Escape Artist

On this page: Part 4 of "The Zal Intervention".

After departing from California, Zal had spent a large part of her pregnancy in England. After traveling through parts of Scotland and Wales, Zal took a part-time position as a visiting scholar at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. One day, while examining an ancient artifact that had been catalogued as {carved ivory. Blaubeuren. collected ~1746 ancient or modern?}, Zal noticed an odd inscription. On one side of the piece was a carved bird while the opposite side had what looked like tiny letters in some unknown system of writing. Zal recognized the written text as being from a script of the Galactic Core, one that she knew from her time spent on the planet Tar'tron. Zal laughed and muttered, "Trysta?"

the ivory piece

Zal was vaguely aware that Trysta Iwedon had lived out her final days somewhere in Europe, about 10,000 years in the past. The inscription was almost too small to be read. Zal placed the ivory under a magnifier and saw that the tiny letters had been precisely etched into the surface of the ivory. Translated into modern English, it read, "My dear Grean, like you, I am lost in Time." Zal flipped over the piece and again looked at the carved bird that was on the back side of where the text had been carved.

Zal's spirits were boosted by the inscription. Before being sent back into the far past, Trysta must have Viewed a future Reality in which Grean had found this artifact. Zal had grown comfortable thinking of herself as "Zal", but her real name was Grean. If Trysta had viewed this very moment in Time, then Trysta would have recognized Zal as "Grean". For a moment, Zal thought about stealing this piece of Ivory, but then she returned it to its storage box. Suddenly, Zal felt the future pressing on her and she was anxious to move on and finally visit the Continent.

Using fragments of memories from her future, Zal had constructed a rough outline of how she would live for the next 40 years in Europe. In particular, Zal knew that she would eventually move to Germany, but until Mahasvin appeared that day in Cambridge, Zal did not know exactly when she would depart from England.

After leaving the museum, Zal felt compelled to go the The Eagle pub. Why else had Trysta put her engraved message on the back side of a carved eagle? Waiting there near the front door was Mahasvin. The two women entered the pub and dined together, at first talking about Trysta and how she had been fated to die in the far past. Mahasvin said, "Trysta lived a long life. To her final day she held on to the hope that Ekcolir might find her, but he had died another 10,000 years in her past."

Zal asked, "What made her think that she would get one final visit from Ekcolir?"

Mahasvin explained, "Like you, Trysta was not entirely alone in the past. Ekcolir's replicoid was watching over her and occasionally helping her. There was a type of weak technology-assisted telepathic connection between the replicoid and Trysta. Trysta clung to that link and imagined that it might be possible to once more see Ekcolir, the great love of her life."

For a moment Zal used her own Reality Viewing ability to confirm that she had not managed to upset the required timeline of events. She said, "I can't begin to understand why Trysta had to send me that message from the far past."

source

Mahasvin sighed. "It is not necessary that you understand. In fact, your ignorance is important. If you knew too much, you could cause all sorts of trouble. Actually, that ivory carving is just one of many ancient artifacts that are knitting together the Final Reality and stabilizing it with vast amounts of temporal momentum. Combined, they form a Spindle of Necessity."

Zal snapped her fingers, "Of course! The Aristocles Intervention. It was Plato who wrote the first description of replicoids."

Mahasvin nodded. "And we had to tone that down. Still, the version of the myth of Er that will make it into the Final Reality contains the basic idea of mysterious guardian watching over each person on Earth. Sadly, Plato's account now includes no hint that there is a technological basis for the replicoids of Earth."

Zal added, "Yes, a technology that was obtained from the alien Phari."

The waiter came and cleared away their dinner dishes. For a few minutes Zal and Mahasvin did not speak of aliens and replicoids or time travel. Then Mahasvin pulled an envelope out of her pocket and slid it across the table to Zal. "Your ticket to Germany and some money. Tomorrow you travel to the Continent."

Zal cried out, "Tomorrow?" Then she calmed herself and realized that there was no need to say goodbye to all of her friends. She could just walk away from England without discussing her departure with anyone. Glancing into the envelop, she saw that the ticket was for a steamer that would go from Liverpool the Bremerhaven. She put the envelop into her purse. "So, my baby will be born on the Continent." She patted her large belly. "I was starting to imagine that she might be born British."

Mahasvin shook her head. "For the next 40 years you will be tied up in the horrible events that will engulf Europe. Actually, your actions in Germany will help prevent much agony here in England. You will prevent a man named Hulsmeyer from developing radar-jamming technology. That will shorten the second world war and allow it to end in 1945."

Zal had no memory of ever having heard about someone named Hulsmeyer. "How will I find this Hulsmeyer?"

Mahasvin, as usual, was constrained in what she could tell Zal about the future. "After you arrive in Bremerhaven, continue on up the river to Bremer. You'll have no trouble finding Hulsmeyer."

Zal could sense that Mahasvin was not going to provide additional details, at least not at this time. She asked, "So, I will be able to return to America in 1945?"

"No, you will not escape from Germany until 1947. I want you to stay long enough to help with the birth of your greatgrand-daughter, Roz. However, because of your actions, there will be a significant event in America in 1945."  Mahasvin activated a specific differential analysis algorithm in Zal's Viewer.

In the Buld Reality. Cover art by Williams.

Now Zal could see two versions of a magazine cover illustration from 1945. In one version, there was mention of a story by Isaac Asimov called "Psionic Escape". Mahasvin said, "Without your actions to alter Earth's timeline, Asimov would publish a story that gives far too many details about how the telepathic powers of positronic robots were able to control human thought processes."

Zal said, "That is a story that will ultimately be included in Asimov's book, I, Robot?"

"Yes, but first it will be published in a science fiction magazine. Also, in that version of the story, there is too much detail about the mechanism of faster-than-light space travel. All mention of sedrons must be removed."

Zal was aware of the decision to make sure that in the Final Reality it would be a man known as "the Editor" who first published an account of how hierions and sedrons can make possible fantastic technologies for teleportation and space travel. Zal suggested, "Asimov's time in the military will be altered by my interference with Hulsmeyer's work on radar?"

in the Final Reality

Mahasvin explained, "I can't go into details, but it will be the existence of Juanita's baby in America that alters the shape of Asimov's writing career, preventing him from writing about sedrons. In the Final Reality, Asimov's story will be called "Paradoxical Escape".

Zal peered into the details of the future using her Viewer. "I see... you are making use of Campbell to alter the story slightly." That was about all that she could see for the year 1945. She asked, "Why are you blocking my access to the details? Does Juanita's son have his influence by shaping the life of Campbell?"

Mahasvin waved her hand dismissively. "Don't bother asking, I can't share the details with you. Juanita's grand-daughter will meet Asimov in New York and slightly perturb his life."

Zal said rather wistfully, "Fascinating. That sounds like fun."

Mahasvin shrugged, "You will have your own fun. Through your interference with Campbell, you will cause a story called 'Time and Time Again' to be published in 1947. That will alter Asimov's thinking about time travel, but you must do one more thing in 1947. Steal Asimov's old copy of his story 'Cosmic Corkscrew'. That will allow him to begin thinking in new ways about time travel."

Zal complained, "My last effort as a thief was something of a debacle."

Mahasvin chuckled. "In 1947, you will take the only existing copy of 'Cosmic Corkscrew' and depart from Earth. Your mission here in the past will be complete."

Zal was skeptical. "That's all? It seems like a small change."

"It is a small change, but it triggers a sequence of events that ultimately leads to Asimov including an account of how Reality Changes work in a story that the Editor will read."

"What sequence of events?"

"There is no reason why you cannot know the general sequence of events. In 1949, Asimov will imagine a book about time travel called 'Time and Time and Over', but he will only publish that title as the name of an imaginary book. However, that will lead to another story called "Time and Again" that will be published in 1951 by another author. That will, in turn, provoke Asimov to write his own time travel story in 1953 with enough details about Reality Changes to get the Editor interested in time travel."

Zal shook her head in dismay. "That still seems like a small change."

providing Ek'col, Asterothrope and Kac'hin genes

Mahasvin nodded. "It is only a minor detail. Of course, what is much more important are the effects of you inserting your genes into the population of humans on Earth. Some of your genes will end up in the genome of the Editor's grand-daughter, Rylla."

Zal asked, "Are you serious?"

Mahasvin replied, "I can't go into any details."

Mahasvin stood up and headed towards the door. Zal followed along and they walked from the pub out to the street. Zal said, "It seems like the act of inserting these Kac'hin genes into Earthlings might derail the entire Pact."

coming in 2026

They walked towards the train station. "Don't worry. Your future self has taken great care to be sure that no such problems will arise. And remember, in the end, Nora will be the only Interventionist agent remaining on Earth and she will be allowed to retain none of her memories of having been an Interventionist."

 Jump to: "The Trinity Intervention" in 2025; stealing the 'Cosmic Corkscrew'.
Related Reading: The Zal Intevention
                             1945 "Escape!" by Isaac Asimov
Next: the Foundation Reality

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tryp'haven

Special thanks to Holly Denton
and Jessica Truscott for the image Holly 6.
Image credits.

On this page: Part 3 of "The Zal Intervention".

Last summer I became aware of the idea that tryp'At genes had been smuggled into the human population of Earth. More recently, Rylla has been making use of her telepathic link into Observer Base to obtain a detailed account of how a tryp'At was constructed on Earth. Apparently a copy of Grean (known as Zal) gave birth to a tryp'At in Bremen Germany in the year 1896.

Making tryp'At
Apparently all Kac'hin come equipped with a zeptite endosymbiont that can craft a new genome in the pattern that is characteristic of a tryp'At. What is a tryp'At? Most importantly, a tryp'At can 1) use the Bimanoid Interface for technology-assisted telepathy and 2) a tryp'At is nearly indistinguishable from typical Earthlings, so under the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact, tryp'At can remain on Earth.

On the day when my son and Nora arrived, we had dinner in Sedona and then stayed for the night in cabins along Oak Creek. I stayed up into the small hours of that night trying to finish reading Rylla's account of how Zal had traveled to 1895 and altered the historical timeline of Earth.

___________

When Zal arrived at the home of Henry Crandel, she discovered that although Henry had never married, he was not alone in his house just across the line in San Mateo county. She was introduced to Juanita, a woman who had met Henry during the time when they had both worked at the Palace Hotel. Seemingly attracted like two powerful magnets, Juanita and Henry had quickly fallen in love and become inseparable. For the past decade they had lived together and built a new home among the northern hills of San Mateo county, close enough for Henry to commute to work along the electric train line through the south end of San Francisco. Many years previously, Juanita had terminated her employment at the hotel. Now she spent most of her time tending the elaborate gardens that she and Henry had constructed around their home.

As Henry led Zal through the front door, Juanita stepped close to him and they threw their arms around each other. Henry introduced Zal as "the amazing Miss Green" and said to Zal, "This is my partner, Juanita."

Juanita told Zal, "Henry has done nothing but talk about you all week, and I can see that he did not exaggerate when he described you as la chica joven con una apariencia exótica. You almost don't look real. May I touch your gorgeous hair?"

Zal shrugged and Juanita first touched her hair then Zal's cheek. She exclaimed, "Tan suave! Estoy celoso."

Henry laughed and put an arm around Juanita's shoulders. "I think you'll come to like Miss Green, my love. She's not just a pretty face. I can't decide if she's a trained actress or a scientist... or both. Jauna, why don't you show Zal to her room?"

Juanita said to Henry, "Como mi primo Zan, la bruja azteca."

He replied, "Ella entiende el español, así que no seas grosera." He continued in English, "I'll put dinner on the table." Henry moved on past Juanita towards the kitchen. "It smells like you made your red hot chile con carne. Zal, I hope you enjoy spicy food!"

Juanita led Zal down a hallway to the guest room. "Your name is really Zal? You remind me of my cousin Zan, who is half Aztec. I call her a witch because she has learned to make medicines from the plants of Mexico. Henry sometimes calls me a witch, but all I do with plants is help them grow and provide our food."

Zal placed her travel bag in the large walk-in closet of the bedroom. "Your family is from Mexico?"

"My parents moved to California back when it was still a part of Mexico. I grew up on our rancho and learned to care for the gardens and orchards. Now I also take care of Henry."

Zal told Juanita, "Henry has taken good care of me since I arrived in San Francisco. However, I can't understand why he did not tell me anything about you."

Juanita laughed. "I can guess. He had me put silk sheets on this bed." She turned down part of the bedspread and showed the satin to Zal. "The way he has been talking about you I assume that he had already ravished you in your suite at the Palace."

"No, Henry is affectionate, but he has always behaved like a gentleman towards me."

"Si, that is my Henry. With all the people he meets at the hotel, I sometimes get jealous, but he's never mixed business with pleasure in his work." Juanita winked at Zal and added, "Except with me. And as soon as he found that he could not resist my charms he made me stop working."

Zal asked, "Why did you two never marry?"

Juanita shrugged, "There are family problems. Henry's father would not want his son marrying a latina."

"I'm so sorry."

"Really it is no problem. I know that Henry loves me. Why do we need to be married? And besides, he refuses to have anything to do with the Catholic church. If we did get married, I'd force him to convert and he'd be unhappy. It is easier for us to just live together and ignore the rest of the world. We are happy and that is what really matters, am I right?"

"Absolutely."

They returned down the hallway to the dining room and soon they were eating dinner and drinking a wine that Henry and Juanita had made. During the meal, Henry was trying to convince Juanita to visit the observatory, but she was not interested. She reminded Henry, "I'm in the middle of expanding the almond grove. I'd rather get that job done than gaze at stars." She nodded towards Zal, "You two go to the observatory and enjoy yourselves."

Henry told Zal, "Juanita has a green thumb. She can grow anything."

Juanita nodded, "With our deep wells and the electric pumps we have an endless supply of water. With water I can grow anything in this soil."

Ekcolir

For the past few days, Zal had been trying to think of a way to tell Henry that she was going to have their baby. Now, watching Henry and Juanita chatting away like a long-married couple, she felt it would be wiser to simply steal his genes and head for Europe. The mystery of why Zal had been sent to San Francisco was now completely explained. Juanita provided the last piece of the puzzle. Zal could sense that Juanita carried special Ek'col-derived gene combinations. And now it was easy for Zal to fall into a new way to interpret the affection that Henry had lavished on her during the past week. She realized that Henry probably though of her more like a daughter than a young lover. All that remained was for Zal to find the best way to gather the genes that she would need to construct her child.

Henry wanted to leave at dawn for the observatory, so he and Juanita retired immediately after dinner. Zal sat in her room, reading a copy of the novel Ramona that she found there on a book shelf.

In the middle of the night, Juanita glanced out the window across the inner court yard and noticed light in Zal's room. She got out of bed and went to Zal's room. Juanita stuck her head through the doorway and asked, "You are still awake?"

Zal was in bed reading with a candle burning on each of the two tables to either side of the bed. She held up the book. "I've been reading. I guess I'm not really tired."

Juanita came into the room and closed the door behind her. She sat on the bed and said, "Henry tells me that you are soon to depart for Europe."

"That is true. I'm going to travel around the world, but my destination is Europe. Of course, I will eventually return to America."

Juanita asked, "Do you have family in Europe who you want to visit?"

Zal shook her head. The night had cooled off and Juanita was lightly dressed. Zal pulled open the bed covers and Juanita slid into the bed along side Zal. Zal set down the book and the two women laid close together on their sides. "I suppose I have distant relatives in Europe, but that is not of interest to me."

Juanita again reached out and touched Zal's hair. "It is not a wig? I imagine you must have relatives among the Vikings."

Asterothropes: the females
are larger than
the hermaphrodites.

For a moment Zal wondered why she had been given red hair for this mission on Earth. Juanita seemed infatuated by Zal's hair. That thought and the flash of Juanita's dark eyes in the candle light triggered Zal's infites to release some previously-hidden memories. Zal had previously "remembered" from the future that she would obtain some of Henry's sperm as the source of the Asterothrope genes that she needed in order to craft the genome of her baby, but now she realized that all the germ cells needed to construct a tryp'At baby were available in her bed right then, inside Juanita's body and her own. Zal asked, "Juanita, did you ever try to have children?"

Juanita giggled. "I had three children before I was twenty. How old are you?"

Zal made up a number, "Twenty five."

Juanita explained, "I was already a grandmother by the time I met Henry. At first we tried to be co-workers, but there was burning flame whenever we came near to each other. Soon we stopped trying to behave like co-workers became lovers. For a time I thought that I might become pregnant again, but I never did."

Zal suggested, "Henry has never fathered a child?"

"I believe that is true."

Zal said, "Some men cannot have children."

"Well, it is not for lack of trying. Henry is very affectionate."

"There might be a problem at the molecular level that makes Henry infertile."

Juanita commented, "You do speak like a scientist. Do you know that Henry almost became a doctor?"

"Yes, he told me that he started medical school."

Juanita asked, "Where did you go to school?"

Zal replied, "You might say that I was home schooled. When I was young I learned much about human biology because that is a topic that became something of an obsession with me."

Juanita laughed. "You are still young."

Zal explained, "I lie about my age; I'm not as young as I look."

Juanita sighed. "I'm just glad that Henry is still obsessed with biology, too. He is a creative and gentle lover." She looked at Zal speculatively and asked, "You've never had a man make love to you, have you?"

Zal nodded. "That is true. Of course, when I was a child I developed a healthy interested in my own sex." Zal was tempted to explain that she had been born a hermaphrodite and grew up sharing the joys of physical contact with her fellow hermaphrodites, but Juanita seemed adequately intrigued as it was.

Assuming that there were only two possible sexes, Juanita asked, "You have had female lovers?"

"A few."

"How fascinating. I was taught that a man should marry a woman and anything else is a sin."

Zal shrugged, "Where I grew up, the only sin was not expressing your feelings and not sharing your love."

Juanita moved closer to Zal and put her arm around the girl. Her hand played in the silky hair behind Zal's neck. "Henry told me that you are too good for this world and now I understand what he was trying to tell me. Where are you from?"

"A world far away among the stars."

Juanita laughed. "Un angel del cielo." She leaned close and whispered in Zal's ear, "What do you want with my poor Henry?"

"He has something that I need. You know that Henry is a special man."

"Si! There is nobody else like him."

"I must take what makes him special with me when I go to Europe."

Juanita reacted with shock and hurt. "You are taking Henry away from me?"

"No, not Henry. Just a part of him. I must take Henry's child to Europe."

"I can understand if you have fallen in love with Henry, but I don't want to share him with you."

"Juanita, I don't need Henry; you have what I need- inside of you. You and Henry need do nothing more, but I do want to show you my gratitude. I can give you a child of your own, the child that you wanted to have with Henry."

Juanita giggled. "How will you perform this miracle?"

"You don't need to know. In fact, you will remember nothing about what I have told you tonight. Just tell me the truth: do you want to give birth to Henry's child?"

"You can make this happen?"

"Yes, I can."

"You are a witch. Henry and I would treasure such a gift."

There was one more question that Zal had to ask. She already knew the answer: it was in her memories from the future. "Do you want a boy or a girl?"

Without hesitation Juanita replied, "A boy"

Zal knew that the baby boy would have the same fertility issue that Henry had: an incompatibility between his Asterothrope-derived sperm receptor proteins and the proteins that waited on the surface of the eggs produced by the women of Earth. Zal sent a swarm of nanites into Juanita and she said softly, "Sleep, now."

in the Buld Realty

Soon Juanita was asleep. Zal harvested Henry's DNA which contained a collection of Asterothrope genes that had originated from Trysta. Through the millennia, those genes had been shifted and adapted so as to mesh with the genomes of many generations of Earthlings. Zal could tell that Juanita was a source of Ek'col genes that had originated with Ekcolir's mission on Earth some 20,000 years previously. Beyond that fact, Zal knew none of the genetic details by which her child would be crafted from a mixture of human, Kac'hin, Asterothrope and Ek'col genes. Zal was vaguely aware that during the next day, one of Juanita's ovaries would be pushed into action in order to prepare her uterus for the arrival of an embryo.

Next: Zal in Europe

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The Zal Intervention

Photograph by Gretchen Byers.
(image credits)

When Zeta and I built our retirement home, I imagined a refuge, a quiet place where I could continue my task of investigating the Secret History of Humanity and where I could finish writing about it in my old age. At that time, I only had a weak telepathic connection to Zeta, so I could not gaze deeply into her mind. I knew that Zeta's mission on Earth was to guide me in my work, but I did not know to what extent she had been allowed to view our future and plan accordingly.

When Zeta insisted that we build a large retirement home, I asked why. She had a complicated argument about her childhood and how she had grown up on a world where houses were large. Zeta claimed to feel claustrophobia in a small house. She also argued that it would be easier to sell the house if it was large and comfortable.

One thing I knew about Zeta was that she was in possession of some sophisticated medical nanites. She could pretend to be a sixty-year-old woman, but I knew that she had retained her youth through nanotechnological trickery. Sometimes I wonder if she might be essentially immortal because of her carefully crafted genetic pattern and her sophisticated femtobot endosymbiont.

Yōd

After our new home was built, we moved in with our cats and then almost immediately, Yōd had appeared on our doorstep and moved in with us and it was nice to have plenty of spare room.

When Yōd was forced to depart from Earth, the house had become strangely quiet, but that was only a short lull. My grand-daughter Rylla then appeared out of the blue and took up residence in one of the "spare" bedrooms. I found it odd that Rylla did not want to use the bedroom that had been occupied by Yōd and refused to wear any of Yōd's clothing.

{As I write this, Zeta is certain that Rylla is sensitive to a swarm of nanites that were left behind by Yōd. Although Yōd is one of Zeta's clone sisters, the body that Yōd used while living in this house was the same body that had belonged to Rylla's mother.}

Overseers

Then the day came when Rylla's father and Nora arrived. I was reminded of the day when Azynov had briefly visited and then an Overseer popped in. My quiet retirement world is turned completely up-side-down on days like that. Before I even knew what was happening, Nora, Zeta and Rylla were out of the house, off on a shopping adventure, in search of clothing for the impending wedding of Nora and my son.

After I gave my son a brief tour of the house, we settled in for a chat beside the pool. I sat there marveling at the fact that I was in telepathic contact with both Zeta and, to a lesser extent, Nora. In fact, I was trying to learn from Zeta why Nora and my son had come to America from Australia, but Nora seemed reluctant to explain anything. According to Zeta, Nora seemed to only want to do the normal things that an Earth woman would be expected to do; she seemed not to hear questions about synchronized pregnancies, telepathy and erasing memories... or any of the topics that were increasingly on Rylla's and Zeta's minds. My son had asked me a question and I had not been listening. He said, "What's wrong, dad, you seem distracted."

I was glad to see my son, so I made a serious effort to push Zeta out of my thoughts. "Sorry. I don't deal well with sudden emergencies."

Three is company: Zeta, Rylla
and Nora all 7 months pregnant

He laughed. "Ya, I hear you. I should have let you know as soon as Nora was pregnant, but I did not want to... well, I won't construct a justification. It is all so strange. Somehow, with Nora around, even the strangest things can seem ordinary."

I was worried that Nora was manipulating my son's mind and had taken control of his memories. Of course, I could not just blurt that out. "Nora seems like an amazing person. I'm so glad she was able to help you move on and begin to get over the loss of your wife."

He nodded. "That is a huge relief. I was not well for years, just in pain over the loss of Rylla's mom. Nora is good medicine for me. And Rylla seems very happy being here with you and Z."

I tired to find words to explain the situation. "I think of Zeta and your daughter as the dynamic duo. They are buddies in pregnancy; it is a great adventure for them. And now with Nora thrown in to the equation..." My mind was rather boggled.

My son shook his head in wonder, "An amazing coincidence, really, that they should all get pregnant at the same time. I thought you were past that stage, dad."

source

What could I say? My mind was full of thoughts about the mysteries of mind clones and I was grateful that my son did not know about his former student, Georgy White, being alive and caring for the first of the mind clones at Observer Base. As far as he knew, Georgy had died a horrible death; I tried to imagine what his reaction would be if I casually mentioned that Georgy was alive and in nearly constant telepathic communication with his daughter. I lied, "It is not that hard to have a vasectomy reversed. Surgeons are very skilled."

My son is a trained scientist, a professional skeptic. He has long been embarrassed by my interest in alien visitors to Earth, visitors who have left behind no physical evidence of their presence. Now he suspected that I was indoctrinating his daughter with my strange beliefs. Rather desperate to change the subject away from the matter of how I had implanted an alien-designed mind clone into my wife, I tried to shift our conversation towards my son's life. I'd long imagined that my son was wedded to his work and unable to visit America. Now, suddenly, here he was. I asked, "How did you get away from the lab?"

"After the accident and the investigations into Georgy's death and with Nora and several others leaving the lab, there were only a few people left behind. When I decided to take a sabbatical it was easy enough to move them into the care of other PIs. Five months from now I'll be back in Perth and start building up the personnel for my research lab again."

For a minute we fell silent and watched hummingbirds flit around the yard, chirping at two of the cats who were on patrol. I felt a bit guilty for having let the cats out; Zeta worried that they would be eaten by coyotes. Finally my son asked, "Do you think it is wise to allow Rylla to skip school?"

About a month after arriving in the USA, Rylla passed the GED tests and started taking some online university courses. Gradually, her studies had come to focus on the Secret History of Humanity, a topic that was not part of the curriculum for any university. Rylla and I had gotten into the habit of working together to explore mysteries of human origins and how aliens had shaped the course of human civilization. I suspected that Rylla's baby would completely derail the conventional life course that my son had imagined for his daughter. Pushing all of these thoughts away, I replied, "I'm still discovering all that is to be known about Rylla, but I think you know she is not a bookish nerd like you or I."

My son knew perfectly well what I was trying to say. "Well, sure. She has always lived in the world, not just in her head the way you do." He seemed to hesitate, then continued, "I don't want Rylla to become a problem for you and Zeta."

I chuckled, "Don't worry about that. You know, everything happens for a reason."

"You always say that, dad, but I don't know what it means."

The Time Teller

My point of view is impossible for other people to comprehend. I've learned not to tell people the truth: that my entire life has been guided by my replicoid Irhit, Zeta and her clone sisters and possibly others... nothing bad has ever happened to me (at least, nothing that was not quickly corrected). I was tempted to say: We live in a perfect world. But how could I say that to my son who had lived through being abandoned by his wife, being forced to raise his daughter alone and who had lost a young member of his research lab in a horrible accident? "Rylla came here for a purpose and when she is ready, she will move on. Zeta and I are happy that she is here with us now. Eventually, Rylla might even want to move back home and live with you for a while. More likely she'll be off traveling. She really seemed to enjoy her visit to England." I started showing my son pictures from that European vacation and the following months.

My son asked, "When did you become a photographer?"

I replied, "Most of these pictures were taken by Zeta."

"I see." My son took out his phone and said, "I seldom take pictures of anything except geological features, but I need to show you something." He handed me his phone.

At first I thought he was showing me a picture of Rylla, but he said. "Look at the date on that image. That was 15 years ago, just before Rylla was born."

I asked, "This is your wife, Vendela?" It was quite amazing: Vendela looked identical to Rylla. I blurted out, "Now I understand why Vendela left you. Except..."

"Except what, dad?"

I was thinking about Yōd and her ability to use nanites to alter her appearance. I quickly decided that there was no point for me to even wonder about Vendela, her background, her training and the question of what nanites she might have been equipped with. My son continued, "It is strange. I think I always knew that Rylla looks like her mom, but the reality of it never struck me until today when I saw her pregnant. What's going on, dad?"

What could I say? I knew that six months in the future, my son would again be caught up in his scientific research. I did not want to derail his career. Still, for the first time in his life, my son seemed interested in my work, my investigations of the secret history of Earth. I started talking about everything that had happened to Rylla during the past year. Some of what I had to say was known to my son, but Rylla had not bothered to share everything with her father.

A few hours later we were still catching my son up on the many details of the past half year of Rylla's life, but then I could no longer keep Zeta out of my thoughts. I fell silent, my mind totally occupied with thoughts about Zeta. My son seemed to be contemplating the mysteries of his daughter and we sat in silence. Then my phone rang.

It was Zeta. "Come meet us for dinner in Sedona."

I could see in Zeta's mind the many places where she and Rylla had decided to take Nora, including the plan for dinner at Rylla's favorite restaurant in Sedona. Zeta and I were using the phone call as an act, mostly for the benefit of my son, who knew nothing about telepathy. I asked, "Where do you want to eat?" Zeta told me the name of the restaurant and after some additional small talk I put away my phone. I told my son, "We better hit the road. It is a long drive over to Sedona."

In the car, my son started dozing off. "It has been crazy the past few weeks. I have not been getting enough sleep."

I told him, "This is a good time to catch a nap." I was eager to read Rylla's report on the intervention into Jack London's life in 1895. I put in my ear buds and let Rylla's report play via text-to-speech so I could listen to what she had written while I drove.....

The Zal Intervention

First Contact

When Trysta and Grean were waiting for the end of time travel, they were still making use of the Reality Viewing equipment inside Grean's workshop. Trysta was living near the workshop with Deomede and it is Deomede's account of those end days that eventually found its way into the library of the Writers Block. Gram-pa has previously provided an account of events just prior to the shift in the dimensional structure of the universe (see the Prelude to Trysta and Ekcolir).

According to Deomede, just prior to the Eanru Intervention, Grean was forced to deal with her own last-minute emergency before time travel came to an end. One day, one of the two teleporters in Grean's workshop activated and an elderly Kac'hin materialized. Grean's mind was instantly linked to that of Zal: I am a copy of you, but to avoid confusion, refer to me as Zal.

telepathy

Grean briefly thought about the famous Kac'hin named Wyzalex Torvaya. But the focus of her thoughts was here and now: she ventured into the memories of her copy (Zal) and saw that she herself must make a telportation duplicate of herself. That new individual, (Zal) must then be sent back in time to 1895. Zal would make a few small adjustments to Earth's timeline and eventually arrive back in the workshop, 75 years older than the other copy of Grean. Grean asked Zal, "What does this Intervention accomplish?"

Reality Viewing

Zal activated the Reality Viewer and adjusted the settings. "Look. Here is the comparison between the current Reality and what would have been, had I not gone to 1895." Grean looked at the displayed differentials. "Notice that with this small Reality Change, Rylla is still able to play her role in telling the people of Earth about the Secret History of Humanity. This Reality is better because there is only one minor technical violation of the Trysta-Grean Pact. Nora will remain on Earth, but her memories will have been edited so as to prevent any problems."

Interventionists

Grean nodded. "I see. Without your trip to the past, three Interventionist agents would have been trapped on Earth, leading to degradation of the course of Humanity's future." Grean pulled away from the Viewer and glared at Zal. "You have left us very little time!"

Zal giggled. "We have no time for arguments, as I planned. Make the duplication of yourself and we will teleport out." Zal tossed a vial of infites to Grean. "Then follow these instructions."

Grean stepped into the teleporter for a moment. Zal adjusted the settings on the device and then suddenly there was a copy of Grean across the workshop, inside the time kettle. Zal walked over to the kettle and adjusted the control circuits. Zal told the younger copy of herself, "Good luck." The time machine activated and the copy of Grean was sent back to 1895.

Grean climbed out of the teleportation device and said, "I hope you know what you are doing."

Zal walked past Grean, made a new adjustment to the control settings and stepped back into the teleporter. Grean asked, "Why rush off? I'm learning so much from looking into your memories of the past 75 years. Where are you going?"

Zal shrugged, "I'd rather not say. I don't want you to be influenced by my choice of retirement destinations." There was a tiny "pop" and Zal was gone.

Respecting Zal's wishes, Grean had resisted the temptation to dig down into Zal's mind in search of her teleportation destination. It was frustrating to have a copy of one's self appear and then rush off, but Grean told herself to be philosophical: If I can't trust myself, who can I trust?

Grean opened the bottle of infites and let the nanoscopic memory storage devices settle into her brain. Grean was surprised by what she learned. In order to assist Zal, some of the infites had to be sent back to 1947. And that task had to be completed quickly, before the Huaoshy put an end to time travel. Grean immediately took the infite bottle to the time machine and set the bottle inside the kettle. The controls were set to a particular time and place in 1947 and the bottle disappeared into the past.

Grean saw that she had two more tasks to complete before the end of time travel. She must initiate what Zal's infites referred to as the Eanru Intervention. Also, in just a few seconds there would be another individual arriving in the workstation by teleportation: an Interventionist agent who Zal would be finding at work in 1895. Then, after dealing with that captured Interventionist, just before time travel would end, Grean would finally be free to teleport herself off to the Galactic Core.

1895
Upon arriving in 1895, Grean felt a bit silly. She had not changed her appearance in any way and now she found herself inside a school house. Luckily, the school day had already ended and no students were in the building. She opened the bottle that she had received from Zal and felt a swarm of infites move into her body. Almost instantly she began thinking of herself as "Zal" and she knew what her mission in the past was. Using her facial nanites, Zal adjuster her appearance to become that of a typical woman living in California in the year 1895. Zal heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. A woman had entered the school and was approaching Grean. Zal glanced through the doorway to her left which opened into the school library. Inside the library, a woman was at work, re-shelving books. Zal began walking quickly down the hallway towards the approaching woman, who Zal knew to be her target. The two women stopped walking and stood there in the hallway, about four feet apart. Zal said, "I'm afraid there has been a change of plans."

The Interventionist agent looked closely at Zal, trying to identify her, and also tried to hide a slim red booklet behind herself; rather awkwardly the red book got stuck in the protruding folds of her dress where it flared out around her hips. Only moments before, this hallway had been clear, and was to remain clear until the librarian was done working and would walk through the empty hallway on her way home. Zal tossed the little infite vial to the Interventionist agent who caught the bottle. That activated the pre-set time kettle back in Grean's workshop. The Interventionist disappeared from 1895, having been sent back to Grean's workshop in the future.

Zal turned back towards the library and took only two steps before the librarian emerged into the hallway, closing the library door behind her. The Librarian said, "I thought I heard voices. Who are you and why are you here?"

Zal replied, "I'm new in town. I need to register my children so that they can begin attending school."

"I can't help you. I'm the librarian and I teach reading. You'll have to return in the morning and talk to the headmaster."

They walked down the hallway and the librarian asked, "Where are you from? I can't place your accent."

Zal replied, "I'm from New Zealand."

The librarian said, "By the way, my name is Carol. Carol Hayes. The headmaster should be in about 7:30 in the morning. Nice to have met you, ah, Mrs.-"

"Green. Zoe Green."

Miss Hayes nodded politely, turned and headed off down the street. Zal turned and walked in the opposite direction, using her voice-modification nanites to shift her voice so as to be more like that of the librarian. Zal felt like she was being followed. Rushing to become familiar with the infites that were settling into the structure of her brain, Zal now realized that she was being monitored by a replicoid. This particular replicoid was also a time traveler into the 1800s and had originated in the Ekcolir Reality as an analogue of Jack Vance. Using her sophisticated zeptite endosymbiont, Zal opened up a communications link to the Vance replicoid. Deciding that there was no better way to proceed, Zal said: Hello, Miss Vance, or should I say, Jackie?

After a rather long and agonized pause, the replicoid replied: Who are you? How can you be speaking to me?

in the Buld Reality

Zal turned down a quiet narrow street and kept walking out of town. Sorry to interrupt your entertainment, but I could not allow a copy of "The Chronic Argonauts" to be slipped to Jack London. That was clever idea, but in the Final Reality, London will not be a science fiction story teller.

The replicoid complained: I was curious to discover why London became interested in science fiction... in the previous Reality he did not write science fiction stories.

Zal asked: So you had nothing to do with giving Jack London that book?

Me? Of course not. Who was that woman with the book? And who are you?

Zal laughed. I guess the three of us are the last foot soldiers in the Time War. How long have you been here in 1800s?

The Vance replicoid hesitated once more, not really wanting to explain how and why she had gone back into the 1800s. Finally she gave a minimal answer: Almost a year now. I wanted time to become familiar with California and Oakland in particular, before the events of today.

That reply fit in with what Zal had learned from her new infites. The Vance replicoid was doing useful work, preparing to mentor her analog who would be the Jack Vance of the Final Reality. The Jack Vance who would be born twenty years in the future. Maybe you can help me. I'd like to visit San Francisco. Does this street lead anywhere or should I turn around? Zal knew that she must soon make her way across the Bay to San Francisco, but first, there was a house that she needed to find, here in Oakland. However, she was disoriented and having some trouble matching her current location in the world to her infite-generated memory of the location of the house that she must visit.

Again the Vance replicoid hesitated. I'm not sure I should help you. Who are you? What are you trying to accomplish?

Zal chuckled. You are part of the crew at the Writers Block, aren't you?

The Vance replicoid disconnected from the equipment at Observer Base that allowed for observation of events on Earth. She had never been taught that it was possible for someone on Earth to communicate to an Observer who was inside Observer Base. Here in 1895, there were four other Observers at work, using four of the observation ports in the Fishbowl. Most of the ports were unoccupied. Observer Base was almost deserted now, everyone believing that the Time War was over. And now this! A strange woman on Earth, able to communicate with Observer Base and talking casually about the Time War, as if it was still raging! The Vance replicoid wondered: What is going On?

The Vance replicoid returned to the Writers Block and sent a message through to the future using the interwhen communications terminal. Soon, a connection opened up to the future where the Asimov replicoid was at work. Asimov's replicoid asked, "What's this about an Earthling talking to you, Jackie?"

Jackie explained, "Obviously not a normal Earthling. She has special powers. I watched her make an Interventionist agent disappear!"

Asimov's replicoid whistled, long and low. "Are you sure? That's a neat trick. I think you ran into an Overseer."

"I don't know what she is. She did not seem to care that I was there, watching the Interventionists try to turn Jack London into a science fiction author."

Asimov's replicoid shrugged, "Everyone, Interventionists and Overseers alike agree that science fiction is the best tool for telling the people of Earth about the existence of alien visitors to Earth."

"Well, it is annoying. This lady, Interventionist or Overseer or a Grendel in disguise... she did not want to tell me who she is. I get the feeling she's going to be kicking around California for some time."

Asimov's replicoid asked, "When are you?"

"I'm in 1895."

Twin Paradox

"Well, Jackie, you've got twenty years until your analogue shows up. You have plenty of time to kill. See if you can figure out who this mystery lady is and how she was able to speak to you. I'll investigate from this side, but if we are dealing with the Overseers then I'm not going to make much progress."

Jackie nodded. "And neither will I. I just hope I don't get my Observer's Permit yanked."

"You play it cool; don't go around Observer Base asking questions. I'll investigate matters here via indirect channels and let you know what I find out." Their connection through time was cut. Jackie hurried back to the fishbowl, hopeful that she could find the mystery woman.

Next (Part 2): the story continues in San Francisco, 1895.
Part 3: tryp'haven
Part 4: Escape Artist

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