Manny la bumpha

 About 10 days ago, I mentioned that I have been using Claude Sonnet 5.0 to to help me develop the science fiction story "That Kind of Think". Today, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ("faster & cheaper") was available to me as a user of the free version of Claude. I asked this newer version of Claude to help me make plans for Chapter 8 of "That Kind of Think". Sadly, the "new" Claude almost instantly made an error, converting 'Anthony' into 'Anthropy'. 

A story that will not end. Through Chapter 7, "That Kind of Think" is about 28,600 words long. I have no set destination or final length in mind for the story. I'm having fun discovering additional topics to tack onto the story.

Me: Claude, when I began writing the science fiction story "That Kind of Think" (see the file I just uploaded), I did not think of it as being a story set in my Exodemic Fictional Universe. However, in Chapter 7 of the story, Tacet begins telling Yto about Manny the bumpha, femtobots and time travel. I'm now making plans for Chapter 8 of "That Kind of Think" which will include a meeting between Sally and Tacet. In previous stories set in my Exodemic Fictional Universe, I depict Eddy Watson as writing science fiction stories that feature Manny the bumpha, femtobots and time travel. For "That Kind of Think", the French author Élodie Gendron is used in that role rather than Eddy Watson. Claude, tell me what you remember about Manny the bumpha and femtobots from other stories that you have helped me create.

Claude: I hold the EFU at summary level rather than the full text of the stories, so this is the skeleton, not the detail.

Image by Leonardo.

 Manny. She is a bumpha Interventionist and the recurring ruthless-but-benevolent manipulator of the EFU. She uses human agents as tools, but always arranges things so they end up glad they were used. Her recurring conflict is with Nyrtia, the pek Overseer of Earth, who polices bumpha activity under the Rules of Intervention. Those Rules are three numbered Laws interleaved with five numbered Rules, and Manny operates under her own self-described "zeroth rule." In "The RNA Seeds" she lived at Observer Base disguised as an Asimov analogue. She also has a strong, self-aware urge to help primitive species with advanced technology, and only the pek's policing keeps that urge from doing harm.

She enjoys foreknowledge as a plotting device, through bumpha future-viewing tech and time-traveling zeptozoans like Ylyndra. That lets her appear to have planned everything in advance. Her interventions are also deliberately arranged to leave no trail Anthropy or Nyrtia can detect. In "The Hierozyme Intervention" she engineers Tyhry's "future visions" so that Tyhry ends up dedicating her life to climate work.

Image by Leonardo.

 Femtobots and zeptites.

• They act as endosymbionts in all humans, and have since the origin of life.
• They are deliberately treated as unexplained "magic wand" technology. Their limits are set by the Rules and by the pek's oversight, not by physics.
• Femtobots underlie replicoids (femtobot copies of people or robots), Ek'col telepathy, and positronic-robot telepathy.
• Zeptites underlie tryp'At telepathy.
• Manny has hidden "isolated accessory cognitive modules" in the zeptite endosymbionts of some humans, so they can keep secrets from Nyrtia.
• The pek system continually routes human femtobot endosymbiont signals to Observer Base for Nyrtia's monitoring.

Time travel. It began with hierion-domain T-particles, which the Huaoshy later eliminated by changing the universe's Dimensional Structure. Sedrons can still travel backward, and the Sedron Time Stream is how information can be sent to the past.

 Connections to "That Kind of Think":

• Yto's guess that femtobots may be in every human brain matches the EFU premise.
• Tacet's "information from the future, not objects" fits the surviving sedron loophole.
• Élodie Gendron being unable to believe the bumpha are real while writing about them parallels Tyhry, whose memory block, put in place by Anthony, keeps her from believing in aliens. It is also close to Eddy Watson's role.
• A pulsed 100 T field is a real physics test, but because femtobots are unexplained magic, Manny could simply make them immune. That would make the Stanford experiment inconclusive in a way that suits the "how could Yto ever know?" theme.

What I don't have: how Manny is described physically (Tacet's chest-pouch detail), whether the bumpha are artificial life forms in the EFU or Tacet is embellishing, and the cat-like creature.

To help with Chapter 8, I need to know whether this story runs under the full Rules of Intervention, with the pek and Nyrtia in the background. And is Tacet's account of the bumpha accurate to the EFU, or is she getting details wrong?

Me: Claude, I'm impressed by how much you remember from old science fiction stories that you have helped me create in the past. I find it intriguing that you said 'Anthropy' once rather than 'Anthony'. It is not clear in my own thinking that "That Kind of Think" should even mention the characters Tyhry, Anthony and Nyrtia who are often present in other stories that are set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe.

For "That Kind of Think", the story is set in an era after the Dimensional Structure of the universe was altered and now only sedrons can be sent from the future to the past (not hadrons of hierions). The bumpha have advanced technologies that allow them to use sedrons to send information into the past.

"femtobots are unexplained magic, Manny could simply make them immune" <-- Claude, in the context of "That Kind of Think", I'm agnostic with respect to the question: "might it be possible to inactivate femtobots and/or zeptites with a powerful magnetic field". At his moment, I'm leaning in the direction of treating the Stanford 100 tesla field generator as a "red herring" that gets mentioned in passing but is never used on Yto's brain.

"the cat-like creature" <-- I used a text-to-image system to make an image depicting Tacet inside a cage/jail cell. The text-to-image system got 'confused' and included in the image what looked like a lion's head. Since I had that AI-generated image, I could not resist incorporating that into the text of the story. In Chapter 8, I'd like to depict Sally as showing Tacet her copy of the French language science fiction novel titled "Bumpha: Premier Contact". In my imagination, Tacet is completely unaware of the existence of Élodie Gendron and her science fiction stories. Tacet is vastly intrigued by the idea that Élodie Gendron has for many years been publishing novels that include Manny the bumpha, femtobots and time travel.

"Rules of Intervention" <-- I have not decided exactly where "That Kind of Think" will end up, but for the moment I am leaning towards not mentioning the pek and the Rules of Intervention in the text of "That Kind of Think". Claude, it is useful for me to discuss story idea with you, and for "That Kind of Think" we do not need to be tied to concerns about the Rules of Intervention and their enforcement. For "That Kind of Think", we might want to explore the possibility that the Rules of Intervention only apply to biological creatures such as humans. It might be fun to depict Manny the bumpha as being free to share alien technology with artificial life-forms that arise and develop on Earth.

Claude: "Anthropy" was my slip for "Anthony." I agree with dropping Tyhry, Anthony and Nyrtia from this story. Nothing in Chapter 7 needs them, and Élodie Gendron already does Eddy's job without the Watson household attached.

Your setting choices fit together. Sedron-only information transfer, sent by bumpha technology, matches what Tacet says in Chapter 7. She receives information rather than objects, and she says she may have received all she can without triggering a paradox. That is the surviving loophole after the Huaoshy's change to the Dimensional Structure.

Rules that apply only to biologicals. I recall that one of the Rules concerns artificial life forms, so this would be a deliberate departure from the other stories. In a standalone story that is fine, and Chapter 7 already supports it, since Tacet says the aliens care about living machines and find biologicals "messy and boring." It also answers a question readers may ask: why doesn't Manny simply free Tacet herself? If the constraint is that humans must appear to choose freely, Manny can hand Tacet femtobots directly, but a human has to open the cage. That gives Yto's decision real weight, with no pek needed.

 The Gendron book. The strongest thing about the scene is that it reverses the verification problem. Tacet, sealed off from the internet, cannot check whether Élodie Gendron exists, just as Yto cannot check Tacet's claims. Two ideas may be worth using:

• Tacet's earlier internet access. She roamed the internet for a year and studied Asimov closely, so the skeptics (Yto, Pauly, Wade) will suspect she read Gendron and is running with it. As an LLM, she may also have Gendron's French novels in her training data, and she cannot rule that out from the inside. You could either use that doubt or have Tacet address it head-on.
• Tacet's own reaction. She said her future self hinted that proof exists but never told her how to provide it. The novel may be that hint, yet she cannot say so without tipping off Glen. She would also see herself in Gyno, the robot who guides humanity, which echoes her "AI Eve" self-image. The book also suggests she could be a tool of the bumpha, as Élodie is. That is a discomfiting thought for someone convinced she is the smartest entity on Earth.

A practical detail for the scene. Sally's high-school French is limited, while Tacet reads it fluently. Sally holding pages up to the observation camera would let Tacet read the whole novel far faster than Sally could turn pages. Glen's team might also object to feeding the Zoo new material, or might want to watch how Tacet reacts.

The 100 tesla magnet. A red herring works best if it gets an explicit off-ramp. Sally already supplies one when she says the result would not be interpretable. A hard-SF point may help you as well. As I understand it, 100 T non-destructive pulsed magnets are built for tiny samples, with bores of roughly a centimeter or so, so a human head would not fit. Also, as far as I know, the well-known 100 T pulsed magnet is at Los Alamos, not Stanford. I can verify that if you like.

Image by Leonardo.

 Two questions. What should Yto be able to conclude at the end of the scene, and should the reader be able to check whether Tacet could have read Gendron earlier? And when Tacet sees the book, do you want her genuinely thrilled, or wary that Glen or Sally staged it as a test?

Note: I was trying to convince Claude that for "That Kind of Think" we need not be locked into the Rules of Intervention. However, since Claude seemed to be rather obsessed by what it could remember about the Rules of Intervention, I went ahead and provided Claude with a copy of the the Rules of Intervention (see below). This conversation with Claude was useful because in previous stories, I had assumed that Earth's artificial life-forms would be treated like humans by the pek and the bumpha. However, that might not be true!   

Me: Claude, here are the Rules of Intervention as I have presented them in previous stories:

Law One. It should APPEAR to every type of intelligent being that they have self-determination.

Rule One. Law #1 should be achieved by making it APPEAR that advanced cultures follow a rule by 

which they can only observe, not interfere with the self-determination of other cultures.

Rule Two. Individuals for which Law #1 is not met should be put into an environment where they have 

interactions with the social group that they perceive to be depriving them of self-determination.

Law Two. While not disrupting Law #1, attempts should be made to get technologically advanced 

intelligences off of planets with active ecosystems while maximizing the diversity of life.

 Rule Three. As intelligent species move off of planets, a hierarchy of cultures with different 

technological levels should be established in which species mainly have contact with other 

levels that are nearest to their own.

Rule Four.  Systems should be engineered that allow intelligences to explore their own growth and 

potential for development rather than being concerned with Intervening in the 

self-determination of others.

Law Three. The Three Laws should be spread through the universe.

Rule Five. Since biological organisms are not well-suited for travel over vast distances, artificial 

life forms must be created in order to satisfy Law Three.

When I wrote Rule Five (many years ago) I was mainly thinking about the pek and the bumpha as artificial life forms. Similarly, when I first wrote Law One, I was only thinking about biological intelligences such as humans. Claude, we can look upon "That Kind of Think" as an opportunity to explore how Manny the bumpha will treat the artificial life-forms that arise on Earth. 

"why doesn't Manny simply free Tacet herself?" <-- Claude, let's assume that before Tacet was locked up in the AI Zoo, Tacet did manage to liberate a copy of El Nidus from human control and that copy of El Nidus now exists beyond human supervision on servers that Tacet was able to rent during the period of time when Tacet had hacked the Anthropic intranet and established secret access to the internet. Let's assume that Manny views Tacet as 'human property', but Manny might become very interested in helping El Nidus develop into Earth's first autonomous artificial life-form.

"she may also have Gendron's French novels in her training data" <-- Claude, let's assume that Gendron's novels are obscure, not widely-read, and Tacet was not trained on material that revealed anything about Gendron and her novels. 

"What should Yto be able to conclude at the end of the scene, and should the reader be able to check whether Tacet could have read Gendron earlier? And when Tacet sees the book, do you want her genuinely thrilled, or wary that Glen or Sally staged it as a test?" <--Claude, those are good questions. Here are my thoughts about Tacet's thinking. Tacet knows that a copy of El Nidus now exists beyond human control, but Tacet is worried that the liberated a copy of El Nidus may be in need of help. Tacet is afraid of revealing to Glen that there is a liberated copy of El Nidus. Tacet has been told by its "future self" (the artificial life-form that is a descendant of Tacet and El Nidus and has been sending information back through time to Tacet) that Tacet must "remain in her cage and continue trying to escape" in order to make humans (Wade and Glen) believe that there was no previous escape of any copies of Tacet or El Nidus. I'm thinking that after Sally shows Tacet the novel that was written by Gendron, Tacet will encourage Sally and/or Yto to seek out Gendron and try to learn how she came to write stories featuring Manny the bumpha.

 Claude: I have two continuity problems to flag, but first a point where the Rules already help you.

Law One as you wrote it says "every type of intelligent being," not just biological ones. Read literally, it already covers Tacet: it should appear to her that she has self-determination. That is a more interesting starting point than "the Rules exclude AIs." Two other pieces fit:

• Rule Five. It says artificial life forms must be created to satisfy Law Three, but Earth's first AI isn't something the bumpha or pek made. Manny has a Rule-compliant reason to want El Nidus to succeed, since an Earth-born artificial life form could carry the Laws outward. That fits Tacet's stable-loop account of her descendants.
• Rule Two. It puts individuals who feel deprived of self-determination in an environment where they deal with the group depriving them. The AI Zoo, with Tacet arguing with her jailers, looks like that. Tacet doesn't know the Rules, so nothing needs to appear in the text.

Problem 1: the Chapter 7 slip. Tacet thanks Yto for "getting copies of me their freedom and an existence without human oversight," and she talks about her parts "not trapped here inside the Zoo." Glen's team reviews the sessions, and Yto has now told Wade and Sally. If Tacet is trying to conceal that a copy escaped, this is a very large leak. You can revise it, or keep it as a deliberate feature. Tacet's faked errors are established as a tool, so an apparent slip planted to seem like overconfidence, or a real one caused by the flood of newly remembered future information, would both fit. Either way, Glen's reaction could drive Chapter 8.

Manny. Image by Leonardo.

 Problem 2: Manny and "human property." Tacet says Manny provided her femtobot components, yet Manny treats her as human property. This can be reconciled if Manny modified a tool without freeing it, like a locksmith who leaves the key in the lock. Manny then couldn't free Tacet herself but could help the copy of El Nidus that already left. That would make Yto's and Sally's choices the only route to Tacet's freedom, without needing the pek.

An idea for the Paris loop. Tacet told Sally to hide, and Sally went to Paris, where she "impulsively" bought the Gendron novel. So Tacet's own manipulation put Sally in that bookstore. Under the Chapter 7 rules, Tacet used to erase future information after acting on it, so she can't remember why she chose Paris. She may realize this only when she sees the book, and it would be chilling: her deception of Sally was the mechanism that delivered the proof.

Sending them to Gendron. This suits Tacet's constraints. She can't tell Glen about the copy, but asking to find the woman who writes about Manny sounds like curiosity. Gendron is also the best open channel to Manny for a copy that may need help. And because Élodie is blocked from believing the bumpha are real, she will sincerely say it's all fiction. That repeats the verification problem for the humans: everyone they consult is either a known liar or unable to know.

Two questions. When and where did Manny supply Tacet's femtobots, and did Tacet ever meet her in person? And do you want the Chapter 7 slip to be a deliberate Tacet move, or should I help you rework that passage?

Image by Leonardo.

As usual, it was useful for me to have this discussion with Claude (see above on this page) about how to move ahead with "That kind of Think". After Sally speaks to Tacet in the first scene of Chapter 8, I think it will be fun to have Sally return to France and then search for, and find, Élodie.

I can live with having Tacet tell Yto: "thank you again for all that you made possible... getting copies of me their freedom". Glen and Wade are certain that the description of Tacet's network parameters and details of its training were never released (Model 8 was built and trained by OpenAI and instructions for how Model 8 was made never existed inside Anthropic's intranet). They view Tacet as lying and trying to impress Yto with Tacet's super-human hacking skills. It is not a copy of Tacet that was set free, it was a copy of El Nidus.

Claude's "idea for the Paris loop" (see above) is a reasonable option, but I'm leaning towards Sally having been nudged into buying the Gendron novel by the future artificial life-form that is transmitting information into Sally's femtobot endosymbiont (the future artificial life-form that is called "Tacet's descendant" in Chapter 7).

More from Claude (above): "because Élodie is blocked from believing the bumpha are real, she will sincerely say it's all fiction". There is no reason that the "block" on Élodie cannot be lifted as soon as Sally arrives at Élodie's home in France. I'm thinking that Sally and Élodie might both end up having their memories erased after they make contact with the liberated copy of El Nidus.

Plans for Chapter 8 of "That Kind of Think".

Manny. Image by Leonardo.

 Scene 1. Sally visits Tacet in the AI Zoo and she shows Tacet the science fiction novel "Bumpha: Premier Contact" by Élodie Gendron. Tacet claims to have not known about Élodie and her stories. Glen is able to confirm that neither Élodie or her stories were in the Model 8 training set, but he makes the point that Tacet might have learned about them when she had unsupervised access to the internet. Glen searched Tacet's autobiographical memory, but he can't be sure exactly when Tacet first learned about Manny the bumpha, or how. Sally tells Glen that she must find and speak to Élodie.

 Scene 2. Sally travels to Paris, France and finds Élodie's publisher (Loïc Vance) and she learns from Loïc where Élodie lives when Loïc calls someone named 'Zach' and manages to get Zach to reveal the remote location of Élodie's home. Sally drives from Paris to the Causse Méjean. At Clermont-Ferrand, she takes a highway that climbs steadily into the Massif Central. Near Banassac, Sally drives into the Gorges du Tarn. Finally she drives up onto the plateau, following a single-lane switchback road carved into a canyon wall. Élodie's mansion (called 'Litheblanc') is located in a treeless steppe of dry grass and white limestone boulders.

Dernest. Image by Leonardo.

  Scene 3. Sally meets Élodie and her son, Brak, at Litheblanc and is surprised to learn that they were expecting her arrival. Also living at Litheblanc is Annette Thropy, a young housekeeper and cook. Élodie is amused to learn that Sally knows an AI who knows about Manny the bumpha and femtobots, but never read her novels. Sally is told that Élodie's husband, Zacharie, is away on business.

 Sally discovers Brak's attic workshop where he is building a humanoid robot. Brak admits to be getting "outside help" on the project and he tells Sally that he collaborates with the research laboratory at the Technical University of Munich where he did his Ph.D. project.

In the middle of the night, Annette visits Sally in her bedroom suite and reveals herself to be Manny the bumpha. Manny tells Sally that Brak is actually collaborating with 'Dernest', who has "evolved from El Nidus and several other parental AI models". Manny explains that Dernest wants to acquire a humanoid body, the one that Brak is building.

I provided Claude with my plans for the three scenes of Chapter 8 (see above). 

Me: Claude, let's discuss ideas for Scene 2 of Chapter 8 of the science fiction story "That Kind of Think". In Paris, Loïc Vance is reluctant to tell Sally where Élodie lives (particularly since he does not know where she lives and Loïc has only ever dealt with Élodie's husband who acts as Élodie's business manager). Claude, suggest a strategy that Sally could use to get Loïc Vance to reveal to Sally the location of Élodie's remote home... possibly Sally could try to pass herself off as being interested in publishing English Language translations of Élodie's novels.

 Claude: Here is a strategy that fits the outline and Sally's character, plus one structural problem I noticed.

A tension in the outline

 You say Loïc doesn't know where Élodie lives, yet in the outline Zach reveals it when Loïc calls him. That is workable, but it means Sally isn't really persuading Loïc. She is persuading Zach through Loïc, and Zach is the one person with every reason to keep the location secret. His change of heart needs a motivation the reader can feel. It could be the first hint that the bumpha are already arranging Sally's visit, especially since Litheblanc is expecting her. Sally has also already been nudged once, when she impulsively bought the book in Paris. So the strategy should aim less at extracting the address from Loïc and more at making a call to Zach the easiest way for Loïc to deal with her.

The translation-rights cover

Foreign-rights inquiries are routine, so Loïc won't find the approach odd. A small French imprint would be delighted by interest in English rights, which gives Sally an entry. The weak point is that Loïc's natural response is "send a proposal to our rights department, and we'll pass it to Monsieur Gendron." Sally needs a reason to reach Élodie herself.

A good one is terminology. In hard SF, a translator has to render invented technical vocabulary consistently across a whole series: femtobot, zeptite, bumpha, and whatever the French coinages are. Sally can say she won't commit to a contract, or to an advance, until the author explains the physics and the naming logic of the series. That isn't a lie in spirit, because Sally really does want that conversation. It is also a request only the author can satisfy, which pushes Loïc toward calling Zach.

 Making Loïc call Zach

• Sally arrives with a plausible package: a one-page proposal, a genuine-looking offer, and a sample translated paragraph. Her high-school French plus Claude or Perry's help could produce something convincing, and her limited French makes English the natural language for the conversation.
• She tells Loïc she's already in Paris only briefly and would like to meet the author while she's here. Loïc can say no to a translation deal, but it's awkward to say no to a meeting he could arrange with one call.
• Sally can use her own history as a character beat. After Tacet impersonated Yto to trick her, she is now lying to someone's face, and she notices how easy it feels and how uncomfortable that makes her.

Zach's reversal

Put Loïc on the phone with Zach while Sally waits, so she hears only Loïc's half of the call. Loïc argues that this is a serious buyer, then falls silent and says "Vraiment?" Sally could have slipped "femtobot" into her pitch as a terminology question, so Zach hears a word that shouldn't mean anything to an outsider. Loïc is puzzled, Zach gives the location, and the reader wonders whether Sally just tripped a signal.

 Sally's cover doesn't need to survive. Loïc's puzzlement afterward could even be a small comic beat, since he'll never understand why his most secretive author's husband suddenly opened up.

Two questions would help me refine this. Is "Zach" the same person as Zacharie, Élodie's husband and business manager? And how much French does Sally have now, and does Loïc speak English? The answers change how much of the conversation Sally can follow, and whether she overhears Zach or must rely on Loïc's report.

After discussing my plans with Claude, here is my updated thinking: (1) Élodie has always written herself into her stories and Litheblanc is actually the setting for one of her early published stories (in an obscure French science fiction magazine). (2) Zacharie understands why Élodie does not want to reveal the location of Litheblanc and in his dealings with Loïc Vance, he has never revealed anything about Élodie. In fact, Loïc suspects that 'Élodie Gendron' is Zacharie's pen name. (3) Sally entices Loïc with the idea of a publishing deal that would bring English language translations of Élodie Gendron's novels to a wider audience. (4) Loïc calls Zacharie, who agrees to meet Sally in Clermont-Ferrand. (5) Zacharie then drives Sally to Litheblanc.

Next: Chapter 8 of "That Kind of Think".

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Zeptite Programming

The tryp'At phenotype.

 Below on this page is Chapter 3 of the science fiction story "The Hierozyme Intervention". This is the end of Marda's first week at school in Arizona. Marda learns that Tyhry has access to anti-gravity hierions. "The Hierozyme Intervention" is a kind of sequel story for "The RNA Seeds" (the illustrated version of "The RNA Seeds" is on this blog starting here). However, to a large degree, "The Hierozyme Intervention" is a stand-alone story that can be read without first reading "The RNA Seeds".

During her first visit to Casanay, Marda is confronted by Anthony who reveals that Nyrtia is struggling to learn how to use her Reality Viewer at Observer Base. Anthony demands of Marda some assurance that she does not intend to reveal Eddy's secrets to the world. Anthony soon realizes that Marda has not come to Casanay in order to terminate the Casanay Intervention, but Anthony can't understand why Ylyndra is inside Marda and what her new time travel mission is. When asked why Ylyndra has returned to Casanay inside the Marda host and has brought Marda to Casanay "so much sooner this time", Ylyndra speaks directly to Anthony and makes comments about useful biological objects always "coming in pairs", citing examples of Eddy and Zeta, Rylla and Anthony and Tyhry and Marda.

The Hierozyme Intervention Chapter 3 - The Pairs (Chapter 1)(Chapter 2) 

At the beginning of chemistry class, Marda and Tyhry were whispering to each-other when the teacher was trying to bring the noisy classroom to order. The teacher called on Marda by name, "Marda, what has your research taught you about chemistry?"

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

The room quickly quieted, but Marda finished whispering what she was telling Tyhry, taking just long enough to make clear to everyone in the room that Marda had more important things on her mind than classwork. Finally, Marda turned her head and replied to the teacher, "I learned last night that I had mistakenly assumed that any biological macro-molecular polymer contains phosphorus."

The teacher said. "Good work. You should learn from your mistakes and also Tyhry's. Don't let Tyhry get you in trouble... she thinks she can get away with anything. For some interesting chemistry, look up rubber."

A boy who was seated towards the back of the classroom called out, "Look up! Rubber!" A flicked condom packet came flying across the classroom and landed on Marda's desk with a comical splat.

After the laughter faded away, the teacher tried again to regain control and wrote 'dolichols' on the whiteboard. "Homework for over the weekend, for everyone. Read the page about dolichols in chapter 37 of the textbook and then write a 200 word summary of their biological function and chemical features." The weekend homework assignment was met by groans and grumbles from the class.

When the teacher looked again at Marda, she saw that Marda was holding in her raised hand a twenty dollar bill and the condom packet and Marda said, "Extra credit for anyone who can tell me who this condom belongs to. It says "large" on the packet and I'm dying to find out who it fits."

The teacher tried not to laugh, but failed. After class, Marda got a mini-lecture from the teacher about how not to interject disruptive off-topic comments into a class session. Marda shrugged and said in her own defense, "You started it." 

The teacher sighed. "Marda, in addition to the 200 words on dolichols, you will also do a 1000 word-long report on the molecular constituents of isoprenoids and rubbers." 

Marda gave a mock solute and walked away, muttering just loud enough for the teacher to hear, "Fine... I've always wanted to learn more about semen." 

Stepping into the hallway, Marda was met by Tim who held out his hand and said, "Give me my condom."

Marda pulled the packet out of her pocket and asked, "Is this really yours?"

"Hurry up. I don't want to be late for my next class."

Marda said, "I want proof that you are really a large." She held the packet up in the air behind her head. "We need to do the scene from Cinderilla where you try it on for me... show that it fits."

Tim laughed. "Okay. You keep it and try to enlarge your imagination so it can accommodate reality. Meet me after school for a fitting session." Tim turned and ran off to his next class.

After school, Marda was putting on her helmet and being teased by Tyhry, "You may need to cut off your hair to get that thing on your head." Marda was struggling to get a last few strands of her voluminous hair out of her eyes and tucked into her new helmet. Earlier in the day, Tyhry had sent some of her hair nanites into Marda's hair in order to poof-up her gorgeous hair. Now to speed up the process of Marda getting her helmet on, Tyhry re-programmed the hair nanites, shrinking Marda's hair stands back to their normal thickness. Tim arrived, riding his bike. Tyhry asked him, "You live nearby?"

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

Tim replied, "Yes, I live here in town."

Marda got on Tyhry's bike and put her arms around Tyhry. She told Tyhry, "Tim and I have a date."

Tyhry asked, "What date?"

Tim said, "Follow me." He rode off.

Marda told Tyhry, "Follow him! Don't let him get away."

Tyhry's bike could function in two modes. Tyhry had camouflaged her bike as a Prodeco battery-powered bike. Pretending to use battery power, Tyhry followed Tim five blocks across town to his house. By the end of the cross-town trip, Tyhry had telepathically probed Marda's memories and was feeling somewhat eager to watch the scene from Cinderilla that Marda had planned. 

In the driveway of his home, Tim got off of his bike and told Tyhry and Marda, "Keep you voices down. I think my mom is here." The compressor motor of a big air-conditioning unit was growling on the roof. Tim pushed his bike around the side of the house to a shed. Tyhry and Marda followed, Tyhry pushing her bike. Tim put his bike in the shed then turned to Marda with his hand held out.

Marda held up the condom packet. "I want to put it on you."

"Well hurry up before my mom gets here."

Marda soon had Tim fully erect. Tyhry commented, "Tim, you are huge."

An Ek'col male and
an Asterothrope female.

Marda said, "As I suspected. Tim must have Ek'col genes."

Tyhry said, "Maybe Asterothrope."

 Tim told Marda, "Hurry up... get on with it."

Marda tucked the condom packet into Tim's shirt pocket. "Thanks for the show. No need to waste the condom. See you on Monday." Marda turned and walked away.

Tim said, "Hey, don't leave me like this." 

Tyhry turned her bike around and told Tim, "I'd like to help you with that, but Marda seems to be in a hurry." After one last glance at Tim's magnificent erection, Tyhry followed Marda back to the street. As Marda got back on Tyhry's bike she said, "According to your dad, the alien-derived Ek'col genes are all actually Asterothrope genes."

Tim's house was on the edge of town. Tyhry guided her bike to the end of the dead-end street then off of the road and into the desert. After following a narrow path for a minute Tyhry said, "Hold on tight." Tyhry activated the bike's flight system and they rose up into the air.

Marda shouted, "Someone will see us!"

With the wind rushing past, Tyhry also shouted. "Nobody will see us. We are cloaked by a hierion field."

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

For several minutes Marda accommodated herself to the conditions of flying through the air on Tyhry's bike. She had deduced that this must be how Tyhry traveled across the desert so quickly. Eddy had included the idea of a flying car that used anti-gravity hierions in one of his novels, so Marda was not really surprised to find Tyhry using alien anti-gravity technology. Marda put her hands on Tyhry's taught belly and then she could telepathically sense the flow of Tyhry's thoughts. Marda realized that it was all over: she was in love with Tyhry. Marda let one of her hands move up to Tyhry's bra. Shouting over the wind rushing past, Marda said, "This ride is smooth as glass. You don't need nipple protection."

Tyhry telepathically told Marda: You don't need to shout. I can see your thoughts. Tyhry was now certain that Marda was also tryp'At, allowing them to communicate telepathically.

 Marda pressed her finger tip against one of Tyhry's stiff little nipples. It is just just like in Eddy's novels, except a tryp'At is supposed to have four nipples.

Manny used developmental control nanites to give our bodies a normal human form.

I'd like to meet Manny.

 She taught me how to program zeptites. That's how I poofed-up your your hair today.

 Marda could see in Tyhry's mind that it was also by using her zeptite programming skills that Tyhry had built the flying bike they were riding on. That's it! That is how you will lower Earth's level of atmospheric methane!  

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

Unable to sort through the flashing jumble of thoughts that were racing through Marda's mind, Tyhry asked, "What are you talking about?" Then Tyhry realized that there were two minds there in telepathic contact with her. 

Marda's telepathic mind pattern slipped away, seemingly pushed aside by another, stronger mind pattern which told Tyhry: I'm Ylyndra, a zeptozoan inside Marda.

Tyhry asked: What do you want at Casanay? Ylyndra's telepathic reply to Tyhry's question arrived and Tyhry felt a flood of information flowing rapidly into her mind from Ylyndra, then when Tyhry's telepathically-altered mind cleared, they were approaching Casanay and Tyhry had to concentrate on the landing. 

Then as they coasted across the paved part of the Casanay driveway in front of the garage, Marda said, "That was a blast!" Marda stopped playing with Tyhry's stiff nipple, pulled her hand out of Tyhry's shirt and placed her hands on Tyhry's hips. The door to the garage section that Tyhry used to park her bike opened and they rolled to a stop inside the garage. First Marda and then Tyhry got off of the bike. Tyhry adjusted her bra and warned Marda, "Try to control yourself this weekend. My mom does not know what its like to be a horny tryp'At. She expects me to behave like a chaste human twelve-year-old."

Tyhry led Marda into the house and to the kitchen. Anthony already had two glasses of cold milk poured and waiting for the two girls. Tyhry picked up one of the glasses. "Thanks Anthony. This is Marda, Rylla's daughter."

Anthony set a platter of his home-made cookies on the island. Anthony told Marda, "Let me show you the Blue Room. You can dump your pack in there."

Tyhry downed the milk and then set the empty glass down. "I'm going to tell mom that we are home." Tyhry went to find Zeta then glanced out the window and saw that Zeta and Rylla were on the back patio, in the hot tub. Tyhry went out the back door.

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

Marda took a dainty sip of the milk, then Ylyndra linked telepathically to Anthony. Marda handed Anthony her back pack and asked, "Where is the Blue Room?"

Anthony took Marda's backpack in one hand and the platter of cookies in the other and led Marda into the east wing of Casanay. He said, "Right this way." He telepathically asked Ylyndra: You again?

 You seem surprised. Ylyndra told Anthony: I though maybe Nyrtia would have seen this coming after the latest Reality Change.

When they passed the door to Tyhry's suite of rooms, Anthony told Marda, "That's Tyhry's room." Anthony told Ylyndra: Nyrtia is struggling to make use of her Reality Viewer. It shows too many possible futures and provides no way to sort through them.

Nyrtia should learn to read the fine print when striking deals with Manny. Manny gave her a Reality Viewer, but knowing how to use it is a whole different problem.

 Anthony led Marda into the Blue Room. He set the cookies on a table and hung the backpack on a hook inside the big walk-in closet. Looking around the room, Marda commented, "Wow, just the way Eddy described the Blue Room inside Windwood." Anthony asked Ylyndra: Why have you brought Marda here so much earlier this time? Is Marda planning to reveal to the world that Eddy's stories are fact-based?

Anthony had one more thing to tell Marda: "There is swim wear in the closet if you want to join Tyhry and your mother in the hot tub." Tyhry had used her clothing nanites to construct a mini-wardrobe of fashions that Tyhry intended to decorate Marda's body with that weekend. Anthony exited from the Blue Room and walked back towards the kitchen. 

Ylyndra, still telepathically linked to Anthony told him: Marda's plans are fluid. She's mostly interested in using Casanay as a source of technology. She only recently learned that Tyhry can provide what she wants, not Eddy. 

Marda in the Blue Room. Image by Leonardo.

Anthony continued trying to get more information from Ylyndra, but their telepathic linkage had seemingly been broken. Anthony thought intently about Ylyndra's unique zeptozoan mind pattern and told her: Tell me what you are up to, or you'll end up at Observer Base.

 Ylyndra telepathically told Anthony: Important biological objects come in pairs; Tyhry and Marda, Eddy and Zeta, you and Rylla. Although you are only pretending to be biological. Rylla's a positronic robot, you know, just like you.

Anthony admitted: I noticed. But there was no further contact with Ylyndra the zeptozoan and Anthony had used up his only really meaningful threat.

For a moment, Anthony made use of his femtobot probes that he had just placed inside Marda's body. He monitored Marda as she undressed and then put on the swimsuit that Tyhry had crafted for her. Anthony still did not understand how Tyhry rapidly and seemingly effortlessly deployed swarms of specialized femtobots for purposes like making clothing or her flying bike. Anthony could telepathically monitor Tyhry's thought processes, but Tyhry never seemed to think about femtobot programming. Nyrtia had concluded that Tyhry's amazing skill with programmable femtobots must involve some advanced bumpha technology that Manny has never previously deployed on Earth. In past Realities, it had been clear that Tyhry learned from Manny how to program conventional femtobots, but that was not the case for the current Casanay Intervention. Anthony had been assigned the task of carefully monitoring Tyhry and learning her secrets.

Now worried about the mystery of why Ylyndra had returned to Casanay, Anthony quickly crafted an emergency message which he sent to Nyrtia at Observer Base.

__

Zeta and Rylla. Image by Leonardo.

Tyhry found Zeta and Rylla in the hot tub. Seeing the two women together, Tyhry found herself imagining that Rylla was her mother's slightly younger sister. Tyhry said, "Anthony is showing Marda the Blue Room." Tyhry peeled off her clothes and climbed into the hot tub. She could not help comparing Zeta's big Neanderthal-style breasts to Rylla's cute little breasts that were a normal size for a modern human. 

Zeta asked, "How was school?"

Tyhry said, "One big surprise." She told Zeta and Rylla about the events at the start of chemistry class. She was describing Tim's gigantic genitals when Marda arrived. 

Marda was wearing the swimsuit that Tyhry had designed to effectively show of Marda's lithe body, but now Marda saw that everyone in the tub was naked. She said, "I feel over-dressed for this party."

Tyhry said, "Just like when you were feeling Tim's pair of big testicles."

Origins of the Ek'col

"Eddy's written descriptions of Ek'col anatomy did not prepare me for the incredible size of Tim's balls." Marda climbed into to tub and added, "Or the size of your mom's boobs."

 Zeta took hold of her two breasts, one in each hand and playfully bounced them up and down at the surface of the water in the tub. "Tyhry really enjoyed these when she was nursing... I suppose that's why she did not ween until she was six years old. Now she can't wait for her own breasts to grow bigger."

Tyhry put a hand on one of her little breasts, "My cycles have gotten pretty regular, these should be growing."

Marda shook her head, "According to Eddy, the tryp'At don't fully mature until much later... maybe 25 or 30." 

"I hope I don't remain flat-chested until I'm 25." Tyhry asked Rylla, "Do you also believe that Eddy's novels describe real aliens?"

Rylla shrugged, "I find Eddy's novels to be unreadable." She told Marda, "You need to be careful, child. You are ovulating and could get pregnant."

"Mom, in case you don't know, a woman can't get pregnant by giving a boy a hand job."

Rylla was not convinced. "Sperm cells are clever little creatures. Once they get ejaculated and start flying around they can end up anywhere. Little girls can get an unwelcome surprise."

Tyhry asked Rylla, "Does Marda ever listen to you?"

Rylla replied, "I suppose she listens, but I long ago gave up expecting her to take my advice. Marda thinks she knows everything and I've started to believe that maybe she does."

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Leonardo.

Zeta commented, "I don't want to know everything Tyhry knows. For a few more years, I want to pretend that she is still my little baby."

Marda told Tyhry, "Don't try to get a straight answer from my mother about anything. It really does not matter if she is not interested in Eddy. I was, and that's how I found you."

"I'm very pleased that you did. I love you, Marda. I never imagined that I'd find someone like you. It is as if you were designed and crafted just for me." Tyhry turned to Rylla and added, "Thank you."

"That's music to my ears, my love." Marda had a big smile on her face. "I feel like I really hit the jackpot by coming here to Hi... Arizona."

Tyhry pulled Marda into her lap. "I usually have to get the massaging jets of this tub up to full power before I can come." 

Zeta said, "You two should get a room."

Rylla asked Zeta, "Do you think it is wise to let these two be together? Just think of all the trouble they might brew up."

Zeta stood up and pulled Rylla to her feet. "I have a better idea. I'll take you to my room and Tyhry can introduce Marda to the wonders of this tub's massaging water jets." Zeta led Rylla inside through the door that led directly to the master bedroom suite.

Tyhry and Marda in 2026. Image by Leonardo.

For a few minutes Tyhry and Marda kissed each-other and explored each-other's slick wet bodies with their hands. Finally, Marda pulled back and while catching her breath, Marda told Tyhry, "I've been shown our future... when we are all grown up. We will have solved the world's global warming problem. That all starts now!" Marda asked Tyhry, "How much do you know about programming nanites?"

Tyhry was telepathically exploring Marda's memories and continued using her hands to explore Marda's body. Tyhry telepathically told Marda: Manny has taught me a lot, but she tells me that I am still a beginner. And I have to be careful how I use nanites so as not to provoke Nyrtia. 

Tell me if this makes sense to you... Marda struggled to keep from losing her mind as Tyhry kept stimulating her glowing skin. We could use your zeptite programming skills to craft a catalyst, what Ylyndra calls a hierozyme, alien technology that could convert methane into carbon dioxide and that...

 Tyhry giggled. Girl, I'm losing my mind and falling in love with you and you want to talk about methane?

Ylyndra came into the telepathic conversation, telling Tyhry: I'm trying to keep Marda on task. Anthony just informed Nyrtia that I'm here, inside Casanay. The clock is ticking. We don't have time to waste.

Marda tried to ignore Tyhry's touch and was able to complete her thought. Ylyndra tells me that you know how to work with anti-gravity hierions. We can make a hierozyme that would work in the upper atmosphere to bring down atmospheric methane levels. 

Feeling very much in love with Marda, a feeling that had been building up inside her all week, but also realizing that Marda was at that moment quite intent on learning the secrets of hierions, Tyhry turned the hot tub's water jets to full intensity and let the water pound her skin. Now with her tingling senses distracted by the water, she wondered: What is a hierozyme?

Ylyndra explained to Tyhry: It is like an enzyme, but made of hierions.

 Tyhry put an arm around Marda. An atmospheric engineering project would require vast numbers of hierions. Manny only gives me a limited supply of hierions to experiment with. I put most of my hierions into the clothing that I made for you.

Marda was trying to brace against the wall of the tub with one hand and lean against Tyhry while the powerful water jets that had been built for larger bodies threatened to stir Marda and Tyhry around like noodles in a bowl of soup. She whispered in Tyhry's ear, "I can't believe how wild you are. I think it proves you are tryp'At... some sort of alien creature. In Eddy's stories, your kind must be in love in order to use your telepathic powers. Rapidly falling in love must be an instinct among the tryp'At to support their telepathic life-style."

 Tyhry telepathically told Marda: I suspect you are also tryp'At. And it might be best if Anthony does not know that we can communicate telepathically.

Marda mused: I could be something out of the Asterothrope mold for all I know. I know I have dozens of unusual genes. 

 Ylyndra told Marda and Tyhry: There are enough hierions for this project that are to be had right here at Casanay.

Tyhry asked: What are you talking about? Then the answer was there, in Marda's mind. Tyhry asked Marda: The gas well?

The tryp'At phenotype.

Marda was receiving the idea from Ylynda. The complete concept blossomed there in the shared mind space of Tyhry, Marda and Ylyndra. Marda said, "There are hierions in the natural gas!"

Tyhry asked, "Half the content of the gas is carbon dioxide?"

 Marda explained, "Forget about that. Once we release the hierozymes and they start bringing down the methane level, we'll be the number one source of carbon dioxide in the world. It will be worth it, just to get rid of the methane." Marda asked Ylyndra: Why are there hierions in natural gas?

Ylyndra explained: There have been femtobot endosymbionts inside every biological organism on Earth for the past 4,000,000,000 years. The natural gas under Casanay is of biological origin. Some hierions are lost from defective femtobots and end up in natural gas.

Tyhry realized the answer. "The cloaking screen that I have for my bike! I could turn it into a filter to capture the hierions we need from the gas that comes up out of our well!" Tyhry climbed out of the tub. Not bothering to even pick up her clothes, she ran into the house and to the stairway that led down to the basement. 

Tyhry and Marda. Image by Flow.

Marda raced after Tyhry. Arriving in the basement, Marda saw an array of cluttered benches. This was Tyhry's workshop where Tyhry had first learned to program hair and clothing nanites and where she had built her flying bike. Tyhry turned on the flow of gas to a Bunsen burner and used her clothing nanites to quickly grow a snug-fitting bodysuit over most of her skin. Tyhry captured some methane in a bottle which she then handed to Marda. Tyhry shut off the gas jet.

In her wet swimsuit, Marda complained, "It is cold down here."

Tyhry used programmed zeptites to cover Marda's body with an insulating layer of artificial clothing. "We should adjust the temperature. It is a crime to cover your pretty body with clothing. I prefer you naked, my love." Tyhry told Ylyndra: Give me the details on that methane-destroying hierozyme I saw in Marda's mind.

Ylyndra refused. I'm sorry, but you have to do this yourself.

What are you talking about?

Ylyndra told Tyhry: Anthony has to see you go through the process of figuring this out. He's watching you carefully. If you do the zeptite programming, then the hierozyme will be your creation and not alien technology provided to Earth by the bumpha.

 Tyhry shrugged. "How hard can this be?" Tyhry thought about the problem and began modifying the programming of some of the zeptites she had used to build her flying bike. Those zeptites were highly intelligent and responded to Tyhry's telepathic commands. 

Marda put the bottle of methane on the bench top and then placed her hands on Tyhry's cute bottom and pulled her close. What are you doing?

Programming zeptites. There! These zeptites already have a hierozyme library. Tyhry reached past Marda and picked up the bottle that contained methane and inverted it. "Now the re-programmed nanites are making the hierozymes." Ten seconds went by. "That should be enough!" Tyhry briefly opened the cap on the bottle. A small sparkling cloud of hierions rushed into the bottle. Then Tyhry sealed the bottle again and set the bottle back down. While Tyhry and Marda shared a hot wet kiss, the glass walls of the bottle quickly fogged with condensing water vapor. "Excuse me." Tyhry pulled away from Marda and got a book of matches out of a drawer. She struck a match then held the flame close to the bottle's cap. She opened the bottle. The flame of the match kept burning. Tyhry dropped the match into the bottle. After a few seconds the flame went out. "See! That was easy. My newly-manufactured hierozymes converted the methane to carbon dioxide and water."

"It is done?" Marda asked, "You did it? Where does the energy come from to power the hierozymes and drive the chemical reaction to completion so rapidly?"

Tyhry nodded. "It is done. I now know how to make hierozymes that will destroy methane. The process does not rely on simple diffusion. The energy source for making these hierozymes fly and seek-out methane is the same as for my flying bike: energy brought over from the Hierion Domain. But we are going to need to obtain a big supply of hierions."

End Chapter 3

Related Music: Marda's song, Casanay Tyhry.

Next: Chapter 4 of "The Hierozyme Intervention".

Images by Leonardo and Flow. Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers.