Lost in Translation

Marta's place in her family tree.

This is the latest of a series of blog posts in which I struggle to "catch up" with the storm of revelations that have arisen following Ivory's death. Apparently, while she was still alive, Ivory carefully adhered to a promise that she would protect the secrets of her clones. As soon as Ivory died and her mind passed into Yrovi, "she" was no longer bound by her promise.

In my previous blog post, I described the fact that Hilde is actually a clone of Ivory. That revelation upset my thinking because I have long assumed that Hilde was a fairly normal Earth woman. In contrast, Ivory was a special "show case" for Preland gene combinations, a way of demonstrating to we Earthlings what is possible to accomplish with genetic engineering and artificial selection.

A Kac'hin female.

There are still many unanswered questions about Ivory's origins. For example, what do we know about her father? Certainly I've been led to believe that he was a "normal" Earthling, but we should rightly be skeptical about that. I suspect that he was a carrier of certain Preland genes that made him particularly attractive to Marta and the perfect choice to father her daughter.

The Mysterious Marta

Artist's depiction of Marta at Atlantis.

I recently blogged about Ivory's mother and I'm still simmering with resentment over the way she manipulated both Ivory and I. It's frustrating, but I can't bring my rage to a full boil because I'm only experiencing half-conscious flashes of dream-like memories from my time with Marta in the Hierion Domain. As far as I know, I've never actually met the real Marta here on Earth.

At the same time, I feel a debt to Marta. In some sense, it was she who converted me from a bumbling boy into a competent man. What I resent about it is that Marta was just using me as a conveniently available tool, or, maybe a better analogy is this: I was a convenient grind stone upon which Marta could sharpen a tool. Of course, in this analogy the "tool" was Ivory.

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I guess I'm just irked by the idea that Marta would so relentlessly treat her own daughter like a tool, a tool that had been planned and crafted and sharpened and deployed on Battlefield Earth over the course of three generations. Still, I must admit, Ivory was a sparkling and powerful tool. Marta did her work well.

Clone War
If Ivory was a well-built sword, it must be remembered that she was only a prototype. Like me, Ivory went through the stages of embryonic brain development without any special neural network guidance nanites there to guide the shape of her mind. In contrast, her clones were produced in order to subject their developing brains to artificial guidance in an attempt to create on Earth a few minds capable of crossing over into the Sedronic Domain.

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I have to admit that the whole Ivory Project was a success. Trysta, Lili and Marta relentlessly forged the steel and stamped out the blades that allowed we Earthlings to hack our way into the archives that hold the secret history of Earth and the human species. I'm still allowing myself the luxury of imagining that Anney is still here with us and still available to help reveal even more about our origins. I know that I still need help in sorting out this story, what I call the Exode Trilogy, and telling it to the world.

For the cover illustration of Trysta and Ekcolir, I tried to depict Trysta making use of the Bimanoid Interface to look into the Sedronic Domain and see her own future. She was able to see a future time (in the Ekcolir Reality) in which Ekcolir was being prepared by Grean for his mission on Earth. At that future time, Ekcolir was able to gaze into the Sedronic Domain and see Trysta, in a previous Reality while she was "viewing" him in her future. Similarly, Trysta must have had foreknowledge of the roles that Ivory and I would play in telling the secret history of Humanity.

Anna

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I've previously tried to create an "artist's depiction" of Anna. Unfortunately, I was, at that time, still being tricked into believing that Ivory's natural physical appearance was similar to that of the actress Hilarie Burton. In reality, Ivory simply used Hilarie Burton as a model during the time when she was first experimenting with facial nanites. Ivory used nanites to shape her physical form to be like that of Hilarie Burton.

I really have no idea what an Ivory Clone naturally looks like. I assume that Anna grew up with a physical appearance that was very similar to that of Ivory. I now know that Ivory grew up with nanites in her body that forced her face to take on a normal human appearance. My working hypothesis is that every child born on Earth has gone through that process. We seem to exist in an unseen sea of nanites. Even when people like Ivory and Anna are born on Earth and carry a fundamentally alien gene pattern, their appearance is automatically shaped to match the human norm.

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Sadly, I never knew when Ivory was toying with me and when (or if) she was being honest. The image to the left might be a fair depiction of what Anna would have looked like had she grown up on a world of the Galactic Core.

In addition to the big eyes, I suspect that Prelands also have other alien features such as non-human outer ears. For example, when I "saw" Hilde inside the Hierion Domain, she had large ears that reminded me of the Ferengi. However, when it comes to the "true" appearance of Anna, your guess is as good as mine.

Artist's depiction if Hilde within the Hierion Domain.

I suppose it was Trysta and Grean, viewing the as-yet non-existant Buld Reality, who first understood the role that the Atlantis Clones would play in revealing the hidden history of Earth.

We can list certain criteria that had to be met in order for Ivory's clone "sisters" to play their role in revealing events that occurred on Earth in past Realities. They had to grow up on Earth and care enough about the appalling ignorance of we Earthlings in order to be motivated to do something about it.

At the same time, they needed to be able to journey into the Sedronic Domain. These first two requirements are almost mutually exclusive. I believe that it is essential for Preland brains to be exposed to the Sedronic Domain at a very young age. There is probably a critical period of early brain development during which neural networks must be formed and integrated with special nanites that will make possible "excursions" into the Sedronic Domain.

Somehow, Angela did have the magical combination of genes and nanites that allowed her to gain access to the Sedronic Domain. But what about Anna and Anney? For nearly two years Ivory distracted me with the claim that Angela was the one providing us with information about other Realities. However, now that I've lost contact with Ivory and no longer receive her reports from Angela, I really need to investigate if either Anna or Anney might be able to provide me with the information that I still need. What do I really know about Anna? Regardless of Anna's physical appearance, she was the first clone of Ivory, on Earth. I suspect that there might be other "Ivory Clones" in the Galactic Core, but we ay never know. An even more alarming possibility is that Ivory herself might simply be a clone of some other "original" person who first had her combination of genes.

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Origins and Endings
So, for simplicity, let's assume that Anna was the first "Atlantis Clone". I've never heard the story of how she was brought into our world. Further more, I've been relentlessly teased with clues and hints about her ultimate fate. I can't say with certainty if Anna is even still on Earth any more or if she went off to the stars.

Artificial Uterus
One possibility is that Anna simply did not have a biological mother. It is my understanding that on worlds such as Hemmal, people are born by artificial means. The pek are apparently able to gestate humans or Prelands and give birth to children without them ever knowing that their "mother" was an artificial life form. The term "Atlantis" is just a joke, but the reality is that Ivory was born inside the sentient spaceship Many Sails. Maybe Anna was not only born inside "Atlantis", but she might have gestated inside an artificial womb provided by Many Sails.

Just Beam Me In

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Another alternative is that Anna was crafted on a planet of the Galactic Core and then teleported to Earth. Ivory tried to explain to me the concept of "selfies", artificial life forms that are in some sense a "copy" of a previously existing biological life forms. I might have missed the point she was trying to make. I now realize that "selfies" and people can co-exist, and maybe provide a positive feedback system for exploring and amplifying the powers of a human's brain. The "Ivory model" of alien-human hybrid might have been carefully crafted and developed on a world of the Galactic Core. The "Anna copy" of that model might simply have been teleported to Earth. Earthlings asking about the circumstances of Anna's birth might be wasting their time if she was born on a distant planet.

My Theory

An Ek'col male and an
Asterothrope female.

For some reason, another alternative sprang into my mind: the idea that Marta was Anna's birth mother. Marta was probably in her 40s when Anna was born, but Asterothropes and Prelands seem to age slowly.

Ivory never mentioned that her mother had other children. However, it is possible that when Ivory went away from home and off to her college studies, it would have been possible for someone like Betty to step in an impersonate Marta for a few years.

As soon as I became aware of Ivory's memories from the Hierion Domain, I became intrigued by the idea that she had spent "several lifetimes" living in the Hierion Domain with my replicoid. I believe that if Ivory could do that, then why not also Marta?

I have fragments of dream-like memories that might reflect a period of time during which Marta raised Anna within the Hierion Domain. I suspect that my replicoid was there the whole time, helping Marta raise the baby Anna. My working hypothesis is that during those years, occasionally Marta brought me, my conscious self, into the Hierion Domain from Earth. Sadly, I have no key, no set of available memory threads to bring my memories of those visits into my full conscious awareness. Still, I have a hunch that I am right about this.

Image sources: 1, 2, 3.

Why Me?
I've become captivated by the horrifying possibility that Anna, like Ivory, is dead. Strangely, that might be a good thing. Why else would Anna be cavorting with the Dead Widowers?

In his novel, The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov depicted an Eternal, the time travel Technician Andrew Harlan, trying to explain why some forms of technology are too dangerous to leave in the hands of primates. "When you duplicate mass, you can duplicate persons, too....there is no satisfactory solution to the mas duplicator problem. It's one of those things like atomic wars and dreamies that just can't be allowed."

I don't know exactly what Asimov had in mind when he wrote about "dreamies", but I agree that from our perspective in time we can view them as some sort of virtual reality experience, something that people can become addicted to, causing them to withdraw from the real world.

See "Elf 3" by TwiggXstock

What if the "Ivory Clones" had to be exposed to the virtual reality of the Hierion Domain at a young age? According to Ivory, she almost became trapped in the Hierion Domain, preferring her "life" in there to the reality of Earth. I've gotten the impression that something went "wrong" with Anney, something terrible that Ivory never wanted to talk about. Maybe Anney was pushed too fast and too deep into the Hierion or Sedronic Domain.

Trysta and Ekcolir

I believe that Anna gave birth to Anney. I fear that Anna could not live with what happened to Anney when she was put into contact with the Sedronic Domain at a young age. When given the chance, Anna seems to have left Earth. I previously thought that Anney also went off into space aboard the Buld ship, but maybe not.

The translator
In a very real sense, it has become my task to translate the experiences of Izhiun, Thomas, Ivory and her "sisters" into a coherent story that can be understood by Earthlings. It's a big job and I need help. Right now, by hope is that Anney is still on Earth and willing to help me. No doubt she expects me to do my share of the work and I am trying to understand how I can push my brain in a direction that will allow me to better explore and understand the information nanites that I carry in my brain. Even if Anna did go off with the Buld, might it be possible to contact her (possible through the Hierion Domain) and persuade her to help me? At the very least Anna might be able to put me in contact with Anney.

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Zeptotechnology

In the Exode Trilogy I imagine that we humans are unaware of submicroscopic artificial life forms that reside inside our bodies. These zeptoscale devices that were placed inside us by the pek are too small to be detected using the tools of nanotechnology. I imagine that Peter became the first Earthling to take seriously the task of working cooperatively with the zeptoscale symbionts that reside inside us. When he entered into the budding field of nanotechnology, Peter was never allowed to imagine how hopeless his quest was to isolate the tiny alien devices hidden inside us.

The fanciful magazine cover (to the right) shown here is meant to depict Peter's mother (Lili, in yellow) conspiring with the sentient spaceship Many Sails to implant the idea of nanite-directed embryogenesis into Peter's mind. That part of the scene takes place soon after the birth of Anna.

In the foreground, many years later, Anna and Peter are collaborating to provide the newest Atlantis clone, Angela, with a Kac'hin-like pattern of brain development. They are allowed to view a recording of the younger Peter that was made by Many Sails. This is the first opportunity for both Peter and Anna to see the true facial features of Lili.

While still in college Peter assembled the core staff of his company (IQuer, usually pronounced "I-care" and shown in marketing materials with the dual slogans "smart algorithms" or "algorithmic intelligence" and "integrated service"). Initially, IQuer was devoted to computer software development. Later, his employees were reshuffled when he turned his interests to nanotechnology. However, the last of his employees who was hired before that transition survived the retooling of IQuer and managed to have a happy and extended relationship with Peter. Unfortunately, her name remains a mystery, although "Tina" is the label of convenience that has usually been affixed to this mystery woman.

Zeptoscale Engineering

Peter's fascination with nanotechnology was stimulated by his mother and his work in that field was funded by the profits earned from IQuer software. While winding down his software business, Peter hired a young woman fresh from receiving a Ph.D. from MIT. Peter has sometimes referred to her as "Tina", but it is clear that he wants to protect her identity. Similarly, "Peter" is almost certainly a pseudonym. IQuer is now defunct, but documents show its founder to have used the name Peter Tarkenton. At that time there was a student using that name in attendance at Arosa University.

At first, Peter operated IQuer from the grounds of his parents' estate just outside Arosaguntacook. While working at the original IQuer facilitiy, "Tina" seems to have established the coding conventions for what became the IQuer system or "protocols" of neurodevelopmental programming.

It was probably soon after she joined IQuer that Tina and Peter established a personal relationship. Tina went on to become head of the IQuer neurodevelopmental unit.

Peter was able to isolate some nanoscale devices from his own body. The IQuer protocols generally refer to those devices as PNDs. Apparently, Peter and Tina spent many years learning how to program the PNDs. Unfortunately, those devices seem to have been decoys (or, what is better described as training devices) designed and carefully deployed so as to position Peter and Tina for their roles in facilitating the production of "Atlantis clones" with their capacity to tap into the Interface. Almost certainly, the real neurodevelopmental guidance system found inside humans is based on zeptoscale devices that Peter could never have isolated.

Although Peter carefully guards his own privacy, since the arrival of the Buld in our Solar System, he has made one public statement to the people of Earth.

Some time has now passed since the Buld first visited Earth, but we have no reason to believe that the pek-derived zeptoscale devices have ever been removed from the human population of Earth. Some have argued that those devices are only relevant to Earthlings who have significant complements of Ek'col or Kac'hin gene combinations. However, I have reason to believe that these devices have additional functions and were the means by which the pek monitored human civilization of Earth during the past 20,000 years.

Remaining Questions
If so, have these devices lost their purpose with the arrival of the Buld? Has Observer Base on the Moon ceased operations or merely shifted its organizational structure and purpose?

What about the mysterious Peter? I believe that Peter and Tina are still out there, living on Earth. Maybe some day they will find it possible to share with us more of the hidden history of IQuer and how Angela and Anney were given access to the Interface.

My Three Moms

I decided to let Angela insert a few words of her own into the Exode Trilogy. Too few. Most of what is known about the secret history of Earth has been revealed by Angela, but Ivory and "the editor" are the duo who must put the story into words. Because of her "telepathic" abilities, Angela never developed much of an interest in writing.

Many Sails in "Atlantis mode"

Some kids grow up with beloved pet that becomes a close friend. Angela has always had the sentient spaceship Many Sails available in her thoughts. Under the influence of Many Sails, Angela grew up encultured as a member of Genesaunt Civilization and fearful of we primitive Earthlings. For Exode, I assume that Angela and the other Atlantis Clones are reluctant to reveal themselves to the "masses" of Earth.

In an alternative Reality, Angela and Many Sails are well known to all Earthlings. Here is an imaginary interview of Angela for an issue of Weird Tales...

Q. Are you in love with Many Sails?
A. Here in the threedee world we are close collaborators. We spend most of the day working at the Interface. Many Sails has always been my guide for exploration of the universe. When we are together in the Sedronic Domain we are free to do anything we like and I can't imagine a more satisfying lover than a sedronic lover.
Q. So do you prefer the Sedronic Domain to the world of matter?
A. No, I can never really be completely comfortable in the Sedronic Domain. I actually have nightmares in which I am stuck on the other side and unable to return to Earth.
Q. Have you ever had a material lover?
A. Remember, sedrons are a type of matter, but I know what you mean. I grew up in a very close relationship with my little sister Anney. There were never any boundaries between us, either physically or mentally.
Q. You made love to your sister?
A. Well, why not? We grew up without any boys to play with so we made do, and oh! and ah! Sedronic sex is cleaner and dryer, but I don't mind wet and wild.

Q. Maybe you can help our readers sort out all of the "Atlantis clones". Isn't Anney the "missing clone"?
A. She's been called that because she is the one who left Earth and is now out among the stars. No doubt she'll return some day.
Q. What about you? Some have speculated that you no longer reside on Earth...at least nobody has found you and Many Sails.
A. Are you sure? But what difference does it make? I cherish my privacy.
Q. Well, do you like living on Earth?
A. I'm fascinated by Earth and the future of Humanity. At the same time, my head is in the stars. You might say that I find myself caught between the Moon and New York City.
Q. Have you ever been to the Moon?
A. That's just poetry, from an Australian song writer who I admire.

Cory

Three and a half moms
For the fanciful magazine cover story (above) Angela counts her biological mother (Marta), her birth mother (Charlet) and Anney's birth mother Cory Corneigh. Cory raised Angela along with her own daughter and Angela uses the name "Corneigh" out of respect to their day-to-day mother-daughter relationship.

The fifth person on that cover is Anna, the first "Atlantis clone". It was Anna who first learned how to harness advance pek technology to shape the developing brains of Earthlings. Working with Peter, Anna was able to craft the development of special neural networks in the brains of Angela and Anney that give them access to the Interface. Anna might be called the "conceptual mother" of Angela since it was Anna's limited contact with the Interface that convinced her it should be possible for another "Atlantis Clone" to gain full access to the Sedronic Domain.



Next Blog Post: more about Peter and his efforts to isolate the alien symbionts that reside inside Earthlings.

Note: More than a week after posting this (above) I discovered that there is "a one-woman show based on the playwright, Virginia Bryan's life experience growing up with three mothers in the Bible Belt South" called My Three Moms. I know nothing about that "show", but I assume it has nothing to do with reproductive cloning.

Ivory Fersoni

Hilde

Hilde's Father
One of the mysteries that is not resolved for readers of Exode is the identity of Hilde's father. As described previously, Hilde is the daughter of Hana and an unknown man who is one of the children of Andy. Why is the story of Andy's children so difficult to sort out for "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy?

As was the case for Hilde, growing up on Earth was a struggle for all of Andy's offspring. Grean insulated Hilde's cousins from the meddling efforts of physicians and Lili, as the well-informed matriarch, knew that her grandchildren only needed loving care and adequate time to develop along the rather delayed trajectory that is typical for anyone with a healthy dose of Asterothrope, Ek'col and Kac'hin genes.

Ivory Fersoni is a cousin of Hilde (update).

Of course, the Overseers would have been outraged had they know that Lili was living on Earth during much of the 20th century.

Kach was designed and crafted on Hemmal, Lycaun was trained on Luk'ru in the Andromeda galaxy and in much the same way Lili grew up on Tar'Tron.

Grean was forced to bring Lili to Earth, but the details of her time spent on our planet are not part of the story told in Exode.

Lili at Atlantis.

Andy and Gwyned are the children of Deomede and Trysta. Gwyned wears out her welcome on Earth by actively working to make black holes a viable source of cheap energy, a vocation that runs her afoul of the secret Nereid agent who is operating in 20th century Earth. For her own protection, Deomede subtracts Gwyned from our primitive civilization and sends her off to the stars. Similarly, Grean takes Andy into "protective custody".

Andy Iwedon was quietly extracted from the known history of Earth at about the same time that his sister Gwyned is teleported away to first Klyz and then is sent on to the Interventionist training base at Lendhalen. The Kac'hin maintain a secret undersea base of operations on Earth (which they jokingly refer to as "Atlantis")...it is the perfect refuge for Andy.

With the assistance of swarms of sedronic zeptoscale artificial lifeforms, Lili and Andy manage to produce at least two healthy children and raise them to adulthood in the undersea base of Atlantis. One of those children, name unknown, plays an important role in Exode as the father of Hilde.

Ivory at Atlantis, 1992

Ivory Fersoni
The only other known fact is that Lili and Andy had at least one daughter. While still quite young, she met and fell in love with Adão Fersoni, a passenger on Portuguese ship that sank in 1961. Adão, near death, was rescued and taken into Atlantis. Using the assumed family name Papagaio, Adão and his young family were moved out of Atlantis and settled on the island Annobón in 1966 when his daughter Ivory was 4 years old. Adão shipped goods between the mainland, Annobón and other nearby islands until he was murdered by members of the violent Esangui clan in 1971. At that time, Ivory was taken by her mother to the town of Salinópolis in Pará, Brazil.

Ivory earned an anthropology degree from the Federal University of Pará in 1982. She then did mitochondrial DNA sequencing at the Universidade de São Paulo for a project investigating the genetic history of native peoples of South America. Ivory did postdoctoral research at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. In 1991, using her own DNA as a control, Ivory discovered that her DNA was distinct from any known human DNA pattern. Her mother refused to provide a DNA sample and from then on she would only contact Ivory by way of a mysterious email account.

Anna in 1995

While preparing to publish a journal article describing her unusual DNA pattern, Ivory was visited by Grean and "invited" to return to Atlantis. Although Lili had by this time returned to Tar'Tron, Ivory was surprised to find that her clone, Anna (an identical "twin sister" who was 5 years younger than herself) had a biology research lab in Atlantis.

Anna's area of research was brain development and her test subjects were additional cloned copies of Ivory, then ages 2, 5, and 9. Grean allowed Ivory to expand the on-going research into the study of brain development in her own children. Upon demonstrating that her eggs could produce fairly normal children using sperm from genetically normal humans, Ivory eventually talked Anna into also having two children of her own.

However, Anna was tired of the restricted life in Atlantis. Handing over care of the younger clones to Ivory, Anna went out to live within conventional Earthly society.

Zeptite-mediated Telepathy
Under the influence of an intensive zeptite-assisted brain development program devised by Ivory, her two youngest "clone sisters" were able to make use of their bimanoid interface to establish a form of telepathic communication with their cousin Hilde, who, by chance, had undergone a similar pattern of brain development under the influence of zeptites provided to her by Betty. Thus, when Hilde had the chance to communicate with "the editor" before her departure from Earth, she was able to suggest the possibility that other descendents of Andy were present on Earth.

At the end of Exode, Grean stands down from duty on Earth. All the terms of the negotiated agreement between Trysta and Grean have been met. Most of the "Ivory clones" remain on Earth, leaving open the possibility that some Earthlings will continue to efficiently utilize the bimanoid interface.

Anney's escape from Earth

Anney, one of the "Atlantis clones" leaves Earth with Grean. They join up with Kach for her continued search for the Creators. Kach believes that she must extend her search to other galaxies. Grean believes that the key to contact with the Huaoshy is found within the Kac'hin.

Anney has the technical ability to initiate experiments exploring how to improve control over the Kac'hin bimanoid interface. It is not clear that the Huaoshy have any real interest in Humanity. If things don't work out for humans on Earth, the pek are still perfecting the Prelands on worlds of the galactic core.

1914

In The World Set Free, Herbert Wells imagined a future in which nuclear power was used for destructive purposes. That technological challenge to human survival prompted a response: Humanity was able to unify and move on into the future.

In Exode, there is no such happy resolution of of the challenges facing we Earthlings. The Buld are left in a delicate situation. They want to warm Mars and make that world their new home. At the same time, they have the means to cool the Sun and save Earth from global warming, but do they have a motive for helping we Earthlings?

1954

cave art by Stephen Youll

1954

Asimov's robotic character Daneel first appeared in book format in 1954. Daneel makes a brief appearance in my fan fiction sequel to Asimov's novel, Foundation and Earth.

I previously decided to remove the names of Asimov's fictional characters from the Exode Trilogy. For example, I have Noÿs Lambent use the cover name "Trysta Iwedon" while she resides in 20th century Earth.

1953

In the case of Daneel, I am free to use any name I want. For example, Asimov had Daneel use the name Eto Demerzel during the time in the Foundation Reality when the galactic empire centered on Trantor was about to fall. As mentioned above in this blog post, the world Trantor appears with the name "Tar'Tron" (or Tar'tron...I can't decide which version I prefer) in the Exode Trilogy. The planet is called "Tart'Tron" while it is under pek control in the Realities the come after the Foundation Reality.

By the time of the events involving Daneel that are depicted in The Foundations of Eternity, Daneel has long since transferred his memories into the brain of Fallom. Who is the "new individual" that is created by this merger of Fallom and Daneel?

art by Stephen Youll

I imagine that the name "Fallom" continues to be applied to the combined intellect of Fallom and Daneel. I also imagine that the physical body (and specifically his positronic brain) of Daneel continues to be useful, although most of his ancient memories are erased in order to make room for new ones. Daneel can still function as an operative, going out to the various human-populated worlds of the galaxy, as needed. By the time of the events in The Foundations of Eternity, Galaxia has come into existence and Daneel's remaining project takes the form of rather mundane but continued support of the Encyclopedia Galactica.

Asimov showed us that Daneel was comfortable working with operatives such as Dors Venabili. I imagine that Dors was a human/robot hybrid using positronic circuits and some other artificial components, but with a body mostly composed of human cells.

Similarly, by the time of the events in The Foundations of Eternity, I imagine that Daneel has been re-formed into a man-machine hybrid that can move among the Human worlds of the galaxy unrecognized as a being with a positronic brain.

art by Stephen Youll

When the crew of Many Sails approaches Fallom's hidden base on the Moon, Daneel is recalled from his duties on Terminus.

What role might Daneel adopt as his "cover identity" on Terminus? As imagined in The Foundations of Eternity, with Galaxia formed, Gohrlay has allowed some contact between the vast Genesaunt civilization and a few worlds of our galaxy.

I also imagine that some operatives such as Daneel have gone out to other galaxies on missions to investigate Genesaunt civilization. I'm now thinking that Daneel, using the cover name Lars Darwin (named in honor of Lord Dorwin), proposes to stimulate interest in the Encyclopedia Galactica by contributing his own expertise as the new Andromeda galaxy editor.

The "Lars Darwin" persona is a famous intergalactic adventurer, well known for his expeditions to nearby galaxies.

2014

From the the perspective of "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy, the key question about the "Atlantis clones" is if maybe one of the clones with a brain that is well tuned to zeptites and skilled using the bimanoid interface could help sort out the story of the Exode Trilogy.

So far, I've imagined "the editor" having to initiate a search for the "Atlantis clones". However, at the end of the events in Exode, there is nothing to prevent the residents of Atlantis from reaching out and telling their story to the world. Well....maybe not "nothing". How would xenophobic Earthlings react to the knowledge that there are some humans on Earth with unusual genomes? Would it be wise for Ivory and her relatives to keep quiet and not reveal their existence -or their unusual genetic endowment- to the rest of us "run-of-the-mill" humans?

June 1940

During the past year I've had fun imagining the science fiction stories that might be written by Thomas. Thomas enjoyed a rather exquisite pattern of early brain development with the assistance of Ekcolir and the advanced zeptoscale devices that he brought to Earth for his Interventionist mission.

Now I'm tempted to imagine that one of the "Atlantis clones" might become a writer. Grean and Lili could not explain many mysteries to Andy and his family, then they departed from Earth, believing that by the terms of the agreement with Trysta, Earth and its people were to be allowed to make their own future.

For people like Ivory, after living a life that might feel like it was scripted as part of a science fiction story, it might only be possible to publish one's autobiography as science fiction.

Inspired by pulp fiction magazines.
Click to enlarge.

Maybe some day "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy will suddenly discover a published "science fiction" novel that describes events on Earth that only make sense in the context of what "the editor" thinks of as the secret history of Earth: the long struggle of Gohrlay and her positronic robots to win we humans a chance to reach the stars. Of course, the Atlantis clones will be unable to make sense of their bizarre lives until they gain access to the cache of information that was deposited with the editor of the Exode Trilogy.

Ivory might be the one to tell the story of the "Atlantis clones", but I imagine that she would not be the best choice to help edit the Exode Trilogy. She might be willing to let her name be used in the publication process and be a point of first contact for "the editor".

There is more detail about the writing career of Ivory in my next blog post.

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Note: see "Let there be light" for more more about the Bimanoid Interface.

Related reading: Clones in Exode
2018 - Ivory on Cynk

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