The Toviananskamun: The Toviananskamun

By Tony Amca

Written in near-diary format, this is probably one of the greatest epic adventures ever told. Adapting to life in the
more advanced human world of Vluvidium, Tony shares it all with the Reader, “as he lives it”, while relentlessly rising through its social ranks; propelled by fate, circumstances, and some of his “attribut

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Printing UK
• Release date: Dec 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781906352226

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THE TOVIANANSKAMUN

Vluvidium Collection

Volume 3 The Toviananskamun

Copyright © Tony AMCA/ The Caldeira Family 2018 All Rights Reserved © 2018 Tony AMCA – All Rights Reserved. (First Edition 2018 - © 2018 The Caldeira Family)

Unauthorised reproduction of the whole or part of The Vluvidium Collection, names and/or characters, or the manufacture and commercialization of any products derived from the Story, is forbidden and will be an infringement of Copyright.

THE VLUVIDIUM COLLECTION is a work of fiction and the mentioning of any names/statements, made by/attributed to known Public Figures are only in the context of the story and should not be considered factual, or of historical value.

The rights of Tony AMCA/ The Caldeira Family to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced, adapted, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The views expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Copy Edited by Christina Willis 2013

Designed by Camilla Davis

ISBN: 978-1-906352-15-8

eBook ISBN: 978-1-906352-22-6

VLUVIDIUM

VOLUME THREE

THE TOVIANANSKAMUN

(1st Edition)

TONY AMCA

I dedicate this book to the memory of my mother

For best enjoyment of your

VLUVIDIUM COLLECTION

Because of the cumulative information contained within each volume, it is strongly recommended that your reading should start from Book 1 (THE VOYAGE)

Also, given the unusual names of some of the characters and places, each of the Books contain an alphabetical list of names used in the previous Volumes. (What they are, mean, or relate to.)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK 3

GLOSSARY Character Names From Previous Volumes

Book 3 THE TOVIANANSKAMUN

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK 3

THE TOVIANANSKAMUN

The story so far from Book 1

The Voyage

In England, in the summer of 1974, Tony AMCA worked in the City of London as a musical arranger for a small music publisher. Divorced and almost broke, his only asset of significance was a neglected property with a seafront cottage, in a remote part of the south coast of Cornwall. Now, determined to rebuild his life, after a long year of hard saving, Tony set off on a fortnight’s holiday, intent on transforming the rundown place into his new home.

He soon meets his nearest neighbour, Vera Simpson; a very attractive freelance journalist, in her mid-twenties and single, with whom he shares the same secluded beach. They liked each other instantly and to mark their encounter, Vera invites him to a welcome into the area dinner, at her similar home. ...But the evening does not quite go to plan:

Well into their meal, Vera noticed some strange movements outside her isolated cottage and they end up fleeing the place, pursued by what they thought were some weird-looking, transparent beings. Their attempted escape didn’t get them very far though… And shortly after seeking refuge in Tony’s cottage, they are knocked out by sharp beams of light.

*

...We awoke from our ordeal dressed in plain white gowns that felt like our own skin, in what appeared to be the inside of a white sphere. Whilst naturally perplexed by the whole sequence of events, the unfamiliarity of our surroundings did nothing to lessen our more immediate concerns. The likelihood of being confronted by little grey men with big eyes was firmly at the top of our list of guesses. But none of that: instead, our endless speculation was cut-short by the image of a perfectly normal-looking human being, as it materialised holographically in front of us. The man introduced himself as LLMMIUM (Lemmeeoomn), in fluent English, and did his best to put our minds at rest by announcing that whilst we were indeed among Space Travellers, we were guests and not prisoners, or guinea pigs, and alleged that the reasons for our temporary confinement simply served the purpose of decontamination. He also explained that we were heading for their home planet called VLUVIDIUM, in the star system of Alpha Centauri, and that we were among human beings just like ourselves, but at a more advanced level of evolution, stressing that everything would become a lot clearer once we would be allowed to integrate in their disease-free environment.

We were given the all clear a few days later. A wall section of the sphere opened and we were greeted by a smiling LLMMIUM in the flesh, who then proceeded to escort us down a long narrow corridor leading to the main body of The Guardian; their giant inter-stellar spaceship. He wished us a long and happy new life in their world and introduced us to RINI, who was also a very attractive woman Companion (and whom I would later find out, was made from my genetic material and created around images copied from my mind, going back to my adolescent fantasies). She was to help us in the process of social integration, as well as with anything else we could need.

The Guardian itself could only be described as a small self-sustaining world; with forests, agriculture, industry, commercial activity and just about everything one could associate with a major city or even a small independent State. Twenty miles in length by four miles wide and half a mile in depth, it was subdivided into twenty main floors and eighty sub-levels, carrying a hundred thousand people commuting to VLUVIDIUM from other neighbouring parts of the Galaxy.

On the way to our new private quarters, RINI walked us through one of the immense commercial centres on board, giving us a glimpse into their normal daily life. We were ever more impressed with everything we saw and completely fascinated by it all; including those things we couldn’t yet understand. Vluvidians were a lively, happy people with a well-balanced sense of belonging; blending duty and responsibility with fun and humour. They were also colourful in the way they dressed and talked.

Our on-board apartment exceeded our wildest expectations and even if retaining some lingering scepticism at the back of our minds, we were fast becoming convinced that these people had good intentions towards us, although still without a clue as to what for and why the two of us?

We ended our first day of integration as private dinner guests of ZETRUM, the Keeper (or Captain) of The Guardian, in the Dining Room of the Leadership. Sharing our Table, we met the other eight main Leaders of the Mission, whom he introduced as his most trusted Advisors and long-standing close friends. They were an even split gender divide, with the men appearing to be of mixed age, unlike the women, all of whom looked in their mid to late twenties and extremely pretty without exception, in their own different ways.

ZETRUM was a polished veteran of Space and Diplomacy; a well-groomed grey-bearded man, seemingly in his mid-sixties, who could effortlessly combine great charm and knowledge with fairness and natural authority. He welcomed us to the Table in genuine friendship and with undisguised curiosity, placing us on either side of him, determined to put our minds at ease before elaborating on the reasons why we were there.

Vluvidians were vegetarians, not least because in the process of recreating their natural environment, for health and security reasons, they had re-engineered their habitat so that no other multi-cellular animal life could co-exist in their world (and one of the reasons why we had to undergo a small operation, whilst in the decontamination sphere). Our first main shock of the evening however, was to discover that everyone at Table was in fact nearly ten times older than they appeared, in Earth years, thanks to the way they had manipulated their environment. ZETRUM himself, revealed he had been the Keeper of The Guardian since around the time Columbus first reached the Americas!

Vera quickly found two new friends in MALINA and SULINA, widely regarded as two of their top Scientists, and before the end of the delicious meal, the two Vluvidianesses were already planning to take Vera on a shopping spree, the following day.

After dinner, we all settled in the lounge part of the Dining Room of the Leadership, and ZETRUM decided to address the more pressing issues in our minds:

He began by offering us an overview of Vluvidians, as a People, and explained that some 50,000 Years earlier, the Earth was inhabited by Humans in similar numbers to today, but perhaps a century or two more advanced than 20th Century Earth, in a world that was then obsessed with bio-degradation processes; from buildings and machines, to people. This Humanity of the First Earth, as he called it, was then politically divided into two conflicting ideological blocks, stubbornly bent on imposing their ways on the other, whilst vying for overall control of the Planet. Both sides possessed weapons capable of much greater destruction than we could imagine and thus…, humanity was erased from the face of the Earth. Nature too, became destabilised, resulting in many adverse conditions from which the planet is still trying to recover and re-adjust today. But not all was lost.

While this cataclysm unfolded on planet Earth, each of the two sides had a colonising expedition on its way to VLUVIDIUM, in a race to claim ownership of a Planet that offered the same optimal conditions for Human life, as those of the First Earth. One of those expeditions eventually reached it and the new humanity that grew from those settlers continued to evolve in all aspects of life and science over millennia, into what Vluvidians had become. The other, it was assumed either perished or returned to Earth, perhaps one or two generations later, and probably regressing into primitiveness before gradually repopulating the planet.

Coming to the point, ZETRUM then further explained that some 25,000 years later, VLUVIDIUM divided into a multitude of Clans and Nations, with weapons capable of ever greater devastation… And history would most certainly have repeated itself, if it weren’t for a popular uprising that united the Planet. To ensure the non-recurrence of such an event in future generations, a Space Mission was then sent to Earth, to bury a Time Capsule containing all the knowledge of how to build those weapons of annihilation. Ironically, the exact location of this Time Capsule was to be half a mile directly beneath the spot where Vera’s Cottage would eventually come to stand!

…As for the reasons to retrieve such deadly technology from its resting place, ZETRUM informed us that the Humanities of Earth and VLUVIDIUM were not alone. The very existence of our Species was currently under threat from another humanoid race that inhabited an area of the Galaxy, in the general direction of Andromeda, known as Tovians. The Tovians were faced with the imminent implosion of the Star at the centre of their Worlds. And in their quest to find alternative Star systems with planets capable of sustaining life, VLUVIDIUM was now forced into taking all possible steps to defend itself, the Earth and the very existence of the known Humanity.

Unless confronted by a life or death situation, VLUVIDIUM’s Space Charter forbade them from interfering with other intelligent Worlds, and consequentially, more specifically to Vera and me, we were told we had a one-way ticket to VLUVIDIUM.

ZETRUM explained that so they could have all the time they needed to unearth the Capsule without attracting attention, both of us had been replaced on Earth by indistinguishable doubles of ourselves, capable of continuing our lives or any conversation we might have held with anyone since birth! ZETRUM however assured us that the life awaiting us in VLUVIDIUM would perhaps be a lot more to our liking than the one we would have had on Earth… And to prove his words, among other things, he started by giving us Commercial Patent rights over everything Earthly with marketing potential in VLUVIDIUM, providing it could be found in our cottages; from Coca Cola and Corn Flakes, to anything contained in a Book or Magazine. I was particularly pleased to learn from Vera, that she had a complete set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica among her Books!!!!

Towards the end of that evening, as if our first day of integration hadn’t brought enough drama and novelty, ZETRUM took me to one side and revealed that whilst natural evolution had been kind to Vluvidian women, the same didn’t apply to the men…Their penises had practically disappeared into insignificance, to the point where artificial insemination was the norm, when it came to procreation! On the other hand, he also informed me that the human mind had developed alternative ways by which a man and a woman could still find sexual stimulation, even though the women remained considerably more proactive physically. And finally, he warned me with humour, that Vera could yet prove to be my only salvation, over the months and years to come!

From a human relations perspective, we couldn’t deny having thoroughly enjoyed our first day inside The Guardian proper, but were relieved to be back in our new quarters, to give ourselves a chance to come to terms with it all. On the positive side, we both had a sense of adventure that somehow prevented us from folding back inwardly, at the prospect of never seeing the Earth again, with everything it held… But were thankful we still had each other. The Vluvidians were growing on us and with our enormous sudden affluence; life was going to have an entirely new meaning. On the down side, whilst initially amused by the Vluvidian male predicament, Vera felt worried about me, and about the competition she would be facing sooner or later, in a world where any woman could easily compete with the most attractive females from Earth… and most probably win.

A few days later, after a second non-intrusive operation, this time to have a microscopic brain fitting attached to one of our lobes, we were now able to start using learning machines. The development of new faculties that allowed us to gain access to parts of our brains we never knew existed, widened our horizons thus enabling us to do things we never thought we could. Life was fun and our options of experiencing and discovering novelty remained endless.

With the passing of time, ZETRUM and I became very close friends, as did MALINA and SULINA with Vera. But whilst my relationship with Vera couldn’t be stronger, Vera’s obsession with finding a way to protect me from the rest of the Vluvidian female population, grew almost as rapidly as did MALINA’s and SULINA’s desire to be with me intimately. Realising this, Vera decided to accept that I should develop an intimate part-time relationship with the two influential Vluvidianesses, as a way of encouraging them, in turn, to rally to her cause with added zeal. At first, the proposition made me feel a bit like a stud on loan to a new stable, but deep inside, the more boyish side of me looked forward to the whole thing, without allowing this to change my feelings towards Vera; I had no personal complaints with those arrangements; especially since I genuinely had mirror feelings towards the two of them too. The relationship between the four of us however, was to remain a well-kept secret, only known to ZETRUM and RINI.

In the meantime, away from our private lives, the situation with the Tovians continued to deteriorate, and following the news of the unexpected destruction of CZATEK by Tovian War craft (a Vluvidian planet colony on a neighbouring Star), NAMON (VLUVIDIUM’s Supreme Leader), in a broadcast to every Vluvidian, announced that we were now in a state of total war with THE TOVIANANSKAMUN (The Tovian Worlds). An immediate hunt for possible spies and informers ensued and upon being accused of high treason, LLMMIUM committed suicide.

Adding to my learning sessions about everything Vluvidian, I also began to develop an interest in finding out more about the Tovian issue, especially since I knew the Earth would be sharing in the fate of VLUVIDIUM, whatever the outcome of the looming conflict. My one to one conversations with ZETRUM on the Tovian topic became increasingly frequent, and as we confided in each other, he eventually revealed to me that whilst in Space, he remained probably NAMON’s closest Advisor on several matters, including the Tovian issue, and eventually revealed that through some advanced means of communications the two men were in contact almost daily.

My non-Vluvidian-way of thinking became regarded as a possible asset to the Vluvidians in the creation of their own strategy, included in a flexible Master Plan of defence, rich in options and surprises. Our priority however, became to try to identify the Tovians’ true sources of information. This was a matter of urgency, since without knowing that, any Master Plan would be nothing short of useless! Our joint efforts brought us a good mixture of failures and successes, with the failures only serving to provide us with an even greater resolve to beat them at their own game.

With my ever-greater involvement in our common human cause, ZETRUM and NAMON became increasingly impressed with some of my strategic considerations and suggestions..., and before I knew it, they decided to prepare me for the role of Earth’s Ambassador to the Vluvidian Senate, to be made official upon our arrival in VLUVIDIUM!!! I couldn’t help feeling stupefied by their offer and even a little suspicious at first. I realised that I was perhaps likely to become a convenient scapegoat for any future errors made relating to Earth, but they soon convinced me that apart from believing I would be perfect for the Job, I was also their only natural choice for the post, given that there were no other people from Earth living among them… From that point on, my Learning Machines’ preparation intensified and my meetings with ZETRUM became more frequent. My separate private relationship with MALINA and SULINA was rich with amazing novelty in the domain of all things intimate…, which somehow brought Vera and I still closer, and the nearer we got to VLUVIDIUM, the stronger the relationship between the three women, RINI and I became. We were like a tight family unit.

Then, to be able to maintain our intimate arrangements in complete privacy beyond the voyage, MALINA and SULINA decided to join us in the purchase of a small island on the planet. We named it VETOMASURI; after the first two letter sounds in each of our names.

To complicate our best laid plans however, by the time our voyage was coming to an end, I learned that both Vera and SULINA were pregnant!

**

The story so far from Book 2

VETOMASURI

VLUVIDIUM appeared silvery-blue as we neared it from Space. An Ocean world without Continents, littered with millions of small islands, the biggest of which was VAM, about the size of Crete. VAM was also their Capital City and home to over 110 million Vluvidians. Our Flotilla however, was headed for their main Spaceport on the outskirts of NAZALEATH, VLUVIDIUM’s second largest City and ZETRUM’s birthplace.

A huge crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle of the Landing and NAMON also came to welcome us all in person. Vluvidians were addicted to the pomp and protocols that so much characterised them, but thankfully, and perhaps deliberately, all the razzmatazz was kept to the very minimum on this occasion, and within a few short minutes of being more formally introduced to NAMON, a Transporter ZIZ came to ferry the five of us (Vera, MALINA, SULINA, RINI and I) to our island home.

VETOMASURI greatly exceeded our expectations, but before I could even unpack, ZETRUM contacted me from VAM, requesting that Vera and I should meet him there, to prepare for the following day’s Ceremony of my Investiture as Earth’s Ambassador. Our rehearsal was brief and he still found the time to give us a taste of the City around the Government District; from its vast shopping Malls and giant pyramids, to the Vluvidian Senate. We ended that day in a restaurant at the very top of the pyramid where my Government apartment was located (for whenever I needed to stay in VAM overnight) and I were treated to the wide panoramic views of an Alpha set over the City and its coastline while we dined.

Following my Investiture, we had a few days to get organised in VETOMASURI, and I took the opportunity to explore it with the help of IZ (a robotic floating platform that could talk, among other virtues!). IZ was an irrepressible chatterbox that would never waste an opportunity to try to be useful, or simply good company, like a faithful dog. Across the sandy beaches and on through the densely wooded mountain forest, he shared with me all he had learnt about our island, as if patiently awaiting playtime. In the process of becoming familiarised with every corner of the place however, IZ and I stumbled across a couple of mysterious and worrying finds, near to where we had commissioned the building of a mountain lake. We were all a little on edge with the Tovians, to the point of accepting that almost anything was possible, and I immediately got some specialists to look into it… And it didn’t take them long to conclude that the whole thing led to an intricate network of sophisticated ventilation shafts, which continued down for miles, from directly beneath the mountain lake!

Everyone was stupefied by the findings and I seriously questioned the odds for this to have happened in VETOMASURI, of all places (?). Vera too, was quick to notice that I seemed to have a knack for finding anything Alien!!! …And getting to the bottom of the whole thing suddenly became a matter of extreme urgency, especially since none of it was Vluvidian made, and the likelihood of the Tovians being involved, definitely remote! To our dismay, out island was suddenly invaded by experts from every field of Science, working around the clock, determined to solve the mystery.

This in no way halted our social commitments though, which continued to be wide and varied, but not without some challenges; one of such, being the problem of explaining SULINA’s pregnancy, in a way the Media and the general public could swallow! Made all the more pressing, since my growing involvement with the Inner Circle of Advisors to NAMON, meant that everything I did would now reflect upon them too. It took a fair amount of influence and Spin to eventually concoct a credible story that would reveal I had secretly married Vera, MALINA and SULINA whilst still on Board The Guardian; and that the two Vluvidianesses had decided to embrace some Earthly Faith that lent morality to a man having more than one wife, providing he could care for them equally and adequately. Since Vluvidian Law forbade mass Religious movements but left each individual totally free to pursue his or her own religious beliefs, for as long as it would be done in private, the whole thing could not be seen as a clear-cut breach of Vluvidian Principles, even if verging on the edges of acceptability. The problem now however, was down to finding the right time to release the news, before the Media could discover the pregnancies via some other means.

All the while in VETOMASURI, the investigators on the case of the mysterious ventilation shafts were coming up with ever more alarming finds, culminating in the amazing revelation that the entire Planet was inhabited beneath its surface, in the form of a global network of well-cocooned modern cities, some 12 miles below ground level. Whilst unable to understand how it was possible for the Vluvidians not to have known anything about this until then, it also became obvious that whatever was down there had been stuck there, at least from the time when Vluvidian Atmospheric air was reengineered to exclude all other forms of animal life, thousands of years earlier! But how did it get there in the first instance? Why now? And why in my own back yard?

It turned out that the underground inhabitants of VLUVIDIUM were in fact none other than the descendants of the second expedition from the First Earth (of 50,000 years earlier). For fear of being obliterated by those of the surface, they continued to go ever deeper into the planet, to camouflage themselves from detection at first and later, to protect themselves from the Atmospheric changes that occurred above ground. They called themselves the ZOONI and were ruled by an ailing King MANDOZ, whose Daughter and future Queen, Princess OZALAM, already reigned in all but name.

Despite all the mixed feelings and initial apprehensions, NAMON and ZETRUM immediately realised that with the ZOONI being as much native humans of VLUVIDIUM as those of the surface, my Earth origins and ever-greater involvement in matters of Government, probably made me a God-sent arbitrator. I could help in the process of bringing together both Communities, in a new Era, where all Vluvidians would be able breathe the same air and share in their achievements, for their common good and interests.

The ZOONI were now the main focus of Media attention, which provided the perfect opportunity for the news of my marriages to emerge without becoming centre stage, and with minimal controversy.

I got on well with King MANDOZ and His Daughter and soon gained their trust and respect. The ZOONI were very much on a par with the Vluvidians of the surface in several Scientific Fields, but certainly more advanced in matters of planetary Core Fusion and other related sciences. It was instantly recognised that, if a scientific solution to the ailing Tovian Star of Betaga was ever to be found, the ZOONI would most probably have the best answer. And from being a completely unknown factor, the ZOONI had now suddenly become a likely major Player and Partner in any future Peace Talks with the Tovians. The ZOONI knew this and I somehow felt that neither the discovery of their existence, nor perhaps the place where they had chosen to be found, was an act of destiny alone… But I couldn’t be absolutely sure, and decided to follow the game with an open mind. Could this be part of some clever and elaborate plan timed to perfection?

Just then, as if VLUVIDIUM hadn’t enough to deal with, an attempted Plot to oust NAMON and His Government narrowly failed, just as the ZOONI were building their trust and confidence in the VAM Government. The Plotters apparently aimed to blow the Tovians out of the Universe with no further ado, rather than take chances with negotiations and scientific unknowns that could fail or simply delay the inevitable, instead of watching the Tovians grow in strength and resolve with each day that passed. But NAMON was not a man to be easily intimidated and, encouraged by scientific reports that confirmed the ZOONI as having the know-how to reverse Betaga’s condition, He managed to convince the Tovians that VLUVIDIUM possessed the answer to their predicament, and forced them to agree to a meeting of Delegations in mid Space.

Impressed by the way I had contributed towards bringing Vluvidians of the surface and ZOONI together, I became the common choice of both Communities, to represent them as main negotiator, in the scheduled mid Space Talks with the Tovians.

NAMON’s health however began to falter and for fear of leaving a gap at the top, probably at the most crucial moment in Human History, He decided to abdicate in favour of ZETRUM, His first chosen, who then became VLUVIDIUM’s new Premier Leader.

With the meteoric rise of my personal Status, Power and Influence, and seemingly as part of my follow-on preparation for the meeting of Delegations in mid Space, NAMON revealed to me the existence of a thing called the Chamber of the Book of Life (a well guarded secret passed on from one Premier Leader to the next, over millennia), and gave me the opportunity to enter it, to allow me a greater understanding of the true purpose of Life in all its aspects. The extremely humbling experience from it, however, left me wondering on the relevance of what I saw as reality, at a time when more than ever, I needed to relate to the dimension I felt I understood, given the growing burden on my shoulders, and decided to encase most of what I had learnt from it in the depths of my mind, intending to review it at some future date.

On the approach to Departure day, in anticipation of a 2-year + round trip Mission to meet up with the Tovians, one party followed another, in between preparatory meetings and further Learning Sessions. Only MALINA was to accompany me to the mid-Space Talks, as both Vera and SULINA would have to remain in VLUVIDIUM due to their pregnancies.

**

GLOSSARY

MAIN CHARACTERS + UNFAMILIAR NAMES FROM PREVIOUS VOLUMES.

(AN) ANG (Vol2) Form of greeting among Senators. (A bow with hands in prayer position).

BELT COMMUNICATOR (Vol1) For verbal mental communications with person/s not physically present.

BETAGA (Vol2) The Tovian main ailing Star.

(THE) BOOK OF LIFE (Vol2) The Vluvidian Bible plus.

(THE) CENTRAL BRAIN (Vol2) VLUVIDIUM’s Big Brother Control Centre plus.

COMPANION (Vol1) An artificially grown and genetically modified, purpose-made human being.

(THE) COUNCIL OF ADVISORS (Vol2) The Vluvidian Senate – Chamber of Representatives.

CREDIT UNITS (Vol1) Vluvidian currency.

CZATEK (Vol1) Vluvidian Planet Colony, in a different Star system, destroyed by the Tovians.

DAMINEM (Vol2) One of Tony’s Security Personnel – VETOMASURI. (Male)

(THE) DELEGATION SHIP (Vol2) Admiralty Ship of the Vluvidian Space Fleets.

ECLA (Vol1) The elder of the twin sisters that abducted Tony and Vera.

FALATH