[I've been avoiding progressing on leaving, though I have a pretty solid deadline of July 11 to be out of here (at the latest), and will put the finishing touches on the quilt today. Sat: wrote blog post and finished _Monkey Wrench Gang_. Sun _Da Vinci Code_. Mon: exercise and _Solaris_ (Lem?). But I can't just keep reading ebooks. I may as well make up some of my own. So here's a scenario I got to figuring out how to set up. Maybe now I can think of a story.]
Continent 2, earthplanet 254 (ep254) was the area used; it was separated by at least 900 miles of ocean from all other lands. The seed stock had this characteristic: all biological features but memory would rotate through the variation found in the tracked sapiens control population (of those born within +/- 15 ep1 days) on earthplanet 16, which has a stable population of about 3 billion.
Technical achievements enabling this setup included: modification of the sapiens genome to enable abilities to (1) communicate with a biosatellite (via a species of relay tree), (2) randomly select one ep16 biological profile per day, and (3) continually metamorphose toward that profile (a modification of the ability to gradually fully regenerate lost body parts). In addition, the ep254 continent 2 ecosystems were seeded (to the extent ability at the time allowed) to make the additional calories required for continual metamorphosis easier to obtain.
The ep16 population had been established for experimental purposes with the ability to record and transmit individual biological data to a biosatellite via relay tree.
Everything about the bodies of ep254 sapiens except for their species-unique genetic abilities and their individual, personal memories would change. Metamorphoses to ep16 profiles were gradual and rarely completely achieved: e.g., finger length changed (and a lost finger could regrow) at about 0.1 cm per hour. Certain characteristics, such as hair, showed effects over time of the continually changing target profiles.
The sapiens were introduced to ep254 continent 2 by artificially inseminating a species of simian designed for the purpose.
So there we are! All that to get humans with memories but without lastingly recognizable physical characteristics.
The rest, I guess, is imaginary psychology and anthro/sociology.
Further details of the metamorphoses: (1) females do not metamorphose from the onset to termination of pregnancy. (2) Alternation of sex occurs in 6-month cycles--every six months the sex of the ep16 population from which an individual's random daily profile is selected switches. In sexually mature individuals it takes about 15 days for a fertile male to become a fertile female or vice versa.
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