: "Tiger Den" by henry1850.
Image available under the CC BY-NC 3.0 license

Climbing into the tub, Jantiff said, "Uno woke me up and told me that I was needed out here."

Grean looked into the house and asked, "Where is Glisten?" She did not pause from thrusting her penis into Oliveene's now pleasingly tight vagina. "I'd like to give her one of my special Kac'hin massages."

Holding onto the Kac'hin's rocking hips, Uno thrust his penis into Grean's back vagina and explained, "Glisten had a busy day. Her brain needs some down-time. You can massage her tomorrow."

Jantiff was busy exploring Maturin's interesting alien anatomy. Maturin had turned so as to present her round bottom to Jantiff and with it now sticking up into the cold air, she was growing impatient while he meticulously examined her complex alien genital organs. "It is not really all that complicated, Janty." Jantiff experimentally slipped a finger inside one of Maturin's vaginas. She said, "That's a good place to start." Jantiff thrust his erection into Maturin and she sighed contentedly. "Enjoy yourself, Janty, you won't remember any of this in the morning and you won't have to explain my anatomy to Glisten... I'll give her private lessons tomorrow." 

Made using EliseComfy10 and KayleeRelax13 by Eclesi4stiK
  Available under this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Telepathic human hybrids of the alien Plesypy and Asterothropes.
 See the full wraparound cover image here.

________THE END__________

Related: Meet the Phari

Next: making illustrations for The Alastor Network

    Chapters

1. Robot Tactics

2. The Hoo

3. Vision of the Future

4. Hierion Fields

5. Battle of the Nykark

6. Calling Yrinna

7. Replicoid Time

8. The Gensifer Clan

9. QB5 the Telepath

10. QB5 Meets Josef

11. Rupert Gensifer

12. Space Lawyer

13. Patrycya Menchlex

14. Help from the Bryvi

15. Lavany Clones

16. Triskelion

17. Royal Cross

18. Lavany, Bryget and Snoyl

19. Agent Joole

20. The New Josef

21. Eleyn's Adventure

22. The Patrycya Genome

23. All About Yōd

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