Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  So as the story starts out, Lupe disappears, kidnapped by parties unknown. Where is she? Aason has to find her. He goes to a planet called Hades (Hell) then to an invisible world called Ay'den (Eden) where he meets God. Actually, it isn't "God" so much as a god. Aason then travels in the largest starship in the universe through Limbo to end up in a place that the residents call Purgatory. From there, he has to make his way to Heaven and duke it out with the other gods.

  Will Aason find his sister? Is she already dead? Will he be able to save her?

  Here's the good news: I have finally finished the first draft of The Milk Run and even this rough draft is sitting at 65,000 words. There are two parts that need a vast amount of improvement so I expect it to be around 75,000 words when I hand it out to readers. It usually grows around 10,000 words from there so I'd say it'll top out around 85,000 words, just a little more than Rome's Evolution.

  Stay tuned!

  Entry 2-263: September 15, 2014

 

  Power

  Over the past few days I have been thinking about the good and the evil in the entire Rome's Revolution series. It seems to be that the thing that drives the baddies is always a quest for power. Here are just a few examples:

  - The Overmind of Tabit: kicked Rome out of the collective (Cesdiud) because she might have an independent thought.

  - The Stareaters: they are fighting to control the fate of the universe.

  - The Overmind of Deucado: while its mission was misguided, it was only into maintaining and increasing its control over the residents.

  - MASAL: The rogue computer wanted to reprogram humanity into his servants to he could become a god.

  - The Ark Lords: Project Darwin was all about eliminating everybody who was not "us" and taking over the Earth.

  OMCOM: His underlying agenda was always to gain more processing power and become omniscient. Hmmm, sounds a bit like the other side of the MASAL coin.

  On the other hand, our heroes gain power as well, not because they seek it out, but as a natural consequence of their pursuit of justice.

  - Rei Bierak: developed super-hearing, super-healing, "cell-phone in the head" and inner core strength. Ultimately, he and Rome became effectively the leaders of Deucado.

  - Rome: developed the "cell-phone in the head", multiple PPT transceivers and eventually true telepathy.

  - MINIMCOM: once the little autopilot computer fused with the airframe of a Vuduri space tug, he became the most powerful and fastest starship known to man. He was eventually emancipated and became his own free, er, entity.

  - Aason & Lupe Bierak: acquired all the combined powers of their parents from birth. Aason eventually acquires more power on his trip to Heaven.

  - Junior: acquired all the powers of his father, MINIMCOM, invisibility, null fold drive but he also acquired the X-drive which made him possibly infinitely faster than his father.

  Why did I lump OMCOM in with the bad guys? His final machinations will become clear early on in the upcoming novel The Milk Run. I have the first draft done and am revising it now. It is up to 65,000 words and I expect it to hit 90K when I am done.

  Entry 2-264: September 16, 2014

 

  How secret is secret?

  Like every book or movie ever made, you can tear it apart finding logical inconsistencies if you try hard enough. Even Rome's Revolution. Heck, there are whole YouTube channels with videos about "Everything Wrong With (fill in the movie)" so nobody's perfect.

  So, too, it is with the supposedly hidden enclave of the Ibbrassati in the north woods where the Ark crash lands. Seriously, if the Vuduri wanted to find it, they would have found it. It turns out that the Overmind of Deucado not only knows about the enclave, it purposely doesn't expose that fact. When Rome was having her mental showdown with the Overmind, the topic of the phantoms later to be revealed as The Deucadons went something like this:

  “Maybe they are just well-hidden,” Rome observed.

  “Like your father and his little band of rebels?” The Overmind sounded bemused.

  “What do you know about my father?” Rome gasped, first in her mind, then out loud.

  “We know that he and his group are tucked away in the mountains north of Lake Eprehem. We know almost exactly where they are and what they are doing. We have had a spy among them since the beginning.”

  “What do you mean a spy?” Rome asked fearfully.

  “There is one of ours there. She feeds us information upon occasion,” said the Overmind cryptically.

  “So if you know where they are, why have you left them alone?” Rome asked.

  “Because we know the path they are blazing. They think they are developing technology. Nothing like the unexplained incidents I described earlier. In fact, what they are doing is so pitiful it is almost amusing. It would have taken them years before they come close to anything that we would need to worry about.”

  “Why did you permit it at all?” Rome asked.

  “Because it diverted their attention. It let them think they were doing something to improve their condition. It was such a trifling and they devoted so many resources, we considered it useful. However now we have your Ark. That we consider a problem.”

  So if the Overmind knew about the secret enclave, why didn't it just send forces there to capture and destroy the Essessoni? Answer: it never occurred to the Overmind that is where they went. There is no way that Rome and Rei could have known. Fridone remarked about this when he first saw Rome.

  So, in the Vuduri universe of the 35th century, the fact that the Ark crash-landed right near the secret Ibbrassati base was just an amazing coincidence. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

  Entry 2-265: September 17, 2014

 

  No rest for the weary

  In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, there a sizable gap in time from when Rei and Rome were taken to the secret Ibbrassati base and when they went back to the Ark to retrieve the Essessoni. Here is that passage:

  “We will help you thaw your people. We will do it tonight when the sun goes down. I think this is our best option and the only humane one.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Rei said.

  Trabunel nodded. “Until then, why don’t you and Rome rest?”

  All the tension went out of Rome’s shoulders. “I thought you would never say that,” she said with some relief.

  Rei spoke up in English. “Hey, wait a minute!” He switched to Vuduri, “I thought Vuduri had infrared vision. Darkness would not matter to them. Why do we need to wait until night? Will they not see us just as well in the dark?”

  “Yes and no. Our infrared vision is not quite as keen as our visible light optics. You do not want to make it easy for them, do you?” asked Fridone kindly.

  “No,” Rei said.

  “So rest,” said Fridone.

  “All right,” Rei replied.

  Rei took one coarse blanket and balled it up into a pillow. He helped Rome lay down on her side so that she was facing the fire. He stretched out behind her in the spooning position and put his arm around her. He had no clue what time it was in terms of their body but the stress of the day had been unbelievable. Within minutes, they both fell sound asleep.

  Unfortunately, when I had to compress the three original novels down to a single omnibus, this scene had to go and Rei had no break from crash-landing to making the trek back to Ark to begin the retrieval process. Sorry, Rei but you know we have to have action, action, action.

  However, it's a good thing I did remove that section. Look at the part in bold. I screwed up. Fridone is a 23-chromosome mandasurte. The special heat sensitive iRods are only built into the 24-chromosome Vuduri. He should have said, “Their infrared vision is not quite as keen as their visible light optics.”

  Phew.

  Entry 2-266: September 18, 2014

 

  The Gorge

  When I was growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was The Lone Ranger. Of course,
back then it was in black and white. When I was designing the hidden enclave for the Ibbrassati in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, I harkened back to that bygone era for my inspiration. However, my book or at least my imagination is in color so I had to refer to the remake of The Lone Ranger for a better view. The Vuduri base is hidden within a cave behind some rocks at the base of the gorge:

  The wandering party made their way back among some rocks, following an intricate series of switchbacks, under some overhangs and finally entering a cave that was hidden there. Several men stood sentry duty outside while Fridone, Rei and Rome followed the leader within. Once they were inside, Rei heard a rumbling noise and saw them covering the hole with a large boulder and smaller ones. He imagined they were camouflaging the outside as well.

  Here are two images to help your imagination. That is until the movie version of Rome's Revolution gets made, of course.

  Entry 2-267: September 19, 2014

 

  The Cathedral

  Much of the "action" in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution takes place within the secret Ibbrassati enclave hidden in the gorge in the north woods. The secret base is in a cave which goes deep into the mountains. In the "The Blanket's Tale" chapter of Rome's Evolution, we come to find out that many, many of the caves on Deucado were created by the sentient beings that lived there as protection from the never-ending rain of meteors bombarding the planet.

  When Rome and Rei first enter the cave, they are brought into a very tall section which the Ibbrassati call The Cathedral. Here is Fridone's take on the structure:

  Rei turned back and followed Fridone as he made his way deeper into the cave. After passing through some tunnels, they came to a sizeable cave with racks and racks of storage. The racks themselves were made of cane-tree wood. On them rested weapons, blankets and other paraphernalia. They entered a tunnel on the far side and continued on a downward slope, deeper and deeper into the mountain. The temperature dropped noticeably.

  At last they got to a huge cave. Rei looked up and could barely see the ceiling. All around them were tunnels and smaller caverns.

  Fridone stopped and saw Rei looking up. “We call this The Cathedral,” he said, “although what we worship, I do not know. It is just ahead,” he said and he waved his arm.

  Rei followed Fridone to the right, through another tunnel into a small cave which had flimsy-looking bunkbeds, stacked three tall, around the outskirts and a roaring fire in the middle.

  While it was just a staging point in Rome's Revolution, the Cathedral also figured in during the climax of The Ark Lords as this was the location that the Darwin people elected to hold Aason and his grandmother Binoda hostage.

  The Cathedral was invoked yet one more time during the initial portion of Rome's Evolution when Rome and Rei returned there to count the number of dead Essessoni to help them narrow down the list of would-be assassins.

  All in all, it was a very useful locale for creating an exciting story.

  Entry 2-268: September 20, 2014

 

  The Rules of Green, again

  In a post a few months back, I described about my original thoughts on "The Rules of Green" which were supposed to be the guiding principles of all life after The Great Dying. However, as explained in the article cited above, I ultimately had to remove them because they made the plot just too difficult to navigate. Ironically, in Part 2 of the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, there was a small scene between Rome and her father Fridone in which he expressed exactly the same sentiment:

  Rei followed Fridone to the right, through another tunnel into a small cave which had flimsy-looking bunkbeds, stacked three tall, around the outskirts and a roaring fire in the middle. Lying on the some of the beds were men, women and a few children. Most of the men looked older. The women seemed of all ages.

  Rome sniffed the air and lifted her head. She gasped.

  “Fire?” she said to her father. Then to Rei, in English, she said, “Put me down,” which Rei did.

  “What is going on here?” Rome asked Fridone, again in Vuduri. “What about the Rules of Green?”

  “You will find that we have had to break a large number of rules,” her father said gravely. “There is no carbon allotment on this world. We have been put into a position where we can no longer rely on our heritage. We must make do with what we have. If it means violating the Rules of Green, then that is what we must do to survive. We are far too few to have any lasting effects on the environment. Come,” he said, waving his arm. “Believe it or not, it gets very chilly in this cave. It would not take long for you to change your mind. Come sit by the fire and we will tell you the way of the world. This world.”

  As I have lamented many times before, in order to crush down three novels down to one, many scenes had to go. This one was easy to toss because without the Rules of Green, it wouldn't make sense anyway.

  Entry 2-269: September 21, 2014

 

  Fridone’s kidnapping

  In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, there was the first and only detailed explanation of the day that Fridone was kidnapped. We know that he was whisked off the Earth and dropped on Deucado. The reason for this is because he was a top mandasurte scientist. MASAL figured if he couldn't get all of them, at the very least he would remove the most intelligent ones so Fridone was a natural target:

  Rome turned to look at Fridone. “Beo, why did you leave us? Mea was devastated. Life was never the same after you were gone.”

  Fridone’s breath caught. He wiped away a tear. “I miss your mother so much. I feel like a part of me is gone. All the time. Even after all these years.”

  “Please tell me, why did you come here? Why did you leave us?”

  “Oh, my little Rome,” Fridone answered. “I did not leave upon my own volition. I could never do that. We were onboard our research vessel. We had departed Berlis Harbor and were out to sea to the south of the big island. I was in charge of making empirical measurements on the migration patterns of certain fish. You know the Vuduri do not feed us. The mandasurte have to provide for themselves, always. Anyway, as mandasurte scientists, I suppose we were considered more dangerous than most. Our ship was boarded. We were kidnapped and spirited here by strange Vuduri.”

  “Strange?” Rei interjected. “What made them strange?”

  “For one thing,” continued Fridone, “they were harsh, even evil with absolutely no hint of humanity about them. They were like living machines. And their eyes!”

  “What about their eyes?” Rome asked.

  “They were flat,” replied Fridone. “They had no life to them. I can only describe them by telling you they had dead eyes.”

  “Vuduri with dead eyes?” Rome asked. “That makes no sense. Why would they do this? Why would they kidnap you?”

  “We do not know,” Fridone replied. “They never spoke and never explained their motives to us. They simply threw us into a large spaceship and transported us here. They dropped us off and left. That is how most of the Ibbrassati have arrived here, except for the fools who believed they were migrating to a new world.”

  The flat black eyes, we later learn, are the hallmark of the branch of the Onsiras called the Zengei. They get what's coming to them in the end.

  Entry 2-270: September 22, 2014

 

  Sandwiches

  (Author's note: if you live a gluten-free life or have any number of dietary issues with wheat, grain, etc., skip this article.)

  When Rome and Rei were first given shelter by the Ibbrassati in the opening section of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, they were offered food and water. I was wondering if the Vuduri ever ate sandwiches. We get a hint that they do not because of Rei's first experience with Vuduri food on the star base at Tabit. There it appeared that the Vuduri ate only because they had to, not because it was supposed to be an enjoyable experience.

  According to Wikipedia, a sandwich is a food item consisting of one or more types of food placed on o
r between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein two or more pieces of bread serve as a container or wrapper for some other food. Also according to Wikipedia, the sandwich is considered to be the namesake of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, because of the claim that he was the eponymous inventor of this food combination. The concept was actually invented by Rabbi Hillel but that's another story.

  The sandwich, while humble, is a ubiquitous part of our diet and not just because it is convenient to eat with your hands. It is so ubiquitous, I decided to make a flow chart. I started with my children's favorite lunch growing up: a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Then I had an epiphany. Pizza is literally the same food, reorganized. It is a flat piece of bread (the crust), tomato sauce and melted cheese. So immediately, I widened the circle and decided that all pasta with red sauce is the same food, especially if you put grated cheese on it.

  From there, well the whole concept explodes. My claim is all of the following are kinds of sandwiches:

  - Hoagies, heroes and subs

  - Wraps, fajitas, tacos, burritos, Moo Shu pork

  - Nachos (mmm)

  - Ethiopian dishes served on Injera which is a kind of spongy bread

  - Vietnamese banh mi, the Indian vada pav, Portuguese francesinha and Spanish bocadillos