Return of the Asterothropes

The mystery of Wilken and the Ret'fai

When I completed the 8,000 word story "The Olivine Intervention" at the end of 2020, I imagined that at the beginning of 2021 I would quickly write the story of what happens to Jantiff and Glisten on Marune (a project begun way back in 2012). However, there were some loose ends remaining for the story of events on Yerophet. Now that I am over 98,000 words into "The Alastor Network", it is almost time for Ryl Shermatz to finally meet up with Glisten on Yerophet. But first, in part 22 of "The Alastor Network" (below) Ryl makes progress sorting out the mystery of the ancient Asterothropes.

Ryl arrives at Frost Hills on Yerophet only a short time before Glisten. Ryl meets with his daughter, Voyt, and makes use of her expertise to get an analysis of Patrycya's genome. Voyt has been working on Yerophet during an alarming spike in cases of "cold fever".

 

The Connatic's family.

Arriving on Yerophet for his first visit in 2 decades, Ryl Shermatz meets a robot (Vacu) from Triskelion who previously worked with both Ryl's father, Rujyan, and with Ryl during their missions on Yerophet many years in the past. During one such visit, Ryl developed an intimate relationship with Lora Shaw which resulted in the birth of his daughter, Konywhn. Konywhn now works at the same Whelm facility on Yerophet where Voyt is stationed. Voyt has only recently learned that they are sisters.

 

lo'Whots the Kerub

In part 21 of "The Alastor Network", while Ryl and Voyt struggled to understand the complex genetics of telepathy, Ryl's mother, Eleyn, and his son, Heshlo, went to visit Lora at the Trading Post in nearby Goslewenn. Heshlo was surprised to learn that Lora runs a genetics research lab that coordinates gene transfers for a decades-old telepath breeding project.

 

Lora is a human-Kerub hybrid and the mother of Heshlo's half sister, Kony (often called "Konie"). Lora's childhood friend was Pepha, another alien hybrid who has the general appearance of a Kerub, but who, like Lora, has a more human-like body temperature physiology. During the same time when Oman and Lora were a couple, Oman's brother, Wilken, was romancing Pepha. The child of Pepha and Wilken is lo'Whots, however lo'Whots cannot tolerate warm temperatures and lives across the boarder in Kerub territory. 

 

Human-Kerub hybrids: Konie and lo'Whots

Ryl Shermatz knows that the Kerub are hermaphrodites who have been breeding with humans, but he was never told about the secret genetics project and laboratory in Goslewenn that was built long ago by his grandfather with the assistance of R. Gohrlay. Ryl's father, Rujyan went off to Earth with his wife Eleyn for their investigation of Asterothrope genetics, having never shared that secret with Ryl. 

 

telepathic positive feedback

The recent rise in cold fever deaths is due to increased interaction between the Kerub and humans. The Kerub themselves have begun their own independent genetics experiments which involve attempts to bring a wider assortment of human gene patterns into the Kerub-Human hybrid gene pool. Will Ryl's brother, Wilken, return from his hunt for Ret'fai DNA in time to contribute to the formation of the Lavany mind clone network?

The events described below at the start of part 22 are taking place in parallel with the journey to Gosleween that was described in part 21.

 

⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

Part 22. The Patrycya Genome (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)

made using EliseComfy10 and KayleeRelax13 by Eclesi4stiK
available under this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Ryl was listening to Voyt's enthusiastic description of correlations between Josef's analysis of signals in the Phari Telepathy Network and her own genetics research findings. After only a brief, non-comprehending glance at the genetics data, Heshlo became impatient. He wanted to meet his half-sister, Konywhn. Heshlo placed a hand on his father's shoulder and whispered, "You two can crunch the numbers. I'm going to explore the station."

Ryl looked up from the data display and watched Heshlo depart from Voyt's suite of rooms which included both her living space and her office. An adjacent part of the Whelm station held Voyt's small, highly automated genetics lab. With a little wave of her hand to her son, the retired Connatica Eleyn turned and also departed. The robot Ra followed behind Heshlo and Eleyn.

Voyt was oblivious to the movements of Heshlo, Eleyn and Ra. She was thinking deeply about how to correctly interpret her research results. "Sadly, this is little more than a black-box analysis. I feel certain that these unusual gene patterns on Yerophet are not arising by random gene assortments."

Ryl asked, "If not by random meetings of sperm and egg cells, then what? Some kind of selective breeding program?"

the Phari Network

Voyt was slowly shaking her head. She had been obsessively thinking about her friend Konie. Immediately upon first arriving at the Whelm communications monitoring station on Yerophet, Voyt had felt a strong telepathic connection to Konie. After finally being invited by Konie to a quiet dinner in Konie's apartments, Voyt had secretly obtained some of Konie's cells and had performed a genome analysis. "No, father. Look at these data that I'm showing you. This is a totally artificial arrangement of human and Kerub gene patterns on these chromosomes. Something like this could never arise my meiotic recombination events."

Ryl sighed. "I'm sorry, but I can't follow all the genetics terminology." Ryl could see a code number on the genome, but no name. "Where did this hybrid chromosome come from?"

Voyt reluctantly admitted, "This is DNA from one of the staff members here at the station." She again voiced her frustrations, "What I really need is access to the genome data of her parents, but you won't let me leave this station."

"Am I a mean ogre of a father?" Ryl laughed and placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "It is not safe for someone with your telepathic sensitivity to be on Yerophet during this epidemic. Joole thinks I'm crazy to even allow you to be working here so close to the Kerub territory." 

A priority call came to Ryl on his comring. He told Voyt, "Let me take this call." He walked a short distance away from Voyt and spoke into the comring, "What is it?"

Konywhn and Voyt. Made using
Onboard2 & Redspec8 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Konywhn asked, "Did you assign Vacu the job of guarding your son?"

Ryl replied with his own questions, "Why do you ask? Where are you?" He could see that Konie was in a dim location, possibly the parking garage of the station.

"I'm taking your mother and your son out for a look at the border. I guess Vacu gets to go along for the ride. Sorry to have bothered you." Konie broke the connection and ended her call.

Ryl returned to Voyt and having overheard his conversation with Konywhn, Voyt said, "They get to go to the border, but I don't?"

"That's right." Ryl patiently explained, "You fit the profile of most cold fever victims, they don't."

"Was that Konie who called you?"

robots of Triskelion

Ryl replied, "Konywhn."

Voyt turned her eyes back to the displayed gene data. "Konie is my best friend here at the station. She's clearly a human-Kerub hybrid, but genetically unlike any other in the database."

Ryl pointed at the displayed chromosome and asked, "This DNA is from Konywhn?"

Voyt nodded. "Konie's mother is on this side of the border. It would be safe for me to visit her and sample her DNA." Voyt looked carefully at her father's face. She had not yet been able to find out from Heshlo if he'd had a chance to talk to their father about Konie. Josef claimed that Konie was their half sister, but Voyt did not really want to believe it.

Ryl said, "Voyt, I have something to tell you."

Voyt asked, "Are you really Konie's father?"

Ryl nodded. "I assume your friend Konie is Konywhn, the communications technician here at the station. Back... way back, over two decades ago, I lived here on Yerophet for almost two years with Konywhn's mother. I was here on this planet doing my post-graduate research, trying to reverse engineer a robot from Triskelion... Vacu. I was in love with Lora and had started talking to her about moving with me to Numenes. She refused to even take that idea seriously, saying she could not leave her business."

Voyt laughed. "I must say, it is difficult for me to picture my father making love to a Kerub! I'm an innocent little girl, but... don't they always live at sub-freezing temperatures?" Obviously her father had survived his sexual relationship with Lora without freezing his penis off. She was also worried about Heshlo and the vision she'd had of him thrusting his penis into a Kerub.

Ryl explained, "Lora looks like the typical fur-covered Kerub... well almost. She carefully removes her facial hair and makes herself up so that she has the appearance of a human. Since she lives on this side of the Kerub border and sometimes has to deal with the authorities, she needs to be able to pretend not to be a Kerub."

Voyt asked, "What authorities?"

"Well, the Whelm for one." Ryl thought back to the many months he spent flying back and forth between the Whelm station in Frost Hills and Lora's home at the Trading Post. "Lora lives and works only a short distance from here, over in Goslewenn. She can't avoid interactions with the Whelm agents who patrol the border."

"And that is how you met her?"

"Yes. A group of us who were stationed here would often go ski Mount Kadynce. We got equipment and supplies at the Trading Post. I fell in love with Lora and asked her on a date. We were telepathically linked and I was quite susceptible to her sashei..."

Voyt asked, "Love at first sight?"

"Something like that. Given our telepathic link, I'm not sure that I even had to see her. I could instantly sense that she has a special mind. Certainly her blue fur was no deterrent to my ardor. But then it got complicated."

Voyt could not contain her interest. "Lora became pregnant."

"Not right away. No, I had the pleasure of making love to her for a year before our barely-compatible gametes finally found a way to merge. That was a real surprise to me when it happened. The sperm receptor on Kerub egg cells does not recognize human sperm. I suppose I must have simply put so many sperm inside Lora that a random cell fusion event occurred."

"No, dad. Why don't you listen to me?" Voyt briefly placed a tissue sampler against her father's arm. "Let's step into my lab." She led Ryl into her small genetics lab and started the equipment working to analyze his genome. Turning to her father, she said, "I'm sure we will see that most of the human genes in Konie are from you, but they have been mixed together with both Kerub genes and other genes from various alien sources. Konie's genome could not have arisen from just one of your sperm cells and one of Lora's eggs randomly combining." She turned on the data display and saw the beginning flood of her father's gene sequences. "Tell me, what was so complicated about your love affair with Lora?"

Ryl explained, "After discovering our pleasing sexual compatibility, Lora explained to me that there are different kinds of human-Kerub hybrids. Some, like her, inherit the human pattern of body temperature regulation. Other hybrids retain the Kerub system that allows them to survive under the extreme cold of Yerophet. The hybrids like Lora all live on this side of the border, but because they look like Kerub they tend to live on isolated ranches and avoid humans. Lora told me that she had a lonely friend..."

Voyt giggled. "So you had a threesome with Lora and her friend?"

Ryl grinned. "That would have been fun, but no. We took my brother Wilken and Lora's Kerub friend, Pepha, on a double date."

Voyt asked, "What ever happened to your brother?"

Sex World

Ryl replied, "He went off on some crazy mission to the far end of the galaxy, but not until after he'd impregnated Pepha."

"See, that just can't happen. You know that human sperm and Kerub eggs are not compatible, yet all these hybridization events keep happening here on Yerophet." Looking at the gene data, Voyt was able to confirm that Ryl was Konie's father or, at least, Konie's genome contained many genes that had come from Ryl. "There is something going on here that we are not seeing."

Ryl continued, "Anyhow, Pepha was very upset. She'd asked Wilken to take her with him on his interstellar adventure, but he refused. He told her that he might be killed while on his mission and he would not put her life at risk, or that of their unborn child. And all these many years later, he has still never returned from that mission." For a minute, Ryl reflected on the past. "And then, not long after that blowup with poor Pepha, it was time for me to return to Numenes. Lora refused to leave Yerophet and we separated. I went back for a visit when Konywhn was born, but then I met your mother..."

Dreavero

Voyt pointed at the data screen, "You have many Iidi genes, dad. You're an alien-human hybrid yourself."

Ryl nodded. "The Idite Dynasty originated from some old genetic engineering project on Dreavero."

"See, that's exactly what I'm seeing here on Yerophet." Voyt tried to put her genome analysis results into language that her father would understand. "Konie's genome was built, engineered... carefully crafted. But who could have done that genetic engineering... without telling you, while letting you imagine that Konie arose naturally?"

Ryl pulled a small vial out of his pocket. "I have a DNA sample for you to analyze." He handed the vial to Voyt.

She could see a code designation on the vial: PM-B and the current year. "Where did you collect this sample?"

"On Brevik."

"This is related to the pirate raid on the Starling?"

"Yes."

Patrycya

"Why didn't you have the genetics lab on Numenes process this sample?"

"This is personal."

Voyt giggled. "Oh, no! Are you going to introduce me to another one of your love children?"

Ryl briefly contemplated the chances of having impregnated Patrycya. "This DNA is from someone on Brevik who has an unusual phenotype."

Voyt shrugged and put the sample vial into the intake port of the genome sequencer. "This will run as soon as your genome is complete."

Ryl suggested, "You can look my genome up in the Rujyan database."

"What's that?"

"My father kept a special database with genome sequences for the royal family. The data are in the family archives at Lusz." He told Voyt, "So switch this machine over to the Brevik sample."

Feeling somewhat annoyed that she had never heard about her grandfather's interest in genetics, Voyt canceled out the analysis of her father's DNA and started up the decoding of the DNA sample from Brevik. Voyt asked, "Why did Eleyn return to the Cluster alone, without Rujyan?"

the magic of Asterothrope genes

"He's busy researching ancient records about the Asterothropes. Eleyn is going to return to Earth and keep working on that project."

Voyt pointed to the sequence data that was being generated from the Brevik DNA sample. "This is a woman. I suppose you don't want mom to know about this."

"Listen, Voyt, I had to link up with this woman in an orgasm trance in order to re-activate Josef. Your mother knows."

Voyt laughed. "Orgasm trance?"

"Your mother came up with that name. It is a way to amplify telepathic abilities."

Voyt said skeptically, "It sounds like a pickup line in a science fiction movie. Pardon me Miss, but I'm going to have to ask you for an orgasm trance so that I can amplify my telepathic powers."

Ryl chuckled. "Your mother and I have been experiencing these trances for years, without recognizing their value beyond using them as a source of sexual pleasure. However, telepaths like PM can do amazing things with an orgasm trance. PM helped bring Josef back from the dead!

"Josef was dead?"

Ryl explained, "This is all top secret, but during a Whelm mission to Yrinna, Josef was knocked off line. Completely inactivated."

The tryp'At Guide to Oxypathin

"So that's why Netal and Heshlo were gone for a few days." She thought about how Josef's artificial mind had seemed different upon their return to Yerophet. But what did it mean for an artificial intelligence to die? Dismissing that AI puzzle and returning to her father's sexual dalliance, Voyt asked, "So, just how amazing was your orgasm with PM?" Glancing at the accumulating gene data, Voyt could see that PM was some sort of hybrid. Before Ryl could formulate a verbal description of the wonderful orgasm he had shared with Patrycya, his daughter said, "Hey, dad, I've seen some of these weird alien gene combinations in some DNA samples here on Yerophet.

"Weird is how I was going to describe PM's anatomy." Ryl chuckled. "She has four breasts, two of which make a psychoactive molecule that is called oxypathin."

Voyt asked, "That's what it took to bring Josef back from the dead... a woman with four breasts?" She ran a search through the accumulating PM gene sequences. Most of the protein coding sequences had already been deciphered and the genome analysis was moving into the slow phase of sorting through the vast tracts of repetitive and non-protein coding DNA. "Well, this is weird. In addition to having four oxytocin genes there are several oxytocin-like genes. One of these codes for what looks like a secretory protein, so it could be an oxypathin gene." She widened the search. "Bingo. Here is the same gene in a genome from my Yerophet database."

Asterothropes and time travel

"Who is the source of that oxypathin gene here on Yerophet?"

"I don't know any specifics." Voyt tried to tell her father the truth, but was unable to push past the infite-enforced lock on her memory. Voyt's secretive collaborator, the mysterious Eynta, did not want word spreading of how she had shared genome data with Voyt. Voyt constructed a convenient lie: "I have an arrangement with some local hospitals to get DNA samples from their patients, but they refuse to identify the sources because of privacy issues." Voyt looked away from the data screen and stared at her father. She placed a hand against his face and closed her eyes. She could feel the general flow of his mind. "Somehow you knew." She opened her eyes. "You knew... don't tell me that Lora has four breasts?"

"No, she does not. However, Wilken told me that Pepha has some interesting alien anatomy, including some extra rows of nipples going down onto her abdomen."

Plesypy-human hybrids

Voyt shook her head. "The only alien species I've heard of like that are all quadrupeds like the Plesypy. Interestingly, there was a migration of some Plesypy to Yerophet starting about a hundred years ago."

"Do you have any Plesypy genomes in your database?"

"No, but I'm sure there are some in the Whelm's Whole Cluster Genome Database." She checked for correlations between the archived Plesypy gene patterns and what she had in her own database. "No... Plesypy sequences don't match the alien genes in this PM sample. I'm going to widen the search and see if I can find any matches for your PM mystery DNA in the entire WCGD." She set up the search program. "It will take this little quantum computer many hours to search through that huge database." 

Now Voyt put both hands against the sides of Ryl's head. Again she closed her eyes. She saw a flashed image of a pair of big breasts with bright pink nipples. Voyt opened her eyes and thought about what she had just seen in her father's mind. Below the two large breasts had been two smaller breasts. And below that, there were additional rows of nipples. "There's something else you are not telling me."

___________________

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Ryl was writing a letter to Acyreff. After a page full of descriptions of his never ending love for his wife, he wrote: "As I have previously told you, it was only by making use of orgasm trances that we were able to bring Josef back. However, I failed to mention the unusual anatomy of Patrycya. She has four breasts and six nipples, the lower two way down on her abdomen. I feel like I have seen something like this before, but I don't-"

That was as far as he got when Eleyn came into Ryl's office and said, "Now we can talk."

"Where is Yurahs?" Ryl checked the time. "It is almost time for her to return to Numenes."

"She may not have time to say goodby to you." Eleyn said, "Yurahs had a little problem to take care of down on the recreation deck."

With concern in his voice, Ryl asked, "Did she injure herself? She often over-does the exercise."

"She's fine, just swell." Eleyn waved her hand dismissively with a finger pointing towards the ceiling. "We need to talk about what Rujyan and I have learned on Earth... it explains a lot." She was undressing. "You've seen this before, but you were just a baby..." She pulled away her undergarment revealing her four breasts and extra nipples. "I've learned that these are Asterothrope phenotypic traits. Someone has begun inserting Asterothrope gene combinations into the gene pool of Alastor Cluster."

With his eyes bulging, Ryl reached out and touched one of Eleyn's smaller pair of breasts. "Are these functional?"

"Those two smaller breasts don't make milk, but they do produce their own unique secretion." Eleyn's nipples began to stiffen as Ryl ran his finger tips over and around them. She did not bother to suppress that reflex as she could have using the nanite over-ride systems in her replicoid body.

Alastor star cluster

Ryl nodded, "Yes... I've seen breast like these before."

"You have? Where?"

"Recently... on Brevik." Ryl thought back more than 20 years." And years ago... just before Wilken went away, he told me about a woman on Yerophet who had extra nipples." He now touched the lower row of nipples on Eleyn's abdomen. They were pink, stiff and erect, but small.

Eleyn told Ryl, "During our investigation on Earth, we also learned that the big penis you inherited from your father is a characteristic trait of male Asterothropes. I suspect that the Iidi have access to Asterothrope genes and are now making human hybrids that have Asterothrope features. Apparently, the Asterothropes had a form of telepathy that worked best between lovers."

"So, this whole orgasm trance phenomenon is an Asterothrope trait?"

"I don't know, but it seems possible. There is no science of molecular genetics on Earth... you and Voyt will have to figure this out."

"I don't think it will be that easy... all of our progress on genetics stems from Triskelion. It is only here in Alastor Cluster that we have genome sequencing. The rest of the galaxy is a desert of biology." Ryl finally moved his eyes off of Eleyn's big breasts and noticed a flash of pink down at her crotch. He reached out and touched the glans of her erect clitoris, which was larger than a normal human glans.

hermaphrodite chromosomes

Activating a special nanocircuit in her body, Eleyn allowed her clitoris to swell to its maximum size. "There were apparently three types of Asterothropes: males, females and hermaphrodites. The females had large vaginas and a correspondingly big clitoris."

Ryl recalled that Patrycya's clitoris had also been rather big, but nothing like Eleyn's huge one. He asked Eleyn, "When you were breast feeding me, I suckled at all four of your breasts?"

"Well, no. By the time your were born, I'd learned my lesson with your older brother Wilken. He was my first born and taught me many things. He got addicted to the secretions from my two smaller breasts. I was intrigued because when he drank that fluid, he and I achieved a stronger telepathic connection. Wilken was a little devil. When he turned two, he would sit there sucking down that special Asterothrope secretion while playing with my clitoris. I had to cut him off. His penis was growing extremely large, which I've learned is an effect of oxypathin."

"Oxypathin?"

"Oxypathin is the special Asterothrope hormone produced by my second-tier breasts."

________________________

in the Buld Reality
original cover art by Kinuko Craft

Ryl finished telling Voyt about her grandmother's Asterothrope features. "Eleyn told me that the telepathy-amplifying Asterothrope hormone is called oxypathin."

Voyt put a hand on her nearly flat chest. "I wonder..."

"What?"

"If I inherited the ability to respond to oxypathin." While listening to her father's description of Eleyn's big clitoris, Voyt had felt her own clitoris stiffening. She shut her eyes and saw a flashed telepathic image of Eleyn, or rather, an image as seen through Eleyn's eyes: a gigantic blue penis. Voyt felt herself blush and muttered, "We should look at Eleyn's genome." She turned back to the data processing station of the genome sequencer and soon lost herself in the complex task of assembling Patrycya's unusual genome.

Deciding that Voyt was busy with her work, Ryl when to his assigned apartments and ate a snack. Then, feeling tired, he sank into a comfortable chair and slept. 

Next: part 23 of "The Alastor Network"

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Change Character

original cover art by Frank Freas

For my 2021 change challenge I want to make some additional alterations and additions to Jack Vance's character, Over-Inspector Ryl Shermatz of the Whelm, who I first brought into the Exode Saga back in 2015. Ryl Shermatz is the public identity of the mysterious Connatic, Oman Ursht, the ruler of the Alastor star cluster's 5 trillion human residents. The main public responsibility for the Connatic is deploying the spaceships of the Whelm to protect the people of the cluster against space pirates.

Vance never told readers very many details about Oman Ursht, so to accommodate my Fan Fiction Disease I am forced to invent some key features of the character such as his immediate family members, particularly his wife and children, including Wilken, the brother of Oman and next in the line of succession in the Idite Dynasty.

The Iidi of Dreavero

Oman Ursht is the 16th Connatic in the Idite Dynasty that has ruled Alastor Cluster for centuries. The Idite Dynasty originated on the planet Dreavero where humans were forced to evolve special telepathic abilities due to their close contacts with the native Iidi.

 

In addition to his widely recognized role as commander of the Whelm, Oman Ursht is also involved in the ongoing effort to develop a new human variant with powerful telepathic abilities. This effort is guided by R. Nyrtia and Delpha, the artificial life remnant of Grean the Kac'hin. Both Nyrtia and Delpha are working in coordination with the native Phari of Alastor Cluster.

 

lo'Whots

In 2019, I depicted Ryl Shermatz as the high-ranking member of the Whelm who asks Jantiff and Glisten Ravensroke to visit the planet Yerophet. Below, in part 18 of "The Alastor Network", Ryl finally visits Yerophet during the 'cold fever' epidemic.

 

Shermatz wants to make use of Glisten's telepathic abilities to solve the problem of "cold fever", an affliction that strikes human settlers on Yerophet when they come under the telepathic influence of the native Kerub. The Kerub are a fairly recently-developed type of Human-Plesypy hybrid with blue skin, fur and the ability to survive the cold conditions on Yerophet.

 

Gharks

The wife of Oman Ursht is Acyreff, a woman originally known as Alferica. At the time of the troubles on Yerophet, Oman and Acyreff are both about 40 years old. Acyreff was originally from the planet Marune. She is the teleportation duplicate of the woman who was the mother of Efraim.

 

Alferica and Oman have several children, the oldest of which is Heshlo. They also have an adopted daughter named Yurahs. Originally from the planet Trullion where she was named Sharue, Yurahs is the teleportation duplicate of a girl who died at a young age. Alastor Cluster, a constructed artifact of the Phari, only existed in the Asimov Reality, part of Deep Time during the Trysta Truce.

Tuntoci settlers on Yerophet

Arriving at Yerophet, Alferica is eager to meet up with Voyt, the 14-year-old daughter of Alferica and Oman who has been working at the Whelm comstation on Yerophet, trying to find a solution to the cold fever problem. Voyt is a precocious and talented biochemistry student who is working in collaboration with a woman named Konywhn. However, due to the need to set a trap for starmenters, Alferica takes Lord and Lady Gensifer off of the spaceship Netal and they go to Ottengla.

the Asimov Reality

Konywhn thinks of herself as simply being a native of Yerophet, and has no idea that she is related to the Connatic (she is 24 years old). She is a junior officer in the Whelm, serving on Yerophet as a planetary communications specialist. Konywhn is the daughter of Ryl and Lora and has an almost normal human phenotype, but she has some ability to detect Phet telepathic signals on the Phari network.

When Oman reaches Yerophet, he arrives with his mother, Eleyn, who has recently returned to Alastor Cluster after a visit to Earth.  In part 20 of "The Alastor Network" Oman will take Heshlo from his duty station on Netal, and along with Eleyn, they will visit Voyt and Konywhn on the planet's surface. However, first in part 20, Voyt makes a quick visit to Netal and is introduced to the upgraded Josef system.

 

Yurahs: a vision of the future.

While Oman and Eleyn are traveling to Yerophet, Yurahs spends as much time as possible with her father and grandmother on board Isirjir Ziaspraide before she must hurry back to Numenes and her duties as part of the Katena Dance Company. Using her special telepathic abilities, Eleyn is able to link her mind to Lav, the nanoscopic replicoid inside Yurahs.

 

The visit by the Connatic to Yerophet that is described in "The Alastor Network" takes place about the same time as the events depicted in "The Power of Pause".

 ⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

Part 18. Lavany, Bryget and Snoyl (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)

 

The Isirjir Ziaspraide and the entire Thaiatic Fleet of the Whelm had taken up orbital positions near the planet Numenes, using their light-bending cloaks to hide themselves as they usually did when the Connatic was in residence at the royal palace of Lusz. The Isirjir Ziaspraide had recently had its damaged hull repaired, but craftsmen were still at work on the interior, trying to return the magnificent old vessel to its traditional glory. The Connatic now ordered the entire fleet except for Isirjir Ziaspraide and Volkymyhr to proceed to Yerophet. Oman planned to soon take the Volkymyhr to Yerophet where the settlers were on edge due to the growing problem of the lethal "cold fever".

 

Acyreff had already taken Appenine and the 8th Fleet off towards Yerophet, but Oman wanted to visit his daughter Yurahs who he had not seen since the discovery that she was pregnant. He planned to attend his daughter's dance performance that evening, but first he had taken a shuttle to Blazon spaceport in order to inspect the advance hierion field generators of the Nykark. Oman was traveling to Blazon using his identity of Over-Inspector Ryl Shermatz of the Whelm.

 

Original cover art by James Settles

Nykark was in the Blazon spaceship repair facility, being upgraded to Whelm standards. Arriving on board Nykark, Ryl was met by Commander Jenking who said, "Hello, Ryl. How did your mission to Triskelion go?"

 

Ryl replied, "Not good. I did not get my hands on the fancy new technology that Dr. Jeghtop used on Yrinna to rescue her sister." They were walking towards the field generator room of Nykark. "Tell me what you have learned about the special equipment on this ship."

 

Jenking led Ryl into the control room for Nykark's hierion field generators and introduced Maxy Green, a technical specialist for the Whelm. Jenking told Green, "Tell Inspector Shermatz what you told me."

Green was a recent graduate from the Whelm Academy, but possibly the one person in the Whelm who understood Triskelion nanotechnology. She had grown up on Triskelion and then emigrated along with her parents to the planet Bhoreng, Alastor 41, when she was fifteen. She took Ryl by the arm and led him to where a team of engineers was carefully re-assembling the field generator that could knock Jarnell engines off line. "We're expecting Captain Lanting to be back on board as early as tomorrow, so we are putting the generators back together. The bad news is, we can't build more of these, not without a source of hierions. The good news is, after seeing the component parts that were built into the generators, I understand how they work and I might be able to visit Triskelion and find a way to start equipping our fleets with these devices."

Ryl said, "I was just rebuffed by Dr. Ektenor when I asked for access to his D3I device."

Green asked, "What is a D3I?"

Original cover art by
James Settles and Stephen Fabian.

"What Dr. Jeghtop used to rescue her sister from captivity on Yrinna. It is a small device, a hand-held hierion field generator." Ryl gazed into the fresh, intelligent eyes of Maxy and tried to sense if she had any telepathic ability. All he could feel radiating from her mind was an aura of competence. "What makes you think you can obtain technology from Triskelion?"

Green explained, "My mother used to work in Dr. Ektenor's research lab. I could return to Triskelion, infiltrate the manufacturing facility where hierion field generators are grown and start diverting a fraction of their hierion supply. What I've learned from studying these generators is that vast numbers of hierions can be held in tiny containment vials. It should be possible to smuggle hierions from Triskelion to Blazon."

Ryl asked, "We could build all of the generator components? All we need from Triskelion is a supply of hierions?"

"I'm not saying it will be easy, Inspector, but yes." Maxy could see that Ryl was skeptical. "I believe we could do it, Sir."

Ryl sighed. "I'd hate to risk you on a spy mission to Triskelion. What if you get caught?"

robots of Triskelion

Maxy laughed. "They need skilled workers on Triskelion... they can't use robots for everything." She smiled, thinking about the sexbots of Triskelion. "If I make myself se... valuable enough, they might overlook a few peccadilloes, like the petty theft of a fraction of their vast supply of hierions."

Ryl turned to Jenking and asked, "What do you think?"

Jenking complained, "Her plan sounds like a suicide mission. I suspect that Triskelion uses all of their supply of hierions as soon as they are mined." Jenking gazed at Maxy and predicted, "They'd notice the theft of any significant number of hierions and I don't think Maxy would escape with just a hand slap."

Just then Ryl received an urgent message on his comring. He glanced at the ring and told Jenking, "I have to take this call. Maxy's plan might have some merit, but first, we have an opportunity to double our supply of these generators. A task force is being sent to Ottengla, including three battleships."

 

Jenking asked, "You are finally going to do something about Tirret?"

 

Kraken

"We will try." Ryl told Maxy, "The goal is to capture the Kraken, which also has a set of these compact generators." He placed a hand on Green's shoulder, "Once you have these generators reassembled, report to the Tykonder. While on board Tykonder, start designing a manufacturing facility for building field generators. That's a triple-A priority, so recruit any expert help that you need. Got it?"

Maxy nodded and gave a half-hearted salute. "Yes, Sir." She would have preferred to stay at Blazon, within easy reach of all the technical expertise of the Whelm headquarters on Numenes. She wondered: what good can I do while off on some wild-Tirret chase?

With a nod to Maxy and a pat on Jenking's shoulder, Ryl departed from the generator control room. He spoke into his comring, "Mom?"

comring

Connatica Eleyn said, "Yes, I'm back from Earth. Where are you, Oman?"

"Over at Blazon, playing the role of Inspector Shermatz, but I'm returning to Numenes. You are at the palace?"

"Yes, I just arrived. Where is everyone?"

Ryl exited from Nykark and made his way out of the spaceship repair facility. "Acy just left for Yerophet. Heshlo and Voyt are already there. I've got a date for this evening to watch a dance performance by Yurahs. Would you like to go with me?"

 

Eleyn replied, "What's this I'm sensing in your mind, Oman? Yurahs is pregnant?"

Eleyn had always been able to peer into Oman's thoughts. "Careful mother, I'm walking through a busy spaceport, in the role of Ryl. Yes, it is confirmed, she's expecting a baby girl." Flashing his Over-Inspector ID, Ryl strolled onto a crowded shuttle that was just about ready for departure taking a load of tourists down to the surface of Numenes. Speaking into his comring, Ryl said, "Meet me at the Ketenary spaceport in one hour." He ended the call. 

 

A steward told Ryl, "We're full, sir... every seat filled. You'll have to stand with us in the crew compartment." Ryl made himself as comfortable as possible for the short flight down planet, trying to ignore all the curious glances from the shuttle crew members.

______________________

Oman and Eleyn had dinner at one of the Ketenary Island tourist facilities then they went to the dance performance. The show was very highly charged by the sashei of the sexy dancers and given Eleyn's great telepathic sensitivity, Oman suspected that his mother must have had at least one orgasm during the event. Afterwards, they met Yurahs back-stage. The two women hugged and with a knowing smile Yurahs told her grand-mother, "Glad we were able to give you a couple of orgasms grandma. I enjoyed the feel of your mind during the show."

 

Eleyn looked up at Yurahs and marveled, "My, how you've grown! Ten years ago you were a wee child."

 

Feeling Eleyn's telepathic probing and her grandmother's eyes on her breasts, Yurahs pulled on a shirt. "It is good to have you back on Numenes... how was your trip to Earth?"

 

Eleyn explained, "I've come back in order to give an interim report. You grandfather is still there, doing more research. I'll go back and help him as soon as I share what we have learned so far."

Yurahs has a vision of the future.
original cover art: Tom Miller

Ryl congratulated Yurahs on her pregnancy, but he was eager to be off to Yerophet. He told Yurahs, "I need to catch up with your mother. We're off to Yerophet to deal with the cold fever crisis. I'll leave you two so you can catch up, but I have a ship to ca-"

Eleyn interrupted her son, "I want to catch up with both of you." She asked Yurahs, "Heshlo is the father?"

Yurahs nodded. "Don't be shocked, Eleyn. I'm not really his sister, you know."

Eleyn told Oman, "I need to explain to you what your father and I learned about the Asterothropes. There is much to tell, and what I can share with you might help your mission on Yerophet."

Ryl asked, "Why didn't father travel with you?"

"He stayed on Earth because he was in the middle of something important. I'll explain exactly why, but it will take time. He's actually inside a virtual reality simulator of our previous Reality."

Foundation Reality

Ryl asked, "What does that mean?"

"As I said, there is much to explain. I better go with you to Yerophet."

Yurahs said, "I've got two days off now. Let me fly out with the two of you."

Ryl spoke into his comring, "Prepare Isirjir Ziaspraide for flight. I'll be on board in one hour. Send the Volkymyhr down to the Ketenery Islands and have its aircar pick me up, along with three other passengers. We'll immediately transfer to Isirjir Ziaspraide and then depart for Yerophet" He ended his call, glanced at his daughter's skimpy thong and told Yurahs, "Throw on some clothes."

____________________________

 

On their way towards Yerophet, inside the Isirjir Ziaspraide, Yurahs and Eleyn had their hands held to the sides of each others heads. They were trying to make sense of the telepathic signals that Yurahs could sense coming from the tiny embryo inside her uterus. 

 

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

Lo the robot and Oman were watching the two women, Lo with his hands on the shoulders of Yurahs and Ryl with his hands on Eleyn's shoulders. Some of Grean the Kac'hin's infites migrated from Ryl's body into Eleyn. Now with Yurahs' and Eleyn's telepathic abilities being synchronized and amplified, Ryl was getting flashes of information from the future. He saw a seen with four young women, participating in some kind of ritual with Grean. Or was that Grean? Maybe some other Kac'hin?

 

Ryl struggled to understand where and when that scene was taking place. He heard the 'voice' of Grean: You saw a future gathering of some Lavany mind clones.

 

Eleyn told Oman, "Lavany already has a mind... I believe I'm detecting a nanoscopic replicoid."

image source

Yurahs asked in dismay, "How can my unborn daughter, only an early embryo, already have a mind? I don't believe this!" She clutched at her abdomen and shouted, "Ow!"

 

Ryl felt a telepathic sensation like a punch. He felt a lingering agony of sudden nausea. Gasping with pain, he asked, "What was that?" Eleyn had pulled her hands back from Yurahs and was now clutching her own head. Ryl asked his mother, "Did you feel that... that attempt to hurt... ?"

Yurahs giggled and replied, "Okay, little one! Now I believe." She told Oman, "Lavany has a direct nanowire link from my uterus to my brain. I'm going to have to get used to her antics." She massaged her lower abdomen and imagined that Lavany's replicoid wanted to get out of the womb and start living her life. "There is no doubt... Lav is in contact with Eleyn."

 

Ryl asked, "What is a replicoid? 

 

Eleyn explained, "An ancient technology, developed by robots on Earth." She was still holding her head as if trying to shield herself from an invading mind.

Mind Clones

Finally, the Lavany replicoid relaxed, and stopped trying to telepathically link to Eleyn. Yurahs sighed and had a sudden vision from the future; she saw herself rushing into Heshlo's outstretched arms and then she impaled herself on Heshlo's waiting erection. Before his departure for Yerophet, Yurahs and Heshlo had been desperately trying to make love as often as possible, and now she missed him greatly. Feeling a sudden need to better link telepathically to Lav, Yurahs took Lo by the hand and took him to her bedroom. After Yurahs achieved a satisfying orgasm, and slipping into an orgasm trance with Lo, she was better able to merge her thoughts with the Lav mind inside of her uterus. As the trance ended, she remained on top of Lo, all four of their hands now against her abdomen. Yurahs told Lo, "Lav is in contact with two Kerub on Yerophet... they are exactly her age."

 

Lo was struggling to accept the idea of a less than one month old fetus thinking about distant, unseen fellow fetuses. Lo said, "We should discuss this with your father. I've never heard of telepathic babies."
 

Yurahs shook her head. "There is nothing for father to do. Everything is being arranged by the mind clones. I've seen into the future... Lavany will get her wish... to meet Bryget and Snoyl." 

 

Lo could telepathically sense that the Lav replicoid, having achieved contact with Yurahs, was now content, but he could not follow Yurahs into the depths of Lav's thoughts. "Bryget and Snoyl?"

human-alien hybrid

"That's what Lav is calling the two baby Kerub... the other mind clones" Yurahs had a sudden flash of insight. Sometimes it was as if she could see into the future with amazing clarity. "This is strange... now that I see more details... I don't think Bryget is actually a Kerub. She is something else... maybe a Human-Kerub hybrid, but the three of them are linked telepathically, regardless." Yurahs opened her eyes and finally pulled herself off of Lo, releasing his erect penis. She politely commented, "Thank you for that lovely orgasm. It was exactly what I needed in order to open my mind to Lav."

"I need to get dressed." She kissed Lo's penis, regretting the fact that she could not grab another quick orgasm right then. "I need to tell father and grandma what I learned during our little make-out session." Lo deflated his penis and then got dressed. Yurahs threw on a silk robe and since her feet were cold, she also pulled on a pair of bright red stockings.

They went to the Connatic's dining room where they found Oman in video conference with a Whelm officer. Oman told the person at the other end of the call, "I will see you in about half an hour." The Connatic broke the connection and turned his full attention towards Lo and his daughter. His eyes lingered on the abdomen of Yurahs and he could weakly sense the unusual mind pattern of his grand-daughter, Lavany. Or, more precisely her replicoid, Lav. He could sense that Yurahs was now thinking of the replicoid as 'Lav' so as to distinguish between the two entities inside her uterus. He asked, "What have you learned from Lav?"

Joole

Yurahs was feeling a bit tired and slightly dizzy. She sat at the table and drank some water from a crystal goblet. "She is not happy about having to wait until after Lavany is born before she can start collaborating with the other mind clones. I had a vision... I think I saw the future that Lav is eager to reach... a time when both her Kerub contacts from Yerophet will visit Lusz... but..."

Eleyn entered the room and hugged her grand-daughter. She had just emerged from a hot shower and smelled like flowers. She was wearing only a towel that was haphazardly, if artfully, wrapped around about half of her torso. Yurahs had no childhood memory of ever seeing so much of Eleyn's shapely body. She was rather dazzled by her grandmother's beauty. Ryl was impressed by how little his mother had aged while off visiting Earth. In fact, she looked younger and more voluptuous than he remembered her being ten years previously.

 

Lo explained to Eleyn, "Lavany is in contact with two other babies on Yerophet."

Yurahs slipped a hand inside her robe and holding her finger tips pressed to her abdomen and close to Levany she continued, "...Lav is now saying that only Bryget will leave Yerophet and visit Lusz. One of the mind clones I saw is from another planet..."

 

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Eleyn, who also had the ability to shift her mind through time, went to stand behind Yurahs. She placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and closed her eyes. Eleyn could sense that Yurahs was still thinking about the feeling of Lo's penis inside her tight vagina. Trying to forget about the orgasm she had just had in the shower, Eleyn told Oman, "Lav is looking far into the future, about a dozen years."

Oman chuckled, "I can only see five minutes into the future. I must go hear a report about the upgraded Josef system." He told Eleyn, "You can come along if you want to pay your respects to Joole."
 

Eleyn opened her eyes and moved to take hold of Oman's arm, "Joole is here, on this ship?"

"Yes, she finished up with her work on Wyst and is now helping plan this visit to Yerophet." Oman tried not to think about the recent horrific loss of innocent lives in the explosions on Wyst. He ran his fingers through his mother's lovely hair which was still damp from her recent shower. "How did you manage to stay so young during your travels?"

 

"Oh, I have my beauty secrets." Eleyn told Oman, "It will be nice to see Agent Joole again."

Yurahs jumped up and said, "I want to go, too."

Wyst

Eleyn suggested to Yurahs, "I won't be long... I just want to say hello to Joole... an old friend... so why not rest here until I return?"

Yurahs stubbornly shook her head. "No, grandmother, I want to spend every possible moment with you and father before I have to return to Numenes."
 

Eleyn went to put on her Whelm uniform. Oman teased Yurahs, "You are seriously out of uniform. If you walk around Isirjir Ziaspraide dressed like that, how will I maintain discipline of the troops?"

Oman spoke to Lo, "Quickly bring suitable clothing from Yurahs' closet." Lo ran to Yurahs' room. 

 

Oman tenderly put his arms around his daughter. He muttered, "I'm having trouble adjusting to the existence of this mysterious replicoid inside Lavany... inside you."
 

Eleyn returned, struggling a bit to seal herself into her tight fitting uniform. She complained, "I put on ten pounds during the past ten years. This old uniform does not really fit me."
 

Oman assured his mother, "You look great. After seeing you, I'm thinking that a ten year vacation might suit both Acy and myself."

 

"Don't expect me to return to serving as Connatica." Eleyn exhaled and forced her uniform to seal up. She suggested to Ryl, "Maybe you could hand power over to your brother."

 

Oman shrugged. "I'd be tempted, if I knew where he was. Not long after you went to Earth, he went off on his own adventure, trying to explore the Beyond and map out starmenter worlds beyond the Cluster. I fear he may have been captured or killed."

Eleyn put an arm around her granddaughter and Oman put his hand on Yurahs' abdomen. He stroked the soft skin of her taut athlete's belly and he had a flash-like memory of the future, of Yurahs in the days when she would be much further along gestating Lavany. He could not keep from his mind the memory of the last time he had visited Yerophet to witness the birth of his daughter. Surprised to receive more information from the future, he wishfully said, "I've been on Yerophet twice before, both times I experienced no real danger. I wish I could see into the future of my next visit..."
 

Eleyn was worried about the future she had seen. "What about this new epidemic of cold fever cases? So many deaths in such a short time is unprecedented." 

 

Image by Leonardo.

Lo finally arrived with a jumpsuit for Yurahs. He told her, "I had to make some alterations to fit your long, lean body." Yurahs tossed her robe onto a nearby couch and slipped into the jumpsuit.

Oman put a finger tip on Eleyn's nose and felt a warm wave of telepathic emanations from his mother. Trying to sooth her doubts, he said, "I suspect that my telepathic abilities make me immune to such dangers." He guided Yurahs towards the suite of rooms occupied by Joole.

Walking along behind Oman and Yurahs, Eleyn pulled at the fabric of her red, two-piece dress uniform. Ten years previously, one of her royal titles was First Woman and she had been something a crusader around the Cluster, encouraging women to have careers and not simply lead the life of a mother. One of Eleyn's public identities had been "Provocateur Shermatz" of the Women's Liberation Brigade. In that role, her "uniform" had been bright red and skin tight, accenting her figure while leaving her taught abdomen bare. She now struggled a bit to properly confine her breasts in the top piece of the uniform.

 

on Yerophet

Eleyn was concealing the fact that she was now herself no longer biological and was, in fact, using an artificial body composed of femtobot components. She considered morphing her body and removing ten pounds of simulated fat from her bust and hips, but resisting the temptation to undo those body form adjustments that had been requested by her husband, she instead used her clothing nanites to alter the shape of her uniform. With the uniform conforming perfectly to her figure and now feeling much more comfortable, she asked Oman, "What did you say about troubles on Wyst?"

Glisten, beside the Shard Sea on Zeck, Alastor 503.

"The people of Wyst recently went through the travails of an attempted power grab. Many people were killed. I took that opportunity to start making changes to Wyst society. Joole has turned those changes into a full-scale social revolution."

 

Yurahs was walking beside Oman with her hand on his arm. "I wonder if I should tell Joole about my baby."

Oman warned his daughter, "My advice is: don't rub Agent Joole's nose in your lucky situation. I don't believe she is aware of the relationship between you and Heshlo."

Eleyn suggested, "I don't want to try to explain to Joole our little secret. Neither of you two really believes what I've said about this nanoscopic replicoid, Lav."

Yurahs patted her belly and glanced over her shoulder at Eleyn. "I don't have to believe your tale about Lav the replicoid." She tried to put on tranquil face. She proclaimed, "I'm just going to pretend that this is a normal pregnancy."

Eleyn wondered how she would get past feeling guilty over hiding the secret of how she had been transformed into a replicoid. She knew from personal experience how Oman was dedicated to using every tool available to him to pursue the goal of enhancing human telepathic abilities. She felt that her own second life as a replicoid was a gift and she had no interest in her son trying to treat her new body like a piece of useful technology. To protect her own secret, she was now happy to let Oman focus his schemes on Yurahs and her baby and the nanoscopic replicoid inside them. Eleyn had her own reasons for going to Yerophet and hoped to work quietly, without much attention from Oman.

They pause at a portal and for a minute watched the stars of the Cluster.

 

image source

Just a few hours ahead of them was a huge fleet of Whelm spaceships, and somewhere closer was the Volkymyhr, standing by to hurry Yurahs back to Numenes before her next dance session. Of course, none of those other ships could be seen, only the light of stars filtering into the strange non-material domain of the intersplit.

 

Oman and his family were seasoned travelers, taking interstellar travel for granted. While on Earth, Eleyn had learned some of the history of how humans had been given access to Jarnell technology, but she would share that story only with her son, after Yurahs returned home.

Next: part 19 of "The Alastor Network".

 

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