Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 154
December 8, 2013
Ah, Capella!
While the events that occur in Rome's Revolution center around the disappearance of Winfall (first observed in 3418 AD), it was the dimming of Capella in the year 3420 AD that caused the Overmind to dispatch a research team to Tabit in the first place. Why? First a word of explanation.
Capella is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga. You will recall from a previous post, I mentioned that Winfall was the made-up name for Lambda Aurigae which is in the same constellation as Capella.
So why would the dimming of a star cause the Overmind to scramble? It is because while Capella appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually made up of four stars in two binary pairs.
The first pair is made up of Capella A and B. Capella A is a G5-class star and Capella B is a G0 star both of which are very large. The other pair, Capella Ha and Hb are smaller, dimmer, M-class stars. Capella B was the star that disappeared which we now know was caused by the Stareater. So what looked like a single star got dimmer. The Vuduri scientists had theorized that Winfall's disappearance was caused by an optically opaque gas cloud. The fact that just one of the four stars of Capella disappeared and not all of them meant it was something else. Something scary. Since the Capella system is only 42 light years from Earth, the Overmind finally got off its incorporeal ass and decided to investigate.
Capella is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga. You will recall from a previous post, I mentioned that Winfall was the made-up name for Lambda Aurigae which is in the same constellation as Capella.
So why would the dimming of a star cause the Overmind to scramble? It is because while Capella appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually made up of four stars in two binary pairs.
The first pair is made up of Capella A and B. Capella A is a G5-class star and Capella B is a G0 star both of which are very large. The other pair, Capella Ha and Hb are smaller, dimmer, M-class stars. Capella B was the star that disappeared which we now know was caused by the Stareater. So what looked like a single star got dimmer. The Vuduri scientists had theorized that Winfall's disappearance was caused by an optically opaque gas cloud. The fact that just one of the four stars of Capella disappeared and not all of them meant it was something else. Something scary. Since the Capella system is only 42 light years from Earth, the Overmind finally got off its incorporeal ass and decided to investigate.
December 7, 2013
Vuduri Programmers
As mentioned numerous times in Rome's Revolution, a "normal" Vuduri would not speak aloud. The Vuduri language is used for written items, computer interfaces and the occasional interaction with the mandasurte.
But what about computer languages? Do they use FORTRAN? Visual BASIC? Java? Or something similar but with a Vuduri flavor to it. As a programmer myself, I am very interested in this question but every time I ask them, they defer answering.
The reality is Vuduri computers such as OMCOM are not programmed in the conventional sense. When Rome was challenged to build a computer to house her Library in The Ark Lords, she claimed she could not do it without an initialization module, which is to say a bootstrap operating system.
[image error]
So there you have it. A new computer, like OMCOM, comes pre-built. It also has a code-generation module as demonstrated by OMCOM in Rome's Revolution and does not require human intervention. My father managed a stable of human programmers for much of his career. It was always his claim that someday, somebody would write a program that could generate programs and then he wouldn't need programmers any more.
Well, my Dad's vision of this brave new world is realized in the 35th century. The only sad thing is the core routines to perform this act were created by MASAL. If you've read the books, you'd know that was not a good thing. It will come back to haunt them some day. This will become abundantly clear in The Milk Run starring Aason Bierak which should be available in the spring.
But what about computer languages? Do they use FORTRAN? Visual BASIC? Java? Or something similar but with a Vuduri flavor to it. As a programmer myself, I am very interested in this question but every time I ask them, they defer answering.
The reality is Vuduri computers such as OMCOM are not programmed in the conventional sense. When Rome was challenged to build a computer to house her Library in The Ark Lords, she claimed she could not do it without an initialization module, which is to say a bootstrap operating system.
[image error]
So there you have it. A new computer, like OMCOM, comes pre-built. It also has a code-generation module as demonstrated by OMCOM in Rome's Revolution and does not require human intervention. My father managed a stable of human programmers for much of his career. It was always his claim that someday, somebody would write a program that could generate programs and then he wouldn't need programmers any more.
Well, my Dad's vision of this brave new world is realized in the 35th century. The only sad thing is the core routines to perform this act were created by MASAL. If you've read the books, you'd know that was not a good thing. It will come back to haunt them some day. This will become abundantly clear in The Milk Run starring Aason Bierak which should be available in the spring.
December 6, 2013
The Tightbeam
As mentioned numerous times in Rome's Revolution, the Vuduri communicate mind-to-mind using gravitic modulation. How fast is this? Nobody knows. Nobody has measured the speed of gravity. Nobody has ever seen a graviton or proven that it even exists. But for the purposes of the world of the Vuduri, we assume that gravity waves travel at a speed of
[image error]
which is much, much faster than the speed light, which is a measly
[image error]
In reality, most modern theorists believe that gravity is not carried by a particle but rather is just a deformation in the fabric of space-time. The effects of this deformation can be detected the same as any other phenomenon which means they believe that gravity travels at the speed of light.
But the world of Rome's Revolution is science fiction so I can postulate anything I want as long as I don't know it not to be true. Nobody has measured the speed of gravity so I'm sticking to the higher speed for now because it makes for a better story.
Anyway, the point of all of this is the Vuduri have harnessed the speed of gravity to enable communication. They use a device called a tightbeam which is built from Casimir Pumps to create a focused beam of gravitons, using digital pulses to carry information. All the Towers of all the cities of Earth are connected by tightbeams. Also, Earth communicates with its space vessels, colonies on Mars and other places using tightbeams.
Why not just use the apparatus built into their heads? It is because sometimes machines (e.g. computers) need to communicate and the amount of data to be transmitted is vastly larger that a human can process and is completely unintelligible. But doesn't this violate the Vuduri directive against computers having access to Casimir Pumps?
The answer is no. The Vuduri have built a very simple, metered interface with is electromagnetic on one side and contains the gravitic modulator on the other. A computer could no more use it to become unleashed that a person could use a lighthouse light to guide their car down the road. It is special purpose and can only be used for what it was designed for.
OMCOM adapted the concept into his null-fold relays, as seen in the The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution but despite the fact that he has broken all the Vuduri laws, even he uses them only for communication.
[image error]
which is much, much faster than the speed light, which is a measly
[image error]
In reality, most modern theorists believe that gravity is not carried by a particle but rather is just a deformation in the fabric of space-time. The effects of this deformation can be detected the same as any other phenomenon which means they believe that gravity travels at the speed of light.
But the world of Rome's Revolution is science fiction so I can postulate anything I want as long as I don't know it not to be true. Nobody has measured the speed of gravity so I'm sticking to the higher speed for now because it makes for a better story.
Anyway, the point of all of this is the Vuduri have harnessed the speed of gravity to enable communication. They use a device called a tightbeam which is built from Casimir Pumps to create a focused beam of gravitons, using digital pulses to carry information. All the Towers of all the cities of Earth are connected by tightbeams. Also, Earth communicates with its space vessels, colonies on Mars and other places using tightbeams.
Why not just use the apparatus built into their heads? It is because sometimes machines (e.g. computers) need to communicate and the amount of data to be transmitted is vastly larger that a human can process and is completely unintelligible. But doesn't this violate the Vuduri directive against computers having access to Casimir Pumps?
The answer is no. The Vuduri have built a very simple, metered interface with is electromagnetic on one side and contains the gravitic modulator on the other. A computer could no more use it to become unleashed that a person could use a lighthouse light to guide their car down the road. It is special purpose and can only be used for what it was designed for.
OMCOM adapted the concept into his null-fold relays, as seen in the The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution but despite the fact that he has broken all the Vuduri laws, even he uses them only for communication.
December 5, 2013
The Ark post-crash landing
In Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome arrived at Deucado after an 11-month journey only to be attacked immediately. Their attackers were going to use PPT Throwers mentioned yesterday. Because Rei's brain was working better, he was able to come up with a brilliant but unorthodox plan to save the Ark. They punched a PPT tunnel through the atmosphere of Deucado and slid on through hoping that the tunnel would collapse before their Vuduri pursuers could follow them.
They were successful. The tug holding Rei and Rome broke off and the Ark crashed to earth, crushing MINIMCOM underneath. The Vuduri had to pursue them using a regular Bessel-style aerobrake-type approach.
Even so, how was it that the Vuduri could not find the Ark when they did arrive? After all, the Ark II weighed 7000 metric tonnes. It would be hard to miss.
The answer lies in the Vuduri inability to think outside the box. Normally, they would use infrared to detect the heat signature of the vessel. What they failed to appreciate was that the metal hull of the Ark was sitting at minus 80 degrees Celsius initially, the temperature of space, so it literally did not have a heat signature.
Second, they would use MIDAR in ground-penetrating mode and they did but it never occurred to them to scan the stands of cane-trees. After all, who would land into a clump of trees?
Finally, they would use visual inspection but the Ibbrassati had taken the time to cover the Ark in camouflage netting along with cane-tree leaves and bark so it would blend in visually.
The Vuduri gave up. They knew the colonists would turn up eventually but it was their lack of imagination that prevented them from finding the gigantic Ark II after the crash landing in the first place.
They were successful. The tug holding Rei and Rome broke off and the Ark crashed to earth, crushing MINIMCOM underneath. The Vuduri had to pursue them using a regular Bessel-style aerobrake-type approach.
Even so, how was it that the Vuduri could not find the Ark when they did arrive? After all, the Ark II weighed 7000 metric tonnes. It would be hard to miss.
The answer lies in the Vuduri inability to think outside the box. Normally, they would use infrared to detect the heat signature of the vessel. What they failed to appreciate was that the metal hull of the Ark was sitting at minus 80 degrees Celsius initially, the temperature of space, so it literally did not have a heat signature.
Second, they would use MIDAR in ground-penetrating mode and they did but it never occurred to them to scan the stands of cane-trees. After all, who would land into a clump of trees?
Finally, they would use visual inspection but the Ibbrassati had taken the time to cover the Ark in camouflage netting along with cane-tree leaves and bark so it would blend in visually.
The Vuduri gave up. They knew the colonists would turn up eventually but it was their lack of imagination that prevented them from finding the gigantic Ark II after the crash landing in the first place.
December 4, 2013
The PPT Thrower
The PPT Thrower has been mentioned several times both here and in Rome's Revolution and The Ark Lords.
A PPT Thrower is the sharpest instrument in the universe. It creates a PPT tunnel one atom wide and separates atoms to the left and atoms to the right cutting whatever it touches into two pieces. It can literally cut through anything. It was originally designed for mining and construction but has been fashioned into an incredibly powerful weapon.
Just before Rei and Rome crash land on Deucado in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, they knew they were going to be attacked by the Vuduri. The ships that were coming after them were armed with some pretty heavy duty weapons but only one that truly paralyzed them with fear was the PPT Thrower. Here is that scene:
In The Ark Lords, MINIMCOM develops what he calls his "roadgrader" cannons which are just millions of PPT Throwers aligned within a fan-like protrusion. With it, he can cut down forests, pave roads or slice a hundred people in half in the blink of an eye.
All in all, the PPT Thrower is a very effective device whether it is used for construction or as a weapon.
A PPT Thrower is the sharpest instrument in the universe. It creates a PPT tunnel one atom wide and separates atoms to the left and atoms to the right cutting whatever it touches into two pieces. It can literally cut through anything. It was originally designed for mining and construction but has been fashioned into an incredibly powerful weapon.
Just before Rei and Rome crash land on Deucado in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, they knew they were going to be attacked by the Vuduri. The ships that were coming after them were armed with some pretty heavy duty weapons but only one that truly paralyzed them with fear was the PPT Thrower. Here is that scene:
“They have scrambled eleven armed ships,” said MINIMCOM.Rome was correct to be very, very afraid of them.
“What kind of arms?” Rei asked.
“The Vuduri do not use weapons,” Rome insisted.
“These Vuduri do,” countered MINIMCOM. “They are armed with magnetic pulse cannons, electrostatic charge disrupters and PPT throwers.”
Rome gasped. All the color left her face.
“What? Say again.” Rei said.
“PPT throwers.”
“What are those?” Rei asked, panicked.
MINIMCOM replied, “They are normally used in mining and salvage operations. They create a moving PPT tunnel, a very small one, even within a gravity well, which sweeps across an area and separates atoms that encounter it from their immediately adjacent atoms by sending them elsewhere. They can cut through any material known to man. However, in space, they can extend over a much greater distance.”
“So you’re saying…” Rei sputtered.
“What he is saying,” interjected Rome in a hushed tone, “is that they are for slicing up very large objects into very tiny pieces.”
In The Ark Lords, MINIMCOM develops what he calls his "roadgrader" cannons which are just millions of PPT Throwers aligned within a fan-like protrusion. With it, he can cut down forests, pave roads or slice a hundred people in half in the blink of an eye.
All in all, the PPT Thrower is a very effective device whether it is used for construction or as a weapon.
December 3, 2013
The Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope
As mentioned several times in previous posts, one of the effects of the 24th chromosome was to place a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope within the Vuduri eye. In fact, in Rome's Revolution, the first thing Rei noticed about Rome was that her eyes glowed due to the tapetum behind her retinas. The first time the Maksutov-Cassegrain Reflector was mentioned was in context of Silas Hiram's telescope on what had been called New Earth and now is referred to as Helome. Silas brought the telescope to Alpha Centauri aboard the Ark I and he used it to visualize Earth. He was the first person to notice that Alnilam had disappeared which caused a cascade of events leading up to the discovery of the Stareaters.
I figured it was time to give you the optical properties of such a telescope. The way a Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector works is that light comes through the transparent front lens, is focused on to the back mirror (or in the case of the Vuduri, their tapetum) which refocuses the light onto the prism and onto the eyepiece. The effect of all of this is that the focal length of the telescope is effectively three times that of a traditional telescope for the same length. It makes for a very compact, yet powerful, design.
From Wikipedia:
The Maksutov–Cassegrain is a variation of the Maksutov telescope named after the Soviet/Russian optician and astronomer Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov. It starts with an optically transparent corrector lens that is a section of a hollow sphere. It has a spherical primary mirror, and a spherical secondary that in this application is usually a mirrored section of the corrector lens.
Here is an image of the optical path (thank you Wikipedia):
I figured it was time to give you the optical properties of such a telescope. The way a Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector works is that light comes through the transparent front lens, is focused on to the back mirror (or in the case of the Vuduri, their tapetum) which refocuses the light onto the prism and onto the eyepiece. The effect of all of this is that the focal length of the telescope is effectively three times that of a traditional telescope for the same length. It makes for a very compact, yet powerful, design.
From Wikipedia:
The Maksutov–Cassegrain is a variation of the Maksutov telescope named after the Soviet/Russian optician and astronomer Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov. It starts with an optically transparent corrector lens that is a section of a hollow sphere. It has a spherical primary mirror, and a spherical secondary that in this application is usually a mirrored section of the corrector lens.
Here is an image of the optical path (thank you Wikipedia):
I actually own a Meade ETX-90 telescope which is where I got the idea for the Vuduri eyes. The telescope is great. It is compact and offers literally the same seeing power as a traditional telescope three times the length.
[image error]
December 2, 2013
Rome's first taste of coffee
Part of the fascination of writing Rome's Revolution was the interplay between the two cultures. The Vuduri viewed food as a means to an end. This was Rei's attempt to show Rome that food can be an event in itself:
Rei walked over to the food dispensers and had a quiet discussion with OMCOM. When he was done, a cabinet opened and a tray appeared with two cups filled with a black liquid. Next to them sat a bowl with a white, crystalline substance and a small beaker of a white liquid.
Rei carried it over and set the tray down on the table.
"Is this more soup?" Rome asked.
Rei broke into a big smile. "It's a surprise."
"So what is it?" Rome asked.
"If I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?"
Rome shook her head slowly then shrugged. "All right," she said, sitting down.
Rei placed one of the cups in front of her. He lifted up a utensil.
"This is a spoon," he said.
"I see that. It is just as you described," she replied. "Now what?"
"OK, first take two spoonfuls of the sugar, the white powdery stuff, and mix it in," he said, pointing to the bowl. "Here, watch me. You dip it in here…" He lifted one spoonful out and dropped it into his cup. "Then you drop it in here…"
Rome said, "I may not be connected to the Overmind anymore, but I am not stupid."
Rei looked up at her. "I'm sorry, honey. I was just kidding you."
"Why?" Rome asked.
"Because…because that what's people do when they are in love," Rei countered.
Rome smiled. Then the smile faded. "Why?" she asked.
Rei shrugged. "I don't know, they just do. Go ahead."
He waited until Rome added in the sugar then he pointed to the beaker. "Now add in a little cream and stir," he said.
"How much do I add?" Rome asked.
"You go by color," Rei said. "Here…" He lifted the beaker and added a dollop to his cup. "Add enough to match my color."
Again, Rome followed his instructions.
"It's ready. Now take a sip," he said, "and be careful, it's hot."
Rome seemed leery, but she lifted the cup to her lips and tasted it. A number of expressions flashed across her face ranging from fear to confusion to delight.
At last, she spoke. "This is wonderful!" she said. "What is it?"
"It's coffee," said Rei with pride. "I've been dying for a cup. OMCOM said it was no problem. And now we have it."
"It is so rich with flavor! It is so, so stimulating!" she gushed.
"Wait till the caffeine kicks in!" Rei said.
"I love this," Rome said. "I have never tasted anything so good in my entire life."
"As far as I can tell, you've never tasted much of anything," Rei observed.
Rome sighed. "I think you are right about that."
"I've got more for you," Rei said, "but I don't want to take too much time. Maybe later I can whip up some other stuff."
There are two jokes here. The first is that Rome's people never saw a spoon before and thought it was silly. At last Rome understood its purpose. The second was having her say that coffee was so stimulating. Caffeine is half the reason we drink it. Rome got to the point where she learned to love food so much that there was a while, especially when she was pregnant, that she packed on a few extra pounds. Her mother noticed this right after Rome's "trial" and Rome dedicated herself to getting back to perfect shape.
Rei walked over to the food dispensers and had a quiet discussion with OMCOM. When he was done, a cabinet opened and a tray appeared with two cups filled with a black liquid. Next to them sat a bowl with a white, crystalline substance and a small beaker of a white liquid.
Rei carried it over and set the tray down on the table.
"Is this more soup?" Rome asked.
Rei broke into a big smile. "It's a surprise."
"So what is it?" Rome asked.
"If I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?"
Rome shook her head slowly then shrugged. "All right," she said, sitting down.
Rei placed one of the cups in front of her. He lifted up a utensil.
"This is a spoon," he said.
"I see that. It is just as you described," she replied. "Now what?"
"OK, first take two spoonfuls of the sugar, the white powdery stuff, and mix it in," he said, pointing to the bowl. "Here, watch me. You dip it in here…" He lifted one spoonful out and dropped it into his cup. "Then you drop it in here…"
Rome said, "I may not be connected to the Overmind anymore, but I am not stupid."
Rei looked up at her. "I'm sorry, honey. I was just kidding you."
"Why?" Rome asked.
"Because…because that what's people do when they are in love," Rei countered.
Rome smiled. Then the smile faded. "Why?" she asked.
Rei shrugged. "I don't know, they just do. Go ahead."
He waited until Rome added in the sugar then he pointed to the beaker. "Now add in a little cream and stir," he said.
"How much do I add?" Rome asked.
"You go by color," Rei said. "Here…" He lifted the beaker and added a dollop to his cup. "Add enough to match my color."
Again, Rome followed his instructions.
"It's ready. Now take a sip," he said, "and be careful, it's hot."
Rome seemed leery, but she lifted the cup to her lips and tasted it. A number of expressions flashed across her face ranging from fear to confusion to delight.
At last, she spoke. "This is wonderful!" she said. "What is it?"
"It's coffee," said Rei with pride. "I've been dying for a cup. OMCOM said it was no problem. And now we have it."
"It is so rich with flavor! It is so, so stimulating!" she gushed.
"Wait till the caffeine kicks in!" Rei said.
"I love this," Rome said. "I have never tasted anything so good in my entire life."
"As far as I can tell, you've never tasted much of anything," Rei observed.
Rome sighed. "I think you are right about that."
"I've got more for you," Rei said, "but I don't want to take too much time. Maybe later I can whip up some other stuff."
There are two jokes here. The first is that Rome's people never saw a spoon before and thought it was silly. At last Rome understood its purpose. The second was having her say that coffee was so stimulating. Caffeine is half the reason we drink it. Rome got to the point where she learned to love food so much that there was a while, especially when she was pregnant, that she packed on a few extra pounds. Her mother noticed this right after Rome's "trial" and Rome dedicated herself to getting back to perfect shape.
December 1, 2013
All Pastees Must Die!
In a previous post entitled Genuine Time Travel, I explained why it might be possible some day that real time travel will be invented. But whether it comes true or not, the only restriction will be you cannot travel into your past. That is why there are no time travelers wandering around our world so far. Quite simply time travel has not been invented yet. We'll exclude observational time travel which is an integral part of the Rome's Revolution universe. At the end of that article, I explained that should time travel ever be invented, the people of future will adopt the rule that All Pastees (people from the past) must die! Today, I thought I'd explain a little bit more as to why this must be true.
Let's think of time as a series of infinite threads stretching into the future. Each of these threads represents a possible timeline. Think of the present as a ring through which these threads feed into. Once they emerge on the other side (the past), they are woven into an immutable cloth (string theory anybody?) which is frozen and cannot be changed.
So, you invent time travel. You decide to go into the future (you cannot go into the past) and follow one of the possible timelines forward. You get to the future, experience it and then come back to the past. You cannot go beyond even a micro-second from when you left. You can only return to your "present." By its very definition, that timeline that you just visited must wink out of existence before it is converted into the past because when you left, you had never been there and when you come back, you had. So of all possible timelines, that is the ONLY one that could never happen so it winks out of existence.
Say you are a resident of the future and somebody comes up to you and says, hi, I'm from the past. As long as they stay committed to remaining with you, there is no issue. You just need to wait until the "ring of the present" catches up to you and your timeline is committed to the immutable past. No problem. But what if the person was just there to get stock tips or horse race winners? If they go back to the past, you die. You don't just die, you never existed. There may be a semi-infinite number of alternate timelines where someone who looks very much like you still exists but the one thing that is guaranteed is that YOU will not exist.
So what are your choices? Just let the person go back into the past? That is suicide with no body to be discovered. The only other choice is to kill the time traveler so they cannot go back into the past. It isn't murder. It's self-defense. If you've ever seen the movie Looper, this is the exact opposite. In that movie, everybody who came FROM the future had to die.
Bottom line: if time travel is ever invented and you decide to travel forward in time, don't tell anybody you are from the past!
Let's think of time as a series of infinite threads stretching into the future. Each of these threads represents a possible timeline. Think of the present as a ring through which these threads feed into. Once they emerge on the other side (the past), they are woven into an immutable cloth (string theory anybody?) which is frozen and cannot be changed.
So, you invent time travel. You decide to go into the future (you cannot go into the past) and follow one of the possible timelines forward. You get to the future, experience it and then come back to the past. You cannot go beyond even a micro-second from when you left. You can only return to your "present." By its very definition, that timeline that you just visited must wink out of existence before it is converted into the past because when you left, you had never been there and when you come back, you had. So of all possible timelines, that is the ONLY one that could never happen so it winks out of existence.
Say you are a resident of the future and somebody comes up to you and says, hi, I'm from the past. As long as they stay committed to remaining with you, there is no issue. You just need to wait until the "ring of the present" catches up to you and your timeline is committed to the immutable past. No problem. But what if the person was just there to get stock tips or horse race winners? If they go back to the past, you die. You don't just die, you never existed. There may be a semi-infinite number of alternate timelines where someone who looks very much like you still exists but the one thing that is guaranteed is that YOU will not exist.
So what are your choices? Just let the person go back into the past? That is suicide with no body to be discovered. The only other choice is to kill the time traveler so they cannot go back into the past. It isn't murder. It's self-defense. If you've ever seen the movie Looper, this is the exact opposite. In that movie, everybody who came FROM the future had to die.
Bottom line: if time travel is ever invented and you decide to travel forward in time, don't tell anybody you are from the past!
November 30, 2013
The Algol
The Algol has been mentioned several times in these posts and figures prominently in Part 1 of Rome's Revolution. It is the ship that carried the 83-man crew to establish the star base on Dara in the Tabit system.
The Algol is supposed to be very futuristic. A sleek white, wasp-waisted starship but that is only in my mind. My drawing skills are lacking. This is the best I could do using Visio:
Pretend that it is beautiful. There were some modifications made to its basic structure. Two large pods were attached to the rear end which carried the fully assembled space tugs (MINIMCOM!) along with other hard-to-synthesize equipment. The containers themselves were designed to be split into two half-cylinders and one was used as the entry dock to airlock to the Algol. Once their mission was complete, the Algol would fly home in its regular configuration. Since I can't do it justice graphically, here is the last time Rei sees it, thinking it is Rome piloting the starship home:
The Algol is supposed to be very futuristic. A sleek white, wasp-waisted starship but that is only in my mind. My drawing skills are lacking. This is the best I could do using Visio:
[image error]
Pretend that it is beautiful. There were some modifications made to its basic structure. Two large pods were attached to the rear end which carried the fully assembled space tugs (MINIMCOM!) along with other hard-to-synthesize equipment. The containers themselves were designed to be split into two half-cylinders and one was used as the entry dock to airlock to the Algol. Once their mission was complete, the Algol would fly home in its regular configuration. Since I can't do it justice graphically, here is the last time Rei sees it, thinking it is Rome piloting the starship home:
Rei felt the ground shaking beneath him. At first, he thought it was another moonquake. He turned and looked back at the station. Off to his right, rising majestically above the rounded pyramid of the star-base was the Algol, pounding the dirt, whipping up the dust with its powerful EG lifters. The starship flew forward then executed a slow bank right until it came around and headed in his direction. He never realized how gigantic it was. The Algol was nearly half the length of the Ark II, but was much more graceful with huge thruster pods poised at the end of each airfoil. As it flew over his head, it waggled its wings. Rei raised his hand to acknowledge the gesture then stood by helplessly as it rose up into the air. After a short time, he saw it ignite the plasma thrusters and take off straight up. He watched it with tears once again welling up in his eyes as it became a tiny speck in the sky and then disappeared.Is this the last time we see this magnificent starship? Maybe not. I am toying with the idea of bringing Commander Ursay back for a guest appearance in the upcoming novel The Milk Run and if I proceed, it will be aboard the Algol.
November 29, 2013
The Robot War
You've seen me mention The Robot War several times in this space. It was a pivotal event in the world of Rome's Revolution. Here is the formal description of the event from the Wiki entitled The Science Behind the Science Fiction:
MASAL (the Master Logical Entity) used PPT Transceivers rather than EM signals as his communication between modules. This allowed him to grow very large and eventually span the Earth. MASAL controlled all the robots, vehicles, automated equipment and so on. After MASAL invented the 24th chromosome and the Overmind arose, MASAL's PPT Transceivers allowed him to become fully integrated into the Overmind .
MASAL's ultimate plan was to transform humans into living robots. He watched and waited and grew impatient. He instigated a series of disagreements with the Overmind and eventually forced the two to split. This precipitated a war. MASAL turned the robots into deadly weapons and slaughtered a tremendous number of Vuduri. Everything under his control was also used as weapon including airships, ground vehicles and so on.
Eventually, the humans prevailed. MASAL had taken his last refuge (or so the Overmind thought) beneath the Flatirons just outside of Denver. The Vuduri constructed huge PPT cannons and blasted out the mountains. The resulting crater was so huge, it is easily seen from the Moon with the naked eye.
In the aftermath of the war, the Vuduri banned the use of robots forever. Not in space, not under the sea, nowhere on land or on other worlds. A new type of computing device, digital in nature, was invented. Because they were digital, machines like OMCOM could never be integrated into the Overmind so they were permitted limited control of vehicles, starships and so on. With that control, a fundamental law was established: no computer could ever have access to a Casimir Pump or PPT Transceiver again. The fear was that with the vastly increased range of PPT Transceivers, even digital computers could become unleashed, a crime called Tasanceti.
Unfortunately for Rome, the Stareater crisis caused her to have to violate the law and she later paid for this crime by being banished from the Earth as seen in Part 3 of Rome's Revolution. To make matters worse, MASAL wasn't even dead although Rei and Rome eventually corrected that problem.
The novel Rome's Evolution brought the Onsiras and MASAL's Sipre (shadow) to a controlled end.
MASAL (the Master Logical Entity) used PPT Transceivers rather than EM signals as his communication between modules. This allowed him to grow very large and eventually span the Earth. MASAL controlled all the robots, vehicles, automated equipment and so on. After MASAL invented the 24th chromosome and the Overmind arose, MASAL's PPT Transceivers allowed him to become fully integrated into the Overmind .
MASAL's ultimate plan was to transform humans into living robots. He watched and waited and grew impatient. He instigated a series of disagreements with the Overmind and eventually forced the two to split. This precipitated a war. MASAL turned the robots into deadly weapons and slaughtered a tremendous number of Vuduri. Everything under his control was also used as weapon including airships, ground vehicles and so on.
Eventually, the humans prevailed. MASAL had taken his last refuge (or so the Overmind thought) beneath the Flatirons just outside of Denver. The Vuduri constructed huge PPT cannons and blasted out the mountains. The resulting crater was so huge, it is easily seen from the Moon with the naked eye.
In the aftermath of the war, the Vuduri banned the use of robots forever. Not in space, not under the sea, nowhere on land or on other worlds. A new type of computing device, digital in nature, was invented. Because they were digital, machines like OMCOM could never be integrated into the Overmind so they were permitted limited control of vehicles, starships and so on. With that control, a fundamental law was established: no computer could ever have access to a Casimir Pump or PPT Transceiver again. The fear was that with the vastly increased range of PPT Transceivers, even digital computers could become unleashed, a crime called Tasanceti.
Unfortunately for Rome, the Stareater crisis caused her to have to violate the law and she later paid for this crime by being banished from the Earth as seen in Part 3 of Rome's Revolution. To make matters worse, MASAL wasn't even dead although Rei and Rome eventually corrected that problem.
The novel Rome's Evolution brought the Onsiras and MASAL's Sipre (shadow) to a controlled end.
Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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