The Phari Network

Kate Prekus, exoplanet cartography specialist
in the Department of Galactic Morphology.

Rylla had been reading my blog and she had a complaint, "I'm not buying the 'Kate Prekus' nonsense."

In my imagination, I'd thought that maybe Rylla was sleeping late, but no. Of course, she had been quietly reading in her room and getting into trouble. I looked up from pounding my keyboard and said, "Good morning to you, too, Rylla."

She sat down near me on the little bench seat in front of the piano and pointed to the screen of her tablet computer, "Good morning." With no perceptible pause after her perfunctory greeting, she continued, "Why would a professional like Kate suddenly take the last name of her lover?"

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My eyes rested for a moment on Rylla's very large belly. She was nine months pregnant and ready for the birth of her first child. Impatient with the annoyances of the long pregnancy, her impatience was spilling over into everything, including her reaction to the story that I had recently written about Kate and Nova Prekus. I stood up and stretched. I'd been at the keyboard for too long, trying to take advantage of a quiet morning to get some writing done. What could I say to Rylla about Kate and Nova sharing the same name? "Don't blame me for any of that. All these stories about events inside the AR Simulator are flowing to my pen from the mind of Yōd."

Rylla looked at me skeptically and asked, "When was the last time you actually touched a pen?"

creating R. Gohrlay

"More importantly, you might ask: when was the last time anyone saw Yōd? It is still hard for me to accept that she is trapped inside the AR Simulator." Even as I spoke, I regretted the fact that I had mentioned Yōd.

Rylla wistfully muttered, "I wish I'd had the chance to meet Yōd."

That was a sore point. I believe that while on Earth, Yōd had made use of the physical body of Rylla's mother. Thankful that Rylla was not on my telepathic wavelength and could not sense what I was thinking, I tried to move our discussion back to safer territory. "For me, the AR Simulator is purely theoretical. Apparently, positronic robots such as R. Gohrlay found it useful to have easy access to information about past Realities. There is some special trick required in order to achieve that access, almost like needing a key to open a lock... well, who knows? Something prevents we humans from accessing the AR Simulator."

Yōd

Rylla nodded. "If you or I could never access the data inside the AR Simulator, how can Azynov? More to the point, how is Yōd able to use the AR Simulator?"

I replied, "I'm almost 100% certain that Azynov is a replicoid, an artificial life form with a copy of the memories from Isaac Asimov. There is something special about Asimov and his role in our universe. The rumor is that Azynov was crafted by Many Sails as a tool that could allow access to the secrets that are hidden away inside the AR Simulator."

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I did not want to open a can of worms by mentioning the source of that rumor. "And after Azynov was able to enter into the AR Simulator, others could follow, using the same pass key."

Rylla added, "So, Yōd used the same trick, and followed her beloved Azynov into the Simulator."

I'm not going to flatly say that Rylla is a virgin, but it is a sad fact that Rylla does not understand how she was impregnated. Until that mystery is cleared away and she can have a happy relationship with a partner, it seems inevitable that she will tend to mock other people who fall head-over-heels in love. Personally, I'm happy for Azynov and Yōd; even if they are trapped in the AR Simulator forever, at least they are together and happy. "Technically, it was Yōd's Replicoid that was sent into the AR Simulator. We have no evidence that a mere human could ever make use of the AR Simulator as a virtual reality device."

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Rylla complained, "But these stories are told from Wendy's perspective... all she does is briefly use the Simulator."

"Well, yes. You can blame me for that framing device. I'm trying to investigate how Grean was able to hack into the AR Simulator and give Yōd access to the recorded history of the Asimov Reality. So you see, I was actually trying to write stories about Grean. Wendy just sort of stepped up to take center stage. I did not see that coming, but Wendy is a potent force of nature."

Rylla asked, "How do you know that it was Grean who helped Yōd get into the AR Simulator?"

The Trysta-Grean Pact

"I don't know that. However, you can call that an educated guess. Someone with Grean's knowledge set must have helped Yōd. For now, in the absence of other information, I'm guessing that Grean was involved."

Rylla put her hands on her hips as glared at me in dismay. "So you just make these things up. You invented Wendy?"

"Well, these seem to be the restrictions that are imposed upon us by the Trysta-Grean Pact. You and I can tell the world what we know about alien visitors to Earth, but we must tell our tales in the form of science fiction stories.  Wendy is a fun character and I like to write about her adventures."

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"I'm so angry right now." Rylla pointed accusingly at me. "I like Wendy, too, and you just made her up, as a silly story character."

I laughed, somewhat proud that I could get Rylla fired up over a silly story. I almost made a comment about the wonders of hormones, but I bit my tongue. With any luck, Rylla will be in a better mood when she reads this blog post! I said, "That's not exactly correct. Remember that I carry some nanites from Thomas Iwedon. He blamed an interventionist agent named Wendy for the fact that his sister was kicked off of Earth and hauled away to the Galactic Core. I guess you could say that I inherited his long-standing infatuation with Wendy."

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"It does not make sense. Nova arrives on Alphanor and falls in love with Kate, who is exactly the type of telepath that Sene can use to to steal the encryption passcodes for the Galactic Mapping Project's database."

I admitted. "If you put it that way, it does sound like an unlikely coincidence." I sat down and quickly re-read my own account of how Nova and Kate had met. "Of course, Sene was also on Alphanor at the time, and may have pushed Nova towards hooking up with Kate."

Rylla shook her head. "No, I suggest there is a more likely suspect, someone who is almost completely ignored in your story."

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Lugo Teehalt came to my mind. "Another telepath who was in the area was Teehalt. Not to mention his grandchildren. Now that I think about it, according to Yōd, Jenalee Teehalt was attending Sea Province University at that time, majoring in Condaptery."

Rylla wrinkled up her nose, "Condaptery?"

I explained, "It is a future science concerned with automated control systems such a spaceship autopilots."

Inspector Wishwell

Rylla was having trouble accepting the whole idea that there was little scientific progress made during the space age in the Asimov Reality. "I suppose the positronic robots such as Oliveene were careful to keep their existence secret. And there was no robotics industry, so nobody was allowed to actually build new robots during that era in the Asimov Reality... Oliveene and the others must have migrated over from the Foundation Reality. Still, as you told the story, Oliveene talked openly to Wendy about positronic robots, even the mysterious R. Nyrtia."

"Oliveene knew that Wendy was from outside the AR Simulator. I doubt if Oliveene would have spoken about Nyrtia in the presence of the real Ryjyl Wishwell. No, when Wendy raised the issue of robots, Oliveene explained the situation, but that was only because Wendy already knew about robots. Oliveene was crafty. She lived on the planet Moudervelt for centuries without any outsiders -anyone not in the Pure Truth cult- ever suspecting that there were robots at work in the convent, let alone positronic robots."

Nova, the daughter of Sene Prekus.

Rylla nodded. "Exactly. Oliveene is my suspect. When Sene secretly followed her daughter to Alphanor, Oliveene must have secretly followed Sene. Oliveene would have been there at the right time to control and adjust the emotions of both Nova and Kate."

I shrugged, "You may be correct. Maybe Oliveene made Kate and Nova fall in love. That is exactly the kind of emotional control that we should expect a positronic robot to be able to exert over people..." I added, "As long as it does not cause any harm to the love birds."

"Of course, Nova was devastated when Suthiro poisoned Kate." Rylla rubbed her hands over her huge abdomen. I could see a lumpy bulge where her baby was stretching and pushing outward. Rylla leaned back and took a deep breath, waiting for the baby to stop stretching. "I guess we must take into account that very real harm."

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"That's one of the odd things that struck me about Nova. You know, she was an only child and had no father. She did not start to speak until she was seven years old. I'm not convinced that she ever learned to have normal human emotional reactions and intimate relations with other people. With everything that she went through... Kate's death, being held prisoner by Hildemar Dasce, watching poor Pallis be dismembered by swarming squid, discovering how she had been used to make possible the theft of stellar mapping data, being told that her mother was not really dead, only hiding from her... through all that, Nova never really seemed upset. I would have expected her to be harmed, but where is the evidence of actual harm and emotional distress?"

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Rylla shrugged. "I agree that the way you told the story, Nova did seem almost like a heartless automaton. I wonder if she was programmed by Oliveene and Sene to be a totally analytical twitino processing device, little more than a data processing tool. If so, maybe she can't be viewed as an actual human." Rylla fell silent for a moment and then added, "In fact, how do we know that she was not actually a positronic robot?"

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"That's a clever idea, but I don't buy it. However, there may well have been a second robot lurking in the Malagate story. Sadly, we know very little about Kate's origins. What if she was provided as a component for the Sene telepathy network by one of the other positronic robots?"

Rylla seemed surprised by that idea. "Do you have information about another positronic robot who may have been active in the Asimov Reality?"

Lost Worlds

"No, but Yōd provided me with a significant amount of information about Teehalt and his family, including the suggestion that Teehalt's wife, Svelta, was from the planet Thamber."

"Thamber!" Rylla had been reading the entire Demon Princes saga. "The world of Alusz Iphigenia Eperje-Tokay?"

"Exactly. And the world of hormagaunts. Yōd thinks that before becoming involved with Sene, Teehalt was working on a secret project of the Institute... one aimed at winning immortality for the Dexad."

Rylla asked, "Dexad?"

"The Dexad was the leadership group that controlled the Institute."

The Book of Dreams

Rylla gave herself a mock bop to the head. "Right. They are all murdered in The Book of Dreams."

"Anyhow, I'm in no position to sort out all of this. But the idea came to me: what if Oliveene was not the first to think about tapping into the secret Galactic Exoplanets database? What if another positronic robot had already done that and moved to the hidden world of Thamber?"

Rylla nodded. "I see where you are going with this. Assume that you are correct. Hundreds of years before the life of Kirth Gersen, what if some other positronic robot hacked into the Exoplanet Database and was able to set up operations in the deep Beyond, on the planet Thamber? What would that robot do in order to prevent anyone else from doing the same and achieving a second discovery of Thamber?"

Kirth Gersen (image source)

I said, "What most of us would do is try to beef up the security around the Exoplanet Database."

"And what better way for a telepathic robot to do that than to use a telepath as a guard. And if you just happened to have the secret of immortality, then a single such guard could perform the guard duty for centuries."

"But why stop at one guard for something so important? Maybe both Svelta and Kate were from Thamber... maybe they were part of another telepath network on Alphanor."

Rylla laughed. "Is there any way we could test that hypothesis?"

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"Yōd and Azynov are there, inside the AR Simulator. The problem is, they are much more interested in the future, when human telepathy was being perfected in Alastor Cluster. Yōd considers Kirth Gersen and his times to be ancient history and uninteresting."

"Ug. And I have the misfortune of having become obsessed with Gersen."

I suggested, "This is a fine opportunity for you to make use of the Mind Clone Network to search for additional stories about Gersen that may have been written in the Ekcolir Reality."

Rylla asked, "Why should there be more stories about Gersen in the archives of the Writers Block?"

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"Most Vance stories from the Ekcolir Reality could be modified and published by the Vance analogue in the Buld Reality, but not all. The tryp'At Ovserseers actively suppressed the publication of information about alien visitors to Earth and alien technologies. However, there are no more Earth Overseers, so you are free to explore the archives of the Writers Block."

"Of course, I can't do so personally. The Writers Block is somewhere in the Hierion Domain."

"Yes, so you need a collaborator on the other side. But as part of the Mind Clone Network, you should be able to collect for us all of the secrets that are hidden away in the Writers Block."

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Rylla nodded, "The main problem is that Georgy seldom has time to prowl through the old story archives. And when she does, it is like a random walk through a jumble of disconnected stories."

I said jokingly, "It is too bad that the nanoscopic Asimov replicoid is not part of the Mind Clone Network. You could put him to work."

Rylla asked, "Didn't all of the replicoids get inactivated?"

Now I was treading on thin ice. I was under orders from Zeta not to even discuss with Rylla the idea of selectively activating a replicoid within the Hierion Domain in order to test if it could now be integrated into the Mind Clone Network. I tried to change the subject, "Why is Georgy so busy that she can't help you search the Writers Block?"

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Rylla did not want to say. After an awkward silence she finally looked at me and said, "While on Earth, Georgy was under the thumb of her mother. Now that she is on her own at Observer Base, she is still very young and her wild side has been liberated."

"Her wild side? Hard to picture Georgy as a party animal."

"Well, that's the problem. She had become quite the social butterfly."

"I see. And of course, she tells you all about her conquests?"

"It is not a matter of her having to tell me. Since we are part of the telepathy network, I can watch everything she does."

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I could not stop myself from laughing. "Sorry. I imagine that creates a serious source of frustration for you."

"It did for a time, but there is a solution to every problem."

Rylla did not like to talk about that 'solution'. I suggested, "Maybe after you and Zeta give birth then it will be possible to find a new solution to your problem."

Zeta and Nora had driven into town to consult with a physician. Rylla, Zeta and Nora were all about a week past their expected due dates. With my telepathic link to Zeta, I could sense that Nora and Zeta were now returning home.

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Rylla's tablet had gone to sleep. She woke it up and showed me an image from an old 2016 blog post. "I was frustrated by the fact that your account of Wendy's investigations inside the AR Simulator included so little information about the Phari."

"There has been a major cover-up of information about events in the Asimov Reality. I'm still amazed that Grean was able to figure out how to access the information content of the AR Simulator. Really, it is a miracle that we know anything about the Phari."

Rylla asked, "So, did stories such as 'Glinnes and Duissane Meet the Phari' actually exist in the Ekcolir Reality or is that something you made up?"

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I shrugged. "That is an easy question for you to ask me, but how am I supposed to answer? Through the years, my mind has been loaded up with information nanites from several sources. I'm not sure how much you appreciate the fact that even before the creation of the Mind Clone Network, I had a source of information from inside the Hierion Domain. Actually, Ivory always claimed that her clone sisters were tapping into information that is stored in the Sedron Domain."

"Uh, yes... Ivory Fersoni. Maybe this is a good time to talk about her." Rylla had learned early during her time living with Zeta and I that Zeta does not like to even hear mention of the word 'Ivory'.

I sighed. "Zeta can look deeply into my thoughts, so she knows that I am still infatuated with Ivory, even though she died years ago. The tryp'At Overseers got tired of fighting Ivory and eliminated her." I fell silent.

Ivory as I imagine her at Moon Base.

Rylla prodded me. "And just before Ivory died, she gave you a set of infites."

"Yes, but... more accurately, I got the Ivory infites after Ivory was dead." I thought back to the day when the Ivory replicoid had visited me. "So, we should thank Yrovi for most of what is known about the Phari."

Rylla asked, "How could the Phari control Wendy's ability to use her nanites?"

I shook my head. "Who knows? All I can do is guess."

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Rylla could not sit any longer. She got up and began pacing around the room. "What is your theory?"

"In the Asimov Reality, R. Nyrtia must have traveled back in time, way back to a point before the pek even reached our galaxy. More than two billion years in our past." I fell silent, thinking about conditions on Earth 2,000,000,000 years ago. I brought up on my computer screen an image of Ivory.

Rylla said, "I can see why Zeta is jealous of Ivory."

I added, "It is inevitable that all humans will feel jealous of Ivory. She is what R. Oliveene was working so hard to create: the next stage of human evolution."

"Her parents were not human?"

Asterothrope

"Ivory had a large collection of Asterothrope gene combinations. I don't know much about Ivory's father... maybe she was like Nova, her chromosomes artificially spliced together after having been collected from several different people."

Rylla suggested, "When I look into Zeta's mind, I sense that she is actually more jealous of Marta than Ivory."

I nodded. "Well, that is understandable. I only actually met Ivory once. Just once!" I thought about Marta, Ivory's mother. "What was Marta? Was she Kac'hin? Who knows."

Rylla looked at me and must have wondered if I was going to say anything more about Ivory. She asked, "What was Ivory's theory about the Phari?"

I explained, "By the time humans were finally created, the Phari had long since transcended from the Hadron Domain. The Phari became artificial life forms with a new type of existence entirely inside the Hierion Domain. What did they care about we humans? But the Phari had endowed Humanity with a great gift. Every human carries inside a Phari endosymbiont."

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"Along with a zeptite endosymbiont."

"Yes, the pek loaded Earth up with zeptites, but Earthly life cannot be separated from its femtobot components... we cannot escape from our Phari influences."

Rylla added a question, "Not even an artificial life form like Wendy?"

"Wendy was designed as an artificial human. I wish I knew how she was made... Earthly science would not be able to distinguish Wendy from a true human, yet she could re-arrange her nanite components and morph into any convenient physical form. Apparently Grean figured out how to tap into the replicoid technology at Observer Base and use it to manufacture special agents like Wendy."

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Rylla suggested, "Why not call Wendy a replicoid?"

"You could, but a true replicoid is nanoscopic."

Rylla looked out the front window. She could see Zeta and Nora coming up the long driveway. "How could the Phari control Wendy's nanites?"

"Inside the AR Simulator, the Phari could amplify human abilities by modulating their femtobot endosymbionts. Technology such as that deployed in Wendy's artificial body had not yet been created in the Asimov Reality, so the AR Simulator would not normally have given Wendy her usual power to morph or send out nanite reconnaissance probes or even exercise conscious control over her sensory subsystems. However, the Phari had the ability to activate Wendy's special abilities, apparently by endowing the femtobots of her Phari endosymbiont with the required nanite control programs that could be recognized by the AR Simulator."

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Rylla nodded. "A kind of software emulation. Yes, now I see. That must be it. So, inside the AR Simulator, whenever Wendy visited a world of the Phari Network, she could be given back some or all of her special powers. And in the case of Nova, the Phari could also amplify her telepathic powers, as happened on the Planet of the Dryads."

Rylla and I could hear Zeta and Nora down the other end of the house as they came into the house from the garage. I was still speaking to Rylla: "That kind of telepathy amplification was a cheat. R. Oliveene was trying to create human telepaths who could function without help from the Phari."

Zeta and Nora came into the great-room. Nora continued down the hallway towards the back bedroom where she had slept the previous night. Zeta told Rylla, "Nora and I were just given the same song and dance that you got last week. Everything is normal. All we can do is wait."

Pallis dies on the Planet of the Dryads.

Rylla threw her arms around Zeta and they tried to hug, but their huge bellies got in the way; they bumped together rather clumsily. Zeta said, "Oooff! I don't think we can knock these little rascals out of us that way!" Zeta tried to tug Rylla's little pajama top down to cover some of her abdomen. Then she tried to pull up Rylla's pajama bottoms that were in real danger of sliding down her legs.

Rylla said, "I'm ready to try anything, even what that goofy doctor suggested."

I could see in Zeta's mind that she already knew what Rylla was talking about, but I asked, "What was that?"

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Rylla replied, "He said that some women can induce labor by having sex."

I laughed and Zeta scowled at me. She told Rylla, "That's not working for either Nora or I. Let's go for a swim, that might work." Rylla went to check the water temperature in the spa, which was now their preferred place to swim.

Zeta

Zeta was already getting undressed. She gave me a hug and we shared a long wet kiss. "Thank you for not suggesting to Rylla that they activate a replicoid at Observer Base."

I asked, "Will your restriction on discussing that idea be lifted after Rylla gives birth?"

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Zeta replied with exasperation in her voice, "You and your experiments! It may not be safe even then." Zeta went down the hall to change clothes and get ready for her swim with Rylla. I sat down again at my computer, thinking about the way that the Phari had helped craft telepathic humans in the Asimov Reality.

Carrying her little overnight bag, Nora walked back through the great-room and went to the kitchen. I was just getting back to my writing when Nora came from the kitchen with her lunch and sat down at the piano. I sighed and realized my time for getting work done had passed. I asked rhetorically, "What's for lunch?"

She took a big bite out of her sandwich, chewed, swallowed, drank some milk and then replied, "I'm hungry all the time, but the doctor was still chastising both Zeta and I for not having gained enough weight."

I thought about Zeta and Rylla who we could hear outside, splashing in the spa. I was sure that Rylla had not eaten anything so far that day and it was almost noon. I told Nora, "Rylla was unable to convince her doctor that she has been eating. She has been eating reasonably well, but she has only gained ten pounds in the last nine months. It seems like there is something unusual going on with all three of you. I'm starting to wonder: what if they-" I pointed to Nora's bulging belly, "don't want to be born."

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Nora laughed at my little joke then looked at me and fell silent. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Yesterday I looked up the world record for longest pregnancy. It seems to be normal for some women to gestate their children for more than a year."

Nora asked, "Let's assume that the three little ones are all in telepathic communication with each other. How could they take control of the situation and delay the birth process?"

I suggested, "It might be a matter of what you mean by 'they'. We need to take into account the fact that nanites are involved. Picture a baby that can control a swarm of nanites."

Nora finished off her meal, returned the dishes to the kitchen then returned to say goodbye. "Well, I'm heading home. Tell Rylla and Zeta goodbye for me." Nora gave me a fake kiss on the cheek.

"Tell them yourself. They are just out back, on the patio."

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"I know, but I don't want to interrupt their swim. Zeta and I actually already said goodbye in the car on the way back here from the doctor's. She was telling me about your conversation with Rylla. Do you really think that the Phari could amplify human telepathic abilities?"

"Why not? And if so, it was nothing magical. Face it, Nora, these three simultaneous pregnancies... well, I'll be blunt. This growing tribe of Mind Clones was planted inside of you, Zeta and Rylla. Apparently, it is not yet time for the harvest."

Nora warned me, "Don't talk like this to Rylla. She's a sensitive girl. What do you mean by 'harvest'?"

"I've been wondering about Izhiun and his partner in crime, Tricia. And I'll throw you into the pot along with them; it is the three of you. I suspect that none of you should be here. It is a violation of the Pact for aliens to be on Earth. I've been expecting the Buld Spaceship to return and take the three of you away, but it has not happened."

Tricia

Nora crossed her arms and told me, "I'm not leaving. I'm happy here living on Earth with your son."

"Maybe you are in the clear. Someone erased most of your memories of your work as an Interventionist. So, yes, you might get off on a technicality."

Nora said, "I assure you, I'm just as human as you are."

"Don't even get me started on the tryp'At. But you are correct, as a tryp'At, I might also be viewed as an alien and living on Earth in violation of the Pact. I'm ready to hand my work over to Rylla. I'd leave Earth if I had to. You should too. But what about Izhiun? He was not even born in this galaxy! And who knows about Tricia? The one thing I know about her is she has access to alien technology."

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Nora shrugged, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm happy, and nothing you say about treaty violations and mysterious aliens can change that. Zeta and Rylla are happy too, so keep your 'sky is falling' worries to yourself... at least until the three little ones arrive."

Nora departed. I briefly looked out the window at Zeta and Rylla. They were splashing up a storm in the spa, burning off more calories than they had to spare. I went back to writing, unable to forget about alien agents on Earth and my worries about the possible impending collapse of the Trysta-Grean Pact.

in the Ekcolir Reality:
Pharism: Alastor 458

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Related Reading
This blog post (above) makes reference to a seven part story about Wendy's adventures inside the Asimov Reality Simulator. To catch up with Wendy's investigation of the Phari Network see:
1. (11,000 words) Reality Simulation
2. (3,500 words) Inspector Wishwell
3. (5,000 words) The Melnoy Heights
4. (7,000 words) Thumbnail Gulch
5. (5,000 words) Malagate the Woe
6. (10,000 words) Power of the Dryads
7. (5,000 words) The Maunish Mystery

Next: a science fiction ghost story, "Moon Hammer".

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Moudervelt Mystery

Sene Prekus on Alphanor.

In my previous blog post, Wendy discovered the fate of poor Pallis Atwrode on the Planet of the Dryads. Now Wendy must investigate a mystery from Nova's past; doing so might possibly provide an explanation for why Nova has the most powerful and sophisticated telepathic abilities of any human. Starting from Avente on Alphanor, Wendy must make a trip through interstellar space in search of Nova's mysterious origins on the planet Moudervelt.

"The Maunish Mystery", below is part 7 of Wendy's adventure inside the AR Simulator. Part 1 is here.

Note: the following story is fan-fiction. You should read Star King by Jack Vance before trying to read about Wendy's adventures in the Asimov Reality. Moudervelt is described in Vance's novel The Book of Dreams.


The Maunish Mystery
Wendy woke up in a strange bed with the relentless early morning light of Rigel slipping past the window curtains. Stretching her legs under the covers, she noticed that her physical form no longer had the extreme length of Nova's long, lank body. It took a few moments of exploring her new body before Wendy realized that she was back in the body of Inspector Wishwell. Wendy deduced that Grean must have performed the body swap while Wendy had slept, possibly without even bothering to take Wendy out of the AR Simulator. Struggling to remember falling asleep, Wendy discovered that she had a new set of memories, apparently implanted in her mind during the night.

Wendy had dream-like memories of playing the role of Inspector Wishwell and waiting for Nova to arrive. In that oddly-remembered past, Wendy had listened to Nova tell about the Death of Pallis Atwrode on the Planet of the Dryads. Nova had then told Ryjyl about her telepathic abilities and her belief that the entire Malagate affair, beginning with Lugo Teehalt's discovery of the Planet of the Dryads, actually had it origins on Nova's home world, Moudervelt. Nova had told Ryjyl, "The Dryads gave me a gift and awoke a special memory from my childhood; that allowed me to understand the importance of Pure Truth. If you want to honor Pallis and the way she gave her life trying to capture Attel Malagate, then we need to continue the investigation of Kate's death on Moudervelt."

Wendy had asked Nova to explain what she meant by 'Pure Truth', but she had already made up her own mind about the importance of going to Moudervelt. Or, stated more accurately, the Dryads had already taken action so as to assure that Wendy knew the importance of Moudervelt.

Wendy decided that Grean must have reset the AR Simulator in preparation for a new mission. However, no mission briefing with Grean was required because Wendy already knew what must be done. Wendy threw off the covers, got out of Inspector Wishwell's bed and quickly pulled on a pair of shorts. Not having the patience to dress fully, Wendy made her way down to the first floor, Ryjyl's breasts bouncing with each step down the stairway. There was Nova, still asleep on the sofa... the empty wine bottle was there, too.

Image by Leonardo.

Wendy used Ryjyl's discree to contact the Iskana Salvage Yard in South Lychester and told them to hold Gersen's model 9b as police evidence. As Wendy talked, Nova awoke and sat up. Slipping the discree into her pocket, Wendy asked Nova, "Are you ready to go?"

Nova stretched her long arms above her head, gazed upon Ryjyl's muscular body and replied, "Give me one minute." Both Wendy and Nova emptied their bladders then they each packed a bag full of Ryjyl's clothing. Wendy was annoyed to find that she seemed fully in biological mode, the AR Simulator even giving her hunger pangs that Wendy was powerless to ignore.

Wendy packed Ryjyl's police equipment, but she dressed in civilian clothes. For a brief moment she wondered if she should truly play the role of Inspector Wishwell and request permission from her supervisor to leave Alphanor and visit Moudervelt, but then she told herself: no, there is no need. Grean will simply reset the Simulator once again when I complete my mission.

On the drive to South Lychester, Nova kept pointing out every restaurant that they passed. Finally Wendy stopped and they ate breakfast at a little roadhouse and eatery called the Halcyon Inn. An hour later, Ryjyl/Wendy and Nova lifted off Alphanor in Gersen's old model 9b spaceship. Wendy set course for Moudervelt, the inhabited planet that orbited around Van Kaathe's star.

During the trip to Moudervelt, Wendy discovered that she had minimal control over her nanites. With regularity she grew hungry and tired, just like a normal human. This was Wendy's first chance to experience the tedium of a long space flight, and it was made more challenging by having to share with Nova the one small bed that was onboard.

the Pure Truth Convent, Rock-Wallows district of Maunish

On the long flight to Moudervelt, Nova talked about her childhood and her family. "My mother was born in the Rock-Wallow Convent and lived there for many years."

Wendy/Ryjil asked, "You grew up in a convent?"

"No, but my mother always talked about it. The convent was on the original site of the first Pure Truth Mission in Maunish. The old Mission was built on land that nobody could farm, out in the Rock-Wallows."

Ryjyl asked, "Maunish?"

"Maunish is a province on Moudervelt... that is where I was born. I grew up in Cloutie, the capitol of Maunish. Sene (my mother) had moved there after leaving the Pure Truth Convent."

"What did they mean by 'Pure Truth'?"

Nova explained, "I'm not an expert on their beliefs. Everything I know comes from things that my mother would say about her early life inside the convent. Their Basic Truth was that people can be improved by artificial selection, just like breeding a type of cow that can produce more milk. To this day, the people of Maunish are unusually tall, but I suspect that the real goal was to select for improved telepathic ability."

source

Wendy thought about Teehalt and his little telepath breeding project on Alphanor. She asked Nova, "How did you hear about Teehalt?"

Nova explained, "After I was rescued from Dasce's prison, Gersen took me back into space. We went in search of the Planet of the Dryads, the world that Teehalt had discovered. Gersen showed me a photograph of an alien Dryad and told me how he had met Teehalt on Smade's Planet." Nova fell silent and thought about her visit to Teehalt's Planet. "Teehalt was all alone with the Dryads. I wonder what they did to his mind and memories."

Wendy suggested, "If all the Dryads wanted was to protect their world from human and Star King encroachment, they could have killed Teehalt."

Nova shook her head. "No, Malagate was relentless. Had Teehalt never returned from the Beyond, some other locater would have followed. And besides, I don't believe that the Dryads know how to kill."

Wendy thought about her own telepathic contact with the Dryads. She had the feeling that there was something like human thought within the Dryads, but they were aliens, with strange minds. Wendy asked Nova, "When Pallis died, could you see what was happening to her?"

Image by Leonardo.

Nova shrugged. "The Dryads were allowing me to remotely view both Malagate and Pallis. I had three overlapping images in my mind, something I'd never experienced previously. There, in the river, there was some kind of creature... I never saw it clearly. I got the impression of a squid-like beast... a pack of them. Then I blacked out. Gersen told me that he only found parts of Malagate and Pallis... an arm, a leg... it looked like they had been ripped apart."

Wendy asked, "Did you see the alien ruins there in that valley?"

Nova nodded and asked suspiciously. "How do you know about that?"

Wendy lied: "After Kate was murdered, when I interrogated Gersen on Alphanor, he told me about Teehalt and his visit to the planet of the Dryads. Teehalt knew there were the ruins of an ancient civilization on that world."

Nova suggested, "Long ago, the Dryads may have lived in cities and been more like humans. Eventually, they gave all that up and now they endlessly wander the meadows, seamlessly integrated into the life cycles of their world."

Wendy suggested, "If the Dryads once had advanced technology, then maybe their telepathic powers are artificial, generated by some kind of alien technology."

R. Nyrtia and R. Oliveene Nhevrix

"Yes. I think that's what the Dryads saw in my mind. They reminded me about what my mother had told me when I was a small child. Sene told me that she was an artificial construct, created by Arahluv, the scientist in charge of the telepathy breeding efforts at the Maunish convent."

Wendy was tempted to tell Nova that she was an artificial life form, but at least so far in this run of the AR Simulator, Nova seemed not to have noticed that Wendy/Ryjyl was not an actual biological human. Wendy asked, "What do you mean? How was your mother constructed?"

"I don't know. I don't recall that I ever really knew. I was very young when Sene spoke about her origins and her life at the convent. Somehow it involved a kind of genetic engineering. And more importantly, her growth and development had been adjusted by means of exposing her embryonic body to chemicals and growth modulatory drugs. Sene told me that she had no father, that her chromosomes were artificially assembled using DNA from dozens of people at the convent."

"Why did Sene leave the convent?"

Image by Leonardo.

"I'm not sure. She often talked to me about leaving Moudervelt for a time in order to pursue her interests in astronomy. Eventually, after visiting other worlds, she returned to Maunish, but not to the convent. She lived in Cloutie and that was where I was born, but I always knew that I would some day leave Moudervelt. That was implicit in everything that Sene ever told me... that I would go to school on Alphanor. I never knew why, I never questioned that. It seemed like a great adventure, an escape from sleepy Cloutie. When I arrived on Alphanor, I soon met Kate and I felt like I was living a dream. Kate and I were perfect together." Nova asked Wendy, "Did you ever feel like you had met your soul mate?"

Wendy decided to speak for Ryjyl, "I was very happy during the few months when I lived with Pallis. Our mutual attraction was intense and we were caught up in the flames of passion. However, we quickly burned out. When living together, everything about us was too hot, too fast and too... dangerous. We had to back off, and cool down. We remained great friends and it was always in my mind that the old flame could engulf us again, at any time. It seems absurd that Pallis had to die on the Planet of the Dryads."

The next day, the Intersplit drive shut down and they were in the Van Kaathe star system. Blue, green and white Moudervelt hung before them. Wendy and Nova watched Moudervelt turning slowly in the viewport of the old model 9b spaceship. Nova told Wendy, "There are no spaceports in Maunish. Air travel is forbidden, but there is plenty of empty land where nobody would notice our arrival. We can drop down into the Rock-Wallows and then approach the convent by ground. We can use Gersen's little flitter. The travel rules of Maunish simply forbid any flight above fifty feet off the ground."

"That's bizzare."

Teleporting Moudervelt. Image by Leonardo.

"Remnants from an ancient war. A thousand years ago when Moudervelt was first settled, Lord Puck attacked Maunish with his air force. According to legend, within the first minute after invading Maunish, Puck lost half his aircraft, blown out of the sky by particle beams. Ever since, no local dares go more than 50 feet off the ground."

Wendy said, "I'd prefer not do be blasted out of the sky by a particle beam."

Nova laughed. "It is all legend and superstition."

They landed in the middle of the night in the desolate Rock-Wallows, ten miles from the Convent. Looking at the displayed data from external weather probe, Wendy said, "It is chilly outside." Wendy and Nova put on heavy jackets then went outside and opened the cargo hatch. Small, darting animals lurked near the spaceship, their eyes glowing in the bright light that flooded from the cargo hold.

Wendy and Nova pulled out Gersen's little aircar and then sealed shut all the hatches of the old 9b. They loaded their two travel bags into the flitter, and set off into the night, flying just high enough to avoid the crags of rock that protruded above the grassy steppe. While they skimmed over the landscape, Wendy could occasionally see the glowing eyes of small animals who reared up on their hind legs and watched the passing flitter. An hour later, the lights of the Pure Truth Convent glowed ahead. Wendy asked, "Should we wait for morning?"

Nova was using her telepathic sense to look into the convent. "Someone is awake, but the mind I am touching is strange. She knows I am here! We can go in. She is waiting for us."

Image by Leonardo.

"She? Who is it?"

"Arahluv, the Chief Scientist. Somehow, she knew we were coming."

Wendy flew them forward along a river bed, then up a rise. Nova said, "Land on the roof. There, see the glow of the landing beacon?"

Wendy took them up to the top of the convent, following a row of blinking guide lights. She set the aircar down on the landing plat, at the center of a glowing circle that marked the rooftop landing platform. In the star light, mostly lit from below by the landing lights, a ghostly figure could be seen, rising up out of a recessed stair well. Oliveene called out, "Welcome."

Wendy and Nova climbed out of the aircar. Oliveene threw her arms around Nova. "My, you have grown, Nova. Do you remember me?"

"Yes, I do Arahluv." Nova reached into the aircar and pulled out the two travel bags.

Oliveene took both bags and turned towards the stairs. "Come on inside."

Wendy and Nova followed Oliveene down the stairs and into a well-lit corridor. Two doors opened and Oliveene set the travel bags down. "These are your rooms. My room is down at the end of the hallway. Come talk to me when you are ready." Oliveene turned and walked away down the corridor. Nova told Wendy, "Arahluv is exactly how I remember her from twenty years ago. When I was young she would often come to Cloutie and visit my mother."

Wendy took off her jacket and set it and her travel bag inside her room, which was like a hotel suite. She emptied her bladder and met Nova back in the hallway. Wondering what they were getting into, Wendy instinctively launched a nanite probe. After the probe went down the corridor and into Oliveen's room, Wendy wondered why she suddenly now had the ability to use her nanite reconnaissance probes. She told Nova, "Oliveen seems to be alone."

Escape from Moudervelt. Image by Leonardo.

Nova had just discovered that she could use her remote viewing ability to probe the entire convent. "Yes, but there are others nearby on the floors below." They walked to the far end of the corridor and entered into a large room that was full of strange pieces of equipment. Wendy was reminded of Grean's workshop. Oliveene was there, seated in a chair. "Join me here, by the Viewer."

Wendy and Nova sat down together on a little couch. Oliveene said, "Introductions are needed. Nova, your invented name 'Arahluv' is a good guess, but your mother knew me as Olive. My full name is R. Oliveene Nhevrix."

Wendy asked, "You are a positronic robot?"

Oliveene nodded. "Don't be surprised, Wendy. We robots have existed in every Reality. Why did you not expect to run into any robots here in what you think of as the Asimov Reality?"

Wendy shrugged. "You are a telepathic robot. You can see into my memories."

"Exactly, and I see in your mind that you are feeling guilty. You have never told Nova the truth. So, please introduce yourself properly to Nova."

Wendy told Nova, "My name is Wendy Larsen. I'm from another place, beyond this simulation of your Reality."

Nova looked carefully at Wendy and then at Oliveene. "Now that I look carefully, I see that you are both artificial life forms. You both were designed to look human, but neither of you is biological."

Wendy explained, "I'm an observer from another Reality. I was put here, inside this simulator in order to learn how Lugo Teehalt was able to discover the Planet of the Dryads."

Image by Leonardo.

"So, you see, my dear, Wendy and I are simple cases, easily explained. I make use of a female human body form simply because the original human brain template for positronic brains came from a human woman." Oliveene pointed at Nova. "However, your background is a rather tangled mess."

Nova objected, "Simple? What is a positronic robot?" She turned her head and asked Wendy, "What happened to the real Ryjyl?"

Wendy tried to explain how she was playing the role of Inspector Wishwell. "I'm temporarily taking the place of Ryjyl. When I am done with my mission, I will go back to my Reality and all will return to normal here in the AR Simulation."

Nova complained, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Oliveene replied for Wendy, "Don't be too critical of Wendy. Even now you can't really believe what she has told you. Humans do not like to hear that they exist in an artificial world. As for myself, you should not be surprised that I appear unchanged from your childhood memory of me. My body does not age like a human body, but I can change my physical form, when I must. Sometimes I pretend to age and grow old. Watch this!" Oliveene morphed herself into a replica of Kate Prekus. Oliveene told Nova, "I'm sorry that Kate got caught up in Malagate's misguided plan." Oliveene shifted back to her original body form. She told Wendy, "You should stop pretending to be Ryjyl and use your true form."

During the space flight to Moudervelt, Wendy had given up trying to control her nanite components, but now she discovered that she had the ability to control all of her nanites. She morphed into her favorite shape, what she thought of as the true image of Wendy Larsen. She asked Oliveene, "Why is that I have regained my ability to control my nanites? I was completely helpless on the journey from Alphanor to Moudervelt."

Image by Leonardo.

Oliveene explained, "Moudervelt is an artificial planet, a Phari world. The Phari developed advanced nanotechnology billions of years ago. While you are operating within the Phari Network, the Simulator can be made to allow you to exercise your usual control over your nanoscopic body components. Apparently the Phari approve of your mission and are trying to help you as best they can."

Wendy asked Oliveene, "So, you are aware that this is a Simulation?"

The robot smiled and replied, "Sometimes I am taken out of the Simulator and I get to visit with R. Nyrtia. She has explained to me the fact that I exist within a simulation."

Wendy complained, "If the Phari are trying to be nice to me, why did they allow Nova and I to suffer so much in Dasce's prison?"

Oliveene shrugged. "Dasce's planet is not part of the Phari Network. It is not even part of the Pek Network. Apparently the Phari cannot protect you from harm and suffering when you are out of network." Oliveene turned her attention back to Nova and said, "The deep mystery is Nova's unusual past. I hope you realize how special your mother was, Nova."

Nova thought back to her childhood days. "She was a wonderful mother. Sene always took good care of me. My childhood was very happy."

"Yes, you were a lucky girl. Sene had a kind of telepathic 'intuition' that allowed her to anticipate your every need. Also, I often provided her with helpful hints from the future."

Wendy exclaimed, "Of course! You have access to time travel technology."

Oliveene turned her attention to the equipment that was there beside her. She activated the Viewer and an image of Nova speaking to an older woman appeared. Nova shouted out, "Mother!"

Oliveene explained to Nova, "This is an image from the future. Later today I'll take you into Cloutie and you can visit your mother."

Image by Leonardo.

Nova sprang to her feet and approached the displayed image of Sene. She reached out and her hand merged into the holographic display. Nova lamented, "But I was told she died, years ago!"

Oliveene said, "That was a lie. We did not want you distracted from your mission on Alphanor. You had to keep your attention on Kate and her research work in Galactic Morphology."

"I see." Nova thought about the thrilling months after having met Kate on Alphanor. "After meeting Kate, I soon began planning a trip for us, back here to Moudervelt. I wanted Sene to meet Kate."

Oliveene stood beside Nova and put an arm around the young woman's shoulders, "And that I could not allow. Kate had telepathic powers; she was an Intuitive, just like Sene. If the three of you had ever met face-to-face, Kate would have instantly noticed that you have the ability to link their two minds together. Of course, Sene knew all about that. She was making use of your three-way telepathic network, but we could not afford to let Kate in on the secret. Doing so would have revealed Kate's role as our mole inside the Galactic Mapping Project."

Wendy asked Oliveene, "What do you mean by 'Intuitive'?"

Oliveene pointed towards the image of Sene. "That is what Sene called herself. I call the human telepaths that I have created 'linkers', or 'link telepaths'. Humans can only generate powerful telepathic forces when many human brains are linked together in a network. However, while growing up, Sene displayed amazing telepathic abilities. With help from the Phari Network, Sene could sense the most important thought inside people's minds. I worked closely with her when she was young, and she could even see in my mind the idea that humans were crafted long ago by aliens. Sene latched on to that revelation and became intrigued by SETI and how, during the past millennium, humans have been searching the galaxy for aliens. Sene went to Alphanor to study Astronomy."

Image by Leonardo.

Oliveene continued, "During a SETI conference on Alphanor, Sene realized that the Department of Galactic Morphology at Sea Province University was involved in the secret astronomy program that provides target stars for locater searches. Sene could telepathically 'see' all that inside the mind of the Director of Research for the Department of Galactic Morphology. At about the same time, Sene also became aware of Teehalt's 'commune' on Alphanor, that was breeding for telepathic abilities."

Wendy nodded. "So that is how Teehalt became involved."

Oliveene nodded and continued her account of past events. "Teehalt wanted to find a new planet where he could live with his telepathic family members, free from interference from other minds. Sene returned to Moudervelt with Teehalt and we began a new project that resulted in the creation of Nova. Teehalt and several other telepaths donated their chromosomes for that effort, but Sene was your birth mother, Nova."

Nova asked, "So I had no father?"

"You had several fathers, but Sene was your only actual parent."

Wendy suggested, "So, Nova's telepathic ability is a type of remote viewing... she can see deeply inside people."

Oliveene added, "Nova's mind is like a powerful detector. She can pin-point locate sources of twitinos, the particles that are used to exchange telepathic signals. However, she cannot process all the twitino data to reconstruct thought processes. The original human telepathy breeding project, in the previous Reality, placed special emphasis on linking together human minds into a kind of telepathic super-network. Nova can share her fantastic ability to sense twitinos by linking her telepathic ability to other minds. In effect, Sene developed Nova as a telepathy amplification device, that could be used to lift hidden thoughts from other minds."

Telastid-based telepathy.

Oliveene paused to reflect on the remaining mysteries of Sene's telepathic abilities. Oliveene shrugged and continued her account, "Working by herself, Sene can only reach the most prominent thoughts inside another person's mind. But by linking her mind to Nova, Sene was able to form networks and access deeper memories and thoughts... at least inside other people who were part of her network. Linked through Nova to Kate, Sene was able to access the passwords that allowed us to hack into the secret Galctic Mapping database."

Nova said, "While on Alphanor, I was completely unaware of how Sene was using my telepathic ability."

Oliveene explained, "You grew up here on Moudervelt with Sene constantly in your mind. You can't notice her presence in your thoughts unless she tries to alert you to her presence. When you moved to Alphanor in order to study at Sea Province University, Sene also moved to Avente. She lived in a little apartment on Ard Street, disguised as a Pure Truth Nun."

Nova mused, "There have been a few times in my life when my telepathic ability seemed amplified... when I could telepathically sense my surroundings with great clarity and even 'read' some thoughts in other people's minds. The most recent was on Teehalt's planet. It was almost as if I could follow the thoughts of both Malagate and Pallis."

Wendy suggested, "The Dryads must have been amplifying your telepathic ability. They were making use of you to deal with the threat posed by Malagate to their world. They allowed you to form some kind of telepathic network with Malagate. That network, your access to Malagate's mind was like a Trojan Horse. The Dryads used it to confuse Malagate, to burn out the Star King's sensory apparatus. Your mind was also over-loaded by that positive feedback process, but when you passed out you were safe in the care of Gersen. Malagate was torn to pieces. Sadly, Pallis got caught up in the same telepathic vortex that was designed to eliminate the parthenoid."

Image by Leonardo.

Oliveene added, "Yes, even here on Moudervelt, my work would have been useless without help from the Phari. Sene constantly received help from the squamifoxes while she worked to develop Nova's special telepathic abilities."

Wendy asked, "Squamifoxes?"

Nova told Wendy, "The little creatures that we could see tonight on our way across the steppe."

Wendy asked Oliveene, "You have been crafting telepaths here on Moudervelt for.... how long?"

"Since the beginning. For almost 1,000 years. I was among the first settlers on Moudervelt. Together with Sene, I used some chemical treatments that prevented Nova from speaking until she was 7 years old and had developed a powerful telepathic ability. During that time of suppressed language behavior, Sene trained Nova to look deeply into people's minds using telepathy."

Nova added, "And Sene never tired of telling me about her time when she had lived on Alphanor. It seemed natural that I would follow in her footsteps and travel to the Rigel Concourse for my own education."

Image by Leonardo.

Oliveene nodded. "You were carefully guided to Sea Province University. In recent times, Moudervelt has grown too heavily populated. I'm now fighting the same problem that hindered Teehalt's telepathy development efforts on Alphanor. I also want to move my work to a new, less heavily populated planet. On Alphanor, Sene realized that telepathy might be the key to finding a new, low population planet where the development of telepathic humans could continue. We wanted a distant planet, beyond the reach of the pace pirates who routinely raid worlds in the Beyond."

Wendy could now understand the scope of Oliveene's plan. "You needed a world that could be yours for centuries before any other people found it."

"Exactly." Oliveene continued, "By the time we had crafted Nova and positioned her on Alphanor, Dr. Kelle was head of research in the department of Galactic Morphology and Kate was a research assistant there. She processed star data for galactic mapping. Sene used Nova as a remote viewing system... Nova could look into Kate's mind and see the passwords for gaining access to data files. We hacked into the mapping database and pulled out information about star systems that will be shared with locaters in the coming centuries... in that way, it became possible to find a world in the deep Beyond where I might continue my work undisturbed, at least for several centuries before the ever-expanding growth of Humanity through the galaxy would inevitably reach us. Once we had data from the exoplanet star survey, funding was needed to finance a group of locaters who would actually search candidate stars for a habitable planet."

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Wendy pointed to the image being projected by the Viewer and asked Oliveene, "With your ability to see into the future, why did you need to hack the stellar database and send Teehalt in search of a new planet?"

Oliveene shrugged. "I'm limited by the technical limitations of my Viewer. I can only see a short distance into the future. Everything that we robots do creates ripples in time. Our work constantly initiates changes that propagate into the future."

Wendy recalled that it was only after establishment of the Trysta-Grean Pact that positronic robots were given access to advance Huaoshy Viewing technology that could display complete Reality Chains. She asked Oliveene, "How many positronic robots are there at work in this Reality?"

"I can't say. R. Nyrtia knows, but not I. My best guess? There may be a few dozen of us, each with our own telepathy development project, scattered around on different planets. The planet Ys is one such world, and Pallis was endowed with her telepathic ability by one of the other telepath breeding projects. All of us View the future, seeking hints for how best to proceed with our work, but in so doing we inevitable disturb the timeline, limiting the validity of our Views of the far future. Even this scene, with Nova meeting Sene, could collapse. Now that I've shared this vision of the future with Nova, all she needs to do is decide not to go with me into Cloutie. An alternative future would then be created, erasing what we now see here."

Wendy asked Oliveene, "Why was Gale Warpweave brought into your scheme?"

Oliveene explained, "Malagate, using the Warpweave alias, responded the an advertisement that Sene placed in magazines such as Cosmopolis. Warpweave came onboard as an investor with deep pockets to fund locaters, including Teehalt. Two other locaters who were sent out into the Beyond have not yet returned. I'm beginning to wonder if they were dealt with by the Phari Network."

Wendy asked, "Dealt with how?"

"Those two other locaters may have found other planets of the Phari Network and they may have decided to stay on those worlds."

Nova suggested, "Maybe they were killed by aliens."

Earth's Reality Chain

Oliveene shook her head. "No, I doubt that would happen. Planets of the Phari Network tend to have alien life forms like the Dryads; creatures that are generally peaceful and well-integrated into their world's ecosystem. On Alphanor, the apex creature is a whale-like creature of the oceans. Here on Moudervelt, the squamifoxes have interesting telepathic powers; they made it possible for Sene to cultivate Nova as a telepathic tool for remote viewing. I believe that the Phari Network is actively helping R. Nyrtia evolve a new type of human variant that will have the ability to share language-like communications via telepathic signals. We are slowly working towards that goal and the Planet of the Dryads is now available for me to use in my future work."

Wendy asked, "What about Kelle and Detteras? How are they involved in your work?"

Oliveene replied, "They are innocent bystanders, except for the fact that they each look large personal cash payments from Warpweave. Those were bribes offered by Warpweave to Kelle and Detteras in addition to the big monetary donations made by Warpweave to the Department of Galactic Morphology when Beneficial Grant 291 was endowed. Kelle and Detteras had to be paid off; they were clever enough to realize that Warpweave was up to something shady and did not really want to participate in the Master Exploration Program."

Light from Van Kaathe's star was now creeping into Oliveene's workshop through a row of windows. Oliveene suggested to Nova, "Maybe we should now go visit your mother in Cloutie."

Nova nodded, "Yes, I would like to see her. If you take me to her, I may even be able to forgive you for having made me believe that she was dead."

Oliveene pleaded, "Do not judge me too harshly, Nova. I would like you to move with me to the Planet of the Dryads and help me craft a new generation of telepaths. My work goes on, and given your spectacular telepathic ability, you should be a part of the effort to evolve fully telepathic humans." Oliveene led Wendy and Nova down the corridor and back to their rooms. "Grab your jacket, Nova, it is a chilly morning outside." Nova stepped into her room and Oliveene said to Wendy, "I believe that you can now control your artificial senses, so you will not need your jacket."

They went up the stairs to the roof. A cool breeze ruffled Wendy's clothing and she shut off her temperature sensation subsystem. Slightly adjusting her visual system for the color of Van Kaathe's starlight, Wendy looked out at the grassy steppe surrounding the convent and saw a gathered heard of thousands of squamifoxes, who were all raised up on their hind legs and gazing towards the convent. Oliveene commented, "They know that the time is near when I will be gone from Moudervelt. They are particularly intrigued by you, Wendy... the fact that you are from outside of this Reality."

Wendy felt a strange connection to the squamifoxes, as if they had a message for her. But now Wendy was having trouble seeing the squamifoxes. Her visual field was suddenly overlaid by a view of Grean's workshop. Wendy stepped towards the edge of the rooftop landing pad and exited from the AR Simulator.

Wendy arrived back in Grean's workshop. Grean said, "Welcome back to Reality."

Wendy turned and looked into the Omniviewer, which was showing events on Moudervelt. Wendy could see Oliveene and Nova on the roof of the convent. Nova rushed forward, towards the edge of the landing plat, wondering if Wendy had fallen off the roof. Grean waved her hand, resetting the Simulation. Now Wendy saw that real Inspector Wishwell there on the roof of the convent with Nova and Oliveene. A hatch slid aside and Oliveene's larger aircar rose up out of its hangar. Ryjyl, Nova and Oliveene got into that aircar and flew off towards Cloutie. In the distance, Wendy could see only one lone squamifox loping across the steppe.

Another Kirth Gersen Adventure

Wendy turned back towards Grean and asked, "Did you know that R. Nyrtia was behind the discovery of the Planet of the Dryads?"

Grean admitted to having known that positronic robots had played a role in the development of  human telepathy in the Asimov Reality. "Of course, there was a cover-up. Vance was given incomplete information about the Asimov Reality. When writing in the Buld Reality, his story about Attel Malagate the Star King could not be allowed to mention robots or telepathy. However, conditions were different in the Ekcolir Reality. In that Reality, Vance's stories were used to reveal important facts about hierions, sedrons and advanced nanotechnology. The people of Earth were being prepared for the imminent arrival of the Fru'wu."

Wendy turned again to look upon the now peaceful scene of the Rock-Wallows. She mused, "I wonder about the future of Inspector Wishwell. Will she return to Alphanor and prosecute Dr. Kelle and Rundle Detteras for their roles in data theft from the Galactic Mapping Project?"

Image by Leonardo.

Grean laughed. "You now know the danger of the AR Simulator, Wendy. There is always more to learn, always the temptation to undertake another mission of discovery inside the Simulator."

"You knew that by having me play the roles of Pallis, Ryjyl and Nova when I was inside the Simulator, I would begin to care about them."

"I hope you had fun during your little vacation, even if you had to deal with the deaths of Kate, Pallis and Teehalt. And what about Malagate? Were not the poor parthenoid's motivations really the same as those of Teehalt and Oliveene? Yes, I even feel sympathy for Gale Warpweave and her sad fate: being torn limb-from-limb by a pack of squid."

Wendy felt no sympathy for Sivij Suthiro, 'Beauty' Dasce or Attel Malagate. She suggested, "You must know the future of the Asimov Reality... including its alternative timelines." She pointed an accusatory finger in the direction of the Omniviewer. "Why were the Dryads so intent on killing Malagate, so capable of eliminating Malagate, yet unable to prevent Malagate from causing the deaths of Kate, Pallis and Teehalt?"

in the Asimov Reality

Grean brought to the Omniviewer display an image of the Planet of the Dryads at a future time, when R. Oliveene Nhevrix had established a new telepathy research center on that world. Grean suggested, "Don't dismiss the possibility that some of Malagate's efforts were useful for the on-going effort to develop humans with sophisticated telepathic abilities. Sadly, we know very little about how Star Kings could evolve so rapidly. I suspect that Oliveene wanted to exploit Star King techniques for genetic engineering, but it was a slippery slope. Malagate was a criminal and a source of danger. Eventually the Dryads eliminated Malagate, but it is possible that by then Sene may have already used Nova to look into Malagate's mind and learn how Malagate planned to create telepathic human-Star King hybrids." Grean looked at Wendy and a sly grin came to her face. She slipped an arm around Wendy's waist. "Many mysteries remain, my dear. Maybe you would like to return to the Planet of the Dryads on a new mission and investigate how-"

Wendy objected, "No! No, thank you, Grean. I've had enough of the AR Simulator in general and of Dryads playing around with my mind, in particular. I'm ready to get back to my work on Earth."

Grean shrugged. "Very well, but let me know when you are ready for another vacation."

in the Ekcolir Reality:
an alien Kerub from Yerophet

__________________________________

This (above) is the end of a seven part story about Wendy's adventures inside the Asimov Reality Simulator.
1. (11,000 words) Reality Simulation
2. (3,500 words) Inspector Wishwell
3. (5,000 words) The Melnoy Heights
4. (7,000 words) Thumbnail Gulch
5. (5,000 words) Malagate the Woe
6. (10,000 words) Power of the Dryads
7. (5,000 words) The Maunish Mystery

Next: Rylla reads about Wendy's adventures in the AR Simulator.

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