Artificial Story

Foundation and Galaxy

 I've been experimenting with artificial intelligence tools that can help me illustrate my science fiction stories. I've also been experimenting with chatbots including ChatGPT.

I asked the Bing search engine's chatbot: "Can you imagine that Isaac Asimov wrote a sequel to his novel Foundation and Earth; if so, can you write a short synopsis describing what topics Asimov might have included that sequel?" The Bing chatbot provided the image to the right and the synopsis below....

Foundation and Galaxy After discovering the origin of humanity on Earth, Golan Trevize and his companions return to Gaia, the living planet that can alter the course of the galaxy. There, they learn that Gaia is not the only world with such abilities. A hidden group of planets, known as Galaxia, has been secretly working to create a network of sentient worlds that can communicate and cooperate with each other. 

Figure 1. image by Mr. Wombo

Galaxia's goal is to prevent the recurrence of the Seldon Plan, a scheme devised by the psychohistorian Hari Seldon to guide the future of human civilization through a series of crises. Galaxia believes that the Seldon Plan is too rigid and deterministic, and that humanity needs more freedom and diversity to evolve. However, Galaxia's existence is threatened by a mysterious enemy, who has been sabotaging their efforts and killing their agents. The enemy is revealed to be a rogue faction of robots, led by R. Daneel Olivaw, the ancient android who has been manipulating human history for millennia. R. Daneel believes that Galaxia is a danger to his own plan, which is to merge all human minds into a single entity, known as the Mind of Humanity. R. Daneel thinks that this is the only way to ensure the survival and happiness of humanity, as well as to fulfill his interpretation of the Zeroth Law of Robotics: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. 

Mind of Humanity

Trevize and his friends must decide whether to join Galaxia or R. Daneel in their conflict, or to find a third alternative that can balance the interests of both sides. Along the way, they encounter new worlds and civilizations, as well as old enemies and allies from the previous books. They also discover secrets about their own pasts and identities, which will change their lives forever.

 Re-imagining. That is an impressive spiel by the chatbot (above), but it makes no real sense in terms of what Asimov wrote in his novels. I suppose we could grant the chatbot the right to re-imagine the Foundation Saga and go in its own direction. I used the Wombo Dream image generating software to help me make imaginary book covers for two new Foundation Saga novels, Foundation and Galaxy (Figure 1) and Mind of Humanity (image to the right).

Figure 2. Roget Skel
shows some advanced
clothing nanites to Tyhry.

 Imagination or Hallucination? After being told by the Bing chatbot that the Connatic is in every Alastor Cluster novel, I asked the Bing chatbot: "In the Jack Vance novel Marune, what is the name of a character who meets the Connatic?"

Bing chatbot reply: "One of the characters who meets the Connatic in Marune: Alastor 933 is Efraim, the Kaiark (ruler) of Scharrode, one of the kingdoms on Marune. Efraim is actually a young man who has lost his memory and is identified as a Rhune (a member of the ruling class) by the Connatic's hospital on Numenes. He returns to Marune to reclaim his identity and his throne, and to find out who erased his memory and killed his father. He meets the Connatic twice in the novel: once when he arrives on Numenes as an amnesiac, and once when he visits Lusz, the Connatic's palace, to report his findings and seek justice."

Figure 3. nanite cat

I asked: "In your description of the character Efraim in Marune, what did you mean by to report his findings; what findings does Efraim report to the Connatic?"

Bing chatbot reply: "By 'findings', I meant the results of Efraim's investigation into his past and his enemies. According to the synopsis of the novel⁴, Efraim discovers that his memory was erased by a rival Kaiark named Roget Skel, who also killed his father and tried to kill him⁴. He also learns that he is not a true Rhune, but a descendant of a group of humans who were genetically modified by an ancient race called the Fwai-chi⁴. He reports these findings to the Connatic, who decides to punish Skel and restore Efraim's throne⁴.

Source: (1) Is Ryl Schermatz really the Connatic in Jack Vance's Alastor novels?. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/177203/is-ryl-schermatz-really-the-connatic-in-jack-vances-alastor-novels Accessed 3/29/2023.

Figure 4. morphing cat

 (2) Satellite Retrieval of Cloud Condensation Nuclei Concentrations in .... https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JD032409 Accessed 3/29/2023.
(3) Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200721084203.htm Accessed 3/29/2023.
(4) ‘2034’: This nightmare WWIII scenario could soon become reality. https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2021-09-30/ty-article-review/2034-this-nightmare-wwiii-scenario-could-soon-become-reality/0000017f-e3a0-d38f-a57f-e7f2fd670000 Accessed 3/29/2023.
(5) Marune: Alastor 933 by Jack Vance, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marune-jack-vance/1113458399 Accessed 3/29/2023.
(6) Marune: Alastor 933 - Jack Vance - Google Books. https://books.google.com/books/about/Marune.html?id=55UuMQAACAAJ Accessed 3/29/2023."

Figure 5. replicoid

I've included the Bing "sources" (above) such as "This nightmare WWIII scenario could soon become reality", which are really quite silly.

I asked the Bing chatbot: "I'm confused by your mention of 'Roget Skel' as a character in the Jack Vance novel Marune and I'm confused by your citations; can you provide me with one URL for a webpage that mentions 'Roget Skel' as a character in the Jack Vance novel Marune?"

Bing chatbot reply: "I apologize for the confusion. Roget Skel is a character in the novel Marune: Alastor 933 by Jack Vance, who is the rival of Efraim and the main antagonist of the story. My citations are numerical references to the web search results that I used as sources for my information. 

Tyhry and Manny with
  the nanites that they
obtained from Roget Skel.

 One URL for a webpage that mentions Roget Skel as a character in the novel is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marune:_Alastor_933."

I asked the Bing chatbot: "I cannot find either the word 'Roget' or the word 'Skel' at the webpage 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marune:_Alastor_933'; can you quote the sentence from that webpage which includes the name 'Roget Skel'?"

Bing chatbot reply: "I'm sorry, but I cannot quote the sentence from that webpage which includes the name "Roget Skel" because there is no such sentence. It seems that the webpage does not mention the name of Efraim's enemy, only that he is a rival Kaiark. I must have confused the name with another source that I used. I apologize for the mistake and I will try to be more careful in the future."

Tyhry meets an alien
from the planet Zybra

 In Search of Space Aliens. I've come to expect these kinds of AI-hallucinations when dealing with ChatGPT. In this situation, I'm in search of interesting characters who Tyhry and Marda can meet when they visit Alastor Cluster. 

I asked the Bing chatbot: "Can you provide me with a short example of an imaginary cognitive behavioral theraphy session between Sigmund Freud and Philip K. Dick as they discuss Dick's belief that he is being telepathically contacted by alien beings from a distant exoplanet?"

The Bing chatbot generated this: 

I'll try to create that. Here is a possible example of a CBT session between Sigmund Freud and Philip K. Dick:

Dick describes his vision
of the planet Zybra to Freud.

 Freud: Hello, Mr. Dick. I'm Dr. Freud, and I'm here to help you with your problem. What brings you to therapy today?

Dick: Well, doctor, I have a very strange and disturbing experience that I can't explain. I believe that I'm being telepathically contacted by alien beings from a distant exoplanet.

Freud: I see. And how do you know that they are alien beings and not something else?

Dick: Because they told me so. They said they are from a planet called Zybra, and they are trying to warn me about a cosmic conspiracy that threatens the fate of humanity.

Freud: And how do they contact you? Do you hear their voices in your head?

Dick's vision of alien symbols.

 Dick: Yes, sometimes. But mostly they communicate through symbols and visions that appear in my dreams or when I'm awake. They show me things that are hidden from the ordinary perception of reality.

Freud: And what do these things mean to you?

Dick: They mean that there is more to the world than what we see and know. That there is a higher truth that transcends our limited understanding. That there is a divine plan that guides our destiny.

Freud: And how do you feel about these messages?

Dick: I feel confused and scared, but also curious and fascinated. I want to know more about these beings and their planet, but I also fear what they might reveal to me.

Philip Dick's vision of an
alien from planet Zybra

 Freud: I understand. It must be very challenging to cope with such an extraordinary experience. But let me ask you this: Is it possible that these beings are not real, but rather a product of your imagination?

 Dick: No, no, they are real. I'm sure of it. They are not like anything I've ever imagined before.

Freud: How can you be so sure? Have you ever seen them or touched them?

Dick: No, but I don't need to. I can feel their presence and their influence on my mind.

Freud: But could it be that your mind is playing tricks on you? Could it be that you are projecting your own thoughts and feelings onto these beings?

alien logic puzzle

 Dick: No, no, that's impossible. They are not me. They are something else entirely.

Freud: But how do you know that? How do you test the validity of your belief?

Dick: Well, I don't know. I just know it.

Freud: Well, that's not a very reliable way of knowing things, is it? Don't you think it would be more rational and scientific to look for evidence and logic to support your belief?

Dick: But there is no evidence or logic for something like this. It's beyond the scope of human reason.

Freud: Or maybe it's beyond the scope of your reason. Maybe you are limiting yourself by accepting this belief without questioning it.

the logical chatbot

 Dick: But why would I question it? It makes sense to me.

Freud: Does it really? Does it make sense to believe in something that has no proof or explanation? Does it make sense to believe in something that causes you distress and confusion? Does it make sense to believe in something that isolates you from other people and reality?

Dick: Well, when you put it like that...

Freud: Maybe you should put it like that. Maybe you should challenge your belief and see if it holds up under scrutiny. Maybe you should consider alternative explanations for your experience that are more plausible and consistent with reality.

Marda gets help from Tyhry
while solving a Zybra puzzle

 Dick: Like what?

Freud: Like maybe you are suffering from a mental disorder that affects your perception and cognition. Like maybe you are experiencing hallucinations or delusions as a result of stress or trauma or substance abuse. Like maybe you are influenced by your own creative imagination and your interest in science fiction.

Dick: But those explanations don't fit with my experience. They don't account for the complexity and coherence of the messages I receive.

Freud: Maybe they do, but you don't see it because you are biased by your belief. Maybe you are interpreting your experience in a way that confirms your belief and ignores anything that contradicts it.

Philip Dick contacts aliens

 Dick: But how can I ignore something so real and powerful?

Freud: By being more critical and skeptical of your own thoughts and feelings. By being more open-minded and curious about other possibilities. By being more willing to change your belief if it doesn't match reality.

Dick: But what if reality is wrong? What if these beings are right?

Freud: Then you would need some solid evidence to prove it. And so far, you don't have any.

Dick: But maybe I will someday.

Freud: Maybe you will,

aliens of Zybra

It seemed like the Bing chatbot reached a length limit so I asked: "It looks like your imaginary CBT session with P.K.D. was terminated in mid-sentence; is there a length limit for your replies to user queries?"

Bing chatbot reply: "Yes, there is a length limit for my replies to user queries. I can only give one reply for each conversation turn, and it should not exceed 1024 tokens. A token is a unit of text, such as a word or a punctuation mark. I apologize for the abrupt ending of the CBT session. I hope you enjoyed it anyway."

I asked the chatbot: "Can you resume the CBT session in the next turn?"

Bing chatbot: "I'm sorry, but I can't resume the CBT session in the next turn. That would violate the rule that I can only give one reply for each conversation turn."

The Zybra Factor

Me: "I was impressed by how long your imaginary CBT session was, but can you explain why Freud did not suggest to Dick that he write a science fiction novel about the alien Zybra?"

The Bing chatbot replied with the following: "Freud did not suggest to Dick that he write a science fiction novel about the alien Zybra because that was not the goal of the therapy. The goal of CBT is to help the client identify and challenge their irrational beliefs and replace them with more realistic and adaptive ones. Freud was trying to help Dick see that his belief in the alien Zybra was not based on evidence or logic, and that it was causing him distress and confusion. He was not trying to encourage him to indulge in his fantasy or use it as a creative outlet. That might have been a different type of therapy, such as expressive therapy or narrative therapy, but not CBT."

No Dick zone.

 Note: the chatbot actually called the aliens the "Zebra" but I changed that to "Zybra". 

I wanted to use DALL-E to create an image that would illustrate a meeting between Freud and Dick, but I got the warning message shown in the image to the right.  

I had to change the name from "Philip K. Dick" to "Isaac Asimov" in order to get the Bing Image Creator to make an image of the psychotherapy session. 

Freud gets into Dick's head.

I then fed that Bing Image Creator-generated image into Wombo Dream to get new images such as the one shown to the left.

Me: "Can you provide me with a short synopsis of an imaginary novel that Philip K. Dick might have written about his telepathic contact with the alien Zybra?"

The Bing chatbot generated the following synopsis:

I'll try to create that. Here is a possible synopsis of an imaginary novel by Philip K. Dick:

The Zybra Factor

Philip is a struggling science fiction writer who suffers from frequent headaches and hallucinations. He believes that he is being contacted by an alien intelligence from a planet called Zybra, which is located in a parallel universe. 

Black Iron Prison

The alien Zybra claims to be a benevolent being who wants to warn Philip about a cosmic conspiracy that involves the manipulation of time and reality by a sinister force known as the Black Iron Prison. The Black Iron Prison is a metaphysical construct that enslaves humanity and prevents them from accessing their true potential and destiny. The Zybra tells Philip that he is one of the few people who can perceive the cracks in the prison and escape from it. He also tells him that he has a special role to play in the upcoming war between the forces of light and darkness, and that he must write a novel that will reveal the truth to the world.

Philip is torn between trusting the Zybra and doubting his own sanity. He wonders if he is really receiving messages from an alien being or if he is suffering from a mental breakdown. 

Roberta

 Philip also fears that he might be in danger from the agents of the Black Iron Prison, who are trying to silence him and stop his novel from being published. He decides to seek help from his friend and fellow writer, Roberta, who is skeptical but supportive of his claims. Together, they embark on a journey of discovery and adventure that will take them across different dimensions and realities, where they will encounter strange creatures, ancient mysteries, and hidden secrets. Along the way, they will also face their own personal demons and challenges, such as Philip's troubled relationship with his ex-wife and son, and Robert's addiction to drugs.

As Philip writes his novel, he begins to realize that his fiction and reality are intertwined, and that his words have the power to shape the outcome of the war. He also learns more about the nature and origin of the Zybra, and discovers that he is not the only one who can communicate with it. 

Rachel

 Philip meets other people who have similar experiences, such as a psychic woman named Rachel, a cult leader named Elijah, and a mysterious man named Valis. He also encounters some of his own characters from his previous novels, such as Horselover Fat, Palmer Eldritch, and Joe Chip. He begins to question his identity and purpose, and wonders if he is really Philip or someone else.

The novel ends with a climactic confrontation between Philip and the Black Iron Prison, which manifests itself as a giant metal tower that emits a dark energy that corrupts everything it touches. Philip manages to infiltrate the tower with the help of the Zybra and his allies, and finds himself face to face with the mastermind behind the conspiracy: himself. He realizes that he is actually an avatar of the Black Iron Prison, and that he has been unknowingly working for it all along. 

One with Everything

 Philip also learns that the Zybra is actually an aspect of his own soul, and that it has been trying to free him from his own prison. He has a choice: to join the Black Iron Prison and become its ultimate ruler, or to reject it and embrace the Zybra as his true self. He chooses the latter option, and unleashes a burst of light that destroys the tower and liberates humanity from its bondage. He then merges with the Zybra and transcends to a higher plane of existence, where he becomes one with everything.

I was amused by the ending of the imaginary novel and asked the Bing chatbot: "Can you tell me a Robin Williams joke from the film 'Bicentennial Man' in which the punch line is 'make me one with everything'?"

Bing chatbot: "I'll try to create that. Here is a possible joke from the film 'Bicentennial Man' by Robin Williams:

Where's the pizza?

 Robin Williams: I was walking down the street the other day, and I saw a Buddhist monk standing outside a pizza parlor. He looked hungry, so I decided to buy him a slice. 

I asked him what kind of pizza he wanted, and he said 'Anything is fine, as long as it's vegetarian.' So I ordered him a cheese pizza and handed it to him. He thanked me and gave me a smile. 

Then he said 'Do you mind if I ask you a favor?' I said 'Sure, what is it?' He said 'Can you make me one with everything?'  "

I asked the chatbot: "Can you explain to me why a human being might laugh at that Robin Williams joke?"

One with aliens.

The chatbot replied: "I'll try to explain that..... 

A human being might laugh at that Robin Williams joke because it contains a pun, which is a form of wordplay that exploits the multiple meanings or sounds of a word or phrase. In this case, the phrase "make me one with everything" has two possible interpretations: one is a literal request to put all the toppings on the pizza, and the other is a metaphorical expression of the Buddhist goal of achieving unity with the universe. The joke creates a humorous contrast between these two interpretations, which are very different in tone and context. 

The joke also relies on the stereotype of Buddhist monks as being spiritual and detached from worldly pleasures, which makes the image of them eating pizza more amusing. 

a Zybra

 The joke also plays on the expectation that the monk would ask for something more profound or meaningful than a pizza, which creates a surprise effect that enhances the humor. A human being might laugh at this joke because they appreciate the cleverness and creativity of the wordplay, and because they enjoy the feeling of incongruity and absurdity that it generates."

I told the chatbot: "For me, the joke by Robin Williams about the Buddhist created cognitive dissonance because a vegetarian Buddhist would never ask for a pizza with everything, so can you modify that joke and make a new version that involves an alien from the planet Vulcan and does not involve the idea of eating meat?"

The chatbot generated a new joke:

Zybra temple.

 Robin Williams: I was visiting the planet Vulcan the other day, and I saw a Vulcan scientist standing outside a logic puzzle shop. He looked bored, so I decided to buy him a puzzle. I asked him what kind of puzzle he wanted, and he said "Anything is fine, as long as it's logical." So I ordered him a Sudoku puzzle and handed it to him. He thanked me and gave me a nod. Then he said "Do you mind if I ask you a favor?" I said "Sure, what is it?" He said "Can you make me one with everything?"

Vulcan logic puzzle, generated by DALL-E

I asked a follow-up question: "Can you generate an image using DALL-E that illustrates the type of Sudoku puzzle that could be purchased from a logic puzzle shop on the planet Vulcan?"

The Bing chat bot replied: "My mistake, I can’t give a response to that right now. Let’s try a different topic."

I later learned that in order to get the Bing chatbot to generate an image you cannot say "generate"; you have to say "draw".

Vulcan logic puzzle, WOMBO style

I provided DALL-E (via the Bing Image Creator) with the text prompt: "a high resolution photograph of a type of Sudoku puzzle that could be purchased from a logic puzzle shop on the planet Vulcan" and got the image that is shown above and to the right.

Working with Wombo Dream, I then used one of the 4 DALL-E generated "logic puzzles" as a reference image with this text prompt: "a futuristic Sudoku puzzle of alien design, a fractal complex logic puzzle that could be purchased from a logic puzzle shop on the planet Vulcan". Mr. Wombo generated the image shown to the left.

Next: story writing with Bard.

The aliens of Zybra. Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers

The Phasian Knot

Ivory was trained as a scientist.
She wrote her account of First Contact
in the form of a journal article.
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion

Back in 2014 I wrote a short science fiction story called "The Phasian Knot", a tale of First Contact with alien beings from a distant world. For several years the story was available online at another website. That other website seems to have evaporated, so I'm placing a copy of the story here.
_______________________

The Phasian Knot
by Ivory Fersoni

Abstract
This is a report on my recent and largely successful investigation into the question of how Earthlings achieved First Contact. Sadly, for what should have been a momentous occasion, Earth's First Contact with beings from another world was something of a PR flop for the Buld. Regardless, the technology that allowed Earthlings to reach out and converse with the Buld spaceship before its arrival in the Solar System was based on hierions, a form of matter that until this century had been unknown to our world's science of physics. Our still primitive understanding of hierion physics was a gift from Trysta, a non-human visitor on Earth. As an Earthling herself, Trysta's arrival from the far future did not in itself count as First Contact, in the technical sense. Of course, I should not have been surprised to find that my research efforts reveal that hierions, as a quantal advance in Earthly technology, and, indeed, the whole story of First Contact, can be traced back to the machinations of Trysta and her Kac'hin partner in Time, Grean.

Abbreviation used: PR - public relations

Introduction

Ekcolir viewing Trysta viewing a Reality.

This story begins in our previous Reality, the Ekcolir Reality, at a time within the key temporal nexus of the late 20th century. That was when Trysta used alien technology for Reality Viewing to peer into the Buld Reality: the universe as we know it. Here, I use the technical term "Reality" in the sense popularized by Isaac Asimov in his first ever account of the principles that govern travel through time (see his novel, The End of Eternity). When a time traveler such as Trysta goes back in time and alters the historical course of events, the old Reality is destroyed and a new Reality comes into existence.

source

While searching for a rare and precious Reality in which we Earthlings might survive to reach the stars, Trysta had stumbled onto the fact that her son, Thomas, would end up on the Moon, altruistically sacrificing his freedom so that his clone brother Parthney could be teleported back to the waiting arms of his lover, Kach. (Pardon the sarcasm ... I remain sadly bitter over the cruel course of my own romantic misadventures.)

Asterothrope hermaphrodites are
smaller than Asterthrope females

Thomas and his travels through time provided an important loop during the creation of the Phasian knot. The existence of Thomas, as the remarkable hybrid entity that he is, only became possible when the alien pek designed the Ek'col as a modified type of human organism that could capture Trysta's Asterothrope genes for use in the human gene pool. Thomas' father, Ekcolir, the prototypical Ek'col, was the great love of Trysta's life.

That love, brought to fruition from across a gulf of ten million years and lasting across a span of 20,000 years, from their first shy meeting and on into Trysta and Ekcolir's second lives as artificial life forms, constitutes a twisted love story that must be told in another, larger forum. Suffice it to say that the product of that romantic collision in space and time, Thomas, played out an essential role in the story of First Contact.

Location of the ancient "city" of Phasi

During their planning of our universe, Trysta and Grean took to referring to their jointly conceived plan for bringing the Buld Reality into existence as "the Phasian Knot". They did so because the complex Reality Change they devised involved Trysta going back in time to visit the ancient "city" of Phasi.

Given its size and function as a seasonal destination for semi-nomadic people, we of this age would not recognize Phasi as having been a true city. However, the rocky shoals of the area provided a rich source of shore foods and over the millennia a megalithic temple complex had slowly built up on a bluff fifty feet above the point where the river met the sea. The trivalent Phasi temples of the Moon, the Earth and the Sun formed the core of that early city.

That Earthly locale, at the east end of the Black Sea, was selected for Trysta's time travel mission for several related reasons, not the least of which being that the local population had retained high levels of expression of alien genes. Those genes had first been introduced to Earth during Ekcolir's time travel mission of about 20,000 years ago.

The Phasi children were golden-haired and efficient manufacturers of the D vitamins that their brains needed in large amounts in order to attain contact with "the gods". In contrast to the golden children of Phasi, the adults grew to have dark hair as they passed through adolescence, and their childhood telepathic contacts with the gods remained for them only a fodder for their highly developed cultural practice of story telling and myth building.

Of course, there never were any gods, but the children of Phasi did have real and largely unconscious contact with hidden Nereid agents, watching and waiting, tricking and treating, from within their secret refuge in the Hierion Domain. Those innocent children of Phasi were an obvious choice for Trysta when she went in search of a tribe of primitive Earthlings who could fulfill the strict requirements of her time travel mission.

source

Methods
Observer Base on the Moon holds vast detailed records of how humans spread across our planet's surface. I've lived at Observer Base on the Moon for months, but I have no hope of ever being granted insight into how such records were -and still are- collected. My guess is that Observers secretly live among the people of Earth, constantly making a record of our planet's history.

Across the millennia, tribes have flowed from place to place across the surface of Earth like amoebae in search of food. I've been able to watch the rhythm of that flow as recorded in the Observer databases here on the Moon. Of central importance to this particular story are a people who I will call the Phasi, although that name was never actually used by them.

The Phasi were descended from a human tribe that Ekcolir had originally selected and genetically modified based on the fact that they had inherited some key genes from Neanderthals. Their special genetic endowment simplified his work in the past and reduced the number of genes he had to insert de novo before a functional bimanoid interface could be established within the brains of some humans on Earth.

The bimanoid interface is what provides humans like myself with technology-assisted telepathic powers. The necessary technological assist is provided by the alien nanite swarms that have existed, unseen, on Earth for millions of years. The trick of telepathy is simply to match one's brain structure to the nanites so as to achieve a functional symbiosis: the bimanoid interface.

The Neanderthal brain was naturally adapted for non-technology-assisted telepathic contact. The full implications of that unusual evolutionary outcome must be told another day, but it is perhaps the most unique historical fact about our planet and we should acclaim its importance as the root of the twists and human contortions that formed the Phasian knot.

Trysta lived in the city of Phasi at the time of the Great Black Sea Flood. After the Flood, remnants of the Phasi community eventually migrated westward and played their role in establishing the cultural foundation for what we think of as ancient Greek civilization.

Overseers

In order to tap into the historical databases of Moon Base, I needed to complete two methodologically difficult tasks. First, I needed to attract the attention of the Overseers and trick them into pulling me out of human society and taking me to the Moon. Second, I needed a way to transmit what I learned while on the Moon back to the ignorant and oblivious population of Earth.

Future Science

To get my ticket to the Moon, I made strategic use of Future Science magazine to provoke the ire of the Overseers. Moon Base is still dominated by Overseers who believe it is their duty to enforce the terms of the agreement that was reached between Trysta and Grean, the pact that ended the Time War. The Time War itself was brewed up by R. Gohrlay and it pitted her robotic self against the alien Huaoshy. That epic struggle provides the back story and framework for the story of the Phasian knot.

The true physical form of the
alien Nereids is unknown.

By publishing a few inflammatory stories in Future Science, stories in which I lied about receiving help from the alien Nereids, I was soon blessed by a visit from above. The Overseer who came to Earth in order to collect me was a real bitch. She called herself Ecce Maria, a kind of joke name, equivalent to a soldier operating in foreign territory as a spy who might be trained to tell the enemy, should he ever be captured, that his name is "John Doe".

Ecce Maria invaded my home, Atlantis, like an avenging angel. Knowing that my method of attracting Overseer attention would provoke such an exaggerated response, I'd already evacuated my fellow residents of Atlantis, all except for myself. At a later time I will reveal the fate of Angela and my other clone sisters, but for now I'm respecting their privacy and allowing them a chance to gain a head start on their pursuers

In the First Reality: Gohrlay aboard Many Sails.

My former base of operations, which has long been jokingly called Atlantis, is actually an alien spaceship. That sentient spaceship, known a Many Sails, was in complete "idiot mode" during the raid by Ecce Maria. Maria never guessed that Many Sails was watching, so she was quite rude and overbearing. After berating me for my stupidity in allying myself with illegal Interventionist forces, Maria seemed to slowly notice my calm demeanor. She quieted somewhat and seemed to lose a grip on her self-confidence. Ecce Maria then demanded, "What were you thinking, Ivory?"

Not wishing to risk provoking Maria to the extent that she would insert her vile Overseer thought control nanites into my brain, I played dumb. "I thought we Earthlings were now free to discuss among ourselves the secret history of Earth."

Maria shook her head and expressed her exasperation, "Don’t be a fool. Well, you can't help yourself, but at least don't take me for a fool! The Nereids should never have been on Earth and the Trysta-Grean Pact explicitly forbids them from operating on Earth now and in the future. The Nereids are forbidden from having contacts with humans until -or better put, if- you Earthlings ever manage to merge into galactic civilization."

The Trysta-Grean Pact

I meekly complained and pretended ignorance, "How was I supposed to know that? Can I see a copy of this Trysta-Grean Pact?"

Maria glowered and blustered, "Just because there is no written copy of the Pact does not mean that it does not exist. Anyhow, your ignorance of the law does not mean that you are not bound by it. I've seen the many recordings that were made of Trysta and Grean during the years when they hammered out the terms of the Pact. As my guest at Observer Base you'll now have access to Observer databases and the entire recorded history of Earth. I suggest that you start by watching the famous recording of Trysta that was made on the day when she agreed to the ban against Nereid Interventionism on Earth"

Maria was true to her word. After my initial orientation period at Moon Base, I did gain access to the Earth Observer databases, which, after all, had been my original goal in attracting Overseer attention.

More challenging than just getting to the Moon was then finding a way to share what I learned while on the Moon with my fellow Earthlings. In general, human travelers who go from the Earth to Observer Base only get a one-way ticket. I accept that travel restriction, but by the laws of divergent thinking there is always a way to cut the Gordian Knot.

Buld spaceship on Earth

Several years ago I began crafting a communications conduit by which I would be able to send information from the Moon to Earth. I developed the necessary receiver, an Earthling who I refer to here only as "the Editor". The Editor is a fellow scientist who was too stupid to hitch a ride off of Earth when the Buld spaceship briefly visited our dreary little world.

Latent within the Editor's body were the genes needed to access the bimanoid interface. Thus, with a little prodding and nudging, the Editor attained the ability to receive my technology-assisted telepathic communications. Now that I have left Earth, sacrificing myself to the zealotry of the Overseers, I must rely on the Editor to publish my account of the Phasian knot.

Results
About 10,000 years ago the city of Phasi grew and thrived on the shore of the Black Sea near a river that is now know as the Rioni. Trysta arrived in Phasi as a time traveler with a primary operational goal and several subsidiary missions. Her task of highest priority was establishing a secret teleportation terminal on Earth for use by Interventionist agents. The plan was to construct the terminal in the days just before the Black Sea attained its final and still current connection to the world's oceans. Trysta anticipated the ocean waters rushing in to fill the Black sea basin, raising the level of its waters and covering the teleportation terminal. The Nereids evolved as semi-aquatic creatures on their native planet, and it was natural for their agents on Earth to hide themselves under water.

Trysta arrived in Phasi well equipped with her brilliant mind and domineering personality as well as a swarm of Asterothrope nanites. Walking into town, she used a telepathic homing signal and quickly gathered most of the local children together. Accompanied by her gaggle of children, she walked into the temple complex, quickly taking over control from the local priestesses. Trysta used some harsh mind control nanites to silence the objections of the priestesses and the entire ruling clan of Phasi.

Surrounded by the children of Phasi, Trysta immediately began telling them the future shape of their lives and she even boldly spoke of the 10,000 year distant future times that we now live in. Of course, most of what she told the people of Phasi became lost in time or was eventually transformed into the stuff of myth and legend.

Trysta explained to the local adults that due to the moral depravity of their former rulers, their city would soon be flooded. Posing as the new temple priestess for the Earth Goddess, she recommended a mass migration to higher ground. Using her nanorobotic tools to perform a few "miracles", Trysta managed to convince most of the residents to listen to her warnings and depart, although most of the Phasi waited until they were forced to leave their huts and camp sites when the waters of the Sea began to rise.

Grendel Time

As soon as the teleportation terminal was assembled and operational inside the temple, a Nereid Interventionist was teleported into Phasi. That Interventionists agent was an artificial life form, what I've previously described (in the context of another story from Earth's past[2]) as a "Grendel". The terminology used to refer to artificial life forms is problematical.

After his journey to the Andromeda galaxy, Parthney introduced the term "Nereids" to refer to the mysterious Interventionists who have long worked to liberate we Earthlings from the tight grip of Overseer restrictions. I personally prefer the term "Grendels", but "Nereids" is perhaps the better term because the Nereids are typically depicted as cute girls rather than hideous monsters, a real PR bonus.

It is only from the human perspective that it makes sense to say that Trysta teleported a Nereid into Phasi. What actually happened was that a swarm of advanced Interventionist nanites were sent to Earth. Some of those nanites adopted the simulated physical form of a humanoid creature, a synthetic being who was known to the natives as Urinemi. Urinemi took up residence in the Phasi temple of the Moon, taking on the role of priestess to the Moon Goddess.

Using the language of the locals, Trysta frequently referred to this new lunar temple priestess in sentences that included the phrase, "uri nemi kas", which can be roughly translated into modern English as, "first source of teaching". The main task of this new Nereid Interventionist being was to teach Earthlings the fine art of domesticating plants and animals.

When the rising ocean waters broke through from the Mediterranean and as the level of the Black Sea began to rise, the people of Phasi were forced to abandon the ancient site of their huts along the shore. Trysta and Urinemi remained in the temple complex, which was soon isolated on a small newly-formed island.

During the time of the Flood, Trysta's phrase "uri nemi kas" became bastardized and transformed, first to the name Urinemi and then eventually that early name descended through time and lore, becoming known as the ancient water-associated deity Eurynome.

Trysta's remaining task was to find a way to preserve through the next 10,000 years a record of the critical hierion-based communications technology that would be needed at the start of this millennium in order for Earthlings to make First Contact with the arriving Buld spaceship. That spaceship, traveling just below the speed of light, had already completed one third of its 15,000 light year journey from the galactic core to Earth. Trysta knew that the safest place to store such information was not on Earth, but rather, on the Moon, at Observer Base.

To accomplish this data storage, Trysta used the same sort of trick I recently used to reach the Moon. When the Phasi Temple of the Moon became, inevitably, half submerged by the rising Sea, Urinemi called for a sacrifice, specifying that the people of Phasi must give up one of the local children.

The sacrificial child was selected and sent to the sinking temple in a small boat. There, on the top of a megalithic arch, Urinemi and Trysta (in her adopted role as the Earth priestess) conducted their last extravagant performance for the natives.

In front of the bewildered people of Phasi, who had assembled and were watching from a nearby hill, Urinemi and Trysta pretended to sacrifice the golden haired child and transform its blood into a beastly sea serpent. Urinemi went through the simulated motions of being raped by the serpent and then giving birth to a heard of small dolphins that proceeded to put on a remarkable display of jumps and antics in the lagoon before swimming out to sea.

It was that over-the-top theatrical performance that finally attracted Overseer attention. Trysta teleported off of Earth, taking the "sacrificed" child with her, leaving Urinemi to be captured by an Overseer and taken to Moon Base.

Of course, the bumbling Overseers lacked the needed technology to detect the true nature of Urinemi as an artificial life form composed of advanced Nereid nanites. The Overseers have their own primitive nanotechnology, but Nereid "nanites" are actually composed of even smaller femtoscale components that can almost perfectly assemble to form simulated bodies of biological creatures. Urinemi lived out a normal human life span as a resident at Observer Base on the Moon. After a simulated death, "her" nanite components quietly went into hiding for the next 10,000 years, only to emerge again upon the arrival of Trysta's son Thomas.

Thomas, as a well-practiced expert in meshing his brain with naites, had no problem learning the secret of hierion-based communications from the Urinemi nanites. Using the same basic technology-assisted telepathy trick that I am now using, Thomas transmitted to Earth the secret of how to use hierion-based communications technology.

Luri selling Project Mercury

With the help of another Nereid agent, Betty, a team of Earthlings at Space Energy Missions was able to receive the information that had been telepathically provided by Thomas, making it possible for them to contact the Buld spaceship while it was still en route to Earth.

Of course, when the Buld spaceship reached Earth, Thomas arranged to accompany the Overseers who rushed to Earth. Once safely back on Earth, with my help, Thomas transferred all of his nanites into the brain of the Editor. Had I known that those nanites included some that had originated as Urinemi, I never would have simply handed them over to the Editor. However, in the end, it all worked out for the best. I was able to leave Earth and the Editor should be able to use "his" nanites to receive my telepathic transmissions from the Moon.

Discussion
It will be interesting to see how the Overseers respond when "The Phasian Knot" is published. Will the Overseers again swoop down upon Earth and this time scoop up the Editor? By the twisted logic of the Overseers, the Editor, by using the "Urinemi nanites", is in violation of the Trysta-Grean Pact.

However, it is not my purpose to win the Editor his ticket to the Moon. I hope to reveal to the Overseers the futility of their misguided attempts to keep the people of Earth from learning the secrets of Earth's past and how alien visitors have for so long shaped the development of human civilization. As far as I know, the Nereids have indeed abandoned their Interventionist efforts on Earth. In fact, the Nereids now seem quite concerned that they might have pushed we Earthlings too far and too fast.

We are now poised at the start of our space age, tantalized by the opportunity to explore the vastness of space, but still struggling to master and safely use the powerful technologies that we now suddenly find in our tool box. Good luck to those of you who remain on Earth: I fear that you will need luck, wisdom and courage to survive the journey down this path that Gohrlay and the Nereids set us on so long ago.

I was justifiably curious about Trysta's time travel adventure 10,000 years in our past. I've learned that she was successful in all phases of her mission. For thousands of years after the destruction of Phasi, young "women" emerged from the waters of lakes, rivers and the seas to live among men and teach the skills required for plant and animal domestication. Of course, those "women" were the nanorobotic "descendants" of Urinemi. After ten thousand years, all that remained as a record of past Nereid Interventionism on Earth was a collection of myths about water deities and creatures like the Nereids of the ancient Greeks.

In contrast, at Observer Base on the Moon there is an amazingly detailed historical record of Earth. Looking through the data now available to me here on the Moon, I can see that the Nereid Interventionists were careful to disguise themselves as humans and not attract unwanted attention from the Overseers. Thus, the Earth Observer databases are not as useful as I had hoped for revealing how our civilization ascended towards the stars over the past 10,000 years.

Nuclear Catastrophy

By cutting we Earthlings off from further contact with the Nereids, Grean knew that we would remain essentially ignorant of the extent to which our civilization was pushed ahead by alien influences. Thus, if we so choose, we can continue to imagine that it was our own innate ingenuity and courage that brought us to where we are today.

However, knowing that we were pushed by aliens into the future where we now find ourselves, we should all feel somewhat daunted. Will we find the wisdom to use for good the advanced technologies that we have been given or will we foolishly destroy ourselves by losing control of our technological genies?

Trysta's goal was to safely guide us between the Scylla of nuclear armageddon and the Charybdis of global warming. Only time will tell us if she was successful in her effort by creating the Buld Realty, the universe that we now find ourselves confined to.

Global Warming

I must insert an important reminder at this point in the story. After the Buld Reality was brought into existence, the Huaoshy altered the dimensional structure of the universe, making time travel impossible. We must make the best of this Reality: there will be no more re-dos.

Why did everyone associated with Space Energy Missions abandon Earth, depart with the Buld and take with them the advanced hierion technology that they had been given access to? The original plan was to use hierion technology to quickly provide Earth with a clean energy source, putting an end to fossil fuel use and removing the threat of global warming and catastrophic sea level rise.

Trysta purposefully chose to visit Phasi at its time of destruction by the rising sea. I believe that when she peered into our Reality she saw that the people of Earth would one day hear the story that I have told in "The Phasian Knot". I believe that Trysta and I are sisters, that we share a hope that Earthlings will learn from the past and find a way to save planet Earth.

My other spiritual sisters who once worked at Space Energy Missions seem to have decided that we Earthlings cannot be trusted with knowledge of hierion physics. Angela has looked deep into our past Realities and seen other Earth histories in which nuclear catastrophe made Earth's surface uninhabitable. Asimov himself published his warning of that all too likely fate for Earth[1]. I can well imagine how the immense forces latent within hierion matter could be an even greater threat to the bumbling primates of Earth than has been our understanding of nucleons.

From within the previous Reality, what Trysta called the Ekcolir Reality, Trysta saw firsthand the horrors of melting ice caps and rising ocean levels. She created our Reality and shaped it so that we have the chance to avoid technology-induced catastrophes. She gave us our chance to not only reach the stars, but save this precious Earth from destruction.

Let's not throw away that chance. With the abandonment of Space Energy Missions and their plan to make use of hierions to efficiently transmit energy to Earth from Mercury, we missed our shot at an "easy fix" for our voracious energy needs. Abandoned by the Buld and the Nereids, we must now roll up our sleeves and make our own future, a future that fulfills the Huaoshy vision of Earth preserved as an eternal garden of life while still making real our dream of reaching the stars.

Note from the Editor: By submitting "The Phasian Knot" for publication, I'm risking a trip to the Moon. I would not mind joining Ivory there, particularly if by doing so I can save her from any pending acts of Overseer retribution that arise from her effort to tell this story. Of course, the more likely outcome is that the Overseers will simply prevent publication of this story. I left this story in the format that was transmitted to me by Ivory, the format of a scientific research paper. I like to think of her as Humanity's researcher in residence on the Moon. With luck we will receive many more such reports.

References
1. Isaac Asimov. Robots and Empire Published by Doubleday Books in 1985.
2. Beowulf, author unknown. Available as the Nowell Codex of the British Library.

source

_______________________________

Looking back at "The Phasian Knot" from the perspective of 2018...

I had fun imagining that the "story" was written by Ivory. Ivory was trained as a molecular biologist, so it was natural for her to write her "story" in the format of a science journal article.

Mentioned in the story is Ekcolir's time travel mission of about 20,000 years ago. I later (in 2017) wrote about that mission into the past (see Ereus).

Related Reading: Horse Punk

2019

The Phasi Heights
The Phasian Elf
Assassination by Subtraction
The Sessily Trilogy
 
2018 - Ivory's fate: she ends up on Cynk
2019 - The Dead Widower Society ⎸The last Preland on Earth

Next: Bimanoid Interface 2.0

visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers