Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three

by Michael Brachman

  So let's say I do this. What are the voices going to be like? There are no babies, thank goodness. There are several women: Lupe, Aroline and of course Rome. There are quite a few men including Command Ursay and Rei and there is the hero, Aason Bierak. I'm going to have to come up with voices for them as well.

  There is also a bodiless entity named Molokai who thinks he is a god. There is Sh'ev B'oush, one of the walking, talking plant people known as the K'val. And there are the computers/livetars including OMCOM, MINMCOM, Junior and even Junior, Jr.

  Wow that's a lot of voices. I'd better start practicing!

  Entry 3-095: March 31, 2015

 

  Holidays on other worlds

  If we ever send people to the stars, do you think they'll have holidays on their new world? Of course they will. But since there is zero chance that their calendar will follow ours, they will have to create their own holidays. In the link above, I did propose Universal Time but I don't know how practical it is.

  Take the universe of Rome's Revolution and the little world of Deucado. Their year is something like 9 months long. They wouldn't celebrate July 4th because they don't have a July and there is no remembrance of the USA. Well, maybe the Essessoni remember it but that's about it. The Vuduri, or at least the mandasurte, have a week-long holiday celebrating the end of the year. They use metric time so each week is 10 days and each month is 4 weeks. The first nine months use up 360 days. The tenth month, call Tamas, is a little slighted. In regular years, it is only 5 days long. On leap years, it is 6 days long. Their holiday is called Poor Tamas because they feel sorry for it. But that wouldn't work on Deucado, either.

  So what holidays would they celebrate? Certainly, there is liberation from the Overmind. It would be celebrated one Deucadon year after the showdown at the end of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. There is also Asteroid Day which was the day that Deucado was supposed to be destroyed but was saved by MINIMCOM and his VIRUS-based livetars.

  So that's two holidays. What about the day Rome made peace with the Falling Blankets? What about the day that Aason saved the Earth, and all of mankind, by communicating with Stareaters? That's at least four by my count. Maybe they'll come up with their own like the day they conquered the new Ark Lords. But whatever they are, they won't resemble our holidays other than folks getting a chance to celebrate life with each other.

  Entry 3-096: April 1, 2015

 

  Hybrid Vigor

  When you have a small number of mating animals and inbreed them, recessive genes eventually express themselves and the breed becomes progressively weaker. The opposite is also true. A mix of breeds, a mutt if you will, usually expresses the best traits of the parent breeds. This is known as hybrid vigor.

  Wikipedia defines hybrid vigor as "outbreeding enhancement, resulting in the improved or increased function of any biological quality in a hybrid offspring." I don't know why people always use the dog analogy but they do. You often hear people expressing their fondness for mutts as opposed to the prickly nature of pure-breds.

  This was the problem facing the Vuduri in Rome's Revolution. The Vuduri would only inter-breed with other Vuduri and the 24th chromosome was specifically designed by MASAL to eventually reduce humans to living robots. Rome, of course, did not know this. Nobody did. But she did understand at a more fundamental level that the mandasurte and Vuduri had to inter-breed to keep the human species healthy. Here was her first mention of this to the Overmind of Deucado:

  “Go ahead,” Rome thought in response to the Overmind's inquiry.

  “Assuming I allow the mandasurte access to technology and allow them to fly in space, do you think I should allow the two races to co-mingle?”

  “Of course,” Rome said. “Why wouldn’t you?”

  “I am concerned about cross-breeding.”

  “Vuduri and mandasurte are the same, genetically,” Rome pointed out. “You know that. There is a far greater chance of children born connected than not.”

  “That is true when a person becomes mandasurte due to environmental influence…”

  “Or Cesdiud,” Rome added. She couldn’t help herself.

  “Yes, of course. But what if the flaw, if you wish to consider it a flaw, is genetic? Won’t interbreeding eventually lead to a dilution of the power of the Overmind? Of me?” the Overmind asked.

  “Of course not,” Rome countered. “When it comes to genetics, cross-breeding always leads to hybrid vigor. Only inbreeding leads to genetic weakness. As a species, allowing Vuduri and mandasurte to co-mingle can only make mankind stronger. You know my mother was Vuduri, my father was mandasurte. I came out all right.”

  “Perhaps. However, there will not be all that many opportunities on this world in any event.”

  “Why is that?” Rome asked.

  “There are only about one thousand Vuduri on the entire planet currently. There are tens of thousands of mandasurte. There would not be that much chance for an intermix.”

  Little did Rome know that on Helome, this was already becoming a problem. The static tunnel between Earth and Helome was not only a passageway but a gate designed to keep the mandasurte out. The plot of The Ark Lords culminated with the realization of this need. So... love your mutts. They have hybrid vigor!

  Entry 3-097: April 2, 2015

  The Panopticon

  In Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, the Overmind of Deucado reveals to Rome that there were very few Vuduri on the entire planet. Somehow, they were supposed to keep tens of thousands of mandasurte imprisoned and bereft of technology. How did they accomplish this? The Overmind explained it to Rome:

  “There are only about one thousand Vuduri on the entire planet currently. There are tens of thousands of mandasurte. There would not be that much chance for an intermix.”

  “Only one thousand?” Rome expressed surprise. “You have kept the entire populace under control with such a tiny force?”

  “Oh yes,” said the Overmind. “It is called a Panopticon prison. It is simply the fear of reprisal that keeps them at bay. We only had to use deadly force a few times.”

  “How many mandasurte have you killed enforcing that insane no-technology policy of yours?”

  “Not many,” replied the Overmind defensively. “No more than ten. The mandasurte that come to this world are told of the rules. They are Vuduri, after all. They believe that we will intervene and that is sufficient. Word of mouth is normally more than adequate to keep them in line.”

       “How do so few Vuduri keep track of so many mandasurte?” Rome asked.

  “We monitor constantly for anything remotely resembling the level of sophistication we fear. We will confiscate materials. We typically do not need to resort to deadly force.”

  “What forced you to kill even the ten?” Rome asked.

  The Overmind did not answer her directly. “Those were very odd times, very strange,” it said, somewhat obliquely.

  This is from Wikipedia: "The Panopticon is a type of institutional building designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow a single watchman to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates of an institution without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched. Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that all inmates must act as though they are watched at all times, effectively controlling their own behaviour constantly."

  So who were those strangers that the Vuduri did kill? More tomorrow. But first, here is an image of the original Panopticon as designed by Jeremy Bentham.

  Entry 3-098: April 3, 2015

 

  The Strange Mandasurte

  Yesterday, I recounted the conversation whereupon the Overmind of Deucado explained to Rome that the Vuduri only had to resort to deadly force a few times to keep the tens of thousand of mandasurte in line. However, the book is called
Rome's Revolution for a reason. Rome is trying to argue the Overmind out of continuing its plan to imprison the mandasurte. Here is the rest of the Overmind's description:

  “What forced you to kill even the ten?” Rome asked.

  The Overmind did not answer her directly. “Those were very odd times, very strange,” it said, somewhat obliquely.

  “Why? What was strange about them?” Rome insisted.

  “Our monitoring is comprehensive. It sweeps the entire globe. However, on three separate occasions, we came upon mandasurte demonstrating technology far beyond what they should have been able to accomplish. While not quite as advanced as ours, it should not have been possible for them to achieve that level of technological competence without us detecting the intermediate steps. We had to destroy them before there was any chance of the technology being shared.”

  “Where were they from?” Rome asked. “Where did the technology come from?”

  “We do not know,” answered the Overmind.

  “Would it not have been wiser to ask them before you killed them?” Rome pointed out.

  “We could not take a chance,” replied the Overmind. “Zero tolerance is zero tolerance. The mandasurte have to believe we are serious. That is why we propagated the myth of the large Vuduri contingent on the continent of Toraode. If they had realized how few Vuduri there really were, they could have overwhelmed us by sheer numbers alone.”

  “So where do you think these strange mandasurte come from?” Rome asked.

  “We have searched and searched and never found where they were hiding out. It has been 20 years since the last incident. Perhaps we got all of them. We just do not know. I have tried to analyze the remains upon each occasion. But our methods of destruction were too complete. The genetic material did not even resemble that of a Vuduri, mandasurte or otherwise. Where they came from is a mystery we have not solved.”

  It isn't a mystery for us. We already know the answer. It wasn't the mandasurte at all. Rather, it was the few random Deucadons that the Vuduri came across. The Vuduri had created an enemy whose power and numbers they had no idea. War was coming. Rome had to find a way to stop it.

  Entry 3-099: April 4, 2015

 

  Oh no!

  When I first wrote the long-form version of Rome's Revolution, it was called VIRUS 5 and was supposed to be a standalone novel. But because of The Ark Lords effect, I had to write what is now known as Part 2. There were so many plot holes but I needed the characters and societies to act a certain way in order to drive the plot forward. I had the Overmind of Earth being a split personality and secretly sending the mandasurte to Deucado to die eventually because of an asteroid.

  For the secret to be safe, that would mean that the Vuduri on Deucado could never leave until just before the asteroid hit. And even when they got home, the secret would be out and all the regular Vuduri would know that it was all a ruse. I just waved my hands and moved on. But later when I decided to write Part 3, the whole prison planet idea started to make sense if MASAL was in charge and the Vuduri there didn't know it not sanctioned by the Overmind. The plot moved along fairly well at that point. But in the original version, I even had a spy (Sussen) planted among them.

  Here is what the Overmind said:

  “We have searched and searched and never found where they were hiding out. It has been 20 years since the last incident. Perhaps we got all of them. We just do not know. I have tried to analyze the remains upon each occasion. But our methods of destruction were too complete. The genetic material did not even resemble that of a Vuduri, mandasurte or otherwise. Where they came from is a mystery we have not solved.”

  “Maybe they are just well-hidden,” Rome observed.

  “Like your father and his little band of rebels?” The Overmind sounded bemused.

  “What do you know about my father?” Rome gasped, first in her mind, then out loud.

  “We know that he and his group are tucked away in the mountains north of Lake Eprehem. We know almost exactly where they are and what they are doing. We have had a spy among them since the beginning.”

  “What do you mean a spy?” Rome asked fearfully.

  “There is one of ours there. She feeds us information upon occasion,” said the Overmind cryptically.

  “So if you know where they are, why have you left them alone?” Rome asked.

  “Because we know the path they are blazing. They think they are developing technology. Nothing like the unexplained incidents I described earlier. In fact, what they are doing is so pitiful it is almost amusing. It would have taken them years before they come close to anything that we would need to worry about.”

  “Why did you permit it at all?” Rome asked.

  “Because it diverted their attention. It let them think they were doing something to improve their condition. It was such a trifling and they devoted so many resources, we considered it useful. However now we have your Ark. That we consider a problem.”

  “About the Ark. Why were you going to kill us, anyway?” Rome asked. “Why did Commander Ursay and the Overmind at Skyler Base go through such effort to send us here just to have us killed?”

  “Because the Overmind at Skyler Base did not know about Deucado and what it represents. It really thought it was doing the right thing. Your samanda had different priorities that me. The orders to kill you came from higher up. They came from Earth, from my parent.”

  “Explain this please. Why was it so important to kill us? What did Rei and I do to you, anyway?” Rome asked.

  You can see how hard I am tap dancing in this version to bring the elements together but really, the whole thing was preposterous. If the Overmind knew where the secret Ibbrassati base was located, why go through the charade of reconnecting Rome. It just didn't add up.

  Luckily, that is all in the (future) past and now the plot makes (a little bit) more sense.

  Entry 3-100: April 5, 2015

 

  Nothing to fear but the Essessoni, part 1

  Yesterday, I gave you a little scene wherein the Overmind of Deucado explained to Rome why he allowed the Ibbrassati to toil away in the secret enclave to the north. Today I present to you why he changed his (over)mind:

  “Explain this please. Why was it so important to kill us? What did Rei and I do to you, anyway?” Rome asked.

  “We did not fear you. You are nothing. When you arrived here, we feared the Essessoni and their Erklirte weapons. That was why we sent up our war craft to destroy your ship. It was never about you. We just used our zero tolerance policy as disguise for our real purpose.”

  “Since you know so much, once we landed, why did you not go after us then?” Rome asked, confused.

  “Once they were down, I decided that if I did nothing, owing to the very nature of the Essessoni, they would come to me. This would make it easier for us to destroy them once they were out in the open.”

  “And now?” Rome asked. “Do you still intend to kill them? To kill us? To kill me?”

  “As I said earlier, it has never been about you. That is why we did not kill you when you and your husband came to us for help.”

  “Did that not poke a hole in your zero tolerance policy? To allow us to land?”

  “We knew you were coming. We did not know why. I wanted to know why.”

  “And to find out exactly where the Ark was?” Rome fired back.

  “As I said, I did not need to know. I was simply curious if you would tell.”

  “But after I rejoined your samanda, you gave the orders to kill Rei. You would have killed Rei,” Rome thought.

  “While he is mandasurte, he is also Essessoni,” countered the Overmind.

  “Now that you have searched my mind, now that you see the truth, do you not realize what a mistake that would be?”

  Tomorrow, Rome presses on, not really knowing where she was going to go. Just that she had to stop this before it starts.

  Entry 3-101: April 6, 2015

 

 
; Nothing to fear but the Essessoni, part 2

  Yesterday, I gave you the first half of the scene in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution where Rome is trying desperately to stop the war before it starts. Today, I give you the second half of that conversation:

  Rome replied, “Now that you have searched my mind, now that you see the truth, do you not realize what a mistake that would be?”

  “Yes. Now that I have a complete understanding, I realize Rei is actually a hero. His deeds will save us all. But we must still stop the rest of the Essessoni.”

  “Why?” Rome asked.

  “Because if we do not, they would take over this world.”

  “So what? You have already agreed to free the mandasurte. The Essessoni could just live among them, in peace,” Rome insisted.

  “It is more complicated than that,” replied the Overmind.

  “What is so complicated about peace?”

  “Even if I agreed, the Essessoni would never let it rest at that. They will seize the opportunity to destroy us, to destroy me, just because they can. Do not forget. These are the Erklirte who have come.”

  “What if I could stop them?” Rome asked. “What if I could guarantee you that there will be no fighting, no death and no destruction? Would you still need to destroy them?”

  The Overmind considered this. “Under those circumstances, no. But I am curious. Do you know a way to prevent it?”

  “No. But Rei is among them. He will think of a way. He would never let them come and attack us. Not with me here.”

  Even though this was just a preliminary version of the novel, you can see Rome working the system. She didn't know how and she certainly didn't know about the Deucadons but she did know that the love she shared with Rei would deliver them somehow.