Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri - Posts Tagged "action"

I was thinking about what it would take to send people to the stars. I figured that travel over such long distance involved risk. To build a complex spaceship that could survive micrometeorites, cosmic rays, mechanical failure, etc. was unlikely. So instead of building an expensive spaceship, I had the mission planners build a cheap one, not much more than a flying tin can.

They sunk their money into building expensive, individual sarcophagi figuring any one might fail but the likelihood of all 500+ failing was very slim.

They built the Ark out of pig iron so the colonists would have some fairly refined materials to start their new life. I also made it so the nuclear power rods that reanimated the colonists could be ganged together to produce electricity for 7000 years.

One of the coolest things about writing (and I'm sure this does not apply just to science fiction) is that half the time, I'm not telling the characters what to do, they tell me.

A lot of times I just throw stuff in there to flesh things out and a week, a month or sometimes several years will pass then the light bulb goes off. So that's why they did it!

The whole plot of The Ark Lords came out of random things I threw into Rome's Revolution to flesh the story out. The whole backstory behind MASAL being the ultimate bad guy was an accident. I had just tried to build a future history and these things just sprang out of that.

Anyway, the point to this was I never thought about how the Arks would actually land on a planet until yesterday's blog entry. I wrote in that article that they glided in and did a belly landing but that the bottom of Ark was made of a much stronger material. It sounded like I had thought this through.

I didn't!

I originally had the entire Ark made out of pig iron, top to bottom. I did that because I needed a magnetic material for a little short story, since removed, called Rei's Space Walk. When I first wrote VIRUS 5, the precursor to Rome's Revolution, I actually had the Ark made out of aluminum.

Changing it to pig iron then allowed me to say it was on purpose because that way colonists could easily melt it down, cannibalizing the ship for building materials.

Well, as I was writing The Ark Lords, when Rome came upon the rusting out hulk of the original Ark, if it ALL rusted out, there would be nothing left so I had to quick switch the lower third to martensite, a kind of stainless steel, which was much tougher but still magnetic.

So now I'm writing yesterday's blog entry and I realized, duh, that was yet another reason why the underbelly had to made out of a rugged material was because of the landing. No wheels, no struts, just belly-flopping.

Bottom line: these characters truly have a life of their own and they always amaze me by thinking things through, even if I did not. I get to be a reader too sometimes!

Reema was the first Reonhe ever born and is called Ombare (Empress). Her mother gave birth to her in a birthing clinic and gave her up to be raised in the crèche right away. Reema’s eyes were different from the other Vuduri children. One was dark, almost flat black. The other was light blue and had the standard Vuduri optics, complete with reflective tapetum. Like all Vuduri children, Reema was born already self-aware. But the other side of her brain heard a whisper. It was MASAL calling to her. Telling her she was his first-born.

While a regular Vuduri samanda would require many Vuduri gathered nearby to begin building an Overmind, Reema had no such requirements because MASAL was already formed. MASAL's plan for her was to act like a regular Vuduri but to scour the Earth, looking for other Reonhe and eventually Zengei. Zengei children were often abandoned by their parents early on since they could not join the Overmind. Most Vuduri assumed they were mandasurte but they were not. They simply had no mind of their own and answered to MASAL. As soon as MASAL detected one, he put Reema on alert and right after they were born, Reema spirited them away to their nest in Socal.

As Reema matured, her growing hoard of Zengei and Reonhe became vibrant. They organized and built the secret base beneath Kilauea. They organized and sent Estar to accompany the Skyler Base crew. They created the artificial mission and sent Sussen along to Deucado to supervise the internment of the mandasurte there.

We will get to meet Reema in the upcoming novel Rome's Evolution.

An Overmind springs up whenever there are at least three Vuduri connected to each other. There is an infinitesimal delay between the thoughts of one Vuduri to the next and in the swirling, residual eddy currents, an autonomous entity arises.

However, the various Overminds, like any living creature, are shaped by their origin and their environment. The Overmind of Tabit, made up of 80 Vuduri, was rather rigid, dedicated to discovery and a bit autocratic. It followed the book and had a mission so it had no tolerance for bending the rules. That is why Rome was Cesdiud (cast out) so quickly. That plus it had a little prodding from OMCOM.

The Overmind of Deucado was made up thousands upon thousands of Vuduri and was supremely confident in its own abilities and rather imperious. Rome certainly knocked it down a few pegs in the middle part of Rome's Revolution but it was ultimately better for it.

The Overmind of Helome, first encountered in The Ark Lords, is more benevolent. It gives the Vuduri there much more free reign and just revels in the bounty and beauty of Helome. It is the closest we'll ever see to a hippie Overmind.

The Overmind of Earth, made up of several hundred million Vuduri, is closer to a god-like creature that guides and watches over the entire world. It treats many of the weaker-minded Vuduri like puppets but does tolerate independent thought to some degree. We've seen evidence of how it shaped the Vuduri culture throughout the first four parts. In Part 5, Rome's Evolution, we will finally get to meet the Overmind of Earth.

Classic science fiction stories have aliens. They used to be little green men but in recent years, they range from the tiny, to the cute to the big to the scary.

Rome's Revolution has its share of aliens but none of them, so far, are little green men.

First, we have the artificial intelligence aliens. This is Planet OMCOM, MINIMCOM, Junior and the OMCOM clone. We also met MASAL but he is no longer an issue.

Next, we have the non-corporeal aliens. These are the various Overminds and MASAL's Sipre which you will meet in Rome's Evolution, available this summer.

Next we have the Stareaters who count as their own species. They refer to themselves as Species Three.

Finally, on Deucado, there are alien creatures who have a surprising amount of intelligence.

In the book following Rome's Evolution, called The Milk Run, you will finally get to meet a genuine walking, talking green alien named Sh'ev B'Oush who turns out to be a pretty decent guy, for an alien, that is. Sh'ev's son, B'Shev, will be along some day. You will also get to meet the Creatures of Light. Finally, we will get to meet Species Twenty Two and find out what OMCOM has been doing out there for all these years.

Over the next few days, I will cover the variety (where it exists) of clothing worn by the various groups comprising the population of 35th Century Earth (and Deucado). The groups that I will cover will be the livetars, the Vuduri, the Essessoni, the mandasurte, the Ibbrassati and finally, the Deucadons who have the most interesting clothing of all. Today's topic is the livetars. As I have mentioned previously, they don't wear clothes as such. But their outward appearance does give you insight into their inward motivation.

Start with OMCOM, the entity who invented the livetar concept. You may think it was MINIMCOM but if you think back to the conclusion of Rome's Revolution, Part 1, you will recall that OMCOM appeared to Rei and Rome as a holographic image materialized by using null-fold relays to synthesize his image.

That entity, later realized "in the flesh" was all-white, with a bullet-shaped head and slits where the eyes and mouth would be for a human being. OMCOM picked white because that is the color the Vuduri always wore. He wanted to "fit in" as best as a livetar could. However, since it was not living, he made a conscious decision to not make the eyes and mouth look normal. He didn't even bother to create a nose slit since it had no purpose. This first incarnation of OMCOM in a bipedal form was the model for all livetars since.

The fact that OMCOM was dressed all in white came in handy when he was standing up to MASAL who was supposed to be the devil incarnate and represented the forces of evil.

But does black always mean bad? I would say no. MINIMCOM purposefully rendered his first appearance as a livetar as all-black. This was a) in contrast to OMCOM and b) MINIMCOM wanted to present an imposing figure. He even wore a cape even though it served no useful purpose, other than showmanship.

OMCOM's subsequent clones, like the library clone, always render their livetars in white. When you meet Planet OMCOM in The Milk Run you will see an all-white planet.

Finally (at least for now) there is Junior who rendered his livetar in gray. This was a conscious decision on his part so he could be distinguished between OMCOM and MINIMCOM. He could have chosen all-black, like his father but then as he "grew" he would eventually become indistinguishable, other than sans cape. He also picked round eye-holes and mouth-hole so that he appeared slightly more human. His whole persona is the most human of the three.

Here is a little tidbit for you: in 25 years or so, even Junior will have a son. His nickname is Tre (pronounced tray) because he is MINIMCOM III. His human companion is named Rory Bierak who is Aason's son and Rei & Rome's grandson.

It is all planned out!

The first time we meet the Vuduri on Dara, they are all wearing the same clothing. These are white jumpsuits. There are different sizes but none really big enough for Rei. He finds the shoulders too tight. Even Estar, who we later find out is a spy, is dressed in a standard Vuduri jumpsuit.

The next group of Vuduri we meet is on Deucado. Here there are two types of clothing. Admittedly, the second type is not described very well other than "soldierly." Everyone else wears white jumpsuits. The lab technicians do wear lab coats. I suppose it is for sanitary reasons. Even Sussen, the spy, is wearing a traditional jumpsuit.

Why only white jumpsuits? The reason for this is that a) the Vuduri don't care about clothes so there is no reason to have different styles and b) they recycle everything so they just grab the next jumpsuit that is ready.

Finally, we meet the Vuduri on Earth. Once again, there are soldiers and white jumpsuits. But when Rei and Rome are captured by the Onsiras, we see that they have expanded their colors into black. How exciting! Once again, there are soldiers, lab coats and white jumpsuits. Even Binoda, Rome's mother, wears a white jumpsuit.

That's it. As far as I can tell, these are the only clothing the Vuduri ever wear. At least that is all they have ever told me. Rome did tell me that she wore loose-fitting pajamas to sleep.

If you want to call Rome a Vuduri, then she wears lots of clothes. She started designing her own clothes on the year-long trip from Tabit to Deucado. Bright colors - blasphemous! Once she settled down on Deucado, she starts dressing in different styles although she often goes back to the white jumpsuits. In her later years, when she becomes a full-time school teacher, she dresses differently each day for each culture on Deucado. She wears a white jumpsuit on Mondays, Deucadon style clothes on Tuesdays, Earth/Essessoni style on Wednesdays, mandasurte or her own style on Thursdays. On Fridays, she wears what Rei calls her school-marm dress outfit. That's his favorite. She wears a white blouse, with a light tan vest and skirt made out of "falling blanket" leather.

The Essessoni are us. Even though the Ark II launched in 2067AD, that is only 54 years away. Think about how people dressed 54 years ago, in 1959. A little different but not too much different.

When the Essessoni were first awakened, all they had were their flight suits. But the combination of Ibbrassati and Vuduri have given them their normal wardrobe now. They wear shirts, slacks, underwear, socks and boots or shoes. They have jackets but the weather on Deucado is so mild, they really don't need them very often.

Think about the flight suits they had to bring with them, though. They had to be fresh and wearable after 14 centuries of storage. They were vacuum sealed in the cargo compartment and then exposed to the vacuum and cold of space so they stay preserved very well.

Rei brought a super-alloy straight razor with him, one that never needs sharpening. So he shaves pretty much every day as do most of the Essessoni. The Vuduri do not have facial hair and the Deucadons are partial to beards. The mandasurte would prefer to remain clean-shaven but sometimes they cannot.

Rei is partial to tans and browns. Other than that, their clothes are supposed to be easy to imagine because their tastes are similar to ours.

More tomorrow.

The mandasurte are the forgotten people of the 35th century. The word mandasurte means mind-deaf and it isn't a race or a culture as much as it is a definition. They are considered handicapped by the Vuduri. Those that are mind-deaf because they only have 23 pairs of chromosome (like us), are considered not-fully human.

The only distinguishing external characteristic between the Vuduri and the mandasurte is their mode of dress. Of course, they speak, they have feelings, etc. But up until the invention of the 24th chromosome, they were the exact same people as the Vuduri.

There is no overriding trend or characteristic in the method of dress of the mandasurte. On Earth, many of them have flocked back to Havei (Hawaii), which is where many of them hale from. When the Great Dying wiped out nine billion people, the only two significant pockets of life remaining were Hawaii and Portugal. These two groups eventually merged and became the Vuduri.

That is not to say that there weren't any people left in North America. There were plenty but they never advanced past an agrarian way of life. As the not-yet-Vuduri pursued science and technology that was not banned, they eventually returned to North America and retrieved most of the inhabitants. Thus in the 35th century, North America is largely unpopulated. I have no idea what happened to South America.

Back to their mode of dress, the mandasurte, at least the ones in Hawaii, dress in very comfortable, natural clothing. They don't have high style. They still wear Hawaiian shirts occasionally although their core technology is right around where ours is today. They have retained ties to their historical past. They still have Hula dances, still wear leis, still have luaus. They fish, they farm, they have art and music. They take care of themselves. Their most important distinction, though, is that they think for themselves. But most advanced thinking was inhibited by the overwhelming Vuduri presence.

The Deucadons have the most interesting clothing of all. Think Darth Vader only comfy. Much of the clothing appears black, somewhat like leather. There are a variety of devices integrated within the costume including communication devices.

Due to their circumstances, the Deucadons had to master conduit science. They need this to bring fresh air down from the surface and expel carbon dioxide. They also have to bring in water and remove waste from their underground city.

They also learned to apply their conduit technology to an invisibility cloak that conducts light from the front to the back and side to side. This means when you are looking at them, you only see what is behind them making them functionally invisible. The cloaks also suppress IR. They dampen sound to some extent but they cannot suppress the fact that they are a solid body and sound waves must travel around them. That is how Rei was able to discover them with his sonar-vision even though they were invisible to the naked eye.

That's about as much as I know. I haven't spend much time with a crowd of Deucadons. The only ones I have met are Bukky, Melloy, Triden and Steben. Steben returns in Rome's Evolution as he gets involved in the discovery that there used to be sentient life on Deucado millions of years earlier. We'll also meet a Deucadon merchant and a casino dealer.