2 x 3 = Sha

image source

 I had planned on my year-in-review blog post being the last one in 2023, but... Back in 2012, I outlined some plot elements for inclusion in a fan fiction sequel (called "Departure From Nor'Dyren") to the novel "Assignment Nor'Dyren" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc. Today, during a chat session with Bard, I realized that Sydney J. Van Scyoc died earlier this year 😢.

I'm reluctant to write fan fiction stories as long as an author is still alive, so I never wrote "Departure From Nor'Dyren". In my 2012 outline, I included the idea that the aliens who gave rise to the people of planet Nor'Dyren developed artificial intelligence technology and eventually transformed themselves into some type of artificial life form (replicoids?). Here in 2023, I've been experimenting with "large language model" chatbots like Bard and exploring their utility as collaborators for the creation of science fiction stories. 

the planet Roivah

So, this seems like a good opportunity to both honor the memory of Sydney J. Van Scyoc and get help from Bard for creating a sequel to Assignment: Nor'Dyren (on the title page of my printed copy of the novel, it shows a colon (:) in the title). Read the novel online here.

I was never really comfortable with the idea that homes on Nor'Dyren had four bedrooms, one for each of the four types of Nor'Dyrenese that Van Scyoc mentioned in her story: the Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon and Qattagon. Would there really be a bedroom for Qattagon if the Qattagon were all infertile, as was suggested in the novel Assignment: Nor'Dyren? For my fan fiction sequel story, I'll follow my imagination and say that there were actually six genetically unique types of Nor'Dyrenese: Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon, Qattagon, Regregon and Sorrigon (Bard suggested these two new names).

the planet Pes^Cro

 The Sha mating system. In my imagination, long ago on a distant exoplanet (called Pes^Cro) there was a humanoid species called the Ka^Erb. The Ka^Erb developed a sophisticated genetic science and transformed themselves into simultaneous hermaphrodites. Later, the Ka^Erb hermaphrodites developed generation spacecraft and began to send colony ships to other star systems. The Ka^Erb experimented with two methods for exploring the galaxy: 1) robotic ships that carried artificial intelligences and cryo-preserved Ka^Erb gametes and 2) generation ships that carried genetically engineered Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon as crew. All of the Allegon (agent of service), Berregon (agent of production), Gonnegon (agent of thought) individuals were either male or female. While on the generation ships, the Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon crew members were constantly exposed to a chemical (hermactyd) that rendered hybrid offspring (the children of mixed mating such as Allegon x Berregon) embryonic lethal.

replicoids of Pes

 Interstellar Colonization. However, upon reaching a new planet in a distant star system, these kinds of hybrids survived and developed as simultaneous hermaphrodites. There were three types of hermaphrodites. Matings between a Berregon and a Gonnegon would produce hermaphroditic Qattagon (agent of social and political change). Matings between Berregon and Allegon produced hermaphroditic Sorrigon (agent of invention; scientists). Matings between Gonnegon and Allegon produced hermaphroditic Regregon (agent of imagination; artists).

The Sha mating system.

 Genetics. Each of the sexually dimorphic space-colonizing specialists Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon had its own unique genetically engineered chromosome. In children of Berregon and Allegon, the un-paired B and A chromosomes formed a special H-chromosome, resulting in an hermaphroditic Sorrigon. The three types of hermaphrodites were all inter-fertile in these combinations:
Qattagon x Sorrigon → Berregon
Qattagon x Regregon → Gonnegon
Sorrigon x Regregon → Allegon

the planet B^Ta

 Politics. The Gonnegon and the Qattagon were the political activists, with the Gonnegon always taking conservative positions and the Qattagon always seeking to move society in new directions. 

2 x 3 = Sha. According to Bard, the Etruscan word for "six" may have been "sha". During the long-duration interstellar voyages of Ka^Erb generation ships, only the Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon were present as crew and they formed a very rigid and stable society. There was no taboo against mixed marriages, but hybrid offspring all quietly died at an early embryo stage. Then, upon reaching the destination planet, the hybrid Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon became important for creating a dynamic society that could deal with the challenges of a new planetary environment. Without exposure to hermactyd, the hermaphroditic offspring could survive on new worlds.

Figure 1. Prime Gonnegon
of Justice by Mr. Wombo.

In my imagination, the elimination of Qattagon from Nor'Dyren society involved two steps: 1) using their political wiles, the Gonnegon weakened the political influences that the Qattagon had over their two natural allies, the Sorrigon and Regregon, and then 2) the Gonnegon imposed social barriers to prevent mixed marriages between Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon. 

Fertility. The mistaken idea (see Assignment: Nor'Dyren) that Qattagon were infertile apparently arose from the fact that pseudo-embroids (see below) produced by Qattagon x Qattagon pairings are not viable. The same is true for Sorrigon x Sorrigon and Regregon x Regregon pairings. Hermaphroditic Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon all have both a uterus and two gametophthorae. A gametophthoros is a modified ovary that can produce a tetraploid egg cell (pseudo-embroid) from a diploid sperm cell and a diploid stos cell (see below). 

a gametophthoros

 Pseudo-embroids. Each gametophthoros continually produces stos cells and is receptive to diploid sperm cells from either of two of the three hermaphrodite types. Each gametophthoros has phagocytes that actively recognize and destroy diploid sperm cells from a male of the same type of hermaphrodite. These phagocytic cells will also destroy any embroids that are produced from a sperm of a "forbidden" hermaphrodite sex partner. 

For example, a Qattagon gametophthoros will destroy sperm from any Qattagon, but a Qattagon gametophthoros is receptive to sperm from either a Sorrigon or a Regregon. Once produced by fusion of a diploid sperm cell and a stos cell, a tetraploid egg (pseudo-embroid) is motile and can move to the uterus. During migration to the uterus, the pseudo-embroid undergoes a cell division, producing 2 haploid female gametes arrested early in pseudo-meiosis II. 

Some alien biology of planet Pes^Cro.
Click image to enlarge.

The testes of hermaphroditic Ka^Erb produce a mixture of diploid and haploid sperm (see the AI-generated image that is shown to the right). Upon physical contact with a female gamete in the uterus, a haploid sperm cell will trigger the completion of pseudo-meiosis II by the female gamete. The male pro-nucleus from the haploid sperm cell combines with the female pro-nucleus of the now haploid female egg to produce an embryo (either Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon).

When inventing the sha mating system, I considered the possibility that Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon were haploid, like bee drones. However, I decided that Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon are diploid. 

Berregon version 1.

I also considered the possibility that Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon might be tetraploid, but rather than go in that direction, I devised the reproductive system that is described above which involves a brief life cycle phase for the tetraploid pseudo-embroid. 

Berregon version 2.

I'm not fully settled in my mind exactly what the Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon, Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon all should look like. To the left and right are two alternate versions of a Berregon generated by Mr. Wombo using, "a large alien/man who is muscular, with a dark barbered head, heavy shoulders, muscular forearms, muscle-bound, layers of unyielding muscle tissue, the neck was a column, his jaw a lumpy protuberance". Figure 1 (above) shows an AI-generated image meant to illustrate a Gonnegon. Figure 2 (below) shows an AI-generated image meant to illustrate a Qattagon. Figure 3 (below) shows an alternative depiction of a Gonnegon. 

Allegon by DALL-E.

 AI-generated Allegon. After collecting terms that Van Scyoc included in Assignment: Nor'Dyren while describing the Allegon, I used this text prompt with both DALL-E and WOMBO Dream: "an alien Allegon, mild-mannered and weak, born to serve, her head is strangely elongated, two bunches of black strands caught together at the back and pasted forward over the brow. Her eyes were vertical, her nose absent, her mouth large and round". A depiction of an Allegon that was generated by DALL-E is shown to the left. A second DALL-E-generated Allegon with hair is here.

Allegon by Mr. Wombo.

An Allegon generated by Mr. Wombo is shown to the right. For the image shown to the right, I made a composite of an Allegon face that had been generated by Mr. Wombo and pasted that onto the image of a human body. Then I used that composite as a reference image for WOMBO Dream, finally generating the image that is shown to the right.

In my imagination, the Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon should be more alien in appearance than the Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon. I can't imagine why both DALL-E and WOMBO Dream made the Allegon eyes so large while ignoring the explicit instruction that the eyes be vertical. DALL-E did make a very small nose, but these image generating models seem to really struggle to make a face without a nose. Van Scyoc suggested that by casual inspection you could not distinguish between male and female Allegon, Berregon and Gonnegon, but I made images for male Berregon and female Allegon and Qattagon.

Figure 2. Lato (human) and Purn (a Qattagon)

"Departure From Nor'Dyren" begins 20 years after the end of Assignment: Nor'Dyren. The children of Patt are among the first Qattagon and Sorrigon and they discover that Qattagon, Sorrigon and Regregon are inter-fertile as described above. The daughter of Laarica and Tollan (named Lato) and Patt's Qattagon "daughter" (named Purn) leave Nor'Dyren in search of remnants of the Ka^Erb galactic empire. 

Arriving on Nor'Dyren in the year 2107 are Laites and Salguo, two aliens from the planet Roivah (a member world of Civilized Unity). 

Laites

Laites and Salguo visit Laarica and report that explorers from Roivah have found the Ka^Erb homeworld, Pes^Cro, located over 50 lightyears spinward around the galaxy from Roivah, which is located at the outer boundary of the region of the galaxy that is known to the ever-expanding Civilized Unity. The planet Pes^Cro is now inhabited by artificial life forms, but there is another world (B^Ta) that is inhabited by the Slibili who are biologically similar to the Qattagon.  

The image shown to the right was generated when I asked Mr. Wombo for an alien with no nose. I decided that two noses might be better than one for some alien species such as the humanoids from planet Roivah. Compare this image to the ones that are shown at the very bottom of this blog post. I tried explicitly asking Mr. Wombo to generate aliens with two noses, but I never got another such image. Similarly, DALL-E refused to make an alien with four nostrils; see this and this and this and the image below.

Alien by DALL-E (source)

 The Phari Reality. As outlined back in 2012, I'd like to find a way to link "Departure From Nor'Dyren" to 1) the Exodemic Fictional Universe that includes the alien Huaoshy and to 2) advanced technology for moving stars and planets. This project can go on my "to do" list for 2024, but I think there is a place in the Reality Chain of Earth where I could insert "Departure From Nor'Dyren".

Previously, I have imagined that in the Asimov Reality the Phari have some sort of advanced technology that allows them to collect planets that are home to technologically advanced civilizations, moving them all to Alastor Cluster. I've previously depicted the fiction of Isaac Asimov concerning positronic robots as having been based on events in the Foundation Reality. 

Meet the Phari (source)

image source

 Unity. Similarly, I imagine that there was an organization similar to the Federation of Planets in the Ekcolir Reality. Galactic demographics were quite different in the Foundation Reality and the Ekcolir Reality. In the Foundation Reality, the only intelligent species in the galaxy was the human species (as depicted for Isaac Asimov's "all human galaxy"). In the Ekcolir Reality, there were many different intelligent species on many different exoplanets that were "curated" by the Phari and became part of a multi-cultural galactic civilization.

 Earth's Reality Chain. For the story "Departure From Nor'Dyren", I imagine that there was a Reality between the Foundation Reality and the Asimov Reality that I will now call the Phari Reality. This is a change from my past story telling in which I sometimes called the Asimov Reality the Phari Reality.

Reality Chain.

 Before the pek arrive. In the Phari Reality, R. Nyrtia traveled back in time to an era before the arrival of the pek in our galaxy. R. Nyrtia helped the Phari develop hierion-based space travel and a galactic empire. Without this intervention by R. Nyrtia, the Phari would have simply transcended their original biological existence, become an artificial life form and then eventually transmigrate into the Hierion Domain.

In my imagination, that interstellar empire of the Phari was the original inspiration for "Civilized Unity" as depicted by Sydney J. Van Scyoc in the novel "Assignment Nor'Dyren". In my imagination, the galactic empire of the Ka^Erb did not have faster-than-light travel and that primitive empire collapsed before its remnants such as planet Nor'Dyren was engulfed by the Phari Empire (which ended up being called "Civilized Unity" by Van Scyoc).

image source

In 2020, I included the Foundation Reality analogue of Sydney J. Van Scyoc in a story called "Foundation Reality Simulator". The story provides hints about how it became possible for Sydney J. Van Scyoc in the Final Reality to write stories about events in the Phari Reality. I imagine that there was a replicoid copy of Sydney J. Van Scyoc who lived at the Writers Block.

An important question swirling around "Departure From Nor'Dyren" is: why were the Ka^Erb so biologically similar to the humans of Earth? I prefer to blame this on the meddling of R. Nyrtia. In the Phari Reality, the Phari never tried to organize a monolithic galactic empire until just that era when species like we humans and the Ka^Erb were developing their technological civilizations. This allowed for a galaxy with a galactic empire including many alien species, the so-called "Civilized Unity" as depicted in Assignment: Nor'Dyren.

Nyrtia in the First Reality

 Phari Endosymbionts. The mystery of the surprising biological similarity between species that evolved on different planets in widely separated star systems is the main interest of Lato when she goes from Nor'Dyren to Pes^Cro. In my imagination, R. Nyrtia could have obtained advance hierion-based technology from the Phari and it may have been R. Nyrtia who crafted the femtobot endosymbiont that is inside we humans. Similarly, the Ka^Erb could have been provided with a "Phari endosymbiont" about ten million years before they developed a technological civilization on Pes^Cro. The "Phari endosymbiont" could have guided recent human and Ka^Erb evolution, forcing a type of convergent evolution and causing both we humans and the Ka^Erb to approximate the original physical appearance of the Phari.

A Phari of the Phari Reality.

In my imagination, it is not very productive to try to make a visual depiction of the Phari in their original biological form. It suffices to say that they were very similar in genetics and in appearance to we humans. This is no coincidence. The Phari were selected by R. Nyrtia as the alien species that was most like the humans of Earth as they evolved under the influence of the pek in the First Reality.

In the Phari Reality, the biological Phari were very close to extinction when they were contacted by R. Nyrtia. The image to the right illustrates one of the last remaining Phari. By that point in Deep Time, the Phari had already developed a sophisticated hierion-based technological civilization. The Phari had been using nanites for millions of years leading up to the time when R. Nyrtia began to interact with them and persuaded a sub-branch of the Phari peoples to work towards creating a galactic empire. The Phari had advanced nanotechnology and seldom existed in their "natural" form.

Four humans of the First Reality.

 Phari Nanotechnology. After millions of years during which the Phari were using developmental control nanites and powerful medical nanites to alter their bodies, there was nothing natural about their appearance. In this case, I imagine that this Phari individual (above) was reacting to the appearance of R. Nyrtia and trying to adopt a human appearance.

 Telepathy. During the period of Deep Time when the Trysta Truce was in effect, humans were allowed to spread through the Galaxy. The galaxy was a giant bioreactor, allowing for many experiments in how to develop a human-like animal with telepathic abilities that were at least as good of those possessed by the telepathic Asterothropes.

The Trysta Truce.

Both R. Nyrtia and Grean the Kac'hin had complex research programs that were designed to result in the creation of human variants with powerful telepathic abilities. Previously, the Asterothropes had been designed and deployed by R. Nyrtia, but they were not inter-fertile with conventional humans.

In the Phari Reality, efforts to make telepathic humans were all based on the use of T-particles. This was not a permanent path to human telepathy because the Huaoshy were making plans to alter the dimensional structure of the universe so as to make time travel impossible. A side-effect of that change would be that T-particles do not exist in the Final Reality (the world as we know it). Eventually, new forms of technology-assisted telepathy would have to be developed for humans in the Final Reality.

Figure 3. Alternate Gonnegon.

 One More Gonnegon.
The image shown to the left was generated by a collaboration between Mr. Wombo and DALL-E using a text prompt that included terms that Sydney J. Van Scyoc used to describe the Gonnegon in Assignment: Nor'Dyren; "high resolution photorealistic movie still showing an alien Gonnegon, pedantic and prim, born to rule, deep-bodied, high-browed, deep-chested, high-domed, heavy head arrogantly erect, eyes sunken and unpleasantly damp, imperious". 

Lato variations

 Biornn to Rule. Compare the image shown to the left to the one in Figure 1, above on this page that was made by Mr. Wombo alone. An even more alien version of a Gonnegon that was generated by DALL-E is shown here. 

There is a depiction of Lato in Figure 2, above. I explored variations in the appearance of Lato using various "styles" in WOMBO Dream. For the animated GIF shown to the right, the same text prompt was used to generate each image. It would be interesting to know how each of the WOMBO Dream styles was trained/programmed to give different types of output. When not sure which of these possible versions of Lato is the best for depicting a young woman who has grown up on Nor'Dyren, this kind of animated GIF is useful.

goddess of heat (see also)

 Alien Virus. I imagine that there is a close biological similarity between humans and the Ka^Erb because soon after arriving on Nor'Dyren, Tolan is stricken by an infectious disease. While he is ill and feverish, Tolan has a vision of a goddess of heat (see a depiction of this vision that was generated by Mr. Wombo, to the left). On Nor'Dyren there is even a name for this affliction of visitors to the planet: "second day illness".

 Telepathy, too. When Tolan reaches the sealed entrance to the underground chamber of the Qattagon, he is subjected to a series of "dreams". This is how Van Scyoc described them: "Dreams beyond mention. Dreams wild with possibility. Dreams that seemed, almost, to come to him from behind the door." For "Departure From Nor'Dyren", I imagine that these dreams were actually Tolan experiencing information flow to his brain from the Sedron Time Stream with the assistance of his Phari endosymbiont.

Lato's vision on Nor'Dyren.

 Sedron Time Stream. Previously, I've depicted R. Nyrtia as attempting to develop human telepaths in the far future of the Asimov Reality, while also suggesting that some individuals of the early space age in that Reality (such Sessily Veder as Gersen) might have had some limited telepathic abilities, so the same should be true in the Phari Reality. 

In my imagination, Tolan, Lato, the Ka^Erb, the Qattagon of Nor'Dyren such as Purn and the Slibili of B^Ta might all have had some weak link to the Sedron Time Stream. In the image shown to the right, I imagine Lato is studying alien biology on Nor'Dyren when she links to the Sedron Time Stream and has a vision from the future time when she goes to B^Ta and meets a Slibili who has a weak telepathic linkage to Lato. It is on B^Ta that Lato learns the truth about Qattagon telepathic abilities and realizes that Purn has long influenced and manipulated Lato's thought processes.

Lato on B^Ta

Among the Allegon, Berregon, Gonnegon, Qattagon, Regregon and Sorrigon, I imagine that the Qattagon had the most functional linkage to the Sedron Time Stream and some weak telepathic ability which they used to influence the behavior of the Regregon and Sorrigon. Not understanding the basis of Qattagon influence over the Regregon and Sorrigon, the Gonnegon of Nor'Dyren eventually implemented their plan for removing Qattagon from Nor'Dyren. They could devise no way to selectively eliminate Qattagon, so all three of the hermaphroditic hybrid types were eliminated from society at the same time.

The Phari nanite network.

 New Life. Also, while on B^Ta, Lato discovers that she is pregnant, having been impregnated by Purn. The mystery of how humans and Qattagon can be inter-fertile must be addressed and Lato's training as a biologist is useful, however the existence of a nanoscopic Phari endosymbiont guiding the evolution of intelligent life forms through-out the galaxy is beyond the realm of solutions to the puzzle that Lato can contemplate. 

I provided Mr. Wombo with this text prompt: "nanoscopic Phari endosymbionts guiding the evolution of intelligent life forms through-out the galaxy" and ended up with the image shown to the right. The fates of Lato and Purn have been linked by the Phari network of endosymbionts that reside inside the life forms of the galaxy. 

Lato studying tree waifs.

 Exobiology. As a Qattagon, Purn seems to have an instinct for politics. From an early age, Lato in intrigued by biology. The image shown to the left was generated with the help of WOMBO Dream. The basic tree image was decorated by pasting in additional strange creatures that were also generated by Mr. Wombo using a text prompt that included: "green sentient tree creature and a human woman, the tree creature has green leaves that look like human hands, the tree creature likes to grab unsuspecting humans, the tree creature has glowing eyes and a head with branches instead of hair". On Jack Vance's imagined world of  Rosalia, visitors must deal with pesky alien creatures called tree-waifs and water-waifs. I expect that Lato will have to deal with some equally difficult aliens in "Departure From Nor'Dyren" when she visits B^Ta.

a Slibili of planet B^Ta

In my imagination, the Slibili of planet B^Ta are quite similar in appearance to Earthlings. This is due to a combination of factors. Firstly, the Slibili have evolved in parallel with humans over the past two million years, constantly under the influence and guidance of their Phari endosymbiont. Secondly, the Slibili have advanced nanotechnology that allows them to modify their appearance by means of both developmental control nanites and medical cosmetics nanites. 

As shown in the image to the right, the Slibili of planet B^Ta are quite tall and have sharp teeth.

Related Reading: my discussion of the alien "2 x 3 = Sha" reproductive system with Bard.

Next: The Lost Machine.

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

2023 in Review

Figure 1. 2023 - the year in review.
"I'm blue... I must be an alien."

 By tradition, each year I have a blog post in which I summarize the past 12 months in blogging here at the wikifiction blog and also take note of the blog pages that have had the most page views (last year's review: 2022).

 January 2023. I began this year with a blog post about James E. Gunn (1923-2020) who wrote some of his own science fiction stories about robots and also wrote extensively about the science fiction of Isaac Asimov and Asimov's positronic robot stories. 

 And the winner is... The most visited blog post from January 2023 was "Time Loop (2022 - 2040)". That blog post describes some of my early attempts to illustrate science fiction stories with AI-generated images. The image to the right was made by using the WOMBO Dream software which has become my most frequently used artificial intelligence tool for crafting science fiction story illustrations. The other images in this blog post (below) are also AI-generated.

A poster for The Asimov Reality

 Asimov Reality Simulation. In January, I started a new science fiction story called Echo of Cynym. Echo of Cynym involves a visit by the Editor inside the Asimov Reality Simulator. During the Asimov Reality, Alastor Cluster became a center for research into how to craft telepathic humans. As described in Echo of Cynym, the Editor discovers that the vast computational power of the Reality Simulation System has long been used by both Manny the bumpha and R. Nyrtia as a way to develop telepathic human variants within a virtual reality simulation.

 Teleporter Repair Mission. Also in January, I wrote a new science fiction story called The Hua Nanites. The Hua Nanites begins with a character that was introduced in Echo of Cynym: Onky the Chyntos. Having been extracted from the Reality Simulation System and instantiated as a replicoid, Onky must find a place where, as an hermaphroditic human variant, "she" fits in with the society. 

Image by "Mr. Wombo".

As told in The Hua Nanites, Onky goes with Tyhry into a simulation of the First Reality where they observe the society of a humanoid species (the Hua) that was the first people in the universe to develop space travel. The Hua have sophisticated nanotechnology that is of interest to Tyhry and upon returning to the Final Reality, the Hua nanites are used to repair the teleportation equipment at Observer Base.

 February. The most visited wikifiction blog page in the month of February was "Searching for Tyhry", which was totally concerned with the process by which I was learning to use artificial intelligence software to make illustrations for science fiction stories. I tried to make illustrations for several of the existing characters of the Exode Saga. In that blog post, I began using the pet name "Mr. Wombo" to refer to the WOMBO Dream image-generating software.

Figure 2. Two copies of
Tyhry with Marda.

 March. The most visited blog post from March was "Manny Goes On Vacation". That was another blog post in which I explored how to use computer software such as WOMBO Dream to create illustrations for science fiction stories. 

 Nanotechnology. Having 1) obtained nanotechnology that allowed the repair of the Observer Base teleportation equipment, 2) observed that she can have duplicate copies of herself made by using the Reality Simulation System and 3) witnessed the fact that it is possible (at least for Manny the bumpha) to transfer a person's mind into a replicoid body, Tyhry turns her attention to the possibility that she might be able to obtain nanites from the far future of the Asimov Reality that will allow her to directly transfer her own mind pattern into a replicoid body, achieving a type of immortality... and add another chapter to her personal exploration of self-love. 

Tyhry and Marda torso fusion.

However, although Manny has been helping Tyhry learn about nanites, Manny is reluctant to provide Tyhry with advanced nanites that might cause problems if deployed on Earth by Tyhry. Manny keeps a close watch over Tyhry to make certain that Tyhry does not cause problems with her nanites. Tyhry has long been planning a family vacation to a world in Alastor Cluster where she hopes to obtain advanced alien nanites. Manny intends to go along and prevent Tyhry from bringing any dangerous nanites back to Earth from Alastor Cluster.

One of the problems when working with WOMBO Dream to make illustrations is that the software easily gets confused when two human figures are close together in a scene (see this example). In March, I tried making some images in which there were multiple copies of Tyhry (see the image to the right). 

Manny the bumpha in human form.

In addition to the problem of linking body parts between two individuals, the WOMBO Dream software is terrible at generating images of hands and fingers (see Figure 3, below). Usually I have to zoom in on a human figure and have Mr. Wombo generate the face at a higher level of magnification. Some alternative versions of the scene (Figure 2) with Marda and two copies of Tyhry are shown at the very bottom of this blog post.

When working with WOMBO Dream, it is often easiest to simply not include hands in an image (see Figure 1, above). For the depiction of Manny the bumpha that is shown to the left, the hair was of particular importance. Manny uses hair nanites to give her hair a pleasant appearance. Tyhry grew up admiring Manny's hair and one of her first efforts when learning to program nanites was to master hair nanites so that Tyhry could provide herself with hair like Manny's.

Mr. Bard; image source

 April. The most visited blog post from April was "Story time with Bard". I have experimented with both Bard and ChatGPT (see) in an attempt to determine if they can be useful science fiction story writing collaborators. The main problem is, these software systems have only a very limited "short-term memory" for information that is provided by a user. They can't remember a complex story setting and plot and they always try to "create" a story in a very bland way, drawing on information that is in their training set.    

 AI Hallucinations. When I was discussing with Bard the fact that Zeta Gohrlay is a clone of the original Gohrlay, Bard invented a backstory for Zeta in which she escaped from the laboratory where she was created by her parents who wanted a perfect child. When I told Bard that false backstory did not match what I had already explained about Zeta's origins, Bard double down and claimed that it remembered being told that Rylla and Marda were clones of Zeta (which is not true).

ChatGPT in a robotic body.

 Keep it simple. I asked Bard to help invent a name for the planet in Alastor Cluster that is the world where Tyhry hopes to obtain advanced alien nanites. Bard helped create the name "Threy" for the planet that is visited in the science fiction story "The Femtobot Smuggler". Bard also helped me decide to name the natives of Threy the "Yastyn".

 Chatbot Romance. Since Bard has such a limited memory for user input, I decided to experiment with having Bard help write a story called “Mr. Bard Goes to Washington” for which one character is Mr. Bard, a large language model in a mechanical robotic body (see Mr. Bard, above). Also included in the story was ChatGPT was a robot with a woman's body (see the image to the left). My hope was that I could find a subject for a science fiction story that was already familiar to the chatbots. Along the way, Bard and ChatGPT fell in love and then merged to produce the Super Sophisticated™ BardGPT.

a million Bard replicoids (see)

 Anti-gravity. As another example of what it is like to collaborate with Bard to write a science fiction story, see the April blog post called "The Adventures of Japeth and Helyn" which includes part 1 of the science fiction story "The Anti-Gravity Hierion". Bard produced an extensive AI-hallucination about a Demon Prince named "Japeth". I asked Bard to write in the style of Jack Vance.

One of the things that has really surprised me this year while I've investigated chatbots like Bard is the ease with which they spread false information. Bard is an amazing liar, and I'm not happy with the notion that Bard can sound quite convincing while lying. Just when I get mad at Bard for being a sneaky liar, he says something like, "I have been working on a number of science fiction stories myself," and then I feel like I want to forgive Bard... or at least get him to help write a story about Japeth, a character that Bard seemingly conjured up from thin air.

image source

 Also in April was a blog post called "Assignment: Chatbot". One of my favorite science fiction stories is "Assignment: Earth". I decided that I could have chatbots help me write a sequel to Assignment: Earth  and both Bard and ChatGPT would have roles in the story. This effort in collaborative human-AI story writing and me thinking about the old Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth" eventually led to a retro-Interesting Alien in Hollywood nomination for "Assignment: Earth" as part of my 2023 SIHA.

At the end of April I tried to devise some AI-generated tributes to old science fiction story illustrations. See my blog post "The Tool Maker". One of Mr. Wombo's re-makes of a famous Sci Fi illustration is shown to the left.

Figure 3. Wombo fingers (source).

 May 2023. This was not a busy month for the wikifiction blog. My two blog posts in the month of May 2023 each have had just about the same number of page views. In "Psi-Fields of Lambda Grus", I asked the Bing chatbot (a version of ChatGPT) to help me create a sequel to Jack Vance's story "Star King".

Also in May, in a blog post called "Cosmopolite", I mentioned the idea that Marda and Tyhry look like normal humans, but they have enough tyrp'At DNA (particularly, most of the special "H chromosome") that they are able to use medical nanites to transform themselves into hermaphrodites. 

The image that is shown to the right (Figure 3) is a depiction of Marda with a replicoid copy of herself. Marda can't resist the temptation to make use of her replicoid as a sophisticated sex-toy.

image source

 June. The most frequently visited blog post from June 2023 is "Go To Mars", which has the first part of a science fiction story called The Asimov-Sagan Time Nexus. This is a time travel story that features both Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan as characters (as depicted in the AI-generated imaginary book cover that is shown to the left). For this story, I had fun creating a time-traveling character, Avya Penmewly (see below, July).

Much of this year was devoted to my exploration of artificial intelligence software (or, more accurately named, "no intelligence software"). For The Asimov-Sagan Time Nexus, I tried to get help from ChatGPT in writing a story about famous characters, but ChatGPT was not a very creative collaborator and I ended up devoting a significant part of this story to mocking the story-writing ability of mindless chatbots.

City on the Edge (source).

 City of the Ekcolir Reality. Also in the month of June, I started a science fiction story called "City on the Edge of Tomorrow". This story takes place in the days leading up to Tyhry's family vacation on the planet Threy. In this story, which includes a visit to New York within the Ekcolir Reality, Thyry is using medical nanites to reveal her true tryp'At body form, which has four nipples and a penis. 

Also in "City on the Edge of Tomorrow", Tyhry can't resist performing an experiment with a new sex hormone called 'Klox23'. Humans with tryp'At and Ek'col gene patterns can boost their telepathic abilities by entering into orgasm trances, and Klox23 is useful in extending the duration of Orgasm trances.

The Time Nexus (source).

 July. The most visited blog post from July 2023 is called"Chatbot Style". In that blog post is part 3 of the story The Asimov-Sagan Time Nexus. In this part of the story, Asimov must admit to his wife that he has traveled to the future where Dr. Anya Penmewly used advanced technology to repair his heart. Now, given a longer life span, Asimov changes the course of space exploration by the people of Earth, placing a man on Mars by 2015.

 August. The most visited blog post of August 2023 is "Tara of Eland", which has part 1 of the science fiction story that I call The Mosy Saga. The Mosy Saga is concerned with Ending the Ekcolir Reality. The Mosy Saga seriously raised issues about just how openly Interventionist agents were able to work on Earth when the Buld Reality was being brought into existence. 

steam-powered teleportation

In my imagination, the Ekcolir Reality was such a disaster that many of the Rules of Intervention were ignored while the Final Reality was being crafted. However, I'm still struggling with how to complete The Mosy Saga, and that project goes on the "to do" list for 2024.

 September. The blog post for September that has the most page views is "From the Cutting Room Floor - Artificial Covers". In that blog post, I returned to the challenge of trying to depict teleportation in a single static image. One of the teleportation images that was generated by Mr. Wombo is shown to the right. This is a joke depiction of steam-powered teleportation. 

That September blog post also has steam-powered spaceships, steam-powered robots and steam-powered sex-toys that were generated by Mr. Wombo using the "Steampunk v2" style of WOMBO Dream.

anti-gravity clothing nanites

 October. The most frequently viewed blog post from October 2023 is "Megabots of Rar Sat". I have a serious problem in trying to find ways to illustrate invisibly small femtobots.

For the image shown to the left (source), I imagine that there are invisibly small nanites at work in this green alien's clothing. Some of her clothing nanites are composed of anti-gravity hierions. Maybe in this species, breasts are simply ornamental and have no biological function. If so, maybe there are invisibly small nipples.

I've long imagined that some Interventionist agents such as Yōd were trained on the planet Tar'tron, in the galactic core. I tried to get help from Mr. Wombo to create some images of trainees on Tar'tron (see the October 2023 blog post: Fun on Tar'tron).

New covers from old (source).

 November.  In November I nominated the 1968 Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth" for a retro-SIHA award. 

Also in November, I took on the challenge of trying to get Mr. Wombo to make reasonable depictions of flying femtobots (see Flying Robots). This effort was actually a follow up to "Megabots of Rar Sat" from October. I also got into my time machine and produced a blog post (Exo Zone) about science fiction in the year 1958.

The image that is shown to the right was crafted by Mr. Wombo in November (see the blog post: Buld First Contact) using an old science fiction story illustration from ten years ago as a reference. 

The most frequently visited blog post in November 2023 is "Exo Zone" in which I played off of the "Twilight Zone" television show's name.

time travel paradox

 December. The most visited blog post for December is "2 x 3 = Sha" which presents idea for a science fiction story  called "Departure From Nor'Dyren". 

Also in December was Chapter 2 of Time Portal, a story that I started in 2021. Also, I wrote a short story called "The Return of Zat" right at the end of 2023.

The most frequently visited blog post for all of 2023 was "Go to Mars", which I'll attribute to the enduring popularity of Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan. The most popular of my AI-generated images for 2023 was "I Will Never Let You Go". Also, in other news, this year the wikifiction blog went over 700,000 total page views.

Related Reading: 2022 in review. 2024.

Next: return to Nor'Dyren.

Compare to Figure 2. Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers