Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  “Yes,” MINIMCOM replied, sounding very self-satisfied. “I believe this capability may come in handy when we get to Earth.”

  In the upcoming novel, The Milk Run, you will see that Junior acquired this capability but it becomes temporarily disabled when they first come upon the invisible world of Ay'den.

  Entry 2-147: May 22, 2014

 

  The many splendors of PPTs

  The Pinch Point Transit (PPT) first introduced in Rome's Revolution has a wide variety of uses. It is based upon the Casimir Pump. Many of the uses have been mentioned in previous posts but I thought I'd collect the entire list and enumerate them here:

  PPT Tunnels - tunnels through space

  PPT Transporter - MINIMCOM's whoosh/pop method of moving people and things.

  MINIMCOM's Instaland - MINIMCOM's method of punching through the atmosphere of a planet.

  Starprobes - Lensless cameras based upon micro-spaceships.

  PPT Throwers - The sharpest blade in the universe.

  MINIMCOM's roadgraders/cannons - used originally to build the campus for Rome's Library.

  PPT Cannons used by the Vuduri to end The Robot War.

  MINIMCOM's continuous project PPT tunnel star drive - capable of a sustained velocity of 1000 c.

  The Null Fold Stardrive - the next generation capable of a top speed of 15,000c.

  Null Fold X-drive - a new form of star drive that has no upper speed limit.

  Entry to Heaven - this will be described into the upcoming novel The Milk Run.

  The static tunnel between Earth and Helome - also used as a racial filter to keep out the mandasurte.

  Unlimited free energy - The main Vuduri power supply.

  Rei's chest (and back) protector - which saved his life in Rome's Evolution.

  MINIMCOM's invisibility shield - used to sneak Fridone and Aason to Earth.

  Aason's impervious armor - created to protect him from the Ice-sabers.

  PPT Transceivers - modulated resonant micro-tunnels

  The Overmind arose because of this.

  MASAL was built based upon the PPT transceiver.

  MASAL's Sipre (shadow) survived because of this.

  Planet OMCOM - just sitting out there by the remains of Tabit.

  VIRUS Units - used to vaporize MASAL and to burrow down to the Tevatron.

  Rome's telepathy - the basis of Rome's Evolution required PPTs.

  Aason's First Contact protocols which will be developed during The Milk Run.

  Not specifically an entity to itself but when Rome and Rei were about to crash into Dara (when Estar was trying to kill Rei), Rome threw up a hybrid flash PPT tunnel that allowed them to jump past the moon. I'm sure I'm forgetting some uses of PPTs but these are the ones that come to mind.

  Entry 2-148: May 23, 2014

 

  Rome and IUPUI

  In order to give Rome's Revolution as much verisimilitude as possible (despite the fact that it takes place in the 35th century), I have drawn what I could from my actual life experience.

  A while back, in 1982 in fact, my father and I were called upon to "rescue" the Natatorium at the Indiana University/Purdue University campus at Indianapolis (IUPUI). Here is a picture of the Natatorium today:

  The previous contractor had built the scoreboard (not the one in the picture above) but, because of a dispute, had left the job and taken his scoreboard controller with him. My father and I were tasked with job of "cracking the code" to drive the scoreboard and finish up the system.

  Without really knowing anything about the control sequences, I wrote a brute force program that went through every possible permutation of codes and in a matter of minutes, the scoreboard lit up and reflected a series of symbols that marched across the screen. I quickly narrowed down the control sequence to harness it for the swim meet control system but everyone who saw my initial hack loved the boot-up procedure so much they actually insisted we keep it in. Oh well, it was their money. So I did. I always enjoyed that time so when Rome had to reboot her nav-computer, I invoked the ghost of the IUPUI Natatorium scoreboard as my inspiration.

  Here is the scene where I replicated that experience:

  “We shut it down,” Rome said. She bent over and removed a panel built into the control console. She felt around until she found an interlock. She pulled it and the viewscreens went dark. Immediately, the plasma thrusters shut down. Rome waited about ten seconds then reset the switch. The viewscreens came back on and showed a steady march of diagnostic symbols indicating startup.

  Writing that scene brought back fond memories of an artifact that gave people joy.

  Entry 2-149: May 24, 2014

 

  Dopey

  Yesterday, I posted an article about how a real life event in my life (cracking the code to the IUPUI Natatorium) ended up in Rome's Revolution.

  The recovery scene ended with a successful reboot and Rome asked OMCOM to give the nav-computer a thorough inspection before she dared try a reentry. I knew that the nav-computer malfunction was the work of Estar but at the time, Rome and Rei did not. I wrote this next portion and I will highlight the dopey portion of the paragraph in bold:

  “If we can get the manual controls to respond,” Rome said. She pressed a series of buttons and restarted the initialization sequence allowing the system to reboot normally. Rome had OMCOM run a diagnostic on every subsystem within the tug. The reboot procedure seemed to have done the trick. OMCOM found evidence of one anomaly which somehow erased itself during the restart. With all systems checked out, Rome tested the manual controls and found they responded as expected. She swung the ship around and used the plasma thrusters to reverse their course and reenter orbit around Dara. When that was done, she sat back in her seat.

  “What?” Rei asked.

  “Nothing,” Rome said. “I just need a moment to compose myself. I do not trust the nav-computer to land us. I will do it manually.”

  “Take your time,” Rei said, considering the alternative.

  Think about it. If there was an anomaly, how could OMCOM detect it if erased itself upon reboot? Not one person has ever challenged me on it yet it is patently absurd. Oh we could invoke checksums or CRCs or event logs but really, does anybody care?

  You have to admit that it gives a better flavor to the scenes that come later so I guess I'll have to let it go.

  Entry 2-150: May 25, 2014

 

  Sequels should always be better

  When I wrote the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, I didn't know there would be a sequel at the time. So I was stuck with an origin story that had to both fill in the background of the main characters yet have a sufficiently compelling plot to keep people interested despite the info-dump.

  Well, in the case of Rome's Revolution it was even harder because the main horror, the Stareaters, consumed the star Winfall 17 years earlier. It was more like a cold case detective show than one where the hero confronts the villain.

  I think I got around it OK but, of course, that is for you to decide. But I will tell you that writing the sequel (now known as Rome's Revolution, Part 2) was sooo much easier because I didn't have to worry about back story. I could just get on with the action and adventure.

  There have been many great books and many great movies where the sequel surpassed the original for the very same reason.

  Many people consider The Empire Strikes Back the best Star Wars movie ever even though it was Part 2 of 3. I enjoyed Toy Story 2 more than the original but please don't think I didn't love Toy Story. I personally thought the second Tobey Maguire Spiderman movie with Doc Ock was better than the first.

  My all-time favorite sequel that surpasses the original is Aliens, the sequel to Alien. When James Cameron took over, he turned it from a horror movie in space to a rock 'n' roll marine action flick with monsters. I mean Ripley versus the Alien Queen Mother? It was awesome!

  Entry 2-151: May 26, 2014

 

  De
pleted uranium bullets

  I watch plenty of police and action shows and occasionally they refer to high-tech depleted uranium bullets. I guess I always thought of them as causing mini-atomic explosions and that's what made them so powerful.

  Well, I was wrong. Turns out, people have been making bullets out of lead for many years because lead is a very dense material and had the best chance of penetrating whatever it is that you are shooting at.

  Naturally occurring uranium comes in two flavors called isotopes. U-235 is what is used to make atomic bombs. U-238, the other isotope, is far less active. If you take all the U-235 out of uranium (thus depleting it), all you are left with is U-238 which is twice as dense a lead.

  So when you need maximum penetrating power, the denser the material, the deeper the hole. Depleted uranium shells are sometimes called tank-busters because they can penetrate a tank's armor. Depleted uranium bullets look very similar to ordinary lead bullets:

  However, they are far more deadly. Even though the "dangerous" part of the substance, U-235, has been removed, the remaining U-238 is still slightly radioactive and many groups believe they pose a health hazard beyond just shooting holes in things.

  Why do I bring this up? Aason Bierak and OMCOM discover bullet holes in the crew compartment on Nu2 Lupi in the upcoming novel The Milk Run that are caused by DU munitions. I always thought it would be a cool term to use in a scifi novel, I figured I'd better find out what I was talking about.

  Entry 2-152: May 27, 2014

 

  How does clay become ceramic?

  Clay is not the same as soil. Clay is a naturally occurring substance that appears in pockets on or under the ground. The technical term for the main chemical components of clay are hydrous aluminum phyllosilicates. The operative word within the structure is silicates. There is silica in clay.

  What happens when you fire silica in a high heat? It turns into glass. So what happens when you fire clay in a high heat, it turns into a type of glass often called a ceramic, a process known as vitrification. My brother Bruce takes a pottery class and we have a whole passel of mugs because of it:

  Why do I bring this up? It is because in the upcoming novel The Milk Run, Aason Bierak and OMCOM come across large sections of soil, made of clay, that have been converted into a ceramic or vitreous-like substance.

  The only thing that could have caused this was the repeated application of high heat. But where would you get such high heat on a cold world like Hades? That is a mystery which they must solve.

  Entry 2-153: May 28, 2014

 

  Mini-nukes revisited

  In a previous post, I told you about the chemical and explosive power of Thorium-235. This is a made-up substance with a long half-life yet radioactively powerful enough to set off a small atomic explosion. The book trailer for The Ark Lords shows you their destructive power.

  While they are very powerful, they are really just big-time explosives rather than full-blown atomic weapons. Their yield is only three tenths of a kiloton of explosive power. In fact, when the Darwin contingent on Deucado blew up Rome's Library, it was not even completely destroyed. This was Rome's observation of the destruction:

  “Oh no!” Rome cried out, pointing past the windshield. In the place where her library had stood, there was now a tremendous crater, several hundred feet across. Pieces of aerogel, bricks and other debris were scattered around the rim of the crater. Oddly, a small portion of the front wall remained. The rest of the building was simply gone. The trees circling beyond the edge of the crater had been knocked over, splayed outward in a radial pattern.

  You can see from the portion highlighted in bold that there were still recognizable fragments of the original building. Not everything was vaporized.

  Interestingly, the larger sections of a regular Ark are several hundred feet across. So if you dropped a mini-nuke right in the middle, chances are the outer portions would be somewhat recognizable.

  Who would do such a thing? You will have to wait until The Milk Run is finished to find out.

  Entry 2-154: May 29, 2014

 

  Chlorophyll

  It could be argued that after DNA, chlorophyll is the most important complex biomolecule on the Earth. It is found in cyanobacteria, algae and plants and is responsible for absorbing energy and feeding these living entities. Of course we, as humans, are equally interested in its waste product, which happens to be oxygen. Without that, it'd be kind of hard to breathe.

  On Earth, chlorophyll looks green because it absorbs the blue and red components of sunlight and reflects the leftover wavelengths which are mostly green. Interestingly, the molecular design of chlorophyll is very similar to that of hemoglobin.

  I have no idea what that means. All I know is that leaves are green and it is very pretty in the summer.

  What about on a world where the sun is a different color? For example, on Deucado, the star Tau Ceti is more orange that Sol. I postulated that the chlorophyll equivalent there would absorb slightly lower frequencies so the leaves or whatever they are would be more yellow, almost orange. In the planetary system of Nu2 Lupi, where much of the action of The Milk Run takes place, the primary star is also more yellow/orange so I imagine the light-absorbing material of the plants there is similarly yellow. The trees there are more like Jenga blocks than maples, however.

  Entry 2-155: May 30, 2014

 

  Balsa wood

  Balsa trees grow naturally in the humid rain forests of Central and South America. You don't typically find a forest of balsa trees. They are kind of loners. They grow singly or in very small, widely scattered groups in the jungle.

  We are all familiar with balsa wood from our days of building model airplanes and other things.

  You can even build a house out of it, or at least a toy house:

  But could you build a real house out of it or would it take just one stiff wind and the thing would blow over? The "trees" or whatever you want to call them on the planet of Hades have about the same weight and tensile strength as balsa wood. We'll have to see how the colonists cope with having to use such a light material to build their homes.

  Entry 2-156: May 31, 2014

 

  Are the Stareaters alive?

 

  In a previous post, I examined the nature of life and posed the question, "Are the Stareaters alive?"

  Here is the exact quote from that article:

  What about the Stareaters. Are they alive? Again, they meet the test of the above. They consume stars, they grow, they reproduce (we don't know whether it is sexual or asexual) and provide functional activity. But if they were merely sophisticated machines, like the VIRUS units, would they be alive? I can't even tell you if they die. They have not shared that with me.

  The first time that Rome, Rei and Ursay visualized a Stareater, the scene went like this:

  OMCOM did not reply, but the virtual point of view panned across until a protrusion centered in the screen.

  “Can you zoom in?” Ursay said.

  “Of course,” OMCOM replied.

  The bump became larger. The protuberance was spherical in nature and looked like it was grafted on, almost like a boil. Its surface resembled that of the much larger sphere.

  “Bring us forward in time, slowly,” Ursay commanded.

  “Advancing,” OMCOM said. The image stayed rock steady, but just like a balloon being inflated with a pump, the small protrusion became larger and larger until it was almost one quarter of the size of the Stareater. The object shuddered and then it disconnected from the larger sphere and moved off. In a wink, it was gone.

  Rei referred to the smaller sphere as a baby, although if their method of reproduction was mitosis, then a more accurate description might be clone as opposed to a child.

  We know that the Stareaters can be destroyed. We saw that at the end of Part 1 of Rome's Revolution but it still isn't clear if it was death or just a machine ceasing to function.

>   The Stareaters refer to themselves as Species 3. That very fact should tell you that they are alive rather than super-sophisticated machines but regardless, we will find out more about their nature and life-cycle in the upcoming novel The Milk Run.

  Entry 2-157: June 1, 2014

 

  The mission to Tabit was a success

  When Rei first met Rome in Rome's Revolution and he asked her why they were there, she told him that their mission to Tabit had failed.

  “What do you do around here?” Rei asked. “What is this place, anyway? OMCOM said something about stellar cartography.”

  Rome sighed. “Yes. But no more. We have failed. We are leaving,” she said. Rome lowered her eyes to the floor.

  “I don’t get it. Failed what?” Rei asked.

  Rome took a deep breath and looked up at Rei. She started speaking again as if from a script. “We have been placed here to, eh, ipsarfa…”

  “Observe.”

  “…observe a certain venimani…phenomenon. We have not been able to do that.”

  “What kind of phenomenon?” Rei asked.

  “Many stars have disappeared.” Rome replied, clipping her fingers together then opening her hand flatly as if releasing pixie dust.

  “What do you mean disappeared? I don’t understand,” Rei said for the hundredth time.