The Oxypathin Factor

Original cover art by Earl Bergey
and Kelly Freas and see this.

Below on this page is part 5 of the science fiction story "Meet the Phari". Some of the characters in "Meet the Phari" were introduced previously in The Alastor Network. You might want to read The Alastor Network first, but "Meet the Phari" is intended to be a story that can be read without first reading The Alastor Network.

Traveling through Alastor Cluster, Kwystyk meets one of the telepathic alien-human hybrids of Yerophet, a man named Larryfial. Also, Kwystyk has a second encounter with the mysterious Plesypy who now seems to be following Kwystyk.

Kwystyk and Rob-B arrive on Yerophet and intend to deliver a set of newly-available gene sequences that will be used to craft two mind clones, Snoyl and Bryget. However, before they can complete their mission, they receive an unexpected visitor.

⎯ Meet the Phari ؄

Part 5. Larryfial and Berryfial. (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

For the last part of their journey across Alastor Cluster, Kwystyk and Rob-B transferred from Ypogeia to another spaceship, the Ernte Extranpolis. The Ernte Extranpolis was a far larger passenger cruiser than the Ypogeia and had additional amenities such as a large Grand Ballroom and, so it seemed to Kwystyk, every other conceivable recreational facility. The 'cabin' that Rob-B and Kwystyk shared was a luxurious suite of rooms with its own private exercise room and a big spa that held both a large hot tub and a walk-in sauna.

The evening before arriving on Yerophet, Kwystyk and Rob-B attended the Giampara Ball, an annual extravaganza on board Ernte Extranpolis that featured the Ampara Dance Company and Orchestra, a performance group known across the Cluster for the powerful sashei of the dancers who mingled with the passengers during the Ball.

Kwystyk and Rob-B were participating in the tangex dance mode to the side of the Ballroom where the younger passengers had congregated. Rob-B was still using his "old man" disguise and impressing the young dancers with his ability to keep up with Kwystyk. After the first five minutes of dancing, Kwystyk had given up on the hat and now his long ears were out in the open for all to see.

After completing a particularly energetic and flamboyant dance, just short of a gymnastics routine, one of the Ampara dancers asked to dance with Rob-B and so Kwystyk had a welcomed chance to sit down and rest. However, after only twenty seconds in his chair to the side of the dance floor, Kwystyk was asked to dance by a tall passenger who he had already noticed for two reasons. First, simply because of his great height and second, because of his blue skin tone. Kwystyk gestured to a chair and said, "Please, sit with me for a minute. I'm taking a short break."

The man sat down and introduced himself as a native of Yerophet. His name was Larryfial and he had been studying at the Galactic University on Dreavero for the past five years, completing an advanced degree in biochemistry. As the Ampera Orchestra began the next song, Larryfial pulled Kwystyk to his feet and led him out onto the dance floor. Larryfial held Kwystyk close for a slow dance mode that involved considerable physical contact with one's partner. "You caught my attention... not many women are as tall as you are. Also, I sense that you have telepathic abilities."

Kwystyk admitted, "I'm going to Yerophet to help with the on-going effort to improve the abilities of human-alien hybrids. How about you? You are extremely tall... I suppose both your height and your blue pigmentation are signs of alien genes in your family."

"Well, some humans are naturally tall." Larryfial playfully tweaked the tip of Kwystyk's ear. "Which can't be said for your alien ears. However, the mystery of my genetic origins was what motivated me to study the mechanisms of inheritance. Now, my education complete, I hope to apply my knowledge on Yerophet."

"I do hope you like my big ears. They rather stand out and I know that some people find them rather comical. Sometimes I try to hide them."

in the Ekcolir Reality

"You shouldn't do that. Your ears are cute. I refuse to hide my blue skin. Oh, sure, there are some people who still have anti-alien biases, but these days most people accept the existence of alien-human hybrids, even if we are rare."

Kwystyk was actively resisting Larryfial's efforts to dance even closer. "I need to warn you about an anatomical matter that is less obvious than my ears."

Larryfial had been admiring Kwystik's cleavage that showed above his low-cut dance gown. He chuckled and told Kwystyk, "Don't try to tell me that your breasts are not real. I won't believe it."

"No, these breasts are real. My big... secret... is that my mother is an hermaphrodite."

"Imagine that! I suppose you know that the Kerub are hermaphrodites. So, I grew up knowing many hermaphrodites on Yerophet." Larryfial altered his dance step and bumped against Kwystyk's crotch. He asked, "Are you trying to tell me that you have a penis?"

"Yes, you guessed my secret. In fact, I have testes and no ovaries, so I self-identify as male."

Larryfial nodded. "I wondered about your deep voice and powerful shoulders. Well, thank you for telling me. I'll be honest with you... I prefer women or hermaphrodites, anyone with a vagina."

"Your instincts were good." Kwystyk explained, "I have a vagina, although it has no reproductive function... it is a vestigial remnant that I inherited. I'm worried that a big guy like you might be too big..."

Larryfial laughed. "Now I'm intrigued. I suppose in the interest of science we should perform a quick test to see if my erect penis would fit inside you, but I'm not in the mood for a new research project this evening. I thank you for the dance and I'll move on. Where will you be staying on Yerophet?"

"Near Capetown, a small town called Goslewenn."

Sally Lanty's study of telepathic sashei.
This image made with EveRoom01,
 Elves03 and Redhead6 by
Eclesi4stiK available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

"Really? I know Goslewenn well... I live just to the north of there, in Yurds, which is famous for the big ski resort. Maybe we will cross paths on Yerophet." The next song was starting and Larryfial went off in search of another dance partner.

Splashing around his own considerable telepathic sashei among the Ampara dancers, Rob-B got invited to the performers' dressing facility after the dance. Kwystic was rather worn out and when Rob-B began showing off his genitals backstage to some of the dancers, Kwystyk returned to his cabin and was soon sleeping soundly.

Later, Rob-B arrived with one of the dancers and after a time in the spa, woke Kwystyk from a sexually-charged dream about Kwanya. Rob-B, naked and wet, asked, "Care to join us in some sex play?"

Now awake, Kwystyk could sense a powerful flood of telepathic sashei from both Rob-B and the dancer who had just a few minutes earlier achieved an orgasm while playing in the hot tub with Rob-B. Kwystyk said, "I want to be well rested when we reach Yerophet. Carry on without me." Rob-B returned to the dancer, however, Kwystyk was unable to fall back asleep. Now annoyed by the joyful and erotic telepathic signals and sounds coming from Rob-B and the dancer, Kwystyk slipped out of the cabin and went to one of the always-open bars of Ernte Extranpolis.

Kwystyk sat down at a small table in a dim corner, placed an order and was soon sipping a potent alcoholic drink. He was still thinking about Kwanya and the erotic dream he had been having about her. A 'voice' suddenly intruded on Kwystyk's thoughts: May I join you?

Kwystyk looked up from the depths of his drink and saw the Plesypy who had earlier appeared on board the Ypogeia. The four-legged Plesypy sat down beside Kwystyk's table.

Kwystyk looked around the bar and wondered what would happen when someone else saw the Plesypy. Kwystyk asked: You are some kind of artificial lifeform, not biological?

Plesypy

 I'm composed of nanite components. The Plesypy allowed its head to begin breaking into a cloud of individual nanites, then quickly shifted the shape of its head to take on the form of a human. Kwystyk glanced down and saw that the Pleysypy's hind quarters had morphed into the form of a human lower body seated in a chair. The Plesypy told Kwystyk: "I noticed that you seem to be puzzled by Kwanya's rather special telepathic mind."

Kwystyk had been wishfully fantasizing about the delicious Kwanya, but now was reminded of the mystery of how she had come into his life. He asked: You and that Iidi arranged for me to meet Kwanya?"

No, this is all part of Delpha's scheming. The Plesypy looked across the room at the bar tender. However, meeting her like that is a good lesson for you... the next time you bump into one of your fellow nanocoid recipients you won't be so surprised and maybe you won't feel the need to immediately start copulating.

Kwystyk grinned at the alien's seeming disapproval. With a strong telepathic link to Kwanya's mind, the two of them had gotten into a positive feedback cycle of rising sexual desire. But why should this Plesypy care about the mating habits of humans? This is what you intend to do from now on? Follow me around and watch me playing with my lovers?

The Plesypy explained: We can't afford to let you interfere with the creation of mind clones on Yerophet. I would have been pleased had you gone directly from Marune to Kwenslo. You are not really needed on Yerophet, so I tried to make you travel with Kwanya to Numenes, but I was blocked out.

Kwystyk was vaguely aware that Delpha and his mother were in the middle of a long-standing conflict with R. Gohrlay and R. Nyrtia. Kwystyk asked the Plesypy: Are you an agent working for Nyrtia?

The Plesypy suddenly vanished. A few seconds later the waiter arrive and asked Kwystyk if he wanted another drink. "No, thank you." The waiter was puzzled, quite certain that a few moments earlier there had been two customers at this table. Shaking his head, the waiter went away.

Iidi

Now the Plesypy did not bother to become visible. You might call me a double agent. Both Delpha and the positronic robots have tried to recruit me, but I refuse to do their bidding. We Plesypy have our own concerns and interests, which center on Ottengla. I'm helping deal with the cold fever epidemic on Yerophet because doing so will soon provide a solution to a big problem that has been disrupting life on Ottengla.

Kwystyk had studied and investigated the telepathic abilities of the Fwai-chi and Hui-chi on Marune, but he knew very little about the other types of alien creatures in Alastor Cluster. I know that my mother has access to advanced nanotechnology, but I was not aware that species such as the Plesypy are also adepts of the nano-arts.

The Plesypy explained: Humans can't be trusted with nanotechnology, so it is best not to even raise the topic of nanites during discussions with humans. In your case, it is a relief to deal with someone who already knows about the power of infites. Around you, I don't need to pretend to be a biological organism.

Kwystyk could not stop wondering why his mother had not warned him about the interests of the Iidi and Plesypy in the human-alien breeding project on Yerophet. Tell me, what exactly are you Plesypy trying to accomplish on Yerophet?

Because of temporal paradoxes, I can't say too much. The alien paused. However, you met Larryfial earlier. His sister played an important role in the telepathy breeding project, producing a Kerub who will help solve the cold fever problem. In exchange for our help, Ottengla is getting a fix for the chronic starmenter problem that has long plagued us.

Kwystyk complained: I wish I understood what you are talking about. When I was told to visit Yerophet, I was worried about the epidemic, but my mother told me that I don't have to worry about cold fever.

True. Your nanocoid implant gives you immunity. And lucky for you, you cant gestate a baby. Your immunity to cold fever would not extend to a baby inside your uterus.

This image made using Elf1, EllieRoom10,
SpencerPool7, NewElf8(W) and Elfy:Elf Rally by
Eclesi4stiK available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Kwystyk asked: Why do you mention gestating babies? However, there was no reply from the Plesypy who had either departed or returned to its observation mode. Kwystyk briefly thought of getting into some sort of mischief that might bring the alien back, but then began thinking seriously about what lay ahead on Yerophet. There was now a mixed feeling of both excitement and dread hanging over Kwystyk's immanent arrival on Yerophet. He wondered: What am I getting myself into? Kwystyk departed from the bar and when he returned to the cabin, the dancer was gone.

As soon as Kwystyk entered through the front door of their suite, Rob-B said, "At last you return. I almost went out searching for you, but strangely I could not detect your mind pattern."

Kwystyk suggested, "I was drinking. Maybe that altered my mind pattern." But clearly the Plesypy had wanted a private chat with Kwystyk, with no interference from Rob-B. Because of infites received from the Iidi or from the Plesypy, Kwystyk now knew that the robots of Triskelion were not trusted by the aliens.

Rob-B said, "Very strange that you walked out on a chance to have sex with that cute dancer. I'm sure you could feel her powerful sashei."

"It is good for me to actually think once and a while rather than always be trying to keep up with you and your sexcapades."

"I sense that you are thinking about Kwanya. You really like her."

alien-human hybrids

"I'm going to get some sleep. We can talk in the morning."

________________

Kwystyk awoke four hours later with Rob-B shaking his shoulder. "We'll land on Yerophet soon." The robot had taken on yet another new form, that of a woman crafted from Bob-B's imagination. Emerging into waking consciousness, it took a few seconds before Kwystyk realized what was happening. Kwystyk felt the robot's familiar mind pattern and he briefly wondered: How hard would it be for another robot to impersonate Rob-B?

Kwystyk took a quick shower and tried to recall the origin of a stray memory fragment. Someone blue? Kwystyk thought about Larryfial, but that was not it. The Plesypy's memory editing nanites were now blocking Kwystyk from thinking about their meeting in the bar. Gazing appreciatively at Rob-B's new body form, Kwystyk stepped out from the shower. The robot handed him a nanite vial. Taking the vial, Kwystyk asked, "The other day, when you were blocked from telling me something... was it Kwanya that you could not tell me about?"

"No. I had no inkling that we would meet her." Rob-B tapped the vial with a finger. "It is time for you to return to being blue." The robot kissed one of Kwystyk's nipples. "Poor timing, now that your nipples are such a pretty pink."

Kwystic opened the vial and the nanites quickly dried his skin and started shifting his pigmentation back to his normal blue tones. "So, there is someone on Yerophet that I will meet, but you can't warn me?"

"That's right. I can't tell you what to expect, although your mother told me about that part of your future. These temporal paradoxes sure can be frustrating. I can't imagine what the harm would be in you knowing what I know."

"Strange. I wonder who it could be. Why should you know, but not me? I hope there is not some dangerous situation looming. I've led a rather sheltered life and can't be expected to fend off trouble."

"Relax. Neither your mother or I would allow you to get involved with anything risky."

Goslewenn

Two hours later, they were on Yerophet and Rob-B was landing their rented aircar in Goslewenn, on the roof of a glass and steel house near the Kerub frontier. It was the middle of the night, local time, and after getting their luggage into the house, Rob-B joined Kwystyk by the fireplace. Rob-B said, "I can deliver the gene sequences to Lora in the morning. There is no real need for you to come with me to the genetics lab."

"Of course I'll go to the lab. I'm not going to sit here by this nice fire after crossing the Cluster to complete this mission. It is damned cold outside, but I don't mind bundling up."

"I assumed you would want to visit that Larryfial fellow. I could drop you off at his place and-"

"No. I'm not interested."

"You keep thinking about him."

It was true. Since arriving in Goslewenn, Kwystyk had been feeling the unusual thought pattern of Larryfial's mind... strangely amplified and twisted into a distracting pattern of telepathic impulses. "Actually, I've been wondering about his sister."

"Larryfial's sister? What sister?"

"I don't know any details, but somehow she is involved with creation of telepathic hybrids on Yerophet."

Rob-B asked suspiciously, "It was that Iidi, wasn't it? She told you."

A depiction of Fi made with evesnow02 by
Eclesi4stiK available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

"What if it was?"

"I wonder why the Iidi have taken an interest in us. It seems a strange coincidence that Larryfial picked you out of the crowd. I'm worried that he may have planted a nanite tracking probe on you."

"What for? What if he did?"

"Lora is paranoid about security. A tacking probe could reveal the lab's location to starmenters, or anyone. Lora would not like me bringing you into her facility if you are going to reveal its existence to outsiders."

"You are not worried that Sylvone or that dancer might have put tracking nanites into you body?"

Rob-B shook her head. "No. Those were just two very sexy women. I was thoroughly inside both their vaginas and their minds. I assure you, neither of them was a spy. I'm not sure about Larryfial. He knew more than he told you."

"You sound disappointed that you could not get into his vagina."

"Well, I did think about arranging to get his huge penis inside of me." Rob-B giggled. "It is by means of direct physical contact with humans that I can best read their thoughts. And for full access, to human memories, it is best to snoop when their defenses are down, which is during an orgasm."

"Lucky for you, people like having sex. Often."

"It was not always this way." Rob-B explained, "Back when humans first arrived in Alastor Cluster, Nyrtia set up a centuries long breeding program that depended on trillions of breeders. Nyrtia altered the cortex of the early settlers of the Cluster and now all the humans here in Alastor cluster have a large fraction of their cerebral cortex devoted to sensory stimuli that arrive from their skin and particularly their sex organs."

"Are you serious?" Kwystyk wondered if the robot was joking. The robot nodded. "How do you know such things?"

Mixing telepathy genes on Yerophet.

The robot seemed to hesitate. "I'm under constraints and can't answer fully, but Nyrtia sometimes asks me for a favor and we get to discussing her plans and the history of positronic robots."

Just then, the front door of their rented ranch house signaled the presence of guests. It was Larryfial and his sister, Berryfial. They came inside from the cold and Rob-B stowed their cold-protection gear in a closet then went to the kitchen. They settled in by the fireplace and Kwystyk tried not to stare at Berryfial's magnificent double row of breasts as she explained, "I needed to see you before you meet with Lora."

Rob-B returned from the Kitchen with hot drinks for the guests. The robot said, "I sense that you are both telepaths, but with unusual mind patterns. Sadly, I can't syc with either of you."

Larryfial told Kwystyk, "A nasty trick used by starmenters is to turn a robot into an eves-dropping device. As a precaution, we re blocking your robot from accessing our thoughts."

Rob-B asked, "Surely you don't suspect me of working with starmenters."

R. Nyrtia and R. Oliveene Nhevrix

"Maybe not directly, but Gohrlay and Nyrtia long ago established the misguided strategy of using starmenters to collect the genes of promising telepaths." Berryfial paused then added, "Now that we are so close to our goal, we can't risk the possibility that you might tell Nyrtia something that would get spread back to the starmenters. You might be providing starmenters with information without even being aware what is going on."

Kwystyk asked Berryfial, "What did you come to tell me in the middle of the night?"

"I need to ask for your help. When Larry told me that you are from Marune... well, I could not pass up the opportunity." Berryfial told Kwystyk, "I consulted with Lora and learned that you are actually Grean's son."

"What if I am?"

"Allow me to start from the beginning." Berryfial took hold of and jiggled one of her two smaller breasts. "Having two pairs of breasts is an ancient Asterothrope trait. My smaller breasts make oxypathin, a hormone that can amplify telepathic abilities... at least for people who have oxypathin receptors."

in the Buld Reality
original cover art by Kinuko Craft

"But most people lack these oxypathin receptors?"

Larryfial nodded, "Yes, or they have the receptor, but lack access to the hormone.

Berryfial glanced at Rob-B and told Kwystyk, "Now, you two are delivering a modified oxypathin gene cassette that Grean designed specifically to confer the benefits of oxypathin on anyone. By this time next week, we'll have those new genes in the genomes of two mind clones, one of whom will be my great-grand-daughter."

"I see." Kwystyk thought about the great height of both Larryfial and Berryfial and the legend that the Asterothropes, although generated as a human variant, had been significantly taller than humans. "So, you are personally involved in the telepath breeding project... as a source of Asterothrope genes."

"Exactly. However, our early experiments created the cold fever epidemic. Now we have to solve that distracting problem while completing work on the mind clones." Berryfial took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "And a new problem has arisen, that I hope you can help us deal with."

Kwystyk glanced at Rob-B and then told Berryfial, "I assume that Lora knows everything that you just told us."

Lora with her head made up so as to appear human.
Made using Assastudyroom by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

"Probably. Lora is mostly an administrator who has to keep the Whelm off our backs. Lora is a close friend of my daughter, Pepha, and I know they talk all the time. But allow me to get to the point."

"I wish you would."

"I had to make sure that you have the needed background to understand my problem." Berryfial had grown overly warm by the fire. She opened the top few buttons of her top, revealing the fringe of her lacy bra. "Recently our new genetic engineer arrived on Yerophet. He was trained to help us complete the mind clone project and he is essential to our success. Strangely, just in the past few days we learned that he was born on Marune." Both Larryfial and Berryfial were looking back and forth between the faces of Kwystyk and Rob-B. "I sense that you were not aware of this."

Kwystyk shook his head. "No. It seems an odd coincidence. Marune has a small population. Who is this geneticist from Marune?

"His name is Miahco. He claims to have just spent twenty years being prepared by Grean for his work here on Yerophet, so I hoped you might know him."

"I just spent the past 20 years growing up as Grean's son, but I've never heard of Miahco."

Larryfial told Berryfial, "You have to accept the facts. Miahco is from the future."

  Image made with Elena17 by
Eclesi4stiK available
under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Berryfial laughed. "Unfortunately, I find it impossible to believe that time travel is possible."

Kwystyk said, "I occasionally have visions of the future, which may be evidence that time travel does take place."

Berryfial held up her hands. "Let's leave the matter of time travel to the side. I want your help. Miahco is on the verge of abandoning his essential work here on Yerophet."

Kwystyk shrugged. "I'll help if I can, but what do you expect me to do?"

Berryfial replied, "Allow me to introduce you to Miahco and we will discover what can be done."

Next: part 6 of "Meet the Phari".

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Collaborators from the Future

This image made with Elena17 by
Eclesi4stiK available
under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Below on this page is part 6 of the science fiction story "Meet the Phari". Previously, in part 5, Berryfial informed Kwystyk that there was a second person on Yerophet from Marune, a visitor from the future. Kwystyk agreed to meet Miahco and help integrate him into society.

After delivering a set of finely crafted Asterothrope-derived gene clusters to Lora, Kwystyk meets Konywhn, a human-Kerub hybrid, and discovers that they have a strong telepathic connection. Also, Kwystyk has previously had a telepathic vision from the future that included Konywhn. 

Eynta explains to Kwystyk and Konywhn that they share a special prosthetic device, a nanocoid, that enhances their ability to communicate telepathically. Miahco is the teleportation duplicate of a man from the planet Marune, the Kaiark Jochaim of Scharrode. Miahco replaces Eynta at the genetic engineering facility in Goslewenn.

⎯ Meet the Phari ؄

Part 6. Konywhn's nanocoid. (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5)

Berryfial spoke into her comring, "You can come in, now." She told Rob-B, "Miahco has been waiting in my aircar. Please let him in."

Miahco quickly entered as soon as Rob-B opened the front door. Pulling off his cold-protective helmet, he complained, "Why do people live on this frozen planet?"

Rob-B helped Miahco out of his heavily insulated outer layer of clothing and performed introductions. "I'm Rob-B, Kwystyk's assistant." He gestured towards Kwystyk and added, "This is Kwystyk, who like you, was born on Marune."

"I don't remember ever seeing anyone on Marune with blue skin and big pointy ears." Miahco shrugged. "I lived most of my life in the Rhune territory, with only occasional trips to Port Mar." Miahco shook Kwystyk's hand. "Sadly, I can't trust my old memories from Marune, but I never imagined someone like you being born on Marune."

Kwystyk decided to test Miahco. "If you know my mother than you know about cities such as 11a and the alien-human hybrids who live there."

"Hevena?" Miahco was puzzled. "Do you mean the Hui-chi cities?"

"If my mother told you about the Hui-chi then she would have mentioned city 11a. That's where I lived for twenty years with Grean."

Miahco shook his head, "No, I never heard her talk about a particular Hui-chi cavern. It was big news when the Hui-chi revealed their existence. I was tempted to travel from Roceinne to Marune just to meet some Hui-chi, but... well, I never found the time. I was busy."

"You lived on Roceinne?"

 "Yes. Have you ever visited Roceinne?"

"No, but I recently met someone from Roceinne." Kwystyk took Miahco's arm and brought him to sit near the fireplace. "Rob-B, please bring Miahco something hot to drink." After asking the guests what they might want from the kitchen, the robot went off to get their drinks.

Kwystolf and her sister Kwanya. Image made with
 Audrey03 and TrissCity01 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Berryfial told Kwystyk, "Miahco studied genetics on Roceinne. We need his expertise here on Yerophet, but with each passing day he becomes more insistent about wanting to find Grean and arrange to be sent back to the future."

Miahco explained, "There is an expert geneticist here already. I am not really needed. I want to get back to my wife, Kyodora. Just before Grean sent me here, our younger daughter announced that she is pregnant and our older daughter is making plans to attend university. She has the crazy idea that rather than stay near home she must go study on a far world. Kyodora was already upset... and if Grean pretended to kill me..."

Kwystyk suspected that Miahco may have died on Roceinne and then Grean must have made a teleportation duplicate of him. "What is your daughter's name?"

"Our younger daughter is Kwsto-"

Kwystyk impatiently interrupted, "No, the other one."

"Her name is Kwanya. Why?"

"I don't know what is going on." Kwystyk guessed that his mother was playing some strange time travel trick. "I met you daughter just a couple of days ago. She told me that she was traveling to Numenes for a visit and trying to select a university for her studies."

Kyodora, her vision prosthetic dress and Miahco

Larryfial said, "Very odd!"

Rob-B returned and served hot drinks.

Miahco asked Kwystyk, "Are you from the future, too?" Miahco seemed stunned by the idea that Kwystyk had met Kwanya. "Or are you saying that my daughter was also sent here, into the past?"

"Ya... How could I meet your daughter?" Kwystyk shook his head slowly from side to side and then explained, "These are the kinds of impossible-to-accept coincidences that can arise when someone like my mother is playing around with time travel. But allow my to try to sort this all out for us..." He pointed at Miahco, "You were taken from Marune and sent into the future where you lived with my mother for twenty years and-"

Miahco interrupted, "Well, after I met Kyodora, Grean soon departed from Roceinne. I only lived with her for about three years, while I completed by undergraduate studies. After I took up with Ky, Grean would drop in for a visit once in a while, and then about a month ago she told me that I was needed here, in the past. My past... your present."

Kwystyk took hold of Miahco's hand and tried to make telepathic contact, but he drew a blank. "Why did Grean take you away from Marune in the first place?"

Berryfial replied to Kwystyk's question, "I've investigated that matter since Miahco arrived here on Yerophet last week. After piecing together all of the clues, I believe that in his first life, Miahco was named Jochaim, a Rhune Kaiark. Jochaim was killed in battle about two months ago."

Kwystyk was somewhat surprised that Berryfial could know about recent events in the isolated Rhune realms of Marune. "May I ask the source of your information?"

Grean (image credits)

Berryfial shook her head. "I'm not really allowed to-"

The Plesypy who Kwystyk had encountered twice before appeared in the room, materializing from a cloud of nanites. Speaking directly into Kwystyk's mind, the Plesypy said: I have explained the entire situation to Berryfial. She now understands that Eynta is needed on Ottengla. Grean prepared Miahco to replace Eynta in Lora's genetics lab. However, Grean has put so many layers of infites into poor Jochaim's brain that he has developed some resistance to Grean's attempts to control his behavior. I'm reluctant to get involved, but... The Plesypy sent a swarm of Iidi infites into Miahco.

Right after the Plesypy appeared, Rob-B said, "You again!" Rob-B approached the Plesypy and demanded, "What do you want?"

The Plesypy snarled at Rob-B and snapped its teeth in a menacing way.

Berryfial could sense that Kwystyk was in telepathic contact with the Plesypy. She told Kwystyk, "I see that you two know each-other."

Miahco began to feel the effects of the Iidi infites in his mind. His memories were being edited and rearranged. He was vaguely aware of Kwystyk telling Berryfial, "I now understand... you were hoping that I might be able to contact Grean and have her intercede with Miahco. However, it must have been my mother's plan that the Iidi and the Plesypy deal with this matter..."

"I've done what I can." The Plesypy turned a 360 degree circle, looking briefly into each person's eyes then said, "I'll ask you all to not mention to anyone that you saw me here on Yerophet, but I won't try to erase your memories of me." And with that, the Plesypy dissolved away, fragmenting into its constituent nanites which then drifted away.

Plesypy

Miahco was rubbing his head. His frame of mind had been adjusted by the Iidi infites. He looked at Berryfial's spectacular breasts and said, "I'll help Lora, but I want to make a deal. Me helping Lora with the mind clone engineering is conditional on making sure that Kwanya is here of her own free will. I don't understand why Grean would send her into the past!"

Kwystyk said, "My mission here on Yerophet should be quickly completed in the morning. As soon as that task is done, I would be happy to go find Kwanya, but she seemed perfectly happy when I was with her just a few days ago."

Rob-B added, "Even at the risk of hurting human feelings, I feel I must make sure that everyone understands... Grean can alter human memories by means of nanotechnology. However, there are limits to nanosurgical memory modification. Repeated changes to a person's cognitive networks can trigger "fall through", a catastrophic loss of memory. The Kac'hin infite fail-safes will prematurely terminate a mind wipe if damage starts to occur. This must be what happened to Miahco when Grean prepared him to travel into the past, preventing his mind from being properly adjusted for his mission on Yerophet."

infites

Berryfial nodded. "Yes, and each day this past week, Miahco has been remembering more of his life on Raceinne, things that Grean tried to make him forget about, like his family. However, that Plesypy seems to have successfully shifted Miahco into a better state of mind... willing to help complete the mind clone project. But what about Kwanya?"

Rob-B said, "I have a theory. I suspect that the Plesypy showed up here and used nanites to make yet another change to Miahco's mind."

Kwystyk asked suspiciously, "Why should this latest adjustment to his mind be a success when Grean's nanosurgury failed?"

The robot suggested, "Call these modifications to Miahco's mind temporary patches... one by Grean and now another by the Plesypy. The first one lasted a few days, then wore off. This most recent one will wear off, but design of the mind clone genomes is almost complete."

Miahco grumbled, "You can't possibly know that."

Rob-B chuckled and added, "Grean can travel through time. She told me about some future events, so I do know your future, Miahco. You will finish genetically engineering the mind clones." The robot turned to Kwystyk and said, "In contrast to Miahco and his demonstrated resistance to infite-mediated memory editing, we must assume that Grean was able to adequately prepare Kwanya for her own mission here in this time. Grean must have had good reason for also sending Kwanya into the past, something that involves you. Perhaps Kyodora is also living in this time... we will have to seek her out on Raceinne. If my guesses are correct, and if this is their first time having their memories reformatted, then with Grean's infites at work in their minds, they might not even be consciously aware that they are from the future."

Kwystyk wondered if Grean's skills with mind-altering infites were that powerful

the Iidi

"It seems unlikely." Miahco asked, "How could Kwanya and Ky not know that they have been sent through Time, into their own past?"

Berryfial told Miahco, "When Grean took you from Marune to Roceinne, she recreated your mind from the bottom up and you were not aware of how you left Marune, how you had died in battle and how a copy of you was saved by Grean."

Miahco skoffed, "You speak about making copies of people as if it were a trivial matter."

Berryfial explained, "Grean has access to teleportation technology. Almost certainly you are a teleportation duplicate, identical to the atomic level with the copy of you that died on Marune. After Grean was done altering your mind, you were left with a few vague memories of growing up on Marune, but you were perfectly happy in your new life on Roceinne and have never even gone back to Marune for a visit."

"I thought about going back for a visit, there never seemed to be a convenient time, not with my studies and raising two children."

"Exactly. Grean did not want you returning to Marune, like a ghost." Now a bit over-heated, Berryfial stood up and moved away from the fireplace. "I'm going to assume that Grean wanted you to have children with Kyodora... and now Kwanya must be acting as another one of Grean's tools. She is here in this time with her own mission to accomplish."

Miahco muttered, "You are just guessing. She is just a kid and will be attending University soon." 

Berryfial nodded. "My best guess is, to support their new lives here in this time, the minds of your wife and daughter could have been altered fundamentally, causing them to completely 'forget' their original place in time. Just as you forgot all about being Kaiark, ruler of Scharrode."

Marune

Kwystyk patted Miahco's shoulder, "You tend to the final steps in crafting the mind clones. I will ascertain the the status of your family. I agree with Fi." Kwystyk reflected on his mother's habits. "If I know my mother, she has brought your entire family here to this time. I suspect that as soon as you complete your work here on Yerophet then you will be able to return to your wife and a year from now you will be holding your grandchild in your arms." Kwystyk now understood why he had met Kwanya "by chance" on the way to Yerophet... that seemingly "random" meeting had apparently been carefully planned by his mother.

Miahco was uncomfortable with the idea of his wife being a time traveler. "Kyodora grew up on Raceinne. If you are correct, then there are two copies of my wife on Raceinne, one twenty years younger than the other."

Kwystyk said, "I sometime have visions of the future. What if those visions are produced by telepathy, when a copy of myself travels into the past and telepathically warns me about an impending event?"

There was a ruminative quiet in the room, then Berryfial and Larryfial began to say their goodbyes.

Five minutes later, after agreeing to again meet Kwystyk at Lora's lab in the morning, Larryfial and Miahco reluctantly moved away from the warm fireplace and were soon flying away with Berryfial into the cold night. 

After a quick bit of sex play next to the fireplace and a pleasing orgasm, Kwystyk was comfortably asleep in the arms of Rob-B.

Lora

________________

In the morning, Kwystyk was awakened by a call from Lora who after the briefest of introductions and small-talk, told Kwystyk, "I just spoke with Miahco. Thank you for smoothing over his qualms." Lora was amused to see that Grean's son had blue skin. She moved back from her camera, allowing her own blue pigmentation to show from the neck down where she had not tried to alter the color.

Kwystyk chuckled, "I suspect you have a certain Iidi to thank for that. However, I will do my best to investigate the fate of Miahco's family." Kwystyk was thinking about an odd dream he'd just had. "I sometimes have visions of the future. I..."

Lora waited for a moment then asked, "Yes?"

"Rather than chat about my vision right now, let's put this discussion on hold. I'll fly over and be in your lab facility in just a few minutes."

Kwystyk and Rob-B. Image made with
  CyberGirl01 and blondeelf02 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

"Very, well. I must warn you, your robot is going to have to go through our security protocol."

"Fine. See you soon." Kwystyk quickly dressed and soon Rob-B was flying them over to the lab. The aircar flight lasted about two minutes and then they were inside the underground genetic engineering facility. 

Rob-B was held up at the security check-point, but Kwystyk was eager to complete the delivery. He held out his hand towards the robot. Rob-B handed over a small object and then Kwystyk was taken to Lora's office. After some casual chat about their similar skin coloration, Lora explained, "When I deal with humans, I usually hide my blue skin color. Here on Yerophet, when people see blue they think of the Kerub."

Kwystyk passed over to Lora the little datakine containing the Asterothrope-derived gene sequences that had been crafted by Grean.

Lora plugged the datakine in to her desk and opened a comline to the lab room where Eynta had worked for the past twenty years. "Eynta, take a look at these new sequences."

Asterothropes

On the screen, the purple face of Eynta could be seen and over her shoulder was Miahco, peering at the new gene sequence data. Eynta said, "Will do." The connection was terminated.

Lora smiled at Kwystyk, "Miahco is already back at work, so I am pleased. He showed up here and impressed everyone with his genetics knowledge, then got homesick." Lora tried to dismiss her worries about the questionable stability of her research and engineering staff. It was not easy finding people as loyal as Eynta who would work in isolation for extended periods of time. She reminded Kwystyk, "We are on a rather tight schedule here for getting our little mind clones assembled."

Kwystyk nodded. "I wish you success. My mother told me little about your project, claiming that there are temporal paradoxes in play. If there's one thing that I've learned about my mother, she'll arrange for an explosion of coordinated events when she wants her operatives -or her daughter- to hurry up and get something done. I suspect Grean does not want you thinking too much about the implications of these new gene sequences."

"I fear you are right. If Grean really can travel through time, then she could have gotten these sequences to us long ago. For some reason, she delayed until the last minute." A message arrived for Lora, in text format, informing her that Konywhn, her daughter was arriving. Lora glanced at Kwystyk and said, "Here we go. The first of your predicted explosions. Please come with me." Lora took Kwystyk's arm and led him through the back door of her office.

Kwystyk asked, "Where are we going?" With Lora's hand on his arm, Kwystyk felt a sudden flash of sashei and he again recalled a blue face from one of his visions of the future, a face that had similarities to Lora's features.

"My daughter dropped in for a visit." Lora led Kwystyk down a long narrow tunnel and then up an elevator. "She visits me about once a month, but I suspect she noticed your arrival on Yerophet."

"Don't let me interfere with a private family matter." Even as he spoke, Kwystyk felt a growing telepathic force at work in his mind. "I should go see what is happening with my robot."

Konywhn and Voyt. Made using
Onboard2 & Redspec8 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.

"Don't worry about your robot. I simply don't intend to let it wander around inside this facility." They emerged from the elevator, passed through a utility room and then emerged into Lora's comfortable home. They found Konywhn just arrived in the front entry way, taking off her cold weather gear. Lora and Konywhn hugged and then Lora gestured towards Kwystyk, "This is Grean's son, Kwystyk."

Konywhn shook Kwystyk's hand and asked, "You are an hermaphrodite?"

Kwystyk felt an instant telepathic link to Konywhn. Feeling the warmth of her exciting sashei, he stammered, "Ah, a failed hermaphrodite. Too many human genes. I ended up with testes and breasts, an unusual combination that is a source of confusion for humans."

They went to Lora's comfortable living room and Lora watched in amazement as Konywhn never released his hand and she rather abruptly pulled Kwystyk down to sit on a couch.

She assured him, "Dealing with the hermaphroditic Kerub, I'm not confused." Konywhn was now holding his hand in both of hers and her nipples had popped erect, pushing out against the thin fabric of her shirt. She turned to her mother and said, "Kwystyk and I have a powerful telepathic connection!"

Now Kwystyk and Konywhn both placed a hand to the side of the other's head. Konywhn asked: How is this possible? I'm not a very good telepath.

Kwystyk replied: I experienced something similar just a few days ago. And I was warned to expect... But how could I expect... this? His telepathic connection to Kony was even more powerful than had been his link to Kwanya.

Kwystyk. This image was made using
roxieoutd09 and blondeelf02 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Just then, Lora was called by Eynta. Eynta reported, "Miahco is completely satisfied, he says these are the genes that we need to complete the mind clone genomes."

Lora asked for some specifics. "These are oxypathin-related genes?"

"Yes, a system for amplifying telepathic abilities without a requirement that oxypathin be transported in the blood stream. Our mind clones will make oxypathin right in the brain, like a growth factor. However, I don't understand the details of this complex gene network that Grean designed. I'll need at least another hour to sort it out."

Lora was looking at her daughter with increasing concern. "No, leave that all to Miahco. Grean obviously trained him just for this situation. Your work on the mind clones is complete. I need you here. Come over here, at once!" Lora broke the comlink to Eynta and asked her daughter, "What's going on?"

original cover art by Ed Emshwiller

Konywhn was flushed and breathing rapidly. Her telepathic sashei was looping back from Kwystik's mind and she had almost achieved an orgasm. She reluctantly took her hand off of Kwystyk's cheek and took hold of his hand. "I think we are being linked up... artificially." Kony asked her mother, "Do you remember what that ghost-like Iidi told me... about ten years ago?"

Through the years, Lora had been occasionally visited by a mysterious Iidi. And once, Konywhn had reported having a similar visit. "Yes, but... that was all made possible by nanites... it was not a ghostly apparition."

Konywhn told Kwystyk, "I was warned long ago that I would meet a man who could share my thoughts and we would leave Yerophet to go on an important mission."

Eynta arrived and for a moment stood looking at Konywhn and Kwystyk then she asked Kwystyk, "It is you?"

Konywhn jumped up and hugged Eynta. "This is the man. I can read his thoughts... although..."

When Konywhn had let go of his hand, his mind instantly became distant. Now Kwystyk stood up and approached Konywhn. After a brief pause, they threw their arms around each-other and embraced. Knowing that he had found his mate, he rather sadly use telepathy to tell Kony: I promised to go find Kwanya... then we can be together.

Kwenslo

Konywhn said: Yes, I have to finish up this mind clone project. I must spend another week here on Yerophet. Then we will never be apart again, I promise!

Kwystyk kissed the tip of Konywhn's nose and then told Lora, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take your daughter off to Kwenslo."

Eynta moved close to Kwystyk and Kony and placed a hand on each of their heads. After a moment she shook her head and said, "This is all wrong. Even if we get the lost Pharazen gene sequences from Kwenslo, it will be too late. The mind clones will already be growing..."

Lora put her arms around Eynta from behind and asked, "What are you talking about, my dear?"

Eynta turned her back on Kony and put her arms around Lora. "This is what the Iidi have been telling us to be ready for. These two," She gestured with a thumb over her shoulder, "They are part of the nanocoid-linked cohort that was designed to assist with the mind clone network."

This image made using Elf1, EllieRoom10,
SpencerPool7, NewElf8(W) and Elfy:Elf Rally by
Eclesi4stiK available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Eynta kissed Lora and said, "Miahco knows what he is doing, I'll leave you and the mind clone project in his hands, with Larry as an able assistant." She turned to Kony and said, "Break it up you two." She pushed Kwystyk to the side and quickly hugged Kony and said, "Just one more week then you can come meet us on Kwenslo." She took Kwystyk by the hand and led him back to the tunnel. "Let's collect your robot and go find Kwanya."

Next: part 7 of "Meet the Phari".

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Daz 2021

How long to render an image?

It has been almost 9 years since I last used Daz Studio. I'm now using the 64-bit software (version 4.15) and I'll confess that this is a 10-year-old Macintosh with only a 512k graphics card. The default "Barefoot Dancer" tutorial is for Iray, and it has a step for learning about some lighting settings. However, in that 6th part of the tutorial you are told that your graphics card needs to have at least 4Gb of memory. Um, they could have told me that at the start, no? I'll count myself lucky that the software even runs on this computer.

Iray rendered

A major change since I last used Daz Studio is that the first thing that gets downloaded now is called "DazCentral". Once DazCentral is running then it can install Daz Studio and other resources. The basic tutorial uses the Genesis 8 female figure, but then I got an error message in Studio saying that an older pre-Genesis 8 resource was not available. I had to install some additional resources for the tutorial using DazCentral. There were other annoyances with the basic tutorial such as it saying to find the "Standing A" pose under Poses>By Region, but I found it under Poses>By Function.

How much memory do you have?

A. Niel and Eynta. Image made with
 Elena17 by Eclesi4stiK
available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

They claim that the Studio software needs 1.1 Gb of disk space, but by the time I had everything installed that is needed for the first tutorial, Daz was using over 4 Gb of space. The skimpy "rocker outfit" for the tutorial takes up 157 Mb of space. The "rocker outfit" used in the introductory tutorial comes included with the free Daz Studio software download (as do all the other Daz resources discussed on this page).

Why am I using Daz? It has always been a big challenge to illustrate my science fiction stories. I wanted to make an illustration for a particular scene in Chapter 12 of "Meet the Phari". Eynta gets "invited" into the secret underground world of the Plesypy-human hybrids on the planet Ottengla. Eynta meets the robot Niel, who is a Notteng model robot manufactured on Triskelion.

Sci-Fi Siren outfit

For the image (A) shown to the right (above), I was not really happy with the preset lighting settings. The lighting settings can make a huge difference for what a rendering ends up looking like. For image A, I used the 3Delight rendering option for Eynta. I don't think Iray rendering has any real advantage for my old computer.

A watched render never finishes

The answer to the question "How long will it take to render this image?" is "It depends." Some wardrobe items and some environments take much longer to render than a basic human figure. The default rendering settings are pretty good, but you can tweak them and try to get a little more quality at the cost of greatly increased rendering time. A major annoyance is that the provided estimates of how much rendering time remains can be way off. My advice: have something else to do during renders. 

B. Carylyne and a Plesypy.

Providing Eynta with her purple skin (she's a human-Iidi hybrid) was done in Photoshop. I also inserted Niel the robot into the scene and tried to make it look like he is emerging from his research lab (image A, above).

Before visiting Ottengla, for the previous 20 years, Eynta worked on Yerophet helping to design human-Plesypy hybrids. However, during all the time she spent on Yerophet, Eynta never saw a pure-blood Plesypy. While talking to Niel, she whirls around and suddenly sees her first Plesypy (image B, right). A Plesypy-human hybrid, Carylyne Ebernal is also there, in telepathic contact with the Plesypy.

The image shown to the right was made using the Daz sample scene "Elvish Fury". On Ottengla, most of the original human human settlements on the planet's surface were abandoned centuries before the events described in "Meet the Phari", so the ruins in this Daz sample scene were useful for my story setting on Ottengla. I combined images A and B (above) to make a wraparound book cover:

Wraparound cover for Meet the Phari. This image made with Elena17
   by Eclesi4stiK available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

 

using the beach "environment" that comes with Daz

When Grean's helpers are assembling on the planet Ottengla and making plans for how to capture Captain Tirret the starmenter, they spend time at Ebernal Ranch. I wanted to make an illustration showing some of the Ebernal children. The human-Plesypy hybrids of Ottengla have blue skin.

The image shown to the right was made using figures, clothing and a beach "environment" that comes with the basic Daz Studio download.

 A different background (exoplanet) made with Photoshop.

To change this scene (above) into a more science fiction-oriented setting on the fictional planet Ottengla, I used a different background (shown to the left). I used Photoshop to change the skin and hair of the children to a blue color. I also adjusted the positions of some of the figures so as to match features in the rocks. I used a preset lighting set, but had to brighten it from the default setting.

Back in January when I was writing The Alastor Network, I wanted an image for a scene in which one of the cats at the Palace of Lusz would be shown with some of the main characters in the story. For the image shown to the right, I used the Genesis 8 female and male figures as well as the older Genesis 2 female figure (far right) and "millennium cat". The cats who reside in the palace are sometimes used as "cover" for probots who need to influence the behavior of the royal family. 

Next: planning part 11 of "Meet the Phari".

Related: more for Daz including an animation example.

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