Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

“Who are you to tell me what can and cannot be?”

  “I will demonstrate,” thought Rome. “Let me show you a trick.”

  “What are you…” the Overmind was cut short.

  Rome imagined a wall inside her head. It was exactly the same as the one she had practiced on during their long journey to Deucado. She took her “real” self and pulled it back safe and sound behind the wall. She allowed less and less of her connection from the Overmind to remain until it was down to the merest thread. In her dreamlike state, she imagined a large clock and watched its hands tick off ten seconds. Then she opened up the wall just a crack and made the connection again.

  See what I did there? I didn't want to just tell you that ten seconds ran by so I invented a mental clock so I could show you. Am I clever or what?

  Entry 2-336: November 27, 2014

 

  700 thank yous

 

  On today, Thanksgiving 2014, I am very thankful for all of your support over this last year and a half. When I started Tales of the Vuduri way back in December of 2012, I didn't know exactly where it was going. I had a lot of extra material, research, short stories, etc. that were not in the original Rome's Revolution trilogy and I was looking for a format to publish them. I tried a Wiki called Rome's Revolution: The Science Behind the Science Fiction but it really didn't lend itself to frequent updates.

  So on December 23, 2012, I published my first article here entitled How to speak Vuduri. After that, I've published one article per day and I haven't looked back since. While the basic format of the blog is to provide insights into how the stories came about, there have been numerous deviations including a series on solar power, back pain as well as alternative scenes, funny images and so on.

  Today is my 700th consecutive post. Is that a lot? I don't know. I just know that I still have tons of material to present and the list is growing, not shrinking. I am nearly done The Milk Run and that will dump another year's worth of blog posts on my desk.

  Well, I hope you are enjoying the series because I am certainly enjoying writing it. So Happy Thanksgiving to all and know that there will be more tomorrow!

 

  Entry 2-337: November 28, 2014

 

  Capitulation

 

  Two days ago, I showed you how the Overmind of Deucado attempted to bully Rome into capitulation. However, Rome's demonstration of her superior mental talents put it in its place. This is an essential plot element of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. Rome's taming of the Overmind required that it acknowledge her as the alpha, er, female.

  Here is a little snippet showing you that the Overmind has thrown in the towel:

  In her dreamlike state, Rome imagined a large clock and watched its hands tick off ten seconds. Then she opened up the wall just a crack and made the connection again.

  “How did you do that?” the Overmind asked. “I shut down your resonance.”

  “No, you did not,” Rome thought. “I did that.”

  “This is not possible,” thought the Overmind.

  “Wake up. You experienced it. It is not only possible but it happened.”

  “I cannot reconcile what I just observed with what I know to be true. But assuming you are telling me the truth, tell me how you did this.”

  “I will tell you later. But for now, I want you to withdraw. I need to attend to my child.”

  “What if I do not wish to withdraw?” The Overmind transmitted to her.

  “My body has collapsed. I need to recover. You have me. I am not going anywhere. I will put up the wall again if I need to. Please. Go away.” Rome sensed the Overmind’s hesitation. Finally, forcefully, she said, “Now!”

  “Very well,” replied the Overmind. “We will converse later.”

  Rome took that as her cue and the connection was gone. Although she could not see it, within the room, all the Vuduri turned to stare at her with fear in their eyes.

  You can see from the little snippet above, this simple act of capitulation by the Overmind meant it had already taken the first step towards its salvation.

 

  Entry 2-338: November 29, 2014

 

  Meet the blankets

 

  The 'falling blankets' are the closest thing we have to predators on Deucado. They play a central role in the novel Rome's Evolution where we learn they are descended from a sentient species that used to roam the planet.

  Rei had been warned by Fridone that they could kill him by smothering him but this was the farthest thing from his mind when he was dumped in the threadgrass field and had cried himself to sleep. Rei didn't realize at the time that the blankets came in all shapes and sizes including little itty-bitty ones:

  Rei awakened with a start. Something was stinging his leg. He tried to roll over but found he was layered in a thick covering of leather-like material that wrapped around him, constricting his movements. He felt another sting in his back. With a Herculean effort, he rolled over and was shocked to see that he was completely encased in a furry blanket, made up of a patchwork of browns, oranges and yellows. And the blanket was moving. Rei felt another sharp sting on his shin and he realized that whatever they were, they hurt! He pushed his arms to the side and was able to pull first one then another of the little things off of him and fling them to the side. Something stung the back of his neck and he reached back and pulled another of the little pieces of fabric off his head.

  He stood up and kept pulling and pulling until there were no more of the creatures on him. They undulated away, most of them disappearing into the thread-like grass. He reached down and grabbed one and picked it up. The little creature reminded him of a thick, furry chamois cloth. At each of the six corners, there were tiny little paws or grippers. In the middle, like a starfish, there was a pulsating orifice which must be its mouth. And in that mouth were little needle-like teeth. That must have been what had stung him. The creature had no eyes or ears or any sensory organs that Rei could see.

  He laid it upside down in his hand and it curled up into a ball. He poked it and it curled tighter. He squeezed it with his hand and he could feel it moving, constricting tighter. The rag-like animal was warm although he did not know if was from the sun or if it was warm-blooded.

  Imagine getting nibbled to death by a bunch of washcloths! Goofy, huh?

 

  Entry 2-339: November 30, 2014

  The Nayer

  Language changes. It is ever-evolving. Words and phrases come into use and others fall into disuse. When was the last time you talked about a horseless carriage? In the world of Rome's Revolution, the Vuduri language is the same way. But part of the problem is that we normal 21st century humans don't understand the language. I used a variety of mechanisms to translate Vuduri into English so we know what is going on.

  However, even translated into English, surely the people of the 35th century have words for things that don't exist today. Like the animals that abound on Deucado. As I explained in a previous post, I needed the little fishy kind things that swam in Lake Eprehem to have a name that sounds like fish so I came up with swishies.

  I had the same problem with the mayor of the village which would later come to be known as Ibbra City. First, it wasn't a city or even a town so the concept of mayor wouldn't apply. But somebody had to be in charge. So I revved up my rhyming skills and came up with this little exchange:

  “Do you have a place to stay?”

  “Not at the moment,” Rei said.

  “Then come back with us,” the first man offered. “We will take you to see the Nayer.”

  “Who is the Nayer?” Rei asked.

  “He is the person in charge of saying no, of course,” said the second man. Both men laughed to themselves over the joke.

  Rei looked around. He really had no idea where he was. He looked down at the two people standing next to him. Even though Rei was of modest height for a human, because of his musculature and their slight frame, he felt like he tow
ered over these people of the future, as he did over all the Vuduri. Except for those damned guards.

  “All right,” he said. “Why not?”

  Clever? If you took the same phrase in English, you would say that the Mayor was someone who says you may. I guess that's better than someone who always says no.

  Entry 2-340: December 1, 2014

 

  The Hyper-verse

 

  Early on in the Rome's Revolution trilogy, Rome, Rei and pretty much everyone else believes that our universe is the only universe. It isn't until The Milk Run that we find out that our universe is just one of an infinite set of universes. I discussed this briefly earlier this year in a previous post. However, as I draw closer to completion on The Milk Run, I wanted to expound upon it a little more deeply.

  Understand that I'm not talking about multi-verse theory or alternate universe theory although these could be considered subsets. Rather think of subatomic particles. Think of each of them as a universe unto themselves. Then throw those subatomic particles together to form atoms. Think of that as another universe, a higher order universe. Now think of atoms coming together to form our universe. Nobody can tell you what is outside of our universe because it is all we know. Nobody can tell you what came before the beginning. Nobody can tell you what happens after the end. Now imagine that our universe is just one tiny sub-atomic particle of a grander universe, the hyper-verse.

  Here is an inadequate illustration of this principle:

  The hyper-verse extends infinitely beyond anything I could draw. It isn't infinity x 2, it isn't infinity squared, it is infinity to the infinite power.

  Where did it come from? No need to ask the question. It has always been. When will it end? Answer, never. Our teeny, tiny universe may have started 13.8 billion years ago born from the remains of the previous occupant during an event that has come to be known as the Big Bang. And our universe may end some day in the Big Crunch but another universe will spring from our ashes to take our place.

  It's easy to get overwhelmed and ask what possible significance our lives represent against such unthinkable vastness. The bottom line of The Milk Run is that our lives are all we have so we may as well live them as best as we can and not worry about our place in the hyper-verse.

 

  Entry 2-341: December 2, 2014

 

  Why I don’t read scifi anymore

 

  I love science fiction. I love it so much that all I ever wanted to do was write scifi from about the 8th grade on. I started the original VIRUS 5 in 1973 which eventually became Rome's Revolution. The first part was that original story and, in fact, when I first published it, I called it VIRUS 5. I even created a web site called VIRUS5THEBOOK.COM which still works but isn't anything to write home about. If you click on the link, this is all you will see:

  Not too impressive, huh? That was my original logo which was a stylized Stareater consuming a star.

  Anyway, I continued reading scifi and watching movies and writing books. In Part 2, after Rei was dumped outside the village that would later become known as Ibbra City, he was attacked by smaller falling blankets and rescued by two Ibbrassati who were walking by. After they cleaned Rei up, they convinced him to follow them to the village. Here is the passage:

  “It is this way,” the first man said, and he started to walk off toward the sun, which was beginning to lower in the west. Rei followed, taking one step after the other. He was in a daze but what else did he have to do?

  The two men led Rei through another stand of cane-trees until they came to a clearing perched among some rolling hills. To the west was a gigantic lake that stretched all the way to the horizon. Tau Ceti was beginning its slow descent into the western sky. From this angle, it was already reflecting off of the lake forming a glorious orange double sun. Along the southern shore, the cane-trees crowded in. To the north, Rei could see clearings and beaches. Obviously, that was where the settlement was located. It took all of Rei’s concentration to notice anything. All he could thing about was Rome and her last words to him.

  The men led Rei down a steep trail until they came to the edge of the lake. From there, they made their way north along the shore. Once in a while, Rei would hear a splashing noise in the water but he could never see what was making the noise. At last they came to some docks where there were small, blocky craft moored. The men continued up to the leading edge and then inland, east again, away from the lake, down a dirt path that led through another stand of cane-trees.

  As they traveled, they passed people who were on their way to the docks. Each of them stopped and stared at Rei. He hunched over, trying to make himself less conspicuous but it didn’t help. He saw a woman with long dark hair who reminded him of Rome and it made his heart ache all over again. It made him ill just to think about it. Rome was about the most perfect woman in the galaxy. She was a blend of total innocence and worldly sophistication. She had a thirst for knowledge, and art. She was brilliant and tender and loving and…

  So why would this make me stop reading? I'll explain tomorrow.

 

  Entry 2-342: December 3, 2014

 

  The Wicker Man

 

  When I first started Rome's Revolution in 1973, it was my intention to write a truly original story. However, long after I wrote it, I discovered that some elements of the novel were already contained in the short story Far Centaurus written by A. E. Van Vogt in 1944.

  I can safely say that reading that story had no influence on my writing since I did not read it until long after I completed VIRUS 5 which was the original name of Rome's Revolution. However, Part 2 was a different story. Yesterday, I presented a little short scene from Part 2 whereby Rei is taken to the village through some woods by a pair of Ibbrassati. I thought the scene was original however, recently, I watched the movie called The Wicker Man starring Nicholas Cage. I had actually seen that movie when it first came out in 2006 but didn't recollect much of it.

  However, to my horror, when I re-watched the movie, I realized the image of the woods that was so strong in my mind was just my recollection of that scene from The Wicker Man. Damn! I don't want be accused of being a copycat or plagiarism and I certainly don't want people to read my books and say, hey, isn't that just like...

  So I made up my mind, no more reading of science fiction until I finish this round of books. I still watch movies occasionally. I loved Gravity and Guardians of the Galaxy but I think I can avoid stealing anything from them. I plan to see Interstellar but I'm a little more worried about it.

  Anyway, for those of you who are interested, here is the scene in the woods that has haunted me since 2006 but I didn't even know it.

 

  Entry 2-343: December 4, 2014

 

  The space age ‘burbs

 

  Way back when, in 1973, I wrote a short story called VIRUS 5 about a man named Rei and a woman named Rome and a computer named OMCOM who fight off giant beasts called Stareaters. Sounds a lot like Rome's Revolution, huh? Of course it does. But there was so much about it that was different. I never explained how mankind reached the stars. I postulated there was a quasi-governmental corporation called "The Unity of Man" which was behind it all. They would send out crews to far off places who would launch survey probes and when a habitable planet was found, the crew would wait for replacements and then head off to colonize a new planet. Rome was from a world orbiting Mintaka and came from a different culture. However, because her world had been stabilized for a long time, they were more sophisticated than Rei's people.

  The idea is, you can sit in place and grow culturally or you can explore but you can't have both. Joss Whedan adopted this philosophy with the TV show "Firefly" which was basically cowboys in space. Every world where Mal and his crew visited, it was horses and shanties. Very few had much cultural sophistication.

  It was with this concept in mind that I created the village that would later come
to be known as Ibbra City. However, it was on a planet that was backwards culturally not by choice or by feverish exploration but rather by the conscious denial of access to technology by the Vuduri. Therefore the dwellings would resemble those from any point in history where people were limited by lack of technology. Here is the village, as seen by Rei, when he first arrived:

  The men kept walking until, at last, they exited the woods into the settlement proper. As Rei looked over the vista, he was struck with how similar it looked to primitive cultures from his own time. There were lean-tos, wigwams, longhouses and one or two dwellings that could have been log cabins if they had been made out of wood. Instead, here, the cane-trees provided most of the building materials. Things had a tendency to look more like wicker than anything else. There were even some poorly executed versions of geodesic domes made out of the same materials. All in all, it hardly resembled Rei’s space-age idea of what 13 centuries into the future might bring. There were no gleaming towers or floating cities. It was just filth and dirt and rough-hewn construction.

  The men brought him right through the center of the settlement. Again, people stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Rei gave up trying to blend in and walked at his full height. On the far side, the settlement seemed more densely populated. Lining up in front of Rei were houses spaced at regular intervals and even a clearly demarcated dirt filled street. At last, they came to a house that appeared to be slightly more substantial than the others...

 

 

  Entry 2-344: December 5, 2014

 

  The Nayer’s house

 

  Several days ago, I told you about "the Nayer" who was the leader of the village of Ibbrassati. It was never clear whether he was elected or not but he was certainly self-important. Yesterday, I showed you that the western portion of the village was very rustic, bordering on the primitive. However the eastern side was more developed resembling more of a 19th century town. One of my professors from Syracuse told me when I first got to town to only look for housing on the eastern side of the city. When I asked him why, his answer was very practical. He said if you lived on the western side, in the spring and the fall, the sun would always be in your eyes driving to and from work.