Sedroids

Myquel the sedroid

When I began writing "The Galaxiad" my goal was to do some thinking about events leading up to the completion of Galaxia. When chatting with Golan Trevize in Isaac Asimov's novel Foundation and Earth, the 20,000-years-old Daneel makes no secret of the fact that he is struggling to complete the group mind of Galaxia, all in an attempt serve the greater good of Humanity.

 

Private Willis by W. Russell Flint

I began my Exode Saga at a point in time when Galaxia was almost complete, say a few centuries after the ending of Foundation and Earth. But two centuries is a short time for such a major change to Humanity: unifying 25,000,000 planets under the Galaxia group mind. "The Galaxiad" was intended to provide some answers: how did the positronic robots working with R. Daneel accomplish so much in so little time?

 

Private Willis; see this blog post

Asimov's formula for story telling was to provide readers with depictions of both sides in an argument, so I felt the need to include in "The Galaxiad" both a positronic robot (the probot Lunanna) and a character who would oppose the creation of Galaxia. Since I was writing during the run-up to a change of administrations in January 2020, I decided to give a definite political flavor to the story, depicting a political opponent of Lunanna.

 

a review

That agent of opposition became my character Myquel who is the very model of a modern Galactic Guardian; devoted to the defense against telepathic Second Foundationers, but completely out-matched when dealing with fairies probots.

 

It is fitting that I include the soldierly Myquel in "The Galaxiad" because it was a drawing of Private Willis that inspired the young Isaac Asimov to write his Foundation stories about a galactic empire.

 

Journey to Andromeda

Vyky Dey

The events depicted in "The Galaxiad" take place about two years before Grean arrives in our galaxy. In advance of Grean's mission, Many Sails has been on an expedition to our galaxy during which "she" has been sampling the biological diversity of Humanity, with special emphasis on finding human variants that have interesting telepathic abilities.

Upon performing a quick analysis of Vyky Dey's telepathic skills, Many Sails knows that she has made the most important discovery of her expedition and so she scoops up a copy of Vyky and returns to the Andromeda galaxy where Grean is being prepared for her mission to Earth.

the sy'paz and synpaz replicoids

Along with Vyky, Many Sails and Myquel there is one other major character in "The Galaxiad", the probot Lunanna. Lunanna was named in honor of the fact that in the time of Golan Trevize, Daneel had his secret base of operations on the Moon.

Sedroid

All of the characters in "The Galaxiad" have their secrets, which are not revealed to readers until part 2 of the story. Myquel believes that he is human, but Many Sails reveals to him a startling fact: he is actually an artificial lifeform, what she calls a sedroid.

Replicoid

The Exode Saga is full of replicoids, artificial lifeforms that are composed of femtobot components. Sedroids are similar, but they are assembled from zeptites. Many Sails has the ability to create and program sedroids and she uses them as her agents inside our galaxy. The probots have no way of detecting a difference between sedroids and humans beyond the fact that sedroids show an unusually persistent devotion to the cause of defending the First Foundation against the Second Foundation.

Because of the efficiency of that defense, the probots have been forced to work more openly throughout the worlds of the galaxy while bringing into existence Galaxia. Many Sails feels confident that it is the probots are who are behind the development and implementation of Galaxia. Also, Many Sails is certain that Grean can use sedroids to defeat the probots. All that remains is for Many Sails to understand how the probots developed human telepathy and to rule out the possibility that the probots are hiding or holding in reserve some special form of telepathy that could be a challenge to Grean. 

 

Earth's Reality Chain

Having no understanding of the existence of time travel, Many Sails can't imagine that the Asterothropes existed in a previous Reality. For Many Sails it is a mystery: why now, at this time in the Foundation Reality, are there suddenly so many human variants (such as the Werefe) with interesting telepathic abilities? 

 

I like to think that R. Nyrtia made several attempts to craft telepathic humans and one such experimental effort culminated in the Werefe. However, the lineage that led to Hari Seldon's grand-daughter Wanda, the Mule and Bliss is the one that became the basis for constructing Galaxia.

Laws of Robotics

How did Many Sails control her sedroids? I've never read Caliban by Roger Allen, but I like the idea of altering the The Laws of Robotics as devised by Asimov back in the 1940. Asimov's modification was to insert the Zeroth Law, adopted by Daneel and leading to Galaxia.

What does Many Sails expect her sedroids to accomplish? Recall that at the end of Asimov's original Foundation Trilogy, the First Foundationers have been duped into believing that there are only 50 members of the Second Foundation. However, on Trantor there is a thriving community of Second Foundationers that the First Foundation is unaware of. The First Speaker is confident that his telepathic comrades of the Second Foundation will continue to guide both Foundations to successful development of a new, second Galactic Empire.

Prelude to Foundation

For "The Galaxiad", I assume that Many Sails knows quite well that the Second Foundation has not been eliminated. Many Sails creates an army of Galactic Guardians, each trained in the use of a Mind Static device that can incapacitate any nearby Second Foundationers.

 

Also, recall (from Prelude to Foundation) that it is possible to incapacitate positronic robots. During the dying days of the first Galactic Empire, before the Second Foundation existed, Dors Venabili revealed herself to be a robot during her spirited defense of Hari Seldon. Dr. Cinda Monay (an expert in "radiation physics") and mathematician Tamwile Elar created a device (called the electro-clarifier) that could incapacitate robots such as Dors. Asimov was careful to depict the invention of the electro-clarifier as being accomplished under the cover of on-going improvements to the Prime Radiant, with nobody but Elar aware of its use as a weapon against probots.

image source

Thus, it was still possible for the probots to operate secretly among humans and advance their plans for Galaxia, as long as nobody made use of the electro-clarifier technology. I imagine that Many Sails shifted the Galactic Guardians from their original goal of defending against Second Foundationers towards protecting members of the Individual Freedom Party and helping them resist the Social Unity Party which became the human organization working to perfect Galaxia.

Why didn't Many Sails instruct the Galactic Guardians on how to modify the settings of their Mind Static devices, shifting their operation into the frequency range used by the electro-clarifier? I imagine that Many Sails came to recognize that there was an advantage to having the entire galaxy become absorbed into Galaxia.  

 

image source

Many Sails knew how to defeat Galaxia with advanced sedronic technology. The largest danger to Grean's plan to take control of Eternity was the possibility that some unknown alternative form of telepathy might exist, one that Grean was not prepared to counter. Thus, Many Sails searched the galaxy for human variants with unusual telepathic abilities. The most interesting examples, such as Vyky the Werefe, were collected by Many Sails and taken back to the Andromeda galaxy for careful study.

So, initially the sedroids could have been programmed so as to defend non-telepathic humans against the telepathic Second Foundationers. However, within two generations, humans began experimenting with technology-assisted telepathy. For "The Galaxiad", I imagine that the Galactic Guardians were re-programmed to accept such technology-assisted telepathy as long as it did not involve alterations to the human brain. 

 

image source

Joining the Galaxia movement (and the Social Unity Party) came to be associated with the use of brain implants that would link individuals into the Galaxia network.

For the second half of "The Galaxiad" I had some fun imagining anti-SUP propaganda posters. Vyky may have seen some of these on the street and they may have contributed to her caution with respect to adjusting her Werefe telepaq to a frequency used by the Mysyny communications network. Even with her caution, nothing could protect Vyky from being "abducted" by Many Sails. I have to wonder what other "human variants" were also being transported by Many Sails back to the Andromeda galaxy along with Vyky.

Next: telepathic aliens on Koryphon

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Illegal Alien

Image credits
(original photographs: Jessica Truscott)

I've never read any of the stories of Robert Sawyer. Two years ago he was brought to my attention (see the comments, here) and I was intrigued by his parallel worlds story about Neanderthals.

Yōd
I recently described the fact that one of my first questions for Zeta was "Why now?" What could she say? She is as ignorant as I am when it comes the shape of the future. However, some answers have quickly started to come in...
_____ Part 1 of  Yōd on Earth   ________________
At first, I thought I was having new contact with the Hierion Domain via the Bimanoid Interface. Then my senses cleared and I stretched my arms and legs luxuriously. My whole body felt tingly and odd, a sensation I remembered from several past dreams. My left hand bumped into Zeta. She said, "Oh, no."

We were in a completely dark room, laying on what I now know to be a high-tech bed. I asked, "Where are we?"

Now Zeta's voice came from farther away. "Not Kansas." I sat up and unsuccessfully tried to see Zeta in the dark. Suddenly the door opened and a figure stood there in the doorway, silhouetted against the light of the adjacent room.

Isaac Asimov

Yōd said, "Get dressed you two. We have just a few minutes to spare. Asimov is waiting." She wandered off into the next room and was lost from sight.

Zeta reached the doorway, closed the door and activated the lighting in our room. I rolled off the giant bed and joined Zeta where she was pulling on a jumpsuit. I found a second suit and quickly dressed while asking, "Who was that? And did she say 'Asimov'?"

Zeta was dressed and already heading back towards the doorway. "Hurry up."

I followed Zeta into the next room, feeling like my head was floating on air. And there he was: what looked like a healthy and vigorous Isaac Asimov from the previous millennium. Sitting next to him on a couch was a woman who gestured to an adjacent couch, indicating that we should be seated. As Zeta and I sat down, I silently gave thanks that my jumpsuit had automatically adjusted to my body and dressed me. My eyes were fixed on Asimov, who I had previously met once before, almost 40 years previously. Yōd said, "In a few minutes we'll teleport back to Earth, but Isaac wanted to say 'hi'."

the view from inside Many Sails

Asimov spoke directly to me, "Since we got within teleporter range, Many Sails has been allowing me to watch Earth. I've been studying your on-going investigations of Deep Time."

I should have simply let Asimov speak and tell us what he had on his mind, but I could not restrain a question that leaped out of my mouth, "Where are we?"

Yōd replied, "We're just outside the galaxy. This spaceship won't reach Earth until next year."

Asimov was amused by the look of dismay on my face. "So, I won't be back on Earth until next year, but I wanted to share with you a suggestion for your little writing project."

Yōd said, "Quickly, Isaac."

Asimov scowled at Yōd then concisely explained, "At this distance, teleportation is only possible through a maximal exertion by Many Sails. Your return to Earth is timed to the nanosecond. I just want to tell you that in the Asimov Reality, First Contact was with the-"

At that moment the universe split and I was back in the dream state from which my mind had been snatched and teleported half a million light-years out of the galaxy. In the morning, when I awoke, I began trying to quickly write down what seemed like a startling and vivid dream (the events described, above). Zeta saw what I was writing and she said, "That was no dream."

The Zeptite Endosymbionts

Not wanting loose any of this odd 'dream', parts of which seemed to be rapidly fading from my memory, I finished writing down what I could remember from our short visit to Many Sails. I put down my pen and asked Zeta, "We were actually teleported beyond the edge of the galaxy?"

"Well, it depends of what you mean by 'we'. You might not have noticed, but you were not actually in your body when we were on board Many Sails."

"Ah, so that 's why I felt so strange."

Zeta explained, " I suspect that they teleported a fragment of our zeptite endosymbionts out there, but our biobodies never got out of bed."

I asked suspiciously, "You suspect? You've never traveled like that before?"

Return to Tar'tron

"I was teleported to Earth from Tar'tron. All of me. But on Tar'tron there are virtual reality systems that allow people to embed their minds in other host bodies, so I'm quite familiar with the feel of such mind transfers. The real mystery is why Yōd was there on board Many Sails."

That was the first time I'd heard the name 'Yōd'. I asked, "Who?"

Mission to Andromeda

"Yōd is another Gohrlay clone. I haven't seen her in years. Yet there she was, all chummy with Asimov and returning to Earth from the Andromeda Galaxy."

"I wonder why they had to go back to that galaxy." I tried to remember exactly what Yōd looked like. While on Many Sails, I'd been staring at Asimov. "And why do you say that woman was a Gohrlay clone? She did not look like you, although there was something strangely familiar about her."

 Zeta went over to a nearby shelf and picked up a photograph that was in a plastic framing sleeve. She pointed at one of the people in the family portrait. I gasped, "My word! Yōd did look remarkably similar." I was looking at a twenty year old photograph of my niece, Sally. "That's crazy."

original cover art by Ned Dameron

Just then, Yōd walked into the room and asked, "What's crazy?"

I looked at the  woman who had just come in and I asked, "Sally?" I had not seen my niece in twenty years, but Yōd had an appearance that exactly matched my expectations of the woman that the 12-year old Sally in the photograph might have become.

Yod flopped into a chair and replied to my question, "Please don't call me Sally. Sally was teleported to Tar'tron. I'm Zeta's sister, Yōd."

Clones of Gohrlay

Zeta told me, "I never explained this, but not all of the Gohrlay clones share the same physical appearance."

I looked back and forth between Zeta and Yōd and the photograph of my family members. I demanded, "Just how many of you clones have infiltrated Earth?"

Ignoring my question, Zeta asked Yōd. "Can I get you anything? How was your trip?"

Yōd sighed. "I suppose it will take me a while to adjust to this body. I think I'm hungry. And thirsty."

Zeta went to the kitchen. I asked Yōd, "What was Asimov trying to tell me?"

Yōd giggled. "Well, you know, it is important that you not know too much about your future."

The Asimov Reality

"No, he was telling me about the past. The identity of the people who made first contact with Earth in the Asimov Reality."

"Past, future... such ambiguous terms."

Zeta returned from the kitchen and handed Yōd a tall glass full of lemonade. She asked, "Ya, why take us all the way out of the galaxy to get a message from Asimov, and then the message gets chopped off?"

Yōd tried to explain the situation to us. "Look, I'm sure you two got the message exactly as intended. You have been reminded of a mystery. You tell me why that was so important."

Zeta shrugged and said, "I'm making omelettes."

Yōd muttered. "Yuck. Earth food. Whatever."

First Contact

Zeta returned to the kitchen to cook and I suggested, "I admit ..... my thinking has been that the nature of First Contact in the Asimov Reality is not important. It is a riddle that I've not been able to solve. Even Vance left behind no clues. If Asimov wanted to tell me the answer to that riddle, and he could not wait until next year...." I slipped into silent thought. Yōd sipped on her drink and seemed to be having trouble swallowing. She would occasionally gag or choke, but she kept taking sips from the big glass. Finally my thoughts settled into a pattern. "Will I get to meet Asimov after he returns to Earth next year?"

Yōd shrugged. "How would I know?"

"Well, if you don't know such things, then why are you here?"

Yōd shook her head, "Do you want my answer or do you want me to provide my guess about what motivated Egrosū̆ to bring me here now? Certainly I was bored on Many Sails. Intergalactic travel is so annoying. I suppose that when Egrosū̆ gave up trying to work with you, she decided to send the second team onto the field. My guess is, she had originally intended to spend another year with you, but she simply could not stand to be with you that long."

I complained, "That's not a very nice thing to say."

Yōd laughed at me. "You asked, I told you."

Determined to be equally blunt, I asked, "So you have permanently stolen the body of my niece?"

"I stole nothing. Isn't it obvious to you that Sally was inserted into Earth's timeline as a place-keeper for me? I was to arrive next year, but the schedule had to be moved up a bit. By now, Sally is enjoying herself in the Galactic Core."

a femtobot

I have to admit that I was not really feeling outrage at the substitution of Yōd for Sally. I'd occasionally wondered why Sally had never married and had children. In fact, I was now a little jealous of Sally who had won a ticket off of Earth. For a minute I imagined the wonders she would experience during her visit to Tar'tron. I asked, "Why was Asimov taken to the Andromeda Galaxy?"

Realities

Yōd shrugged. "I met Asimov when... after he arrived on Tar'tron. He was having a blast there, but when he heard that Many Sails was making another trip to the Andromeda Galaxy he decided not to pass up the chance to go along for the ride."

Zeta came in and handed a plate to Yōd who recoiled from the food and exclaimed, "My word, what a stink!"

Zeta said, "Oh, shut up. You'll get used to it. Be careful, it's hot."

I placed a folding tray in front of Yōd and set one up for myself. Zeta asked her sister, "So, you have no specific mission here on Earth?"

Yōd replied, "Well, I can tell you what Egrosū̆ told me. I doubt if 'mission' is the correct word to use." Zeta had to return to the kitchen, but Yōd continued speaking to me. "As soon as my consciousness arrived in this new body, Egrosū̆ was pushing me out of bed and rushing me to the airport. She had two tickets for our late night flight, so I got to talk to her for several hours."

I was intrigued by the fact that Alpha Gohrlay would be skulking around the home of my niece. "So Egrosū̆ knew that you would be arriving on Earth a year early?"

"I don't trouble to wonder about all the things that Egrosū̆ knows. She rushed me here as quickly as possible, so I suppose it is important that I start working with you and Zeta, now, today." She tried eating a small piece of the omelette, spit it out of her mouth and then set down the fork and leaned back into her chair.

I asked her, "Are you a story writer like Zeta?"

 Yōd laughed. "Not at all."

"Tell, me. how can you be a clone of Gohrlay and yet be so different physically?"

"There have been many clones of Gohrlay. Many of those clones were kept physically identical to Zeta by allowing one standard biodevelopmental program to run in each clone's body. However, most Gohrlay clones have been subject to other developmental programs and we each have our own unique physical appearances."

"But you and Zeta are genetically identical?"

"Yes." She picked up the fork and tried to gag down another bite. She washed the omelette down with a swig of lemonade.

I was sitting there watching Yōd try to eat and imagining the possibility of revealing to the world the existence of Yōd and Zeta, two genetically identical women who looked quite different physically.

The Secret History of Humanity

I've long dreamed of having physical evidence to support what I know about the Secret History of Earth and visits to our world by space aliens.

Zeta returned from the kitchen with a plate for me. She glared at me and said, "Don't even think about it!"

Yōd asked, "What?"

Zeta sat down and said to Yōd, "He's always looking for physical evidence of aliens on Earth. He can never accept that there are real constraints on his behavior."

I muttered, "Can you read my mind?"

Replicoid Games

Zeta replied, "Almost. Our replicoids are in contact in the Hierion Domain. Your replicoid knows your every thought and sometimes Irhit passes information on to my replicoid. In turn, she can influence my thoughts."

I asked Yōd, "Can you also use the Bimanoid Interface?"

Yōd replied, "Of course, that was the whole point of the Asimov Reality: the creation of human brains and femtobot adapters that would allow humans to use the Interface."

Zeta asked Yōd, "So what instructions did you get from Egrosū̆?"

Outline

"She talked for hours, filling me in on your status. As I understand it, she's not happy with the slow rate of progress on writing the Secret History of Humanity."

I interrupted Yōd to say, "I call it the Exode Trilogy."

Zeta complained, "And I've been trying to convince him that there is nothing magical about a trilogy. In fact, there are five different Realities that must be explained to the people of Earth, so I believe there should be five books." Zeta got up and handed her tablet to Yōd.

Yōd read the short outline of the five volumes that Zeta had mapped out for the Secret History of Humanity. "Well, I don't know most of this history. Why is it important to go into so much detail?"

I tried to quickly explain to Yōd why I had been tasked with telling the hidden history of Earth. "My understanding is, at some point in the future, something that is written down in this Secret History of Humanity will become important. It will allow Humanity to avoid some sort of catastrophe."

Zeta added, "This is R. Gohrlay's gift to Humanity. A way to allow the human species to survive its adolescence and reach the stars."

Yōd shook her head. "So we three sit here, ignorant of any detailed understanding of what we must accomplish. So typical. Egrosū̆ told me nothing specific, but she seems certain that I will help you two with your story telling project. I can't say I understand why this important message to future Earthlings must take the form of a science fiction story."

"The information must be "hidden in plain sight". Most people will only view the Secret History of Humanity as fiction. Because of that, providing this information to Earthlings is not technically a violation of Huaoshy ethical law."

Yōd was trying to swallow another bite of the omelette. I noticed that she was looking quite pale and obviously was not enjoying the food. Suddenly she vomited the contents of her stomach onto her plate.

Zeta rushed to clear away the mess. Yōd was perspiring and looked quite ill. She said, "I'm going to go lie down."

I watched her head off down the hallway towards the bedrooms and I turned the other way. I carried my plate into the kitchen and said to Zeta, "The poor girl is really sick."

"That's not too unusual for the aftermath of a mind transfer." Zeta ran the remnants of Yōd's omelette down the garbage disposal.

When the noise of the disposal ended, I said, "So, tell me about your sister."

"I don't know her at all well. There were many such clones, each one taken along different developmental paths by their endosymbionts. I've always assumed that they were not intended to have missions on Earth."

"Well, it seems we are now living out a back-up plan that involves Yōd being here on Earth with us. Do you have any idea how she might help us?"

in the Hierion Domain

"Of course, you mean: 'How can she help you.' The fact that Egrosū̆ rushed Yōd here today, even before the poor girl had adapted to Earth, makes me think that she can help with our dispute over the structure of the Exode story."

"Hmm. Much of my reluctance to adopt your planned five volume strategy derives from me avoiding the drudgery involved with creating more websites that would hold the content of the additional volumes. Do you think Yōd could help with that?"

For a moment Zeta seemed to stare off in the direction of the bedroom where Yōd had gone to rest. "Interesting! My replicoid seems to be confirming your hypothesis. Sally's replicoid is now in contact with our replicoids in the Hierion Domain."

I snapped my fingers. "Right! And now I remember: Sally has worked in website design for years. Now all of her experience in online publishing is at the disposal of Yōd."

 Illegal Alien

Tryp'At Overseers

As quickly as my hopes has soared upon realizing that Yōd might help me by doing some website work, my spirits came crashing back down with the arrival of a related and parallel thought. I've been living in fear that my actions are being carefully monitored by tryp'At Overseers. Now I knew the future, or part of it, at least: Asimov was returning to Earth. I'd previously been told of Asimov's "second life" off of Earth and that he would return to his home world, but now I had confirmation of that rumor from a new source: Yōd.

However, much has changed on Earth since Asimov's death and his departure from our world. Wouldn't the tryp'At view Asimov and his great knowledge of aliens as a danger to Earth and the Huaoshy principle that we Earthlings be kept ignorant of Genesaunt society? So, how could the tryp'At allow Asimov to return to Earth? And what about Yōd? With her genetic profile, she was a prime target to come under the scrutiny of the tryp'At Overseers. Did Yōd know the danger she was in?

I took a step towards the bedroom where Yōd was resting, but Zeta stopped me. "Don't badger the poor girl. You can set her to the task of making two new booksites when she's feeling better. In the mean time, let's try to come to an agreement about the content of those sites."

I said, "I'm worried that Yōd might attract the attention of tryp'At Overseers."

Zeta noded, "Possible, but not likely. Just like you and I, Yōd is constrained. In her case, by her nanites."

"You mean she can't tell anyone what she knows about aliens?"

"She can tell us anything known to Yōd, but according to Sally's replicoid, if questioned by anyone else, the Sally endosymbiont will take control. From the perspective of other Earthlings, Yōd is still your niece Sally. Nothing can change that."

"There is still the genetic evidence."

"I'm not so sure." For a minute Zeta seemed to be listening to her replicoid. "Apparently it would be a trivial matter for the tryp'At to confound any DNA testing performed on Yōd, forcing Earthlings who analyzed her DNA to read out a different sequence than mine, a sequence that would be exactly as expected for your niece."

Clones of Gohrlay

After years of this sort of thing, I was used to being frustrated in my attempts to obtain physical evidence of alien Intervention o Earth. I asked Zeta, "So, Yōd and you are both Gohrlay clones, but she is much younger than you?"

Zeta nodded, "If you like, think of us as being from two different generations of Gohrlay clones. And there is one other item, which I hesitate to mention to you, but it is my understanding that Yōd and everyone in her clone cohort was shaped by her developmental control nanites so as to have the physical form of an hermaphrodite. That was intended to make it easier for them to function within mainstream society on Tar'tron."

"Wait, are you saying that my niece Sally was a hermaphrodite?"

Oracles of Luk'ru

"No, had that been the case then I'm sure that she would have previously been removed from Earth by the tryp'At. However, I expect that Yōd is going to have a tough time adjusting to her new female body."

For a minute I thought about Yōd and Asimov together on Many Sails for the long flight from the Andromeda Galaxy to Earth. I wondered out loud, "What might Asimov have been telling me about First Contact in the Asimov Reality?"

Zeta shrugged, "We obviously were not meant to know, but the intention seems to have been to focus our thoughts on the Asimov Reality. Maybe you should ask Yōd to prioritize creation of a new booksite that will hold the story of that Reality."

Next: Part 2 of Yōd on Earth; the origins of the Intersplit space-drive

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Vance +100

cover art by Vincent Di Fate

To celebrate the life of Jack Vance (he was born in 1916) I'm dedicating this blog post to his Cadwal trilogy. The planet Cadwal is so rich in life that it was set aside as a nature conservancy upon its discovery.

Sessily and Glawen
cover art by Boris Vallejo

When we first meet Glawen, he is 16 years old and living at Araminta Station, the small administrative enclave of the planet Cadwal. His first love, Sessily, is murdered by Glawen's "friend," Kirdy, but not before her innocent request for butterfly wings leads to discovery of a deadly plot against the residents of Araminta Station.

World of the Nineteen Moons

While Glawen is still recovering from the shocking loss of Sessily, he meets Wayness, a girl from the naturalist settlement at Stroma Fiord. Glawen and Wayness travel far across space to Nion, the "Planet of the 19 Moons". They  search for the lost Charter, an ancient legal document that confers ownership of Cadwal. While on Nion, they fail to find the Charter, but they finally consummate their long, slowly-growing love for each other.

source

Traveling next to Old Earth, Glawen and Wayness discover that their friend, Chilke, had inherited the Charter from his grandfather Swaner. Long ago stolen from the Naturalist Society, the Charter had come into the possession of Grandpa Swaner when he purchased an odd lot of old documents being sold at auction. Recognizing the value of the Charter and the reality of his own impending death, but fearing that the Naturalist Society was defunct, Grandpa Swaner left the Charter to Chilke. However, at that time, Chilke was off across space and he never knew that he had inherited such a valuable piece of paper from his grandfather.

cover art: Michael Van Houten 

After returning to Cadwal, Glawen is teamed with Chilke for a mission to nearby worlds. They must investigate a conspiracy that is threatening Cadwal and try to find help to remove the Yips from Cadwal. The Yips are a large but illegal population living at Lutwen Atoll on Cadwal in violation of the terms of the Charter that restricts human habitation on Cadwal.

While on their mission to the planet Rosalia, Chilke meets Flitz, a young woman of many charms. Her guardian (Barduys) becomes the man who can save Cadwal from traitorous insurrection and provide transport ships for resettlement of the Yips. Further, Barduys plans to provide employment for the Yips at the tourist resorts he is building on Rosalia.

in the Ekcolir Reality
original cover art by Edmund Emshwiller

At the end of the Cadwal trilogy, Glawen and Wayness are ready to settle down together in their newly constructed house at Araminta Station (see the image above, right). Chilke and Flitz go off to roam through the far stars of the galaxy in search of mythical planets of adventure, such as the distant world where strange alien creatures inhabit Lake Mar. The Cadwal Conservancy seems safe: the traitors who sought its demise have been defeated and the Yips removed from their illegal residence on Cadwal.

The Search for Sessily
The Search for Sessily is a fanfiction sequel to Vance's Cadwal trilogy. What exciting adventures might Chilke and Flitz have had while exploring the far end of the galaxy? Glawen and Wayness, who are on their way to Rosalia to attend the grand opening of the Bainsey Castle Resort, are about to find out.....

Bainsey Castle Resort, Rosalia.
click image to enlarge

Upon landing their spaceship on Rosalia, Glawen and Wayness learn that Chilke and Flitz had arrived at the Castle about two months previously. Barduys tells them that Flitz had to depart from Bainsey Castle more than a month ago for "medical reasons". According to Barduys, Flitz is very pregnant and her mysterious four-month-long pregnancy has altered her from a slim girl to a bulging bedridden mass of tissue now twice her former size. Informed by Barduys of the arrival of Glawen and Wayness at Bainsey Castle, Chilke invites them to come back up into orbit where Chilke and Flitz have been living under low gravity conditions.

alien DNA

Barduys reports to Glawen that he called in a team of scientists and medical experts to study the biological mystery of Flitz's bizarre pregnancy. That investigation quickly reveled that Flitz does not seem to be human: no human DNA could be detected in her body or that of the new lifeform growing inside her.

After docking the two spaceships in orbit, Glawen and Wayness are met by Chilke who explains that Flitz does not want to be seen in her present condition. Glawen and Wayness speak to Flitz and she tells them that her "daughter" will soon be born.

original cover art by Robert Sherry

That night, Chilke watches in amazement when Flitz splits open and her "daughter" emerges from Flitz's body. Flitz immediately names her "daughter" Clonia. Clonia is a fully-grown young adult. The enlarged abdomen of Flitz melts away with the excess tissue suddenly forming a strange yellow cloud that envelops first Flitz then Chilke, rendering them unconscious.

In the morning, Wayness awakens early with a strange sense that something has happened to Flitz. She returns to Chilke's ship and discovers Clonia, who is terrified and confused. Wayness calls Glawen and awakens him. When Glawen sees Clonia for the first time, he is astounded to find that she looks just like the long-dead Sessily.

The World of the Nineteen Moons.

Wayness, Flitz and Clonia travel to Old Earth in order to consult with scientists who might be able to explain the miracle of Clonia's "birth". Glawen and Chilke travel to Lake Mar, where Chilke thinks that Flitz was impregnated by aliens. Returning to the beach where Chilke and Flitz previously lived for a week while investigating the odd creatures inhabiting Lake Mar, they encounter a Hierion Tube that is linked to the World of the Nineteen Moons. They obtain a "potion" that can amplify human access to the Sedronic Domain.

Taking a dose of the potion, Glawen is able to access the Sedronic Domain. He learns that our galaxy was long ago "invaded" by an alien force arriving from the Andromeda Galaxy.

Sister galaxies - click image to enlarge

Glawen and Chilke return to Earth. They collect Wayness, Flitz and Clonia and set off towards the Andromeda Galaxy. Along the way (it is a long trip) they experiment with the "potion". When given some of the "potion", Clonia attains the ability to morph her physical features. Knowing that her appearance bothers Glawen, she abandons the "Sessily form" and creates a new body structure for herself and new facial features.

Upon arriving in the Andromeda galaxy, Clonia guides them to an artificial planet where they discover the original Sessily Veder, who explains that although she was born as a human and lived her early life on Cadwal, she is actually another artificial lifeform like Clonia. While growing up on Cadwal and not knowing her alien origins, Sessily had played her role in saving Cadwal by helping Glawen reveal the scheme by which Smonny and the Yips had planed to capture Araminta Station.

in the Ekcolir Reality

Each of them having tested the effects of the potion, the visitors to Andromeda find that they are all having strange subjective experiences. Glawen is haunted by visions of his long-dead mother and Wayness believes that she hears the voice of her dead brother, Milo. Sessily shows them how to enter the Hierion Domain where they visit the replicoids of Glawen's mother and Milo. Glawen and Wayness learn that an alien force had long been controlling human evolution and the spread of humans out into the galaxy. Previously, other humanoids had evolved on various Garden Worlds of the galaxy (such as the "Planet of the 19 Moons") and their civilizations were also carefully crafted and guided. All that remains in the Hadronic Domain are a few remnants of those ancient peoples, the bulk of their populations having been "shunted" into the Sedronic Domain.

new recruits

In the Hierion Domain, Glawen and Wayness meet "Emperor Schulz" (a mangled translation), the current Yos ēlōtē for our galaxy. The Yos ēlōtē is an appointed position, a kind of Overseer for Humanity, empowered by aliens to take action so as to guide the human species towards eventual transcendence from existence as a hadronic lifeform towards a new existence as an artificial lifeform. The Yos ēlōtē is tasked with preventing ecological damage to Garden Worlds like Earth and Cadwal. Glawen and Wayness are recruited into training as the next Yos ēlōtē.

Director of Forestlands

Related Reading: past tributes to Vance.

In this series:
Mirky Porod
the Scutinary Vitalists
the Director of Forestlands.

Next: modulating the rate of technological advances on Earth

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