True Science Fiction

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For me, "true fiction" is an inherently fun concept because it thrusts upon us a paradoxical juxtaposition of opposites. Fiction is supposed to involve stories that were invented in our imaginations, stories that are not real. In contrast, truth is the domain of the real. There must always be connections between reality and fictional stories, but can there be true fiction?

Human brains are devices that record the true stories of our lives. If your brain does a good job then you are provided by your memories with a true account of the world of your past experiences. If your brain is functioning efficiently then you will be able to make use of your memories to help successfully guide you through future challenges in the world.

If our brains evolved to be "truth recording machines", then why do we enjoy fiction? Isn't there a risk to our survival when we can imagine lies and fiction? What keeps us from slipping into fantasy worlds of our imagination, self-inflicted traps where we lose touch with reality?

True History

Note: I am not trying to make the sort of distinction that Lucian made in his True History (included here). The true fiction that I am discussing here is "truly fiction" in Lucian's sense, but it arises from an intellectual game in which the reader is asked to participate in a game of "what if?": what if this were true?

Paradoxically, for our survival in the world our brains must function as truth machines, but at the same time it can be useful to have a creative imagination. The human condition has been defined by ignorance: in the absence of reliable knowledge about the world, humans often must imagine a path into the future and hope for the best. As social primates, we can imagine how to influence other people and make plans for how to talk them into cooperating with us. Recognizing when we don't understand the world and then thinking creatively is our path to discovery of hidden truths.

I don't know, therefore I hypothesize.

fact or fiction? image source

Shades of Gray
There will always be a fuzzy boundary between fiction and nonfiction. Some writers joyously take on the task of exploring that boundary rather than comfortably settling into the role of being a writer of "obvious fiction".

Some science fiction stories deal intimately with the question: how do we know what is real, particularly in modern times when reliable knowledge about the universe is increasing so rapidly?

Isaac Asimov

Here is a quote from Asimov: "SF is the branch of literature which deals with the response of human beings to changes in the level of science and technology". As we humans increasingly make use of science and technology to better understand the true nature of the world, how does our civilization change and respond to "new truths" revealed by our scientific study of reality?

Are there times when new ideas seem so strange, so contrary to past beliefs, that the new truths seem like fiction or can only enter into human culture if first presented to us as fiction?

the mystery of human origins

The Exode Trilogy
My current science fictional obsession is the Exode Trilogy which is a rather twisted tale about human nature and the origin of our species. We humans have always been intrigued by the puzzle of our origins. During the past few centuries a scientific understanding of the universe and human origins has been constructed. Previously, various pre-scientific cultures invented "creation stories" that often involved imagined divine intervention.

image source

One particular creation story that greatly influenced Western Civilization involved a deity that created humans from scratch. Based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, some people have imagined that humans were created just a few thousand years ago. However, scientific evidence indicated that we humans evolved by natural processes from other primate species that were part of a great chain of life forms stretching back billions of years into the past of our planet. The universe is much older than people like Bishop Usshur ever imagined.

From our modern scientific perspective, we can understand that "creation myths" from our past were fictions, imagined stories about human origins. That some people have made prodigious efforts to defend those myths as truth is an interesting illustration of how fiction can take control of our minds and distance us from a true understanding of reality.

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken

Of course, our current science-based creation stories are still incomplete. Millions of working scientists daily continue with the task of improving our understanding of who we are and how our species fits into the universe. The Exode Trilogy plays with the idea that our current scientific world view is fundamentally incomplete. In particular, The Exode Trilogy explores the idea that we humans were created, not by divine intervention, but by "space aliens" who arrived at Earth 7,000,000 years ago and who then started "domesticating" primates. The Exode Trilogy plays with the idea that we humans are the result of that alien influence.

Grean
a Kac'hin hermaphrodite

True Fiction
The Exode Trilogy asks: what would happen if a few Earthlings finally began to obtain objective evidence that the human species was created, that we did not evolve spontaneously by natural selection?

In my previous blog post I explored the idea that one of the "Atlantis clones" might write a "fictional" account of the Kac'hin base that has secretly existed on Earth.

Imagine that Grean and Lili  operated a well-hidden undersea (or, more exotically, within the Hierion Domain) base for several decades which became a refuge for Andy, an Asterothrope/Ek'col hybrid. Kac'hin females such as Lili had been specifically designed to mate with such hybrids and give birth (with help from a sophisticated zeptite symbiont) to children who would be inter-fertile with Earthlings.

half pregnant

Believing that the existence of certain Preland gene combinations will be valuable for long-term human survival, Grean is ready and able to "sneak" some Preland genes into the human gene pool of Earth.

Grean is a scientist with a special interest in time travel, but the Huaoshy put an end to time travel, so Grean shifts towards biological studies. Grean takes pity on Andy and invites Lili to Earth. Andy and Lili become parents and grandparents and then when Grean's work on Earth is complete, the two Kac'hin depart, leaving Andy's descendants in a rather delicate position.

Somnium
Kepler faced a similar challenge when he tried to write about the "new astronomy" of his age. He ended up writing a "science fiction" story (Somnium) about a boy who learns that his mother has contact with a mysterious being who can transport people to the Moon. In Kepler's story, a journey to the Moon is described, complete with Lunar inhabitants.

Somnium was not published until after Kepler's death (1634, more than 40 years after he began to write the story). His mother had been accused of being a witch and Kepler spent years adding a scientific subtext to Somnium. I'm reminded of Darwin spending many years "padding" his book about evolution with fluff while he delayed exposing his "heretical" ideas to public scrutiny.

Ivory Fersoni
For Exode, I created a character named Ivory who is one of Andy's grandchildren. Ivory is born at "Atlantis", but she grows up with no real understanding of her origins.

Ivory becomes involved in molecular anthropology research. She is surprised to find that her DNA is quite unusual. On the verge of publishing her results, Ivory is called back to "Atlantis" and told part of the truth about her unusual ancestors.

Ivory hypothesizes that her family is the last remnant of a nearly extinct branch of the human family tree.

The other part of the mystery of "Atlantis" are what Ivory is taught to refer to as the "nanites" that her sister (actually a clone of Ivory) Ana has been experimenting with for several years. Ivory suspects that there must be another hidden community of fellow "Atlantians" somewhere on Earth, a secretive group that has developed advanced nanite technology.

With guidance from Grean and Lili, Ana has pioneered the use of "nanites" to constrain brain development in several additional clones of Ivory. All of the "Atlantis clones" display slow maturation of the nervous system. The nanites seem to act like a catalyst to modify the pace and course of brain development. However, by the time that Ivory starts to study the nanite-mediated alterations in brain development, Grean and Lili have mysteriously disappeared.

With the hope that she can find the location of the other colony of Atlantians, Ivory decides to write the story of The Atlantis Clones. However, Ivory does not want to reveal the secret location of the undersea base where she was born. Ivory ends up publishing her story as science fiction even though it is a true and factual account of her unusual life. This provides an opportunity for "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy to get some help with his difficult task.

Related Reading: Investigative Science Fiction

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Ivory Fersoni

Hilde

Hilde's Father
One of the mysteries that is not resolved for readers of Exode is the identity of Hilde's father. As described previously, Hilde is the daughter of Hana and an unknown man who is one of the children of Andy. Why is the story of Andy's children so difficult to sort out for "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy?

As was the case for Hilde, growing up on Earth was a struggle for all of Andy's offspring. Grean insulated Hilde's cousins from the meddling efforts of physicians and Lili, as the well-informed matriarch, knew that her grandchildren only needed loving care and adequate time to develop along the rather delayed trajectory that is typical for anyone with a healthy dose of Asterothrope, Ek'col and Kac'hin genes.

Ivory Fersoni is a cousin of Hilde (update).

Of course, the Overseers would have been outraged had they know that Lili was living on Earth during much of the 20th century.

Kach was designed and crafted on Hemmal, Lycaun was trained on Luk'ru in the Andromeda galaxy and in much the same way Lili grew up on Tar'Tron.

Grean was forced to bring Lili to Earth, but the details of her time spent on our planet are not part of the story told in Exode.

Lili at Atlantis.

Andy and Gwyned are the children of Deomede and Trysta. Gwyned wears out her welcome on Earth by actively working to make black holes a viable source of cheap energy, a vocation that runs her afoul of the secret Nereid agent who is operating in 20th century Earth. For her own protection, Deomede subtracts Gwyned from our primitive civilization and sends her off to the stars. Similarly, Grean takes Andy into "protective custody".

Andy Iwedon was quietly extracted from the known history of Earth at about the same time that his sister Gwyned is teleported away to first Klyz and then is sent on to the Interventionist training base at Lendhalen. The Kac'hin maintain a secret undersea base of operations on Earth (which they jokingly refer to as "Atlantis")...it is the perfect refuge for Andy.

With the assistance of swarms of sedronic zeptoscale artificial lifeforms, Lili and Andy manage to produce at least two healthy children and raise them to adulthood in the undersea base of Atlantis. One of those children, name unknown, plays an important role in Exode as the father of Hilde.

Ivory at Atlantis, 1992

Ivory Fersoni
The only other known fact is that Lili and Andy had at least one daughter. While still quite young, she met and fell in love with Adão Fersoni, a passenger on Portuguese ship that sank in 1961. Adão, near death, was rescued and taken into Atlantis. Using the assumed family name Papagaio, Adão and his young family were moved out of Atlantis and settled on the island Annobón in 1966 when his daughter Ivory was 4 years old. Adão shipped goods between the mainland, Annobón and other nearby islands until he was murdered by members of the violent Esangui clan in 1971. At that time, Ivory was taken by her mother to the town of Salinópolis in Pará, Brazil.

Ivory earned an anthropology degree from the Federal University of Pará in 1982. She then did mitochondrial DNA sequencing at the Universidade de São Paulo for a project investigating the genetic history of native peoples of South America. Ivory did postdoctoral research at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. In 1991, using her own DNA as a control, Ivory discovered that her DNA was distinct from any known human DNA pattern. Her mother refused to provide a DNA sample and from then on she would only contact Ivory by way of a mysterious email account.

Anna in 1995

While preparing to publish a journal article describing her unusual DNA pattern, Ivory was visited by Grean and "invited" to return to Atlantis. Although Lili had by this time returned to Tar'Tron, Ivory was surprised to find that her clone, Anna (an identical "twin sister" who was 5 years younger than herself) had a biology research lab in Atlantis.

Anna's area of research was brain development and her test subjects were additional cloned copies of Ivory, then ages 2, 5, and 9. Grean allowed Ivory to expand the on-going research into the study of brain development in her own children. Upon demonstrating that her eggs could produce fairly normal children using sperm from genetically normal humans, Ivory eventually talked Anna into also having two children of her own.

However, Anna was tired of the restricted life in Atlantis. Handing over care of the younger clones to Ivory, Anna went out to live within conventional Earthly society.

Zeptite-mediated Telepathy
Under the influence of an intensive zeptite-assisted brain development program devised by Ivory, her two youngest "clone sisters" were able to make use of their bimanoid interface to establish a form of telepathic communication with their cousin Hilde, who, by chance, had undergone a similar pattern of brain development under the influence of zeptites provided to her by Betty. Thus, when Hilde had the chance to communicate with "the editor" before her departure from Earth, she was able to suggest the possibility that other descendents of Andy were present on Earth.

At the end of Exode, Grean stands down from duty on Earth. All the terms of the negotiated agreement between Trysta and Grean have been met. Most of the "Ivory clones" remain on Earth, leaving open the possibility that some Earthlings will continue to efficiently utilize the bimanoid interface.

Anney's escape from Earth

Anney, one of the "Atlantis clones" leaves Earth with Grean. They join up with Kach for her continued search for the Creators. Kach believes that she must extend her search to other galaxies. Grean believes that the key to contact with the Huaoshy is found within the Kac'hin.

Anney has the technical ability to initiate experiments exploring how to improve control over the Kac'hin bimanoid interface. It is not clear that the Huaoshy have any real interest in Humanity. If things don't work out for humans on Earth, the pek are still perfecting the Prelands on worlds of the galactic core.

1914

In The World Set Free, Herbert Wells imagined a future in which nuclear power was used for destructive purposes. That technological challenge to human survival prompted a response: Humanity was able to unify and move on into the future.

In Exode, there is no such happy resolution of of the challenges facing we Earthlings. The Buld are left in a delicate situation. They want to warm Mars and make that world their new home. At the same time, they have the means to cool the Sun and save Earth from global warming, but do they have a motive for helping we Earthlings?

1954

cave art by Stephen Youll

1954

Asimov's robotic character Daneel first appeared in book format in 1954. Daneel makes a brief appearance in my fan fiction sequel to Asimov's novel, Foundation and Earth.

I previously decided to remove the names of Asimov's fictional characters from the Exode Trilogy. For example, I have Noÿs Lambent use the cover name "Trysta Iwedon" while she resides in 20th century Earth.

1953

In the case of Daneel, I am free to use any name I want. For example, Asimov had Daneel use the name Eto Demerzel during the time in the Foundation Reality when the galactic empire centered on Trantor was about to fall. As mentioned above in this blog post, the world Trantor appears with the name "Tar'Tron" (or Tar'tron...I can't decide which version I prefer) in the Exode Trilogy. The planet is called "Tart'Tron" while it is under pek control in the Realities the come after the Foundation Reality.

By the time of the events involving Daneel that are depicted in The Foundations of Eternity, Daneel has long since transferred his memories into the brain of Fallom. Who is the "new individual" that is created by this merger of Fallom and Daneel?

art by Stephen Youll

I imagine that the name "Fallom" continues to be applied to the combined intellect of Fallom and Daneel. I also imagine that the physical body (and specifically his positronic brain) of Daneel continues to be useful, although most of his ancient memories are erased in order to make room for new ones. Daneel can still function as an operative, going out to the various human-populated worlds of the galaxy, as needed. By the time of the events in The Foundations of Eternity, Galaxia has come into existence and Daneel's remaining project takes the form of rather mundane but continued support of the Encyclopedia Galactica.

Asimov showed us that Daneel was comfortable working with operatives such as Dors Venabili. I imagine that Dors was a human/robot hybrid using positronic circuits and some other artificial components, but with a body mostly composed of human cells.

Similarly, by the time of the events in The Foundations of Eternity, I imagine that Daneel has been re-formed into a man-machine hybrid that can move among the Human worlds of the galaxy unrecognized as a being with a positronic brain.

art by Stephen Youll

When the crew of Many Sails approaches Fallom's hidden base on the Moon, Daneel is recalled from his duties on Terminus.

What role might Daneel adopt as his "cover identity" on Terminus? As imagined in The Foundations of Eternity, with Galaxia formed, Gohrlay has allowed some contact between the vast Genesaunt civilization and a few worlds of our galaxy.

I also imagine that some operatives such as Daneel have gone out to other galaxies on missions to investigate Genesaunt civilization. I'm now thinking that Daneel, using the cover name Lars Darwin (named in honor of Lord Dorwin), proposes to stimulate interest in the Encyclopedia Galactica by contributing his own expertise as the new Andromeda galaxy editor.

The "Lars Darwin" persona is a famous intergalactic adventurer, well known for his expeditions to nearby galaxies.

2014

From the the perspective of "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy, the key question about the "Atlantis clones" is if maybe one of the clones with a brain that is well tuned to zeptites and skilled using the bimanoid interface could help sort out the story of the Exode Trilogy.

So far, I've imagined "the editor" having to initiate a search for the "Atlantis clones". However, at the end of the events in Exode, there is nothing to prevent the residents of Atlantis from reaching out and telling their story to the world. Well....maybe not "nothing". How would xenophobic Earthlings react to the knowledge that there are some humans on Earth with unusual genomes? Would it be wise for Ivory and her relatives to keep quiet and not reveal their existence -or their unusual genetic endowment- to the rest of us "run-of-the-mill" humans?

June 1940

During the past year I've had fun imagining the science fiction stories that might be written by Thomas. Thomas enjoyed a rather exquisite pattern of early brain development with the assistance of Ekcolir and the advanced zeptoscale devices that he brought to Earth for his Interventionist mission.

Now I'm tempted to imagine that one of the "Atlantis clones" might become a writer. Grean and Lili could not explain many mysteries to Andy and his family, then they departed from Earth, believing that by the terms of the agreement with Trysta, Earth and its people were to be allowed to make their own future.

For people like Ivory, after living a life that might feel like it was scripted as part of a science fiction story, it might only be possible to publish one's autobiography as science fiction.

Inspired by pulp fiction magazines.
Click to enlarge.

Maybe some day "the editor" of the Exode Trilogy will suddenly discover a published "science fiction" novel that describes events on Earth that only make sense in the context of what "the editor" thinks of as the secret history of Earth: the long struggle of Gohrlay and her positronic robots to win we humans a chance to reach the stars. Of course, the Atlantis clones will be unable to make sense of their bizarre lives until they gain access to the cache of information that was deposited with the editor of the Exode Trilogy.

Ivory might be the one to tell the story of the "Atlantis clones", but I imagine that she would not be the best choice to help edit the Exode Trilogy. She might be willing to let her name be used in the publication process and be a point of first contact for "the editor".

There is more detail about the writing career of Ivory in my next blog post.

_________________
Note: see "Let there be light" for more more about the Bimanoid Interface.

Related reading: Clones in Exode
2018 - Ivory on Cynk

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