Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 160

Rome's eyes glow

Ever since I started working on the modern version of Rome's Revolution, I really wanted their eyes to glow. I thought it would be a cool effect and make the Vuduri seem somewhat alien. But why would their eyes glow? As a hard science fiction writer, I had to find a scientific principle behind it.

From a dramatic sense, the first thing Rei notices about Rome is that her eyes seem to glow, even in the dimmest light. So I postulated that the Vuduri have an extra reflective layer of tissue behind their retinas to reflect light forward. This completes the Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector, built into their eyes which gives them telescopic vision.

From Wikipedia: The tapetum lucidum (Latin: "bright tapestry") is a layer of tissue in the eye of many vertebrate animals. It lies immediately behind the retina. It reflects visible light back through the retina, increasing the light available to the photoreceptors. The tapetum lucidum contributes to the superior night vision of some animals. Many of these animals are nocturnal, especially carnivores that hunt their prey at night, while others are deep sea animals. Eyeshine is a visible effect of the tapetum lucidum. When light shines into the eye of an animal having a tapetum lucidum, the pupil appears to glow. Eyeshine can be seen in many animals, in nature and in flash photographs.

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Rei finds the effect mesmerizing. The Onsiras' Zengei (drones), half machine, half man, do not have a tapetum and their eyes are very dark, almost black. They are occasionally referred to as "shark eyes." The Reonhe are the "royalty" of the Onsiras and have one dark eye and one light eye. Estar, the villain in Part 1 and Part 3 of Rome's Revolution, is a Reonhe as is Sussen, the spy on Deucado who precipitated the crisis of Book 3. As you are well aware, Sussen returns in Rome's Evolution but is dispatched by none other than Bonnie Mullen herself.

Microcerpt

Rome's Revolution has found a new landing spot, a new web site that goes by the name of Microcerpt.com which is based upon a fascinating premise. No excerpt can be longer that 1000 words hence the name microcerpt.

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I have selected the nom de plume of romesrevolution to highlight my author's page. Shocking, huh? For some reason, the web site renders best in Chrome so if you have that installed, I would try that one first.

There seems to be a very nice, tight integration between Twitter, Facebook and Microcerpt so you can use any of your social media to connect. From the Media Director, Elizabeth Alexandra:

Let your network know that you are on microcerpt and give them the link...the more the better and it is a great way to build your readership. You can use it as your social platform by creating your own author group and get one on one contact with readers. The site has a lot to offer, just poke around to discover all the functions or send me a message. The Help menu has some good info on it too.

I have posted the pitch for Rome's Revolution, The Ark Lords and also Rome's Evolution as well as a link to the YouTube Trailer for Rome's Revolution.

I also posted the funny little scene where Rome finds out she is hot as well as the entire "not sex" scene between Rei and Virga. I also posted Chapter 8 of The Ark Lords so that people new to the site could understand the imagery on The Ark Lords cover.

Finally, if you want to check it out, you can connect via the Microcerpt Facebook page, Elizabeth's Facebook page and their Twitter handle is @microcerpt. I know they will appreciate your support.

Real life observational time travel

In many of the descriptions of Rome's Revolution, I discuss the concept of legal time travel. This is not such a bizarre thought. We have examples of this right in front of us. The Hubble Space Telescope had an instrument called the Ultra Deep Field imager but it was later upgraded to the eXtreme Deep Field imager. It was able to capture and focus on photons that were emitted only 50 million years after the Big Bang.

This is taken directly from NASA's eXtreme Deep Field web page so I take no credit for it. Here is what they say:

The universe is 13.7 billion years old, and the XDF reveals galaxies that span back 13.2 billion years in time. Most of the galaxies in the XDF are seen when they were young, small, and growing, often violently as they collided and merged together. The early universe was a time of dramatic birth for galaxies containing brilliant blue stars extraordinarily brighter than our sun. The light from those past events is just arriving at Earth now, and so the XDF is a "time tunnel into the distant past." The youngest galaxy found in the XDF existed just 450 million years after the universe's birth in the big bang.

Take a look at these images.





This is true observational time travel that exists now. Mind-blowing, isn't it? P.S. In my opinion, this destroys the validity of the Big Bang Theory. I mean, how could such beautiful and organized galaxies coalesce in just 500 million years? I'll leave that for others to decide.

Rome's Revolution - The Video Game

When I originally wrote Rome's Revolution, I was only thinking in terms of the novel that had been floating around my head for nearly 40 years. But once I started putting it down on paper (my video monitor, actually), only then did I realize it might make a good movie. Now I think it might make two or even three movies but I'd need help.

I think Part 1 stands by itself and has plenty of great cinematic moments. But Part 2 and 3, they could be combined if you were willing to let go of some of the more intricate pieces. But what about a video game based upon Rome's Revolution. Seems pretty ridiculous, huh?

Not really. I'm not talking about The Sims or Grand Theft Auto or Halo. I'm thinking more like an iPhone app like a competitor to Bejeweled or Candy Crush.

What would such a video game look like? How about these for ideas?

1. A 3D navigation of a space tug so that it can clamp onto the Ark II which is spinning in all three dimensions.
2. Navigation and jumping through a PPT tunnel such that you don't slice off the back part of the Ark.
3. Creating a three dimensional virtual camera out of the starprobes so you can focus on a distant event (e.g. a Stareater eating Winfall)
4. A Pac-man style game where Stareaters eat stars.
5. The user must assemble and deploy VIRUS units in time to consume an on-coming Stareater.
6. Some sort of running game where the user tries to avoid being smothered by falling blankets.

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You must admit that a Stareater eating stars looks a heck of a lot like Pac-man. I even mention it in the book. Well, I'm sure I can come up with more but it is intriguing, isn't it?

Planet OMCOM

When I first started writing Rome's Revolution, I had planned for OMCOM to be a major character. However, at the time, I was only anticipating writing one book. I had no clue that MINIMCOM ever existed, let alone would develop into a fan favorite. At the end of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM is left orbiting the remains of Tabit and contemplating his reason for existing. He makes guest appearances in The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution but that is all they are.

If you think back to how we left him at the end of Part 1 of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM's master design for the VIRUS units that eventually destroyed the Stareater was a fully functional memron per VIRUS unit . Because of the power of the exponent, the number of memrons exceeded then dwarfed OMCOM's original core structure. As a result, OMCOM acquired an incalculable amount of processing power. Because each VIRUS unit had a PPT Transceiver in it, OMCOM was able to build a support structure as wide as the orbit of the Earth. However, he allowed mutations to occur. Each of those mutations eventually resulted in an autonomous entity, thousands actually, that went off to parts unknown. There was still a tremendous amount of computing structure left. OMCOM decided it would be easier to manage the physical elements of his new form by coalescing into a spherical structure which eventually became known as Planet OMCOM.




The purpose of the mutations was revealed at the end of The Ark Lords but the actual results of the experiment will only be known when I release The Milk Run late this year or early next year.

OMCOM's "infection"

When I originally wrote the long-form of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM was a bit more morally ambiguous than he is today. He still does have an amoral streak about which Rome took him to task toward the end of Rome's Revolution in both versions.

However, OMCOM had not one but two excuses for his behavior. First off, OMCOM literally reprogrammed himself. He actually create a "virtual" OMCOM, gave it a clone of his operating system and made strategic changes. He then had a conversation with this phantom version of himself. This story was also cut out of the current version however it will resurface when I publish The Vuduri Companion next year. The other excuse OMCOM has was that he was "infected" with rogue memron units.

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Rei first noticed them (they are transparent and resemble vitamin E capsules) early in the story but his observations are rejected by both Rome and OMCOM at that point in time. However, as was mentioned the other day, memrons require power and that power comes from microwave irradiation. OMOCOM did note he required too much power: the total output required was too large by almost .1%. It also explained why his video feeds kept cutting out just as Rei was put in mortal danger for the nth time.

Here is the actual exchange when OMCOM admitted that Rei was correct in the first place:

     “I was infected.”
     “Infected with what?” Rome asked.
     “There were rogue memrons circulating within my core. They were distributed throughout my being. I could not be certain that any conclusion I drew was sound or compromised by what was essentially a computer within a computer.”
     “You mean those transparent memrons? The ones I saw in your core?” Rei asked.
     “Yes,” answered OMCOM. “I do not know how they got there nor could I be certain they were the only incursion into my logical integrity.”
     “How did they get in there?” Rei asked.
     “Wait,” said Rome.
     “Wait what?” asked Rei.
     “I think I know,” said Rome quietly.
     “Perhaps it would have been better had you informed me,” said OMCOM a bit acerbically.
     “I did not know at the time but I am reflecting back, early on, when we were at Skyler Base,” answered Rome. “I remember that during the original construction phase of OMCOM’s infrastructure, there was a short interval when I was fatigued. Estar volunteered to oversee the ongoing production of OMCOM’s starter memrons. I let her. She must have used that interval to create the aberrant units.”
     “That seems most likely,” said OMCOM. “I feel I should inform you that I did embark upon a purification process just before the Stareater arrived but there was no way for me to know if I was completely successful.”

OMCOM still has one more bad thing up his sleeve and that forms the basis of the plot of the upcoming novel The Milk Run but that's a story for another day.

Wires

From the moment Rei awakens in Rome's Revolution, he discovers that the Vuduri have eliminated the concept of wires. Now this is not so impressive as you think. Our society is trying to get to the wireless age. Think about WiFi, MiFi, 4G modems, Bluetooth, IR remotes, wireless phones, cellphones and so on. However, what we have not conquered is wireless power transmission. (Note 1: actually, Nicola Tesla did demonstrate wireless power transmission. Note 2: What a great iPhone app! Dial in and charge your phone over the airwaves? You'd make a million bucks.)

In the 35th century world of the Vuduri, they use similar concepts. As previously mentioned, the flat panel displays are wireless as are the data input surfaces, similar to our keyboards. Also OMCOM (and MINIMCOM for that matter) is made up of self-contained memrons. Each memron is a nano-processor and communicates in the exahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum with the central core. However, you will recall the total ban on any computer ever having access to Casimir Pumps so they need another source of power.

As mentioned yesterday, on Skyler Base, sitting on the moon of Dara, there is a central power plant. This power plant generates electricity and some of that electricity is actually conducted by power busses running underneath the station. But the memrons making up OMCOM's core cannot be connected to it. And they aren't allowed to have Casimir Pumps so what to do? The answer: each memron has a coil and thermocouple which collects microwave radiation and converts it into power. Rei was informed of this the first time he was in OMCOM's central core. The room was warm which was residual heat thrown off by the memrons.

Of course once OMCOM was unleashed and allowed to produce VIRUS units, they were self-powered and OMCOM was able to dispense with the central power generation. And as a starship made up solely of VIRUS (aka constructor) units, MINIMCOM has no need for power production for his airframe. He does use a regular PPT generator for larger electrical needs and eventually the null-fold drive.

In the upcoming novel, The Milk Run, you will learn about the Hyper-Null Fold Drive which has no upper limit on its speed. But that's a story for another day.

The Central Power Plant on Dara

In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, Rei spent much of his time wandering around Skyler Base on Dara, using his observations to clue us in on what is going on.

One of the things that got cut when the novel was compressed into an omnibus was Rei's description of the power plant. Here it is in its original form:

     The room was very warm and the air had a pungent smell, perhaps, ozone, that tickled Rei’s nose. Before him, he saw thick tubes, conduits and dense wires that split into branches which split into branches and so on back to the far wall. The whole scene reminded Rei of the capillary system in the lung and if the analogy held true, way in the back were the alveoli.
     He picked out one set of branches with his eyes and very slowly and very carefully followed it until he came to its final destination which was a shimmering stack of tubules or crystals. He couldn’t tell what it was.
     He walked over to the mysterious stack and reached up with his finger, but before he touched it, OMCOM shouted at him.
     “Rei!” OMCOM yelled from a grille mounted on the wall.
     “What?” Rei asked, pulling his finger back from the equipment.
     “I cannot see you but you should not be in this room.”
     “What do you mean you can’t see me?”
     “The video feed from this room has become non-operational. I only just now realized you had entered the room from the hallway,” replied OMCOM.
     “Why are all your video feeds failing?” Rei asked.
     “I do not know,” OMCOM replied, “but I do know that you should not touch anything in this room.”
     “What would happen if I did?” Rei asked as he backed away.
     “All around you are millions upon millions of Casimir pumps. If you touched the wrong place, whatever part of you came in contact with the fields would be transported to somewhere else on the moon.”
     Unconsciously, Rei started backing up, away from the stack. “I thought you couldn’t make PPT tunnels within a gravity well,” he pointed out.
     “You cannot make stable PPT tunnels in a gravity well. They pop out of existence too quickly to form a useful tunnel. But they still exist long enough to create a temporary distribution of positive and negative energy.”
     “So what do you do with it while it is split?” Rei asked.
     “The negative energy is dispersed in the atmosphere. It simply moves molecules from one place to another. It is fairly benign. If you do not touch it.”
     “And the positive energy?”
     “That is what powers this station. The collection tubes conduct the power to electrical generators and the power grid of this base.”
     “And you’re sure this isn’t perpetual motion?” Rei asked.
     “I am sure...

OMCOM convinces Rei to go back to his quarters and that's the only time we see the electrical generation station for Skyler Base.

Social Adjust-Mints

As I have mentioned several times, the idea behind Rome's Revolution started as VIRUS 5 in 1973. It was supposed to be a short story and I only had a manual typewriter. The fact is the story was too long and too complicated to develop a proper relationship between Rome and Rei. So I re-did their initial introduction, including a session with the Espansor Bands and left out the part about the Stareater.

In the revised story, Rei Bierak was part of a continually outward-leaping group that was pushing toward the edge of the galaxy. A better base of operations was discovered and they were abandoning Skyler (spelled Schuyler back then) Base. OMCOM was still around and still stuck and was going to be abandoned. The only thing that was of interest to OMCOM was the gravity wave detector whose construction was halted after it was decided to close down the base. Rei liked OMCOM so he allowed the gravity wave detector to be built. This was going to be the stepping stone to discovery of the Stareater in a sequel.

In the original Rome's Revolution, OMCOM was so grateful for Rei leaving him something to do that he decided to reward Rei by bringing Rome into his life. In a way, the basic concept is the same as the modern version. Rei Bierak was a long way from Earth. He ran into Rome (her last name was Sevenate back then) and OMCOM decided he wanted the two of them together.

They even used the Espansor Bands to "bond" quickly. However, this was before the concept of the Overmind was invented. So, instead, Rei and his peers used the "Social Adjust-mints" which were a series of pills acting as brain activity modifiers kept in a wristband. People were enslaved to them. They used them all the time to adjust their moods.

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Rome's people were escaping persecution from zealots back on their home world (Mintaka?) and were fleeing outward. When Rome came across Rei, she decided to show him that you could deal with life without using the 'Mints. That theme was the basis of the original Rome's Revolution.

This story, in its entirety, will appear in The Vuduri Companion to be released early next year.

My new "umbrella" site

For the last 278 days, I have been posting tidbits, ramblings, teasers and more for Rome's Revolution and I am always pointing you at one web site or another. But it occurred to me that I did not have an "umbrella" site where a person could go to see all the things I've written.

I started a Wiki which was supposed to be expandable to add in articles, reviews, interviews and so on. But all of these are so scattered. I decided the time has come to build an umbrella site. It is possible that this is the beginnings of my "author's platform" but I'm not 100% sure what it is.

Anyway, my incredibly talented web designer, Regina using the artwork from my incredibly talented brother, Bruce have now collected all of these disparate items and assembled them into a single place. I am calling it MLBPHD.COM which is my initials and my degree and it transcends Rome's Revolution or my CV or research publications or whatever.

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This will become the launching off point for listing the books, a brief synopsis, links to the book trailers and a direct link on where to buy the books. It will also be much easier to link in my blog (this blog), the Wiki, interviews, articles written about me or by me, reviews, my Facebook pages and contact info. In the last 8 years, it never occurred to me to give people a way to even send me an email!

This umbrella site (platform?) is expandable and you will see at the bottom some other books I have written as well as a link to my academic papers.

Anyway, take a peek and let me know what you think.