The Sogdian Clones

Sogdian

Below on this page is Part 2 of a science fiction story called The Cythyrya Investigation. Previously, as described in "Edison's Endosymbiont Experiments", Rylla began working with Rey to investigate mysteries in Deep Time by making use of the Reality Simulation System. Also, Nora had her own pet project: trying to use the Reality Simulation System to solve the technological mystery of why the Eternity teleportation system is no longer being used to move people between Earth and Observer Base.

Part 2 of The Cythyrya Investigation actually takes place before the events in Part 1. Here in 2022, Rylla and Rey have recently begun visiting the far future of the Asimov Reality Simulation where they are attempting to retrieve a type of nanotechnology that might allow for re-activation of the Observer Base teleportation system. My visions of the future suggest that they, or their children, will still be working towards this elusive goal some 20 years in our future.

Part 2 of The Cythyrya Investigation (Part 1)

Zeta, Rylla and their two daughters were telepathically visiting the twins, Alpha and Beta, at their home inside the Reality Simulation System. To facilitate their trance state, all the room lights were off and only light from my computer's big display screen was providing a feeble flickering illumination of Zeta and Rylla where they relined in their chairs. 

I was searching through the Index to the Reality Simulator, an always fascinating pass-time which allowed me to familiarize myself with the structure and extent of galactic civilization in past Realities such as the Asimov Reality. Sometimes, I stumbled upon a bookmark in the Index that marked a specific time and place. These bookmarks never failed to provoke in me a wanderlust, a desire to investigate what made that particular place special and important. There were six people and three cats there in the living room, but no sound. I looked away from the computer display screen towards Rey and repeated my question, speaking quietly, "Could it go all the way back to the Phari?"

niaf

Rey was gazing at Rylla and I suppose she was linked into the group mind space that Rylla and Zeta were using as a means to telepathically 'spend time with' the twins. Rey is a powerful telepath, and I'd grown comfortable letting her read my questions straight from my brain, without me needing to speak. I did not want to distract Zeta from her trance. I reached out and placed a hand on Rey's arm. She looked at me it took about ten seconds before she could focus her eyes on me. Finally she said, "If the pek could impregnate this planet with zeptites, then sure, why not?" Rey glanced out the front window. The sun was gone and a ghostly moon-lit desert scene filled the big front window.

I mused, "Then maybe when Manny brought you out of the Simulation, your whole body was assembled from those Phari hierions."

Rey covered my hand (my hand that was on her arm) with one of hers. "And your bones are made up of calcium atoms that were once inside a star. So what?"

Rey's arm felt warm and human. I rationally knew that although she was an artificial life-form, a niaf, her femtobot components could precisely mimic a human body. The palms of her hands are strangely smooth, one of the features of femtobot artificial people. And upon close inspection, Rey did not really look like a typical human. She had some exotic features that I associated with Prelands and other facial structures that I thought might be derived from the Nyrturians. I was looking at her weirdly protruding lips and I suppose it crossed my mind to wonder what they might feel like on my penis. With high levels of oxypathin and clytykynyn hormones in my blood, it was impossible for me to avoid sexual fantasies. I pushed away thoughts of sexplay with Rey and tried to keep my mind on business. "So, was it only because of Manny that you were able to escape from the Simulator or could someone else, even me, extract nanites from a Simulation and bring them into the real world?"

As a positronic robot, Rey did not find it easy to stand-by and let people suffer. With her telepathic link to my mind, Rey was perfectly aware that I was suffering from a powerful hormone-driven desire to have sex, and since Rey's sexy body was so close to me, my sexual cravings were increasingly focused on her. 

Preland

Rey's lack of inhibitions reminds me of Yōd and at that moment, Rey did not hesitate to engage in some casual sexplay, even with my wife, Zeta just a short distance away.

Rey took hold of my hand and pushed my index finger into her hot mouth. Suddenly, my subjective reality fractured and I had the sensation of my finger being inside Rey's allzaurish while she was sucking on my erection. I was completely under the telepathic control of Rey and I moved the tips of my fingers on my other hand to rub the big stiff glans of Rey's Nyrturian-style clitoris. When my mind began to notice something other than my artificially-induced state of erotic excitement, I sensed that Zeta and Rey were telepathically discussing me. Zeta said: I can't leave you two alone for a minute.

Rey giggled and reminded Zeta: You are the one who started experimenting with those hormones. They leave his mind particularly susceptible to my telepathic manipulations.

I like to keep him horny so that he'll have sex with me, not you. Zeta asked Rey: What are you trying to tell me about Tony?

Rey replied: You better bring yourself and Rylla back from your trance, or sleep2 or what ever you call it... I think we are about to have company.

I was vaguely aware of that telepathic conversation between Rey and Zeta and I knew that we were all linked together in some telepathic group mind space, but I was locked in a kind of dream state where my only concern was erotic pleasure. Then Rey withdrew from my mind and I returned to normal consciousness and my sensation of sweet sexual pleasure was replaced by the agony of my erect penis crammed uncomfortably inside my pants. Just then, I saw Tihri slide out of Zeta's lap to the floor. Zeta sat up and was drying off her breast where just a moment before Tihri had been attached to a nipple where a synapex connection had existed between their nervous systems. Tihri pointed to the front window and said "Tony needs help."

synapex connections

I saw our big SUV pull out of the garage and head down the moon-lit driveway. Strangely, it was being driven without the use of lights. Sounding half drunk, Rylla emerged from her trance and asked, "What's going on?"

I glanced at Rylla and saw Marda pop off of a nipple. Marda went to stand beside Tihri and they both were looking out the window. For a moment, I could see Rylla's two sets of breasts then the screen saver on the computer screen activated and the room was then only lit by moonlight coming in through the window. Zeta buttoned up her blouse and told Rylla, "Rey detected an intruder."

Tihri said, "Tony, mommy."

I had not seen Anthony for several weeks, but occasionally Tihri or Marda mentioned him, so I suppose he was still hanging around, following Nyrtia's instructions and 'watching over us'. I would have gone out to the garage, but walking would have been difficult in my priapic condition. Zeta was in my thoughts: Don't go out there. Let the niafs deal with her.

I asked: Her?

Rylla went out through the front door. Zeta told me: Anthony says it is a Tinzy clone.

Suddenly, Anthony was there with Tihri and Marda and apparently trying to protect them from the intruder. The robot picked them up, one in each of his arms. His legs then grew to full size as more of Anthony's femtobot components arrived and fully re-assembled his body and he attained his normal height. Will I ever get used to seeing artificial life-forms re-arrange their nanite components and take on whatever form is most convenient?

The SUV was coming back up the driveway, still without its headlights on. The vehicle stopped and a woman got out. Rylla put an arm around her waist and led her into the house through the front door. I was able to stand up, but it was Zeta who greeted our guest with a blunt question. "Why are you snooping around here?"

The clones of Sogdian

Rylla closed the front door and I could hear the garage door thud closed. The mystery woman looked first at Anthony and then at me. Finally she said, "So it is all true."

Anthony said, "This is one of Manny's agents... she started watching the house about an hour ago. She's a copy of Jyryl Tynzy." He looked at me and added, "Zan Zu or Drusilla and otherwise." Marda and Tihri were squirming in his arms and now he set them down on the floor.

Rey came back into the living room and walked right up to the Jyryl copy and asked, "How should we refer to you? I see a dozen aliases in your mind."

"Manny sent me to Earth to play the role of an Earthling named Jutta Holgenner, so that is as good a name as any." Jutta approached me and said, "After I got your replicoid copy off of Earth, I was free to make a life for myself."

Jyryl looked like a cute middle-age woman. I asked, "You are a replicoid?"

Jutta shook her head. "I'm biological. I'm a clone of Jyryl."

I could telepathically sense that Zeta did not believe Manny would send someone to sneak up on us and spy on our house. Zeta asked skeptically, "How long have you been living on Earth?"

Jutta replied, "I grew up on Earth and I'm the same age as you two." She glanced back and forth between Zeta and me. "Like you, I make use of medical nanites to take care of myself and keep myself looking young. I grew up with talkative artificial life-form inside my brain, coaching me about my mission on Earth and how to use my... our nanites. I have no genetic defects, so I should live to be at least 100."

Marda and Tihri were standing quite close to Jutta and looking up at her. Marda said, "143".

Gesturing towards the kids, Rylla spoke to Anthony, "Go ahead and start getting those two ready for bed." Anthony took Tihri and Marda down the hallway. Rylla asked Jutta, "How did you find us?"

nanites

"I started with what little I learned from John Smith." Jutta looked from Rylla to me. She smiled rather broadly and said, "143! Wow..."

I said, "Tihri and Marda have links into the sedron time stream, so they can get glimpses of the future."

Jutta nodded and told me, "I spent several years with your replicoid copy. He knew that you must be somewhere on Earth, but he had no interest in finding you. He was laying low and hoping Manny would forget about him... but eventually I did convince him to depart from Earth. But it was only after I found your blog that I was able to fit together the puzzle pieces... and so, here I am."

I said nervously. "This is very bad news. I've carefully concealed the location of this house. The blog is full of misdirection."

Jutta giggled. "It was actually my ability to hack into international travel records that allowed me to solve the mystery." She looked at Rylla and said, "All the travel between Perth and Phoenix at particular times gave it away. Then it was just a matter of examining real estate transactions. Still, I suppose I should have sent you a letter... as an introduction. When Anthony suddenly appeared inside my rental car, I about wet myself. I thought that having replicoids on Earth would violate the terms of the Pact! Anyhow... it was a long drive out from Phoenix and I do need to pee."

Zeta showed Jutta where the nearest toilet was. Tihri was telepathically signalling to Zeta, so after taking Jutta to the guest facilities, Zeta quickly passed through the living room and then went down the hallway to find the kids. Zeta told me telepathically: I hope the fact that she found us does not mean that we will need to move.

Rey told me, "Manny and her tricks. I think she is trying to send us a message."

"If Manny wanted to tell us something then she could drop in for a visit." I asked Rey, "What do you think Manny is trying to accomplish by having Jutta on Earth?" 

But just then Jutta returned from emptying her bladder and muttered, "That's a relief."

Manny (image source)

Rylla asked Jutta, "Why are you here on Earth? Why didn't you leave after completing your mission?"

Rey held out a hand, palm first towards Jutta and replied to Rylla, "I believe I understand the situation. Jutta could not resist making contact with us since we have access to the Reality Simulation System."

Jutta nodded. "I had things to do and places that I wanted to explore here on Earth. It was fun for a while. However, after six decades, I've gotten rather tired of Earth. I did not really understand that fully until I learned about the existence of your Index and the fact that there is now access to a Reality Simulator... from here." She glanced at my computer. "After 60 years on Earth, I would not mind going to some other planet that is more interesting."

I chuckled. "Where would you like to go?"

Jutta told me: "It is not easy to decide." She again glanced at the computer over in the corner of the room that has the Index. "Do you truly have access to all of Deep Time?"

I activated the computer display and showed Jutta the Index. Now Rylla was being summoned by Marda. Rylla departed from the living room, but Anthony returned. Rey told Jutta, "When you showed up, Eddy and I were just making plans for another research project inside the Simulator."

Anthony said, "Jutta is intrigued by her own origins."

Jutta looked at Anthony and then glanced back at Rey. "It is wonderful having you two telepaths around, I don't even need to speak."

Anthony told Jutta, "I've been ordered to protect this house and its residents. Please excuse me, but in order to comply with those orders, I had to look quite deeply into your mind. Based on what I can see in your memories, I'm convinced that you mean no harm, so I'll get back to entertaining the mind clones." He went back down the hallway in search of Tihri and Marda.

Rey

I said, "There are many places I'd like to visit in the Asimov Reality. The mystery of the Tynzy clones and how they were created is certainly provocative, but I'm more interested in Howard Treesong."

I could sense that Zeta wanted me. Rey told me telepathically: I'll look through that part of the Index. Maybe Nyrtia provided us with a bookmark for Jutta.

Leaving Jutta in Rey's care, I went and found Zeta in our bedroom. She was nursing Tihri and told me: Let's link up. Zeta handed me two small pills which I placed under my tongue. My mouth began to tingle and I hurried to get undressed. By the time I got on the bed and snuggled up to Zeta, my penis was again fully erect. I could feel the effects of the oxypathin and clytykynyn hormones as they spread through my body. My mind was only concerned with one thing: making love to Zeta, but she kept reminding me that we needed to form a synapex linkage. Zeta told me: We'll grab orgasms later! I slid my penis into Zeta's hot, wet vagina and resisted the temptation to rub up an orgasm. I allowed a synapex connection to form between me and Zeta. I could sense telepathically that Zeta was trying to probe into the mind of Jutta. 

Now, with my nervous system physically linked to Zeta's, our minds resonated telepathically and I could sense that Rylla and Anthony were there with us in a shared mind space. Rey was playing some sort of telepathic game with Jutta, trying to distract her and open up her mind to telepathic probing. Unfortunately, Jutta had some rudimentary telepathic ability and she noticed our presence in her mind while we were searching through her memories. Anthony told Zeta and I: I can conduct this type of mind probe more efficiently than you.

We are still learning how to do this, we need the practice. After a time, Zeta said: I agree. She really wants to get off of Earth. Zeta got out of our big bed and tucked Tihri into her little bed on the other side of the room and then she came back and made love to me. We both drifted off into sleep.

Image credits.
The copyrighted "Mortal Instruments"
photographs of Gretchen Byers.
the twins: Alpha and Beta

In the early morning hours, I awoke to the sound of Zeta's voice. I awoke thinking that I had been dreaming about telepathic contact with Yōd, but there on the edge of our bed was Jutta. Zeta was saying, "Once you go into the AR Simulator, there will be a new version of that Reality that includes you."

Jutta asked, "And you are sure that I will get a full life? The simulation will not simply be shut off... terminating my existence?"

"If you read my husband's blog, then you know about our twins. They are inside a simulation of this house which has been running continuously for months." Zeta could not be completely sure of anything, but she added, "It is my belief that once these simulation runs begin, they never end."

Rylla came into the bedroom and after a glance and a knowing smile she ignored Zeta's erect nipples and my erection where it jutted up from underneath a sheet. She told Zeta, "The kids went out for a walk with Rey."

I told Jutta, "I suppose I should return your rental car."

Rylla shook her head and told me, "Anthony already did that."

Zeta said, "He's so efficient."

Rylla nodded. "Having him around as a helper gives us time to think. Right now, I've been thinking that we are being tested by Manny."

Zeta giggled and tipped her head towards me. "You might be thinking, but the hormones are making him very horny and that's disrupting my thought processes." She looked back and forth between Rylla and Jutta. "Right now, I just want to kick you two out of here so I can make love to my husband." She rested a hand on the tip of my erection.

Rylla said, "Don't tease me with your sex talk, Zeta." She looked at Jutta. "Rey went outside, so I'm horny and lonely." Rylla reached out and let her fingers slip through Jutta's mop of hair. "However, I'm tempted to introduce Jutta to my vibrator collection."

Earth's Reality Chain

Jutta put a hand on Rylla's leg. "That sounds like fun."

Trying to ignore what Zeta was doing to my penis, I said, "I have to agree with Rylla. Nyrtia has given us the ability to access the Simulation System and shown us how to amplify our telepathic abilities. Now, Manny is probably testing us and seeing if we can be trusted with all this power."

Rylla told Jutta, "Zeta and I have been experimenting with hormones that can keep people in a constant state of sexual arousal. Somehow, that helps amplify our telepathic abilities. However, as much as I'd like a sexplay session with you, now that I know why you came here, I feel that I must help you find a new home inside the Reality Simulation System."

Zeta told Rylla, "Fine. You two go look through the index." She wiggled my penis. "He'll be out when I'm done with him."

However, by the time Zeta was done with me and I went out into the living room, I only found Anthony playing with Tihri and Marda. Rylla, Rey and Jutta had gone into the Simulator. I checked the Index and saw that they were using the Asimov Reality Simulator and Rylla had bookmarked the planet Sogdian.

I was uncertain about the dates of events in the far future of the Asimov Reality. The open bookmark indicated that Rylla had taken Jutta to the year 3923. What I knew about the timeline of the Asimov Reality came from the novels of Jack Vance. I reached for my copy of Star King and decided that there was a chance that by going to the planet Sogdian in 3923, Jutta might run into some of her clone sisters.

Zeta had taken a shower and gotten dressed and now she came into the living room. Both Tihri and Marda began nursing, one at each of Zeta's breasts. Zeta told me, "Maybe Jutta wants to rescue those poor clones from the evil clutches of Viole Falushe."

"Yes... who knows how many Tinzy clones were made and what happened to them all." I was thinking about using the Simulator myself. "Some of those clones were probably murdered before Gersen even reached Sogdian and I suppose Jutta wants to prevent that."

Zeta told me, "Don't even think about going to Sogdian. You promised to stay here for a few weeks and write up accounts of your recent expeditions inside the Simulation System. We're taking these two munchkins up to the mountains this afternoon so that they can play in the snow."

I had not forgotten about our plans to get up into the high country. Tihri loudly popped off the nipple and said, "Qyla, too."

Zeta assured Tihri, "Yes, Qyla gets to go along." Qyla the cat was our one pet who liked to travel by car. "Would you like to eat some solid food?"

Tihri said, "If I have to."

Marda came off her breast and placed a hand on each of Zeta's breasts. Marda said, "Baby food."

Zeta told Marda, "And you two are no longer little babies. Big girls like you can sit at the table and eat solid food. Now, do you want pancakes or waffles?"

Marda replied, "Waffle!"

Tihri said, "Pancake!"

Cosmopolis, October 1923

Zeta got out of her chair and headed for the kitchen. She told me, "You make pancakes and I'll make waffles."

I turned off the Index software and followed Zeta into the kitchen. Cooking brunch took much longer than usual because Marda and Tihri insisted on helping, which really meant making clouds of flower and finger painting the kitchen with pancake batter. Reaching the end of her patience, Zeta asked, "Where is Anthony? It is so nice when he pitches in and helps entertain these two whirlwinds."

I suggested, "I suspect he's here, and probably egging these two on."

Tihri giggled and said, "Egg, daddy!"

I shook my head and told Tihri, "You can't fool me. You dropped that other one on the floor, just to make a mess."

Marda said, "Physics, grandpa Eddy."

Zeta had been carrying Marda in a sling across her chest, but now she set Marda on the floor. "No more physics experiments."

I asked Zeta, "Do you think they know what 'physics' means or are they just repeating a word they heard?" I had been carrying Tihri, but now I set her on the floor.

Zeta told me: "When I have my direct link to their nervous systems, I can sort through the elements of their minds. They don't think like adults, but Marda knows that her mother is interested in chemistry. In Marda's mind. 'physics' is a catchall for... maybe 'causality' is the best translation. Marda and Tihri and the other mind clones now get daily lessons from the twins about cause and effect."

"I can't figure out their thought patterns."

Tihri

"You are too left-brain in your thinking." Zeta got Marda and Tihri into their highchairs and soon the adventure of the pancake syrup began. Then after breakfast the kids were so sticky that they needed baths. When that adventure was complete, it was already afternoon and we hit the road. 

We did not get very far down the highway before Tihri wanted to nurse. I pulled off the road and while Zeta nursed the kids she told me, "Stop thinking about Jutta."

I could not stop myself from wondering about what might have happened during all the years Jutta had spent with my replicoid copy, Mr. Smith. Zeta had caught me fantasizing about the idea that Jutta had been the lover of my copy, and with plenty of oxypathin and clytykynyn in my system, I was trying to imagine Jutta's naked body. I asked, "What do you think she's been doing on Earth for the past 60 years?"

"Apparently you need only account for the past three decades. Before that she was living with your replicoid copy." During the time when I'd had a look into Jetta's mind, I had sensed a few fuzzy impressions about the time when Jutta had known my copy. Zeta told me, "I suppose that her living with your copy was training... teaching Jutta your thought patterns. Eventually, she was able to use the clues in your blog to find us."

"I don't believe that. I don't think it could be done. Manny must have told Jutta how to find us."

"I couldn't see that in her mind."

"Manny is a sly one. I'm sure Manny is simply letting Jutta believe that she was clever enough to figure out the mystery of our hidden location."

Beta (image source)
image using "Room of Val 4"
by x3xDx
available under the CC BY 3.0

Eventually we were back on the road and before dark we were at our rental cabin that had six feet of snow piled up around it. The kids played in the snow until after dark and then had to be stripped out of their snow suits and their toes warmed up in a hot bath. Zeta finally got Tihri and Marda into bed. I was reading a book and suffering from computer withdrawal, but I was supposed to be on vacation and disconnected from the internet. I was only paying slight attention to Zeta's thoughts, but I felt her slide into sleep2 as Tihri and Marda formed synapex connections to Zeta through her nipples. Then Zeta managed to send me an odd message: Rylla calling. Help. 

Zeta had briefly severed her links to Tihri and Marda and come out of sleep2 so that she could get my attention. She was trying to reconnect to the kids and told me, "Link to me. Rylla wants to talk to you." Soon all four of us were physically linked through synapex connections and Zeta and I were in a shared mind space, 'listening' for Rylla's mind pattern. Alpha and Beta linked in with us and I could sense the unusual mind of Gamma, who was inside Zeta. Then I sensed Rylla's presence and tried to push everything else out of my thoughts. After the long drive I was tired and I went into sleep2.

Rylla said: As I feared, the clones of Jyryl don't seem to have been made here on Sogdian... unless that genetics lab was later erased from existence.

I asked: Are you sure they are clones... not teleportation duplicates?

No, I don't know. Rey is digging into the mind of Retz, an agent for Zodyac, but he does not seem to know anything about the cloning process. Jutta is going through the written records of the research laboratory here, but the experiments seem to be mostly about the effects of oxypathin and clytykynyn and the efforts of Viole Falushe to use those polypeptides for a bizarre form of mind control. And there is also mention of nanites... as if Retz had some advanced training in nanotechnology. I've been exploring the physical space of the Palace and hoping to find a secret cloning facility, but I've pretty much completed that search, unless there is a very-well hidden laboratory facility.

Zodiac

 So, you have rescued the Drusilla clones?

Not yet. That is Jutta's goal, but there does not seem to be a spaceship here. I first tried to telepathically contact Azynov, but had no luck with that. Now Jutta and I are on our third orgasm trance and it won't last much longer. Please send a message through to Yōd and ask if Azynov can come to Sogdian. Did you see my bookmark in the Index?

Yes, but we are in the mountains now. I 'heard' nothing more from Rylla... our telepathic connection had been broken. I drifted into normal sleep, but then Zeta woke me up. She and I made love and then, after our shared orgasm trance, we were eventually able to get back to fairly normal states of consciousness. With my mind clearing, I thought about our telepathic discussion with Rylla and I told Zeta, "Azynov is getting tired of being called in to help with these research missions. He and Yōd are still trying to vacation on Zeck."

Generated by Mr. Wombo in 2024.

Zeta asked, "How do you intend to contact Yōd?"

"Our chances of telepathically connecting are still best when I'm asleep, and the hormones help me link to her. Where are the pills?"

Zeta replied, "We agreed to let our hormone levels drop back down to a lower level." However, I could see in her mind which suitcase had the pill bottles. I got out of bed and found the the bottles of oxypathin and clytykynyn pills. I asked Zeta, "Care to join me?"

Zeta said, "No, I don't like they effects those drugs have when they pass from my body into the children."

I took a big dose of oxypathin and clytykynyn and then I was so sexually aroused that I put Zeta through a long sexplay session. Finally, we fell asleep and with my synapex connection to Zeta allowing my telepathic abilities to be amplified by Gamma, I was able to enter into sleep2 and telepathically contact Yōd. She told me: Azynov wants me to ignore you all and your petty problems.

Original cover art by Kenneth Kelly.

I telepathically told Yōd about Jutta and the mission to Sogdian. Yōd complained: Rylla is such a do-gooder, but she gets herself in over her head.

Under the influence of the big dose of oxypathin and clytykynyn I had taken, I was unable to stop myself from having dream-like sexual fantasies. Yōd told me: When you had your chance to make love to me, you gave me the cold shoulder. Right now, I find your erotic fantasies to be an annoying distraction.

Sorry to have bothered you, Yōd. I've done my best. Remember... Rylla would appreciate it if Azynov could help rescue the Jyryl clones. Goodnight.

Next: Apple TV's Foundation Season 1

Related Reading: Part 3 of "The Cythyrya Investigation"

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The Palace

cover art by Philippe Druille

I recently blogged about the original version of The Star King as published in Galaxy magazine. The Palace of Love by Jack Vance was also published in Galaxy with interior artwork by Dwight Morrow. The three issues of Galaxy that held the story are available online.

Part I
I don't recommend reading the version of The Palace of Love that was published in Galaxy. It appears to have been shortened by the editor. Near the beginning of the Galaxy version of The Palace of Love there is brief mention of the planet Sarkoy, but Vance's account of Gersen's visit to that world is missing. In my copy of the DAW edition of The Palace of Love, there are 26 additional pages about Sarkoy at the start of the story that did not appear in Galaxy. With a few clicks you can buy a copy of the complete story.

bar fight with the white-eyed man spills into the
alley behind the Celestial Harmony Cafe

Much of The Palace of Love takes place on Earth after Kirth Gersen learns that Demon Prince Viole Falushe was born in Europe.

Having stolen 10,000,000,000 SVU in The Killing Machine, Gersen uses some of his vast wealth to buy Cosmopolis magazine. He uses his credentials as a writer for Cosmopolis to carry out his search for Falushe. In one of many humorous scenes, without revealing that he now owns the company, Gersen visits the headquarters of Cosmopolis magazine in London in order to get his Cosmopolis identification card.

Gersen bar hopping with Navarth and Drusilla.

Gersen's investigation of Falushe's past leads him to the "mad poet" Navarth and his ward, Drusilla Wayles. Navarth knows how to contact Falushe and he arranges for a meeting at the Celestial Harmony Cafe.

After an evening of bar hopping, Gersen is at least half drunk by the time they cross paths with Falushe, first glimpsed as a man standing along the bar. Gersen won't allow Drusilla to go to Falushe and he gets into a fight with Falushe's body guard, the "white-eyed man".

Part II

Navarth's party

I feel sorry for the readers Galaxy who had to wait two months for the next part of the story. Navarth arranges for a party that will attract Falushe and allow Gersen another chance to confront the Demon Prince.

The guests at the party must all wear disguises. There are naked serving girls at the party, who Vance described as "young girls". I've always imagined them as prepubescent, but the illustration by Morrow depicts them as full figured.

fun on Sogdian

At Navarth's extravagant party Gersen has another confrontation with Falushe which is interrupted by the arrival of a squad of police. After the party, Falushe kidnaps Drusilla. Gersen and Navarth receive an invitation to visit Falushe's Palace of Love on a far planet.

travel to the Palace of Love

When Gersen and Navarth arrive on planet Sogdian, they are given a wild ride into town by a surly driver (see the image to the right). They are then flown through space to the secret world where the Palace of Love is hidden away. First they spend a few days in "City 10", waiting for the arrival of all of the guests who will visit the Palace of Love.

source

At each step of the journey, Vance is having great fun depicting annoyances large and small for the travelers, particularly Navarth who would have preferred to remain at home on Earth.

After their ordeals, Gersen and Navarth are pleasantly surprised when Drusilla arrives. Now assembled, the guests set off for the Palace of Love.

Part III
Gersen suspects that one of the male guests is actually Falushe, but neither Gersen or Navarth knows for sure. Arriving at the Palace of Love, the guests scatter to different parts of the park-like environs and Drusilla again disappears. Gersen searches for and eventually finds Falushe's hidden headquarters.

Gersen penetrates the hidden headquarters of Viole Falushe, but he is knocked unconscious and ejected.

source

After sneaking into the headquarters of Falushe, Gersen is not made welcome. Still playing the role of a writer for Cosmopolis, Gersen escapes with his life after learning that Falushe is conducting experiments on a group of people who he holds as prisoners, including several clone sisters of Drusilla. Drusilla is a clone of Falushe's childhood love, Jheral Tinzy. Now, having rejected Falushe's advances, Drusilla is to give birth to a new generation of Jheral clones.

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Stephen Fabian

Falushe is obsessed with his goal of winning the love of "Jheral", even though she is long dead. Since this is only the third of 5 Demon Prince novels, it need come as no surprise that Gersen defeats and kills Falushe and liberates the prisoners who Falushe held in the Palace of Love.

I like to imagine that there was a greater purpose behind the Palace of Love and Falushe's secret experiments. According to Zeta, in the Ekcolir Reality there were additional stories published that provided details about human breeding experiments on Sogdian using the clones of Jheral Tinzy.

Next: looking back at The Gods Themselves

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Sirneste Cluster

David Russell's ebook illustration

Two years ago I blogged about the glorious cover art for Trullion by Jasper Schreurs. Today I was lamenting the disintegration of my copy of The Palace of Love, another Jack Vance novel, so I flipped over to the collection of high resolution ebook cover art at www.jackvance.com.

David Russell has made cover art for the Demon Princes novels. His illustration for The Palace of Love depicts a scene on planet Sogdian, in Sirneste cluster.

Kirth and Alusz

One of the things that I like about The Palace of Love is how long it takes us, as readers, to actually get to the Palace. The first part of the novel shows Kirth Gersen dealing with old business that is left over from The Killing Machine. First, Kirth wraps up his romance with Alusz Iphigenia, former resident of the planet Thamber.

Viole Falushe?

The other item of old business is much more business-related. As told in The Killing Machine, Kirth managed to appropriate 10,000,000,000 SVU worth of cash from Alusz. Then, with the help of his financial adviser, Jehan Addels, Kirth invests the money.

One of the first uses Gersen has for the money is buying a small fleet of spaceships. Kirth and Alusz take his new Pharaon across space to the planet Sarkoy, a world where the residents specialize in creating poisons. There, Kirth gets a clue that puts him on the trail of Demon Prince Viole Falushe. However, their time together on Sarkoy makes it clear to the "honerable, generous and kind" Alusz that she can't make a new life for herself by following Kirth on his adventures while he hunts down and murders the remaining three Demon Princes. Kirth and Alusz part, and he resolves to never again involve a woman in the grim necessities of his life.

The Fortunate Folk

Kirth also makes use of his vast wealth to buy the Radian Publishing company, the publisher of Cosmopolis magazine. This allows him to become a "roving reporter" for Cosmopolis. Posing as an employee of Cosmopolis, Kirth goes to Earth and searches for more clues that might lead to Viole Falushe, who grew up on Earth as Vogel Filschner. As a boy, Vogel fell in love with Jheral Tinzy, and his life when down hill from there. After receiving Jheral's cruel rebuff, he turned to a life of crime, a life that he began by attempting to kidnap Jheral.

Kirth first tracks down the "mad poet" Navarth, who knew Vogel Filschner as a boy and who still has an odd connection to Viole Falushe. Gersen is puzzled by Navarth's young ward, the mysterious Zan Zu, who appears to be physically identical to Jheral Tinzy.

Eventually, 80% of the way through the novel, Kirth, Navarth and Zan Zu finally arrive at Viole Falushe's Palace of Love, on the planet Sogdian. Gersen learns that Zan Zu is a clone of Jheral Tinzy. Having failed to win Zan Zu's heart, Viole Falushe plans to force her to give birth to additional clones, as Jheral did previously.

in the Ekcolir Reality

By the end of the novel, Kirth and Zan Zu have developed romantic feelings for each other, but Kirth sends her back to Earth with Navarth and two other Jehral clones who he rescued from Sogdian and Viole Falushe's evil clutches. At the very end of the story, Kirth meets the remaining Jehral clone (Drusilla I) on the Esplanade at Avante and readers are left to wonder how much time Gersen spends with the "immensely appealing" Drusilla.

Related Reading: the adventures of Kirth and Drusilla.

Next: more science fiction from Deep Time

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Stray Threads

source

In a previous blog post I listed the novels of Jack Vance that I have read. In another blog post I mentioned those Vance novels that I have read dozens of times each. Vance's humor and felicity with words makes it a pleasure to re-read his novels.

Sadly, Vance departed this world before writing enough novels to last us through eternity. I like to imagine additional novels that Vance might have written, or, for maximum fun, novels that Vance wrote in an alternate universe. These imagined Vance novels all begin with stray threads that Vance left scattered through his stories.....

Missed Opportunities

Jheral Tinzy

In the case of Vance's Demon Princes saga, there was a gap of a dozen years between publication of the third and fourth books in the series. It is fun to imagine other Demon Prince-related "spin off" novels that might have been written during those 12 years.

At the end of The Palace of Love, we see Gersen meeting "Drusilla I", one of the clones of Jheral Tinzy: "The girl was immensely appealing, with a thousand charms and graces."

But then 12 years later, at the start of The Face, Drusilla is never even mentioned. When Vance continued the Demon Princes saga after the 12 year hiatus, Kirth Gersen was busy trying to attract the attention of Lens Larque, the 4th Demon Prince to be hunted down and confronted by Gersen.

The Demon Princes Series.

Collaborations
When Gersen first begins his effort to find and kill the 5 Demon Princes, he is very much a loner.

Pallis Atwrode

Along the way, he involves a number of other folks in his mission, sometimes to their detriment. In the first book of the series, Star King, Gersen's investigation of Demon Prince Attel Malagate brings unwanted attention to Pallis Atwrode. She can't really be counted as Gersen's collaborator, since all she does is innocently answer some of Gersen's questions. However, the "reward" for her involvement with Gersen is being kidnapped, imprisoned and raped.

Gersen and Alusz

Take 2
In The Killing Machine, Gersen makes use of information that is provided by Alusz Iphigenia (princess of Gentilly on the "lost planet" of Thamber) to help him track down and kill Demon Prince Kokor Hekkus. Gersen does a better job of protecting Alusz from harm, but ultimately the course of his life alienates her and drives her away: "Never again, he told himself, would he involve a woman with the dark necessities of his life..."

In The Palace of Love, Gersen becomes somewhat enamored of Zan Zu of Eridu. However, after his failed romance with Alusz and fearing more heartache, he pushes Zan Zu away.

At that point, we turn the page and watch Gersen meet the charming Drusilla. Presumably Gersen has an enjoyable dalliance with her, but all that is left to our imaginations.

Alice Wroke

Preferring to work alone, Gersen still found himself in need of a collaborator and so he involved his financial adviser, Jehan Addels, in some dangerous legal maneuvering that was designed to bring the evil Lens Larque out into the open where he could be subjected to Gersen's lethal attention.

Later, in The Book of Dreams, Gersen makes use of Maxel Rackrose, Tuty and Otho Cleadhoe and Alice Wroke as collaborators who help him eliminate Howard Treesong, the fifth and final Demon Prince. Alice is the perfect match for Gersen. For her own personal reasons, she shares Gersen's desire to kill Treesong.

Drusilla
I previously imagined that in the Ekcolir Reality, Vance wrote other Demon Prince novels including The Clones of Sogdian (originally imagined as a prequel to The Palace of Love) and Return to Dar Sai (a sequel to The Face). Could there be additional books added into the Demon Princes saga, placed sequentially between The Palace of Love and The Face?

Jerdian Chanseth

Vance began The Face at a point in time when Gersen had already linked Lens Larque to the spaceship Ettilia Gargantyr. Somehow, Gersen was able to link the Ettilia Gargantyr to the Mt. Pleasant Raid, the ghastly atrocity that destroyed Gersen's home and family. We are not told how Gersen discovered the fact that the Ettilia Gargantyr was previously called the Fanutis and served to carry slaves away from Mt. Pleasant.

The Palace of Love.

In The Face, Gersen falls in love with Jerdian Chanseth and seemingly abandons his previously self-imposed restrictions on romantic entanglements. So could there have been a Vance novel about Gersen's romance with Drusilla during the time when he was searching for Lens Larque?

Drusilla of Alphanor and Kirth

Those of us who hve been restricted to the stories that were written by Jack Vance here in the Buld Reality never learned much about "Drusilla". We do know that Drusilla is not her real name. As a clone of Jheral Tinzy, she was handed over to "guardians" who raised her "in an atmosphere of gentility and good manners" on the planet Alphanor.

Gersen begins his acquaintance with "Drusilla of Alphanor" by reading some of Navarth's poems to her. This unconventional approach surprises her, but she says, "...I'm an unconventional person..." and we are left wondering if she and Gersen can become friends.

Dr. No

Secret Agents
Vance set the Demon Princes saga about 1,400 years in our future, but it is a future that seems remarkably similar to the mid-20th century. I did not discover Vance as an author until 1978, but it is fun and educational to remember the period of time when he started writing the Demon Princes stories: the 1960s.

In 1962 the first James Bond film was released, Dr. No, based on Ian Flemming's 1958 spy novel. Vance's own 1958 novel, The Languages of Pao, features a kind of "secret agent": Palafox of the Breakness Institute. In the opening scene, Palafox runs afoul of the brash and bumbling would-be-dictator Bustamonte and he is thrown into prison.

Dreams of flight in Science Fiction.
Artwork by Virgil Finlay.

Palafox uses his secret agent gizmos to cut through the prison bars and fly off into the night, escaping to his waiting spaceship. Palafox has used his advanced technology to make the blustering Bustamonte look like a buffoon. Palafox could fly because he had an anti-gravity device implanted in his body.

Television
In 1964, Ian Flemming helped launch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on television.

United Network Command for Law and Enforcement

The agents of U.N.C.L.E. battled against the evil-doers of T.H.R.U.S.H. in the same way that James Bond battled S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Just as now, when we are trained and conditioned to imagine "terrorists" conspiring behind every door, during the Cold War we imagined evil  agents who were plotting to take over the world: back then they were commie agents. In the atmosphere of fear that was generated during the Cold War, fantasy secret agents like James Bond boldly confronted the lurking evil-doers of our imaginations.

The Demon Princes

The silly science fiction themes of James Bond were there from the start in Dr. No. The Bond films have often included unrealistic technologies: I guess the intent has always been to play off public expectations that secret government agents have access to super secret wiz-bang technologies. The invented technologies of the Bond films are often hokey, but they create a "super science" atmosphere for the stories. In contrast, Vance's Demon Princes saga is set in the far future, but under the influence of the anti-progress "Institute", the technologies available to Gersen while he hunts for the 5 Demon Princes are little different from those of 20th century Earth...... the main exception being the ready availability of spaceships.

The Man from Zodiac

Between 1964 and 1967,  Vance published his first three Demon Princes stories featuring Kirth Gersen as a kind of "secret agent" who did battle against "bad guys", specifically the five "Demon Princes" who had destroyed his home and enslaved his family. In that fictional universe, Gersen lives in a future "Oikumene" where secretive organizations such as The Institute and the I.P.C.C. vie for domination over the hundreds of scattered planets that have been colonized by humans.

a Zodiac Control agent
using nanotechnology

In 1967, Jack Vance published The Man from Zodiac. (apparently Vance's preferred title was “Milton Hack from Zodiac"). Milton Hack is an agent for Zodiac Control. I've seen it suggested that this story could have launched a series and may have been written as early as 1957. I've never read the story, so I'm just using it as a "stray thread", inspiration for an imagined trilogy of Vance novels. I imagine that in the Ekcolir Reality, rather than a 12 year-long gap between The Palace of Love and The Face, there were instead several "spin-off" novels featuring the adventures of Kirth Gersen and "Drusilla" who end up crossing paths with agents from Zodiac Control.

Our Reality Chain.

I imagine that during their time together, Drusilla and Kirth travel to the city of Vire on the planet Sadal Suud Four in order to investigate the Celerus Transport Company, but they are led in strange, unexpected directions and never find Lens Larque before their collaboration is tragically terminated.

Interventionists
About three years ago I sketched out the plot of a sequel to The Book of Dreams (see also). What if "behind the scenes" during Gersen's quest to destroy the five Demon Princes there is a larger struggle over the fate of Humanity?

For the Exode Trilogy, I've written Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance and Carl Sagan into the story. It is fun to explore a special role for science fiction writers in telling us about the fate of Humanity in past Realities. For example, Asimov told the story of the Mallansohn Reality in The End of Eternity.

The Reality Chain that led to the world
as we know it (the Buld Reality)

Asimov also described the next Reality of our Reality Chain, the Foundation Reality, in his famous Foundation Saga. As a time traveler, Asimov played a major role in the Reality Change that ended the Foundation Reality and brought into existence what I call the Asimov Reality. The future fate of Humanity in the Asimov Reality was described by Jack Vance in his science fiction novels.

The next Reality in our Reality Chain, the one that followed after the Asimov Reality, is usually called the Ekcolir Reality, but I used to call it the Noÿs Reality. It becomes the task for "the Editor" of the Exode Trilogy to tell the story of the Ekcolir Reality. Thus, the Exode Trilogy is recursive science fiction where the science fiction genre plays an important role in the story.

Preland, Human, Sedronite evolutionary tree.

Through the course of the Time War, two alien influences vied for control of the fate of Humanity. During that time-twisted struggle, the Overseers of Earth tried to enforce the Rules of Intervention. Their goal was to establish the artificially crafted Prelands as the dominant primate species on Earth. The rivals of the Overseers are the Interventionists. The Interventionists formed an alliance with Gohrlay and worked hard to give we humans a chance to inherit the Earth and spread outward among the stars.

In the Ekcolir Reality
In the Ekcolir Reality, from 1967 to 1977 the twins Jack and John Vance wrote a series of novels featuring Drusilla and Kirth in which they become aware of -and caught up in- the struggle between Overseers and Interventionists.

Endosymbionts

Jheral Tinzy became  part of a long and sustained effort by Overseers to breed humans who could function as better hosts for nanite endosymbionts. However, before the Overseers had their chance to study Jheral's remarkable set of genes, some Interventionist agents used Vogel Filschner as their tool to extract Jheral from Earth and take her to a distant planet where she could be cloned. The Interventionists performed experiments on the clones, experiments designed to find new and improved methods to interfere with the nanite endosymbionts that were being used by Overseers to control human behavior.

After Gersen first meets Drusilla on Alphanor, they begin a joint investigation into the Interventionist experiments that were being performed on the planet Sogdian and learn that Drusilla had been scheduled to be infected by nanites and only narrowly escaped that fate because of Gersen's visit to Sogdian during which he managed to kill Viole Falushe.

Aquarius
The planet Sogdian is the fifth planet of the star Miel, within the Sirneste Cluster, which is located in the Aquarius Sector of the galaxy.

Sogdian is in the Aquarius Sector of the galaxy.

A Drusilla clone on Sogdian.

The first novel in the "Kirth and Drusilla" trilogy (also known as the Aquarius Trilogy), The Clones of Sogdian, starts with the return of Kirth and Drusilla to Sogdian where they learn as much as they can about the experiments that had been performed on Jheral and those that had been planned to be performed on the "Drusilla clones", the daughters of Jheral Tinzy. They discover that Retz, who worked with Viole Falushe, was secretly an agent for a mysterious organization called Zodiac Control.

Thamber: The Gentilly Protocol

By the end of The Clones of Sogdian, Kirth and Drusilla discover that they must return the the planet Thamber, a world that like Sogdian was a base of operations for experiments being carried out by Zodiac Control.

The second novel in the Aquarius Trilogy, Thamber: The Gentilly Protocol, includes an account of events when Drusilla and Kirth visit Thamber. They discovery that Zodiac Control is actually a tool, along with the Institute, being used to manipulate the growth of human civilization and shape the ultimate fate of Humanity.

Novelette by John Vance

The third novel in the Aquarius Trilogy starts with an account of how Kirth and Drusilla go to the planet Lambda Grus III to investigate the odd relationship between the Star Kings and Zodiac Control.

With clues gathered on Ghnarumen, Kirth and Drusilla develop the hypothesis that the Demon Princes are all controlled by alien endosymbionts.

Kirth and Drusilla next go to the Fomalhaut star system and discover the artificial life remnants of the ancient technologically-advanced humanoids who long ago designed and crafted both the Star Kings and we humans.

The Aquarius Sector of the galaxy (map key).

Zodiac Central Command
Zodiac Control has a secret research center on one of the Fomalhaut planets. In order to put an end to the meddling of Kirth and Drusilla, the Zodiac agents simulate a collision between Gersen's Pharaon and some space debris in the Fomalhaut system. Zodiac Control takes Drusilla for use in their secret experiments.

Book 3 of the Aquarius Trilogy

Having been tricked by the agents of Zodiac Control, Gersen believes that Drusilla was killed in the spaceship collision. He feels lucky to have survived and to have escaped from the Fomalhaut star system.

Gersen has had some of his memories erased by Zodiac Control and mercifully that allows him to forget about Drusilla and get on with his grim task of killing the last two Demon Princes. He returns to Aloysius and resumes his hunt for the two remaining adversaries, Lens Larque and Alan Treesong.

Next: Tall aliens and the tall tales of science fiction.

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