Gift Clone

read Part 1 of the story

Below is Part 2 of Rylla the Agonist. (Part 1)

Our drive from the Grand Canyon to San Diego was an all day trip starting in snow and ending in a warm California evening with plenty of gusting off-shore wind. The cats rode in the back of the van, not confined to their cages. Our only stop along the way had been a quick visit to Joshua Tree park. Upon reaching San Diego, Rylla wanted to swim in our hotel's pool and Zeta and I were in the adjacent pet area, letting the cats romp and discussing what we might do the next day. We only had a vague plan to take Rylla to the beach.

I was watching our cats explore the pet play area, but then I soon noticed a change in the telepathic link that I had with Rylla. I turned towards the pool and saw that Rylla seemed to be swimming laps with another young woman. I asked Zeta, "Are they racing?"

Bimanoid Interface

Zeta shrugged. "They chatted together for a minute then started swimming together. They are swimming side by side, so it does not seem to be a race."

I wanted to discuss with Zeta my idea of experimenting to see if Rylla's access to the Bimanoid Interface could be strengthened. "I suppose you don't want Rylla taking drugs if she's going to be swimming."

Zeta nodded. "Not if she's in the ocean. You know she wants to go surfing tomorrow. If she's only going to be in a pool with me watching then you can do your experiment. What drug do you want to try?"

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I was thinking about starting with nicotine itself. I replied to Zeta's question obliquely, "I'd prefer not to experiment on her. But really, can we afford not to? She must have been sent to us for a reason. I can sense that she has limited access to the Bimanoid Interface, so it is natural for me to wonder if she would respond to nicotinic drugs in the same way that I did back when Ivory was experimenting on me. Maybe we can strengthen her telepathic ability."

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Zeta was more worried than I was about experimenting on Rylla's brain. She complained, "You don't have to experiment on the poor girl. Nobody is forcing you. We could just have a nice vacation and then send her back to Australia."

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Knowing that Zeta was 100% correct, I sighed and tried to control my desire to tinker with Rylla's connection to the Interface. I saw that Rylla and the other girl had stopped swimming and were again talking together at the far end of the pool. "I'll certainly let Rylla decide for herself. I'm not going to force her to experiment with the function of her brain and her Phari endosymbiont."

Rylla and her new friend climbed out of the pool and came over to the pet area where Zeta and I were sitting. Rylla introduced us to the young woman, who, standing side-by-side with Rylla seemed like she might be several years older than Rylla, but my judgement might have been skewed by her impressive height. Rylla said, "This is Tricia, a student here at the university."

Tricia told us, "I work at the restaurant here during the evening rush, but I usually take a swim before I head home. I'm glad I bumped into Rylla. She gave me a good workout."

Zeta quickly went over to the pool area and found some hotel towels for the girls.

For a minute Rylla and Tricia talked about swimming and Rylla explained that she was from Australia. Tricia said, "I could tell by your accent."

Tricia was several inches taller than myself and built somewhat like a boy with narrow hips and the powerful shoulders of a swimmer. While she was speaking, suddenly I realized that I had a telepathic link to Tricia. It was weak and intermittent, but I immediately became suspicious. I asked myself: why had someone with telepathic ability so quickly latched onto Rylla upon our arrival in San Diego?

Zeta handed two towels to Rylla. Rylla then handed one of the towels to Tricia and they finished drying themselves off... the hot wind had already done most of that work. Rylla said, "I had to sit in the car all day today. I'm glad I got a chance to do some swimming before trying to go to bed."

Tricia asked, "How long are you going to be in town?"

Rylla shrugged. "We are not on a planned schedule. Tomorrow I want to go surfing."

discovery of antigravity hierions

Tricia explained, "More Santa Ana wind is forecast for tomorrow. There won't be good waves for surfing. I have a better idea. I have classes in the morning, but we can meet on campus for lunch. I'll take you to visit my lab then I'll bring you back here when I report for work."

I asked, "What lab?"

Tricia replied, "I'm doing my senior research project in Dr. Lemet's lab at the Salk institute. We do neuroscience research. 

Rylla accepted the offer and Tricia departed. We went back to our rooms. When we were out of Rylla's hearing, Zeta asked me, "What's wrong?" Via our telepathic connection, she could tell that I was upset.

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I was trying to match the fragmentary telepathic mind pattern of Tricia to all of the mind patterns that were in my memories, particularly those that had come to me via infites. There was a memory from Yōd that seemed like a possible match. I replied tentatively, "I think that girl, Tricia, is a new instantiation of Maria, the woman who blocked Rylla's memories of the hierion discovery last year."

Zeta was shocked by that idea. "Are you serious?"

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"I've heard stories from several of my collaborators about an Interventionist named Radhas and Yōd passed onto me a strange memory or vision of how Radhas had been on Earth and in conflict with some other Interventionist agent operating on Earth. In the infites that I got from Yōd was a memory of Yōd meeting that other agent at Observer Base. I had a weak telepathic connection to Tricia and her mind pattern seems to match that of the agent who Yōd met."

Zeta asked, "So do you think that Tricia is here to prevent you from experimenting on Rylla?"

"I have no idea, but I'm amazed at how fearlessly Tricia swooped in on Rylla. I think Tricia knew that I was in telepathic contact with her. She did not care."

Zeta was perturbed. "I'm surprised you let Rylla make plans to go off with Tricia tomorrow."

"What could I do? Try to tell her 'no'? If I had tried to interfere, Rylla would not have listened to me."

Zeta was bristling at me. "You know that?"

"I sense that, via my telepathic link to Rylla."

An hour later, Zeta and I were just drifting into sleep when our phones rang at the same time. We both had the same text message: 'Meet me in the bar, Tricia.'

Zeta and I quickly got dressed and went to the hotel's bar. There was Tricia, sitting at a small table. Zeta and I sat down and Zeta rather heatedly demanded, "What do you want with Rylla?"

Tricia calmly explained, "The same thing you want, but I know how to make it happen."

The Femtobot Hack

I could sense in Tricia's mind what she meant. I asked, "You work with the Dr. Lemet who studies acetylcholine receptors?"

"Yes. Tomorrow when I take her to the lab, I'll ask Rylla if she wants to participate in a quick experiment. I'll hook her up to our lab equipment and that will let me monitor her brain activity and find the optimal dose of agonist for activating her neural connection to the Interface."

Zeta asked, "So it is true? You are Maria Green?"

Tricia replied without hesitation, "That's the name I used while stationed in Australia."

Zeta asked with exasperation in her voice, "Are you going to tell Rylla who you are?"

Tricia shrugged. "I'd rather not. Rylla is really quite angry at Maria. Anyhow, there is no reason to tell her. We are moving past that."

I asked, "Why did you take her memories away last year, but now you are trying to help her better use the Interface?"

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Tricia replied, "Last year was not the time for Rylla to be using the Interface. Now is the time. Her mind clone is now ready and waiting at Observer Base and we need to get her connected to Georgy via a telepathic link."

I could sense that Zeta was feeling particularly protective towards Rylla. Zeta did not have the benefit of Yōd's infites massaging her thoughts in the way that I did. Zeta made her position clear, "Tricia, or Maria, or whatever your real name is, I don't trust you. I don't want you shooting some drug into Rylla until you warp her mind into the activity pattern that you hope to achieve."

Tricia nodded and a sly grin came to her otherwise grim face. "I understand your misgivings. Frankly, I would not even be trying to explain the situation to you two except for... well, there is something more that I must tell you."

I could sense the shape of Tricia's thoughts and where this was heading: it had something to do with Zeta and I. "Just tell us. We'll give you a fair hearing."

Trysta-Grean Pact.

Tricia reached over and placed her hand on mine. "Thank you. This is a delicate situation and I need to get this right. I can't afford to scare you two off."

Zeta suggested, "Maybe you should begin by telling us who you are and why you are on Earth."

Tricia took a deep breath and shrugged. "To make a long story short, there is a small clean-up crew still on Earth, tying up loose ends in the tattered fringes of the Trysta-Grean Pact."

Stimulated by Zeta's suspicions and sensing that Tricia was trying to conceal some secret, I demanded, "How small?"

Tricia hesitated then replied, "Just Izhiun and myself."

I knew that Tricia was not telling us the entire story, but I let her statement stand unchallenged. I was too surprised by the mention of Izhiun. I blurted out, "Izhiun is still on Earth?"

Tricia squeezed my hand. "He and I still have some work to do before we depart."

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I let my fingers stoke the smooth skin of her hand. I knew that she was not human. Her skin was too smooth, almost frictionless. That made sense: only some kind of advanced artificial lifeform could have avoided detection by the tryp'At Overseers and remained on Earth past their tenure at Observer Base. But what about Izhiun? I was certain that he was a biological lifeform. I told Tricia, "Izhiun left Earth long ago, even before Ivory's departure."

Just then a man approached and joined us at our table. I was too startled by his appearance to speak. Tricia told Zeta, "Zeta, meet Izhiun."

Zeta asked nervously, "You two are the last Interventionists on Earth?"

memory editing by nanites

I put out my hand across the table towards Izhiun and said, "I never really got a chance to meet you when you slipped your infites into my brain."

Izhiun shook my hand and grinned sheepishly, "Ivory had given Thomas and I strict instructions on how to make the infite transfers. I'm sorry if you had trouble adjusting to the sudden influx of so many new memories."

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I released "his" hand and leaned back in my chair, knowing that this copy of "Izhiun" was like Tricia, an artificial lifeform. Zeta asked, "So how do you plan to complete your clean-up mission? Don't try to talk us into leaving Earth along with you when you depart. We've both decided to stay on this world."

Izhiun shook his head and replied, "No, we respect your decision to stay on Earth. We decided to talk to you today because Tricia and I are improvising, but we both feel strongly that our plan is sound. We want to give you a gift. Call it our going away gift, if you like." He smiled enigmatically and leaned against Tricia and put an arm around her.

I knew that the real Izhiun was middle-aged, but this synthetic copy looked quite young, as did Tricia. Sitting there they looked like a couple of high school sweethearts who could not keep their hands off of each-other. I could sense that Tricia was thinking about children; babies. With a sense of dread I asked, "What kind of gift. Just tell us. Stop playing games."

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Tricia explained, "Actually two gifts. Two bundles of joy. First, in order to complete Rylla's linkage to Observer Base, we are going to need more than just a nicotinic brain boost to adjust her Phari endosymbiont. There needs to be a second mind clone here on Earth."

I had mistakenly assume that the mind clone at Observer Base would provide a telepathic conduit linking Rylla to Georgy White, but now I knew that had been wishful thinking. This was going to require a mind clone network. I asked, "If Rylla is going to be the mother, who will be the father of this new mind clone?"

Izhiun explained, "That's not the correct question to be asking. The mind clone here on Earth must be a genetic duplicate of the one at Observer Base. For a mind clone to telepathically link Rylla and Georgy, half the genes must come from Rylla and half from Georgy."

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Zeta laughed, "Just two small problems. Georgy is not on Earth and both Rylla and Georgy are girls."

Tricia nodded. "Correct, but those are not serious impediments to creating the needed mind clone here on Earth. Tomorrow I'll introduce Rylla to Izhiun. One thing will lead to another and about nine months from now Rylla will give birth to the mind clone."

Zeta cried out, shouting at Izhiun, "You're going to impregnate our grand-daughter?"

The room became silent, with many eyes looking in our direction, then slowly the various conversations in the room resumed. I told Zeta, "I think I understand what they are trying to tell us. Izhiun is an artificial lifeform. I suspect that he carries sperm that hold a copy of Georgy's chromosomes. He can function as an artificial device for transferring those sperm to Rylla."

Tricia was shaking her head, "It is not that simple. A random collection of genes from Rylla will not work. Rylla's baby must be a clone of the newborn baby that Georgy is now caring for at Observer Base."

I asked Izhiun, "You've brought cells to Earth? Cells from the mind clone?"

He replied, "Sadly no. That was our original plan, but teleportation to and from Earth has recently been terminated."

I told them, "Yes, we know. Nora told us." Izhiun and Tricia exchanged a surprised glance. I continued, "We know about Nora and her mission on Earth. Nora visited us shortly before Rylla arrived, having teleported to Arizona. Then she suddenly discovered that she could not teleport back to Australia."

Izhiun asked, "So you know that Nora is also on Earth as an Interventionist agent? I'm surprised that she revealed herself to you."

I decided that we all had to stop dancing around the truth. "Nora had to put our minds at ease and let us know that she had the situation in Australia under control."

Tricia giggled, "Yes, that's Nora's current mission, keeping your son entertained. Plus, he's staying in touch with Rylla via the internet. In fact, they are chatting together online right this very moment."

Zeta asked, "So, you can tap into our phones?"

Tricia replied, "Of course. Your lame attempt to drop off the grid was quite ineffective.

I asked, "If you can't teleport a copy of the mind clone to Earth, then how do you hope to make Rylla give birth to a genetic duplicate of the mind clone?"

Izhiun explained, "I'm a fully functional genetics engine. I've already built from scratch a second embryo that is genetically identical to the existing daughter of Rylla and Georgy who is at Observer Base."

I said, "Of course! After you made the first mind clone, you had the genetic sequence and making a second clone was trivial."

"Not trivial, but I got the job done." Izhiun shrugged. "Conventional cloning would have been easier, believe me."

Zeta looked at me, puzzled. She asked, "How is this possible?"

Ek'col

I thought back through the years and reflected on the process by which my understanding of alien visitors to Earth had sprouted and grown. "With the help of hints from various sources, I've been gradually led to the point where I understand. The whole system for time travel that made the work of the Eternals possible depended on what we call Temporal Momentum. But how can genetically identical people be born into each Reality of a Reality Chain? That was a job for the Phari endosymbionts that are inside every human being. Those endosymbionts could make from scratch the needed embryos in each new reality. Human variants like the Ek'col and the Kac'hin even have the means to go a step further. Rather than copy a genetic pattern from a past Reality, they can consciously design a new human genome and then implant the constructed embryo into a woman."

Zeta was appalled. "How horrible!" She grabbed my arm. "And you are going to let Izhiun do that to Rylla?"

I patted Zeta's hand where it gripped my arm. "I think I knew this was where events have been heading. And there is more." I glanced at Tricia. "Isn't there?"

Tricia nodded. "Izhiun and I have decided to give you two a gift. A mind clone of your own."

Surprised by the idea, I laughed uneasily. "I don't think that's wise. I'm an old man. I doubt if I have any clean DNA left in me." I shook my head sadly. "No, it would not be wise to build a baby from my tired old genes."

Izhiun deflected my concern, "Remember, I have the ability to clean up any damaged genes and make your child genetically perfect. So, there's no need to worry about your aged DNA." Izhiun continued, "Tricia and I realized that we should check and ask you two if you have a preference: would you like your child to be a boy or a girl?"

Zeta complained, "You were going to impregnate me without even warning me?"

Tricia tried to speak calmly and keep from further provoking Zeta. "We know that you want to have a child with your husband. When the opportunity arose, we contacted you. What more do you want? So, boy or girl?"

Zeta and I looked at each other. I told Zeta, "I know you want a girl."

Zeta turned back to Izhiun, "Yes, I want a baby girl. But I'm uncomfortable with the whole process. I'm sickened by the thought of you impregnating Rylla and me both."

Tricia sighed. "This would have been much simpler if we still had access to teleporter technology."

Izhiun added, "Or if we found it ethically acceptable to just knock you unconscious and implant the embryos while you slept."

Tricia nodded and looked back and forth between Zeta and me. I was dazzled by her brilliant blue eyes. "In your case, it is best to explain everything, even if the process makes you queasy. In Rylla's case, eventually she will understand, but for now it is best if she just view her pregnancy as the natural outcome of a heated sexual encounter."

Zeta said. "I find it disgusting that you can even contemplate secretly implanting a clone in her uterus."

Trying to calm her down, I put my arm around Zeta, "I think I understand the twisted logic of this. I have one question. Izhiun, do you plan on living out your life here on Earth with Rylla?"

Izhiun became very serious. "Sir, if your grand-daughter fell in love with me and asked me to marry her then I would do so. However, we have carefully studied her mind-set and Rylla is more attracted to women than to men. That's why Tricia made contact with her in the first place, not I."

Zeta asked skeptically, "And yet you expect the poor girl to let you ravish her?"

Izhiun chuckled. "You both know something of the power of nanites. Using nanites, I could take control of Rylla's emotions and make her like me. Without access to teleporter technology, there does need to be physical contact with Rylla in order to accomplish the embryo implantation, but both Tricia and I are equipped to perform the implantation. All we need is a few minutes of close physical contact to accomplish the embryo implantation. We could do it while Rylla is unconscious, but it would be best if she had a memory of how she became pregnant. If needed, we will provide a false memory, but it is best if there is a basis in reality for us to construct the memories that we will leave her with."

Zeta shook her head, "I find this all highly objectionable."

I told Zeta, "I'm certain they could initiate these two pregnancies and send infites into your brain that would reprogram your thoughts and remove all of your objections. Don't make them do that, Zeta. Think it through. You and I want a stronger telepathic link between us. This is our chance to forge that link. And even if you don't like it, Rylla is determined to learn how her memories were altered by Maria Green." I pointed at Tricia. "And here is Maria offering to provide Rylla with the means to understand that and the entire Hidden History of Humanity."

Zeta wiped a tear from one eye and then the other. "I understand all that. I still don't like it. Rylla should control her own life and not have this done to her."

I held Zeta close against me and asked, "Zeta, when have any of we Earthlings been in control?"

I could sense that Zeta was struggling to control her emotions. "Well, my problem is that I was not born on Earth. But I've selected Earth as my world, so I guess I have to accept our fate as Earthlings. Still, I don't want either Tricia or Izhiun implanting an embryo inside me."

Tricia said, "Lucky for you, your husband is tryp'At and he can perform the implantation himself." She and Izhiun stood up. She said to Zeta, "Goodby," and Tricia walked away.

Izhiun said to me, "Goodby, sir." We shook hands again then he turned and followed Tricia walking out of the restaurant.

Zeta and I talked all through the rest of the night and into the next day. She never became comfortable with the idea that she and Rylla would become incubators for manufactured embryos. At about 10:00 AM Rylla joined us in the restaurant for a quick brunch then she set off for the nearby university campus and her scheduled meeting with Tricia.

Zeta and I arranged to stay at the hotel another day. We let the cats have a romp outside and after a while Zeta received a text message from Rylla saying that she was getting a tour of the neuroscience lab at the Salk Institute. Now exhausted, Zeta and I went to bed in the middle of the afternoon.

About six hours later, I was awaken by cats noises and the sensation of a stronger telepathic connection to Rylla. I knew immediately that Tricia had successfully adjusted Rylla's Phari endosymbiont for better linkage to the Bimanoid Interface. Zeta was still sound asleep, but I was now wide awake and I took the cats out to the pet play area. Rylla, Tricia and Izhiun were in the pool, playing a volleyball game with a group of other youngsters. After about an hour I took the cats back indoors and Zeta awoke, hungry. We went to the restaurant and I showed Zeta that Rylla was still in the pool.

Sitting down at our table in the restaurant, I could monitor Rylla's activity and I could see what was going on when about half an hour later Rylla, Tricia and Izhiun went from the pool area towards her hotel room. I said nothing about that to Zeta until later, after our meal, when she saw that the pool was empty. "I'll bet she went to her room."

Zeta sent a text message to Rylla and got confirmation that she was in her room: See you in the morning for brunch.

I suggested to Zeta, "Let's go for a ride." We got the rental van out of the parking garage and drove to the shore. We ended up taking a long walk on the beach under moon light and got back to the hotel just as dawn was breaking. Our metabolic clocks off kilter, we ate a large, leisurely breakfast. Zeta was tired, but I said, "I'll wait up and have brunch with Rylla. I want to hear how things went in the lab yesterday." I already knew.

As soon as Zeta went back to our room, Tricia joined me at the table. She said, "Everything is going as planned; your greatgrand-daughter is on the way. Izhiun and I are about ready to depart... he's saying his goodbye's to Rylla right now. All that remains is the matter of providing you with your new daughter. The zygote will be held in mitotic arrest until Zeta's uterus cycles around and is ready for implantation."

I asked nervously, "You said that tryp'At can implant embryos, but you had better provide me with instructions. This is lore that has never reached me."

Tricia said, "Don't worry, there is nothing special for you to do. Let's go to your rental van."

I led her to the parking garage and we both climbed into the back of the van. Tricia folded down the back seats and told me to lay down and relax. I stretched out, laying on my back. With the darkly tinted glass of the windows, it was hard to see exactly what Tricia was doing. She knelt, straddling me and then unzipped my pants. A weird red appendage emerged, snaking down below the edge of her short shirt. Tricia guided that thin worm-like tube inside me then she laid down on top of me. For a few minutes she spoke into my ear and I could feel that red worm moving around inside me. She told me that all Ek'col, Kac'hin and tryp'At were equipped with special anatomical structures that allowed embryos to be transferred from a Phari endosymbiont into the body of another person. She told me that she was transferring an early morula stage embryo into me that would grow to become Zeta's and my daughter.

When the embryo transfer was complete, Tricia rolled off of me and sat next to me. "There... you now carry your daughter."

I was dismayed by the idea that I had one of those snaking red appendages inside my body. I asked disbelievingly, "Are you sure that I'm equipped to perform the implantation?"

She laughed. "Do you want me to show you your blastipositor?"

"No, not really. I've lived my whole life imagining that I was a human being. As it is, I'm going to have nightmares about what you just did to me."

Without further ado, Tricia got out of the van and disappeared across the parking lot without a single look back at me. When I had composed myself as best I could and got my pants zipped up again, I returned the seats to their normal position and went back to the restaurant. While I drank my way through a pot of tea, I could sense that Rylla finished a rather long and mournful goodbye with Izhiun. Then Rylla took a very long shower, chatted with her father via the internet and then got dressed. Finally at mid-morning Rylla appeared, ready for brunch. For ten minutes we sat in silence exploring our now enhanced telepathic connection. I could sense that her mind was full of thoughts of Izhiun and I had no doubt that she could sense my own spinning thoughts about what Tricia had done to me. I wondered how deeply Rylla could penetrate into my memories. Finally she asked me, "Why are you thinking about babies?"

I did not want to infect Rylla's mind with my horrified reaction to having had an embryo placed inside my body so I tried to sound positive. "Once long ago, Zeta had a baby. That was not a good experience for her, but I know that she would like to have another child."

Rylla smiled and I could tell that she was still thinking about Izhiun, "I know that Zeta tries to pretend to be an old lady, but that's just an act. I bet she's still fertile. You two should have a child if you want one."

I nodded, "There's no need for wagers. Zeta has the body of a thirty-year-old and nanites that keep her from aging at a normal human rate."

Rylla was now hungrily demolishing a giant muffin. "And what about you? You're not exactly human, are you?"

"That's a matter of debate," I replied. Not wanting to discuss the tryp'At with Rylla and unable to restrain myself, I changed the subject and asked Rylla, "And what about you? Would you like to be a mother?"

She thought about that for a while while she chewed and took a long drink of orange juice. "Ya, someday... maybe when I'm old. When I'm thirty. Isn't that how old you were when your first child was born?"

I told her, "You may not know this, but back when I was about your age there was a woman who accused me of being the father of her child."

Rylla nodded. "I read about that in your blog. That was Hana?"

I said, "There's a name that brings back old memories. I knew Hana when I was in college. Speaking of which, how did things go on campus yesterday?"

Rylla told me about her visit to Dr. Lemet's research lab at the Salk institute. "So, I volunteered to be a test subject for a new receptor agonist that they are testing. Part of Tricia's research project. It was during that experiment that I could suddenly sense a stronger telepathic connection to your mind."

I nodded. "Yes, I felt that change yesterday and it seems to be permanent. You and I may find it hard to keep secrets from each other now. What about Zeta?"

Rylla explained, "I can now sense her mind pattern, with about as much depth and clarity as I used to have with you. In fact, I have the sensation that she is trying to listen in on our conversation right now."

I laughed. "Yes, she is. As soon as she takes a quick shower she'll join us. She's still very tired. We were up all night."

Rylla stifled a yawn. "So was I. Maybe we should just crash today."

"That's a good idea. Let me check on something." I took out my phone and looked at the schedule for trains leaving San Diego. Trying to sound casual, I asked Rylla, "Who was that boy I saw you and Tricia with yesterday in the pool?"

Rylla sighed. "That was Kelly, Tricia's boyfriend."

Zeta arrived and joined us at our table. She asked Rylla, "Do you have plans to see them again this evening?"

Rylla was quiet for a while, looking down into her bowl of berries and nuts. Finally she said, "No, I'd rather not see them again. They are both amazing and so alive, but Tricia and Kelly are a couple and I don't want to mess with that. It was odd... they both seemed attracted to me, almost in a weird way. I think we should check out and move on with our vacation."

Zeta complained, "We're all tired. None of us should be driving today."

I said, "No problem." I put away my phone. "All we need to do is drive to the train station. I just got us reservation on the autotrain. We can sleep all the way to New Orleans... then it is only a short drive to Florida."

Zeta asked, "Florida? Don't tell me you want to go to a Red Sox spring training game. I don't have the patience to explain baseball to Rylla."

I laughed. "Okay, I won't." I took my phone out again. "Maybe we could catch a cruise out of New York City that allows cats on-board." I asked Rylla, "How would you like to visit England?"

Continue to Part 3 of Rylla the Agonist.

Next: are Nora, Izhiun and Tricia trapped on Earth?

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Fleharish Broad

Cursar Pakken and Duissane
infiltrate Bellicent Island

About 3 years ago I wrote two chapters of a sequel to Jack Vance's novel Trullion (see The League of Yrinna). After almost 40 years of wondering about the fates of Duissane Drosset and Glinnes Hulden, it was fun to continue exploring their lives and learn about their interstellar adventures on planets such as Numenes, Layerna and Yrinna. However, the mission of Duissane and Glinnes on the planet Yrinna was not the end of the story.

Alastor Cluster

source

Distant Planets such as Yrinna and Cynk (located within in Alastor Cluster) were where R. Gohrlay successfully used the Phari to solve the problem of connecting humans to the Bimanoid Interface, but my information sources are fragmented and incomplete. The origins of the tryp'At and the Ek'col remained mysterious and it was those two type of human variants that were crafted to efficiently use of the Bimanoid Interface and make possible the Final Reality.

Wyst

I have been sifting through the infites that I recently received from Yōd. It appears that I was close to learning the origins of the tryp'At and the Ek'col back in 2015. However, since I am tryp'At, there has been an effort to keep me in the dark and ignorant of my own origins. The key to further understanding of the hidden connections between Duissane and the tryp'At was finally penetrating the mysteries surrounding R. Gohrlay. I've actually been making some progress in that direction here in 2018.

Marune

Back in 2015, I discovered that Inspector Jantiff Revensroke (Vance's protagonist in Wyst) of the Whelm had traveled to the planet Marune and obtained evidence for the existence of alien endosymbionts inside some special minority populations of the humans of Alastor Cluster. For example, the Idite, Ambal and Gensifer clans and some Rhunes had long been viable hosts for Phari endosymbionts.

Return to Trullion

see

However, long after the first few humans received their Phari endosymbionts, Alastor Cluster continued to function as an incubator, the site of continuing human breeding experiments aimed at finding a human gene pattern that was fully compatible with the Bimanoid Interface. Duissane was the culmination of those genetic experiments. After their mission on Yrinna, Duissane and Glinnes returned to Trullion.

"lost" money

Returning to their home planet, Duissane and Glinnes were forced to continue using the under-cover identities that they had been provided with for their mission to Yrinna. They were still trying to avoid arrest for theft of 30,000,000 ozols from the Lords of the Fens.

The central part of the Fens, including Fleharish Broad, near the home of Glinnes on Rabendary Island (source).

original cover art by
Edmund Emshwiller
and see this

Upon returning to the Fens, Glinnes quickly learns that Akadie the mentor has traced the roots of the Fanscherade movement to the secretive Society of Matriarchs, which has a base of operations on Bellicent* Island, at the heart of the Fens, adjacent to Fleharish Broad.

"starmenters" are the space
pirates of Alastor Cluster

Investigation of the Order of Lords has revealed that Lord Gensifer had been acting as the local agent of the Gensifer Clan which operates out of their headquarters on the planet Yrinna. The starmenter Bandolio was to have captured both Duissane and Glinnes during his raid on Welgen. Duissane and Glinnes were to have been transported to Yrinna by Bandolio, but quick action taken by Glinnes during the raid allowed them to avoid capture.

The League of Yrinna
original art by Boris Vallejo

Of course, there were great forces at work trying to bring Duissane and Glinnes to Yrinna. No sooner had Bandolio's attempt to capture them failed and new forces were aligned to bring Duissane and Glinnes to Yrinna.

Eventually, Duissane and Glinnes were deployed by the Whelm as spies on a mission to investigate the League of Yrinna, an ancient alliance of space pirates. The modern Hussade League of Yrinna provided Glinnes with cover for a secret operation on the planet Yrinna. During their "Spare time" in between playing several hussade matches, Duissane and Glinnes manage to discover how the Phari secretly control the human population of Yrinna and most of the Alastor Cluster.

Infiltrating the Society
of Matriarchs (see)

Cursar Pakken and Duissane infiltrate Bellicent Island where they discover that the Society of Matriarchs is headed by R. Gohrlay (who uses a cover name: Lady de Vaenz). Using her technology for viewing the future, R. Gohrlay now suspects that the children of Duissane and Glinnes might be able to fully use the Bimanoid Interface. The main problem that R. Gohrlay is trying to deal with is that Duissane has some ability to see into the future by connecting to R. Gohrlay's positronic brain.

Time Travel War

Duissane accuses R. Gohrlay of using the Fanschers to commit genocide against the Trevanyi. R. Gohrlay is planning to send Duissane and Glinnes far back in time and bring into existence a new Reality in which the Time Travel War can be ended. Grean the Kac'hin arrives and detects that Duissane is pregnant with twins. Grean uses advanced nanite technology to secretly remove one of the embryos from Duissane's body. The special gene combinations of that stolen child eventually will be used by the pek to help create the Ek'col.

source
(Sedronite, image credits)

The details of exactly how the tryp'At and the Ek'col were created remain hidden. At one time I had imagined that the answers might be found by Azynov inside the AR Simulator. However, most of the crafting and polishing of the tryp'At and the Ek'col was apparently accomplished in the far past of the Ekcolir Reality.

Lord Gensifer formed the Fleharish Gorgons as a new Hussade team. According to legend, two of the mythical Gorgons were immortal.

in the Ekcolir Reality

At the end of Trullion, Lord Gensifer disappears under a dock, and everyone assumes that he was killed by merlings. However, his body was never recovered. There are hints in the infites that I received from Yōd indicating that Lord Gensifer was an artificial life form, crafted by the pek and used as their tool to facilitate a starmenter raid on the Fens that would capture Duissane and Glinnes. Zeta speculates that Glinnes, who was also briefly a member of the Gorgon team, may have been the other immortal Gorgon.

source

__________
*note: there is a difference in the Vance Integral Edition map of the Fens, "Bellicent" is changed to "Bellicnet".
__________
Related Reading: R. Gohrlay in the distant past
  2018: the investigation continues

Next: Qazation

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Bimanoid Interface 2.0

Bimanoid Interface

 Part 10 of Yōd on Earth (Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)(Part 4)(Part 5)(Part 6)(Part 7)(Part 8)(Part 9)

I was sleeping peacefully when the change occurred. When I first connected to the Interface, I thought I was dreaming about Ivory. Ivory Fersoni and I had 'met' when we were teenagers. Those meetings all took place in the Hierion Domain and my memories of our time together were jumbled and confused, like memories of old dreams. While inside the Hierion Domain, Ivory and I had linked our minds and come to intimately know each others mind pattern.

Then I noticed that I was dreaming. I awoke and tried to make sense of what was happening in my mind. I could tell that there was a woman inside my mind, but her telepathic mind pattern was unknown to me. Suddenly an idea formed in my mind, it was whole and complete: I finally knew why Yōd had been sent to live on Earth with Zeta and I.

Hierion Domain

Zeta was sound asleep. I quietly went down the hallway to Yōd's bedroom. She was expecting me. In the glow from her big tablet computer, I could see her eyes were wide. In her mind I could hear her 'say': Irhit is no longer blocking you from using the Interface.

For many years I'd been struggling against Irhit's ability to block my access to the Bimanoid Interface. In fact, I had essentially given up hope of ever again being able to engage in telepathic communication. I whispered, "Do you know why?"

Yōd shook her head. I'm trying to find out.

Yōd

By 'looking' into her mind, I could sense in Yōd's thoughts that she was in telepathic contact with Meena Mahasvin, who I knew to be a Retrofuturian now living at Observer Base. For a minute Yōd made no moves, as if she was stunned and dazed. I tried to dig more deeply into her non-verbal thoughts, but I was only confused by the rich torrent of thought fragments that I was receiving from Yōd.

My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I could tell that Yōd was completely naked. She lay there stretched out on her bed, perfectly still and perfectly lovely, one hand poised in midair as if ready to swipe across the face of the glowing tablet's screen. I'd never seen her completely naked before, but given her habit of under-dressing for every occasion, I imagined that, bit by bit, I had previously seen every part of her beautiful body. And there always seemed to be something new to see as she played her endless game of using the nanites that were at her command to frequently make modifications to her physical form.

Clones of Gohrlay

That day, Yōd was in one of her brunette phases, and there in the dim light she almost looked like my wife, Alpha Gohrlay. Of course, I had not known my wife as 'Alpha' while she lived on Earth. After her departure from this world, I learned of her code designation 'alpha' from her clone sister Zeta. About a year after Zeta took the place of my wife, Yōd had arrived on Earth and moved in with us. Now I knew why Yōd had been needed: she was much better at telepathic communication than was Zeta.

Observer Base

As was her habit, Yōd was rapidly sharing telepathic communiques with her collaborators at Observer Base and for the first time I could peer into her mind while she did it. Finally her eyes focused and I could sense a clear verbal statement in her mind: It is not simply that Irhit stopped blocking you. The whole Bimanoid Interface has been changed!

She let go of the tablet, jumped off her bed and ran past me. She went through the open door of her room and ran down the hallway shouting, "Zeta! Wake up!" I followed along, barely noticing my position in space as I dipped deeper and deeper into Yōd's thoughts.

Yōd flipped the wall switch that turned on the light in the master bedroom. Zeta sat up in bed and still half asleep she tried to follow Yōd's rapid-fire explosion of words. Yōd jumped on Zeta's bed and she grabbed her sister by the arms, "The Interface has been altered! Try to connect to my mind."

Zeta mumbled, "No, nothing..." Zeta was looking at me, her eyes now wide open. She said to me, "You can see into my mind!"

Replicoids

Yōd explained, "Something crazy has happened. Everyone connected to the Bimanoid Interface is noticing changes in the telepathic parameters."

Zeta rolled off the bed and picked up a robe off of a chair. She handed the robe to Yōd and asked, "What kinds of changes?" Via telepathy Zeta sent me one of the sweet phrases that she often whispers in my ear: I want you now and always.

I sent back my usual reply, I take you as my wife, Zeta. Strangely, although I had telepathic connections into the minds of both Zeta and Yōd, my link to Zeta was much more superficial than my 'view' into Yōd's thoughts and memories. I slowly began to realize that Zeta had previously suffered a type of brain damage that limited her ability to use the Bimanoid Interface.

Zeta told Yōd, "I see one big change." She pointed at me, "He is able to read my thoughts. At least my verbal thoughts."

Yōd agreed, "Irhit can no longer prevent him from using the Interface." She pointed at her heart, "He's poking around inside of me too, quite deeply already." She looked at me uneasily and pulled on the robe that she had been carrying in her hand.

Galactic Core

Yōd and I followed Zeta to the kitchen where she turned on the room light and then the coffee pot. It was still completely dark outside. Zeta had not bothered to put on any clothes. Theoretically she was my wife, but in reality, she was the clone sister of my actual wife, Alpha Gohrlay. In any case, they had grown up on Tar'tron in the Galactic Core where there were no social taboos about the human body. However, Zeta had always tried to enforce minimum standards of modesty upon Yōd, mostly without success. Now she tied shut the front of the robe that Yōd was wearing. Zeta scolded me: Stop devouring Yōd with your eyes.

I'd never learned to ignore the delightful sight of Yōd's body, but there, in the middle of that special night, I was barely existing in the world of my visual and other natural senses. I was like a kid with a new toy and totally enthralled by my ability to perform technology-assisted telepathy with the aid of the Bimanoid Interface. Within the microcosm of our linked thoughts, Yōd was 'watching' in dismay as I worked my way deeper and deeper into her mind, past the top later of her formed verbal thoughts and onward, into her memories. Occasionally I could feel her resisting me, but she would then quickly relax and let me explore further. Very quickly I learned that I could get a glimpse of a memory fragment in Yōd's mind and ask telepathically: What is this? Yōd would then provide me with a reply, a structured verbal thought that I could receive by telepathy. In just a few seconds, I had discovered that ever since arriving on Earth, Yōd had been testing my mind and looking for any evidence that I could use the Bimanoid Interface. Yōd had been waiting patiently for the day when Irhit would be gone- or -as the concept existed in Yōd's mind: the replicoids would be inactivated.  I said, "You knew." I turned to Zeta and said, "Somehow Yōd knew that this change to the Interface was coming and that I would attain the ability to use telepathy."

R. Gohrlay

Yōd nodded, "I was warned that R. Gohrlay and Many Sails were collaborating in an effort to find a way to give you at least partial access to the Interface. I never imagined that they would be able to change the Interface itself so as to make it impossible for Irhit to continue blocking you out."

Speaking with hushed awe, Zeta muttered, "We always assumed that the Interface was ancient and unchanging." Zeta said to Yōd, "My best guess was that R. Gohrlay might simply violate the terms of the Pact and remove Irhit from Observer Base, but this... now this changes everything." Zeta was gazing intently  into Yōd's eyes. She reached and placed a hand on the side of Yōd's face. "Now I'm getting some thought fragments from you."

Yōd nodded. "Yes. Our connection is weak, but that is new, too."

I could see in her mind that Yōd was not nearly as surprised by my ability to now use telepathy as was Zeta. Yōd had spent the past seven years testing my mind for indications that I had found a way around Irhit's block and into the information resources that exist within the Hierion Domain. I muttered, "I've never understood why Irhit could prevent me from using the Bimanoid Interface."

family tree

Zeta shrugged, "That was a big surprise and was only discovered after the tryp'At were created and Marta got the silly idea of linking you and Ivory together when you were just kids. To establish that telepathic link, Marta used your replicoids to generate a kind of positive feedback effect."

Yōd added, "Nobody understands R. Gohrlay's replicoid system. Marta was playing with fire."

source

"That replicoid-mediated feedback allowed you and Ivory to link your minds together within the Hierion Domain. Eventually, the time came when Ivory started showing you how to use the Bimanoid Interface here on Earth, in the Hadronic Domain, something you had never been trained to do, but as a tryp'At you could certainly learn. Then Sachiz discovered that the replicoid of a tryp'At can do something else with a positive feedback link to their biological body... something evil. Irhit was assigned the task of using that feedback as a source of energy and applying it to prevent you from using the Interface. Basically, any time you tried to use the interface, Irhit could overload your brain and wash out the telepathic signal with noise."

tryp'At Overseers

Yōd was excitedly pacing back and forth across the room. "But now, suddenly, Irhit can't block you any more." She turned towards me and added, "For years I've been wondering why I can't telepathically link into the AR Simulator. Of course, I speculated that the tryp'At Overseers were blocking my access to the AR Simulator."

I could see that a complex thought or scheme was swirling in Yōd's mind. She started to explain her thinking to me via our telepathic connection, but she wanted Zeta to know also, so she said, "Mahasvin and I want to test the power and range of your telepathic abilities. Can you connect to her?"

I could see in Yōd's thoughts that she was hoping I might have the power to work around any telepathic block that was being generated by the tryp'At Overseers.

I had been sensing Mahasvin's thoughts arriving inside Yōd's mind, but my connection to Mahasvin's mind was only indirect, by way of Yōd's thoughts. I replied, "I don't know Mahasvin's mind pattern. To learn someone's mind pattern, don't I need to physically interact with them? Speak to them? Get to know them? Match their spoken words to their thought pattern?"

AR Simulator

"Maybe. That is usually the case, but maybe for a tryp'At... maybe for you the physical proximity is not needed. Did you ever speak to Ivory before you linked to her mind? And now, just a short time ago, you were quickly probing into my memories as soon as you regained access to the Interface."

Zeta said to Yōd, "He probably has learned your mind pattern during the past seven years simply because you've spent so much time linked to his brain. And remember, he's had one or another of us in his mind for the past 40 years."

Yōd nodded. "Okay, I agree, the strength of his telepathic connection to me might be anomalous because he's had Gohrlays dancing through his synapses for decades. Still, as a tryp'At, he has a brain that was designed to use the Interface and I think he should be able to establish a two-way telepathic link to Mahasvin right now."

"I don't know." I tried to remember the phase of 'my' life when 'I' had several years of constant access to the Bimanoid Interface. My memories of that period were fuzzy. All my memories of the time I had spent with Ivory living in the Hierion Domain existed in my mind as blurry jumbles and fragments that had seemingly been generated in dreams while I was asleep. That 'time with Ivory' had all been lived through an intermediate: my replicoid in the Hierion Domain. "When Ivory and I first met in the Hierion Domain it seemed as if we spoke, but I suppose in the Hierion Domain we were in some kind of virtual reality where only telepathic communication was taking place."

Ivory Fersoni exploring the Phari bioreactors

Yōd suggested, "Follow the pattern of Mahasvin's telepathically transmitted thoughts as they arrive in my mind and simultaneously open up your mind to her direct telepathic signal."

I had no idea how to do what Yōd proposed. I could see in Yōd's thoughts that she and Mahasvin were having a discussion about the possibility of using telepathy so as to make possible communication with Azynov while he was inside the AR Simulator. After a minute I said, "I can't pick up Mahasvin's mind pattern, but now I can feel her presence in my mind, that she is able to look into my thoughts. She's sneaking around in my mind right now. I can sense something there, touching my synapses, but it is not a normal mind pattern."

Yōd nodded. "You are right. Mahasvin has an unusual mind; like nothing you have ever previously touched. But you do have weak contact with her mind. I suspect you just need some practice before you will be able to tune to her specific kind of artificial mind pattern. When I was a child, it took me years to become good at that. I hoped that it might be easier for you. Mahasvin is an artificial human, composed entirely of zeptites, but she was carefully designed to pass inspection... after all these years, the tryp'At Overseers never realized that she is an artificial lifeform."

"There is something I've wondered about." I asked, "Is there any distance-dependent limitation on telepathy?"

hierions and sedrons

Zeta reminded me, "This is technology-assisted telepathy, not magic. Information is being transmitted between two brains and that takes time. The transmitted signal falls off and weakens with distance."

Yōd added, "And for the type of hierions that are used to connect human minds to the Bimanoid Interface, the distance dependence is dramatic, a 4th power relationship."

I was wondering if I was too far from Observer Base to have a strong telepathic connection to Mahasvin, but then I could see a shared thought appear in both Yōd's and Zeta's mind. I said, "Observer Base is not really on the Moon, is it?"

Yōd replied, "Observer Base is in the Hierion Domain, but it is linked to Earth by an information conduit. Telepathic signals almost instantly move between Earth and Observer Base."

Azynov

I could sense in Yōd's mind that after having been separated from Azynov for years, she was now desperately trying to determine if the new changes to the Bimanoid Interface might allow her to communicate with Azynov. I asked, "Are you having any luck contacting Azynov?"

Yōd replied, "Not yet, but we only just started trying again. We might not be taking the right approach to hacking into the AR Simulator." She laughed. "The Tryp'At Overseers are in a tizzy! Their minds are wide open to us now! They can't block us from seeing their thoughts. However, it looks like they have not actually been blocking telepathic connections to the AR simulator..."

I tried to follow Yōd's plans concerning how to telepathically connect to Azynov. I could sense that Yōd was thinking about Ivory and how her clone sister Angela had been able to learn so much about past Realities, particularly the Asimov Reality. I blurted out, "I wish Ivory was still at Observer Base. I know her mind pattern quite well." I saw Yōd and Zeta exchange a knowing glance. I demanded, "What?"

Zeta told me, "After she died, Ivory was taken off to a distant planet as part of an attempt to study the Bimanoid Interface. It might be that she had success and was involved in this amazing change to the Interface."

I'd had a brief visit from Ivory after she had died. Her mind had been reinstantiated inside an artificial body. I tended to think of her as now living out an artificial life as Yrovi and I'd assumed that she had gone off to the Galactic Core and would never return to Earth.

Trysta

My thoughts about Yrovi led me down an old memory pathway. "I wonder if it is coincidence?" I was thinking about an odd occurrence from years previously. I had risen early one day and was unable to stop thinking about Trysta Iwedon. She had popped into my mind for a minute and told me something about teleportation. That was all I could remember about my brief telepathic contact with Trysta, but I now felt that there had been a hint of Ivory lurking in Trysta's thoughts. I told Yōd and Zeta, "Through the years, there have been several times when I suddenly had access to the Bimanoid Interface. There was that day, about five years ago, when Trysta was prowling around in my mind for a few minutes. Then just yesterday, once again I heard a voice in my head."

Yōd told me, "Yes, that was odd, but sometimes there can be echos when using the Interface. That 'voice' that you heard yesterday was a telepathic signal, built upon your own mind pattern." I could see more in Yōd's mind: Trysta had access to special Asterothrope technology from seven million years in the future. Apparently she could not be blocked from accessing your mind by way of Irhit's special connection to you.

I should not have been surprised to learn that Yōd was always inside my mind watching my thoughts, but I was disappointed to know that she would keep useful information from me. I demanded, "You saw that brief telepathic signal in my mind and said nothing about it?"

Yōd quietly said, "Well, you said nothing about it to us, yesterday." I could see in her mind that Yōd had been careful for years to not give me clues about how closely she had been watching my thoughts. She knew perfectly well that I harbor resentments about how my behavior has been manipulated by alien creatures who could access my thoughts. She looked me straight in the eye and firmly thought: We are on the same team, here.

I could have used some help yesterday. "I thought it might only be an auditory hallucination. It was quite brief."

"It wasn't a hallucination." Yōd shook her head. "That telepathic signal was most powerfully in your mind, but it spilled over into mine. It was a weak signal and I could tell that it was not coming from Observer Base. It was easy for me to tell that it was not coming from you either, but I new it to be a verbal thought that was riding on your mind pattern."

I was looking into both Yōd's and Zeta's minds and I could tell that they had a huge stockpile of secrets that they had never shared with me. Zeta explained, "We've both carefully examined your memories of yesterday's brief telepathic contact. We could tell that someone had touched your mind yesterday, but our prime suspect was Irhit."

"Or possibly another replicoid; maybe a new copy of Irhit." Yōd said to Zeta, "However, if we remember that time when Trysta manipulated his memory... she had given some kind of warning about teleportation... which could mean that a copy was made."

Zeta objected, "Why would his copy then wait five years before making telepathic contact?"

Yōd speculated, "Maybe the change to the Bimanoid Interface was made yesterday."

I shook my head. "No. I was given full access to the Interface today, all at once. It happened just a short time ago. Yōd, you were in my mind when it happened, you must have felt the change right when it happened, like a switch being thrown. I was asleep, but... you were inside me, playing around in my mind."

Zeta complained, "I was asleep, so I missed the change when it happened."

Yōd said, "Interesting..." She was still rapidly exchanging thoughts with Mahasvin. "Mahasvin says that Trysta appeared inside Observer Base and was there for a while yesterday."

Zeta gasped. "That's a violation of the terms of the Pact!"

I could sense that Yōd knew something more about Trysta, but for the first time she resisted my telepathic plea for additional details about a thought fragment I had seen in her mind. She placed her hands on her hips and told me sternly, "Look, there are some things that you are better off not knowing."

I asked innocently, "Such as?"

Yōd laughed. "I can feel you rushing to look through all of my memories, and I don't mind that, but there are a few secrets that would be dangerous for you to know. Please remember the terms of the Pact. You can tell stories about Earth's hidden history, but you will never be allowed access to physical evidence that aliens have visited Earth."

I chuckled. "Well, at least you have confirmed that such evidence exists. Some day you will drop your defenses and I'll see what you are hiding from me."

Zeta poured herself a cup of coffee. She said, "Don't count on it. The blocks on our memories were carefully crafted before we were allowed to visit Earth. Our Phari-derived endosymbionts act automatically to prevent us from sharing certain secrets with you or any other Earthling. I suspect that the G-syms are programmed to exert similar controls over the tryp'At."

"G-stims?" I had seen that term floating in their minds, but it was new to me and I had not been able to latch on to it until it was verbalized.

the Phari

Yōd laughed and corrected me, "G-syms, not stims." She explained, "Most Earthlings who have any significant degree of telepathic ability are complex hybrid creatures with a Phari endosymbiont. Yōd pointed at me, "That is the femtobot adapter that allows our brains to have access the Bimanoid Interface. We Gohrlay clones are different from you. The basis of your telepathic ability is that you have a zeptite endosymbiont called a G-sym."

I mused, "I wonder what would happen if my tryp-At brain had access to your Phari endosymbiont."

Yōd said, "That is an experiment that might be worth attempting again, now that the Interface has been changed. Sadly, I don't know how to transplant an endosymbiont into your body." Yōd gazed at me for a long time and I could see bits and flashes from another complex series of thoughts that were racing through her mind. "It might be possible for us to implant a symbiont into a new embryo, but..."

Again I sensed that Yōd was hiding something. The rapid chain of memories and thought fragments that flickered in Yōd's mind seemed to have an echo and then I noticed that Zeta was also thinking along similar lines. With sudden shock and disbelief I asked Zeta, "You're pregnant?" Certain that I was right, I threw my arms around her. I knew that the Gohrlay clones were the last remaining remnants of an ancient type of human that had been engineered by the Bumpha for long lifespans and the ability to use twitino-based telepathy. Zeta was more than 70 years old ( she had refused to tell me exactly how old) but she was still in her "middle age" and ovulating regularly.

In her mind, I could sense Zeta telling me to not be silly. I stopped hugging her and held her at arm's length. She was still naked and her belly looked slim and svelte. Since Yōd's arrival in our home, Zeta had given up pretending to be an aging Earthling, approaching a biological age age of 65. Her body could have passed for that of a healthy and athletic 30 year old. Zeta laughed, "Don't forget about your vasectomy, old man. You couldn't impregnate me even if you tried."

Yōd told me, "Don't fall for that. Zeta could use her medical nanites to reverse your vasectomy. So could I, for that matter."

I turned to Yōd, but couldn't say the words. I asked by telepathy: You?

Yōd giggled, "I've never been..."

Judging by the emotion-laden swirl of thoughts in her mind, I felt certain I had made a major discovery. I shouted at Yōd, "You're the one who is pregnant?"

Yōd at the beach

Yōd pulled open the robe she was wearing. "Do I look like I'm pregnant?"

Yōd hardly seems to eat and I could see that her waist was very narrow, her tummy concave and lean, with a distinct six pack. Her body looked just the same as it had always been for the past seven years. I shook my head, "No, you don't look pregnant, but it might be too early in your pregnancy to see a bulge." I added, "I can sense that you are still both thinking about babies."

Zeta sipped her coffee and then said, "Technically, we've never had any children, either of us. However, we've been through the same sort of thing that you went through with Ivory."

"What do you mean?"

"It was part of our training, before we came to Earth." Zeta finally seemed to notice that she was naked. She pulled herself out of my grip and walked over to my computer workstation where she picked up one of my shirts that was there, draped over the back of the chair. "As part of that mandatory training exercise, we went through pregnancy." She pulled on the shirt and glared at Yōd who shrugged and pulled closed the robe that she was wearing.

whimsical depiction of the Huaoshy
(blue alien) and a pek (white)

Watching Zeta put on my shirt and Yōd cover herself up, I finally realized that I had also never gotten dressed. I said, "Hold on, now. Either you've been pregnant or you haven't." I went down the hall and got dressed, marveling at my intense telepathic connection to Yōd's mind. Thoughts continued to buzz through her mind at a fantastic rate and I could tell she was thinking about her childhood on Tar'tron.

Returning to the dining room, I found Yōd and Zeta seated there, sitting close together at the table and speaking in their native language. Zeta had accidentally dipped the sleeve of my shirt in her coffee and Yōd was drying it with some napkins. Now, with telepathic connections to their minds, I found that I could partially understand what they were saying. They were talking about their early lives on Tar'tron, in the Galactic Core and how they had been prepared for their missions to Earth.

Zeta switched to English. "When we were young, we were duplicated. That kind of duplication of people is easy to do with Huaoshy teleportation technology, but normally they won't do it."

I sat down across the table from them and tried to catch a glimpse of what they knew about the mysterious Huaoshy, the aliens who were responsible for the existence of the human species. In Yōd's mind I sensed doubt and uncertainty about the role of the Huaoshy in human evolution; instead, her thoughts involved the pek and the Bumpha. She told me: The Bumpha are our Creators.

Yōd explained, "The Huaoshy enforce an ethical rule that usually prevents the Bumpha and the pek from making copies of primitive creatures like humans." Yōd leaned closer to Zeta and began rolling up the sleeves of the shirt. "However, an exception was made in our case."

Zeta ordered me: Stop staring at Yōd's breasts. She again had to tie shut the front to Yōd's robe. Zeta continued, "And not just the two of us... copies of the 9 most promising Gohrlay clones were sent to Earth."

I asked in disbelief, "Nine of you? All at once?"

Rotharkin and Rathuf

Yōd laughed, "Why not? Don't worry, that was no imposition on you. That pregnancy test took place before the end of time travel, and our copies were sent into the past. Back to the year 550."

I said, "Interesting. Ivory wrote extensively about the many missions carried out on Earth by agents who were like Parthney. According to Ivory, there was also a Thomas clone on Earth about then... Rathuf. He carried out a long mission in England."

Zeta corrected me, "England did not yet exist back then. There was no organized government, only the shattered remnants of the Roman Imperial system. Anyhow, when that gaggle of Gohrlays arrived, Rathuf was getting old. He had long since teleported his lover, Rotharkin, off of Earth."

I tried to remember how Ivory's story about Rathuf had ended, but I did not remember ever having learned his fate or even if he had died on Earth.

Yōd continued the story, "While Rathuf was still there completing his mission, two more Thomas clones were sent to Earth, a man known as Meōrvym and a woman known as Gwydōd."

I was stunned. "A woman?"

Asterothrope female

Yōd nodded, "Yes. Gwydōd was genetically identical to Thomas except she had two X chromosomes. Stop interrupting. Meōrvym and Gwydōd needed all the help they could get in their task of keeping tabs on the nine Gohrlay clones, so they recruited Rathuf to go north and help out."

"North?"

Zeta explained, "By then, most of the Earthlings with Asterothrope gene combinations had been forced to the far north. The nine Gohrlay clones were living among the Cymry tribe, along the shore of what is now called Solway Firth."

I blurted out, "Asterothrope genes? In ancient England?"

Ereus

Yōd sighed. "Call them what you like. You know that Ekcolir inserted some of his genes into the human population of Earth, about 20,000 years ago. The Cymry tribe had retained those genes, which conferred on them a limited capacity to use the Bimanoid Interface at a subconscious level."

Zeta added, "It was the perfect test site for ranking the Gohrlay clones."

I asked numbly, "Ranking?"

Zeta nodded. "How do you think our sister, Alpha, was awarded the designation of 'alpha'?"

"Wait." I could see what they were telling me in their thoughts, but I had to spell it out. "Are you saying that Alpha lived among the Cymry tribe in England and gave birth to a child on Earth in the sixth century?"

Yōd nodded. "That's when I became pregnant, well, my copy did. We all did. There was no problem with that. Most humans have diverged and their sperm receptor proteins don't match Gohrlay eggs. The Cymry sperm was a perfect match, just like tryp'At sperm."

The Final Reality

Zeta finished the story, "That copy of Alpha eventually had twelve children while she was on Earth in the sixth century, so she won the contest. R. Gohrlay wanted to identify the Gohrlay clone who would be most likely to produce descendants on here on Earth in the Final Reality."

I thought about how easy it had been for Alpha and I to have children. Eventually, after our third child, she had insisted that I get a vasectomy.

Yōd said, "When we were still just children, we were all forced to take on the memories of our copies who had lived their lives on Earth in the 6th century."

Zeta explained, "We received their memories via memory nanites."

Yōd shuddered. "Going through my pregnancy, even if it was via implanted memories, was traumatic. That was enough of motherhood for me... enough to last a lifetime. Although, sometimes I do wish that Azynov was biological. I'd be willing to have a child with him as the father."

the Trysta-Grean Pact

I shook my head in wonder. "I still don't understand why the Trysta-Grean Pact requires that Gohrlay's descendants live on Earth."

Zeta suggested, "Only R. Gohrlay knows for sure. Apparently she felt a deep obligation to make sure that she got revenge for Gohrlay's death."

I scratched my head in dismay. "That is confusing, because Gohrlay did not die. And I'm sitting here with two Gohrlay clones."

"Don't forget, R. Gohrlay lived for millions of years while believing that Gohrlay had died after providing the blueprint for R. Gohrlay's telepathic brain."

Yōd spoke with awe, "Imagine waiting millions of years to avenge a death."

I reflected, "It seems irrational. I like to think of positronic robots as being logical. Once R. Gohrlay learned that Gohrlay did not die, why did she still need to get revenge?" Yōd and Zeta fell silent, but I could tell that they were sharing thoughts, memories from their childhood and training on Tar'tron. I asked, "You were trained to use the... feedback?"

Yōd explained: Zeta does not like to talk about it. She and Alpha used their capacity for telepathic resonance to control your mind.

The more Zeta tried to avoid thinking about it, the more her memories of working in tandem with Alpha Gohrlay bubbled to the surface of her mind. She tried to shift our discussion in an alternative direction. "R. Gohrlay always wanted to find ways to improve the ability of the human brain to use telepathy for communication. Eventually, she realized that there two paths towards that goal."

I now saw what I had long suspected. Before Irhit began blocking my access to the Bimanoid Interface, Alpha was blocking me.

Yōd continued: Yes, with Zeta's help, your wife prevented you from using the Bimanoid Interface. Then the time finally came for you to start collaborating with Ivory. You were allowed to start using the Interface in a carefully controlled way, to receive information being sent to you from Ivory. Then, when the Overseers found out what was going on, Irhit started blocking you. When Ivory kept finding new ways to communicate with you, the Overseers killed her. Yōd said to Zeta, "In the end, R. Gohrlay focused on the Phari; they had long ago solved the problem of linking hadronic biobrains into the Hierion Domain."

Zeta said, "R. Gohrlay first created the Asterothropes, but although they had the power of twitino-based telepathy, they were no longer human. Eventually, the tryp'At were created as the first true human variant that could use the Bimanoid Interface for conscious exchange of verbal thoughts."

I could see fragments of a great struggle in their minds, a struggle that had been particularly traumatic for Zeta. I guessed: Zeta battled with Irhit for control of my mind?

And she lost that brutal battle. Yōd explained: Her brain was damaged and she lost most of her ability to control her Phari endosymbiont. She was left telepathically locked to your mind pattern, perhaps as a final cruel joke played by Irhit. Alpha Gohrlay gave up on her mission and left Earth.

Zeta was still telling me: "Your ability to telepathically receive information from Ivory was a critical component of the Trysta-Grean Pact. In that way, an Earthling could be given information about how aliens had shaped human history, but there need be no physical evidence of aliens."

I asked Yōd: Where is Alpha Gohrlay now?

Yōd replied: Nobody seems to know. One rumor suggests that she went off with Trysta and Ivory on a mission designed to solve the problem of Irhit and the tryp'At Overseers.

I said, "I still don't understand how you two are able to use the Bimanoid Interface. I thought the tryp'At had to be specifically designed and created as the first human variant that can use telepathy."

Yōd said, "The tryp'At were provided with a special Huaoshy device, the G-sym, but they were not 'first'. R. Gohrlay had to work for millions of years to find a way by which hierion-based technology can link a human brain to the Bimanoid Interface. R. Gohrlay is the expert at using hierions, but the Huaoshy are masters of sedron-based technology. As soon as Gohrlay showed that it actually is possible to link humans to the Interface using femtobots, the pek then went ahead and created the zeptite-powered G-sym."

I asked, "So, any human can access the Bimanoid Interface as long as they have a G-sym?"

Zeta shrugged. "I suppose so, but it would be a violation of the Rules of Intervention to provide an Earthling with a G-sym."

Now, through the window, I could see the first light of dawn. As the day was beginning, I was tiring and finding it mentally exhausting to wade through the ocean of Yōd's thoughts. Her mind was on fire with the possibilities that had been opened up by an alteration to the Bimanoid Interface.

Connecting telepathically to Zeta's mind required constant attention to detail; her mind pattern was faint and always seemed to be drifting away from me. For a moment I tried shutting out the cacophony of Yōd's thoughts so that I could focus on trying to strengthen my link to Zeta, but I could not avoid Yōd's endless internal semi-verbal prattling, a kind of 'noise' that seemed to be growing louder and louder in my thoughts. I asked, "How do telepaths deal with the constant bombardment of others' thoughts?"

Yōd sighed. "This is a new problem arising with today's change in the Interface. Previously, I could block out other people's thoughts, but now I can't. Mahasvin has already suggested that we might have to alter our endosymbionts and reduce their sensitivity to telepathic signals."

Zeta suggested, "That's essentially what Irhit did to me. I was left with a much weakened connection to the Bimanoid Interface."

Yōd pointed at me and asked Zeta, "With your level of connection to the Interface, can you block him out of your thoughts?"

"No, I've never been able to do that. As part of my mission training, I was taught to constantly monitor his mind. I'm always linked to his mind, at least while I'm awake. However, I've grown comfortable with his thoughts." Zeta took hold of my hand and smiled shyly at me. Do you like being connected to my mind?

I replied: Of course, dear. Your mind is as beautiful as you are. However, the power of Yōd's mind is already starting to grate on my nerves and she swamps out your gentle thoughts.

Yōd had no trouble following my thought. She said, "And I'm already mentally exhausted trying to sort through a dozen telepathic connections all at the same time. Everyone at Observer Base with telepathic ability is suffering and trying to find ways to protect themselves from telepathic overload. Our old methods for selectively tuning out other people's thoughts no longer work."

Zeta was still holding my hand and I pulled her towards the door. I told Yōd, "I'm going for a drive. I want to test the distance dependence of our telepathic connection." Zeta and I got in the car and I started driving us away, imagining the route that would put as much distance between myself and Yōd as quickly as possible. I told Zeta, "We may have finally found a good reason to get Yōd out of the house."

Zeta nodded. "Usually I don't mind her living with us, even if you can't keep your eyes off of her, but now we have a new problem. Two copies of the same brain can get into a positive feedback loop if they become linked through the Interface. I feel that is happening now between Yōd and myself and if it continues that will become dangerous."

"But your brains are not actual copies."

Exoditions on Cynk

"True, but we are clones and our minds are a close match. With the changes that were made to the Interface today, the positive feedback problem seems worse. Yōd and I are no longer protected because of my damaged endosymbiont and my weak connection to the Interface. For the first time since Irhit damaged my brain, I'm now getting a telepathic link to Yōd. It is weak, but growing stronger."

I started worrying: What if Earth was not big enough to provide a safe separation between Yōd and Zeta? I asked Yōd: Can you contact Many Sails and get a ride off of Earth?

Yōd replied: I don't think Many Sails is coming back to Earth. We may have to solve this puzzle ourselves.

I glanced over at Zeta who was only wearing one of my shirts. I said, "We should have packed a bag. This might be a long road trip."

Zeta reclined the seat back and closed her eyes against the brightening sky. "I'm going back to sleep. I seem to loose contact with the Interface when I sleep, so maybe that will limit the feedback between my brain and Yōd's."

Exoditions on Cynk

Continue to Part 11 of Yōd on Earth.

human cloning

The story, above, tells what happens on Earth immediately after the conclusion of "Exoditions on Cynk".
Related Reading: Bimanoid Theory
Next: Human cloning, 1952

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