Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 178
April 12, 2013
Secrets Revealed - A new series
The upcoming novel, Rome's Evolution is going to reveal many secrets that have been withheld up until now. In fact, it marks the end of the Rei and Rome story arc.
My promise to you, the reader, is that at the end of that novel all the loose ends will be tied up with the exception of one: what the hell has OMCOM been doing out there all these years? The answer to that question will be revealed in the final book of the series entitled The Milk Run.
However, there are so many secrets, in-jokes, hints, backstories, etc. that don't fit anywhere so I will start laying them out in this space over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy them.
My promise to you, the reader, is that at the end of that novel all the loose ends will be tied up with the exception of one: what the hell has OMCOM been doing out there all these years? The answer to that question will be revealed in the final book of the series entitled The Milk Run.
However, there are so many secrets, in-jokes, hints, backstories, etc. that don't fit anywhere so I will start laying them out in this space over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy them.
April 11, 2013
Rei's Rescue - Rome's Story
In the original long form of Rome's Revolution, we saw Rei's Ark rescued from space. We also saw two white space-suited individuals (who we later found out to be Rome and Canus) help Rei in his re-animation.
One of the scenes deleted from the long-form was called "The Night They Recovered Rei - Rome's Story" but it is now in the archives. In this little story, Rome is much more "Vuduri-like" in that her mind floats free from her body. I decided to make her more "Essessoni-like" trapped in a Vuduri society so this had to go. Here is the story:
Rome didn’t actually sleep in the traditional sense. None of the 24-chromosome, mind-connected Vuduri really slept. They rested each night, of course; they had to. Their bodies needed the time to regenerate the same as all humans have since the dawn of mankind. Unlike their predecessors, however, it was during this quiet period that their minds soared within the Overmind, contributing to its growth, absorbing its extended senses. This meditation also served a second, more insidious purpose. All the private memories and sensations a person experienced during the day were spread and shared with the other minds within the group, effectively robbing those memories of their personal nature. Because of this process, when a decoupled mind was finally deposited back into the body, it began the next day cleansed of any vestige of individuality.
On this particular evening, during her assigned rest period, Rome lay perfectly still within her quarters on a mattress that molded itself around her body. Rome’s eyes were closed, her breathing was shallow but steady. Mentally, she floated free, using the minds of others to watch the recovery mission occurring in space over 100 light minutes away, almost 2 billion kilometers. Because the Overmind used gravitic modulation, the crewmen within the spacecraft were so close to Rome, cosmically speaking; it was as if she were right there with them during the operation.
Rome watched as one of the space tugs returned from recovering Rei’s sarcophagus, leaving the huge Ark II quietly alone in orbit around Dara. In anticipation of the tug’s arrival, the Overmind insisted that Rome’s mind return to her body. The Overmind was going to require her services so it declared her rest period over even though it was far too short. It did not occur to Rome to challenge the order. She arose and prepared to answer the call to duty.
In the current version, the explanation for why she was selected to reanimate Rei is more important than the how.
One of the scenes deleted from the long-form was called "The Night They Recovered Rei - Rome's Story" but it is now in the archives. In this little story, Rome is much more "Vuduri-like" in that her mind floats free from her body. I decided to make her more "Essessoni-like" trapped in a Vuduri society so this had to go. Here is the story:
Rome didn’t actually sleep in the traditional sense. None of the 24-chromosome, mind-connected Vuduri really slept. They rested each night, of course; they had to. Their bodies needed the time to regenerate the same as all humans have since the dawn of mankind. Unlike their predecessors, however, it was during this quiet period that their minds soared within the Overmind, contributing to its growth, absorbing its extended senses. This meditation also served a second, more insidious purpose. All the private memories and sensations a person experienced during the day were spread and shared with the other minds within the group, effectively robbing those memories of their personal nature. Because of this process, when a decoupled mind was finally deposited back into the body, it began the next day cleansed of any vestige of individuality.
On this particular evening, during her assigned rest period, Rome lay perfectly still within her quarters on a mattress that molded itself around her body. Rome’s eyes were closed, her breathing was shallow but steady. Mentally, she floated free, using the minds of others to watch the recovery mission occurring in space over 100 light minutes away, almost 2 billion kilometers. Because the Overmind used gravitic modulation, the crewmen within the spacecraft were so close to Rome, cosmically speaking; it was as if she were right there with them during the operation.
Rome watched as one of the space tugs returned from recovering Rei’s sarcophagus, leaving the huge Ark II quietly alone in orbit around Dara. In anticipation of the tug’s arrival, the Overmind insisted that Rome’s mind return to her body. The Overmind was going to require her services so it declared her rest period over even though it was far too short. It did not occur to Rome to challenge the order. She arose and prepared to answer the call to duty.
In the current version, the explanation for why she was selected to reanimate Rei is more important than the how.
April 10, 2013
Rei's Rescue - The problem with silence
In the stirring opening chapter of the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, the first thing you, the reader, encounters is the near-collision of a Vuduri space tug, just emerging from a PPT with the tumbling, out-of-control Ark II.
In every other science fiction movie, you'd hear the Red Alert, Collision Detector kind of klaxon to pump up the adrenaline, right from the jump. But the Vuduri have no need for klaxons. All of them are connected to the computers and various devices through their blece (display board) and stilo (stylus) which are data interfaces built right into their nervous system.
If I were ever going to make a movie of this, I'd throw the klaxon in anyway. I'd make up some excuse like it would be for mandasurte who were accompanying them and they just forgot to turn it off. I just don't think you can have an exciting near-collision without a warning siren going off in the background.
In every other science fiction movie, you'd hear the Red Alert, Collision Detector kind of klaxon to pump up the adrenaline, right from the jump. But the Vuduri have no need for klaxons. All of them are connected to the computers and various devices through their blece (display board) and stilo (stylus) which are data interfaces built right into their nervous system.
If I were ever going to make a movie of this, I'd throw the klaxon in anyway. I'd make up some excuse like it would be for mandasurte who were accompanying them and they just forgot to turn it off. I just don't think you can have an exciting near-collision without a warning siren going off in the background.
April 9, 2013
Beer on Helome?
One of the casualties of compressing the first three books into one was the excision of the beautiful little story about Silas Hiram. This story will return when the seventh part is published, working title The Vuduri Companion. This book will be a series of short stories and maybe even a novelette or two.
Many of the salient events of Silas' night were recounted in previous blog entries.
Silas Hiram 1 - Astronaut, Farmer
Silas Hiram 2 - Amateur Astronomer
Silas Hiram 3 - Tonight's the night
Silas Hiram 4 - Silas Sees Sol
Silas Hiram 5 - Excerpts from Silas' Journal - Rome's Revolution
One of the things Silas was known for was his beer. Because he was an Ag professor, he was allowed to bring a variety of seeds. He was sure to include barley and hops. In the little story, there were a few allusions to Silas getting really good at brewing beer and bartering with neighbors for wine, etc. In fact, the night "Silas Sees Sol" - he had a beer in his hand.
Unfortunately, Silas was either killed the day after his last log entry (from The Ark Lords) or consumed by the Piranha Rats but he never lived to see New Earth, later Helome blossom.
Years later, in the upcoming Rome's Evolution, Rei and Rome return to New Earth, now called Helome and during a social event, they are served beer. As it turns out, this was cultivated by the banished would-be Ark Lords, members of the Darwin Project, who had found feral crops of barley and hops. The fact is these were the descendants of the crops that Silas had planted. They had survived for 14 centuries and 17 waves of Piranha Rats and still thrived.
Many of the salient events of Silas' night were recounted in previous blog entries.
Silas Hiram 1 - Astronaut, Farmer
Silas Hiram 2 - Amateur Astronomer
Silas Hiram 3 - Tonight's the night
Silas Hiram 4 - Silas Sees Sol
Silas Hiram 5 - Excerpts from Silas' Journal - Rome's Revolution
One of the things Silas was known for was his beer. Because he was an Ag professor, he was allowed to bring a variety of seeds. He was sure to include barley and hops. In the little story, there were a few allusions to Silas getting really good at brewing beer and bartering with neighbors for wine, etc. In fact, the night "Silas Sees Sol" - he had a beer in his hand.
Unfortunately, Silas was either killed the day after his last log entry (from The Ark Lords) or consumed by the Piranha Rats but he never lived to see New Earth, later Helome blossom.
Years later, in the upcoming Rome's Evolution, Rei and Rome return to New Earth, now called Helome and during a social event, they are served beer. As it turns out, this was cultivated by the banished would-be Ark Lords, members of the Darwin Project, who had found feral crops of barley and hops. The fact is these were the descendants of the crops that Silas had planted. They had survived for 14 centuries and 17 waves of Piranha Rats and still thrived.
April 8, 2013
The Moons of Rome's Revolution
Moons, in general, play a part in each of the novels of the Rome's Revolution series. That would be Rome's Revolution, The Ark Lords and the upcoming Rome's Evolution.
In Part 1 of Rome's Revolution, most of the action takes place on Dara which is actually a moon of Skyler's World, a Jupiter-class gas giant. Dara is large enough to actually retain a thin atmosphere.
In Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome travel to Deucado. That world has two moons, Mockay and Givvy, both on the small side. I patterned them after Phobos and Deimos which orbit Mars. Their names are just a little joke: they are the Vuduri translation of Mickey and Goofy.
In Part 3 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome take a stroll along the beach underneath Earth's Moon before they are kidnapped by Onsira forces.
In The Ark Lords, our heroes travel to the world of Helome which has one moon called New Luna generally referred to as Nuna. In the original, uncut version of Rome's Revolution, we had already been introduced to that moon during the time we spent with Silas Hiram.
In The Ark Lords, on their way back from Helome, Rei and Rome actually stop and walk on our Moon to try and recover a space probe which had been parked on the far side.
In the upcoming Rome's Evolution, the Moon plays an important part as a celestial marker when Sally Reynolds is charting out Rei's future using her psychic powers.
Finally, while I cannot say for sure, I suspect when we explore the twin habitable planets of Nu2 Lupi in The Milk Run, I suspect there will be a moon or two or three involved.
In Part 1 of Rome's Revolution, most of the action takes place on Dara which is actually a moon of Skyler's World, a Jupiter-class gas giant. Dara is large enough to actually retain a thin atmosphere.
In Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome travel to Deucado. That world has two moons, Mockay and Givvy, both on the small side. I patterned them after Phobos and Deimos which orbit Mars. Their names are just a little joke: they are the Vuduri translation of Mickey and Goofy.
In Part 3 of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome take a stroll along the beach underneath Earth's Moon before they are kidnapped by Onsira forces.
In The Ark Lords, our heroes travel to the world of Helome which has one moon called New Luna generally referred to as Nuna. In the original, uncut version of Rome's Revolution, we had already been introduced to that moon during the time we spent with Silas Hiram.
In The Ark Lords, on their way back from Helome, Rei and Rome actually stop and walk on our Moon to try and recover a space probe which had been parked on the far side.
In the upcoming Rome's Evolution, the Moon plays an important part as a celestial marker when Sally Reynolds is charting out Rei's future using her psychic powers.
Finally, while I cannot say for sure, I suspect when we explore the twin habitable planets of Nu2 Lupi in The Milk Run, I suspect there will be a moon or two or three involved.
April 7, 2013
Stars (4): Celestial motion
A lot of my calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel. I used it to calculate travel times, the ages of people, the timing of sequences.
I even used it for mundane things like story outlines and page counts. It was very helpful in calculating how long it would take the VIRUS units to digest the Stareater.
One other program I used was Microsoft Visual FoxPro for celestial mechanics (see the upcoming post Moons). When I was writing Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, it was very important for me to know where each of the two moons, Mockay and Givvy, were at each point of the story. I used FoxPro to produce a full day's worth of illustrations of the relative positions of the moons.
The point being, I believe in the stories and I believe in the math. So when I do these calculations, their results force the stories to follow a certain pattern. I adjust the story to meet those patterns rather than the reverse.
That's the difference between science fiction and fantasy. One bends to truth to tell a story. I bend the story to tell the truth.
I even used it for mundane things like story outlines and page counts. It was very helpful in calculating how long it would take the VIRUS units to digest the Stareater.
One other program I used was Microsoft Visual FoxPro for celestial mechanics (see the upcoming post Moons). When I was writing Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, it was very important for me to know where each of the two moons, Mockay and Givvy, were at each point of the story. I used FoxPro to produce a full day's worth of illustrations of the relative positions of the moons.
The point being, I believe in the stories and I believe in the math. So when I do these calculations, their results force the stories to follow a certain pattern. I adjust the story to meet those patterns rather than the reverse.
That's the difference between science fiction and fantasy. One bends to truth to tell a story. I bend the story to tell the truth.
April 6, 2013
Stars (3): The Constellations in 2067
Part of the challenge of writing a book about the future and the arrangement of the stars is figuring out where everything sits. I used a program called Voyager III by Carina Software to figure out what the stars looked like from Alpha Centauri on the night Silas Hiram discovered that Alnilam disappeared.
I also used it to figure out the exact date of Rei's launch for the upcoming book Rome's Evolution. There is one chapter which is a flashback to Rei's "last day on Earth" which wasn't really. It was simply the last day before he entered quarantine. It was necessary that the stars be aligned so that Rei and Sally Reynolds could see Orion the Hunter and Cetus the Whale at the same time and also have the Moon be as close to Orion as possible.
I stepped through the days within the program and came up with the date of January 24, 2067. Everything was perfect. Rei went into quarantine and was cleared on February 23, 2067. The dehydration protocol lasts two weeks so Rei went into cryo-hibernation on March 11, 2067. He was placed aboard the Ark II on March 13 and they launched on June 24, 2067. There you go. Mark it on your calendar!
I also used it to figure out the exact date of Rei's launch for the upcoming book Rome's Evolution. There is one chapter which is a flashback to Rei's "last day on Earth" which wasn't really. It was simply the last day before he entered quarantine. It was necessary that the stars be aligned so that Rei and Sally Reynolds could see Orion the Hunter and Cetus the Whale at the same time and also have the Moon be as close to Orion as possible.
I stepped through the days within the program and came up with the date of January 24, 2067. Everything was perfect. Rei went into quarantine and was cleared on February 23, 2067. The dehydration protocol lasts two weeks so Rei went into cryo-hibernation on March 11, 2067. He was placed aboard the Ark II on March 13 and they launched on June 24, 2067. There you go. Mark it on your calendar!
April 5, 2013
The blog hits 100!
Wow. Time flies when you are writing about the 35th century. Yesterday was my 100th post on this blog and I haven't even scratched the surface!
I have been working on the world of the Vuduri since 1973... that's 40 years. So I guess it is only natural that I have a lot of back stories and information that doesn't make it into the books. For every element in the story that can be fact-checked, I spend 5 minutes or 5 hours researching. Whatever it takes.
For social or historical situations, sometimes, I have to write a 7, 11 or 15-page short story, just to create a one sentence comment in a scene. Like the Deucadons. They have been on the little world for 500 years. But how did they get there? It was a fairly lengthy and detailed story, just so one of the characters could say we only started with the clothes on our back.
This has been fun. Don't worry, I'll keep going. Thanks for reading and maybe someday someone will post a comment.
Mike
I have been working on the world of the Vuduri since 1973... that's 40 years. So I guess it is only natural that I have a lot of back stories and information that doesn't make it into the books. For every element in the story that can be fact-checked, I spend 5 minutes or 5 hours researching. Whatever it takes.
For social or historical situations, sometimes, I have to write a 7, 11 or 15-page short story, just to create a one sentence comment in a scene. Like the Deucadons. They have been on the little world for 500 years. But how did they get there? It was a fairly lengthy and detailed story, just so one of the characters could say we only started with the clothes on our back.
This has been fun. Don't worry, I'll keep going. Thanks for reading and maybe someday someone will post a comment.
Mike
April 4, 2013
Stars (2): Star Drives
The problem with writing science fiction about travel between stars is that they are so damned far apart. With today's technology, it would take thousands of years to reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star. So I had to invent a series of star drives to shorten the amount of time. I don't know about you but a novel about people sitting in chairs for two centuries doesn't sound all that interesting.
Obviously, in Rome's Revolution, the first star drive was the Grey Drive. It was proposed to have a top end of 5% of the speed of light which is virtually impossible. However, it does make computing the travel time fairly easy. You just multiply the distance between stars by 20 and that is the amount of time it takes to traverse that distance. For example, Tau Ceti is 12 light-years away from Earth. So the voyage of the Ark II was supposed to take 240 years.
The Stareaters were postulated to travel about 1/2c so you just divide the number of light years by two and that is the travel time.
The next star drive was that used by the Vuduri using PPT tunnels. The lowest end was 15c and the faster ships were capable of 100c. That meant that the time to travel between Earth and Tabit would be 26.18 divided by 100 which equals .2618 years or 95 days. That's how long it took the Algol to get there from Earth. Just a little over three months.
MINIMCOM was able to figure out how to force-project continuous PPT tunnels giving him a top end of nearly 1000c. That means the trip from Tau Ceti to Earth would be 4.4 days. In reality, the first time he made the trip, he was carrying Rei and Rome's flying house and it took him 8 days. Still impressive.
Finally, in The Ark Lords, we are introduced to the first generation null-fold drive which has a top end of 15,000c. This allows MINIMCOM to make the trip between Deucado and Helome (Alpha Centauri) in just about 8 hours.
In the final book of the series, called The Milk Run, we will see the next generation null-fold drive capable of 30,000c. It is so fast, it literally takes starships out of our universe. Where do they go? You'll have to wait to find out.
Obviously, in Rome's Revolution, the first star drive was the Grey Drive. It was proposed to have a top end of 5% of the speed of light which is virtually impossible. However, it does make computing the travel time fairly easy. You just multiply the distance between stars by 20 and that is the amount of time it takes to traverse that distance. For example, Tau Ceti is 12 light-years away from Earth. So the voyage of the Ark II was supposed to take 240 years.
The Stareaters were postulated to travel about 1/2c so you just divide the number of light years by two and that is the travel time.
The next star drive was that used by the Vuduri using PPT tunnels. The lowest end was 15c and the faster ships were capable of 100c. That meant that the time to travel between Earth and Tabit would be 26.18 divided by 100 which equals .2618 years or 95 days. That's how long it took the Algol to get there from Earth. Just a little over three months.
MINIMCOM was able to figure out how to force-project continuous PPT tunnels giving him a top end of nearly 1000c. That means the trip from Tau Ceti to Earth would be 4.4 days. In reality, the first time he made the trip, he was carrying Rei and Rome's flying house and it took him 8 days. Still impressive.
Finally, in The Ark Lords, we are introduced to the first generation null-fold drive which has a top end of 15,000c. This allows MINIMCOM to make the trip between Deucado and Helome (Alpha Centauri) in just about 8 hours.
In the final book of the series, called The Milk Run, we will see the next generation null-fold drive capable of 30,000c. It is so fast, it literally takes starships out of our universe. Where do they go? You'll have to wait to find out.
April 3, 2013
Stars (1): Cast of Stellar Characters
There are many stars mentioned in Rome's Revolution. Among them are Sol (the Sun), Alpha Centauri A (Rogal Canduro), Pi3 Orionis (Tabit), Tau Ceti, 86 G. Eridani, Chara (also known as Asteron), Nu2 Lupi and Alnilam.
Others were mentioned more or less in passing. These included Winfall (Lambda Aurigae), the four-star cluster of Capella and three made up stars: Mirdel, Vachedi and Amiro.
My next post will be about the mathematics required to compute distances and travel times. Even the layout of the constellations as seen from Earth on January 24, 2067 and from New Earth in 2137 had to be predicted.
The only major inhabited star system left unexplored is Nu2 Lupi. We will get our chance to learn about it in the next novel, The Milk Run. There you will learn that there are not one but two habitable worlds. One is very warm. The other is on the cool side. This star was the destination of Ark IV and you will find out what became of them. And, as promised, you will finally find out what OMCOM has been doing out there all these years. How are the two related? I guess you'll have to read the book!
Others were mentioned more or less in passing. These included Winfall (Lambda Aurigae), the four-star cluster of Capella and three made up stars: Mirdel, Vachedi and Amiro.
My next post will be about the mathematics required to compute distances and travel times. Even the layout of the constellations as seen from Earth on January 24, 2067 and from New Earth in 2137 had to be predicted.
The only major inhabited star system left unexplored is Nu2 Lupi. We will get our chance to learn about it in the next novel, The Milk Run. There you will learn that there are not one but two habitable worlds. One is very warm. The other is on the cool side. This star was the destination of Ark IV and you will find out what became of them. And, as promised, you will finally find out what OMCOM has been doing out there all these years. How are the two related? I guess you'll have to read the book!
Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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