Manny Goes On Vacation

Mr. Wombo's Neanderthal.

 In my previous blog post, I described my use of the WOMBO cloud-based CLIP-guided image generating software to make an illustration depicting Tyhry making use of futuristic teleportation technology. With the Eternity teleportation equipment back in full operation, Tyhry's planned trip to Alastor Cluster can focus on other technological issues such as finding medical nanites that could be used by the Mind Clones to enhance their telepathic abilities. However, Manny has her own agenda, which includes providing Tyhry with an appreciation for the fact that development of human telepathy began with the Neanderthals. 

When I asked "Mr. Wombo" to generate an image depicting a Neanderthal, I got the image shown to the right. In my imagination, the Neanderthals had a rudimentary telepathic ability that helped support social cohesion.

Neanderthals fishing.

Imagine that Manny takes Tyhry and Marda into the Reality Simulation System so that they can experience what life was like for the Neanderthals. When I asked Mr. Wombo to provide an image depicting Neanderthals fishing, I got the image shown to the left.

Manny teaching Tyhry and Marda
how to survive in the past.

I asked Mr. Wombo for a "closeup" view and was eventually able to obtain the image shown to the right.

I've learned that the "Flora V2" style of the WOMBO image generator can be useful for providing alternative perspectives on a scene. I used "Flora V2" to generate an alternate version of the fishing scene.

Figure 1. "Flora V2" style

In the image to the left, Mr. Wombo inserted a bird and a boat on the lake. I edited that image and began using this text prompt: "Neanderthal women cooking, wearing animal skin clothing, Margot Robbie is a Neanderthal woman, Meg Ryan is a Neanderthal woman, Kriti Sanon is a Neanderthal woman".

cool shades

One of the big problems for Mr. Wombo in generating this scene was his desire to make a shiny modern frying pan and provide either Tyhry or Marda with sunglasses.

Also, I did prefer versions of this cooking scene in which Marda was holding the pan with her left hand and Manny was not touching the pan, as shown to the left. Mr. Wombo preferred Manny holding the handle of the pan, as shown in Figure 1.

Other problems for Mr. Wombo included: 1) his desire to randomly insert an additional bird into the scene, sometimes perched in Marda's hair, 2) often the boat would either disappear or turn into a spiffy 20th century speedboat.

Dinner time: 40,000 BCE.

I'm fairly satisfied with the image shown to the left, although this is a composite with Tyhry having been generated in a different image than the right hand side of the scene. It was essentially impossible for Mr. Wombo to generate all of the hands correctly for all three women in a single image.

One of the challenges of working with the "Flora V2" style of WOMBO is that it will often convert a human figure into animal form, particularly in this case where I was asking for human figures dressed in animal skins.

Manny takes on animal form.

Manny the bumpha is composed of zeptites and she is able to take on any convenient physical form. Maybe while instructing Tyhry and Marda in the ways of the Neanderthals, Manny might find it useful to take on animal form as in the image to the right.

Guest appearance by a cat.

With the "Flora V2" style persistently inserting animals into images, I ended up with a cat included on an image that was meant to illustrate a "field trip" conducted by Manny inside the Reality Simulation System.

Asterothropes, Wombo style.

For the Exode Saga, I imagine that Asterothropes are a human variant. I asked Mr. Wombo to make a depiction using this text prompt: "painting of Asterothrope women, Margot Robbie is an Asterothrope woman, Kriti Sanon is an Asterothrope woman, Asterothropes are a human variant created by genetic engineering".

Figure 2. Three Asterothropes.

I thought it was possible that this image was in the Stable Diffusion image database, but apparently not. I tried providing the image shown to the keft as a reference image. 

The resulting images generated by Mr. Wombo were mostly unusable because the image-generating algorithm could not correctly construct the left leg of the Asterothrope female (because the Asterothrope hermaphrodite, in green, was in front of her).

Mr. Wombo's version of Figure 2.

The image to the right had to be modified with Photoshop, but I did not have the patience to fix problems like Yenti's swollen left foot. I think the "Womboized" version of Figure 2 is better, so I replaced the original image on this web page for my story Telepaths of Site Q. Also, see the updated image on this page.

telepathic alien at sundown

In the image shown to the left, Manny introduces Tyhry and Marda to an alien telepath on a planet in Alastor Cluster. As the sun sets and clouds roll in, the alien can still guide Tyhry and Marda through the dark night to their destination.

alternate telepathic alien

An alternate version of this scene is shown to the right with a different style of alien. I'm not sure what is the best way to show a low light level for this scene.

Tyhry's dream of "Big Blue".

 Tyhry's Dreams Part 4. The image to the left shows one of Tyhry's dreams that was created by information flow from the future. Tyhry is able to access information in the Sedron Time Stream. Tyhry had this dream when she was seven years old. Yes, that is Tyhry's mother Zeta dressed in black.

From an early age, Tyhry knows that she will have contact in the future with replicoids and travel to exoplanets.

Thyry1 and Tyhry2 welcome Marda
to the nanite research laboratory
inside the Reality Simulation System

 Nanite Research Laboratory. Tyhry makes use of the Reality Simulation System to establish a nanite research laboratory in a fork of the Ekcolir Reality. After Marda graduates from college, Tyhry finally shows her the secret research laboratory.

In the image shown to the right, Marda is startled when a second copy of Tyhry appears in the laboratory. Tyhry has made several copies of herself in order to accelerate her nanite research.

Mr. Wombo's space elevator

 Space Elevator. I asked Mr. Wombo for a "photograph of a futuristic space elevator". The resulting image was completely useless (see the image to the left). 

looking at a space elevator

I then asked for: "photograph looking at a futuristic space elevator, view from ground level looking up". The image shown to the right is also useless, but it illustrates the challenges involved in trying to get Mr. Wombo to be useful in illustrating science fiction stories.

Marda and the space elevator

With some effort and some Photoshop massaging, I was able to produce the image shown to the left.

In my imagination, this is on a planet of Alastor Cluster in the future of the Asimov Reality, a time and place when space elevators are in use by technologically advanced worlds. Maybe hierion-based composite materials allow for super-strong elevator cables that can guide ocean-liner-sized elevator cars carrying thousands of people at a time. Marda is on a stratospheric observation platform such as the one shown here. The full-sized image is available here.

Flora's space elevator

As usual, "Flora V2" style of the WOMBO image generator provided its unique view of a space elevator (see the image to the right).

anti-gravity sports

While visiting Alastor Cluster, Marda (a rock climbing enthusiast) takes Tyhry and Manny to an antigravity-assist rock climbing park (see the image to the left). Tyhry already has experience using anti-gravity hierions in the clothing that she designs.

 Back in the Nanite Laboratory. I wanted an illustration showing Tyhry, Manny and Marda in a laboratory setting, examining newly collected nanites that have been returned to Earth from a simulation of Alastor Cluster.

Nanoscopy by Tyhry and Marda.

 Previously, Mr. Wombo helped me make some illustrations for Tyhry in her lab while she is working to develop hair nanites (also see the end of this blog post). For the image to the right, I asked Mr. Wombo to make a scene for confocal microscopy, but I can pretend that Tyhry and Marda are investigating submicroscopic nanites.

Exoplanet setting.

 Let's Get Serious about Aircars. I asked Mr. Wombo to provide an image for: "photographic closeup of a flying aircar with passengers inside, science fiction setting, looking into the aircar through a window, exoplanet background, show passengers inside the aircar".

Tyhry and Marda in an aircar

Eventually, I got the image shown to the right. Mr. Wombo does not have the concept of symmetry for the wings of an aircar. Also, I had to paste the human figures into the aircar.

aircar by Flora

When I turned this image over to the "Flora v2" style engine, Mr. Wombo turned things around, sending the aircar in the other direction (see the image to the left). Now Marda gets to pilot the aircar. The decorations on the side of Flora's aircar are pretty cool.

another aircar model

Here is another aircar model that Mr. Wombo came up with (image to the right). I had to suggest that the aircar be made to look like a van. Maybe Tyhry and Marda are in the back compartment with the autopilot in control of the aircar.

arrival at a floating city

I like the idea that there could be floating cities in the stratosphere of some planets in Alastor Cluster. The image to the left shows an aircar landing at a floating city (off screen, right).

back view

Here is one more view of a flying aircar (image to the right) provided by Mr. Wombo.

VFX aircar

To shake things up, I sequentially used the the WOMBO fantasy style, retro style, and then VFX. The resulting aircar (shown in the image to the left) seems hopelessly untrustworthy, but it looks impressive. 

The "HDR" style for WOMBO had some interesting ideas for aircars.

how to get around the town

The image to the right was initially generated with the "HDR" style and then fed back through the VFX style for the final version.

aircar night landing

For the Exode Saga, Marda and Tyhry have to carry out some of their mission at night. When Marda infiltrates a nanite research facility and obtains a sample of the nanites, Tyhry arrives in the middle of the night for a dramatic extraction of Marda from the secret research facility.

Tyhry picks up Marda

Once again, Miss Flora had her own ideas for how to depict this scene (see the image to the right). Flora can't resist adding animals to scenes, so here we get some kind of night bird above the aircar.

flying aircar above road

I like how Mr. Wombo was able to provide some interesting lighting for these night-time scenes. I don't have the patience to correct all of Mr. Wombo's idiosyncrasies such as where he decides to draw lines down the roadways.

Marda reaches the aircar.

Here is one more depiction of Marda's escape as generated by Mr. Wombo (image to the right). There were some "interesting" versions of this depiction with Marda seemingly jumping over the aircar. Maybe Mr. Wombo is also experimenting with anti-gravity nanites.

tool-using aliens

 Manny's Precards Part 2. In the past, I've illustrated several alien creatures from Alastor Cluster. I asked Mr. Wombo to provide me with an image of, "a photograph of two flying aliens using tools, the aliens have monkey heads, the alien talons look like human hands" (see the image to the left).

Figure 3. Tyhry's dream vision

With her access to the Sedron Time Stream, Tyhry has a childhood memory of a dream in which she was on an exoplanet where there were large flying aliens (see the image to the right).

Figure 4. Manny's precard

That dream memory (see Figure 3) was not a happy one for Tyhry. When Manny is trying to warn Tyhry about potential dangers in Alastor Cluster, Manny shows Tyhry a "precard" with a similar image (see Figure 4).

Tyhry asks Manny if she can "see the future", but Manny simply says that the bumpha are able to "fully process" the data provided in the Sedron Time Stream.

Next: the Bing chatbot.

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Space Dreams

The High Frontier - illustrated by Don Davis

When sleeping, I sometimes return to an odd dream about a strange place: a kind of museum with canals and boats. The most intriguing thing about those dreams has always been the crazy way that entry and exit to and from the "museum" was made possible. I never understood the entry protocol, so my dream interpretations always involved analogies such as being sucked in through a kind of person-consuming vagina.

Recent discussions with Gohrlay have caused me to devise a new interpretation of those dreams: I now believe that they represent memories from the future. Specifically, from the future of the Ekcolir Reality, from the time when there is a vast array of space habitats in Earth orbit.

cover art by Brian Boyle

When I was in my own personal golden age of science fiction, missions to the moon had recently ended and I was ready for the next step into space. Donald E. Davis did illustrations for NASA and I was intrigued by his depictions of space habitats, particularly those that were inspired by the ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill.

cover art by Bruce Pennington

During those years, I read various science fiction stories about space elevators and large space habitats.

One of the people who attended the First Conference on Space Colonization in 1974 was Eric Drexler, who went on to write Engines of Creation. The term "nanotechnology" was first used in 1974.

In the Exode Trilogy, Earth has long been visited by space aliens who have advanced technology. In the Ekcolir Reality, Interventionists provide Earthlings of the 20th century with advanced nanotechnology that is based upon hierions. One of the uses that Earthlings made of that alien technology was the construction of orbital space habitats.

I've always been very sensitive to motion sickness. What if there were a kind of space sickness that my analogue in the Ekcolir Reality (Irhit) has previously experienced? My hypothesis is that I have been allowed access to some of Irhit's memories, so my dreams of a mysterious "museum" might actually be memories from Deep Time. My fragmentary memories of the "museum" are often distorted and prematurely terminated, possibly by the effects of some odd type of space sickness.

The Human Library

The Second Deluge

Last year I was made aware of the existence of a Human Library in the Galactic Core. I did not allow myself to imagine the implications of making a Human Library accessible to residents of Earth. Is the "orbital museum" of my dream a king of access point for a Library of Humanity?

If such a "human library" or "museum of man" exists (possibly in the Hierion Domain) then it seems likely that in some sense "I" am "on display" in that library. I suspect that a "copy" of Irhit's mind is stored there, possibly along with every other Earthling that ever existed in Deep Time.

Next: Ever Since Ekcolir.

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Oib and its Interventionists

Oib and one of its moons

At the end of Chapter One of Exode, Parthney is ready to leave the planet of his birth and will soon be on his way to Oib where he will be trained as an Interventionist agent.

The Paired Planets
Is Oib a planet or an asteroid? According to the definitions used by the Buld Clan both Hemmal and Oib are asteroids because they both received large amounts of water by having been at the edge of a forming asteroid belt in the Koly star system. The Buld residents of Oib call the star of the Hemmal/Oib system "Koly", one of the words for "star" in the ancient Buld Clan language.

Hemmal is slightly larger than Earth while Oib is about half the size of Earth. Since they are large and they both have liquid metal cores they also meet the Buld definition of being planets. The Buld who live on Oib refer to Hemmal and Oib as the "paired planets".

While the crust of Oib has a large amount of water, near the surface there is only frozen water and Oib has no oceans of liquid water. Hemmal orbits closer to Koly and has a large water ocean with little land. Oxygen producing organisms in that ocean long ago gave Hemmal an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

Oib has a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and some water. The weak magnetic field of Oib does not completely shield the planet against stellar or cosmic radiation. The Buld inhabitants of Oib, about 50,000 in all, live under the surface. Like Hemmal, Oib has space elevators that facilitate movement between the surface and orbit.

The Buld Clan colonized Oib about 15,000 years ago. At that time, Oib had three moons the smallest of which was transformed into a spaceship construction facility where during the past 15,000 years many Buld spaceships have been constructed and sent off to travel between the stars, mostly moving between the many planets of the galactic core where humans reside. Even more colony stations have been built that remain in the Koly star system, mostly within the asteroid belt beyond Oib. Some of the Buld colony stations are in orbit around moons of the system's gas giants. The total population of Buld living in the scattered space stations of the Koly star system is now greater than the population of Oib.

Oxygen-producing artificial lifeform on Oib

The other two original moons of Oib have become giant factories for the production of solar energy collectors. A long range plan of the Buld is to eventually place enough solar collectors in orbit around Oib so that it will be possible to warm the surface of Oib above the freezing point of water. Several asteroids have been shifted into orbits around Oib where they are mined for resources and they are now counted among its moons.

Another major planetary engineering project is on Oib itself. The Buld have designed several artificial lifeforms that are spreading across the surface where they use Koly light to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. Another family of artificial lifeforms functions under the surface to facilitate the movement of geothermally heated water towards the surface. The Buld have also begun a long-term project that will start to heat the core of Oib and prevent the magnetic field from declining further.

Another major project for the Buld is moving mass to Oib from other parts of the Koly star system. In particular, they have been shifting nitrogen and carbon dioxide to Oib in an effort to build up its atmosphere. For the past 7 million years the space elevators of Hemmal have been used to lift water into orbit. Most of that water is redirected to Oib.

The original Buld who first came to Hemmal wanted to study the Unetic Clan, the Prelands who live on Hemmal. Buld first took up residence on Hemmal, but later, as discussed below, conditions changed and other Buld colonized Oib. Only a minority of the Buld continue to study the Prelands: these Buld were known as the lisden, but now they are more commonly called the Buld scholars.

A major distinction between the Buld who live on Hemmal and the Buld on Oib is the different interactions that they have with the pek. There are no humanoid pek on Oib. On Hemmal the lives of the Buld are constantly supported by humanoid pek who live within Buld society and apply their advanced nanite technology to shape the lives of the Buld. The pek still live among the Buld of Oib, but in the form of the non-humanoid meonuck, as described below. The term "pek" is not used on Oib, but meonuck are a non-humanoid type of pek.

On the Origins of the Buld Interventionists

The Buld on Oib also have access to another type of nanotechnology that was developed about 20,000 years ago with the help of the Fru'wu. The main shift due to Fru'wu intervention into the Buld Clan culture was that some Buld were given the chance to free themselves from dependence on pek nanites: these "liberated" Buld became the Interventionists. The Buld Interventionists originated as a branch of the lisden and after they no longer had pek nanites interfering with their brain function they quickly developed the first Buld written language. With help from the Fru'wu, they were able to exclude pek nanites from their brains and then liberate themselves from the meonuck, having found the means to use Fru'wu-inspired technology to support their existence in the absence of pek nanites. The Buld Interventionists keep themselves apart from the other Buld in order to prevent themselves from again becoming "infected" by pek nanites.

Buld (and humans) that host large numbers of pek nanites in their brains are unable to use written language and almost completely unable to use and manufacture tools. This nanite-mediated modulation of brain function is how the pek prevent humans from developing a technological culture over long periods of time. Other limitations on technology development by the Interventionists are their small number and the fact that they are scattered widely within the galactic core on planets like Oib and lack an efficient means of interstellar communication.

source

Freed of pek nanites, the lisden that would become the Buld Interventionists studied the technology of Buld spaceships (which had been provided to the Buld by the pek) and their newly won understanding that technology allowed for the first Buld-constructed spaceships. The Buld could now make their own colony ships for travel between the stars at near light speed as well as colony stations that allowed the Buld to start settling worlds like Oib.

The first act of "intervention" by the Buld scholars who were becoming the Buld Interventionists was initiated with the further connivance of the Fru'wu who provided the location if Earth. The Buld Interventionists sent one of their spaceships to Earth with the intention of making "first contact" with Earthlings. In Exode, after the long journey out to Earth from the galactic core, that spaceship is finally nearing Earth.

Pla'va (right) and Ka'po, the meonuck, on approach to Oib

With the help of the secretive Buld Interventionists, a faction of the Buld scholars of Oib have been able to adapt available technologies to the goal of terraforming Oib, but most Buld have little interest in technology. This is due to the fact that the brains of most Buld remain infected by pek nanites.

The Meonuck
Unlike the Buld of Hemmal, the lives of the Buld on Oib are not organized around community temples. However, the Buld of Oib each have a symbiotic familiar known as a meonuck, an important Buld cultural element that began on the earliest Buld spacecraft. These meonuck are composed of pek nanites and they facilitate both the feeding of the Buld and a rudimentary reproductive function that allows for slow growth of the Buld population. The meonuck also regulate Buld reproduction in a manner similar to that achieved by temple bothets on Hemmal. The meonuck are also the source of the nanites that colonize Buld brain tissue when Buld go through the Change, although on Oib the Change is viewed as a medical issue and educational opportunity, not cause for a religious ritual.

Parthney and Pla'va

In Chapter Two of Exode, Parthney is transported from Hemmal to Oib in a spaceship piloted by Pla'va. Pla'va is a special Interventionist agent who can move among the Buld of Oib without fear of thons brain being infected by pek nanites. When attempts to remove pek nanites from Buld brains were first successful, it was learned that the normal Buld reproductive process could be subverted and provide a way to "immunize" such "liberated" Buld against reinfection with pek nanites.

The Interventionists are particularly interested in recruiting "false" Buld into their ranks. False Buld (like Parthney) are genetically identical to Earthlings and are used as Interventionist agents on Earth. The Interventionists take pains to keep their operations secret and themselves free of pek nanites, although experience suggests that despite precautions their activities are constantly monitored by the pek. With alarming frequency entire groups of Interventionists are suddenly eliminated.

Asteroid outpost.
image by hailfire191
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

One of the deepest secrets of the human Interventionists on Oib is that they work in coordination with the Fru'wu. Most Buld believe that there was a period of contact between the Buld and the Fru'wu thousands of years in the past, but the Buld Interventionists have secretly continued to cooperate with the Fru'wu.

Of particular relevance to Parthney when he reaches Oib is the fact that about 10,000 years ago the Fru'wu provided teleportation technology that allows the efficient transfer of human Interventionist agents to Earth. The top priority of the Buld Interventionists during the past 10,000 years has been to accelerate technological progress on Earth in an effort to make sure that Earthlings will at least understand what is happening when the first Buld spaceship reaches Earth.

Related Reading:  the Fru'wu of Ver'la

Next: Prison of Space

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