The Gamma Intervention

The Synapex Connection

Below on this page is Part 14 of the science fiction story The Historical Archive. Previously, in Part 13, the Editor was put on the trail of a mysterious woman named Gamma. In search of more information about Gamma, the Editor returns to the Reality Simulation System.

Nyrtia has provided the Editor with a 'bookmark' for a particular time and place on Earth when Gwen Lucyny will be living with the femtobot replicoid ("Mr. Smith") copy of the Editor who long served as Manny's agent on Earth.

Now driven by clues received in a set of infites obtained from Nyrtia, the Editor suspects that Gamma might be able to explain his own mysterious origins as a tryp'At. In the Ekcolir Reality, the analogue of the Editor was human. Previously, the Editor learned that in the First Reality his analogue was Meppen, the Escapist. How was he transformed into a tryp'At within the Final Reality?

Part 14 of The Historical Archive (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)  

image made using "Room of Val 4"
by x3xDx
available under the CC BY 3.0

I arrived inside the Reality Simulation at a location that was less than a mile from my childhood home. For some reason, Nyrtia had given me the body of my 30-year-old self, complete with a beard.

I was on a hillside in front of a recently-constructed house and I could see a 1960s-model car in the driveway. For a minute I gazed out at the tree-covered rolling hills which were showing the first colors of Fall. It was a warm evening of early Fall and I heard some noisy crows in the distance.

I turned back towards the house, which was actually a rather imposing three-story mansion built into the steep hillside. I rang the doorbell and was startled when the door opened, revealing the replicoid copy of myself who I had learned to think of as Mr. Smith. He stared at me, seemingly as surprised as I was.

I tried to make telepathic contact to my copy, but it seemed that Nyrtia was again blocking us from sharing a telepathic connection. I asked uncertainly, "Is Gwen here?"

I'd long been frustrated by my inability to telepathically look into the mind of my other copy, Irhit. Now, I suddenly realized that my ten-year-old self was nearby, and care must have been taken to make sure that I never telepathically sensed the presence of Smith in my hometown. 

Smith replied, "I'm expecting her home any time now. Come on in."

I walked into the luxuriously appointed house and looked around, admiring the artworks that were there on the walls of the entry way. He closed the door behind me then Smith asked, "Care for a drink?"

I was getting used to eating and drinking again and noticed that I was thirsty. I suggested, "Lemonade?" We went to the big, sparkling kitchen and he pulled a large pitcher of lemonade out of the refrigerator. 

source

As he poured us each a tall glass of lemonade, Smith asked me, "You must be from the future... are you here to visit your younger self?"

I was struggling to provide a rational account of what had brought me to this time and place inside the Simulator. Smith put the pitcher back in the refrigerator and then he led me into a comfortable family room where he turned on a big television set which quietly murmured with the sound of an evening news program out of Boston. With a hundred memories of the 1960s bubbling up in my mind, I tried to focus on how best to explain myself to Smith. "This is actually a mission of self discovery. I'm hoping Gwen has some answers about the tryp'At... our origins..." I could see a look of amusement on his face.

For a time he seemed at a loss to know where to begin. Then Smith chuckled quietly, shrugged and told me, "I've had the pleasure of living with Gwen for the past two years. She can crawl through my brain with her telepathic abilities... she claims I'm not really tryp'At."

"I met Gwen a couple of years ago, when she was living in Australia." Smith did not show a reaction at my words. He'd already drained his glass of lemonade and now he set it on a creatively-carved side table beside his chair. I continued, "Gwen told me that she was sent to Earth in order to help deal with tryp'At infiltrators, but what exactly is Gwen's mission here?"

"Ya, I often wonder why Manny does not just teleport all the tryp'At off of Earth... but apparently they are useful." Smith asked, "Do you know Manny?"

I nodded. He shrugged and continued, "Manny expects Gwen and her mother to keep tabs on all the tryp'At agents who are living on Earth. I guess Manny has plans to make use of them at some point in the future."

I told Smith, "I'm surprised to find you here, living so close to where I... we grew up."

"When Manny told me to come here, I was surprised, too. She seldom explains anything. I asked why she was taking the risk of positioning me here, I got her usual mumbo-jumbo about the danger of temporal paradox. So... I remain ignorant. She told me to relax and have fun with Gwen. That was not very difficult." He smiled broadly.

The Gwen Intervention

"Does Gwen ever ask you to help watch the tryp'At?"

"Never. She does often ask me what I remember about my childhood. However, after being here about a year I discovered this..." He got out of his chair and went over to the big television set. Smith reached towards the back of the console and the image on the screen switched to a view inside the house where I grew up. I could see my ten-year-old self at the dinner table with the rest of my family. "Gwen can use this equipment to view every tryp'At agent on Earth." He switched to television back to the network transmission and returned to his seat. "In all honesty, I think the only reason I'm here is to keep Gwen sexually entertained."

I thought about the one time I had met Gwen and was thinking that Mr. Smith had landed a nice job, but I asked, "Do you have a telepathic link to her?"

He shook his head. "A weak one... whenever we share an orgasm trance. However, when she is nearby, I can sense that she is deep inside my mind." For a minute or so, Smith seemed to reflect on what it was like to have Gwen in control of his mind. "She says that she is addicted to my semen and I know that I crave the way she can alter my brain's activity and make me feel..." Just thinking about Gwen had Smith sexually aroused. "According to Manny, she's going to take me off of Earth soon, so I should make good use of my remaining time here with Gwen."

I had the strange sensation that someone was moving through my memories. Then a car came up the driveway. Smith said, "Here she is!" He bounded out of his chair and went to the kitchen which had the doorway that led to the driveway along the side of the house. I could telepathically 'hear' Gwen say: You again!

It was either my memories of Gwen in Australia or possibly she was altering my emotions in real time, but I felt warm and sexually excited. I finished my lemonade and as I set down my glass, Smith and Gwen came into the room. They each had an arm around the other's back. Gwen asked me, "Did Manny send you here... or... this is your idea?"

I explained, "I'm hoping that you can help me. I'm following up on a rumor that you have a daughter... named Gamma."

They sat down on the sofa. Gwen shook her head emphatically. "I have no children... however, I was pregnant once."

Smith seemed surprised by this revelation. "You were?"

"That was ten years ago. It was part of my training for my mission here on Earth."

Smith asked, "What do you mean... Manny trained you how to avoid getting pregnant?"

Gwen kissed Smith's cheek and then rested her hand on the swollen lump in his pants. "No, silly. I have a G-sim... an endosymbiont that helps me control the minds of the tryp-At Interventionists."

I'd previously heard of something called a G-Sym and I thought that was what Gwen was talking about. But she could see what was in my mind and she corrected me, "No, a G-sim is biological, not a collection of nanites. It is an extension of my nervous system that allows my telepathic mind to resonate efficiently with a tryp'At brain. My mother also has a G-sim."

Gohrlay inside Many Sails

I asked, "Tanny is still in Australia?"

Gwen replied, "Oh, no, we both came to New England two years ago." She went to the television and flipped a switch on its complex control panel. An image of Tanny appeared on the screen. She was seated on a wooden dock and the soft glow of the western sky was behind her. Gwen said, "Hi, mom. Look who is here." She turned the television set to point directly at me."

Tanny seemed to be looking into the watch that was on her wrist. "Oh, no."

I said, "Hello, Tanny."

Tanny asked Gwen, "He's still insisting that we are inside a simulation?"

Gwen nodded, "Yes, that is his belief."

Tanny was out of her chair and walking up a wooded path. Somehow the camera or whatever device that was collecting Tanny's image moved along with her through that forest, always providing a good view of her. "It will take me about 45 minutes to get there."

Gwen switched the television back to the news program. She told me, "I knew she'd want to... see you." She went back to the sofa and cuddled up beside Smith.

I asked, "You know nothing about the Gohrlay Clones?"

"My mother told me about Gohrlay the robot."

Something seemed wrong. I had been misled into thinking that Gwen had given birth to one of the Gohrlay clones in 1959. But was it possible that Gwen carried inside her body a kind of mind clone of Gamma Gohrlay... now functioning as her G-sim? I reached for my glass and Smith saw that it now only contained ice. He said, "Let's have dinner."

We went into the kitchen and Smith refilled our glasses. Soon Gwen and Smith had dinner on the table in the dining room. We sat down and Smith and I began to eat. I asked Smith, "As an artificial lifeform, do you need to eat?"

"I enjoy tastes and aromas. But you are correct, I don't need to eat. And sometimes Gwen uses her feeding nanites."

"We're supposed to keep up appearances. Manny does not want us to blow our cover by not eating." Gwen took one dainty bite of her salad then said, "1959 was an interesting year. Of course, that's when you two were born, but it was also when I learned how to use my G-sim. Then we were ready for our mission. Tanny and I were teleported to Earth."

I suppose I should not have been surprised that the meal was to my liking. It had been prepared by Smith, a copy of me. I saw that neither Smith or Tanny was eating much. I put down my fork, deciding that I should not waste my precious time inside the simulator eating. "I wonder... maybe 'G-sim' is short for 'Gamma-sim'."

Gwen said, "Let me get this straight. Your wife is Zeta Gohrlay, but you lived for decades with her clone sister, Alpha Gohrlay?"

"Yes, and I've met one other Gohrlay clone, Yōd. There must have been others..."

Gwen suggested, "You can try asking my mother. She worked on other missions for Manny before our current one. She knows the whole story of how Grean stole Eternity from R. Gohrlay. To me, that is a folk tale from Deep Time."

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Gwen could not believe my Gamma-sim theory, but I felt pretty certain that I had discovered an important truth. Tanny and Gwen could use their G-sims to help Manny manage the tryp'At Interventionists and all the Gohrlay clones had the ability to telepathically link into my mind. Now it seemed obvious: the Bimanoid Interface had originally, far back in Deep Time, been designed to allow positronic robots like R. Gohrlay, built from the Gohrlay mind template, to control the minds of humans.

Gwen was following my thoughts. She told me, "But you are not really tryp'At."

I had no way of knowing what I was. Yes, I'd heard rumors that I was tryp'At, but that had never made sense. I'd had analogues in Deep Time long before the tryp'At were constructed. I'd emptied my lemonade glass again. Smith went to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine. He said, "With Tanny on the way, I need some alcohol. How about you?"

I laughed. "I'll have some wine."

Smith poured the wine and Gwen said, "Poor Tanny is rather lonely. Whenever she comes down from New Hampshire for a visit, she wants to get in bed with us for some sexplay."

Smith settled into his chair and suggested to me, "Manny brought me here to keep Gwen company... maybe she had similar plans for you and Tanny."

I suspect that Gwen was using her telepathic abilities to sexually excite me. My genitals were tingling inside my pants. However, my genitals were continuing to regress from their previously amplified dimensions. "If so, I'm afraid I'm going to be a disappointment for Tanny."

Gwen could see in my mind what I meant. She laughed and asked me, "Why did Nyrtia pump up your genitals and then take back that gift?"

"She made copies of Zeta and I who are now off in another part of this Simulation System. They are going to use their altered reproductive systems to craft a special pair of telepathic twins for Nyrtia. Mercifully, the bodies of the real copies of Zeta and I will be allowed to return to normal."

For a time I had to field a dozen questions from Smith and Gwen about the twins, then we saw headlights coming up the now dark driveway. Smith started clearing the table and a moment later Tanny came in and threw her arms around me. "So nice to see you again." She pressed her body against me and could feel my semi-erect penis inside my pants.

Gwen said, "We already ate. Can I get you anything?" She and Tanny both put a hand on the other's head. I suppose they quickly exchanged telepathic communications about me.

Tanny said, "Some wine will be fine. I ate earlier." She turned back to me and said, "R. Gohrlay told me that Gohrlay still exists as a biological entity. But she implied that Gohrlay was taken to a world of the Galactic Core."

We went into the living room and now Gwen turned off the murmuring television that was displaying some silly television show. I explained, "I've been told that in the First Reality, Manny took Gohrlay to a planet called Taivasila. However, I suspect that Manny has no qualms about making teleportation duplicates of Gohrlay. I usually call them clones, but that is a bad habit."

Tanny was not pleased by my theory about the meaning of 'G-sim'. She complained, "I'd hate to learn that I carry a copy of Gohrlay inside my body."

 I shrugged. "If your G-sim originated as an embryonic Gohrlay clone, then what now exists inside you is not really a copy of Gohrlay. Maybe it is an embroid mind clone that functions as an integrated component of your brain."

Tiavasila

Tanny shuddered and emptied her goblet. Gwen and Smith were starting to fool around over on the sofa. Tanny watched them for a minute and then Gwen looked at her mother. "Okay." She and Smith got up and went hand-in-hand up the stairway to the second floor.

Tanny came over and sat in my lap, carefully avoiding my swollen erection. She snapped her fingers and our clothing nanites splintered into rapidly dissipating clouds of sparkling nanites. She took hold of my erection and complained, "Not as spectacular as before, but I'm not going to complain."

"That's nice of you... particularly since there is nothing I can do about the size of my genitals."

She massaged my testes and said, "I can sense that you still enjoy it when these are squeezed." She kissed the tip of my penis. "Why didn't you bring Zeta along with you?"

"I'm worried that I might not be able to get back out of this Simulation without Nyrtia's help."

Tanny pulled me out of the chair and led me up two flights of stairs to the guest bedroom where she slept while visiting Gwen's home. Soon she had me on my back on the bed and she had my erection inside her vagina. She said, "So you are not planning to stay here?"

"No. I'm only here because I was hoping that Gwen could tell me about Gamma Gohrlay."

Tanny said, "Maybe I can change your mind."

I'll give her credit, Tanny tried hard to sexually please me, but my mind was swirling with thoughts about Zeta, 'our' twins and all the Gohrlay clones, particularly the mysterious Gamma. Then suddenly, Tanny was gone, the bedroom on the third floor of Gwen's house was gone and I found myself with Gamma Gohrlay. She waved a hand and I was placed inside a big warm robe. I could tell that she looked like a young version of Alpha Gohrlay, as I had known her decades previously. "Gamma?"

She nodded. "Yes. I got tired of watching you and Tanny."

I felt a telepathic link to Gamma that quickly intensified. Our minds are linked?

We have a good connection. Somehow your mind had been modified, allowing you to receive my thoughts. You were not born with that ability.

This might be a trick that Nyrtia is playing with the Simulation System. She might be giving me access to the Bimanoid Interface 2.0.

Manny trained me for my mission with a Simulation, but it is hard for my to accept the idea that I'm now in a Simulation.

What is your mission?

I coordinate all of Manny's agents on Earth.

I asked: Where are we?

I teleported you here to my workshop. This is the part of Eternity that used to be the headquarters for the orbho.

Nyrtia

Speaking out-loud, I asked, "How old are you?"

"I'm 30."

"You were born in 1939?"

"I don't think I was born in this century. It is complicated. Manny sent me back in time."

"You're from the future?"

"Somewhen in Deep Time Gohrlay was cloned. Teleportation duplicates of that clone were made and archived at various points during her life. I must have been made along with the Alpha and Zeta versions who I see in your mind, but from an early age I was trained for my mission dealing with the tryp'At problem. That's why I'm here in 1969."

I mused, "So you are an expert on the tryp'At."

"Yes."

"You must know my mother."

"Well, I know the woman who gave birth to you, but she may not be your biological mother."

"Why do you say that?"

"You are not tryp'At. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make you seem to be a tryp'At who had been altered by developmental control nanites so as to appear to be human. However, as far as I can tell, you are genetically human, but your brain was modified during embryonic development so as to take on the structure of a tryp'At brain."

I was startled by Gamma's bizarre account of my origins. "Then why wasn't I born with telepathic abilities?"

"Your birth mother must have suppressed your telepathic abilities. This is often done with tryp'At who are born on Earth. It is a trick... a way to let the tryp'At blend in with the human population of Earth."

"How many tryp'At are there on Earth?"

Gamma laughed. "Don't be alarmed... there are not that many. By my count, there are only 37 on Earth right now. They come and go by teleportation, so there may be one or two new arrivals that my team has not yet identified." She shrugged. "Yes, we stay busy keeping on top of this infestation."

I asked Gamma, "So is it you who controls the behavior of the tryp'At or the agents on Earth, like Gwen?"

Gamma explained, "My mind is linked to agents like Tanny, and also Gwen, by their G-sims, which function like my mind clones. There really is no clear distinction between the sub-minds of our network. Of course, my brain is the executive node of the network. I automatically receive their thoughts, but they are only aware of me if I allow them to become conscious of my thoughts. Which I seldom do. I often link to Tanny, but only when she is sleeping."

"Why is that?"

"I can see in your mind that you have a similar thing going on with Yōd, who can communicate with you telepathically while you are asleep."

Yōd

"I'd link telepathically to Yōd while awake... if I could."

"I don't want Tanny or any of the agents on Earth knowing how much I control them through our telepathic network. But Tanny gets lonely and horny, so I often link to her mind while she sleeps and we have our telepathic sexplay." 

I looked around at the strange devices in Gamma's workshop. "Do you get lonely here?"

"No, I live here with Beta."

"Beta Gohrlay?"

"She's over visiting the Writers Block today."

I was not pleased to know that I had been designed and constructed so as to have a mind that could be easily controlled by Gohrlay. I'd long had the fear that through my whole life my behavior had been controlled by my replicoid, Irhit, but now I was imagining that Gohrlay could have been guiding my thoughts for decades. Gamma was following my thoughts and told me, "You don't know that Alpha ever took control of your mind and forced you to do something."

"True, but I also don't know that she didn't."

The Writers Block

"So now you want to return to your Zeta?"

"Yes, I need to be getting home. I thank you for explaining about the G-sims. However, I need to find out if I can exit this simulation." I was tempted to go visit the Writers Block before departing from Observer Base, but I firmly made up my mind to return home and I popped out of the Simulator.

_____end_____

Above on this page is the last part of a science fiction story called The Historical Archive. 

Related Reading: a follow-on story, The Prisoner of L2.

Next: robotic dog

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Illegal Alien

Image credits
(original photographs: Jessica Truscott)

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

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

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

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

Isaac Asimov

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

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

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

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

the view from inside Many Sails

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

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

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

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

Yōd said, "Quickly, Isaac."

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

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

The Zeptite Endosymbionts

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

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

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

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

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

Return to Tar'tron

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

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

Mission to Andromeda

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

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

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

original cover art by Ned Dameron

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

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

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

Clones of Gohrlay

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Asimov Reality

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Contact

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

Yōd shrugged. "How would I know?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

a femtobot

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

Realities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Yōd laughed. "Not at all."

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

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

"But you and Zeta are genetically identical?"

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

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

The Secret History of Humanity

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

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

Yōd asked, "What?"

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

I muttered, "Can you read my mind?"

Replicoid Games

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

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

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

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

Outline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

in the Hierion Domain

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

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

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

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

 Illegal Alien

Tryp'At Overseers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"There is still the genetic evidence."

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

Clones of Gohrlay

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

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

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

Oracles of Luk'ru

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

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

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

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

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Zeta Gohrlay

A whimsical depiction of some Gohrlay clones (source).
Image credits.
The copyrighted "Mortal Instruments"
photographs provided courtesy of Gretchen Byers.

Three month's ago, I finally realized that I had been interacting with several clones of Gohrlay. These ladies had always been quite careful to only visit with me one at a time, until today.

Alpha Gohrlay told me that she had read my recent blog post about distractions and decided that she agreed with me. Alpha found it impossible to refute the proposition that she was distracting me from my task. She said sadly, "As long as I'm available to you as an almost limitless source of information about the past, you will keep finding excuses to delay your work."

Secret History of Humanity

Gohrlay believes that my assigned task is to tell the Secret History of Humanity, the story of how humans were created and given a chance to spread among the stars. Gohrlay has her own fish to fry, so she has never had much interest in the details of my work. I believe she resents my greedy desire to steal her time and endlessly question her about Deep Time.

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Lloyd Rognan

Ignoring the thrust of her words, I began questioning Alpha Gohrlay about the First Contact event that occurred in the Asimov Reality. She shook her head in dismay and said, "You really are hopeless. I must say farewell and go about my own business. You will never see me again."

Zeta Gohrlay
My mind was fixed on the hope that Alpha was joking, but right then another Gohrlay clone walked into the room. I felt a chill and gave a shudder as I watched the two twins. With a sly grin, Alpha Gohrlay assured me, "Zeta will be good for you."

Alpha Gohrlay

Zeta approached me with confidence and shook my hand. "I'm pleased to finally meet you." Zeta glanced at Alpha Gohrlay and said, "I'll take things from here." Alpha Gohrlay nodded, took a step backwards and disappeared through some sort of teleportation portal.

I was shocked by Alpha Gohrlay's sudden and dramatic departure. I began cursing myself for having driven her out of my life with my endless questions about the past. However, Zeta Gohrlay had no intention of letting me mope.

Zeta wore a shimmering synthetic cloak that generated its own light. Her dark hair floated in a cloud around her head, each strand moving under its own power, their movements synchronized like a flock of birds.

Zeta's outline

Zeta pulled up a chair, sat down beside me and directed my attention to the ultra-thin and flexible display screen that seemed to grow out of her hand. "Here is my proposed structure for the saga. I recommend that the events be told in five sequential volumes..."

I was not really listening to Zeta. At first, I was staring at her and trying to detect any physical features, no matter how small, that might distinguish her from Alpha Gohrlay. Zeta had a slight twang in her speech, as if she has spent many years living someplace exotic. Then my attention was grabbed by her morphing display screen. I reached out and touched it and felt its structure quickly solidify into the shape of a standard tablet computer. I asked, "You have access to nanites?"

the Trysta-Grean Pact
Special thanks to Miranda Hedman
(www.mirish.deviantart.com) for the
DeviantArt stock photograph "Black Cat 9 - stock"
that I used to create the blue "sedronite"
who is in this image.

She shook her head and replied, "No, I'm now trapped on this world with you. Under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, I had to give up all the conveniences of life. Ug! I'm even going to have to start brushing my teeth every day. I really don't know how Earthlings put up with their grungy and dreary lives."

I laughed and asked, "So this is your first time on Earth? Where are you from?"

"I grew up on Tar'tron. I've previously had just a few brief orientation visits to Earth. I even met you once previously, before you had reason to suspect that there are multiple Gohrlay clones."

I could discern no physical differences between Zeta and the other Gohrlay clones. While I watched and examined her, the material of her clothing stopped glowing and became indistinguishable from standard Earthly garments. Her hair settled into an unruly mop of curls and stopped writhing.

Zeta waited patiently while I inspected her. She seemed to be examining me just as carefully. Dozens of questions came to mind, but I was amused by the idea that she felt annoyance and anxiety about the prospect of living on Earth. I had to ask, "So why now? Did Alpha Gohrlay order you to move here to Earth?"

Zeta giggled. "My, my. Egrosū̆ did not exaggerate." Zeta shook her head slowly, "She warned me that it is impossible to keep you on task."

"I've been told that my entire life. If you plan to keep me on task, you better be prepared for frustration and disappointments. Egrosū̆? That is an odd name." When spoken, "Egrosu" ended in a strange warbling sound.

Zeta shrugged and shut off her tablet. "I'm in no hurry. I've waited for decades, often wondering if I would ever be given a chance to work directly with you." She seemed to reflect quietly on her past for a moment, then she continued, "My sisters and I all have real names. Egrosū̆ is a traditional name from an ancient and now dead language of Tar'tron."

"What is your real name?"

"Another word that would mean nothing to you. It is best if you simply call me Zeta."

I complained, "Fine, Zeta, but it bothers me that you have been watching me for decades. I suppose you know me so well that you expect to be able to trick me and bend me to doing your will."

Zeta laughed rather loudly. "Your psychological profile indicates that you despise being told what to do. That's okay, I don't mind continuing to indirectly manipulate your path through life."

Irked, I warned her, "If you've been watching me for years then you should know better than to admit that you've been trying to manipulate my behavior."

The Final Reality Change

Zeta took me by the hand. "Let's walk."

Five minutes later we were outside and in a calm and peaceful place. I was content to walk and listen to the noisy insects in the trees. My own speculations about Zeta and her mission on Earth buzzed in my thoughts.

Finally she spoke again. "Sure, I know you resent being controlled, but what I've done is nothing less that build and shape your life. Knowing the depths of your resentments, I'd hoped never to be forced into direct contact with you, although I had been warned that there was a high probability that I'd be forced to live out the end of my life on this primitive planet. However, I do agree with Egrosū̆." She corrected herself, "I really should call her 'Alpha'. Anyhow, you left us no choice but to move me onto the playing field of Earth. We might have tried to make do with one of my clone sisters, but that would have simply frustrated you. Since you and I have shared interests, we can work together, so this is for the best."

We walked for more than an hour and Zeta told me about her childhood on Tar'tron. She'd grown up enjoying stories and from among all of her clone sisters she had become the obvious choice to guide my development as a science fiction fan.

By the time she had completed the story of her life on Tar'tron, we'd returned home and settled back down at my writing desk. Zeta pointed to the screen of my computer and my recent blog post mentioning the possibility of a Final Collaborator.

With Zeta's eyes fixed on mine, a strong feeling of déjà vu came over me. I wondered, "Did you put the idea of finding a Final Collaborator into my head?"

She nodded, "I've spent decades preparing you for your task and frequently used the Bimanoid Interface to insert thoughts into your mind. During the past few years, I've been moving you along from one collaborator to the next, allowing you to learn about Deep Time. You now have all the knowledge that you need about the past. We will be able to work together and finally tell the Secret History of Humanity in the way that has been planned."

I had to ask, "Planned by you?"

"No." She giggled. "No, I'm only playing my assigned role, just like you. As you know, Trysta and Grean long ago anticipated and planned out the shape of the Final Reality as a universe in which you would tell the History of Humanity as a science fiction story."

Zeta sounded so confident and self-assured that I wondered if she had been shown the future. Was it possible that she knew how our lives would turn out? I asked her, "Why do you need me? Can't you write the Hidden History of Earth yourself?"

The Bimanoid Interface

Zeta seemed shocked by my suggestion. "Of course not! It is you who carries the memories of Parthney and Izhiun as well as Ivory and Thomas. And you still have your access to the Bimanoid Interface. Besides, it was specified by the Trysta-Grean Pact that the Secret History of Humanity must be told by a tryp'At."

"You know, nobody has ever explained to me why the Secret History of Humanity must be told at all."

Zeta shrugged, "Don't expect me to provide any deep insights into our predicament. I think we both understand and accept that telling the Secret History of Humanity will be beneficial for Earth. If nothing else, we can provide descriptions of past Realities in which things did not turn out well for Earthlings. I have to believe that when Trysta and Grean peered into the future they could see that by providing information about past Realities, you would help Humanity towards a better future here in the Final Reality."

I nodded, "Yes, that is what I tell myself, but I am haunted by doubts. There is a danger that I might tell people something that will alter the historical timeline, change Earth's future for the worse and lead to a new sort of catastrophe, maybe even an early extinction of the human species."

Planet of the Gods

Zeta gave a tiny nod of her head, but tried to dismiss my fears. "Well, I must trust that you and I would not be here today unless we could do some good."

"I don't think you share my background and training in science. Still, I suspect that you can appreciate the fact of my training in skepticism and the existence of my ingrained habits of thought that prevent me from trusting my hopes and wishes. I prefer to have my actions guided by evidence and reason."

Zeta gave my hand a reassuring pat. "We are now in possession of all the evidence that has been made available to us. Between us, we have plenty of reasoning power. Now, let's get busy." She turned on her tablet and we began discussing her plan for how to organize the story of how humans were created and then sent to the stars.

Next: Yōd, another Gohrlay clone.

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