Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five

by Michael Brachman

  “Sure,” Rei said, taking her hand. “You lead, I’ll follow.”

  Rome closed her eyes and opened up her EM channel.

  “Aason,” she called out desperately.

  “Mommy!” a little voice replied. “Where are you? Where’s Daddy?”

  “I’m here, son,” Rei said, a huge smile breaking out on his face. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so,” said the little boy. “Where are you?”

  “We’re on our way, my baby,” Rome replied. “Are they treating you well?”

  “I’m lonely,” Aason said. “Nobody will talk to me.”

  “Where is Grandmea and Grandbeo?” Rome asked.

  “They’re over there,” Aason said. Rome knew he was pointing. It always made her smile when he ignored the fact that she could not see him. “But they are acting funny,” Aason continued. “They don’t seem to recognize me.”

  Rome sighed. It had begun. “What about Commander Ursay?” Rome asked. “Is he there too?”

  “Yes,” Aason replied. “But he is acting strange, too. And Grandbeo’s eyes look funny.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They are all black now.”

  Rome put her fist up to her mouth and bit down on it. She took a deep breath. “First things first,” she thought to herself. Out loud, she asked, “MINIMCOM, can you get a lock on his signal?”

  “Yes,” replied the starship.

  “And Junior, can you do it as well?”

  “Yes,” replied MINIMCOM’s son. “Strength only, no vector though.”

  Hmm. To truly triangulate, you need three points and they only have two receivers. They will have to figure out a method of triangulation without. Think Geiger counter.

  Entry 5-307: November 3, 2017

  The Inky Dinky Spider Tracker

  Yesterday, Rome, Rei and Bonnie arrived in Socal, southern California, in MINIMCOM along with Junior. Rome and Rei were able to contact their kidnapped son using their "cell phones in the head" and found out that he was OK. However, based upon the little information that Aason supplied, the same could not be said for Rome's parents and Commander Ursay. Now that they had found him, they had to formulate a rescue plan. To accomplish that, they had to actually locate their boy:

  “I know what to do,” Rei said. Then mentally, he spoke to his son. “Aason, I’m going to teach you a song. After you learn it, I want you to just sing it over and over in your head until we tell you to stop.”

  “OK, Daddy,” Aason said. There was delight in his voice.

  “Here we go,” Rei said. “After I sing a verse, you repeat it.”

  “OK.”

  “The inky dinky spider climbed up the water spout,” Rei intoned, imparting a melody on top of the lyrics.

  “What is a spider?” Aason asked.

  “It’s an insect, from Earth,” Rei answered.

  “And what means inky dinky?”

  “It means he was all black. It makes the song fun,” Rei answered.

  “And what’s a water spout?”

  “It’s a pipe that carries water from the roof to the ground. It’s just part of the song.”

  “Just like his father,” Rome muttered out loud.

  Rei laughed. “Can you try it?”

  “OK, Daddy,” Aason said. “The inky dinky spider climbed up the water spout.”

  “Great,” Rei said. “Now the next verse. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

  “Oh no!” Aason said. “Is he alright?”

  “It’s OK,” Rei answered. “He’ll be OK. Try it and you’ll see.”

  “Alright. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

  “Good,” Rei replied. “Next verse. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.”

  Aason repeated the verse.

  “And the inky dinky spider climbed up the spout again.”

  “That’s funny, Daddy,” Aason said, laughing mentally.

  “I know, son. I want you to start singing the song in your head, over and over, until Mommy tells you you can stop.”

  “OK, Daddy,” Aason said and he started in. “The inky dinky spider…”

  “Good,” Rome said out loud. “Now Junior, just fly due west and watch the signal strength and stop after it peaks.”

  “Of course, Auntie Rome,” Junior replied through the grille.

  “Down came the rain and washed the spider out…”

  It took about 10 minutes but finally Junior spoke up. “Alright, Auntie Rome, I’m just past the peak signal,” Junior said.

  “OK,” Rome replied. “Stay there. Now MINIMCOM, you head west as well but after the signal peaks, come back around so you’re on this side of it.”

  “Easy,” replied the starship. He accelerated rapidly, heading toward the coastline.

  “Out came the sun and dried up all the rain…”

  “Got it,” MINIMCOM answered, finally. He banked around and headed east again until the signal just peaked. “Junior and I are now about equidistant from the signal peak. But we can’t triangulate.”

  So they can't triangulate? There are other ways. Think Geiger counter.

  Entry 5-308: November 4, 2017

  Simulated Triangulation

  Yesterday, Rome, Rei and MINIMCOM contacted Aason who has been kidnapped and taken away to Socal, southern California. Rei had him sing the Inky Dinky Spider song so they could find the point of highest signal strength indicating Aason's line of longitude. However to actually locate him, they are going to have to employ some geometry to find the proper latitude, the mid-line of signal strength. They must travel up and down finalizing the coordinates until they spot the boy:

  “We don’t need to,” Rei interjected. “We’ll wing it. Just drift north together and see if the signal increases or decreases.”

  “And the inky dinky spider climbed up the spout again.”

  “It is decreasing,” MINIMCOM said.

  “Great,” Rei said. “Now both of you drift south and stop when the signal peaks. Kind of a simulated triangulation.”

  “Of course,” MINIMCOM replied.

  Rei was not an expert on California but as far as he could tell, they were near the area that used to be known as Long Beach. Directly below them was a river, probably the Los Angeles River. It was a dead-straight vertical stripe that ran north to south. The ventral cameras showed them following the river’s path as it made its way toward the Pacific. They were about five miles from the coast when MINIMCOM announced they were roughly over Aason’s position.

  “You can stop singing now, Aason,” Rome said. They studied the images on the ventral cameras. There were grasslands and a heavy stand of trees clustered in the area. MINIMCOM switched one monitor to infrared and another to ground penetrating mode. It quickly became apparent that there was entire community covered mostly by the trees. The infrared showed several people walking about. There were far too many houses to deduce which one held their son.

  Rome stood up. “I want to go down there,” she said insistently.

  “Hold on,” Rei cautioned. “This whole thing has been a trap since Day 1 and you’re going to walk right into it.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  Rei stared down at the monitors for a moment. He called to his son. “Aason, do they let you go outside to play?”

  “Sometimes,” he said. “But if I go out, somebody always follows me.”

  “That’s OK,” Rei said. “Do you know the woman they call Reema?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Aason answered. “She comes in to see me every day. She always seems angry, though.”

  Rei laughed. “Good. I’m glad she is angry. When does she come in to visit you?”

  Aason didn’t answer for a second then said, “Pretty soon. She usually comes in the afternoon.”

  “OK, Son, here’s what I want you to do. Is there anything in the room that is really shiny? Like glass?”

  “There are some tubes here,” Aason replied. “I’m not supp
osed to touch them.”

  “I’m giving you permission,” Rei said. “This is what I want you to do…”

  It seems like an elaborate plan. How will Rei use the tube to find Reema? You'll see tomorrow.

  Entry 5-309: November 5, 2017

  Reema is captured

  Yesterday, MINIMCOM and Junior had gotten very close to where Aason was being held captive. They needed one last clue and Rei asked Aason to find something shiny. Today we will see how these things all tie together so Rome and Rei can rescue their son:

  It was late in the afternoon when Reema came to visit Aason. As she always did, she entered the house where they were keeping Aason and pointed to the floor in front of her. Aason came over and stood where she indicated. She stooped down to peer into his eyes. She put her hand on his head and turned it left and right. She huffed in disgust and pointed to a chair so she could continue her examination. Aason smiled but this time, instead of following her instructions, he dashed past her and out the door. Reema and her two attendants hurried after him but Aason didn’t stop, running as fast as his little legs would carry him, until he was in a clearing. He stopped suddenly, turned around and watched the group of three approach. As they drew nearer, he took the glass tube out of his pocket and threw it as high in the air as he could, twirling it so it spun in the air.

  “There it is!” Rome said, delightedly, looking at the glinting light displayed in the monitor. “Junior, are you ready?”

  “Yes, Auntie Rome.”

  “On my go,” Rome replied. She could see the other figures swarming around her son. Aason leaped forward and wrapped himself around Reema’s leg with his arms and his legs, hanging on for dear life.

  “Go!” Rome shouted.

  Junior dropped his stealth shield and gunned his plasma thrusters, which made an ear-shattering noise, flying directly over compound. The starship twirled in place and fired the engines again, coming to a dead stop. Landing gear extended, Junior started lowering himself toward the ground. A large group of people came out of the woods to find out the nature of the ruckus. The two people in attendance to Reema started running toward the ship but Reema couldn’t keep up with Aason attached to her leg.

  It only took one whoosh and pop. Suddenly, Reema found herself in MINIMCOM’s cargo compartment with Aason still holding on to her leg. Standing right next to her was Rei Bierak, gripping the Beretta, aimed directly at her head.

  Phew. They have Aason back and Reema is taken prisoner. Now they have to find and save Rome's parents and Commander Ursay.

  Entry 5-310: November 6, 2017

  The Singularity Is Coming

  Everybody knows about The Singularity. What? You don’t? The Singularity is a term first coined by Vernor Vinge in 1993. The main principle is that sometime in the next 50 to 100 years, machine intelligence will exceed human intelligence and begin programming itself. Once it does that, the net intelligence will zoom to a level that we cannot comprehend. Humans would no longer be at the top of the food chain.

  In 2005, Ray Kurzweil wrote a book entitled The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Mr. Kurzweil’s take is encouraging because he sees room for both humans and machines to co-exist. Others, like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have a more pessimist take. They claim that artificial intelligence would lead to an existential crisis because the machine or machines would no longer have any need for us and would just find us in the way. It would be the end of mankind and not in a good way.

  Elon Musk also believes that machine intelligence is a threat to humanity but he is investing in a company called Neuralink whose corporate charter is to develop an implantable neural lace which would link our minds to the internet and presumably the artificial superintelligence when it comes. That would preempt the machines from becoming our masters because we would be part of the machine.

  There is no guarantee that this future will be the end of mankind but it will be the end of life as we know it. You should read Tim Urban’s excellent article Neuralink and the Brain’s Magical Future. I decided to re-watch an episode of the Netflix series called Black Mirror. The episode is called San Junipero and it won an Emmy award this year. Its basic premise is that machines will become so powerful that when we die, our consciousness will be uploaded “into the cloud” and our spirit will live on forever. Sort of like heaven when you think about it.

  Now I’ve seen articles stating that when the Singularity occurs, it will produce a god-like being and it will write its own bible and we will have to worship it. Who knows? Maybe that’s how our universe started in the first place.

  I sidestepped the issue in the Rome’s Revolution universe by killing off most of the human population prior to its rise. Of course, in the 35th century, we had to deal with MASAL and OMCOM but they went in a different direction.

  Regardless of all this rampant speculation, it seems likely that the Singularity is coming. It may not happen in our lifetime but it certainly seems like it is going to happen in our children’s lifetime.

  Entry 5-311: November 7, 2017

  Reema

  Two days ago, I showed you how Rome and Rei set a trap for Reema, the leader of the Onsiras. Reema and the rest of her troupe had thought it was the other way around. They thought they had the perfect trap set for our heroes by capturing their son. Her minions still held Rome's parents and Commander Ursay captive so there was more work to be done. But rather than do it by brute force, Rome decided she would educate her instead:

  At first, Reema was completely and utterly confused. MINIMCOM’s livetar grabbed her arms and yanked them behind her while Bonnie slid a T-suppressor over her brow.

  “Mommy!” Aason shouted and released his hold, running over to his mother who scooped him up and squeezed him so tight, she had to stop herself from breaking him.

  “Oh, my baby,” she said, rocking him back and forth. “I was so worried.” She kissed his little head over and over. Aason smiled and cooed. She gently removed the white band from around his forehead and kissed him yet again.

  Even though Reema was an older woman, MINIMCOM secured her arms with elastic white bands. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the group before her. She stopped when she saw Rome. She addressed her in Vuduri.

  “We still have your parents,” Reema said in a gruff voice. “If you want to save them, you will have to answer for your crimes,” she added.

  “Junior is clear,” MINIMCOM announced, ignoring her. “We will retreat to a safe distance,” the livetar added.

  “Take her into the kitchen, please” Rome said to MINIMCOM. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

  “As you wish,” replied the livetar. Rei handed the gun to Bonnie who then followed MINIMCOM and Reema out of the cargo compartment.

  Rome handed Aason to his father who took his turn squeezing and kissing him. Rome reached over and hugged them both.

  “You did so well, my baby,” Rome said. “You are so brave and smart.”

  “It was easy, Mommy,” Aason said. His little brow furrowed. “What about Grandmea and Grandbeo,” he said. “And why were they acting so funny?”

  “We’ll get to bottom of all of it,” Rome said. She looked at Rei who nodded. Rei set Aason down and the three of them crowded into the kitchen where Reema was being held.

  Reema’s deeply lined face looked around the room. Her matted hair had been dark brown once but was mostly gray now. She was wearing a gray jumpsuit that matched her hair. She couldn’t decide who she hated more. The Essessoni, the mosdurece woman, her bastard child or the robot who served them. She decided to hate them all equally.

  Rome walked around to her side of the table and sat down next to her. She put her hand on Reema’s shoulder. The older woman bristled at the touch but her bindings prevented her from shaking off the contact.

  Rome was going to dive into the woman's head to figure out how best to present her with the truth.

  Entry 5-312: November 8, 2017

  Reema's Mind

  Yeste
rday, Rome and Rei had captured Reema, the head of the Onsiras, and secured her. They also placed a T-suppressor on her head so she could not communicate with her minions. Rome had her taken to the galley where she would interrogate her using her newly-evolved mind-reading abilities. This is something that Reema was completely unprepared for. And defenseless:

  The T-suppressor on Reema’s head was interfering with Rome’s connection to some degree but she dare not take it off and allow Reema to expose their position. She concentrated and found she could follow enough to begin the questioning.

  Finally, she spoke to Reema. “Why?” she asked in Vuduri.

  “Why?” Reema screeched back. “You dare ask why?”

  “Yes, why?” Rome replied. “MASAL is dead. Nothing can bring him back. Why not just live out your life in peace?”

  “The Sipre lives,” Reema said. “Our mission goes on. You and your…” She spat the next words, “your Erklirte, you are our sworn enemy. If we accomplish nothing else in this lifetime, it will be enough to see you and your spawn lying dead on the ground.”

  “What is your mission?” Rome asked.

  “Our mission is to see the Onsiras take over this world. MASAL himself may be dead but his Sipre will still take us with him to become a god some day. That is what we live for.”