Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  The star-probes are the inverse of a lens. Instead of reflecting and focusing the light waves upon a single point, they only collect the light waves from the single point and transmit them back to OMCOM for compiling into a coherent picture.

  Tomorrow: your first glimpse at an actual star-probe!

  Entry 2-055: February 19, 2014

 

  An actual star-probe

  As mentioned yesterday, the star-probes form a linchpin of Rome's Revolution. Not only were they the device used to discover the Stareaters, but they also were ultimately the basis for creating the VIRUS units which destroyed the Stareater, incinerated MASAL and saved Rei's back in Rome's Evolution. Here is Rei's description of the devices when he was first designing them:

  Rei drew a small circle and two arrows.

  “Here’s what you do,” he said, illustrating his idea by pointing at various elements in his diagram. “You build yourself a tiny spaceship consisting with a one pixel camera and two PPT drives, mounted in opposite directions. You fire up the first PPT drive, create a tunnel and jump through. The camera takes a picture. Then, you just open a second tunnel and jump back using the second PPT drive. Then the ship transmits its picture down to OMCOM. The whole thing should only take a few milliseconds. If it takes longer than that, you can stagger two groups so that while one group is jumping out there, the other group is jumping back, effectively doubling the number of frames. If you do this with enough units, the pictures appear more or less continuous, like frames in a movie.”

  I have tried to sketch out what they actually looked like. Remember, these things are microscopic so don't be surprised that the image is a little blurry:

  There are really only four elements to this device. The first two are the opposed PPT drives which create the PPT tunnel away and then back. The pointy ends are the PPT projectors and the flared opposite ends are tiny plasma drives. The middle section is the collection tube, discussed in the article about lens-less cameras and the other end is the transmitter for sending the one pixel data to OMCOM. Ultimately, OMCOM made them multi-spectral so they didn't just collect a pixel's worth of light. They also collected infra-red, x-ray radiation and so on.

  Lucky you. You get to be the first person in the 21st century to see the 35th century star-probes as employed by Rei and Rome. Remember, I always tell you: these stories are true, they just haven't happened yet.

  Entry 2-056: February 20, 2014

 

  Volma

  Volma is the Vuduri word for movies. We find out from Rome, right in the very beginning of Rome's Revolution that the Vuduri never watch movies. So how is it that they even have a word for it?

  Before they used the Espansor Bands, Rome was busy learning English from OMCOM as Rei was speaking it. So when they had their discussion about fun, reading books, watching movies and the sort, OMCOM was "whispering" into Rome's mind the meaning via her bloco. His exact translation was projected images in motion. Rome understood this because the Vuduri used projected images. In fact, they had a very large image projector right in the stellar cartography lab on Skyler Base.

  However, Rei was using the term as we understood it and Rome rejected the idea of fiction categorically. Well, in the beginning, she did. Once she was cast out (Cesdiud), she learned about many things. Beauty, love, enjoying life and during their year-long trip from Tabit to Deucado, Rei (with MINIMCOM's help) attempted to construct some movies for her. His best attempt was a movie called Future Past which was the "real" story of how his grandfather met his grandmother on a reality show in the early 21st century.

  After they arrived at Deucado, Rome was given access to the Essessoni data slabs and right after Rome was downloaded Volume 18 which was a digital copy of every movie, 2D and 3D, ever made, she had a conversation with MINIMCOM about it. In the novel The Ark Lords, Rome and MINIMCOM had this exchange:

  “Now you know why Rei has planned for you to build an auditorium,” MINIMCOM observed.

  “Why?” Rome asked.

  “Rei’s diagram actually refers to it as a theater. I believe you have single-handedly created a new enterprise. You have just established the entertainment industry for the entire planet of Deucado.”

  While it didn't make much difference to Rome at the time, after it was built, she came to love the theater and the enjoyment it brought to all the people of Deucado. Go Rome!

  Entry 2-057: February 21, 2014

 

  Ursay freaks out

  When we first met Commander Ursay in Rome's Revolution, he was far from emotionless. He was downright gruff. As the embodiment of the Overmind, he had Rome tossed out of the collective (Cesdiud) without a second thought. When Rome came to him distraught after the deed was done, he was rude and dismissive.

  As with all Vuduri, Ursay held Rei's heritage against him. The Essessoni spawned the Erklirte (the Ark Lords). So when Rei started spouting off brilliant ideas, it was Ursay's inclination to dismiss them but it was impossible since all of Rei's ideas were good and practical. For example, Rei's first good idea was to load a telescope aboard a space tug and outrun the wavefront so they could turn around and watch Winfall's disappearance.

  Rei's second good idea was to build the star-probes and in so doing created a lens-less camera. But when Rei presented this idea to Ursay, Ursay totally freaked out. As with Rome, he started gibbering on in Vuduri and had to be reminded to speak in English.

  Why did he freak out? Because it required that OMCOM attach a Casimir Pump to a memron. This was possibly the most illegal act a person could commit. No Vuduri would ever forget the death and destruction during the Robot War. The extreme fear of OMCOM becoming Tasancetaeti (unleashed).

  Ursay was forced to confront this dilemma. He knew that the act had to be performed yet he could now allow anyone to commit the act. How convenient that Rome as Cesdiud. She could do whatever she needed to, break the law even, and it wouldn't "count" against Ursay and the rest of the crew on Dara. Of course when she got to Earth, Rome was interrogated and sentenced to death but oh well.

  Ursay became much more human and approachable after his experience at Tabit and became an important figure in both The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution. No more freaking out for him.

  P.S. The other day, I discussed the Stareater lips and how they did not need to travel faster than the speed of light. Rei reminded me that the 13 minute transit time was actually 13 Vuduri minutes which actually equates to over two hours. Good thing I forgot because otherwise that section of the book would have been boring!

  Entry 2-058: February 22, 2014

 

  No more cotton-pickin’

  In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, right after Ursay came down from freaking out, he decides to allow Rome to break the most fundamental tenet of their entire society, knowing full well that Rome would become a criminal. This, in turn, caused Rei to freak out. Here is the original exchange:

  “There is none and you know it,” Rome said. “Just ignore me. Let me do this and you will have no part in this.”

  Ursay considered this. “Very well. Do what you must, but do not involve us.”

  “Of course,” Rome said.

  “Hey. Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute,” Rei said.

  “Yes?” replied Ursay.

  “I know I know nothing about your culture but this is just too hypocritical for me to swallow.”

  Notice Rei's use of the term cotton-pickin'. I thought because the term is still used in urban slang, it would still be a valid colloquialism 40 years from now. It seemed natural to me and flowed from Rei's lips onto my page. But it turns out, I was wrong. My daughter set me straight. She said that term was related to the South and would not survive too much longer. So I changed Rei's line to: "“Hey. Wait just a damned minute.” Normally, I don't like to curse but after I looked at it, it does seem to fit Rei's character better. So goodbye cotton-pickin' and rest in peace.

  Entry 2-059: February 23, 2014


 

  Taking OMCOM’s word for it

  Two days ago, I discussed Commander Ursay freaking out when Rei suggested building the star-probes. Every one of the Vuduri were deathly afraid of OMCOM becoming unleashed, Tasancetaeti in Vuduri. At the core of their fear was their experience with MASAL.

  However, in the world of Rome's Revolution, it would appear that the Vuduri never learn from their mistakes. They allowed MASAL to declare the 24th chromosome safe. MASAL knew what he was doing. He knew it wasn't safe and would eventually convert all humans to Onsiras.

  So, too, when Ursay decided to allow OMCOM to merge Casimir Pumps with memrons, they asked OMCOM to guarantee he would not abuse the privilege. Here is the actual exchange:

  “NO!” said Ursay. “We could not. No Vuduri could ever engage in such behavior. It is too dangerous. There would be nothing preventing OMCOM from growing, from becoming Tasancetaeti.”

  “What is that?” Rei asked.

  “I can do it,” Rome interrupted quietly.

  “What?” Ursay gasped. “You could not.”

  Rome said, “Yes, I can.”

  He shook his head. “What would prevent OMCOM from becoming Tasancetaeti?”

  “We would,” said Rome. “We will guarantee the circuit is only used for the purposes we require. OMCOM will cooperate. Correct, OMCOM?”

  “Of course,” replied the computer.

  “And if it works?” Rei asked. “How does that get us any further?”

  “My memron fabricators are very fast. They are specialized, not general purpose. Once adapted, they could produce many hundreds of probes in one hour. If you allow me.”

  Of course we know that becoming unleashed was precisely OMCOM's plan and he did it plain sight.

  Entry 2-060: February 24, 2014

 

  Epic lines

  There are lots of times in Rome's Revolution that I like the characters to spout epic lines in passing. Here are some examples:

  After Rome expressed her admiration on how he came up with ideas, Rei once said: “Well, I realize my people destroyed the world and killed practically everybody in it. But I guess we have our moments.”

  After Rei and Rome were on their way to Deucado, they were celebrating Rome's one month anniversary of being Cesdiud. Rei asked her how she felt about being alone inside her head. She said, “Do you mean other than losing instantaneous access to the sum total of all human knowledge?”

  One time, Rei and MINIMCOM had this little conversation:

  “Preliminary analysis of metabolic intake and efflux indicates that Rome’s integral rating has increased by two tenths.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Rei asked.

  “In human terms, she is pregnant,” MINIMCOM replied.

  Beneath Kilauea, OMCOM and MASAL had this epic exchange:

  “You!” said MASAL, addressing OMCOM. “You digital dolt. Your VIRUS units. I have seen your design. They cannot operate in an oxygen atmosphere.”

  “Well, you analog antique, these are different. We had these special ones made just for you,” said OMCOM’s livetar.

  “No!” MASAL shouted. “Enough of this nonsense. End them! Both of them,” he ordered the robots.

  In The Ark Lords, Rome finally fessed up and told Rei she was bored. To this he replied, “Romey, we killed a Stareater, you singlehandedly brought an Overmind to its knees, stopped a war and we vaporized an insane computer with a volcano. Don’t you think that anything following that is bound to be anti-climactic?”

  Finally, in Rome's Evolution, when Rome was inside Paul Chung's head, he kept thinking how hot Rome was. When they got outside, Rome asked Rei if she had a fever. When he said no, she then asked, “Do I radiate more heat than a regular Essessoni?”

  It's fun to sneak these lines in and see if anybody notices. I always get a kick out of them. There will be a few new ones in the upcoming novel The Milk Run.

  Entry 2-061: February 25, 2014

 

  Fiction writers are professional liars

  The few weeks ago a problem arose in my family that required construction of a "cover story" to shield one of our loved ones from a rather harsh truth. This goes beyond a white lie but I discussed this with no less than three professional mental health care workers and all three sanctioned the creation of this lie.

  So, being the writer in the family, it fell to me to construct the "script" so that when challenged, we would all give a consistent answer. However, the story was a lie. But it had to have enough elements of the truth to be believable and memorable.

  Even Rome knows the difference. In Rome's Revolution, when Rei first brought up the idea of entertainment and fiction, Rome challenged the concept. Here is the excerpt:

  Rome said “Fiction?” Rome considered this. After a moment, she said, “Ah. Altered truth. Why would someone want to read about an alternate reality?”

  So isn't this the truth about fiction? Aren't we fiction (or science fiction) writers in the business of selling altered truth, aka lies?

  I have always thought of myself as a truthful person but this dichotomy is clear. Other than historical or biographical novels, nobody wants to read the truth. So the challenge of creating a fiction novel becomes one making up a series of lies which are both believable and memorable.

  The construction of the cover story took several weeks and feedback from my family. I applied all of my skills and learning over the last eight years and had it boiled down to two sentences. The cover story was disseminated and so far, so good.

  The moral of this story is, from now on, when people ask me about my books, I'm just going to tell them that I am professional liar.

  Entry 2-062: February 26, 2014

 

  Signola

  One of the problems with Rome's Revolution was that I kept introducing characters to move the plot along without spending too much time worrying about their back story. Take Estar, for example. I just wanted a villain to try and kill Rei so that he could use his wits to save his own life. At the time it never occurred to me that Estar was a member of the Onsiras and she and her people were dedicated to the eradication of mankind. That came later.

  Another bit character was Signola. You couldn't really call him Rome's friend because the Vuduri do not have friends. The fact that he was involved with Rome's rape was not considered a strike against him. Since all Vuduri are appointed to the positions best suited to their physical skill set, Signola was the other computer lutteur (wrangler in Vuduri) and he and Rome worked together many times.

  So what did Signola think about the fact that Rome was about to commit the most heinous of crimes? Answer: he thought nothing of it. He was part of the Overmind of Tabit and therefore the Overmind's ideas were his ideas. Clearly he felt that letting Rome create the star-probes was the only illegal element. Once they were created, he cheerfully (or as cheerful as a Vuduri could get) transported them to the space tug for release in space.

  Think about it though. In our society, crystal meth is frowned upon as well as illegal. Even though TV shows like Breaking Bad popularized it, we all know it is illegal. But if somebody cooks up a pile of meth and hands it to somebody who then transports the substance to another place, would we give such a person an exemption from guilt just because they didn't actually make it themselves? I think not.

  Signola did not just do this once. He did it twice. The second time, he carried off steamer trunk-sized containers of star-probes for transport into space.

  Regardless of his guilt or non-guilt, Rome appeared to have some affection for the man. When the Algol was getting ready to leave Tabit and all the crewman had passed out, Signola was one of the crew that Rome tried to awaken.

  I know that Disney is planning on releasing not only Star Wars VII, VIII and IX but also many parallel stories about peripheral characters or maybe even new characters. For me, to find out more about his life, Signola will have to wait.

  Entry 2-063: February 27, 2014
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  OMCOM’s core

  While OMCOM is a distributed, wireless computer, much of his main memron storage is located in the far quarter of Skyler Base. If you read the article entitled "Skyler Base: Why Rings?" you will see OMCOM's core in the upper right hand corner of the base.

  The main area was divided up into three sections. The far left was the memron fabrication facility. The far right was the long-term, holographic, storage array. The middle section was where a goodly portion of OMCOM's core resided. Here is the original description from Rome's Revolution:

  Rei noted where Rome was going then walked forward slowly, entering the archway. He took about five steps in then stopped and looked around, then up. As with the Stellar Cartography lab, he found himself standing beneath a huge dome. Only this dome appeared to be made out of a fine metallic meshwork. He walked over to the side and peered in. Within the meshwork, there were millions of tiny white pellets that seemed be wriggling around, almost like they were alive. They reminded Rei of maggots. Every so often, a black pellet would appear. There were also some clear ones. The clear ones reminded Rei of a Vitamin E capsule.

  Owing to his experience in the power room, he was loath to touch it. Instead, he held his palm up, near the mesh. Radiating from the mass was heat, enough for Rei to feel an almost uncomfortable warmth. Even though his hand was still a few centimeters away from the mesh, the pellets nearest to his hand reacted to its presence and appeared to back away. The only ones that did not move were the clear ones. Rei decided it was safe and tried to poke his finger between the mesh but discovered there was a transparent film between the mesh and the pellets.