Telepathy Twist

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Two years ago, back in 2017, I was asking a large number of questions about telepathy and its role in the Exode Saga. For a time, it had been possible to make progress towards understanding telepathy by making use of the telepathic network that linked together the Atlantis clones. However, when the tryp'At Overseers killed Ivory Fersoni, my access to the Atlantis clones came to an end.

For the past several years I have been trying to explore the mechanics of telepathy by investigating old science fiction stories and searching them for clues about how humans were given telepathic abilities. During the early part of that Sci Fi investigation, the tryp'At Overseers were still getting in the way and actively blocking my access to better sources of information about telepathy.

Better Sources

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First of all, the Writers Block is "available" at Observer Base with its archive of science fiction stories from the Ekcolir Reality. An organized effort was made in the Ekcolir Reality to use the science fiction genre as a way to prepare the people of Earth for the arrival of the alien Fru'wu. Stories such as "The Sedron Mind Link" that were published in the Ekcolir Reality contained details about how the nanite components of human brains can make it possible for some humans to have telepathic abilities.

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Second source: the Asimov Reality Simulator. Yes, Daneel was able to craft humans with twitino-mediated telepathy in the Foundation Reality. Trillions of humans on 25,000,000 planets of the galaxy were linked into a vast telepathic network (Galaxia) in an attempt to create a defense against the alien Huaoshy. However, the Huaoshy had the technical ability to alter the Dimensional Structure of the Universe and eliminate twitino-mediated telepathy. That was not the end of telepathy. In the Asimov Reality, humans were endowed with a new type of technology-assisted telepathy that does not rely on twitinos. Lucky for us, R. Nyrtia preserved a record of how that technology-assisted telepathy was developed in the Asimov Reality. However, that historical account of how human telepathy arose in the Asimov Reality has long been inaccessible to we humans. We humans simply could not make use of the AR Simulator.

Bimanoid Interface 2.0

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Then, about a year ago, the barriers around these two information resources began to crumble. When the the Bimanoid Interface was upgraded, the tryp'At were forced to abandon Observer Base. It was then discovered that Isaac Asimov's replicoid (Azynov) could be sent into the AR Simulator. However, the problem remained: how might it be possible to send what Azynov learned (while inside the AR Simulator) about telepathy back to Earth?

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The solution to that problem was creation of a new network of telepaths: the Mind Clone Network.

During the past year, I have had had tantalizing hints that it might be possible for me to participate in the exchange of telepthic signals flowing between members of the Mind Clone Network. However, the members of that network all seem to be a small group of special women who can give birth to their Mind Clone.

Zeta

As told by Rylla in A Search Beyond, my grand-daughter may have been the first Mind Clone born on Earth. During her pregnancy, when Rylla was close to giving birth to her own daughter, the Mind Clone Network seemed to be functioning, but Yōd (who is now inside the AR Simulator with Azynov) could only send telepathic signals to me while I was asleep. Something was interfering with the ability of my conscious mind to be telepathically linked to Yōd.

Zeta developed the theory that while I was asleep, the infites that I had received from Yōd were able to create an "antenna" that allowed me to link to Yōd's mind in the AR Simulator. As Zeta put it, "When you are awake, you constantly think about Ivory and the other people who have over-loaded your mind with infites." Was I inadvertently disabling my own ability to function as a good "antenna"?

Izhiun

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Zeta has long been obsessed with Ivory, but I was particularly concerned with the fact that my mind carries infites that came from Izhiun. I could not escape the odd feeling that in order to make progress using the Mind Clone Network, we needed to get Izhiun out of our way. During the unusually long pregnancies of Zeta, Rylla and Nora, I remain hopeful that Nora would be able to make contact with one of her colleagues and arrange to have Izhiun removed from Earth. I was waiting for a second visit by the Buld spaceship that had previously visited Earth. My hope was that if Izhiun was removed from Earth, then Rylla and I would finally be free to write the Secret History of Humanity. As described at the end of this blog post, it appears that Izhiun has finally departed.

Next: three types of Mind Clones

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I, Clavius

Nora Adamanta

I was vaguely aware of the existence of Nora. My son had mentioned her several times, but in such a low-key and off-handed manner that I had not actually allowed myself to take her presence in the structure of my family very seriously. It all seemed tenuous and fragile. I imagined Nora as the first indication that it might actually be possible to find a "replacement" for my grand-daughter Verella's mother who had been missing for more than ten years.

However, Nora's growing importance within my son's life and all of the related events in the research laboratory run by my son were taking place far away, on the other side of the planet. I had my own concerns, so Nora had captured very little of my attention.

That all changed on the cool winter day when she arrived at my front door. Zeta had gone to the door expecting to deal with a package delivery and at the sound of the doorbell, I had glanced up, peering through the window of the guest room which I sometimes use as my study. Nora has fascinating structural features, many of which were immediately apparent since she seemed very lightly dressed for December. I could see her there waiting politely at the front gate (even though we never bother to close the gate) then she turned and looked directly at me.

Betty

Suddenly I remembered an Interventionist agent who I had originally known as "Betty" and who Zeta knew as "Dark Nora". The image of Nora (Betty) that I had long held in my mind was a borrowed one that had come to me in the set of infites that I had received from Parthney. Somehow I had allowed myself to imagine that Betty had completed her work on Earth had departed from our world. It was surprising to realize that my son's new friend (Nora) was the artificial lifeform that Parthney had known as Betty. I suddenly knew this in a flash of recognition that was triggered by the infites that I had more recently received from Yōd. Betty loves playing with disguises, but Yōd's infites held the key for allowing recognition of Nora/Betty. That key was her telepathic mind pattern, a pattern that was well known to Yōd.

I had no conscious telepathic connection to Nora, but our minds were able to exchange information at a more subliminal level. I recognized her mind pattern and I knew: this was Nora/Betty.

My mind was tipped into a state of startlement and amazement so it was only after Zeta let Nora pass through the front door that I noticed there was no car in the driveway. I wondered where Nora had arrived from and how she had reached our home in the dessert, then I remembered that in the previous millennium Betty had been in control of teleportation technology. It had been Betty who long ago had teleported Hana off of Earth.

Zeta and I share a special kind of telepathic link, so I knew that she wanted me. Now! I forced myself out of my shocked paralysis and hurried down the hallway to the living room. I felt the full force of two sparkling sets of eyes upon me as I entered the room. I've long experienced the effects of Zeta's facial nanites, including the way they make her eyes sparkle with a kind of perfection that is rare in mere Earthlings. Upon seeing her at close range, I was instantly convinced that our guest was not of this world and I could understand why Zeta had previously assured me that Nora is an artificial lifeform. Zeta said, "This is Nora, from Perth."

With our telepathic connection revealing to me Zeta's emotions, I could sense that Zeta knew that Nora was not human, but she was playing along, accepting Nora's cover story. I looked out the window towards the driveway and asked, "Are you traveling with my son?"

Nora shook her head. "No, he does not know that I came here to speak with you. I'll be back in Perth before he wakes up. However, if you want to start making plans, we will both be here for a visit next year."

I remembered that in Australia it was summer time, which almost excused the way Nora was dressed. Had she just rolled out of bed on a hot summer night and teleported herself to the other side of the planet? If so, perhaps it was miraculous that she was wearing any clothing at all. After a brief struggle to pull my eyes and mind away from her lovely body, I felt the need to warn her. "It was not wise to teleport yourself here. I'm constantly being observed."

Nora laughed in relief, "Have no fear! Close Observation of Earth recently ended, soon after the Bimanoid Interface was altered. We do not have to worry that some enraged Overseer will soon arrive intent on breaking up our little party."

Zeta asked suspiciously, "Why are you here?"

Nora explained, "I was teleported here in order to give you warning that Rylla is on her way."

Somehow I knew what Nora meant, but this was the first time that I'd heard the name "Rylla" spoken, so I automatically asked, "'Rylla'?"

"Your grand-daughter Verella now insists on being called Rylla." Nora rolled her eyes. "She is inbound, flying here from Australia."

Alarmed by this revelation, Zeta asked, "The girl is traveling alone?"

"Quite." Nora shrugged. "She can take care of herself. Growing up without a mother, she has become confident and self-sufficient. I'm not worried about her."

I laughed nervously, "You are worried about me."

"Well, yes. You don't know Rylla, and I felt that you should be warned. She has been telepathically linked to you through her entire life." Nora looked back and forth between Zeta and I. "The retro-sculpting of Rylla's endosymbionic Bimanoid Interface was very similar to what Zeta went through. Rylla's telepathic abilities have been suppressed, limiting her use of the Interface to subconscious contacts with her mother and you. Her ability to use the Bimanoid Interface for conscious exchange of information was intentionally burned out and blocked."

Zeta asked, "Just so that she could remain on Earth? For what purpose?"

Nora shrugged, "Oh, there is a purpose, but we mere mortals never get briefed on those fine details. It is up to us to figure out such mysteries. However, at Observer Base there has long been a theory: that Rylla is the true Editor, the Earthling who will actually write the Secret History of Humanity."

During the past decade, I had come to imagine that it was my job to function as the Editor and write the Secret History of Humanity, but I could immediately understand the possibility that I had deceived myself. I asked, "Why is Verella coming here?"

"She recently discovered your blog. More importantly, she now knows that there are alien forces at work on Earth. She recently had a personal experience of... well, she met an Interventionist and got a demonstration of the power of nanites.  So, when you meet her, don't try to pretend that you know nothing about space aliens and other-worldly technology. You are going to have to find a way to educate the poor girl... pass on to her all that you know."

With Nora there in front of me, I could not restrain myself from questioning her. "Whose side are you on? Are you one of R. Gohrlay's agents?"

Nora sighed. "I'm on Rylla's side, so please take care of her. Now, I have to return home." Nora threw her arms around me and briefly hugged me. Then she did the same with Zeta. She turned and walked out, not even looking back at us over her shoulder as she went through the front door.

I had been dazzled by Nora. I stood there tingling from the feel of her arms around me, the delightful sensation of her body pressed against mine. I muttered to Zeta, "I should have stopped her. Think of what she could tell us about the Interventionists and Parthney's mission on Earth."

Zeta did not share my enthusiasm. "Nora is dangerous. She's a walking demonstration of why Interventionists should not be allowed on Earth. As an artificial lifeform composed of femtobots, she can take on any physical form. In just two minutes she had you totally captivated and ready to put her up in the guest house for a week's stay."

I smiled, "You have to admit, she is gorgeous."

"She's a fake. She's been playing this game for thousands of years."

I put my arms around Zeta. "You seem jealous."

"I am. I'd love to have her technical abilities. I have to work slowly and carefully to alter my body with my medical nanites. What takes me a year of hard work, Nora can achieve in a few minutes. Still, I don't know how she can teleport around Earth so casually. By the terms of the Pact, there should no longer be anyone on Earth with access to teleportation technology."

I'd been reading in the study all afternoon, which was a long time for me to be apart from Zeta. We held each other tight and started kissing.

cover art by Edmund Emshwiller

Zeta is the magical love of my life, but even as I held her in my arms my thoughts were wandering. I had truly been startled by the sudden appearance of Nora. I have been continuing to search through the infites that I received from Yōd. With hints provided by those infites, I had recently been able to fight through an old memory block that had been imposed on by Irhit. I had remembered once more the "homework" assignment that I was given long ago by Bonny. Earlier this year I finally read "Anniversary" and just before Nora's arrival I'd read "The Key", forty years after Bonny had told me to read that story.

Now I felt something hard in my pants pocket where I was pressed against Zeta. I reached down and pulled out the little nanite containment device. It was almost identical to the one that Yōd had given me just before she had departed from Earth.

I began to say, "Nora must have-" My phone rang. It was Verella calling to let me know that she was flying in and had landed in Los Angeles. She asked, "Can you meet me at the airport?"

Of course, I told her that Zeta and I would pick her up at the airport and we were pleased to hear that she was coming for a visit. Driving into town from our home in the dessert, we would have to hurry to arrive at the airport before Verella.

Ten minutes later we were getting into the car. I told Zeta, "You drive."

She asked, "Why should I drive?" Zeta got behind the wheel.

Feeling certain that Nora had provided me with critical information, what would be the key to understanding how to deal with my grand-daughter, I explained, "I bet his dispenser contains infites. I'm going to find out."

Driving down our long driveway, Zeta complained, "That's not wise. You still have not fully processed the infites that Yōd gave you." Before Zeta could stop me, I opened the nanite dispenser and a cloud of infites flowed into my head.

At the end of the driveway was Nora, walking bare foot in the rough gravel to the side of the pavement. Zeta slowed the car and I rolled down the window. I called to Nora, "Need a lift?"

Wordlessly she got into the back seat of our car and Zeta got us on the highway. I was struggling to deal with the onslaught of information reaching my mind from Nora's infites. I could see that it had been her plan to return to Perth by teleportation. My eyes were blinded by internal images of my son and Rylla. For the past year they had been living together happily as a family. Nora knew that she could never take the place of Rylla's missing mother, but I could see in her recorded memories that Nora had managed to achieve a strong friendship with Rylla.

I asked, "Why aren't you back in Perth?"

Nora replied, "I don't know. Something is wrong." After a pause she asked, "Did you hear from Rylla?"

I had sunk back into my internal world, searching through the information from Nora. Zeta had been correct: it was not wise for me to take in these new nanites. They seemed to be fighting for my attention against the stronger influence of Yōd's infites. As if far away, I heard Zeta say, "We're on the way to the airport. Rylla's on a connector flight from LA."

Nora said, "I suppose I should catch a flight back to Australia."

Zeta asked, "Maybe you should explain what went wrong with your plans. If we are on the same side, we should work together."

Nora complained, "You can't expect me to trust R. Gohrlay's secret agent on Earth."

Zeta said, "I've never met R. Gohrlay. Even if she is responsible for me being here on Earth, I'm hardly her agent."

Zeta and Nora continued to discuss Genesaunt politics while I mentally descended into the world of infites. My mind was flooded with information about recent events in my son's geology research lab and his home. On the home front, I could see in Nora's memories that my son was now happy to have a woman back in his life after ten years of lamenting the mysterious disappearance of his wife.

Perth, Australia

As for events in the lab, I saw how Georgy White had made use of a kind of "anopticon" to find evidence for hierions on Earth. During that discovery, Nora had been working as a technician in the lab. I saw that without hints and help and prodding from Nora, Georgy would not have been able to make sense of her experimental results and would not have realized that she had detected hierions with negative mass.

Also clear in the infites was the fact that "a copy" of Georgy had been sent to Observer Base on the Moon. Her discovery of hierions had been erased from Earth. At first, Nora had gone with Georgy to the Moon, but then she had been teleported back to Earth in order to help Rylla adjust to her realization that alien Interventionists were operating on Earth. Sifting through Nora's memories as recorded in the infites, I could tell that until the Bimanoid Interface had been altered, Nora was routinely in contact with a woman named Eustacia who lived at Observer Base.

When I realized that Eustacia was a female clone of Isaac Asimov, I cried out, "Amazing!"

Zeta asked me, "What?"

I muttered, "Another Asimov...." But I was too busy searching through the infites to continue speaking. In his story "The Key", Asimov used the crater Clavius as the location on the Moon where an alien artifact was hidden. In Nora's memories, I saw that Eustacia had kept Nora informed about how Georgy was adapting to life At Observer Base. When Georgy asked where "on" the Moon Observer Base is located, Eustacia had told her that the hidden base was in the rim of Clavius crater. In that memory, both Nora and Eustacia had laughed.

Looking deeper into the infites, I understood their laughter. I saw that Observer Base had never "on" the Moon. Observer Base is located in the Hierion Domain, but it had long been common practice to lie to new arrivals from Earth and pretend that Observer Base was hidden under the surface of the Moon.

During the past year or so, Nora had made a half dozen or so trips to Observer Base, slipping out of my son's house at night after he had fallen asleep. During that year, Eustacia had gone through a pregnancy. Then, with birth of the baby approaching, one of the group that frequently met together at Anatole's arrived with Georgy.

I was surprised to see that Georgy's friend was Izhiun, a man from the Andromeda galaxy who had once given me a set of infites.

original cover art by
Earle Bergey

In those memories from Nora, I saw Izhiun trying to explain to Georgy that they were "almost the parents" of the baby being carried by Eustacia. With support from Nora, Georgy decided to undergo hormone treatment so that she could be prepared to raise the baby when it was born.

I was having trouble knowing the correct temporal order of Nora's memories as recorded in the infites that Nora had passed on to me. There was a recent memory of a discussion between Nora and Eustacia about how Qaz and Nyrtia had been "balancing the nanites" used by Izhiun so as to adjust Georgy's access to the Bimanoid Interface. Qaz and Nyrtia were trying to make sure that Georgy would have "the correct" type of telepathic contact with the baby and be able to guide the development of its connections to the Bimanoid Interface.

I could also see in Nora's memories that Eustacia had long been working to genetically modify Earth humans so as to improve their ability to use the Bimanoid Interface. I saw that Hana had been part of that human genetics project.

Sorting through the infites, I discovered that Izhiun was the resident of Eternity who could use a nanite prosthetic to activate the teleportation equipment at Observer Base. Working with Nora Adamanta (sometimes she called herself Nora Stone), Izhiun had planned to teleport her back to Perth after she had warned me that Rylla was on her way to the States.

original cover art by
Edmund Emshwiller

My eyes cleared and I saw that we were now arriving at the airport. Something had gone wrong with Izhiun's plan to teleport Nora back home. Was Nora now trapped on Earth in the role of a mass-spectroscopy technician? In Nora's memories that she had recorded in the infites, I saw that she had quit her job in my son's geology lab when she had taken on the task of helping Rylla and moved in with my son.

Zeta pulled up to the departures area and Nora said, "Thanks for the ride and good luck with Rylla." She got out of the car and I saw that she was now dressed more sensibly and carrying a small bag. Watching her walk away, I realized that she could use her femtobots to make anything that she might need from clothing to credit cards.

I said to Zeta, "My son is a very lucky man." Then I got a text message. I told Zeta, "Rylla just landed."

Next: Retro-reading 1919 - 2019.

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Club Moon

Hana on Luk'ru

Back in 2012, I began a serious investigation of Genesaunt society when I started writing a new science fiction story called Exode. The two main Genesaunt factions (Interventionists and Overseers) were to be revealed to readers through the eyes of Hana, an Earth woman who having given birth to an oddly mutated baby is taken away from Earth, beginning a great adventure of discovery among the far stars of the galaxy.

Kach and Parthney take Hana
to the Andromeda galaxy

In earlier stories set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe, the usual destination for new exiles from Earth was Observer Base on the Moon. For Exode, I was soon off to a more distant world, the planet Hemmal, located in the Galactic Core. Hemmal was the home world of Parthney, the Interventionist agent who had to remove Hana from Earth.

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Zooming out even further from Earth, Parthney gets caught up in a search for the Creators, the unseen aliens who have long been performing genetics experiments on we humans. Parthney and Kach visit the planet Luk'ru, a world in the Andromeda galaxy. Along for the ride is their son and Hana, who eventually raise their own children on the planet Luk'ru.

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One of the children of Hana who is born on Luk'ru, Izhiun, makes the long journey back to Earth and passes a set of information nanites on to the Editor.

After briefly living on Earth and helping the Dead Widowers, Izhiun is captured by Overseers and sent to the Moon. When Georgy White arrives at Observer Base, Izhiun is there, experimenting with nanotechnology. Using a nanite prosthetic, he has managed to incapacitate his own telepathic abilities, allowing him to remain on Earth after the sudden arrival of Bimanoid Interface 2. Below, I review some of my major Sci Fi blogging topics for 2018 including the origin of the Bimanoid Interface version 2.

from Galaxy magazine in 1955

Izhiun on the Moon - December 2018

I'm currently writing about a native resident at Observer Base, Eustacia Pasimov. Eustacia was created by genetic alteration of Isaac Asimov's genome, artificially producing a female clone of Asimov. This genetic manipulation was performed when it was realized that for some reason no female analogue of Asimov had ever existed in the many Realities of Earth's Reality Chain. It was suspected that Asimov should be able to access hidden information within the AR Simulator of Eternity, but several attempts to use Asimov as the "key" for entry to the AR Simulator had all failed. Maybe only a female analogue of Asimov could access the AR Simulator?

The Asimov Reality

However, the specially created female analogue of Asimov could not enter into the AR Simulator. She adopted the name Eustacia Pasimov and developed her own project at Observer Base: attempting to carry out her own breeding experiments in an attempt to replicate what had been accomplished in the far future of the Asimov Reality. Eustacia worked towards the goal of creating a human variant that could use the Bimanoid Interface to achieve the type of telepathy that R. Gohrlay had previously crafted for the Asterothropes.

Asterothrope

At the end of Part 2 of The Pasimov Project, Eustacia is pregnant, carrying a fetus that was crafted by combining genes from Izhiun and Georgy White. With Izhiun's odd mixture of Asterothrope, Ek'col and Kac'hin genes, will Eustacia give birth to a baby that qualifies as "human" under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact?

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Georgy herself inherited some special gene combinations from her parents, so she has some telepathic abilities and is able to achieve telepathic contact with the fetus that is growing inside of Eustacia. In an attempt to control Georgy's telepathic abilities, she secretly undergoes "nanotransformation", an attempt to modify the function of her femtobot and zeptite endosymbionts using rather crude nanites that were smuggled into Observer Base from the planet Tar'tron. On Earth, Rylla's telepathic connection to the fetus must be boosted, allowing it to become a mind clone of Rylla.

Alice Wroke

November 2018
During November I was in in the mood for thinking about Jack Vance and his science fiction stories. In his novel The Book of Dreams, Vance described Alice Wroke as "miraculous". Exactly what were her origins? I like to imagine that in an alternate Reality, Vance might have written additional stories about the adventures of Kirth Gersen and Alice Wroke. Similarly, I have fan-ish fantasies about additional stories (example: The Society of Matriarchs) featuring Vance's characters Glinnes and Duissane.

"Telek" by Jack Vance

October 2018 
During 2018, I was paying special attention to the science fiction stories of Theodore Sturgeon, who was born in 1918. In October, I blogged about "Twink", a short story by Sturgeon that involves telepathy. It was useful for me to think about old published stories dealing with telepathy while I was developing my thinking about "Rylla" and the telepathic Mind Clone Network.

Phenence

September
In September, I wrote a short story about Phenence and her first adventure on Earth. Phenence was one of the clones of Gohrlay.

Another story that I wrote in September is about the mysterious "Bonny Fennland" who introduces the Editor to the science fiction of Jack Vance. Bonny has a helper "Cal", an artificial life form who is named after the robot in Isaac Asimov's short story called "Cal".

clones

August
During August I wrote an account of the day when the Bimanoid Interface was upgraded. That alteration was a foundational event that made possible the creation of the Mind Clone Network.

Ivory Fersoni

During August, I like to celebrate the science fiction of Jack Vance. In 2018 I wrote a story called "Minus Yōd" that includes discussion of an imaginary alternate version of Vance's story from 1952: "Cholwell's Chickens".

July

Harlan Ellison

In July I wrote a science fiction story that is based on the video game Civilization: Beyond Earth. "Exoditions on Cynk" describes the fate of Ivory Fersoni and how she ended up on an ancient planet of the Phari. 

June
During June, I was busy playing Beyond Earth.

May

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I blogged about the impact of Harlan Ellison on Star Trek.

April
I often blog about the science fiction of Jack Vance in May, but in 2018 I had a blog post about Vance in April. I suggested the idea that Kirth Gersen was a deep cover IPCC agent.
It was in that blog post that I first suggest Araminta Smade could exist in "the real world". I  used that idea in a chapter of A Search Beyond.

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March
In The Last Replicoid , I described Azynov as the last replicoid that was made by Grean, the artificial device used by Many Sails that could enter into the Asimov Reality Simulator of Eternity. As a copy of Isaac Asimov, Azynov has all of Asimov's memories, but his personality has been altered to remove his obsession for writing.

fictional chemistry

February
In February of 2018, I blogged about a strange 1927 story about telepathy called "The Tissue-Culture King" by Julian Huxley.

Let's Make a Genre

January
In 2018 I blogged about the new X-Files season. I also began 2018 by blogging about Theodore Sturgeon who was born in 1918. I did some retro-reading of his 1953 science fiction story, "The Wages of Synergy". 

In January, I also wrote a short story called "Let's Make a Genre". This is a story about an Interventionist mission on Earth aimed at helping to create the science fiction literary genre.
Related Reading: 2019 year in review - 2017 year in review
Next: Sources, Agents and Collaborators

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Izhiun's Quest

It should not have surprised me that Gohrlay got to meet Izhiun when he was on Earth. I wish I'd had the chance to talk to Izhiun after he deposited a swarm of infites in my brain. I'm still puzzled and intrigued by the contact that he had on Luk'ru with some remnants of the Kac'hin.

Izhiun was born on the planet Luk'ru which is located in the Andromeda galaxy. He was only briefly on Earth, helping to rescue his grandmother, Kach. He stayed on Earth just long enough to pass on to me a record of the life of Parthney, Izhiun's grandfather.

Like most people, Izhiun took for  granted the events of his own life. He mistakenly assume that nobody on Earth would care about what he had done on Luk'ru, so he never really explained his adventures on that planet. Language gets in the way. The people who he viewed as the "natives" of Luk'ru had their own tribes, culture and many languages. I can see those people in Izhiun's memory, but my infites have never allowed me to translate most of their words into a language that I understand.

Jeva

Gohrlay was amused that I've spent years wondering about the things that Izhiun might have heard from the tribes of Luk'ru. Taking pity on me, she recently provided me with the means to now efficiently translate six "missing" languages of Luk'ru into English. According to Gohrlay, they have only been "missing" because of a trick played on Izhiun by Jeva (see below).

Teminating Jeva's "trick" and giving me fuller access to the content of Izhiun's infites is a small experiment: we will find out if this constitutes a violation of the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact.

According to Gohrlay, there are hundreds of languages spoken on Luk'ru, but these six were the ones that Izhiun had to speak during his search for the Kac'hin.

Map showing the part of Luk'ru traveled by Izhiun.

Izhiun grew up at Bosweina, the village perched on the side of a mountain where Izhiun's parents decided to make their home on Luk'ru. That home started as a landing craft from Many Sails, but through the years Boswei and Hana continually expanded their living space, adopting the architectural style of the nearby Zinty tribe.

By the time Izhiun began his quest and set out from home, a small village had grown up around the homestead of his family. Dozens of the tribes of Luk'ru had sent "ambassadors" to Bosweina where their families lived and slowly built up a small cosmopolitan town that had become an important trade depot by the time Izhiun left home. The closest native village to Bosweina was Zintzun, home of the Zinty. Hana had named her son "Izhiun" in honor of a resident of Zintzun who was named Izini jot hi zun, which roughly translates as "Teller of the future".

According to Gohrlay, when Hana was pregnant with Izhiun (as yet, still un-named), Izini told Hana that her new son would one day go on a great adventure, exploring Luk'ru. Many such little "prophecies" convinced Hana and Boswei that the people of Luk'ru retained some of the abilities of the Kac'hin such as being able to use the Bimanoid Interface.

Zhulf hi zol

As wonderful as their cognitive abilities were, the people of Luk'ru showed no interest in what we here on Earth would call "advanced technology". In order to account for their perfect health and lack of interest in food, Gohrlay hypothesizes that the tribal people of Luk'ru were "cared for" by nanites. Boswei had proposed an alternative theory: that they were not actually biological organisms, but rather, a form of artificial life composed of nanites. Gohrlay rejects that idea because the people of Luk'ru occasionally did die and, when needed to maintain the population, they could give birth to babies.

While growing up, Izhiun had often visited friends who lived in Zintzun. Izhiun learned the Zini language as a child and that was the one language of Luk'ru that I was able to translate upon receiving infites from Izhiun a couple of years ago. When Izhiun set out in search of the Kac'hin, it was natural for him to first pass through Zintzun.

One of Izhiun's friends in Zintzun was Zhulf hi zol ("Sing the stars"). Zhulf was what we on Earth might refer to as Izhiun's girl friend, although few people on Luk'ru thought in such terms. Izhiun and Zhulf had long made plans to go on a quest together, but they had different visions of the future and Izhiun's impending search of the Kac'hin. Gohrlay suspects that Zhulf knew exactly how to make contact with the Kac'hin, but did not want to tell Izhiun the truth. Zhulf wanted to travel and have a great adventure with Izhiun, but she was in love with Izhiun and feared that his quest would result in her losing him.

Oz danz

After Izhiun said goodbye to his father and left his home for the last time to begin his search for the Kac'hin, the first half of his adventure involved a long complex ceremony at the pyramids of Zintzun. Izhiun's stay in Zintzun lasted 23 days and featured a long debate between Hana and Izini about the nature of the Kac'hin (known to the natives as "The Ancients"). Hana and Izini both liked to split philosophical hairs and Hana was rather desperately trying to delay Izhiun and keep him near home. Finally, Izhiun and Zhulf set out from Zintzun, following along the river Zi towards Izhiun's next destination, the village of Wezzkarinin.

Izhiun had previously met Zhulf's cousin, Oz danz ("Next mother"), a resident of Wezzkarinin. Oz had the honorary title "Oz danz" because she was to be the next woman who would become pregnant. This was a big deal, and she was expected to devote full time effort to trying to predict when she would give birth and who the father would be.

Izhiun was never certain about the sex of Oz. As a child, when Ishiun was first introduced to sexual games by Zhulf, Oz was sometimes present in Zintzun and became one of Izhiun's sexual partners. Gohrlay suspects that when Ishiun was young and was in a state of blissful ignorance under the protective wing of Hana, he had no idea that half the population of Luk'ru were hermaphrodites. Izhiun later became part of an on-going conspiracy by which Zhulf protected Izhiun from ever realizing that he's had sex with a hermaphrodite.

The issue of identifying fathers on Luk'ru was tricky, because until the arrival of Boswei, there were no males. The people of Luk'ru were all either females or hermaphrodites. The hermaphrodites were almost anatomically identical to the females and nobody much cared who was a hermaphrodite most of the time. However, there were always circulating rumors and new prophesies of an impending pregnancy somewhere on Luk'ru. Most of these rumors were not taken very seriously and were enjoyed by the people as a kind of elaborate "guessing game". A favorite ploy was for someone to predict a pregnancy and announce the prophesy in a public ceremony as a formal way of proposing "marriage" to a new lover, although "marriage" is a human term that was not used on Luk'ru.

After the arrival of Boswei and Hana, there was considerable speculation about the possibility of inter-fertility between the new arrivals and the natives of Luk'ru. However, Gohrlay says that there was no chance of such cross-fertilization, despite the considerable experimentation with gamete exchanges that did take place. Love affairs and sexual behavior were major preoccupations and pass-times for the people of Luk'ru along with story telling, singing, the practice of complex rituals (which often involved dancing) and the crafting of decorative works of art which they collected in their homes and wore on their bodies.

Oulen cheneshere

Oz took seriously her role as an oracle and she insisted that Izhiun abandon his original plan (jointly developed with Zhulf) to simply follow the river Zi downstream all the way to the sea. After much argument and repeatedly dosing herself, Izhiun and Zhulf with hallucinogenic plant extracts, Oz convinced Izhiun to accompany her to the mountain enclave of Wazani, where Oz claimed he could learn the true path that his life should take.

During their rather long uphill walk to Wazani, Oz and Zhulf argued incessantly. Zhulf accused Oz of being jealous and trying to steal Izhiun away. Oz warned Izhiun that he should not trust Zhulf because she was unable to put aside her personal wants and desires and help guide Izhiun towards his proper path through life.

Wazani was located on a high mountain-side meadow and was the home of a famous hermaphrodite named Oulen cheneshere (translated: "Mighty 6743"), the 6743rd hermaphrodite of Luk'ru to have fathered a child.

Original art work by James Allen St. John

Wazani was one of the Stations of Life for the nomadic Ducam tribe and Mighty 6743 had traveled extensively across the entire continent over the course of thousands of years.

Years before, when Izhiun was just a baby, Mighty 6743 had know Hana well, but had finally fallen out of her good graces after insisting that Izhiun's great quest for contact with the Kac'hin would result in him departing from Luk'ru. Hana did not want to hear that her son would leave the planet, so she forbad Mighty 6743 from ever again visiting Bosweina.

Through the years, rumors that he would travel to the stars reached Izhiun. Izhiun was intrigued by the idea that he might be able to travel through outer space to other worlds. However, Zhulf had long been hoping that Izhiun would remain as a resident of Luk'ru.

The Ducam were renowned to be great herbalist, famous for brewing a hundred different types of potions and drugs. Oz, Zhulf and Izhiun spent nine days in Wazani on a drug-powered vision quest, trying to learn the truth about Izhiun's path through life. All of their visions indicated that Izhiun should travel to the east, into the Za river valley, but Zhulf insisted that she and Izhiun should first make their long-planned journey down the Zi valley to the coast.

Finally, after a long guided hallucination session with Mighty 6743, Zhulf could no longer deceive herself about Izhiun's destiny. Oz rather bluntly accused Zhulf of having intentionally lied for years about the portents in order to keep Izhiun from achieving his true quest. After a long and mournful leave-taking, Zhulf returned to Zintzun and Izhiun departed alone from Wazani and continued on down into the next valley to the east.

Kripf jot zi oung

In the village of Zaachil, Izhium met another hermaphrodite, Kripf jot zi oung (Master of the copper). Inside the High Pyramid of Zaachil, Kripf showed Izhiun an ancient book, imprinted on metal plates, that held his life's story, including a detailed description of his quest to find the Kac'hin and even an account Izhiun's impending journey to Earth.

Reading off of one metal page, Kripf informed Izhiun that he must make his way towards the city of Muzizu. Izhiun asked for details about his quest and his prophesied visit to Earth, but Kriph refused to translate any more of Izhiun's life story into Zini, telling him that it would cause a time paradox if Izhiun learned too much about his future.

In the company of Kripf, Izhiun set off again, now moving upstream along the Za river. They next reached the river village of Abzarok.

Jeva wy

Abzarok was a port for the aquatic and nomadic Mele'iswa tribe (roughly translates as "The Boat People"). There, Izhiun met a fellow traveler named Jeva wy ("Reads minds").

Jeva had a major impact on Izhiun's life and I now understand that the infites I received from Izhiun were heavily "curated" by Jeva. Below is an account of the brief time that Izhiun and Jeva shared together on Luk'ru.

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Jeva wy
After Kripf and Izhiun reached Abzarok, they spent several says participating in dance ceremonies. Izhiun was rather famous across much of Luk'ro, and for several years rumors had spread that Izhiun would visit Abzarok. Special dance ceremonies had been choreographed and the idea had grown up that Izhiun must be entertained and kept in Abzarok as long as possible.

After several days of wild dance parties, Izhiun was rather tired and sat on a dock blinking into the morning sun and eating his breakfast, a fish that he had just caught in the river. While Izhiun eats and chats with Kripf, a boat comes up the river and moors at one of the docks.

Jeva wy is a passenger on the boat that has just arrived in Abzarok. Without delay, Jeva exits from the boat and walks up to Izhiun and introduces herself, speaking in a mixture of river-pidgin and broken Zini, "Hello, Izhiun. I am ready to join your quest. I am Jeva wy."

Izhiun feels that somehow he already knows Jeva, although he is certain that they have never met. Izhiun remembers Zhulf's many stories about her relatives who lived in villages to the east of Zintzun. Speaking in Zini, he asks uncertainly, "Are you part of Zhulf's family?"

Jeva replies, now switching over entirely to Zini, "No, Zhulf and I are not closely related, although all we people of Luk'ru are the children of the Kac'hin. I'm from the far side of Luk'ru." She takes his hand, "Come, we can make a good start towards Muzizu before night falls.

 Kripf says goodbye to Izhiun and wishes him luck on his quest. "If you ever return this way, we can compare what is written in the book of your life to what actually happens to you."

As they walk out of town along the bank of the Za river, Jeva soon convinces Izhiun that she can read all of his thoughts and view his memories. She tells Izhiun that he is a fool to leave behind Zhulf and go off in search of the long-dead Kac'hin. "If you come to your senses, we can turn around at any time and go back to Zintzun."

In an alternate Reality.

Izhiun laments, "I am tempted to do just that. Each step away from her pains my heart. However, I have had strange visions...I must visit Muzizu and discover what awaits me there. Maybe I will return to Zhulf after a few weeks of questing."

Jeva, never having released his hand, teases him, "There are many women in your future. You will learn to live without Zhulf... you will love again."

Izhiun says, "Tell me my future. What have you seen?"

Jeva shakes her head. "I can't see the future, but I can read what is in your heart. You already know more about the future than you find it possible to believe." While they walk, Jeva recounts to Izhiun some of the key experiences from his life and explains the meaning of those events, meanings that Izhiun was often totally unaware of at the time.

When they make their camp for the night, Jeva watches with interest while Izhiun eats his supper. He asks her, "Are you eating right now?"

She laughs, "What a silly idea, although it must be true. Something must feed me all the time. Maybe we will learn answers to such mysteries in Muzizu. I've come from the other side of the planet to find you and visit the Ancients."

"But you and everyone on Luk'ru agree about the Ancients, that they are long dead."

Jeava asks, "How do you know what is true and what is fable?"

Izhiun grows uncomfortable under her constant attention. "Tell me the truth." He asks her, "Are you female or an hermaphrodite?"

She laughs and replies, "I could give you either answer! How do you know what is true and what is fable?"

Izhiun says, "I'm a male-"

Jeva interrupts him: "I know. I've come half way around this world to be with you. To join with you."

Izhiun complains, "I don't think I want to...be with an hermaphrodite."

Jeva chastises him, "How do you know until you experiment? You might enjoy having an hermaphrodite for a lover. Or as a second mind."

"I know myself. I like females."

"Really, what difference does it make? Female, hermaphrodite...even male. None. No difference... we are all people. Anyhow, I can see it in you memories. You've already made love to an hermaphrodite...you did not even notice that she had been misrepresented as female."

Shocked and a bit repulsed by the revelation, Izhiun asked, "Who was it?"

"What difference does it make?"

"Looking in my memories, how do you know that one of my lovers was an hermaphrodite?"

"I've been all through your mind and heard conversations that others had while near you, using languages that you did not understand. With their words as a hint it is easy enough for me to see the verifying clues in your mind. Were I an hermaphrodite, I could fool you just as easily as you were fooled before."

"So, you are not an hermaphrodite?"

"What difference would it make if I were?"

Tired of verbally sparing with Jeva and tired from a long day of walking, Izhiun builds up a big fire and beds down for the night. Jeva, in awe of his need to eat, drink and use fire for warmth, lies down beside him. She asks, "What is it like to be cold?"

He replies with a question, "Can't you see that in my mind?"

"I can see it, but I can't feel it."

"After a long night on the ground, cold is a pain."

"Yes, I see that...it is a pain like the pain you are feeling for your loss of Zhulf. We of Luk'ru are lucky...we have very little pain in out lives."

Izhiun asks, "How is it that you can read minds?"

Jeva is silent for a long time. As the fire dies, she can sense that Izhiun is beginning to feel the chill of the night air. She rolls over into his arms. "Normally I need to touch people in order to dig into their memories, but ever since you were born I have been able to see into your mind. Even before you were born. I came all the way around Luk'ru to find you. Now that I have touched you, I know that your mind is a fire. When we stop touching I grow cold."

Puzzled, Izhiun speculates. "Somehow this planet knew that I would come into existence...be born on this world. Everything has been arranged to send me on this quest, to direct me to Muzizu. Something linked my mind to yours."

Jeva agrees, "Yes, this was all anticipated by the Ancients. They knew the time would come when Luk'ru would have to send an...emissary to Earth. Somehow I am needed for that great mission to Earth."

"But you do not know what your role will be?"

"I can see part of it by reading what you saw on the metal plates of Zaachil. I think I am destined to merge with you, to place my mind inside you."

Not entirely surprised by that idea, for a while Izhiun thought about the implications of his entire life having been foreseen. He wondered out loud, "What would happen to you, your body, if you placed your mind in my body?" He left unspoken an additional question: And what would happen to me?

"We of Luk'ru seldom die. One cause of death is when a body loses its mind. My body will die when I send my mind into your body. You're mind will be safe. I will ride in your body like a passenger on a boat."

"Why? For what purpose?"

"You will discover the reason. At some point in your future you will be near another body, a host for my mind, and at that moment my mind will cross over into that other body."

"When? Who will be  the owner of that body?"

"I do not know answers to your questions. We will have to discover the answers together."

"When will it happen? When will you move inside me?"

"All day since we met I've tried, but I don't know how to do it. The Ancients will know."

Izhiun did not bother to speak: But aren't the Ancients all dead?

"Yes, but they still remember. You should not fear death. The Ancients now continue to exist as artificial life forms. They will merge us then we will go to Earth."

The Ancient

After two more long days of walking Izhiun and Jeva reached the city of Muzizu, high above the headwaters of the Za river. It was growing dark, but Izhiun could see a large fire burning. Jeva said, "An Ancient is waiting for us."

Out before them, as though emerging from a shadow, another voice spoke in the Zini language, "Come join me by the fire." Then just as suddenly, the Ancient could be seen. She turned and led the way into the common space between a set of teepees at the edge of the city.

With a king of melting motion the Ancient settled on the ground next to the fire and gestured to some waiting food. "I have food for you, dear Izhiun."

Izhiun sat on a log and began to eat. Jeva stood next to the Ancient and asked, "May I touch you?" The Ancient nodded and allowed Jeva to place her hands against the skin of the Ancient. After a moment, Jeva turned and sat down next to Izhiun. "I can't read the thoughts of the Ancient."

The Ancient laughed and explained. "It would not be wise to let you see into your own future."

Jeva asked, "But you can see our thoughts?"

The Ancient explained, "I am your thoughts. I took this physical form to provide you with a familiar target for our communications." The Ancient flickered and winked out, but her "voice" continued to enter into the minds of Jeva and Izhiun, "Or would you prefer that I communicate in this fashion?"

Izhiun replied, "Jeva might not care, but for my benefit, please remain with me as a physical entity."

The body of the Ancient re-appeared beside the fire. Speaking to Izhiun, the Ancient said, "Yes, Jeva is a special case. Tomorrow we will pull her mind out of its shell and place her into your shell. Then you will be ready to go to Earth."

As the last light of day left the rim of the sky, the Ancient's body seemed to glow with a faint inner light. Izhiun asked, "Every one seems to know that I must go to Earth. However, I am not convinced. From what my mother says of Earth, I wonder why anyone would want to go to that world."

The Ancient gave a gentle shrug of the shoulders. "You grandmother eagerly went to Earth."

Izhiun asked with surprise, "Kach? Kach is on Earth?"

The Ancient's head slowly shook from side to side. "No, she is held prisoner on Earth's Moon."

"Prison? What prison?"

"There is much for you to learn. First, the mind merging. Then you will be off among the stars. The journey to Earth will be a convenient time for you to learn about the fate of Kach and how you can rescue her and send her back to Parthney." The Ancient quietly faded away like a wisp of camp fire smoke. The Ancient's voice said, "The mountain nights of High Muzizu are very cold, Izhiun. Use the teepee that is behind you."

Izhiun satisfied his hunger then walked hand-in-hand with Jeva into the teepee where they spent the last night of her existence together.

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Image credits. The images depicting the residents of Lok'ru that are shown in the blog post, above, were made using artwork from the game Colonization. See the RaR mod.

Artwork from the computer game Colonization. See the RaR mod.

Next: exploring the origins of the human species.