Thulium Delphiki was the daughter of Cincinnatus Delphiki and the granddaughter of Bean and Petra Arkanian.[1] She was first introduced in The Last Shadow.
History[]
Early Life[]
Thulium was born on the planet Nokonoshima to Airi. She began crawling mere weeks after being born. 3 weeks after her birth, she was kidnapped by her father Cincinnatus "Sergeant" Delphiki and taken aboard the lightspeed ship Herodotus with the rest of her family. As the child of Sergeant, she possessed the high intelligence of Anton's Key but without the out of control growth hormone. Her uncle Ender Delphiki gave her the nickname Ultima Thule, after the asteroid in the Sol System. Her cousins, the children of Carlotta Delphiki and Ender Delphiki, were scared of her father so they stayed away from her and the twins. On one occasion, her father locked her in a closet.[1]
During her childhood she taught herself Japanese, but she hid it from her siblings as they would mock her for yearning for her mother so much that she would try to learn the language of Nokonoshima. Carlotta eventually discovered her and explained that they spoke Stark on Nokonoshima, but Thulium wanted to be able to watch ancient videos and read books in the language.[1]
The Last Shadow[]
Around the year 3180 AX, it was their cousin Delft "Blue" Delphiki's 9th birthday. Dys and Lanth joked with Thulium but were told off by their cousin, Little Mum. Later that day she joined Blue and his brother Brussels "Sprout" Delphiki to celebrate Blue's birthday. As they ate ice cream, they noticed a man standing in the back of the room. After questioning by Carlotta, the man revealed that he was a computer program that reflected the mind of Hyrum Graff, the former Battle School administrator and Minister of Colonization. He revealed that Andrew Wiggin had died, and that he had been reading all the data that the Delphikis had been sending to research institutions who purported to be studying Anton's Key. Graff revealed that he had been slowing down the Herodotus to non-relativistic speed in order so that the Leguminids may help solve the problem of the Descolada on Lusitania. The Delphiki family were unsure, and decided to finish celebrating Blue's birthday before deciding.[1]
Carlotta told the rest of the family about the new development, but Thulium's father Cincinnatus instructed her not to discuss it with the rest of the family. The cousins met together in the mess hall with Ender Delphiki and talked about identifying the Descolada planet. Sergeant came in and listened to the discussion briefly before starting to walk out. After prompting by Ender, Sergeant explained his thoughts that it was most likely that even if the virus was created, its creators were most likely extinct by millions of years. Graff appeared as a hologram again in the room, who Sergeant promptly dismissed and left the mess hall. After much discussion about the finances of the Delphiki family and the Descolada problem, Thulium proposed that the Leguminids simply go to Lusitania to converse with the scientists there about the issue. Suddently, Sprout realized that Graff came to the Herodotus to escape the Hundred Worlds-wide Ansible shutdown, to which Graff affirmed his hypothesis. Graff explained to the Delphikis that the Lusitanian scientists had found a possible origin point of the Descolada, a planet they called Descoladora.[1]
At that moment, a man and a woman appeared in the room. The woman walked to Ender and expressed that he looked much like his parents, Bean and Petra Arkanian. The hologram of Graff thought the woman was Valentine Wiggin, though much younger than she should be. She introduced herself as Jane and the man as Miro Ribeira to the group and explained how Andrew Wiggin had created her body and Peter Wiggin II while Outside, as well as the concept of an Aiúa and how the Recolada had neutralized the Descolada on Lusitania. The Leguminids doubted Jane's story and were baffled at how she and Miro appeared instantaneously on the ship. Jane then instantly transported the Delphikis to a plain of grass on Lusitania. Jane stated that she had left the Herodotus in orbit around the planet and explained the concept of instantaneous travel to them, and that she had sent Carlotta, Cincinnatus, and Ender to Nokonoshima to persuade their spouses to join the Delphikis on Lusitania. When asked by their children when their parents would return, Jane simply said when their work is done.[1]
Thulium spent the next several days reviewing all the work and research done on the pre-Recolada Descolada, as well as the transcripts of the conversations between Descoladora and the Box research ship. Thulium came to the conclusion that Descoladora was not the origin of the virus, but an early victim of it. She also studied the vivisections of Libo Figueira and Pipo Figueira, as well as the Pequenino Human. Thulium also picked up on the fact that the Lusitanians were concealing the existence of something regarding sentient species, which unbeknownst to her were the Formics. She at one point met with Miro Ribeira where he discussed the harm he believed the Leguminids were causing to themselves if they remained aboard the Herodotus. Thulium asked why they were not being allowed to see non-scientist Lusitanians, but he dodged the question. Thulium also posed the theory that they did not want the Leguminids in orbit on the Herodotus for fear that they would see something they were not supposed to. Miro also explained to Thulium the story of his paralysis and the creation of a new body while Outside. Miro probed into Thulium's backstory, noticing that her brothers had a habit of hurting her.[1]
Thulium then explained her disagreement with the current hypothesis about the Descoladores being a sentient species that developed the use of genetic molecules as weapons and tools and communication devices, as it was unlikely that they would digitize those molecules and transmit them to the crew of the Box, as the only way they could do harm is if the crew built the molecule to enter their organisms. Her hypothesis was that the Descoladores simply adapted their level of science when the Descolada struck them, unlike the Pequeninos were able to do.[1]
On the same day, Lanth and the rest of the cousins went to go meet the Pequeninos, except for Thulium. Wanting to take her mind of things, Thulium left their residence and went to the perimeter fence, where Miro had been paralyzed before. She decided to walk through it and was struck with all kinds of images started flashing into her mind, but had no physical pain and she kept going, climbing over the fence to the other side. She assumed that the fence was kept in place to remind humans that they were too close to Pequenino land, but the severity was toned much down from when it had paralyzed Miro. Although she did not have an exact plan, Thulium knew she wanted to meet Pequeninos who were not prepped to meet the Leguminids. Thinking to herself, she expressed her distaste for toilet paper on Lusitania in comparison to the advanced toilets on the Herodotus, and a few minutes later relieved herself in the grassland. After finding a river to clean herself, she noticed a cave nearby and realized that the figures farming in the distance were not humans or Pequeninos, but Formics, and that the first Xenocide had not been complete. Thulium then realized that the author of The Hive Queen must have had a real Hive Queen to converse with, and that that queen must have started the colony on Lusitania. Recalling how nighmarish the Formics were depicted in literature and how they looked worse in real life, Thulium had to exert effort to stay silent and not whimper out loud and went back the direction she came. Before she could leave, a formic worker spoke out with a grinding but intelligible voice asking her to come back and visit at the request of the Hive Queen of Shakespeare, referring to her by name which unnerved Thulium.[1]
As she walked back, Thulium considred if the Hive Queen be able to make warships to fight the creators of the Descolada if it came to war with them. As she crested a hill she encountered 3 pequeninos who addressed her by name as well, and they pointed her in the direction back to Milagre. As she reached the gate, Miro and Jane were there to meet her. Jane explained that she was in constant contact with the Fathertrees and the Hive Queen, which is how they knew where she was. After expressing her gladness that the disruption field was at a lower setting, Jane quietly asked Miro if that was an option for it. Thulium debated whether or not this was Jane meaning for her to hear her question as a continuation of her disinformation campaign, or that it were true that she had passed through the same disruptor field that had caused Miro permanent brain damage when he went through, and the impications if that were true. After returning to her residence Thulium showered and reflected on her journey.[1]
Thulium later attended a presentation to the Leguminids on the prior research about the Descolada hosted by Valentine Wiggin. She asked if it was possible if the virus was originally sent to Lusitania digitally, to which Valentine explained that the Pequeninos had no technology at the time to recieve it. Sprout noticed that Valentine had directed most of her speaking to Thulium and went to ask her why but she refused to tell him. Later that day, Sprout was lounging outside their compound and had missed two meals. Thulium brought him food and explained to him how she had crossed the disruptor fence with no ill effects except mild halucinations. Thulium's hypothesis was that the genetic modifications of Anton's Key had somehow allowed them to be unaffected by the field. They decided to try putting Sprout through it to prove their hypothesis.[1]
Later on, Thulium met up with Peter Wiggin II, Si Wang-mu and Jane to meet the Hive Queen again. They eventually reached the cave entrance to the underground Formic city. At the entrance they met Talker, a Formic worker who would guide them. Thulium told the group about how her father and siblings met Formic drones on the Formic Ark. When Jane expresseed a desire to see the videos of this, Thulium mentioned that she had already ransaked their data. As Thulium began to cross the river, Talker ran over and scooped her up to carry her as she was not tall enough to wade through. The rest of the group waded through and spent time drying off. As Thulium wondered if the Hive Queen were communicating with her, the Queen answered her and explained how she had learned how to communicate in a "language-y way". She showed her a vision of her grandfather, Bean, dying in the Formic Ark. When she asked how she had witnessed this, she was shown the eyes of the animals in the habitat on the ark, that she can see through those creatures as well, stating that when the Leguminids found the Ark, she learned to see through the eyes of those creatures and add their observations to her memory. The Queen also showed Thulium an image of the philotic connection between her and Wang-mu. Amazed at what she saw, Wang-mu pledged to write to Han Fei-tzu about it; however, Jane told her not to, to let him live out his days in the company of his daughter, and have him forget how much better he was pleased with Wang-mu than with his daughter Han Qing-jao. Thulium thought to herself that Jane could be cruel.[1]
When they arrived in the Queen's chambers, Peter explained his plan for him and Wang-mu to travel to Descoladora and discover what was on the planet. He explained that they should go as they learned quickly, but if they died to an unknown virus their loss would not cripple the Descolada project. Thulium spoke out against them, saying they should not go as they are not experienced geneticists and would not know what they were looking at. She insisted that she should go, as she considered herself the most expendable geneticist. Switching topics, Thulium asked the Queen how light made its way down to the cavern. The Queen, through Talker, stated that skylight tunnels with mirrors led to spots on the surface, and the workers covered and uncovered the mirrors to allow less and more light to come into the chamber. The Queen then returned to Peter saying that they did need a geneticist on their journey, that they should take both Thulium and her cousin Sprout. Peter disliked this option, which Jane noted as being due to the fact that Peter would not be in charge of it, and she taunted him for it. Peter was further rebuked by the Queen when she said that no one depended upon his leadership as much as her workers depended on her authority. Humbled, Peter realized within himself that he did not need to be in control, but simply look out for the others. Reading his mind, the Hive Queen praised Peter and said that he was now truly the leader of the expedition. The Hive Queen said that Talker would be unable to lead them out and told Thulium to instead.[1]
As Thulium went over research notes from The Box, Peter entered the room. They discussed their lack of a Philotic connection and their plans for going to Descoladora, as well as how to aquire the equipment they would need. Later, she spoke with Jane about allowing her to teach Thulium how to instantaneously travel, and Jane agreed; the conversation was eventually quoted by Plikt in "Leguminidae".[1]
After finding out that Peter and Wang-mu had already gone to the surface of Descoladora, she and Sprout went to the Q-Bay to see them. Thulium understood why she was left behind, due to the threat of a large predator that could have killed her. Although they looked clean, Peter and Wang-mu were to remain in quarantine until any alien virus would have time to develop. Wang-mu noted that the bee's genome matched exactly with an Earth honeybee from the 22nd century, prior to the Formic Wars, except for the fact that it did not have a stinger. The grass genome also was adapted to fit nutrition needs of Earth animals, especially birds. Another note was that they did not find the Descolada virus present in the samples. Thus, the group thought it was likely that the planet was human-colonized, and not the source of the Descolada. Later on, Thulium and Sprout discussed Wang-mu and how Thulium now saw her as somewhat of a mother figure.[1]
The next day, Thulium had decided to go to Descoladora and was arguing with Sprout to entice him to join her. After enough arguing, Thulium agreed to wait until Peter and Wang-mu had returned. Thulium teleported the two of them to the Q-Bay to wait. Brussels went to sleep but Thulium stayed awake thinking. Peter and Wang-mu then returned again from Descoladora, this time bringing one of the native, sentient Ravens named Dog that they had found on the planet. Without waking Sprout, Thulium immediately teleported herself and Sprout to the surface of Descoladora where Peter had just returned from. Within three minutes, the Keas had taken all of their belongings. The Kea Royal Son spoke in Sprout's ear asking why they had come. Thulium insisted they could come as they pleased but Royal Son stressed that when one sends emissaries to a strange land, either the emissaries speak for the whole or they do not. Realizing her mistake, Thulium teleported herself back to the Q-Bay. She realized she had left Sprout and panicked but Jane came on the intercom and said that he was still on the planet. Her first reaction was to go back for him but Jane demanded that she stay. Wang-mu also explained that Dog had been checked for viruses and was being taken by Jane to see the Fathertrees and the Hive Queen.[1]
When Jane returned, Thulium started screaming demands at her, accusing Jane of playing God. She lambasted Jane for the decision to leave Sprout there. Thulium eventually settled down and agreed to proccess Peter and Wang-mu's data from Descoladora. When Sprout returned from the planet, he explained that he had met a man with ape-like features named Ruqyaq, who explained that the residents of the planet, which they called Nest, originally came from Earth after the First Formic War and modified themselves during the non-relatavistic journey into a subspecies called the Yachachiyruna or Engineers, and that the birds had bred intelligence into themselves. Jane conversed with Thulium about the discovery and Thulium expressed heavy doubt. Jane, with access to ancient databases, confirmed the existence of the Quispe clan and the ship Ark. Their conversation was later cited in Demosthenes' work The Delphiki Orphans.
Jane collected Thulium, Peter, Wang-mu, Miro, Ela Ribeira and Quara Ribeira, the Raven Dog, along with 3 Pequeninos and 3 Formic workers to meet with Sprout. With everybody assembled, they watched the video recordings that a Yachachi had made of Sprout's activities on Nest. After seeing proof, Ela said that she would not have called the meeting if she knew the proof existed. Thulium asked Jane if Sprout had developed the ability of Outside-in travel, which she confirmed. Jane also explained that Outside-in travel came easily to Leguminids, as well as Peter, Wang-mu and Miro, but that the Hive Queen had told her that most lacked the ability to bring anything except themselves through. Dog expressed disappointment over this, but Sprout explained that it would be disastrous if all Keas learned how to and created chaos on all the worlds. Jane expressed a desire to meet the Runa, the normal humans of Nest, and Dog said that she would set up a meeting. Sprout asked Dog if he did a good job meeting the Yachachi, and Dog said that they could not have chosen a better emissary. The Pequenino Fingers talked with Dog about helping them proccess the data in the video, and explained that his name was Fingers (digits) because he was good with computers.[1]
Soon after, Thulium's father Sergeant and her aunt Carlotta and uncle Ender returned with their spouses from Nokonoshima, but Thulium's mother did not come. She introduced herself politely to her aunt Mayumi and uncle Yuuto. Upon learning that Thulium had gone to Descoladora, Sergeant was displeased in his daughter, and forbid her from returning. Thulium then teleported Outside-In to show off to her father. Not impressed, she then teleported him as well to the outskirts of the Formic colony. Thulium explained how the Formics were re-established by Ender Wiggin. Thulium then threatened to send him back to Nokonoshima if Sergeant tried to interfere with the descolada project. Sergeant did not balk at this, so she teleported him to Nokonoshima and teleported herself to the group. After a moment had passed she brought him back, but he looked unfazed. Sergeant asked Sprout and Blue what their purpose was now on Lusitania. Thulium then verbally dressed-down Sergeant and then sent him to bed by teleporting him to his quarters.[1]
Some time later, Thulium and Sprout discussed the Folk. They guessed that they had retreated underground to escape the mischief of the Keas and Ravens, and that there must be many who regretted their ancestors' decision and wished to return to the surface, and that it was unwise of the Lusitanians to make friends with only the surface-dwellers first. The conversation was later quoted by Plikt in "Leguminidae".[1]
Thulium was saddened that her mother Airi did not come to Lusitania, so she teleported herself to Nokonoshima to meet her. As she walked the streets, she felt the stares of people and thought that her Lusitanian clothes were not in fashion here. She eventually found a house with the name Wiggin, and surprised that it was not a Japanese name she knocked. An old woman answered and Thulium was shocked, thinking her mother could not be old. The woman said that Mrs. Wiggin was her daughter and would be home later. The woman realized that Thulium must be her granddaughter. They sat and talked and Grandmother explained Airi's past and how she met Cincinnatus. Later, Airi came home, and Thulium bowed before her and apolgized for her father's actions. Airi embaced her and wept, and then they sat together and talked. They had dinner and Thulium explained that she had to go back. She was given a Japanese garb and she teleported back to a meadow on Lusitania and fell asleep, and was later woken by a Pequenino.[1]
When Thulium realzed that the rest of the Descolada Project was going to visit the Folk soon, Thulium decided to go a day ahead. She met the Folk and they treated her kindly, but when she awoke the next day she had blisters on her face, blinding headache, sparks dancing like comets across her vision, congestion that made her short of breath, and violent diarrhea. The Folk put makeup on her to cover the blisters and put her on a throne in their main room, giving her a script to read when the rest arrived.[1]
When the rest of the Lusitanians arrived in the city of the Folk, one of the Folk said that Thulium had brought her friends as promised, and asked her to introduce them to the Folk. As she listed their names, a spotlight shone on each one as though the Folk knew their names. The group was invited to sit down, but Sprout snuck over to Thulium and noticed that they had her face thickly caked with makeup that looked chalky, but noticed some bumps Thulium usually did not have. Sprout scraped away the layer of white, which fell off and uncovered dozens of small blisters, and a clear fluid had burst out of them. Sprout called out to Jane and showed her the blisters. A few Folk moved to try to intercept Jane, and some of what looked to be the Folk's highest officers looked cheerful, as if they had already won a war that wasn't supposed to start. Jane Detoured everybody back to the Q-Bay. Sprout and Jane talked to Thulium and she explained that she had gone yesterday to the Folk, and the blisters appeared that morning when she woke up. They began to examine the microorganisms to find out how to cure it, and Sergeant held his daughter's hand.[1]
Thulium cursed herself for being foolish enough to fall into the Folk's trap. At one point while she went in and out of consciousness, she decided to send her father and the twins to Nest to get revenge on the Folk, but she was not strong enough to do so. After the Hive Queen requested to see Thulium before she died, she was carried to the Queen by Jane and Sprout. When Jane brought Thulium over, the Queen left her city and walked out into the meadow, bringing Talker and two of the sluglike helpers that tended to the eggs in the hive house. The Queen lifted both slugs up onto Thulium's body, and they left small holes in Thulium's clothing, with the skin bleeding slightly under them, as a kind of Formic surgery. The Queen then pulled them off and attached them to her abdomen. She stood upright for a few moments, then bent and curled herself into a ball on the ground. Talker explained in her own words that the Queen was scanning the virus. The Queen created a substance in her body and put them into the slugs, but was exhausted and needed Jane and Sprout to carry the slugs onto Thulium. Once placed on her, the substance moved through Thulium's body killing or removing or disabling virus worms as they went. As dawn approached, Talker said that Thulium's state was very bad, and that if the Hive Queen had not helped, all the worms at once would have torn open every cell wall, becoming a pile of cellular garbage, and all the worms would dissolve into spores that would float away, ready to be inhaled by another host. The Queen said it was a deliberate creation, adapted from a lifeform found on Nest and changed into being lethal. The Queen, through Talker, said to bring the slugs to the Q-Bay to disinfect the others. Jane teleported the Queen and Talker back to the hive house. Jane then brought Thuluim, her, Sprout, and the slugs back to the Q-Bay.[1]
When they returned, Thulium apolgized for her actions and Jane explained the cure to those in the room. Sprout was treated first and it was done in half an hour. Jane sent people out of the building as soon as their cure was complete.[1]
When Peter and Wang-mu came back from Nest, they brought 2 dead Keas with them, as it seemed that hundreds had died. Those in the Q-Bay investigated the cause but nothing turned up, it seemed as though the birds just died. Miro said that they should return, but in a Box for any birds to escape into. They filled it with roosts and sent it to Nest. Peter and Wang-Mu walked toward the Council trees, where Ruqyaq emerged, and he asked if they could take Keas and Ravens to escape. Ruqyaq explained that the weapon was a combination of ultrasound and infrasound, that he had designed for riot control twenty years ago. Ruqyaq took them to an area with some Keas and Ravens still alive, and Sprout invited them into the Box. Jane sent the Box full with birds back and forth dozens of times. Eventually there was no birds left except for a few that hovered off in the distance, apparently with no wish to go even under threat of death. Then the Yachachi emerged from the trees, and Jane teleported them away, and the group Detoured back to the Q-Bay.[1]
The group then went to the meadow to sort the birds. Jane told them to divide themselves into their breeding populations, then instructed the Keas to form a group who wanted to be alone and a group that wished to be with the Ravens, as they could not be trusted with humans. One by one the patches of birds disappeared as Jane sent them to the colonies. The Yachachi sat on the edge, and Ruqyaq asked Jane if they could stay on Lusitania, but she said no as the only trees on Lusitania were the sacred Fathertrees. Jane also instructed them to make clothes for themselves, so they asked to stay for a few more days.[1]
A week later, Jane, Ela, Quara, and Thulium discussed the Recorder. Quara proposed that the Folk had weaponized the Recorder deliberately, and insisted that they continue to look for the source. However, the rest of the group thought that they had all the data they needed and simply needed to conduct tests. As they began experiments, some could only be performed in computer simulations, as the Descolada was too virulent and too intelligent for experiments with the actual virus to be safe. They were able to confirm that each break would result in Descolada-like behaviors, but only when both were broken did the Recorder become Descolada. It was looking like the Recorder was deliberately turned into a bioweapon. Blue proposed that they put the Recorder in a vacuum chamber to test if it could survive in space. After the test, it seemed that in a vacuum, the Recorder would fold itself repeatedly like a fan. Instead of the break points in the Descolada being two among billions of genes, they were two among 88 genes exposed and weakened at the fold points. Thus, the group reasoned that the Descolada was due to radiation damage, and not a bioweapon.[1]
Everyone agreed that they needed to send a paper demonstrating the differences between Recorder and Descolada, how the Descolada on Lusitania was neutralized, and describing the behavior of Recorder in a vacuum. They put the names of the entire research team, including those of the Pequeninos who had worked with them. The Formics who had been part of the project had no names, and they could not reveal the existence of Formics anyway. Ela's name came first, as head of the team. Jane also asked Plikt and Valentine to write monographs that included accounts of the work of the Ribeira family and the Leguminids. Jane was never mentioned; nor was Detouring; and no account mentioned Nest. Jane declared the Descolada project to be at an end, as they had disseminated a course of action for any world that ran across a mutated Recorder virus.[1]
Afterward, the Leguminids had a meeting that was also attended by Miro. They realized that a normal world and education were off the table for them, as well as returning to the Herodotus, as it had already been claimed by Sergeant and the twins. Thulium said she intended to travel but would usually stay on Lusitania, and Miro said that he, Jane, Peter, and Wang-mu would stay there as well. Boss asked if they could stay at their building on Lusitania, and Miro agreed if Yuuto would pay for it. The rest of the Leguminids agreed to stay and live with the people of Lusitania.[1]
After some time had passed and Wang-mu had given birth to her son Fei-Tzu Wiggin, Thulium asked her and Peter if she could accompany them to one of the colonies where Royal Son was. Wang-mu asked if Thulium would wait a few days to go, and she agreed. On the day of, Jane Detoured them to the continent where Keas lived, but then left them. They inferred where they were on the planet, and began heading for a biome that they thought would have Keas. Eventually they found them and were greeted by Royal Son. Wang-mu and Peter introduced their son, and Royal Son joked that he must then change his name, but Wang-mu told him to treat him as his brother. Royal Son thanked them for freeing the Keas from the dominion of the Folk, as well as the Raven Council. Over the next week, Wang-mu, Peter and Thulium visited the keas every day. They brought Fei-Tzu with them only once, then left him with Ender and Mayumi and their children after that. By the end of the week, Thulium had her own friends and favorites among the Keas. Eventually they said their goodbyes, and once they were home Thulium said goodnight to Fei-Tzu, Peter and Wang-mu and then went home to Carlotta's house.[1]
Personality[]
Thulium was described as habitually scornful by Jane.[1]