Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five

by Michael Brachman

  “Why is this one white?” she asked Rei.

  “If those computers are the ones we brought from Earth, they have a limited internal storage capacity. That might be some sort of external storage.”

  “A backup?” Rome asked excitedly.

  “Probably.”

  “Where would they have gotten it?” Rome asked, holding the slab in the air.

  “I would assume we either brought them or they made it here,” Rei answered.

  “Would your slab reader fit on this computer?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” Rei answered.

  “MINIMCOM, would you fetch the data reader from the other computer, please?” Rome asked the all-black livetar.

  “Of course.” Rather than walk back to the previous hut, MINIMCOM popped out of the room then popped back in with the data reader in tow along with the once-missing 20th slab still mounted within. He handed the assembly to Rome who pulled out the black slab and snapped the white one in its place. When it was snug, she slid it along the desk until it attached to the computer.

  As before, a new icon appeared on the virtual desktop. Rome activated the laser-drawn keyboard and used it to examine the folder structure. There was a multitude of directory trees which bespoke of population projections, base construction diagrams, a Captain’s log, provisioning and a variety of other topics repeated over and over. There was a main folder labeled Ark II. She abandoned the keyboard and used the touch screen to drill down until she found documents labeled Candidates, D Crew List and Full Roster.

  “D Crew List,” Rome said. “D for Darwin.” She quickly tapped on the document and opened it up.

  “This is it!” she said to Rei excitedly. “Look!” She drew her finger down the screen, counting each name. When she got to the bottom, she hit the PgDn key on the virtual keyboard and counted the rest of the names. She tilted her head.

  “I count 111 names,” she said, confused. “Something is wrong.”

  Rei bent his knees so he could peer over her shoulder. “Go back to the top of the document,” he said.

  Rome complied.

  “There,” Rei said, “at the top, right after Keller. Those two names, Fayed and Alexander; they were the pilot and copilot for the Ark II.”

  “What does MIA mean?” Rome asked, pointing to the symbols by their names.

  “Missing in Action,” Rei answered. “Those two were in the command module when we hit the asteroid. They got knocked into space along with Captain Keller. We’ve never found their sarcophagi so, officially, they are still missing.”

  OK. Now we have a complete list of the members of the Darwin Projecxt. Besides the 80 some-odd crew members that MINIMCOM can supply, how can they whittle down the list to the missing two? And it isn't Fayed and Alexander. They are quite dead, I assure you.

  Entry 5-134: May 14, 2017

  The D List

  Yesterday, Rome finally found the complete list of Darwin Project members. At first, she was surprised to discover 111 members but Rei cleared up that mystery because two of the names were the missing command crew. As I mentioned yesterday, they were not the people who tried to kill Rei. I assure you they are long dead.

  Given the complete list, now Rome and Rei must deal with the task of whittling down the numbers until they came up with the missing two people who are undoubtedly the would-be assassins:

  “I see,” Rome said. She scrolled down slowly. “Stanton, Pierre and Wright. Those are the three dead people we found back at the cave. Their names are marked with KIA. What does that mean?”

  “Killed in Action,” Rei replied.

  “Then this is our list,” Rome said. “It is complete and reflects the state of things after they arrived on this world.” She whirled in place and looked up at the tall black livetar standing off to the side. “MINIMCOM, I would like you to take a snapshot of this list, please.”

  “Of course,” MINIMCOM replied, stepping forward. “However, I think our OMCOM clone would be better suited to store the data and collate the rest of the evidence we collect. After all, that is his specialization.”

  “That’s an excellent idea,” Rome said. “Can you fetch his livetar?”

  “It would be my pleasure,” MINIMCOM replied.

  With a whoosh and a pop, OMCOM’s two-meter tall, all-white livetar appeared beside them. The shell was the manifestation of their OMCOM clone which was buried 700 meters below Rome’s library.

  “How can I assist you?” the livetar asked.

  “OMCOM,” she said pointing, “on this slab is a crew manifest of the original occupants of Rei’s Ark as well as a complete crew roster for the Darwin people. 111 in total. We know that three are dead. Two are missing out in space somewhere. Of the remaining 106 alive, 104 were transported to Helome. That means two were left behind but we don’t know which two. With MINIMCOM’s help, we should be able to identify more than half of those transported. But it is imperative that we narrow the list all the way down to the missing two. We believe they are the people who bombed our house and tried to kill Rei.”

  “Are they also the people that stole the two items from the library? The handgun and the invisibility cloak?” OMCOM asked.

  “What would make you think that?” Rei interjected.

  “As you are so fond of saying, ‘there ain’t no such thing as a coincidence’. What could be better for sneaking a bomb into someone’s house, unnoticed, than an invisibility cloak?”

  Rei looked at Rome. “He’s right,” Rei said. “I haven’t had time to think about it but it makes perfect sense.” Rei turned back to OMCOM. “Do you have any surveillance video or audio that might help us identify the thieves?”

  We're all familiar with A-list celebrities and if someone is called a B-lister, it has a certain negative connotation. So saying someone is on the D-list would certain be a demotion. I decided to flip that upside down and make the D List the only thing Rome and Rei care about. My own personal joke. But they still have a tall task in front of them.

  Entry 5-135: May 15, 2017

  Duh

  Yesterday, Rome summoned the library OMCOM's livetar to help them begin the process of data accumulation and analysis. It was the all-white livetar who connected the theft of the Deucadon invisibility cloak with the attempt on Rei's life. Of course, as the author, I happen to know he is dead on. So let's see if he can help them even further:

  “My workstations are continuously active, which means they were active during the time of the intrusion. However, I was under no instructions to analyze the recordings. I will set to work on that. With some interpolation and extrapolation, I might be able to get you some practical information to aid in your search.”

  “That is excellent,” Rome said. “Please begin right away.” She was about to pull the data slab out of the holder then she stopped. She closed the text file she had opened and returned to the one labeled Candidates. She opened up the document and found it was another list, this one consisting of four names. Two she had never heard of: Andrea Grenmuller and Paul Chung. The third name was Wally Stanislaw who she knew. But it was the fourth name that shocked her. It was Rei Bierak. Rome tapped on the link for Rei’s name. A balloon opened up with notations. As she read its contents, her eyes grew wider and wider.

  “Oh, Rei,” Rome cried out, sounding terribly depressed.

  “What?” Rei asked staring at the screen. He saw his name listed. He read the notations out loud.

  “Bierak, Rei – Engineer, Unranked. Has shown incredible resourcefulness beyond his test scores. Would make a great asset to the Project but has a strong moral streak that would interfere. He has married one of the Vook women and had a child by her. Best plan: have the wife and the child killed and frame the Vooks. His anger and indignation might be enough to swing him over to our side.”

  “Even then…” Rome whispered. “So devious. They truly were monsters.” She turned in place and looked up into Rei’s eyes. “Sometimes I have wondered if we did the right thing banishing them
to Helome but after reading this…” She just shook her head.

  Rei put his hand on her shoulder. “You can see why we have to stop them. Because they won’t. No, we did the right thing,” he said.

  Rome lowered her head and placed it in her hands. She took a long time to compose herself. Finally, she sighed and stood up. She pulled the white slab from the reader and handed it to OMCOM.

  “This is the place to start,” she said. “After you have recreated the list of names, we will begin the process of elimination and hope that we can figure out who are the culprits. We are depending upon MINIMCOM’s recordings and you and your skills.”

  “While I am honored by your confidence in my abilities, the fact is, you do not need me or MINIMCOM for that,” OMCOM said. “The solution is trivial.”

  “It is?” Rome asked. “What? How?”

  The livetar pointed to the sky. “Go to Helome and take roll. The two that are not present are the two you are seeking.”

  Rei just hung his head. “Duh,” he said under his breath.

  Well, sounds like a plan to me. I wonder why they didn't think of it sooner?

  Entry 5-136: May 16, 2017

  Neuralink and the Vuduri 1

  Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last few years, you have probably heard about Elon Musk. He is the closest thing we have to Tony Stark in real life. He is a billionaire scientist working on extremely advanced concepts. However, his one goal throughout all of his ventures is actually very simple. He is trying to ensure the survival of the human race. So how is he doing this?

  Through Musk's SpaceX venture, he is trying to get humans to Mars making us a multi-planetary species. This has the effect of not putting all our genetic eggs in one cosmic basket. If an asteroid were to come and wipe out the Earth and there were people living on Mars, mankind would continue.

  Musk's Tesla Motors and SolarCity ventures are designed to eliminate greenhouse gasses by using the greatest single source of energy, the Sun, and harnessing it to run our cars and our homes and eventually our civilization. This will reduce and ultimately eliminate climate change and prevent the looming global warming disaster that every one knows is lying ahead.

  I am skipping over Musk's foray into the Hyperloop business because this technology is not designed to save mankind. It is simply designed to make travel and transportation less of a hassle. He has actually started a new company called The Boring Company to create tunnels and demonstrate the feasibility of the Hyperloop concept.

  The reason for this article is Musk's latest venture which is one you may not have heard of. It is called Neuralnk. This company is forging ahead, trying to develop technology whereby they can insert a whole brain-machine interface (BMI) and hook your entire brain into the internet. Using electrodes.

  Now I know that is something that immediately turns you off. I know I rejected it as silly and something I would never engage in. But if you read Tim Urban's excellent treatise on Neuralink, you will begin to understand how Neuralink may be critical to the survival of mankind. Tim's web site, WaitBuyWhy.com is most excellent and while the articles tend to be somewhat dense, they make for fascinating reading. Tim is an excellent writer and does a thorough job researching all of his topics before he writes about them.

  Enough plugs. I want to describe some of the features and flaws with the Neuralink concept and compare it to my 35th century world of the Vuduri which first started in Rome’s Revolution and continued in The Ark Lords and Rome’s Evolution. Tomorrow, I will do the old "compare and contrast" between the goals and implementation of Neuralink versus what the 24th chromosome imparted to the 35th century Vuduri.

  Entry 5-137: May 17, 2017

  Neuralink and the Vuduri 2

  Yesterday, I introduced you to Elon Musk's latest venture, a company called Neuralink whose stated goal is to hook your brain and my brain into the internet so that we can communicate with computers directly. Here is their mission statement:

  Neuralink is developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers.

  Anyone who has read my Rome’s Revolution novels will be familiar with this concept immediately. The 24-chromosome mind-connected Vuduri are exactly the end product that Musk envisions.

  However, my novels are science fiction and Musk is dealing with scientific fact. In order for Neuralink to succeed, they need an ultra-high bandwidth mesh of receivers and transmitters to be scattered over the entire brain. I solved that problem neatly by not using electrodes but by using PPT transceivers built right into each neuron using organo-metallic elements. So I solved the bandwidth problem genetically.

  The driving force behind Neuralink is to get "into" the computer before it gets into us. Musk is convinced that once computers reach sentience, they will zoom past us and become artificial super-intelligence before we know what hits us. You need to read Tim Urban's excellent treatise on his web site called WaitButWhy.com to get a firm understanding as to why this is an absolute necessity. Many scientists and deep thinkers including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates think that ASI represents the greatest threat to the survival of mankind we will ever experience. Tim Urban uses the phrase "existential threat" meaning ASI threatens our very existence. And it is going to happen and sooner than you think. Musk wants to get there first.

  In my novels, the Vuduri have already grown past this. They, too, experienced this threat when they created MASAL but before MASAL could take over the world, the Overmind sprung up. MASAL had not considered this possibility. So he tried to merge with the Overmind, kind of the reverse of Musk's plan, only to be rebuffed. But it didn't matter. MASAL's long-term plan was exactly as Musk predicted, MASAL would eventually turn humans into living robots to serve his needs.

  Other elements of this program might be to give people artificial sight by plugging into their auditory cortex. I had already done this, again genetically, by rewiring Rei's brain so that his auditory cortex fed into his visual cortex (when his eyes were shut) so that he could "see" sound, a kind of sonar-vision.

  Personally, I don't think that Neuralink will succeed and I don't think humans will allow this neural mesh to be inserted into their brains but what do I know? Maybe Mr. Musk will stumble across my novels and see that building the network into the brain genetically is the way to go. Perhaps in this way, Rome and Rei and OMCOM and MINIMCOM will have traveled from the 35th century to our time and save us all before the machines wipe us out.

  Entry 5-138: May 18, 2017

  The Aason Problem Again

  As I have mentioned previously, I love little Aason but from a narrative perspective he often gets in the way. You can't have a blazing gun battle or stalk dangerous killers with a 4-year-old in tow. So I had to send him away to Earth, ostensibly for his own safety but it turned out to be an important plot point later on. Nonetheless, Rome and Rei are loving parents and I simply couldn't let Aason always being shipped off and not have them notice. So I paid lip service to parenthood in this little section:

  The mesmerizing blacker-than-black of null-fold space made it hard for Rei to not stare out the front cockpit. Rome never seemed to have a problem with it. Maybe it was her obsession with studying the virtual instruments. Maybe it was just the way her Vuduri brain was wired. Rei, on the other hand, could barely take it. Every time he glanced up, the non-existence of null-space seem to draw him in again. Rei found it almost impossible to pull his eyes away.

  Luckily, with MINIMCOM’s incredible speed, now 30% greater than what it was two years ago; it was only a six-hour trip from Tau Ceti to the Alpha Centauri system. Determined to not stare again until they got there, with yet another heroic effort, Rei tore his eyes from the front and closed them. “I’m getting a real déjà vu feeling,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Rome asked, never lifting her eyes from the instrumentation.

  “Last time we did this, didn’t I tell you I thought we’d been neglecting Aason.”

  “Yes, I recall that,”
Rome said, looking up. “What’s your point?”

  “Well, here we are again, leaving him behind. In fact, we sent him away. Doesn’t that make us bad parents?”

  “Rei,” Rome said sternly. “You know we sent him away for his own good. What kind of parents would we be if we did not?”

  “I guess you’re right,” Rei said. He turned his head toward the front but refused to open his eyes. “I have been curious how Virga and the rest of them dealt with our, uh, present,” Rei said. “And I did promise you we’d go back some day to check things out. Funny how things work out some time, huh?”

  “Yes,” Rome said in low voice. Her tone made Rei open his eyes again. He turned to look at her. She lowered her head so that she looked at him through the tops of her eyes. “However, I would like you to promise me that you will not be getting into bed with her naked this time.”