Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  “That takes eons, doesn’t it?”

  “Of course. But I do not need quite that much time. My process is proceeding much more quickly.”

  “I don’t get it though. Why are you petrifying yourself?” Rei asked.

  “You are being funny,” said MINIMCOM. “No, I am replacing every element of my airframe with these helper units. The final version will look similar but I will be mutable. I will be able to change my shape and functions at will. I am augmenting my capabilities using the memron fabricator.

  “Like how?” Rei asked.

  “For example, I have built some experimental PPT projectors, similar to the throwers onboard the Vuduri craft, but these are made to stand up coherently even in a gravity well. I believe they will be very useful for jumping a short distance.”

  “So where are you going to jump to?”

  “I will be using them to excavate myself when the time is right but in this case, I was not thinking of myself at all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Just then, Rei heard a sizzling sound then a dull thud. He whipped his head around and saw a gaping hole in the far wall. A two meter circular section of the wall had fallen over, landing on the grass outside. There, in front of him, was the great outdoors. He was now staring at the woods behind the house.

  “Hmmm,” MINIMCOM said. “Not exactly what I expected. No matter. Are you ready to go for a walk?”

  “Buddy, you’re all right in my book,” Rei said out loud.

  Rei escapes and heads north. He has a long journey in front of him.

  Entry 2-351: December 12, 2014

 

  Immortality

 

  For a long while, I have been hinting to you that OMCOM's magic yellow pill had other side effects not yet revealed.

  Throughout the Rome's Revolution saga, I have unveiled all but one of the effects. These include healing Rei's back pain and giving him remarkable recuperative powers as evidenced in Rome's Evolution. It gave Rome and Rei the "cell phone in the head" which allows them to communicate across vast distances. It gave Rei "sonar-vision" which he can use to see in the dark even better than Rome can when using her iRods.

  Without giving too much away, let me ask you, would immortality be a bad thing? Certainly I have said to myself that if I had enough time to have multiple careers, I'd like to spend one lifetime as a lawyer, one owning a restaurant, certainly one as a science fiction writer. But what would I do after that? I'm not even sure what my fifth and sixth careers would be.

  If you had immortality and others did not, what would it be like outliving your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren and so on? Don't you think after a time, it might grow wearisome seeing your loved ones wither and die while you go on and on?

  I would hope that in the next several hundred years we would develop an FTL star drive and then my fifth career could be space explorer. That'd be fun.

  But in the end, would you want to just go on forever? Does that give you enough clues? When The Milk Run comes out, be sure the read the Epilogue to find out.

 

  Entry 2-352: December 13, 2014

 

  Blasts from the past

 

  I have mentioned upon several occasions that it is my intention to complete and publish The Milk Run before the year is out. After that, I will compile Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two and publish that as well. I am only about 25 blog entries away from having a complete second year under my belt.

  My goal for next year is to circle back and record Rome's Revolution as an audio book. But that won't be the end of my writing.

  I have completed the outline for The Vuduri Companion which will be a compilation of short stories, excised material and so on. There are some really neat things that are going into that book. Here is the tentative Table of Contents:

  Table of Contents

  1. Introduction

  2. The Grey Drive aka puttin’ white holes

  3. Pruno Dreams

  4. The Lyrics to the Moody Blues’ “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere”

  5. The Freeze Dryer

  6. A Night on New Earth (Silas Hiram) (Original Prologue of VIRUS 5)

  7. The Deucadons

  8. Lacy Henry

  9. The Birth of MASAL

  10. MASAL’s Last Stand

  11. The First Vuduri

  12. How Binoda Met Fridone

  13. Skodla and The Lie

  14. The Yatori

  15. The Night They Recovered Rei – Rome’s Story

  16. The Night They Recovered Rei – Rei’s Story (Rei’s Rescue) (Original Chapter 1 of VIRUS 5)

  17. Rei’s Resurrection (Original Chapter 2 of VIRUS 5)

  18. OMCOM Reprograms Himself (Original Chapter 9 of VIRUS 5)

  19. Rome and Art – Salvador Dali

  20. The Language Lesson and Metric Time

  21. Rei’s Jokes

  22. Rei Almost Gets Killed, Again

  23. Rome’s Letter to Binoda in Vuduri and English

  24. Rei proves time goes backwards to OMCOM

  25. Rome Was Not a Virgin

  26. Ramps and Guns

  27. Lawlidon Arrives (Original end of Part 2, Beginning of Part 3) – Battle for the Stars

  28. Rome’s Pardon

  29. The Luau

  30. Sussen’s Suffering

  All of this is subject to change, of course.

  There will be two more items that I know of. I had someone type in, by hand, the original manuscript for VIRUS 5. I will clean it up a bit but it will be the original story, more or less intact. It should be good for a laugh or two.

  Finally, I am going to put into this opus the original Rome's Revolution which was the story of the Social AdjustMints and you will see the beginnings of how I came up with the Overmind.

  I figure I'll have that book done mid-year next year. And of course, I will keep this blog going. I hope this excites you.

  Mike

 

  Entry 2-353: December 14, 2014

 

  Nobody will learn English

 

  When I first started writing the modern version of Rome's Revolution, I was determined to make it a "you are there" type of experience. Everything about the new world would be strange and inexplicable. And as I have mentioned before, nobody would speak English.

  However, after the first nth rejections and paying a professional editor, everyone told me I was wasting my time having my characters speak in Vuduri so I scaled it way back. Being the passive-aggressive person that I am, I got a little dig in early into the introduction of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution:

  “Psst, Rei,” MINIMCOM whispered from a grille near the bed. After waiting a moment, the little computer spoke again, this time a bit louder, “Please wake up, Rei."

  “What is it, MINIMCOM?” Rei Bierak asked in a fatigued tone.

  “I need you to look at something.”

  Rei opened his eyes. He turned to his left and saw that Rome was still asleep. “Hold on,” he said. He jumped up and padded into the refresher, closing the door behind him. Standing at the sink, he splashed some water on his face and peered into his reflection.

  “Vroggon Chrosd ta Jasus,” Rei said out loud, shaking his head.

  “You speak Vuduri even when alone?” MINIMCOM asked from another grille, this one mounted to the left of the sink.

  “That’s all we use now. You know that. I have to keep practicing. Rome says nobody is going to take the time to learn English on Deucado. Especially the mandasurte. And she’s right.”

  “Very well. Fiu veler ebanes am Vuduri.”

  “I don’t need help from you,” Rei said sharply. He paused for a moment. “Sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m just tired.”

  The fact of the matter is, being the modern, responsive writer that I am, it turns out everybody took the time to learn English on Deucado. Well, except maybe for Rome's father. But by the time The Ark Lor
ds rolled around, English had become the lingua franca, the trade language, of the planet. Certainly the Essessoni spoke it and the Deucadons spoke a dialect of English. The Vuduri had learned English from the Overmind so that only left the mandasurte known as the Ibbrassati to catch up. Rome spent a day or two each week teaching English to those Ibbrassati that wished to learn.

  By the time I got to Rome's Evolution, I didn't even bother with Vuduri except for a few words. The same will be true with The Milk Run. Aason and Lupe Bierak consider English their primary language although they are very, very fluent in Vuduri. That way, when they encounter the colonists on Hades, there is simply no language barrier whatsoever.

  You're welcome.

 

  Entry 2-354: December 15, 2014

 

  Philcon 2014

 

  Last year was my first Philcon put on by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society otherwise known as PSFS. It was an interesting experience but I did not gain the exposure I was looking for. I am not a "fan" in the costume, con-attending sense. But hopefully there would be a way of connecting to these people.

  This year, I bought a vendor's booth and shared it with my talented wife Denise. At the bottom of this post are two pictures. Her GOT portraits were certainly a draw.

  All in all, I cannot say that gaining more exposure as an author was a tremendous success but it was not a failure. Many people stopped by the booth (thanks to Denise) and I was able to hand out cards with links to Rome's Revolution. I also sold five copies plus three 3-book sets (Rome's Revolution, The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution). Denise sold a few prints but none of the giclees and none of the $3500 portraits.

  Last year I vowed to get a booth and participate in panels. Halfway there. Maybe next year I'll get a chance to stand up and talk to people.

  You can click on each of the images below to see them full sized.

  Entry 2-355: December 16, 2014

 

  Aason at last

 

  As you are well aware, in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rome was suffering from polyhydramnios, an excess of fluid in the womb, because Aason, her unborn child could not make contact with her. The Vuduri on Deucado reconnected her and gave Rome the means to contact her baby. However, the procedure wore her out and she slept for some eight hours before awakening and attempting contact.

  Some people really like Rome speaking to a fetus. One reviewer wrote, One of the real treasures of the book was "the baby". I fell in love with the baby and his relationship with his mother. Others found it downright creepy. There's nothing I can do about it. The story is the story. Here is Rome's first contact with her baby named Aason:

  She could feel the baby, feel his heart, his mind. She could sense his thoughts, unformed and yet already influenced by the Vuduri around him. Within his mind, there was something else as well. Another channel perhaps. It was a different kind of communication. But over this channel all she found was simply blackness and the steady lub-dub of her heart. She pushed it aside and opened her mind, feeling about until she contacted the spark that was her unborn son’s mind. Finally, relieved, she spoke to her baby in her head for the first time.

  “Aason?” she thought.

  “Mother?” replied the unborn infant. “At last! You are here! Oh Mother, I have been so frightened.”

  “Why, my baby?”

  “Because I could not find you. There were others here but never you. I kept pushing and pushing, trying to find you. I pushed so hard.”

  “I am here now, my son,” Rome thought. “And I will be with you from now on. You do not need to push any more. It was hurting me. You must stop. When the time comes, you will be with me.”

  “I can stop pushing?” Aason said, confused.

  Note the throwaway line regarding "Another channel perhaps" - this was meant to be a clear reference to Rome's EM "cell-phone in the head" that was still trying to come online.

  Entry 2-356: December 17, 2014

 

  How did Aason cause polyhydramnios?

 

  Yesterday I recounted the first time Rome contacted her unborn child in the middle of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. A lot of this is gobbledy-gook. I'll explain why after I show you a little more that scene:

  “I can stop pushing?” Aason asked, confused.

  “Yes. I am here now. You can just be.”

  “But Mother, when I could not find you, I did not know what to do.”

  “I understand but you do not need to do anything anymore. You just grow and stay healthy,” Rome said reassuringly.

  “Mother, there is so much I do not understand. How do these pictures come into my head? How do I know things when I do not know what they are? I cannot see yet I have seen things. All I hear is your heart and some noises but I have such memories. I feel things but there is nothing here to feel. Just you, all around me.”

  “It is confusing, little Aason. All will make sense to you as you grow older. For now, just know that your mother is here and I will take care of you. I will not leave you again. We will always take care of you.”

  “Who is ‘we’? I only sense you right now,” said the baby.

  “I was referring to your father and me.”

  “What is my father? Is he the Overmind?”

  Even though she appeared to be unconscious, in her mind, she could feel her heart sink. ”No, not the Overmind. Your father is someone else. His name is Rei. He is a wonderful man. Try and form a picture of him from my thoughts.”

  When I was originally constructing the story, I was trying to emphasize the difference in the build between the Essessoni (us) and the much slighter-of-build Vuduri. It occurred to me that the child of the two branches of humanity, if it took after the father, might be really, really large. That was my original motivation at least. But then I figured out that before the child was born, there might be one pound difference between a child of then and a child of now.

  But I still wanted Rome to be in distress so that they would have an excuse to fly her into the Lion's Den aka the Vuduri compound and reconnect. That would allow me to create the split narrative structure which would then let me write two intertwined stories.

  Tomorrow, the final part of that scene.

  Entry 2-357: December 18, 2014

 

  Dreaming of Daddy

 

  Yesterday, I showed you Rome and Aason's first meaningful interaction in the middle of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. Rome introduced the concept of Aason's father who we know to be Rei. Aason was confused because he had been contacted by the Overmind and now by Rome. Here is the final part of that discovery:

  There was a tiny tickle in her mind. Rome found it very pleasant. After rummaging around, Aason said, “I can see pictures of him in your mind. Where is he now?”

  “He is not here right now. He had to go away,” Rome thought sadly. “But when the time comes, you will meet and learn from him. He will teach you to always do the right thing. Your father is very smart and very caring.”

  “When will I meet him?” asked Aason.

  “I can only tell you that you will meet him when the time is right,” Rome thought back, trying to be reassuring.

  “When is that?”

  “I cannot tell you right now. You must accept my word on this. The time will come.”

  “All right, Mother. I believe you. But now I must ask. Who is the Overmind?

  He keeps coming in here and asking me questions and I keep pushing him away. He frightens me.”

  “The Overmind is an intellect. It connects us. It is a part of all of us. It needs me to tell it things.”

  “I do not like it. It wants to hurt you. This much I know.”

  “I understand, little one. But it cannot hurt me. This Overmind is sick. It has lost its way. We will help it find it again. Then you can let it in when you want.”

  “You can do that? You can make it healthy?” asked Aason.

  “Yes, child. I can a
nd I will,” thought Rome.

  “All right, Mother. This is good. I feel so very happy right now. I was so frightened before. I am so glad that I found you.”

  “Yes, my baby. But Aason, I need my rest now. And I need to eat to get strong. I must get ready for the next thing to come.”

  “Yes, Mother. I can sense that. I will rest too.”

  “Thank you, son.”

  “Mother?”

  “Yes, Aason?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too, little baby.”

  At the end of this scene, Aason knew about his father and even what he looked like. Maybe some day, when the movies get made, we'll find out what he looks like as well. One other note, the statement in bold above comes up again 21 years later when Aason is about to embark on the mission to save his sister in the upcoming novel The Milk Run.

 

  Entry 2-358: December 19, 2014

 

  Meet the sticky bushes

 

  I have told you numerous times before that I am not particularly creative when it comes to designing alien plants and animals. The stories I am trying to tell are about people and I'm so anxious to get to the action, some of the trappings get left in the dust.

  So too, it is true in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. I had dropped Rei and Rome on this alien world and the only plant life I told you about was the cane-trees. At least I invented the threadgrass to give you a little variety. After Rei escaped and headed into the woods, I figured I had to invent at least one more plant type to make it realistic. Thus the sticky bushes were born:

  Tau Ceti was beginning to set for the day. Most of it had disappeared beneath the treetops. Of course, there would still be some residual glow from the sun, even after it was below the horizon. Rei was making fairly good progress. The cane-trees were tall but not bulky so it was easy to spot a straight path. In many places, the canopy overhead was so thick, it looked like night even though the sun was not fully set. Some places were so dark that Rei figured they would stay that way even in the middle of the day.