 |
| Vendela Pekkanen |
__________
1.0 Rylla
After his rambunctious morning play session, Jytyr was finally down for his first nap of the day. Free from Jytyr's demands, Rylla shifted her thoughts to Marda, her five-year-old daughter, who was out in the backyard, playing. With their shared telepathic connection, it was easy for Rylla to follow Marda's play, even when she was out of sight.
Upon stepping outside, Rylla was alarmed by how hot it was already, still well before noon. To the left, Nora was at work under the hot sun, tending to the garden. Rylla turned to the south side of the back yard where the sounds of Marda and Dysyn playing could be heard, somewhere up high in the old oak tree, hidden by the foliage.
Some of Rylla's fondest childhood memories were of building a tree house up there with her mom. Now, Marda and Dysyn had discovered the fun of climbing and had been busy this summer expanding that original structure. Rylla walked through the soft sand under the tree and looked upwards. Marda waved to Rylla and then Dysyn began hammering.
Working the hoe under the hot sun, almost at once Rylla began to sweat. She looked up at the blue sky, wondering if some rain clouds might magically appear and bring some moderation to the heat. Briefly she wondered: were Stacy and Georgy up there somewhere... possibly on the Moon....
Nora looked up from her work and told Rylla, "I'll get to those weeds. You don't need to be out here."
Rylla pulled off her shirt, tossing it over the arm of the nearby scare-crow. "I like the feel of the sun on my skin. Anyhow, I think I'm fully recovered from the pregnancy." Jytyr had gestated for a full 13 months and now, a month after his birth, Rylla was pleased to be back to her old slim self. Rylla had been up before dawn to go for a run, but it had never really cooled off during the night and so she had only managed to go five kilometers.
Nora gazed upon Rylla's long, lean body, now glistening with sweat, her torso decorated with two long lines of nipples and four breasts. Poor Dysyn was fascinated by Rylla's extra breasts and nipples. Anytime that Rylla went topless, Nora had to remind Dysyn not to stare at Rylla's chest. Nora glanced up into the tree where the sound of hammering persisted and then she called to Dysyn, "Water break!"
The hammering paused and Dysyn called out, "Aw, mom, I'm not thirsty."
Nora sent Dyson a message via their shared telepathic linkage: Okay, then it is time to go inside.
Up in the tree, Marda handed Dysyn a water jug. Dysyn guzzled some water, dumped some over her head, wiped her hands on a towel and then resumed hammering. Nora called up, "Thank you."
Rylla tried not to think about how high up Marda and Dysyn were. She asked Marda: Is your safety line set?
Marda knew the safety rules that Rylla had established. She replied: All set, mom.
Nora asked Rylla, "Anything new from Georgy on the french front?"
Rylla replied, "Colleen is back inside the ER Simulator."
Nora shook her head in dismay. "I thought she had finally agreed to take a break."
Rylla thought about suggesting that Nora take a break from her exertions. Nora's clothing was streaked with sweat and crusted with salt. Knowing that it would do no good to caution Nora towards moderation, Rylla shrugged and said, "Ever since Stacy figured out how to feed Colleen by means of a combination of nanite-delivered and intravenous nutrients, it has been impossible to keep Colleen from exploring the Ekcolir Reality."
"But that artificial feeding trick does not solve the physical inactivity problem!" Colleen had been spending so much time in the virtual reality simulation of the Ekcolir Reality, that her body was suffering. While her mind was active inside the Simulator, her body just lay there, doing nothing.
 |
| Lost stories from the Buld Reality. |
No other Earthwoman, including Nora, seemed to have the oxypathin gene. For a moment Rylla considered the question of whether Nora was actually a woman. At Observer Base, Georgy seemed quite sure that Nora was an artificial life form, designed to appear to be human. Rylla shrugged and told herself: Even if Nora is composed of nanites, I can't detect those nanites, so it is not worth worrying about it.
Rylla had also experimented on her own daughter and she'd discovered that Marda could absorb oxypathin across her intestinal epithelium. Rylla told Nora, "The latest rumor from Colleen is that frenchkissin gets absorbed via the same intestinal transport system that works for oxypathin." However, the question still remained: did any of the Asterothrope signaling molecules like oxypathin have a significant effect on the growth and function of Marda's brain?
And then there was Jytyr. Just the previous week, Rylla had completed the absorption test on him and she'd found that Jytyr could not absorb oxypathin from Rylla's milk. That negative result seemed to go hand-in hand with the fact that unlike Marda, Jytyr had never developed a telepathic link to Rylla. Even as she thought about Jytyr, Rylla could hear him stirring via her Vwatch. She glanced at the little LED screen on her wrist and then set down the hoe and plucked up her discarded shirt off of the scarecrow. She cautioned Nora, "Don't stay out here too much longer."
Glancing towards the tree where Marda and Dysyn were playing, Nora said, "Hopefully they'll be done soon." Nora's memories of her previous existence as an Interventionist agent had been scrubbed from her mind. However, Nora did suspect that there was some truth the the idea that she was an artificial life form. Nora never got sick and she never seemed to suffer from the heat. Nora felt confident that the children would wilt in the heat long before she ever would, even if they were playing in the shade and she was working in the sun.
Rylla went inside the cool house and up to her room. As soon as Jytyr saw Rylla, he stopped watching the spinning ceiling fan and began to fuss. Rylla and Jytyr laid down on the bed and he latched on to her big right breast. A minute later, Marda was there, standing at the foot of the bed. She had not yet completely weened, and was jealous of all the attention that Rylla paid to Jytyr. Rylla rolled onto her back and signaled to Marda: Come on.
Marda climbed up on the bed and moved her mouth towards Rylla's big left breast. Rylla reminded Marda: You brother needs moma's milk... he is growing fast!
Marda began to suckle at Rylla's smaller left breast and reached across to fondle the right one. Marda asked: Mommy, why do I only have two nipples?
Rylla was tempted to have her genome sequenced as well as Marda's, but she did not want to draw attention to her unusual biological nature. Be glad you are not like me, little one. When I went off to school, I had to hide my body.
Marda protested: I want to be just like you! In particular, Marda had begun writing stories. "Why do I have to go to school?
Rylla began to sing to Jytyr and Marda. Via telepathy, she told Marda: I want you to try school. If you and Dysyn don't like it, be can continue to teach you at home. Jytyr drifted back to sleep and then Rylla felt some secretions begin to flow in her left breast. Marda spat out the nipple and exclaimed, "That tastes weird!"
At first Rylla thought she saw blood on Marda's lips. Alarmed, she popped Jytyr off of her right breast and examined her small left breast. There was a drop of orange liquid there on her nipple. Rylla touched the strange fluid and then sniffed it. It had a faintly metallic odor, but different than blood. The orange secretion was slippery between Rylla's fingers. She reached to the nightstand and grabbed her breast pump. Rylla had long wondered if either Asterothrope or her own smaller, second set of breasts were competent to produce milk. She began to pump at her small right breast, hoping to collect a sample of the orange fluid for laboratory analysis. Marda latched back on to the left breast. After a minute Marda swallowed again and Rylla felt some fluid begin to flow from her right breast.
Marda again let go of the nipple and complained, "Not sweet." She rolled off the bed. Rylla got a drop of the orange fluid on her finger and tasted it. You are right, Marda, this orange stuff is bitter. Rylla wondered if maybe the function of the secondary Asterothrope breasts was to make the frenchkissin hormone.
Marda had put on her VRwriter goggles: Alex wants me to write.
Surprised to hear Marda mention Georgy's daughter, Rylla asked: Alexina?
Rylla connected telepathically to Georgy at Observer Base and asked: What is Alexina doing right now?
Georgy replied: We are both reading. Alex is reading a story called "Tetrad Amplification". It is about one of the genetic tricks that the Grendels used when they were creating the human species.
Rylla pulled the pump off of her breast. She had successfully collected a small amount of the strange redish-orange secretion. She got off the bed and went to her desk. Rylla activated her computer and connected in to Marda's VRwriter. Rylla saw that her daughter was writing out the "Tetrad Amplification" story.
Rylla told Georgy: Marda is linked to Alex and writing down "Tetrad Amplification" as Alex reads the story.
Georgy asked: Are you joking?
Rylla explained: I think I know what happened. Marda apparently just ingested some frenchkissin and it must have activated the telepathic linkage between her and Alex! Rylla took the sample of the orange breast secretion downstairs to store it in the freezer for later laboratory analysis.
__________
Allow me to introduce myself. I call myself Rylla, although my parents named me Verella. A name is easy to change. I'm stuck with most of the other baggage that my parents bestowed upon me, like the witch stuff. I do prefer the label "alien", but I have taken my mother's advice: I think of myself as an Earthling, not some alien invader. I certainly never refer to myself as a witch.
That blurb, above, at the very top of this page, is borrowed from a "memory" I have of my mother. Before she abandoned me and my dad, mom had successfully inserted a copy of her mind into my right cerebral hemisphere, so "memory" is not really the best way to explain the source of her words when they pop into my consciousness.
Is it fair to say that you were "abandoned" by your mother when you have a copy of her mind inside your head? Probably not. I accept that mom was a busy woman with important tasks to complete on Earth. By the time I was seven, she knew that I would grow up just fine with dad as the only remaining adult in our home, so she departed. In some sense, I was already an adult (cognitively) due to the fact that I had grown up with my mother's thoughts inside my growing brain.
1.1 Mark of the Witch
I suppose anyone reading this wants me to quickly get to "the weird stuff" and explain how it is that I inherited two pairs of breasts from my mother and how I ended up with a copy of her mind in my brain. I expect that Earthly science will some day have an answer to these little biological mysteries. For now, I'm carefully avoiding any genomic analysis for fear that the geneticists would want to study my special gene combinations -if they knew about them. My best guess is that my mom was a descendant of Trysta Iwedon, an Asterothrope, an alien who arrived in the 20th century as a time traveler from the far future.
How the Asterothropes evolved as a human variant with four breasts is a mystery. My grandfather believes that the Asterothropes were artificially constructed by R. Gohrlay and her tribe of robots. Gohrlay wanted to quickly spread Humanity between the stars, so Asterothrope females may have been designed to quickly produce large numbers of children. The extra breasts may have come in handy at meal time for ladies with large families, but that does not explain how mom used her breasts while raising me, an only child.
As a young child, I had no idea that, unlike mom, most other women only had two breasts. I happily breast fed until I was five years old and went off to school. In public, mom always dressed so as to conceal her smaller second set of breasts, and I assumed that the mothers of my friends did likewise. Finally, I noticed that other girls only had two nipples and my mother had some explaining to do. Using a dry and clinical approach, mom told me that supernumerary nipples were a fairly common phenomenon among Earth humans, but the sight of them bothers some people. She suggested that I not talk to my friends about my unusual anatomy and that I always keep my torso covered while swimming with my friends.
Mom was very persuasive and I did not question the wisdom of her advice about nipples. It is hard to argue with your mother when she is inside your head, watching all of your thoughts and ready to explain things to you as soon as you have a new question about the world. However, it was during my first year in school that I noticed additional differences between me and the other school children, behavioral differences that went beyond our obvious anatomical differences.
I had long familiarity with the fact that I could not share my thoughts with my dad in the same way that I did with mom. I was used to having to explain my thinking to dad and I was often frustrated by my inability to understand what my father was thinking. As a child, I was quite spoiled by my intimate cognitive connection to mom, but I was also unable to question the uniqueness of that connection and I simply took it for granted as the foundation of my life. Gradually, I realized that other children did not have anything like a telepathic link to their mothers. Thus, I grew up knowing that I was special, but mom carefully trained me to not question my uniqueness or mention it to others.
 |
| A report by Zeta. |
I should not be lazy and use the term "telepathy" in my attempt to explain the connection that existed between mom and I. The right side of my brain had grown to become some kind of copy of my mother's brain, so it is probably best to say that "my" right brain belongs to mom, not to me. However, there must have been some kind of functional telepathic link between "my" right brain and my mother's true brain inside her body, in her head. This is all so hard to put into words using a language like English! I'm sure the Asterothropes had a language that was equipped with special terminology to facilitate discussion and understanding of the types of cognitive linkages between Asterothrope females and their children. Sadly, I know of no reliable source of information here on Earth about Asterothrope biology or culture. Yes, my grandparents constantly bombard me with wild and crazy theories, but as the daughter of a scientist, I am always skeptical; I want to examine and test the available evidence before I start believing in unlikely theories.
I suspect that scientific study of me might be the best opportunity for Earthlings to learn about Asterothropes, but I'm not interested in becoming an object for experimentation. My grandma, Zeta, has another argument, claiming that my Asterothrope genes were inserted into the human genome at least 10,000 years ago. Zeta believes that my special Asterothrope-derived gene combination are indistinguishable from "ordinary" human genes, so conventional genomic analysis of me would reveal nothing useful about my unusual anatomy. Zeta's argument involves special pleading: sub-nanoscopically small developmental control nanites that are needed in addition to the Asterothrope genes in order to allow expression of my unique anatomical features. Grandma's reasoning goes like this: since Earthly science cannot detect those nanites, there can be no useful scientific analysis of my unique biology. In order to explain why I have four breasts, we would need a new science of "nanobiology" that explores and explains human beings as a being a complex mixture of biological cells and the sub-nanoscopic femtobots and zeptites, invisibly small devices that reside within us all.
 |
| 1886 |
When science fiction story tellers began imagining contact between humans and space aliens from distant planets, telepathic communication was sometimes adopted as a convenient way to allow information exchange between different species.
Most science fiction story tellers have had lighthearted fun creating stories about telepathic space aliens, but a few writers seem to have gone much further. For example, I don't know what to think about Phillip K. Dick and the idea that he thought he was in telepathic contact with an alien intelligence. For many years, I assumed that my own grandfather's obsession with telepathy was simply to be expected as natural part of his interest in the fun of science fiction story telling. Until I came to America, I was unaware of his own subjective experiences that predisposed him to belief in some form of "extrasensory" communication.
In my case, while growing up, I never thought of my cognitive closeness to my mother as being due to telepathy. I did not question the presence of mom's thoughts in my mind and in a very real sense my mind is a kind of copy of mom's mind. Yes, I'm a separate person, but I was never allowed to be too separate.
Lately, my colleagues and I have been using the term "mind clone" to refer to the mind of a baby that is shaped by constant telepathic connections to another mind. In some sense, my mind is a mind clone of my mother, although I never thought in those terms until I became a mother myself. My awakening to the reality of my unusual cognitive origins began on the day when the Bimanoid Interface received an update.
I'm going to let my mother tell this part of the story, because she had foreknowledge about the coming Change to the Interface and she did not suffer severe cognitive dissonance during the Change. I had several lapses of consciousness that day, so my own personal account of events cannot be trusted. It can be argued that the following account of that day's events also cannot be trusted because it was obtained from the replicoid of my mother. However, at that time and for decades leading up to the Change, that replicoid was in constant technology-assisted telepathic contact with my mother. On special occasions, my mom's replicoid was also able to peek into my mind, as happened on the day of the Change.
 |
| Bimanoid Interface |
2.0 Bimanoid Interface
Early during the day of the Change, during Rylla's usual nighttime dream state, she was telepathically linked to me, her mother. In the preceding months and weeks, we had often used our shared dream time discussions to prepare for the future and the fact that our shared dream linkages would soon be made impossible. I had been warned that because of the impending Change to the Bimanoid Interface, I would soon be forced to depart from Earth. I worked hard to not let Rylla slip into negative thinking. I wanted her to view the future as an exciting opportunity to grow, meet interesting people and do great things.
During our shared dream just before the Change, Rylla was growing emotional and lamenting the fact that we would soon be separated. She said: Where are you going? I'll join you there.
I was devoted to the successful completion of her Earthly mission, so I ignored my own emotional desire to remain linked to my daughter. No, my sweet girl, that is not possible. You still have work to accomplish on Earth. My work here is complete. I have prepared you for your mission. Soon I will depart. You will be so busy living your life, exploring this vast planet and making discoveries... you will not miss me.
Rylla asked: How can you say that I am prepared? It is only while dreaming that I am aware of all that you have taught me.
That is enough. If your waking self knew too much, you would become distracted and fail your mission objectives. You must live your life, the life of an Earthling. Trust me, darling; I have Viewed the alternatives and this is all for the best. Now, you have a busy day ahead of you, so I'll get out of the way...
Right then, I shut off the special mode of linkage to Rylla's left brain that made possible our nocturnal discussions. Rylla's right brain had been carefully crafted and trained to make it able to efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface. Without me creating a special linkage between her left and right brains, Rylla's knowledge of Bimanoid Interface remained isolated in her subconscious.
When I shut down that special dream state connection, Rylla's left brain quickly transitioned from sleep towards waking consciousness. I remained as an observer, still linked to the right side of her brain, where a copy of her mother's mind resides. As Rylla's waking consciousness assembled itself, she was vaguely aware of having been in contact with her mother during a dream. The gentle, soothing thought pattern of her mother resonated in Rylla's mind along with a message: check your inbox! It was going to be a busy day, and we (call us mom1, mom2 and mom3) were impatient.
mom1: Rylla's biological mother, who at that time was making her body available to an interventionist agent named Yōd.
mom2: Rylla's right brain copy of her mother's mind.
mom3: me, the replicoid of Rylla's mother, watching from inside the Hierion Domain.
Spurred by the unusual force of that command, Rylla quickly got out of bed, went downstairs and found her phone where she had left it. Not having her phone in her room at night was one of the many household rules that was enforced by her father. He was currently on the other side of the continent, but Rylla had no desire to disobey the rules of the house. She switched on her phone and checked her mail. There was a brief note from her father, written and sent while he waited at the airport in Sydney. He just wanted to let her know that he was on schedule to be back in Perth later in the day, as planned.
Of more immediate concern, Rylla saw half a dozen emails from her school friends and one from her swimming coach about their scheduled swim-meet for that afternoon, which had been canceled. Before being interrupted, Rylla had just enough time to read about a case of the measles in Canning Vale. The swim meet was to have taken place at the Canning Vale natatorium, but all of the swimmers from Canning Vale were under quarantine until their vaccination status could be confirmed.
Then Rylla's phone rang. The incoming number was not recognized by her phone. She almost let the call go to voicemail, but there was a chance that her father might be calling from an airline phone on his flight. She opened the connection, "Hello."
Rylla did not recognize the voice of the caller, "Hi. This is Nora, from your dad's lab."
Rylla had occasionally heard her father talk about Nora, a technician who worked in his lab. Rylla had never tried to keep up with the comings and goings of the students, postdocs and technicians who drifted through the lab. Still, a glimmer of recognition illuminated Rylla's mind. She said, "You're dad's tech. Nora Stone."
"That's right." Nora paused. "Your father asked me to call you. I'm scheduled to pick him up at the airport today. Would you like to go along?"
Rylla had a learner's permit and had begun driving just three months previously. She replied, "Sure, my swim meet was canceled. I could even drive." Thinking for the first time about how to spend her day, Rylla added, "In fact, I should do some shopping. Or I could go for a run." Rylla then fell silent, remembering part of what she had discussed with her mother while asleep.
Rylla was vaguely aware that other people did not chat with their mothers while they dreamed, but Rylla had grown accustomed to it through the years. The fact of those discussions had become part of Rylla's subconscious. However, during those many years, Rylla had not been allowed to consciously remember the content of those nocturnal discussions. She'd always had a close relationship with her mother, even after she had disappeared seven years previously. Even after her mother had left home, Rylla had never felt disconnected from her mother because of the copy of her mother's mind that still resided in Rylla's brain. Now, when Rylla could suddenly remember what I had told her during a dream, she was confused and puzzled.
After a long period of silence, Nora asked Rylla, "Are you still there?"
"Sorry, I was thinking." Rylla gathered her wits and said, "I suppose I really do need to get a new swimsuit today."
Nora suggested, "What if I drop by about ten? We can get your shopping done, have lunch and then go to the airport to collect your dad."
Rylla said, "No, I'm not going to take up your whole day. It was nice of you to agree to pick dad up at the airport, but I'm now free and I'll you help do that. However, you really shouldn't be running errands for me."
Nora laughed. "I do many things that I should not do. I'll see you at ten." She terminated the phone call.
Feeling somewhat annoyed by Nora's pushiness, Rylla went out for a run. While running, she thought mostly about the odd sensation of having spoken to her mother during a dream. She wondered: What did it mean that mom would be departing? Vendela had left home seven years ago and Rylla had long since gotten over her resentments as an abandoned daughter. Most importantly, Rylla had never lost the sensation of being cognitively linked to her mother. Might that linkage soon end? Rylla felt that the answer was "No", but she could not escape the powerful memory of her dream.
Returning home, Rylla showered and was just getting dressed when Nora's car pulled into the driveway. Rylla got into the car while still brushing her wet hair. Nora said, "Wow, you've really grown tall this past year." After a careful visual inspection of Rylla, Nora began driving towards a nearby shopping center.
Rylla had a vague memory of having met Nora at some time in the past, possibly at the annual party for the lab that her father hosted. She stowed the brush in a pocket of her cargo pants and noticed how they no longer fit her growing body. "Ya, I keep out-growing my clothes. I've become skilled with my sewing machine, making adjustments to my clothes."
Nora knew all about Rylla's involvement with the swim team at her school. "And you need a new swimsuit. We can take care of that."
"And it is extra annoying because I have to modify my new swimsuits after I buy them." Rylla was sensitive about her unusual anatomy. She had been born with supernumerary nipples and now four of her breasts were growing, although by keeping her body fat to an extremely low level, her breasts were not growing very fast. Rylla seemed to hear her mother: you can trust Nora.
Rylla was startled. She'd never previously imagined hearing her mother's voice -not since her mother had left home seven years previously. And now Rylla looked at Nora and suddenly Rylla felt like Nora was able to see into her mind. Rylla was struck by a wave of nausea. Now quite dizzy, she closed her eyes. She wondered: what is happening to me?
{Rylla was experiencing a type of positive feedback via the Bimanoid Interface. As her mother's replicoid, I was able to link to Rylla's right cerebral hemisphere via the Interface. However, due to the new operating mode of the Interface, I could not conceal my linkage to Rylla's mind and my presence was disrupting her thought patterns. At that time, Rylla knew nothing about replicoids or the Bimanoid Interface, so she was likely to suspect that Nora had something to do with the unusual experiences that kept cropping up that day.}
Nora sensed that Rylla did not want to talk about her rapid growth and struggle to keep up with the changes to her body. For a time, Nora drove in silence, occasionally glancing over at Rylla and wondering if the girl was sleeping. Finally Nora said, "Here we are."
Rylla's eyes popped open. She was surprised to see that they were in the shopping center parking lot. Rylla wondered: Did I blackout?
Nora knew that something was not right with Rylla and she asked, "Should I take you home?"
Rylla replied, "No, I'll be fine."
Nora asked, "Have you not been getting enough sleep?"
"Sorry. I guess my blood glucose is low." Rylla explained, "I did not eat any breakfast today and I went for a run."
Nora shook her head in dismay. "The way you are growing, you need fuel." They got out of the car and walked into the shopping mall. "Let's have brunch, then we can shop."
During their meal, Nora talked about her work in the lab. Rylla struggle to order her thoughts and remember to eat. A powerful sensation of her mother's presence never left her mind. Rylla was suspicious of Nora. Rylla's odd feelings had begun when Nora showed up. Rylla wondered: is Nora some kind of telepath?
After eating, Rylla felt better. They shopped and Rylla discovered that Nora was a lot of fun to be with. Finally, Rylla sensed her mother say: have fun, my love. Then her mother seemed to fade away, drifting out of Rylla's thoughts with a dismal finality.
{At that moment, the body of Rylla's mother (mom1) had been teleported off of Earth in an emergency attempt to deal with the consequences of the Change. Intrigued by what was happening to Rylla, I continued to monitor her by way of the Interface for a little longer.}
Rylla now felt like there was a different mind pattern searching around in her brain, a pattern distinct from that of her mother. Nora was the obvious suspect, but Rylla could detect no clear correlation between Nora's behavior and the sensation of someone new rummaging around in her thoughts.
Returning to the car and carrying many bags of new clothes, Rylla told Nora, "You are a bad influence. I've never spent so much money."
Nora had done some shopping of her own, and now wore a cute outfit that showed off her sleek tanned limbs. Starting up her car and heading towards the airport, Nora changed the subject and talked about a time in her youth when she had discovered a wild strawberry patch and had eaten too many berries. The initial effects were not good, and included vomiting, diarrhea and a rash. However, eventually that experience resulted in Nora meeting a healer who became a life-long friend.
Rylla asked, "Healer?"
"Well, if you must know, she called herself a witch."
Rylla complained, "My life is so boring. I've never met a witch. I suppose it has something to do with having a scientist for a father." For a minute Nora drove in silence, navigating towards the airport. Rylla could not stop herself from wondering if Nora had telepathic abilities. Rylla still felt like someone was looking into her thoughts. And now Rylla was again getting dizzy. She asked Nora, "Do you believe in witches?"
Nora shrugged. "I've seen some unusual things in this world. I would not use a label such as 'witch', but I understand why people fear the unknown and the unusual."
Rylla asked, "What was unusual about that healer/witch?"
Nora replied, "There are many types of people on this planet, many gene patterns. Some women are born with extra nipples. In some cultures that was looked upon with suspicion."
Rylla almost told Nora about her unusual anatomy, but just at that moment her phone rang. It was her father, calling to say that he had landed at the airport. Rylla told him, "We are almost to the airport. We'll see you soon!"
Rylla was tempted to tell her secret to Nora, but long habit of saying little to strangers won out and prevented her from telling Nora about her own extra pairs of nipples. Rylla's mind shifted to the revealing outfit that Nora had purchased and was now wearing. Somehow it did not seem appropriate for a worker in the lab to dress this way while picking her boss up at the airport. Soon they were at the airport and Rylla saw her father waiting at the curb beside the terminal. Nora pulled over and got out of her car. Nora and Rylla's dad threw their arms around each other and kissed.
For a moment Rylla closed her eyes and tried to control a wave of nausea. Taking a deep breath, she finally opened her door and moved from the from passenger seat to the back seat. Again she closed her eyes against the vertigo she was experiencing.
{At this point, my connection to Rylla was growing too strong and I knew that had to do something. I was no longer able to prevent Rylla from looking into my own thoughts by way of the Bimanoid Interface. I was suddenly disconnected from the Interface.}
2.1 Freedom
That account (above) by my mother's replicoid was later made available to me by my colleagues at Observer Base. Below, I continue the story of the events of that day, providing my own account, beginning at the moment when I experienced much appreciated relief arising from the fact that I was no longer linked to my mother's replicoid. Of course, it was only much later that I learned about replicoids and the Interface.
Driving away from the airport, Nora and dad talked for a time about the scientific meeting he had attended in Sydney. I was giving all of my attention to trying to control my spinning thoughts. Fortunately, the nausea I had been experiencing was now dissipating. I listened while Nora provided my father with an account of our day together, then my father said, "Rylla, I'm glad you had a good day with Nora. You are going to be seeing more of each other."
I said, "I'm so stupid. I should have guessed that you two had begun a relationship that extends beyond your shared work in the lab."
Nora said, "I've known your dad for three years, now. Recently we finally decided that it is not enough to just work together."
I told Nora, "Well, I'm impressed. I'd given up imagining that any woman could find a way into his heart." I felt tears running down my cheeks.
My father asked, "What's wrong?"
I shook my head and replied, "I'm fine, daddy. Actually, I'm happy. I've just felt odd since this morning. And I'm worried that you might be upset when you find out how much of your money I spent today."
Nora said, "You can blame me. I discovered that I'm a bad influence." My father laughed and accessed our credit card account via his phone. Nora chatted about my height and chastised my father for allowing me to outgrow all of my clothes.
While they talked, I found myself thinking about a student who had once worked in my father's lab, back about one year previously. Georgy White had died in a flash flood while in the field, collecting rock samples for study in the lab. Another image intruded into my thoughts, that of Maria Green, a science reporter. I wondered: Why had I almost I forgotten about Georgy? I shook my head and struggled to listen to what Nora and my father were chatting about: plans for dinner.
When we got home, Nora came inside and began cooking dinner. My father and I helped some, but mostly we told Nora where to find things in our kitchen.
Seeing how Nora and dad were flirting playfully, I called a friend and arranged to spend the evening and that night at her house.
Nora's home-cooked dinner was a success, but I rushed off and went to my friend's house right after dinner.
On the way out of the house, my father said, "You really don't need to run off."
I nodded. "I know, dad, but I had Nora all day. Now its your turn. I approve. She's amazing. I so happy that you finally gave in and found a girlfriend. I think mom would also approve of Nora."
He looked off into the distance. "I have that feeling to."
2.2 Dreamtime
That night, I had a terrifying dream about Maria Green. In that dream, Maria was forcing me to forget about Georgy White and her work in the lab. When I awoke from that awful dream, all of my previously blocked memories about Georgy were active again and bubbling up in my thoughts. Something had broken Maria's spell, liberating my suppressed memories.
After school, when I got home that evening, both my father and Nora were there, with dinner cooked and waiting for me to arrive. I heard voices upstairs. I ran up to my room to store my backpack and saw dad and Nora coming out of his room. It was clear that they had just been in the shower together. It was exciting to see two people who were so in love, who apparently had long been working together and falling in love and resisting their emotional attraction. Now they were free to be together and were caught up in the thrilling experience of being new lovers.
Nora and dad were in a bubbly mood, but while we ate I started asking dreary questions about Georgy, her tragic death and the work she had started in the lab. I quickly discovered that both my father and Nora seemed to remember nothing about Georgy's work. My father said, "Mrs. White was only in the lab for a week or two. She was just getting into the routine of sample collection and analysis.... then her horrible death..." He fell silent.
Looking at dad and Nora, I felt certain that Maria Green had stolen their memories. I wondered: Why have I suddenly recovered my suppressed memories of Georgy? What is going on?
2.3 The Blog
That evening, I went to my room and rather than do homework, I went on the internet and searched until I found my grandfather's blog. I'd been vaguely aware of its existence for years, but I had no real interest in science fiction. For hours I read what my grandfather had written about infites, replicoids, femtobot endosymbionts and technology-assisted telepathy by means of the Bimanoid Interface.
One of my newly recovered memories was of Maria Green showing me that she could morph her appearance and her body between normal human form and another bodily form that matched my imagination for what an alien might look like. I suspected that Maria Green was a type of invading alien creature who had used some kind of advanced alien technology to erase from Earth all evidence of Georgy's discovery of negative mass hierions. Somehow, only I had recovered my memory of that important scientific breakthrough. I was tired and confused, but before going to bed I made a comment on my grandfather's blog.
Granpa- I now understand how our memories can be altered. Thank you for explaining so much. -Rylla
________________________________
Next: Mrs. White
Table of Contents
A Search Beyond is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.
No comments:
Post a Comment