Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three

by Michael Brachman

  The soldier cleared his throat and spoke with a surprisingly clear voice. “You will be able to join her in a short time. Oronus needs to ask her some questions first. Sit here,” he said, pointing to a bench to the right.

  As I mentioned the other day, I was trying to hint that the entire building was constructed to take Rome into custody. But, of course, that would be impossible because how would they have known she was even coming? But it gets worse. The room they just put her in was completely cut off from the outside world. It was lined with T-suppressors and the room itself was a Faraday Cage. While it makes for great drama, no one thought to ask the question as to why go through all that trouble?

  The T-suppressors would be used to prevent gravitic transmission but as far as the world was concerned, Rome had been cast out (Cesdiud) and could no longer communicate using her PPT transducers. So it couldn't be to isolate Rome. Or was I hinting that it was? I mean, I know that you and I know but how did that knowledge get imparted to the Vuduri?

  But it gets worse: why would they build a Faraday cage? Nobody in the universe, except for OMCOM and MINIMCOM knew about the cell-phone in the head so what were they trying to prevent?

  It makes no sense and I would love to tell you that's as bad as it gets but there are more plot holes awaiting us. Let's get to them!

  Entry 3-307: October 29, 2015

 

  Which way to go?

  When I first started out with Rome's Revolution, back when it was the original long-form triple novels called VIRUS 5, I wasn't sure which way to go. I had some wonderful set pieces to present but I needed a background narrative to weave them together. After all, why would Rome and Rei crash land the Ark II on Deucado unless somebody was after them?

  I came up with this half-baked idea that the Overmind of Earth was responsible. That it somehow split itself into a public and private half and the private half was going to kill off the mandasurte. It really didn't hold up very well. It wasn't until I discovered that it was really MASAL and the Onsiras that were behind the plot that things made more sense. So I had to go back and twist some of my better pieces to fit this new backdrop.

  Here is a simple example where I was telling you, the reader, in the body language of the characters, that I was still trying to work things out:

  The soldier cleared his throat and spoke with a surprisingly clear voice. “You will be able to join her in a short time. Oronus needs to ask her some questions first. Sit here,” he said, pointing to a bench to the right.

  “Who is Oronus?” Rei asked.

  “He is our arbiter. A Juoz,” the soldier said. “Now please sit.”

  Rei did as he was told. The one soldier took a position to the left of the door. The other one returned from the way he came.

  Within a matter of minutes, an older Vuduri, carrying a tablet, came down the hallway and walked up to the door. The soldier standing sentry reached around to open the door but the man stopped. He turned to look at Rei and stared at him for an uncomfortably long time. He moved away from the door and walked down the corridor to the next room down and entered it alone.

  “Come with me,” the soldier said. “The Juoz wants to talk to you first.”

  “A Juoz is a judge, right?” Rei asked in English. The soldier did not answer. Rei stood up and followed the soldier into the room next to the one where Rome was being held.

  First, why does everybody speak English? It is because Ursay and his crew brought back this knowledge when they returned from Tabit. Second, why would they have a judge in the first place? There is no crime in Vuduri-land. Everybody is mind-connected. And why would he suddenly decide to talk to Rei who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place? It just goes to show you that I was confused. I just wanted a courtroom scene and how can you have one of those without a judge?

  Entry 3-308: October 30, 2015

 

  Right out of 2001

  I've always loved the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick. The fact that the screenplay was based upon a short story by Arthur C. Clarke didn't hurt. This was hard science fiction at its finest. The fact of the matter is, I never really understood the end, especially when an elderly David Bowman is suddenly sitting in a brightly lit hotel room having a meal when a monolith showed up. But that did not take away my enjoyment of the movie. I wanted to pay homage to that iconic setting somehow.

  This next scene was my attempt at invoking that atmosphere although Rei's purpose and his outcome were much less murky:

  The room was completely empty with the exception of a desk and two chairs, one on each side of the desk. The older Vuduri was sitting on the far side of the desk. The soldier sat Rei on the side closer to the door and left the room, closing the door behind him. The older man was studying the thin tablet, obviously electronic in nature, so Rei took the opportunity to look around the room. There was absolutely nothing to see. From what Rei could observe, the entire building and certainly this room was more in the style that Rei had become accustomed back at Skyler Base. Rei thought back to the compound on Deucado with its artwork and wallpaper and decorations. The castle there was clearly a complete aberration from the normal Vuduri style which was to say no style at all.

  In this room, the windowless walls were all white as was the floor. The ceiling had no visible light source but rather the entire ceiling glowed with a soft white light giving the room an even illumination. The room resembled nothing more than a large, oversized closet albeit one without any supplies. In one corner, there was a white quarter sphere attached where the ceiling met two walls. The sphere reminded Rei of the type of mirror back on his Earth, in convenience stores, that people checked to make sure they didn’t run into anyone as they were rounding a corner. The difference was this was not a mirror and this was not his Earth.

  I even threw a little 7-Eleven mirror thingy to give it a nice flavor. What was its purpose? I don't know.

  Entry 3-309: October 31, 2015

 

  A Vuduri accent

  Since the very beginning of my construction of the world of Rome's Revolution, I have claimed that the Vuduri spoken language, also called Vuduri, was based upon Portuguese. In fact, my very first blog post was about my "Vuduri Translator" which converted English into Vuduri. The reasons behind it were somewhat artificial. The reality is I needed to create a new language and I am simply far too lazy to actually do the work. I know that there is an English to Klingon translator but somebody had to come up with the Klingon language in the first place.

  Anyway, during their year-long voyage from Tabit to Tau Ceti, Rei learned to speak Vuduri like a pro. Rome and Rei would go days without speaking English. Rome's contention was that nobody would bother to learn English on Deucado. Boy was she wrong! It turns out, nobody wants to work their way through Vuduri so I made everybody learn English which would allow the books to continue without that impediment.

  But that doesn't mean that Rei wasn't proud of his mastery of the language. Here was his first encounter with the Judge named Oronus. He tries to speak Vuduri but me, using the character, put an end to that very fast:

  “Asdiu Oronus,” the man finally said then corrected himself, “I am Oronus.”

  “Fica bita veler am Vuduri,” Rei said. “I understand it.”

  “Impressive,” said the man, “but no matter. English is perfectly suitable.”

  “What do you want?” Rei asked, surprised yet again how quickly English spread throughout the Vuduri universe.

  “As you are well aware, I am a vessel for the Overmind,” answered Oronus. “I was selected because my vocal apparatus is best suited to speaking and we have decided to ask you a few questions.”

  My question to you is this: after speaking Vuduri for nearly a solid year, would Rei's speech have become affected such that he spoke English with a Vuduri accent? I know that people's speech patterns are affected by where they live and where they spend time but is a year enough time to change a lifetime's worth of expe
rience?

  And if Rei did speak English with a Vuduri accent, what would it sound like? It hurts the head!

  Entry 3-310: November 1, 2015

 

  The Big Lie goes into action

  Yesterday, I introduced you to Oronus, the Judge, at the beginning of Part 3 of Rome's Revolution. As I also pointed out, the Judge preferred to converse with Rei in English rather than Vuduri but that was really me trying to make things easy on you, the reader.

  I needed to stretch this scene out so that Rei could present "The Big Lie" in its full glory, I needed Rome to get tripped up at her trial. Here is the first look at Rei trying to show that "The Big Lie" wasn't a lie:

  “Please allow us to ask our questions.”

  “All right,” Rei said, sighing, figuring the quicker this was over, the quicker he could get back to Rome. “Go ahead.”

  “Thank you,” replied Oronus. “How did it happen that you are here on Earth? The last report we had was that you were going to tow your Ark to Deucado. By our calculations, you should still be en route right now.”

  Rei’s expression turned grim. “We had to let the Ark go. MINIMCOM is still towing it to Deucado, as far as I know.”

  “Why did you have to let the Ark go?” Oronus asked, confused.

  “Uh…” Rei stuttered. “Rome became pregnant and there were some difficulties. We decided it would be better for her to give birth on Earth.”

  A hint of surprise flashed across Oronus’s face. He looked down at the tablet and a series of dots and notations formed. He turned the tablet around and pushed it towards Rei. He unfastened a stylus from the side of the tablet and handed it to Rei.

  “Show me your release point,” he said. “Where you and MINIMCOM parted ways. How did you travel?”

  Rei studied the tablet. He saw dots representing Tabit, Keid, Deucado and Earth. There was a faint green line connecting Tabit to Deucado. Rei took the stylus and pressed it on the screen, leaving a blue mark, just to the right of Keid.

  “Here,” Rei said. “We released the Ark right about there.”

  Oronus looked down where Rei was pointing. A faint blue line connected the dot to Earth. Some numbers appeared on the screen. A yellow number with a negative sign in front of it started flashing.

  “That is not correct,” Oronus said.

  “What’s not…” Rei started to speak but Oronus held his hand up.

  “Do not speak,” Oronus interrupted him. His eyes defocused. A minute went by then another and other. Fully 10 minutes elapsed before Oronus finally blinked and then looked at Rei again.

  “We have just examined your ship. What happened to your PPT generators?” he asked. “They are impaired.”

  “I don’t know” Rei said. “It’s actually your ship. I think maybe it wasn’t designed to go such a long distance. They just sort of ran out of gas. Once we separated from MINIMCOM, there really wasn’t anybody to ask.”

  Remember, this was still when I thought maybe everybody or anybody was part of the Onsiras and so they were naturally suspicious. It really doesn't make any sense but hey, it's fiction.

  Entry 3-311: November 2, 2015

 

  The Big Lie exposed. Going once.

  When I first started writing my articles about "The Big Lie", I wanted to reiterate the famous saying by Mark Twain when he stated "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." As I pointed out back then, reality just is. It doesn't need to be constructed. Rome and Rei (and Fridone) constructed an elaborate lie to hide the fact that they had traveled to Deucado and liberated the Ibbrassati at the beginning of Part 3 of Rome's Revolution.

  But as I mentioned above, reality just is. A falsehood, no matter how elaborate, could not cover everything. That is why the truth always comes out. Here is a simple example of Rei being asked about something they did not cover and he had to wing it:

  Oronus sighed. The tablet cleared. He leaned forward slightly and began his next round of questions.

  “Rome is clearly not pregnant. Where is your baby?” Oronus asked.

  Rei stuck his lip out. His shoulders slumped down. Very quietly, he said, “He…he was stillborn. There is no baby.” Rei bit his lip so hard that a tear came to his eyes. He dabbed at it slowly to make sure that Oronus saw.

  “A child of Essessoni and Vuduri,” Oronus said, shaking his head. “What would even make you think the child would be viable in the first place?”

  “I can’t say that we really thought it through. It was not planned,” Rei replied.

  “When did this happen?” Oronus asked. “When did the baby die?”

  “A couple of weeks ago,” Rei said. “We almost made it except for your damned engines. We couldn’t get here in time.”

  “Where is the body of the child?” Oronus asked. “Did you preserve it?”

  Rei swallowed hard. This was one item they hadn’t discussed. He thought about the Vuduri and their strange practices and took a guess.

  “We put it in the molecular sequencer. I remember Rome once telling me that recycling bodies was the only way to honor them. It seemed a little cold to me but that is your way, right?”

  “Yes,” Oronus said without any emotion. Mentally, Rei breathed a sigh of relief.

  He shouldn't have. This whole thing reminds me somewhat of The Newlywed Game. You don't give the answers you think of. You give the answer to things you think your spouse would say. So that's what Rei did. Unfortunately, he did not realize that Rome would be playing the same game.

  Entry 3-312: November 3, 2015

 

  Lie Detectors 1

  In the beginning of Part 3 of Rome's Revolution, Rei was being interrogated by Oronus who is referred to as a Judge but he is really more of an inquisitor. Rei knew he did not understand all of Vuduri technology so it was possible that there were lie detectors built into the interrogation room.

  On the other hand, the Vuduri do not know how to lie. How can you tell a lie when everybody already knows what is inside of your head? Nonetheless, for "The Big Lie" to succeed, Rei figured he had to stick as close to the truth as possible. No lie detector in world can tell when you are withholding information unless you are asked that question directly and lie about that.

  Here is an example of what I mean:

  “Tell me about your encounter with the Stareater,” Oronus asked. “There is a recording on your ship that would indicate that the VIRUS units were successful in destroying it.”

  “Yes,” Rei said, brightening. “OMCOM contacted us and told us that it was dead.”

  “OMCOM,” Oronus said with some disgust. “What else did he tell you?”

  “He said there was a problem with the VIRUS units mutating. He said he was going to try and get the situation under control.”

  “Did he give you any more detail?” Oronus asked stridently. “After Ursay returned, we knew exactly what he was planning. Your recordings confirmed it. Puh.”

  “Uh, no,” Rei said. He worked through the math. Their encounter with the Cecetiras and Bridadiras on Deucado would be something he and Rome couldn’t know about.

  “Something about sentient beings, going off on their own,” Rei muttered. “I don’t remember exactly. It didn’t really make sense to me but you said you had the recordings, right?”

  “Yes,” Oronus said. “But your impressions are valuable nonetheless.”

  “Well, it was like a year ago so I’m a little fuzzy on it. It wasn’t a very long conversation as I recall.”

  “I understand,” Oronus replied, pressing a point on the tablet with the stylus. “Do your best to dictate the conversation as faithfully as you can remember.”

  “I just did,” Rei said. “It was only two or three sentences. He said he was happy to see us. He said the VIRUS units killed the Stareater. He said there were some mutations but he was working on it. Then he hung up.”

  “Nothing else?” Oronus said skeptically.

  “Not that I remember.” Rei looked off to
the side then up to the ceiling. He scanned the entire ceiling then brought his eyes back to regard Oronus. “Nope. That’s it.”

  How could Oronus be in contact with the Overmind when the room was under continual T-suppression? Well, this room was not. Either way, except for the lie yesterday, he has steered his way around having to reveal the whole truth so far.

  Entry 3-313: November 4, 2015

 

  Lie Detectors 2

  Yesterday, I showed you how Rei was trying to not trip up what he assumed was a lie detector in the beginning of Part 3 of Rome's Revolution. Here is the second half of that interview:

  “Very well,” Oronus said. “Have you had any contact with OMCOM since then?”

  Rei thought about lie detectors. Given Vuduri voodoo, for all he knew he was hooked up to one right now but he had to stick to the story.

  “No,” Rei said. “Nothing since.”

  Oronus nodded. Again his eyes defocused. Rei was fairly certain that during these intervals, the Overmind was in complete control. Oronus’ head sagged downward then snapped up again. “What were MINIMCOM’s instructions regarding disposition of your Ark when it arrives at Deucado?” Oronus asked finally.

  Rei recoiled a bit at the sudden change of subject. But there was nothing harmful in the question.

  “He was supposed to contact the Vuduri there and get their help in carting my people down to the surface,” Rei said. “The Ark was pretty messed up and there is no way it could fly down on its own.”