Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  Entry 2-223: August 6, 2014

 

  Rei meets MINIMCOM

  Yesterday, we reviewed the scene at the beginning of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution where Rome and Rei first discovered Captain Keller floating among Tau Ceti's inner Oort Cloud. To rescue him, it was necessary that Rei fly out to where the sarcophagus was ensconced among the boulders which were the remains of the asteroid that struck the Ark.

  This was before MINIMCOM was fused into the airframe of his tug. At this point, he was still just an advanced auto-pilot computer with a good deal of AI. Rei told him that he was going to go with MINIMCOM. The little computer was not excited about the idea but he couldn't very well say no. Here is their first encounter:

  Rei turned to his left and entered the archway, which was the inner airlock for the command compartment, closing the outer door behind him. He pressed the stud and waited until the indicator turned green showing that the cockpit was pressurized and ready for him to enter. The door opened and Rei stepped through.

  Rei surveyed the cockpit. Its layout was identical to his tug’s cockpit with the exception of the large white box bolted on the floor where the co-pilot’s seat had been. Rei set the carrying case holding the VIRUS units on the floor and removed his helmet. The air smelled musty which made sense because there had been nothing here to stir it up in almost a year.

  “MINIMCOM?” he said, bending forward and tapping the rectangular box.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” came a tinny voice from the grille mounted on the front instrument panel.

  “This is weird, huh?” Rei said. “We’ve spent the last year together but I’ve never actually seen you before.”

  “Impressive, am I not?” MINIMCOM said regally.

  Rei laughed. This was the first time that Rei had ever heard him crack a joke. Maybe spending this much time with humans was beginning to rub off on him.

  This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship culminating in MINIMCOM becoming a member of the family and Aason's adopted uncle.

  Entry 2-224: August 7, 2014

 

  Should we wake him?

  Two days ago, we reviewed how Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM discovered Captain Keller's sarcophagus floating in a debris field in space at the edge of the Tau Ceti system. They had no choice. They had to go out and recover it. It would have been immoral to do otherwise. And we must be cognizant of the fact that Captain Keller became a major force in the remainder of Rome's Revolution. In fact, Captain Keller was the central "villain" in The Ark Lords. He even had a small role in Rome's Evolution.

  The whole adventure was somewhat traumatic for Rome because it was truly the first time she was ever alone. As a connected Vuduri, this would have been unthinkable in her former life. Luckily, it did not take Rei and MINIMCOM long to retrieve the Captain. It took Rome's attention away from her loneliness. As soon as they retrieved the sarcophagus, Rei wanted to reanimate the Captain. MINIMCOM had already informed Rei that he did not think Rei should awaken him.

  “Romey, do you think I should thaw him out here or wait until we get him back to our ship?” Rei asked.

  “While you were out retrieving the sarcophagus, I have considered this,” Rome said. “I believe MINIMCOM is right. I do not think you should reanimate him until we arrive at Deucado.”

  “But, but,” Rei sputtered. “It’s Captain Keller. He’s my commander.”

  “Still,” Rome said firmly, “I do not think it is wise.”

  “No? Why not? I think I have to. I mean, I don’t even know if he is still alive,” Rei said then caught himself. His reply sounded too sharp, even to himself.

  “If you will give me a moment,” Rome said gently.

  Rei started over, “I know I’m overreacting. I’m not challenging you, Romey. Oh, maybe I am. My mind is reeling right now.”

  “You are not overreacting,” Rome said. “This is the link to your past. It is understandable.”

  “OK,” Rei said, taking a deep breath. “Explain.”

  “There are several reasons,” Rome replied. “First, assuming he is still alive, should he need medical attention, we are not equipped to provide it.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Rei said, deflated. “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess that makes sense. What else?”

  “The second reason is more trivial,” answered Rome. “Our living quarters and support system were designed for two people. Adding a third would stress it. I do not mean terminally but it would be to the edge of our capacity. We would have to rig additional sleeping quarters and so forth. We only have another month to go. I think we should wait.”

  “Yeah, I see your point,” Rei replied. “And MINIMCOM, you think we should leave him frozen too?”

  “He has been in that container for over 1300 years,” answered MINIMCOM.

  “Remaining frozen one additional month should make no difference.”

  “But where you keep your memrons, don’t they leak heat?” Rei asked. “I remember back in OMCOM’s core, it was really warm. Won’t he thaw?”

  “The polymer film that lines my memron storage compartment is opaque to microwave and infrared. The memrons are perfectly insulated. I normally keep the entire cargo compartment depressurized so the sarcophagus will remain at exactly the same temperature as if it was still in space. It will not make any difference to Captain Keller and this way we can decrease the likelihood of any unforeseen events that another crew member would introduce.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Rei said. “What unforeseen events?”

  “He is an unknown. Look how long it took you to orient yourself to this timeframe. While it appears simple and smooth, our journey is extremely hazardous. Thawing your captain would introduce yet another variable into an already complex situation. I believe your expression is ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’ which in this case is even more apropos.”

  Rome's rationality won the day and I'm sure it was for the best.

  Entry 2-225: August 8, 2014

 

  Could Captain Keller really have survived out there?

  Three days ago, we reviewed the scene from Rome's Revolution whereupon Rome and Rei stumbled across Captain Keller's sarcophagus. The freezing chamber was floating blissfully among the boulders and asteroids, part of Tau Ceti's inner Oort Cloud. The question arises, could Captain Keller really have survived floating out there for 13 centuries? What about micrometeorites? What about radiation? How would he stay frozen?

  Let me answer these questions in reverse order. First, why wouldn't he have stayed frozen? After all, the entire premise of the Ark program was that the crew compartment would be opened up to the vacuum and cold of space during their long voyage to eliminate the need for refrigeration. It has been estimated that the average surface temperature on Pluto is 44 Kelvin (-229 Celsius or -380 Fahrenheit). The inner Oort Cloud is much, much farther out than that so it stands to reason that if anything, it is even colder.

  What about radiation? Well, again, the sarcophagi were made of ceramics, specifically hardened to minimize damage due to cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays and other types of ionizing radiation. The thin shell of the Arks was never designed to stop space radiation. That was the job of the sarcophagi. So we can conclude that Captain Keller was subject to no more radiation that the other occupants still inside the Ark II.

  The hardest thing to defend would be protection against micrometeorites. We know that several colonists died en route because of just such collisions. Well, interestingly, Captain Keller was actually more protected from punctures than the other colonists. Why? Because after the Ark II slammed into the asteroid, it broke off a significant number of rocks and boulders. The clump of rocks (and the sarcophagus) stayed together and formed sort of a cocoon around Captain Keller. That is how they found him, nestled among a sea of boulders. So, yeah, he really could have survived out there for that long. I mean, it's science fiction. Why not?

  Entry 2-226: August 9, 2014

 

&n
bsp; How to not kill Keller

  As I mentioned two days ago, at the beginning of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome had a spirited debate as to whether they should awaken Captain Keller after they found him floating among the boulders of the inner Oort Cloud. After some discussion, cooler heads prevailed and they decided to keep him in the frozen state until they arrived at Deucado.

  Unfortunately for Captain Keller, I had already made my decision that what was then VIRUS 5, Book 2, would be all about action, action, action. The first thing I intended to occur was for Rei and Rome to be attacked upon their arrival at Deucado. I knew that MINIMCOM was going to crash land and fuse with the tug's airframe to become the character we know today.

  So how to save "poor" Captain Keller who was bungy-corded in the back of the tug? How could he end up not being crushed when the 7000 metric tonne Ark II landed on top of him? Here is the scene where Rei recovered the sarcophagus:

  The retrieval operation went fairly smoothly. Rei had a little trouble grabbing onto the railing surrounding the sarcophagus but once he gripped it, he was able to swing up and straddle it like a would-be cowboy on an artificial bull. A few short bursts of the hand thruster extricated the sarcophagus from its rocky neighbors. A couple more bursts and Rei and his ride glided smoothly back to the waiting confines of MINIMCOM’s cargo compartment. Once inside, MINIMCOM slowly re-activated the artificial gravity. The heavy object settled gently onto the cargo bay floor. Rei hopped off and used the blue stud to seal and re-pressurize the cargo compartment. As soon as the indicator turned green, Rei removed his helmet and ran over to the sarcophagus.

  While the faceplate was completely iced over, the nameplate said “Captain M. Keller” confirming Rei’s suspicions. Rei stooped down, examining the rods and panel, locating the bars he needed to turn to begin the thaw cycle. (Of course he did not turn them in the end)

  After securing the sarcophagus with some short tethers stored in the cargo bay, Rei spoke up. “All right, MINIMCOM, he’ll be safe here by himself. I’m ready to get back to Rome.”

  Knowing what was coming next, I made sure that Rei secured the sarcophagus at the back of the cargo compartment, near the cargo hatch. That way, when MINIMCOM's tug was crushed beneath the Ark, MINIMCOM's final act as an autonomous computer was to angle the tug so that the rear section was extended outside the kill zone.

  As I've always said, you have to know how it ends before you begin. The following image has nothing to do with Rome's Revolution. It is from the TV show Lost which I loved!

  Entry 2-227: August 10, 2014

 

  Why can’t the star probes see close up?

  The notion of the star probes was introduced very early on in Rome's Revolution. These microscopic space ships have a one pixel collector tube and plate. They use a miniature PPT tunnel to jump there and back and transmit their findings to OMCOM (and later MINIMCOM) to collate.

  As mentioned in an earlier post, these star probes position themselves in a concave arrangement to form a lens-less camera suitable for visualizing objects at extreme distances. However, time and again it is noted that they are not very well suited for examining close objects or small objects. Why is that?

  The answer lies in the collection tubes. They are designed to collect a single photon, recorded its wavelength and return that data. They can only focus on objects that are emitting photons. They cannot zoom in on say an asteroid and arrange themselves with sufficient precision to yield good focus.

  We saw this when OMCOM first trotted them out. They went out to examine a space tug that was only about one light hour away and the image was very fuzzy. MINIMCOM tried to use them to navigate their way through the inner Oort Cloud of Tau Ceti and they were barely adequate. He also tried to use them to visualize Captain Keller's sarcophagus but it turns out that MIDAR was much better suited.

  In summary, the star probes have their place but looking at small objects is not their strong point.

  Entry 2-228: August 11, 2014

 

  How pregnant was Rome?

  A woman is either pregnant or not. It is sort of Boolean, right? As Rei and Rome arrive at Deucado at the beginning of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rome is described as 'looking as pregnant as humanly possible'. The idea here was the Vuduri were a race of human beings somewhat smaller and somewhat slighter than us. Whether this was due to natural selection or genetic drift was never made clear.

  Our 21st century hero Rei Bierak is often described as "towering over the Vuduri" not just because he was nearly six feet tall but also because of his musculature. So we have the situation set up where a relatively large man and a relatively tiny woman procreate. The baby, to be named Aason, was assumed to be larger than a standard Vuduri baby. This led to problems prior to his birth. We also know that Rome suffered from polyhydramnios and the implication was it was due to Aason being too large. It was only later we find out that Aason actually caused the condition because he "could not find" his mother and he "pushed" too hard.

  So, basically, it looked like Rome had swallowed a watermelon. Her abdomen was extremely distended. Just as they were about to land, Rei tried to make a joke about it:

  “Calculations complete,” MINIMCOM announced. “One minute to jump.”

  “Great,” Rei said. He rubbed his hands together. Then he looked over at Rome’s abdomen again. “Honey, for landing, we’re going to have to squeeze you into a pressure suit, just in case, right?”

  Rome wagged a finger at him. “I will manage,” she said tersely.

  Rei continued. “Well, we have a spare. I was thinking we could stitch two together…”

  “Whatever you are about to say,” Rome interrupted, “do not dare!” Her glowing eyes were flashing but there was a smile on her face.

  Rei laughed. “I understand.”

  Obviously, the joke did not go over well. I'm still not 100% sure why they had to wear pressure suits for landing anyway. But to address the question posed in the title of this article, how pregnant was Rome? Answer: very!

  Entry 2-229: August 12, 2014

 

  Wiggly artificial gravity

  Anybody who is fan of spotting plot holes should see a big one in Rome's Revolution and my use of artificial gravity. In the 35th century, artificial gravity is generated by the backwash of the electro-gravity (EG) lifters.

  Here's the flaw. Let's say that artificial gravity really does exist. Then why the heck are Rome and Rei always getting pushed back in their seats whenever MINIMCOM accelerates with his plasma thrusters? Couldn't he compensate with artificial gravity? In fact, why do they even have those stupid x-harnesses?

  The answer is far simpler than you think. Editorial license. It's simply way cooler when people get thrown back in their seat during extreme acceleration or deceleration. If everything was smooth, it would suck the drama out of the exercise.

  We used the turn-on, turn-off element of artificial gravity during Rei's back reconstruction at the beginning of Rome's Evolution to add drama. We also used it to bring Captain Keller's sarcophagus to a soft landing inside MINIMCOM's cargo bay when they found it floating in space. It is very convenient for a variety of reasons to let it be wiggly.

  Entry 2-230: August 13, 2014

 

  2D versus 3D

  In the 35th century world of Rome's Revolution, even though the Vuduri have superior technology, much of their display equipment is 2D rather than 3D. Why is that? Why wouldn't they use 3D, holographic, projections all the time?

  I think the answer lies more in the human brain than the technology. Processing information on a true 3D projection consumes more of the brain's capacity than a 3D model projected on a 2D surface. Look at 3D televisions, all the rage just a few years ago. People have totally lost interest. Maybe it was the extra cost. Maybe it was the goofy glasses. Maybe it was the lack of programming.

  The ESPN 3D Sports Network is representative of this trend. It began broadcasting on February 4, 2011 and showed
soccer, tennis, the Little League World Series. It showed NBA, football and more. You'd think it would do nothing but grow in popularity. But it didn't. ESPN 3D was shut down on September 30, 2013 due to "limited viewer adoption of 3D services" according to Wikipedia.

  Another example would be 2D versus 3D video games. You are interacting with the game and your controller makes things happen on the screen. A 3D game demands more combinations of buttons to make the characters to perform certain acts. A 2D game lets you focus on the game more.

  I find this is true even in my own life. Many, if not most, of the major action pictures released today are available in 2D and 3D. I saw Avatar in 3D IMAX and it was awesome. However, other movies in 3D seemed no better than their 2D equivalents. The colors are muted a bit. The 3D can be a distraction. And they always cost more. So while I used to always go to see the 3D version of a movie if it was available, today I am much more picky. The 3D has to be an important part of the movie experience otherwise 2D thank you.

  Of course, the Vuduri recognize that we live in a 3D world as well. MINIMCOM has the capability and when a 3D holographic projection is required, he extends his holographic projects to create a 3D image. But normally, for regular functions, he uses a 2D flat screen display, even if 3D information is present.