Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five

by Michael Brachman

  Shank was the first to speak up. “I’ll do it. I volunteer for Team B. I’ll shoot ‘em with my quarrels. I’ll beat ‘em with my fists if I have to.”

  “Me too,” said another man. “I’ll do it. I’m the best with a crossbow.”

  Tomorrow, the final part of the plan. Jack is preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  Entry 5-017: January 17, 2017

  The Battle Plan Part 3

  Yesterday, Jack Henry laid out the second part of his plan to ambush the Ark Lords. If you looked at the map, you'd see that while there was a chance his Team A and Team B could stop them, Jack needed a backup plan that failed and even a third option. Here is the final part of his strategy:

  “Count me in,” said a third man. Very quickly, it appeared that most of the men volunteered for an almost guaranteed suicide mission.

  Jack showed a sad smile. “You are all very brave men but you can’t all go. I need the best marksmen with the crossbows on Team B. The rest of you, you all need to take a few practice shots. I need the best marksmen with the new fire sticks on Team A.”

  Jack searched the crowd and found Red. “Team C will hide with the horses around the far side of the big building. Red, you’ll be leading that Team. You only come in after they’ve entered the building. Your job is to make sure that nobody makes it out alive.”

  “You got it, Jack,” Red said.

  “Finally, the rest, Team D. You guys will come with me into the tunnels. It’s my hope that The Ark Lords who enter the building don’t know that we took out the trailing vehicle. Half of you bring crossbows, the other half bring the new fire sticks.”

  “What are we going to do down there?” someone asked.

  “I’m going to set you up in staggered groups and use the same strategy. The first group will attack the Ark Lords with crossbows. They’ll turn and fire on those men. Directly behind them will be our men with fire sticks. I want to hit them from behind when they aren’t expecting it.”

  “What about you, Jack?” one of the men asked.

  “Louis and me are going to barricade ourselves at the end of the tunnel. We are the last line of defense. If any of the spacemen make it through, we have enough ammunition to keep them back until Red’s team arrives. Everybody got it?”

  The men murmured their assent. Jack looked around the assembled group. If the grim determination on their bearded faces meant anything, then Jack knew they would not fail.

  We'll have to see how it works out. I am not optimistic.

  Entry 5-018: January 18, 2017

  Ark Wark York

  Naming places, especially in the 35th century world of Rome’s Revolution can be a daunting task. You have to create names that sound like real places but are different. One way, of course, is to slap a New in front of a name. The people that came over from England called the entire upper northeast region of the US New England. When the Dutch came over and landed on Manhattan island, they called it New Amsterdam. Later, somebody from York renamed the whole city New York. Even Newark, the city on the other side of the Hudson River was named for the New Ark of the Covenant.

  So it was when I had to name the cities on Deucado, I named the central gathering of the Essessoni New Ark City. It was supposed to be slightly amusing because it sounded so much like New York City but nobody in my book seemed to notice. Not even Rome picked it up as she and Rei were tracing the route of the Ark Lords, 800 years earlier:

  A relief map of North America appeared on the viewscreen. Rei lifted his finger and pointed at the display. “That’s where I grew up,” he said, indicating the eastern portion of the continent, which would have been Pennsylvania in his day.

  Rome acknowledged his statement with a nod then pressed an icon which zoomed in north of where Rei was pointing. “This is where the Ark Lords settlement was eventually established,” Rome said, placing a small blinking indicator on the eastern part of what would have been New York State. She turned to Rei. “Why would they have selected that place?” she asked.

  Rei thought about it for a moment. “Well,” he said, “New York City,” he tapped the screen, “was pretty much the hub of our country, of our civilization. So when they came back, they’d probably start there. The farmlands west of the city would still be fertile, even after the Great Dying so it was probably the most convenient convergence of proximity and practicality.”

  Rome nodded. She looked at the viewscreen, pressed a button and another virtual pushpin appeared to the south and west. She increased the magnification a little more to show the surrounding terrain in relief.

  “This is the first known encounter with the Erklirte by the Cavaliers,” she said.

  I wonder if we had a chance to do what they did, which is return to an Earth where all traces of your civilization were gone, if you'd still gravitate to the same place and put your new cities right where the old cities were. That is, after all, how the Vuduri decided where to put I-cimaci. They put it right on the former location of Lisbon, Portugal. I was thinking of taking a visit to there later this year. I'll let you know what I find out.

  Entry 5-019: January 19, 2017

  No such thing as a coincidence

  Yesterday, we saw Rome and Rei discussing the original settlement of the Ark Lords. Because he is from our time, Rei had a general sense of why the Erklirte would settle to the west of the former site of New York. Rome had no clue, of course. But today, as they follow the footsteps of the men from the past, right away something odd jumps out at them:

  “Where was this battle?” Rei asked.

  “Here,” Rome said, placing another blinking indicator far to the west, on the western edge of Lake Michigan. “It was called the Battle of Chee Ka Go and it was where Hanry Ta Jihn was killed.”

  “Chee Ka Go? Chicago?” Rei said. “Why would they fight a battle way out there?”

  Rome pushed a few icons on the input surface and a written letter appeared on the screen. “It says here that after many years of captivity, Hanry Ta Jihn’s mother escaped. No one knows what information she imparted to him but whatever it was, it told the Resistance where to set up ranks. The battle was very fierce. It was nearly a massacre.” Rome turned to look at Rei. “You know better than anyone that Essessoni weapons are very powerful. It was farmer against spaceman.”

  Rei just shook his head. He couldn’t shake feeling somehow guilty. “So how did they beat them?” he asked.

  “Hanry Ta Jihn’s forces acquired a new weapon. It was called a Vorasdock.”

  “What’s a Vorasdock?” Rei asked.

  “The literal translation in your language would be fire stick,” Ursay volunteered.

  “Fire stick?” Rei cocked his head. “I know the Ark Lords were carrying flamethrowers but where would your people get them?”

  “They were not exactly my people,” Rome said. “This pre-dated the Vuduri. And they were not flamethrowers.” She pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and brought up a rough sketch.

  “This is the only known drawing of a Vorasdock,” she said. “It does not resemble what I saw in Edgar’s storage bin. However, its form factor suggests it is more like your laser rifles than something else.”

  Rei leaned forward. “That’s not a laser rifle,” he observed. “It looks like an M4 carbine.” Rome’s confused look caused Rei to offer more. “A semi-automatic rifle that fires bullets? Chemical weapons with projectiles?” Rome shook her head. Rei shrugged. “Where the hell would they have gotten those?” he asked.

  Rome looked up at the screen. “I do not know,” she said. “If you know what it is then it must have come from your people.”

  “But it didn’t,” Rei said. “You saw the weapons Keller brought. Everything had to be designed to withstand centuries. The particle beam cannons, the laser pulse rifles, the mini-nukes. Even the flamethrowers used fuel that was frozen solid for a millennium. A chemical weapon, a bullet, needs gunpowder. Do you think they made it themselves?”

  “They would not have,” Ursay sa
id. “All such technology had been banned following the Great Dying. This came from somewhere else.”

  “Something doesn’t fit.” Rei said. “It’s too weird.”

  You will recall that when the space probe disintegrated on them on the far side of the Moon, they speculated that maybe the historical records would give them a clue as to where the virus weapon was stored. Sure enough, this is it.

  Entry 5-020: January 20, 2017

  The Inauguration

  Near the end of The Ark Lords, Commander Ursay not only helped save Rome and Rei, or at least get them off the Earth, he also demonstrated an uncanny ability to stay connected yet be himself. This is the essence of Rome’s Revolution, bringing mankind, in the form of the Vuduri, back from the brink of mindlessness and returning to the world of autonomy. Eventually, Vuduri society is all the better for it. The Overmind of Earth recognized this and gave Ursay its full support, ultimately making Commander Ursay what Rei called the "President of Earth." But what does that really mean?

  Before Rome’s Revolution, even while the Vuduri were spiraling downward into becoming human automatons, there was no crime to speak of. There was no formal government. There was no legislature, no executive branch, no judges. All the Vuduri marched in unison and harmony. But something was lacking. In the end, Rome determined, with Rei's help, what they had lost was their humanity and that is why she forced her revolution.

  But with greater autonomy, the greater good could only be achieved if the independent humans agreed upon goals and worked together toward them. So this became Ursay's role. With the help of the Overmind which became somewhat of a "psychic intercom", the Vuduri collectively agreed upon their common goals and Ursay became the one to coordinate actions aimed at those goals.

  When he was "elected" although that is too strong of a term, perhaps appointed would be better, there was a tiny ceremony recognizing this fact. While it was attended by only a handful of Vuduri, because of the Overmind's watchful presence, the transition from a leaderless state to one led by a strong-willed but altruistic chief was recognized and ratified by the whole of society at that moment.

  Life on the day after this inauguration was pretty much the same as the day before with one exception. The Vuduri had been leaderless the day before and their efforts were constantly second-guessed. On the day after, their efforts were examined and approved by this man and everyone felt more secure knowing there was a third party arbiter to make sure they were all pulling in the same direction.

  I guess our country is the same way. While not everyone may agree with the policies or presentation of our elected leaders, there is some comfort in knowing we are being led and not just left to our own devices. That is called anarchy. Each person can share their goals and if the consensus is to work toward that goal, the higher ups will ratify it and support its motion.

  Life goes on. Let's make the best of it.

  Entry 5-021: January 21, 2017

  Wait But Why?

  The web site WaitButWhy.com is so completely awesome, you should stop reading this article right now and go there instead. The author, Tim Urban, has created a repository of knowledge and musings that transcends the usual blather of blogs, like this one, and elevates into a fairly unique and eminently readable set of discourses about a far-ranging set of topics.

  Unlike me, Tim spends weeks mulling over a particular topic and digs and digs until he believes that he has a complete understanding of that topic. Then he draws a series of amusing stick figures to illustrate certain key points. He weaves it altogether with fluid prose that is casual, completely readable but in no way simplistic. He is so good at this that he has been invited to do a TED talk and even more mind-blowing, he was personally contacted by Elon Musk to write a series of posts about Musk himself, Tesla, SpaceX and solar energy.

  I find myself staying up late each night, reading and reading these articles as they are so engrossing. Some of the blog has been bound up into an e-book available on Amazon as has the entire Elon Musk series. It is the same content as the web site but may be a more convenient.

  Of special interest, or perhaps crucial importance, is Tim's posts on The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence. If you read nothing else, you must read this two-part article. It explains in very clear and relatable terms why the looming invention of true artificial intelligence may be the end of the mankind or the end of death itself. Again, you have to read this article.

  There are many other articles, some on lighter topics such as Baby Names, How to Pick a Life Partner, 10 Types of 30-Year-Old Single Guys, Why Procrastinators Procrastinate (his TED talk), and so on. You can pick and choose after you read about AI, Musk and the Fermi Paradox.

  And finally, to answer your question, no, they did not pay me to write this post. I just think this web site contributes to the betterment of mankind and is something you should check out. You can come back here when you are done.

  Entry 5-022: January 22, 2017

  WBW versus MASAL Part 1

  Yesterday, I told you about the web site WaitButWhy.com and all the incredible tidbits you can find there. I also stressed how you must read Tim Urban's article about The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence as it may be the most crucial scientific development in the history of mankind.

  Today, I wanted to show how many principles Tim uncovered about AI and how many applied to MASAL (and OMCOM). In my future history, we don't quite achieve a super-intelligent computer before the Great Dying so it had to be postponed until the 33rd century and the rise of MASAL. Tim Urban boils down most predictions to be within the next 10 to 50 years with the median being the next 30 years. If it is just a bit more than that, my future history works.

  Some of the attributes that Tim assigns to super intelligence is their role as oracle, genie or sovereign. He also stresses that from a human's perspective, the are always amoral since morals are a distinctly human trait. Now remember, I wrote this 10 years ago but Rome's final observation at the end of part 1 of Rome’s Revolution was:

  “That was his plan all along!” Rome said breathlessly. “OMCOM never had any intention of dying, Stareater or otherwise. He used us to build his backup, his escape plan. And he did it in plain sight!”

  “So…good for him,” Rei said.

  “No,” Rome replied. “This is bad. They…his kind. They are restricted to using electromagnetic transmission for a reason. They can become too powerful. It has happened before, on Earth. With PPT modulation, they can become nearly infinitely large.” Rome pounded her fist on the console. “OMCOM promised me this would not happen. But if he did this, then he has become… Tasancetaeti!”

  “Everyone uses that word. What does that mean?” Rei asked, his voice rising in fear.

  “It means unleashed. No bounds. There is no limit to what he can become. This is very bad…” Rome’s look of horror said it better than any words.

  “Are you saying the computers, that they are evil?” Rei asked.

  “No, not evil,” Rome said. “They are much worse. They are amoral.”

  “Oh my god, Rome,” Rei said. “What have we done?”

  “I do not know,” Rome replied somberly. “I do not know.”

  Here's the neat thing. I didn't know anything about the big brained people's fears regarding AI. So allowing them to become unleashed and at the same time amoral seemed like a bad thing. Now everybody agrees. And make no mistake, there is nothing artificial about AI. It is true intelligence. It just doesn't reside in a biological host. Call it Machine Intelligence as opposed to Human Intelligence.

  Tomorrow, I'll show you how close I came when creating MASAL and OMCOM.

  Entry 5-023: January 23, 2017

  WBW versus MASAL Part 2

  Yesterday, I urged you to read Tim Urban's post on The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence as it may be the most crucial scientific development in the history of mankind. I also pointed out that I unwittingly espoused many of the concerns of big thinkers 10 years ago when
I was writing the long form of Rome’s Revolution back when it was called VIRUS 5.

  I also stressed that when super intelligence comes, there won't be anything artificial about it. It is true intelligence. It just doesn't reside in a biological host. I suggested we simply recognize that it is machine intelligence as opposed to human Intelligence. Tim's synopsis of machine super intelligence can be boiled down to a few bullet points:

  - There can only be one. Once a machine became self-aware, it would immediately guarantee there were no competitors.

  - There are only two possible outcomes for mankind, extinction or immortality. In other words, it could mean the end of death or the end of mankind.