700 Collaborators

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Last spring I had a blog post called 7 Collaborators. Last summer I continued my tradition of celebrating arbitrary numerical milestones when I reached 600 posts to this blog. This is my 700th wikifiction blog post and this is a good time to celebrate another large round number by reflecting upon the importance of collaboration.

700 Collaborators
For many years I felt like I was all alone in my search for an explanation of the odd world we inhabit. I sensed a hidden mystery that always remained just out of sight, just beyond the grasp of we Earthlings. The existence of that lurking mystery did not bother me. With time, a team of collaborators assembled and they helped me begin to understand where we humans come from and why we are such unusual creatures.

Hana and Hilde

Significant progress towards that ultimate understanding began with the Exode saga and Hana. I originally viewed Hana as my tool, someone who I could safely depict as a fictional character, an explorer who would reveal the role that humans play within a greater galactic civilization.

I had briefly known Hana back around 1980 after my friend Peter had introduced us. Later, in this millennium, I was surprised to learn about the strange medical condition that made impossible a normal life for Hana's daughter, Hilde. Even more shocking was the fact that Hana had disappeared when Hilde was still a small child. Those mysteries began to make some sense when I learned that Hana had departed from Earth.

Parthney and friends, 2012 (image credits)

Hana's removal from Earth and her adventure among the stars became an opportunity for me as a story teller. I imagined that Hana would be the protagonist in an investigative science fiction story that would reveal the structure of Genesaunt society within our galaxy. I already had the vague idea that there was a far-flung population of humans on other worlds besides Earth and it would be through the telling of Hana's story that the details of Genesaunt civilization would be revealed.

At the start of my investigation into Hana's interstellar adventures, there was no Exode saga, there was only a single story called Exode in which Hana, an Earth woman, was taken away from Earth and allowed to visit some of the other worlds of the galaxy where humans reside. I could not avoid asking: why among all the billions of people on Earth had Hana been selected to go on her great adventure among the stars?

Parthney: secret agent

That was a mystery and to resolve it, Parthney stepped forward as a second character in Exode who could provide an account of why Hana had to be removed from Earth. From the moment when Parthney first appeared in Exode he was trouble. As an Interventionist agent working on Earth, he had been carefully trained for his mission, but above all, Parthney had been trained to never reveal his secret identity to the people of Earth. Lucky for me, Parthney's grandson, Izhiun, was able to pass along to me what he knew about Parthney.

Interventionists

The Buld use nanites so as to make
possible technology-assisted telepathy

As long as Exode was only going to be a small story about Hana, there was absolutely no need to reveal the details of Parthney's mission on Earth. However, as soon as I became aware of Parthney's existence I realized that shedding light on the motivations of Interventionists like Parthney was exactly what Hana's journey to the stars was supposed to accomplish. So, rather than exist as a tiny plot device for the sole purpose of removing Hana from Earth and sending her on a great adventure, Parthney instead became the subject of a complex investigation.

Muchlo

My investigation of Parthney revealed a strange symmetry between his life and that of Hana. Parthney was "born" on the planet Hemmal, a world located in the Galactic Core. On Hemmal, Parthney grew up among the Buld, a people for whom Earth was only a place of myth and legend. In an alternate Reality, Parthney might have been happy to remain on Hemmal and devote his life to singing the traditional Hemmal ballads about Earth. But that was not to be. Parthney was subjected to his own personal exode: he was kicked off of Hemmal and sent to Earth as an Interventionist agent.

Ivory's whimsical depiction of an
alien pek Overseer. The pek can take on
any convenient physical form.

The task of removing Parthney from Hemmal was assigned to Muchlo, a pek. I believe that during the past million years or so, during the time when humans have existed on Earth, the pek have been unable to visit our world. This travel ban is self-imposed: the pek try to follow the Rules of Intervention. However, Hemmal is an artificially crafted world, designed by the pek as a place where they could craft "designer people", new human variants that better suit the needs of the pek than do we Earthlings.

Originally, Hemmal was a laboratory where the pek could craft a new type of primate called the Preland. "Preland" is an exonym, derived from the misguided concept of a "pre-landing species" of primate that had theoretically been designed and constructed at Observer Base. When dealing with Earthlings, the pek could get no closer than Observer Base and they had to work through proxy agents if they needed some task performed on Earth.

Biologically, Parthney was not a Buld. It was obvious to everyone on Hemmal that Parthney was unique and he did not really fit in with Buld culture. Perhaps most importantly, Parthney could not achieve the telepathic mind links that the Buld take for granted.

Parthney is actually a clone of Thomas. As such, Parthney is a special hybrid humanoid who retains some of the Asterothrope gene combinations that Thomas inherited from his mother, Trysta.

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The Asterothropes were a human variant, crafted by R. Gohrlay in the far future. Under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, the descendants of Trysta were special: they were designed to be nearly human so that they would be allowed to remain on Earth.

As shown in the family tree, above, Trysta had two sets of children who managed to reach the Final Reality. Thomas was born into the Ekcolir Reality while Andy was born here, in the Final Reality. As Trysta's first born, Thomas was given special treatment: he was taken into a space-time bubble and transferred from the Ekcolir Reality to the Final Reality. Thomas was used as the root genetic stock for a large number of clones. Parthney was the last of a group of Thomas clones who served as Interventionist agents on Earth.

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Andy's descendants became involved in another cloning project that resulted in creation of the so-called Atlantis Clones. The original template for the Atlantis Clones was Ivory Fersoni. Ivory and her clones became some of my most important collaborators. It was Ivory who made it possible for me to begin to receive infites from Thomas and Izhiun. While sifting through the information provided to me by the Atlantis Clones, I was surprised to learn that Hana's daughter, Hilde, is actually an Ivory clone.

Syon (source)

I first began thinking in terms of collaborators four years ago in the context of Parthney and the people he knew at Lendhalen. Eventually I realized that Parthney is just one of the many clones of Thomas and the character who I originally named "Robin" was actually Syon, an artificial life "copy" of Trysta. Parthney was trained for his Interventionist mission to Earth by Syon, but there was a group of collaborators at Lendhalen 

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Everything suddenly changed a few years ago when I was given the "gift" of a swarm of infites by Ivory Fersoni. The information content of those information nanites quickly expanded my conscious awareness and I discovered that I was part of a secretive collaborative effort aimed at salvaging a future for the human species.

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Why secretive? As far as I can tell, the existence of we humans is a serious violation of the ethical laws that have guided the evolution of life in our universe for the past two billion years. The human species was brought into existence by the bumpha. The bumpha and the pek function like two political parties within the Huaoshy-sanctioned effort to bring order to the Hadronic Domain. We can view the bumpha as the liberal wing, always pushing to expand opportunities for primitive species such as we humans.

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The pek are more conservative. They take seriously the fact that hadronic lifeforms like we humans almost always manage to make a mess on their home planet and eventually they become extinct, after doing vast damage to ecosystems and other lifeforms. The basic problem is that tool using primates such as we humans can be counted onto miss-use advanced technologies.

Ivory and her clones such as Anney became the core of a group of collaborators called the Dead Widowers. Sadly, the Dead Widowers were kicked off of Earth by the tryp'At Overseers. Lucky for me, the Dead Widowers have been able to provide me with useful information obtained from the Hierion and Sedronic Domains.

the Trysta-Grean Pact

In addition to infites from Parthney and Ivory, Thomas was "kind" enough to pass on to me the infites that he had originally obtained from Asimov. With all of the clues in my infites, I finally realized that there was a copy of Gohrlay residing on Earth here in the final Reality. In fact, there is a group of Gohrlay clones, several of whom I have met. Also, it became clear that I am tryp'At.

Autocollaboration

Mahasvin

Zeta is one of the Gohrlay clones who has recently become a major collaborator. Zeta has hinted that in addition to my replicoid, there may be another "copy" of me in the Hierion Domain. This information apparently originates with Zeta's replicoid, who has heard a rumor that "my copy" is on trial at Observer Base. Some Overseers believe that under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, there should be no tryp'At on Earth. According to that interpretation, I should have long ago been removed from Earth.

blue sedronite source

Zeta seems hopeful that Mahasvin will be able to arrange for me to continue to reside on Earth so that I can complete the task of reporting to Earthlings the Secret History of Humanity. However, Zeta seems to be preparing me for the possibility that I might have to go into hiding from the Overseers. How that might be possible she cannot explain.

My most recently arrived collaborator is Yōd, another clone of Gohrlay. Yōd is currently functioning as an information channel, relaying reports about the Asimov replicoid's activities in the Hierion Domain. Apparently Yōd's replicoid is assisting Asimov with his Deep Time investigation of the Asimov Reality.

Next: Celebrating the stories of Jack Vance.

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The Hidden History of Hilde

Artist's concept of Hilde

I was recently shocked to learn of Ivory's death, but before she slipped away to pursue her second life, she left me with a gift: a swarm of infites that contain memories of our shared time together in the Hierion Domain.

Ivory's clones were experimented upon and used as test subjects for exploring the possibility that Earthlings might successfully be given access to the vast information content of the Sedronic Domain. Previously, I've assumed that Ivory had good reasons for protecting the identities of her clone "sisters". However, my old conceptualization of the twisted fates of the "Atlantis Clones" has now been shaken.

I now believe that Anney is still on Earth and functioning as part of a secret cabal: the Dead Widowers. Someone, probably Anney, recently sent me a cognitive stimulant that has allowed me to awaken some of my repressed memories of my time "inside" the Hierion Domain.

Thomas and Hilde

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In addition to the infites that I received from Ivory, I also carry memory nanites that long resided with the brain of Thomas. I suppose I should not have been surprised to learn that Thomas and I have interacted by way of the virtual reality interface of the Hierion Domain. By matching my own nicotine-boosted "dream" memories of the Hierion Domain to the infite-generated memories of Thomas' experiences in the Hierion Domain I've confirmed that he and I met "inside" the Hierion Domain. In fact, what I learned from Thomas during those meetings was what allowed me to begin crafting stories set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe.

I'm not doing quite as well accepting a second, similar revelation about the Hierion Domain. It turns out that I first had "dealings" with an Atlantis Clone in 1982. Previously, I was allowed to make the false assumption that Hilde was the daughter of Peter and Hana. Of course, there was always something odd about Hilde's origins. Hana believed that I was Hilde's father. I knew that I was not Hilde's father, but I still felt guilt for "abandoning" her. Somehow my guilt was largely washed away by the "revelation" that Peter was Hilde's father.

Shortly before she left Earth and went off on her adventure among the stars, Hilde contacted me and and tried to explain the role that Peter had played in her life. Reviewing my memories, I now realize that Hilde did not explain very carefully and I was too upset to really listen anyhow. Actually, Thomas once explained it "better", but I only just recently gained conscious access to what Thomas told me.

River City

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Space and time do not have their normal anchors in the Hierion Domain. I've previously mentioned the fact that Lili, Ivory's grandmother, was born on Rain World, a planet of the Galactic Core. I believe that "modern humans" evolved on Earth, but it might be that more human replicoids trace their origins to worlds of the Galactic Core than to Earth itself.

I borrowed the image to the right from a video game, but it is not a bad match to the setting within the Hierion Domain where Thomas told me the truth about Hilde.

For me, at least, entry into the Hierion Domain is a near death experience. Each time it happens, I am snatched from the safe tranquility of my dreams and pulled through a Hierion Tube. I experience the transition as if my conscious self is ripped out of my physical body. Somewhere above me, a deep vibration begins and my mind is caught in a psychic wind. Soon my mind rises above my body and then I'm there, inside the Hierion Domain.

Hilde, Lili and Thomas in River City

My mind seems to barely be able to survive the experience of being inside the Hierion Domain. What I experience is a kind of virtual reality interface. Often I have been summoned into the Hierion Domain by some acquaintance (like Thomas) who is trying to be helpful, but I seem to be a source of frustration. Usually I arrive and feel like I've joined a party at just about the time when the last few stragglers are cleaning up the mess and getting ready to depart. My replicoid is always there in the Hierion Domain, but occasionally it occurs to someone like Thomas that "me", the flesh and blood extension of of my replicoid, might benefit from some tidbit of information.

On this occasion, I found myself in what can best be translated as "River City", what I believe to be the Hierion Domain's virtual reality version of the home town of Lili. Nobody has ever explained to me the popularity of River City with the rag-tag band of Earthly residents who have, through the years, repeatedly dragged me into the Hierion Domain. I guess it serves as their base of operations for planning my life. Upon my arrival there, I found Thomas in conversation with two "aliens". As usual, I was struggling to adjust to the Interface. Apparently my replicoid had just collapsed and fallen off his chair. "My" first task, now that my conscious mind controlled the body of my replicoid, was to get up off the floor.

The two aliens noticed my arrival, then Thomas turned and waved towards me. He said cheerfully, "Ah, you did make it through. Join us! You'll be pleased to hear about my latest discovery."

I half walked, half stumbled to my stool. While helping to guide me, Thomas introduced me to the alien who was sitting at the bar. "This is Hilde."

She grabbed my arm and helped me get into a fairly stable position on the bar stool. Thomas held my other arm and steadied me. He pointed to the alien who was standing on the other side of the bar. "And this is Lili."

My head was spinning with my usual effort to adjust to the Interface and I struggled to accept the idea that Hilde could be there with us in the Hierion Domain. She seemed perfectly at ease and did not seem to be struggling like I was to adjust to the Bimanoid Interface.

Lili said, "You look like you need a drink."

Everyone laughed. Of course, I was not really there, and I could not be effected by any simulated drugs from within the Hierion Domain. I looked at the right hand of my replicoid and was impressed by how closely it resembled my own hand. Somehow that fragment of normalcy steadied me and I croaked, "I'll be okay now."

Thomas slapped "me" on the back and said, "Good man!" Before saying anything further, he nervously toyed with one of the tobacco leaves that were scattered across the shiny surface of the bar. After a long pause he said, "Hilde is still hiding from me on Earth, but she relented and came groveling to me here."

Lili said sharply, "She's not groveling, you jackass."

I still had hold of Hilde's arm with my left hand and now I reached across and took hold of her hand with my right hand. Although I was freaked out by her alien appearance, I still managed to say politely, "It's nice to finally meet you."

She squeezed my hand reassuringly and said, "I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble."

Responding to the kindness in her voice and what seemed like empathy in her alien eyes, I said, "I'm sorry I ran out on you and Hana."

Hilde shook her head, rejecting my natural tendency to wallow in a mire of self-flaggelation and pity for the 'poor fatherless child'. She spoke rather wistfully, "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you had stayed with Hana and pretended to be my father, but everything worked out just fine."

Lili asked, "With Betty on the job, what could have gone wrong?"

At that point in my life, I'd never heard of Betty. I asked Lili, "Who is this 'Betty'?"

Thomas tried to deflect the conversation towards his reason for dragging me into the Domain. He explained briefly, "Betty took care of Hilde after Hana left Earth." I probably had a confused look frozen on "my" face. Thomas said, "Anyhow, that's a detail. What's important is that I've finally learned the truth about Hilde's father."

Lili shook her head and voiced an aside, "I can't believe that anyone was confused."

Thomas muttered, "I'm still confused. Why the hell was Peter handing out clones of Ivory like they were door prizes?"

Lili admonished Thomas, "Don't make a federal case out of it, it was just a simple experiment. Only one clone was taken out of Atlantis." Lili looked me in the eye and pleaded with me, "Don't you understand? Anna was too young to carry a baby and Peter was too eager to wait."

Hilde added, "And no harm was done."

Thomas complained, "Given what Hana went through, I wonder if she would agree with that assessment."

I touched Hilde's alien-shaped ear. "I thought you were human."

She giggled, "As an Ivory Clone, I have a lot of alien genes. Here in this domain I can play around and try to reconstruct my natural appearance."

Trying to look past the alien facial features, I could see hints of Ivory in the form that Hilde's replicoid was using on that occasion. I knew Ivory quite well and now that I was back in the Hierion Domain I could remember the many times she had mentioned her "sisters" Anna, Anney and Angela. I asked foolishly, "Ivory was cloned?"

Thomas laughed, "She's a very popular model. So far there are four clones of Ivory, on Earth. Hilde is the oldest of the second generation."

I had no idea what he meant by "generations" of clones and the way he had said "on Earth" seemed ominous. Before I could percolate a question up through the swirling confusion of my thoughts, Hilde explained, "Anna was the first; Lili's handiwork....just five years younger than Ivory. The proof of concept. Then Anna took charge and made the next generation of clones. Anna was like a mad scientist...she showed no restraint."

Thomas added, "With Lili and Peter pushing her to experiment with developmental guidance nanites, she had no choice."

Hilde nodded, "Ya, and since Peter was going to school with Hana, I suppose she was an obvious choice to be my birth mother. Still, he could have explained to her what was going on before he blasted her life."

Lili disagreed. "No, not in those days. Everyone on Earth was afraid of the Overseers. Peter had to secretly implant you in Hana and keep watch over the nanites. As it was, his experiment attracted the attention of Parthney. Lucky for us all it ended there."

I tried to rub my head and make sense of what I was hearing, but I was lost. I asked, "Who is Peter?"

Thomas laughed and pulled me to my feet. "That will become clear when the Buld arrive. Now, your replicoid is getting edgy and wants you out. So, goodnight!"

I felt myself being pushed out of my replicoid and sent back to Earth through the Hierion Tube. My dreams swallowed up the memory of that trip into the Hierion Domain, but now, I'm able to look back on that experience with new understanding.

I had originally assumed that Hilde was part of an experiment performed by Deomede in which the effects of certain alien gene combinations were tested in the environment of Earth. Under that working hypothesis, I might very well have been Hilde's father.

Then I latched onto the idea that Peter was Hilde's father. For a time, I could tell myself that Peter was just some guy that Hana and I knew when we were in college.

I still don't understand why it had to be me and Hana who were swept up in Peter's little science experiment.

Related Reading: Hilde's life in the Ekcolir Reality

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Nicotinic Anney

In a recent blog post, I explained that I now have access to memories that were generated within the Hierion Domain. Ivory had the ability to "awaken" my consciousness and pull me from my dreams into a virtual reality that exists in the higher dimensional space of the Hierion Domain.

Ivory triggered my access to old memories of those times spent in the Hierion Domain when she inserted into my brain a swarm of infites that carry her own memories of our shared adventures in that virtual reality. In addition, I had recently received in the mail a small bottle of a "magic potion" that was sent to me by members of the Dead Widower Society. The "potion" contains a special mixture of chemicals that can safely stimulate a human brain and help someone like me better utilize the Bimanoid Interface.

Anney

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I've previously assumed that Ivory's clone "sister", Anney, left Earth several years ago by hitching a ride on the Buld spaceship. However, I've now begun to question the validity of that assumption.

Anney and Angela have the ability to explore the past Realities of Earth. Ivory always told me that Angela was providing us with information about the Ekcolir Reality, but I now have reason to suspect that Ivory was deceiving me. Her tangled lies began to unfold when Ivory provided me with some infites that hold her memory of a conversation between Ivory, Marta and Anney. First, I'll provide a concise account of Ivory's recollection of that event, then I'll give my analysis of its deeper meaning.

At Atlantis

Ivory was discussing the Ekcolir Reality with Anney. Anney said, "Of course, when New York was evacuated, not everyone left."

Ivory was trying to understand how Thomas had slipped from the Ekcolir Reality into the Buld Reality. She asked, "Thomas ignored the evacuation orders?"

Anney replied, "Trysta could get them out at a moments notice. They were in no danger."

Ivory was confused by this revelation. "Wait. Are we talking about the same storm? The hurricane of 1973?"

Anney nodded. "Yes. That was his last chance to be with Trysta in the Ekcolir Reality. She was lonely and anxious because Ekcolir had departed from the Ekcolir Reality almost a year earlier. When the storm hit, Thomas was then teleported to the Moon and kept safe inside the space-time bubble of the original time travel device. Trysta did not fully trust Grean, even then."

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Ivory shook her head, "But Angela told me that Thomas never knew about Trysta's plans for the new Reality."

Anney shrugged, "Ya, Trysta told Thomas nothing useful about his future."

Right then, Marta entered the room. She was carrying her niece, the newborn daughter of her brother, Peter. For a few minutes the baby was handed around and examined by Ivory and Anney. When Anney was holding the baby, Ivory glanced at her mother and met Marta's eye. She said, "Don't say it."

Anney looked up and asked, "Say what?"

Marta shrugged, "I didn't say anything."

Anney smiled and said, "Oh, ya....the grandchildren thing."

Marta put an arm around Anney and whispered, "Ivory is an old maid, but I still have hopes for you."

Anney giggled, "Babies are cute, but I can't imagine bringing a new life into this pek-forsaken planet. Besides, with my ability to examine any man's replicoid..." She shrugged and left it at that.

Ivory added, "And Angela's the same way. Face it, mom, your only hope for grandchildren lies with Anna, and she's getting too old to do anything stupid."

Anney gazed off into the distance, her eyes unfocussed while she peered into the Sedronic Domain. "Although, Trysta did imply that she would have descendants on both sides of the family, from both Deomede and Ekcolir."

Marta asked, "What do you see?"

Anney shook her head and returned her sense of vision to her hadronic body. "Trysta felt it was important to keep some secrets." She whispered to Marta, "You know how that is." Anney handed the baby back to Marta.

Ivory asked her mother, "Ya, are you ever going to open up your vault of secrets?"

Marta tried to look innocent. "Whatever do you mean?"

Ivory complained, "If you ever explained your motives then I might listen to you when you spin your fantasies about me going back out into the world."

Anney said, "You're just stubborn, Ivory. You've been out there before. You're the logical choice. You can't expect someone like me to abandon the safety of Atlantis and go out among the Earthlings." She said "Earthlings" with a tone of disgust and shiver of repulsion.

Ivory nodded, "Yes, I did my time among the Earthlings. You can't expect an escaped prisoner to volunteer to go back to jail."

Marta said, "It's not that bad. Just think: this sweet little baby will grow up out there and find someone wonderful and have a completely happy life as an Earthling. You two are just spoiled. It's a mistake to introduce little girls to the Hierion Domain".

Anney muttered, "You certainly can't use the Hierion Domain as a way to brainwash people."

Ivory eyed her clone sister suspiciously, "What do you mean, brainwash?"

Anney said, "Nothing."

Ivory knew Anney well and could sense when something was being concealed. She said, "For me, the Hierion Domain was only a source of frustration. I wandered around in there for years and accomplished nothing."

Anney commented quietly, "You've admitted before that you were happy in there, with your companion."

Ivory shook her head and said thoughtfully, "I was lonely, but it was all fake. Eventually I realized that I was living a lie and got out of there."

Anney whispered, "Nobody escapes from the Hierion Domain."

Ivory said firmly, "I did. Lucky for you, I did."

Anney laughed at Ivory, "You know that your replicoid is still in there. Aren't you even curious-"

"No!" Ivory shouted. "And don't bother pretending that you have wonderful news from my replicoid. I won't believe anything you say."

The shout had startled the baby. Marta said, "Quiet, the baby was almost asleep." She shifted the warm bundle of blankets and baby to her shoulder. "You know Anney's right. Why does it make you so angry to hear the truth?"

Anney answered for Ivory. "Ivory hates men."

Ivory snapped back, "I do not!"

Anney pushed her point. "You told me that men are stinkers."

Marta shook her head sadly, "I'll have to put Peter to work on the pheromone problem. Nose plugs could solve the problem if you weren't all so stubborn."

Ivory asked her mother, "Was that your solution? Nose plugs? I owe my existence to nose plugs?"

Marta replied, "Your father ravished me out there on the beach. I just kept him down wind."

Trysta and Ekcolir

The three women laughed and then grew quiet. Anney said to Ivory, "Grandchildren to the side, you are the logical choice to go out into the world and test the waters."

Ivory nodded. "I know. But these days I can do everything via the internet. I don't need to physically go out among the Earthlings."

Marta added, "Don't lie to yourself. You are an Earthling, Ivory."

Anney sighed. "Truth. How rare. But, yes, it is true, not all Earthlings stink."

Ivory asked, "How would you know?"

Anney explained, "When I'm in the Sedronic Domain I can access information about each person's genome. A few Earthlings are like us, full of Preland gene combinations. Ekcolir made sure of that."

Ivory was skeptical, "I'm the geneticist. You've never explained how Preland gene combinations can be identified within the Sedronic Domain."

"I can't explain the details, but I can read the gene analysis results. Just like Peter, your old flame lacks the genes that manufacture the stink."

Ivory shrugged, "I told you, I'm not going to believe any of your stories. I'm happy here and I'm not going back out there."

Marta sighed and asked. "How did I raise such a stubborn girl?"

Anney suggested, "Part of the problem is your refusal to tell Ivory the truth."

Marta nodded, "But she's so far gone that she won't listen to the truth even when it is told."

"Ivory likes gossip." Anney looked speculatively at Ivory. "Maybe if I told her your secrets then she'd listen."

Marta laughed, "Ya, right." Then Marta seemed to take Anney seriously. She asked sharply, "What are you pretending to know of my secrets?"

Anney shrugged, "Oh, nothing much."

Ivory laughed, "You better tread lightly Marta, Anney and Angela will eventually find out everything. It's all in the Sedronic Domain, just waiting to be discovered."


Marta tried to pretend that she did not care. "All my secrets are old and useless."

Anney chuckled, "He is old, now, but so is Ivory."

Ivory asked, "Who are you talking about?"

Marta said, "Anney, you don't have to answer."

Anney and Ivory returned to discussing Thomas and his transition from the Ekcolir Reality to the Buld Reality. Marta grew bored and tired of holding the baby and she wandered off.

When Marta was out of the room, Anney said, "You know, he had an analog in the Ekcolir Reality."

Ivory did not try to pretend that she did not know that Anney was returning to their previous conversation. She asked, "You found his analog in the Sedronic Domain?"

Anney nodded. "I found clues to his existence in previous Realities...it was enough for me to track him down within the Hierion Domain, particularly when I put two and two together."

Ivory asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means that your attempt to get me to think like a scientist sometimes pays off. I hypothesized that Marta could still summon him into the Hierion Domain. I was right."

Ivory sighed. "You know, I'm a bit jealous. For years he's been safely tucked away in my memories. I'm not happy hearing that you've been in contact with him."

Anney suggested, "You're still in love with him."

Ivory shrugged. "Love? We lived a dozen lifetimes together. He is part of me. In the end, it just became endless frustration. Back then, Marta refused to let me contact him in the real world. All we had was the lies, the absurd virtual relationship that we constructed. It was like a dream, particularly for him. I had to end it and return to reality. Otherwise I'd still be in there, trapped in the dream."

Foundations of Eternity

"So, now when Marta suggests that you seek him out in the real world, why do you refuse?"

"It has to be on my terms. The time is not right."

"What are you waiting for?"

"What we are all waiting for. For the Buld to arrive."

"That's crazy. The Buld mean nothing to him. He could die tomorrow and be gone. Why wait?"

Ivory put her arms around Anney and looked her square in the eye, "You don't know everything. Trust me on this. If First Contact turns out well with the Buld, when the time is right...I will act."

Hindsight

Here is my interpretation of that memory (above) from Ivory.

In some sense, there have been two copies of "me" within the Hierion Domain. I've recovered some memories from the times when I was in the "virtual reality" of the Hierion Domain with Ivory. However, even when "I" was not there with Ivory, there was always my "replicoid", the artificial life version of me that lives out its own life in that Domain. I believe that Ivory did live "a dozen lifetimes" within the Hierion Domain with my replicoid.

At some point in my life, Ivory realized that she had to stop summoning me into the Hierion Domain. By then, she was apparently content to do without "me" and continue living with my replicoid. However, Ivory was not the only one who could summon me. Marta apparently continued to bring me into the Hierion Domain, and she continued to pretend to be Ivory. Anney discovered this fact and took a certain amount of delight in teasing Marta about her secret contacts with me.

Ivory waited as long as she could before contacting me in the real world. She did not want to disrupt my life and make me a slave to the task of telling the secret history of Earth. She cared enough about me to arrange for one last visit after her death.

A remaining puzzle is Anney. I now suspect that she remains on Earth and is part of the Dead Widower Society. Anney apparently spent years searching through both the Hierion Domain and the Sedronic Domain, learning about the secret history of Earth and the differences between humans and the alien Prelands. I don't understand how Marta and Ivory summoned my consciousness into the Hierion Domain, but I wonder if Anney also has that power.

"long skirt, sitting 1" by Jamari Lior

At the very least, Anney seems to have once "followed" Marta into the Hierion Domain and observed her interacting with me (or my replicoid). Someone associated with the Dead Widowers (Anney?) recently sent me a nicotine-based brain stimulant that allows me to recover my memories of the Hierion Domain.

Image credits. See the deviantArt stock image called "long skirt, sitting 1" by Jamari Lior.
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The Selfies of Tar'tron

See the original Planet Stories cover art here.

Last year I decided that Trysta would live out her biological life and then transfer her mind into a robotic body that would then "live" its artificial life using the name Syon. At the end of last year I sketched in some of the details of how Syon the "robot"  operates as an Interventionist agent. Trysta's mind transfer is made possible by the fact that Trysta is an Asterothrope from the far future (10,000,000 years in our future), so she has access to advanced technology that makes it easy for her to transfer her mind into an artificial life form and go on "living" as Syon.

What about we humans of the Primitive Era? Is it possible for any of us to transfer our minds into a robotic body? Do we have a shot at that sort of immortality? Foundations of Eternity tells the story of how Gohrlay the Neanderthal got help from the pek that allowed her mind to be instantiated inside a positronic robot. However, Gohrlay was a special case, the only human to ever be "given immortality" by the pek. (update: Ivory is apparently the 2nd)

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The Kac'hin are a human variant that was created tens of thousands of years ago by the pek. The pek designed the Kac'hin to function as a special interface between the Huaoshy and Humanity in the hope that a negotiated end of the Time War might be achieved.

We might wonder if during their long existence the Kac'hin have made progress towards being able to transfer their minds into artificial bodies. However, I've long been committed to the idea that the Kac'hin are restricted to using relatively unsophisticated nanites in their work. Without advanced zeptites or femtobots, is there some means by which a Kac'hin could achieve mind transfer?

Selfies

Gohrlay's assistant, Nan

As depicted in Foundations of Eternity, it was the practice of the pek to provide every human living at Observer Base on the Moon with a robotic assistant. For example, over time, Nan learned to effortlessly anticipate the behavior of Gohrlay. There were zeptites residing in Gohrlay's brain and Nan used that zeptite swarm as the source of a kind of technology-generated telepathic contact with Gohrlay. Through all the days of Gohrlay's life, Nan learned how to correlate her on-going brain activity to her near-term behavior. Plus, Nan was very old and had vast experience from her dealings with a long line of past human "masters". Further, all of the Orbho (as the pek at Observer Base were known), including Nan, functioned as a kind of group mind that had been monitoring and learning from every human that ever existed.

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With the collusion of the pek, the planet Tar'tron became a major site for Kac'hin science and technology development. The pek wanted a way to stabilize and control Kac'hin society, so they allowed nanotechnology and robotics research to bloom on Tar'tron. With time, as a result of technological advances made by the Kac'hin themselves, the residents of Tar'tron were provided with personal robots that could each be trained to mimic and replicate the behavior of their particular owner. These robots, which for lack of a better name I'll refer to as "Selfies", could "live" on after the death of their owner as integral members of Kac'hin society. Some of the Kac'hin were entirely cold to the idea of artificial life form replicas of themselves that would continue to "live" on after the biological original had died. Other biological Kac'hin systematically worked to provide their personal "Selfie" with a mind that was as close as possible to an exact duplicate of their original biological mind.

Grean the Kac'hin

Eventually, Kac'hin society became a mixture of biological and artificial lifeform members. The Selfies eventually took over all Kac'hin scientific research and with time became a tool by which the pek could unobtrusively interact with and control the biological Kac'hin. In their original plan for the Kac'hin, the pek envisioned only needing one Kac'hin individual who could have the appearance of a human and defeat Gohrlay's cadre of positronic robots. That particular Kac'hin turned out to be Grean. After eliminating all the positronic robots, Grean then collaborated with Trysta and brought into existence the Buld Reality.

Clones: Thomas and
Parthney on the Moon

While Grean did most of the heavy lifting, Trysta and Grean came to realize that other Kac'hin (such as Lili and Kach) were needed to play additional important roles in helping create the Buld Reality. Some of the other Kac'hin who play roles in the Exode Trilogy are mentioned here.

I've previously described the role that Lycaun plays in Exode. Biologically, Lycaun is a clone of Kach. Also, I've previously noted roles for multiple clones of Thomas (particularly Parthney) in Exode. The many "Thomas clones" who precede Parthney as Interventionists on Earth were able to channel their experiences to Parthney, better preparing him for his mission on Earth. How was Lycaun prepared for her mission?

Lycaun and Kach
at Observer Base
on the Moon

Mind Transfer
As described above, Selfies do not really provide the Kac'hin with a way to transfer a biological mind into an artificial life form. The minds of Selfies had to be carefully constructed by their "masters" over the course of a lifetime. What about the transfer of a mind from a Selfie back into a clone of the Selfie's original "master"?

The pek cultured a population of Kac'hin on Rain World and from that population they selected the original biological Kac'hin (named Wyzalex Torvaya) from whom Kach was eventually produced as a biological clone. There were many previous generations of Wyzalex clones who lived before Kach and Lycaun. Several of the earliest such clones lived on Tar'tron and produced Selfies. In addition to Wyzalex there were several other such "foundational" Kac'hin who were selected from the Kac'hin population of Rain World, cloned and "copied" into Selfies.

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Techniques were perfected for using the minds of these carefully crafted Selfies as "developmental templates" that could (with the help of specially programmed nanites) optimize the neural development of important Kac'hin such as the "Wyzalex clones". Thus, Kach's remarkable and optimized cognitive abilities are the result of careful selection and engineering. Grean, Lili, Lycaun and the other Kac'hin who pay important roles in the Exode Trilogy were all meticulously crafted for their roles in this way.

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Eventually, when it came time for the "Ivory Clones" to be crafted on Earth, Peter was able to deploy similar nanite-mediated neurodevelopmental programming techniques.

As mentioned in this blog post, I remain interested in the possibility that similar techniques might exist for shaping my adult brain into a configuration that would allow me to gain access to the vast information content of the Sedronic Domain. I've now discovered that Ivory was aware of techniques for returning to adult human brains the type of hyper-plasticity that is characteristic of early human brain development. However, there are risks involved with applying these techniques, particularly if you work without the aid of neurodevelopmental guidance nanites. Ivory believed that such nanites are available to the Observers who still reside at Observer Base on the Moon. I've begun to fantasize that Ivory might have left Earth in order to visit Observer Base and obtain those nanites.

Next: another mission for Ivory;  continuing our search for  R. Gohrlay.

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