Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 181
March 13, 2013
Deleted scene: Rome encounters art
In the original, unabridged version of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome take much longer to get to know each other. Rome was very cold to him at first. A lot of their initial interaction was cut out so that I could get to the action sooner. In this scene, Rei tried desperately to find out what happened the Vuduri's interest in art. He showed Rome a painting he had found. This is how it went:
“Why do we need those?” Rome posed to him. “Art? Music? We have outgrown their use. There is nothing lost that is required.”
“But there is,” Rei insisted. “Here, let me show you. I found it when I was going through the archives.”
Rei turned back to the view screen. He pressed a few icons and went back to a picture he had seen previously.
“Look at this,” he said.
Rome leaned forward and looked at the picture he was indicating. Her eyes widened then her stare became diffuse.
“Rome?” Rei asked.
She didn’t answer for a moment. Then her eyes focused again and she said, “This item has been catalogued. The painting is entitled The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dali.”
Rei replied, “I know that. I want to know what you think of it.”
Rome said, “He was a, your term is surrealist. He was from the twentieth century as measured by your calendar. This painting was created approximately 1970 AD. The picture was supposed to depict the thought processes of someone under the influence of a type of drug-induced double vision.”
Her eyes defocused again then she continued on tonelessly. “This painting was to be a celebration of his career combining elements of his homeland, an optical illusion and the nature of representation…” Rome stopped for a second. She focused on Rei again. “And his affinity for Spanish culture.”
“Rome, I don’t need a recitation of who painted it or why. I just want to know what you think about it.”
She shook her head. “I do not understand.”
“How does it make you feel? What does it stir up inside of you?”
She looked at the picture then back at Rei and let out a sigh. “Nothing,” she said. “I feel nothing about it. The painting is an aberrant use of colors and image progression. To you, it might be interesting, perhaps. I find it simply inaccurate. What is accurate is that nothing is stirred inside of me.”
“That’s my point,” Rei said. “Art is all about feelings. The artist conveys what he feels to you through his craft. Art has been around since man distinguished himself as a species over the apes. And that species no longer connects with you. You, your Overmind, you are different. You don’t feel things the same.”
She stared down at the painting again, blinking rapidly. Then she looked at Rei with a pained expression on her face. She looked down at the painting one last time and said in a very quiet voice, “I do not need to feel.”
Needless to say, it didn't go well initially. But much later, Rome not only learned to love art, she became an artist herself. She even built a studio in the solarium attached to their house on Deucado so she could paint in her spare time.
“Why do we need those?” Rome posed to him. “Art? Music? We have outgrown their use. There is nothing lost that is required.”
“But there is,” Rei insisted. “Here, let me show you. I found it when I was going through the archives.”
Rei turned back to the view screen. He pressed a few icons and went back to a picture he had seen previously.
“Look at this,” he said.
Rome leaned forward and looked at the picture he was indicating. Her eyes widened then her stare became diffuse.
“Rome?” Rei asked.
She didn’t answer for a moment. Then her eyes focused again and she said, “This item has been catalogued. The painting is entitled The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dali.”
Rei replied, “I know that. I want to know what you think of it.”
Rome said, “He was a, your term is surrealist. He was from the twentieth century as measured by your calendar. This painting was created approximately 1970 AD. The picture was supposed to depict the thought processes of someone under the influence of a type of drug-induced double vision.”
Her eyes defocused again then she continued on tonelessly. “This painting was to be a celebration of his career combining elements of his homeland, an optical illusion and the nature of representation…” Rome stopped for a second. She focused on Rei again. “And his affinity for Spanish culture.”
“Rome, I don’t need a recitation of who painted it or why. I just want to know what you think about it.”
She shook her head. “I do not understand.”
“How does it make you feel? What does it stir up inside of you?”
She looked at the picture then back at Rei and let out a sigh. “Nothing,” she said. “I feel nothing about it. The painting is an aberrant use of colors and image progression. To you, it might be interesting, perhaps. I find it simply inaccurate. What is accurate is that nothing is stirred inside of me.”
“That’s my point,” Rei said. “Art is all about feelings. The artist conveys what he feels to you through his craft. Art has been around since man distinguished himself as a species over the apes. And that species no longer connects with you. You, your Overmind, you are different. You don’t feel things the same.”
She stared down at the painting again, blinking rapidly. Then she looked at Rei with a pained expression on her face. She looked down at the painting one last time and said in a very quiet voice, “I do not need to feel.”
Needless to say, it didn't go well initially. But much later, Rome not only learned to love art, she became an artist herself. She even built a studio in the solarium attached to their house on Deucado so she could paint in her spare time.
March 12, 2013
The List of Aliens
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.
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.
March 11, 2013
The Five Arks and their command crews
I had sort of a set of rules when it came to selecting the command crews for each of the Ark missions. I tried to work in the last names of some real astronauts and occasionally, a character from the TV show 24.
Ark I - primary target: Alpha Centauri. Captain: Bill Allen
Pilot: Stan Linzersky
Co-pilot: Milo Shepherd
Ark II - primary target: Tau Ceti. Captain: Maury Keller
Pilot: Abu Fayed
Co-pilot: Mitch Alexander
Ark III - primary target: 82 G. Eridani. Captain: Dan Harrison
Pilot: Miguel Salazar
Co-pilot: Andy Cooper
Ark IV - primary target: Nu2 Lupi. Captain: Evan Rossler
Pilot: Sam Eberhoff
Co-pilot: Adam Goldberg
Ark V - primary target: Chara. Mission Captain: Brian Tomkin
Pilot: Emil Vostok
Co-pilot: Tom Glenn
Ark I - primary target: Alpha Centauri. Captain: Bill Allen
Pilot: Stan Linzersky
Co-pilot: Milo Shepherd
Ark II - primary target: Tau Ceti. Captain: Maury Keller
Pilot: Abu Fayed
Co-pilot: Mitch Alexander
Ark III - primary target: 82 G. Eridani. Captain: Dan Harrison
Pilot: Miguel Salazar
Co-pilot: Andy Cooper
Ark IV - primary target: Nu2 Lupi. Captain: Evan Rossler
Pilot: Sam Eberhoff
Co-pilot: Adam Goldberg
Ark V - primary target: Chara. Mission Captain: Brian Tomkin
Pilot: Emil Vostok
Co-pilot: Tom Glenn
March 10, 2013
Pal Boco is MINIMCOM
In the original manuscript entitled VIRUS 5, written in 1973, Rei Bierak was a petty bureaucrat in "The Destiny of Man" corporation. They were in charge of the Outward Bound program which was taking man to the stars. Each group would stage at a starbase (called Schuyler Base back then) until enough people arrived to spell them then the senior group left to find a new colony world.
Well, in Rei's case, he was the last group. They had found a better staging world farther out so they were shutting down the base. The starbase computer, OMCOM, was not happy about this. Sound familiar?
Rei had a best buddy, named Pal Boco, who was patterned after my brother Bruce. He had a dry wit and the occasional sour disposition but he was always there when you needed him.
In the modern version of Rome's Revolution, the whole dynamic of the situation was different so Pal Boco went away. Instead, a fussy little, humorless autopilot named MINIMCOM was fused into the airframe of a space tug with virtually unlimited storage memory and processing power.
Throughout Rome's Revolution and eventually, The Ark Lords, we saw MINIMCOM become self-aware, dry-witted and with the occasional sour disposition. But he was always there when you needed him.
I didn't know it when I wrote it but by the time I was done, I realized that Pal Boco had been reincarnated into MINIMCOM, the best friend Rei would ever have.
So thank you, Bruce, for the inspiration.
Well, in Rei's case, he was the last group. They had found a better staging world farther out so they were shutting down the base. The starbase computer, OMCOM, was not happy about this. Sound familiar?
Rei had a best buddy, named Pal Boco, who was patterned after my brother Bruce. He had a dry wit and the occasional sour disposition but he was always there when you needed him.
In the modern version of Rome's Revolution, the whole dynamic of the situation was different so Pal Boco went away. Instead, a fussy little, humorless autopilot named MINIMCOM was fused into the airframe of a space tug with virtually unlimited storage memory and processing power.
Throughout Rome's Revolution and eventually, The Ark Lords, we saw MINIMCOM become self-aware, dry-witted and with the occasional sour disposition. But he was always there when you needed him.
I didn't know it when I wrote it but by the time I was done, I realized that Pal Boco had been reincarnated into MINIMCOM, the best friend Rei would ever have.
So thank you, Bruce, for the inspiration.
March 9, 2013
Action, action, action!
When I first set about writing the modern version of Rome's Revolution, I really wanted to put my idea of consensus future history to work to build a kind of "you are there" story.
It started out with a beautiful little story about Silas Hiram and the first time he saw Earth from Alpha Centauri. This little vignette also introduced the idea of stars disappearing.
The next scene, the first to take place in the 35th century, was how the Vuduri discovered and rescued Rei's Ark. I think it was well written, evocative, cinematic and gave you a hint that you were in a new world.
The next chapter was Rei's awakening where you were as disoriented as he was and couldn't make much sense of what you were seeing. It introduced the concept of Rei's back pain and a hint of Vuduri technology.
It wasn't until Chapter 3 that we first meet OMCOM and start to learn about the new universe and the Vuduri language, the Overmind, etc.
Well, I made the mistake of showing those first few chapters to a professional writer and a professional science fiction writing coach. They both said chop this scene out, chop that scene out. Action, action, action!
In looking back, I regret that. I think the book is the book and people who have since read those deleted scenes said they were among some of the best written in Part 1. Well, after I am all done with Rome's Evolution and conclude the series with The Milk Run, I am going to go back and resurrect those scenes, along with others and put them all together in a book tentatively called The Vuduri Companion. Stay tuned.
It started out with a beautiful little story about Silas Hiram and the first time he saw Earth from Alpha Centauri. This little vignette also introduced the idea of stars disappearing.
The next scene, the first to take place in the 35th century, was how the Vuduri discovered and rescued Rei's Ark. I think it was well written, evocative, cinematic and gave you a hint that you were in a new world.
The next chapter was Rei's awakening where you were as disoriented as he was and couldn't make much sense of what you were seeing. It introduced the concept of Rei's back pain and a hint of Vuduri technology.
It wasn't until Chapter 3 that we first meet OMCOM and start to learn about the new universe and the Vuduri language, the Overmind, etc.
Well, I made the mistake of showing those first few chapters to a professional writer and a professional science fiction writing coach. They both said chop this scene out, chop that scene out. Action, action, action!
In looking back, I regret that. I think the book is the book and people who have since read those deleted scenes said they were among some of the best written in Part 1. Well, after I am all done with Rome's Evolution and conclude the series with The Milk Run, I am going to go back and resurrect those scenes, along with others and put them all together in a book tentatively called The Vuduri Companion. Stay tuned.
March 8, 2013
Whatever happened to OMCOM?
OMCOM played a very important role in Rome's Revolution. He was Rei's first contact with the Vuduri civilization. He was instrumental in getting Rome Cesdiud (cast out) so that she could override the Casimir pump restrictions in the memron fabricator. He invented the concept of the VIRUS units although he used the Socratic method to lead Rei to design them.
When the Stareater attacked Skyler Base and OMCOM transferred his consciousness into the mass of VIRUS units, he became what is now called Planet OMCOM.
He's shown up at various points via his null-fold relays. He guided MINIMCOM when he first became a starship. He supervised the destruction of MASAL. He supplied a clone to serve as the data storage device for Rome's library. He even told Rei and Rome they had to produce a daughter named Lupe in the next few years.
But other than those minor interactions, what has he been doing out there, orbiting the remains of Tabit for all these years? Nobody knows. And you won't find out until 2014 when the last novel in the series, The Milk Run, is released.
Needless to say, it will surprise you!
When the Stareater attacked Skyler Base and OMCOM transferred his consciousness into the mass of VIRUS units, he became what is now called Planet OMCOM.
He's shown up at various points via his null-fold relays. He guided MINIMCOM when he first became a starship. He supervised the destruction of MASAL. He supplied a clone to serve as the data storage device for Rome's library. He even told Rei and Rome they had to produce a daughter named Lupe in the next few years.
But other than those minor interactions, what has he been doing out there, orbiting the remains of Tabit for all these years? Nobody knows. And you won't find out until 2014 when the last novel in the series, The Milk Run, is released.
Needless to say, it will surprise you!
March 7, 2013
The Null Fold
In Rome's Revolution, OMCOM was able to communicate with Rei and Rome over a tremendous distance using what OMCOM called null-fold relays.
The null fold is taking the Casmir Effect and applying it to negative energy splitting it into "real" and "imaginary" negative energy. It boggles the mind. Anyway, "real" negative energy allows you to fold space geometrically, similar to a PPT tunnel which only lets you travel great distances algebraically.
In The Ark Lords we saw MINIMCOM utilize a null-fold star-drive to increase his effective velocity to 15,000 times the speed of light. This reduced the trip to Tabit from 7 days to 11 hours.
OMCOM also uses null-fold relays to communicate from Tabit to Deucado in real-time.
In the new book, Rome's Evolution, MINIMCOM finds new uses for the null-fold including stimulating neural growth allowing for regeneration of nerves that had previously been severed. He also uses the null-fold to activate PPT Transceivers that had been deactivated. The Vuduri had always assumed this was impossible. In theory, such a technique would allow Rome to reconnect to the Overmind of Earth, even though she had been Cesdiud on Tabit.
Imagine the possibilities!
The null fold is taking the Casmir Effect and applying it to negative energy splitting it into "real" and "imaginary" negative energy. It boggles the mind. Anyway, "real" negative energy allows you to fold space geometrically, similar to a PPT tunnel which only lets you travel great distances algebraically.
In The Ark Lords we saw MINIMCOM utilize a null-fold star-drive to increase his effective velocity to 15,000 times the speed of light. This reduced the trip to Tabit from 7 days to 11 hours.
OMCOM also uses null-fold relays to communicate from Tabit to Deucado in real-time.
In the new book, Rome's Evolution, MINIMCOM finds new uses for the null-fold including stimulating neural growth allowing for regeneration of nerves that had previously been severed. He also uses the null-fold to activate PPT Transceivers that had been deactivated. The Vuduri had always assumed this was impossible. In theory, such a technique would allow Rome to reconnect to the Overmind of Earth, even though she had been Cesdiud on Tabit.
Imagine the possibilities!
March 6, 2013
The Overmind's personality
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.
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.
March 5, 2013
Did Rome's Revolution really happen?
The tag line "This story is true, it just didn't happen yet" is meant to be more than simply clever. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was trying to construct a future history which was sort of a future racial (or species) memory.
I know it sounds crazy but I really believe it. There are so many instances where I threw stuff into the book for no reason, only to discover weeks, months, sometimes years later that made sense.
I have already given some examples. When Rei "recognized" Rome, I had no explanation of that until I started writing Rome's Evolution. I explained away no robots by inventing The Robot War which then merged beautifully into MASAL. MASAL, in turn, gave me the Onsiras which explained Estar. I wanted a villain in the Part 1 but never had a reason why she would want Rei dead.
The list goes on and on. The entire book The Ark Lords fell out of one reviewer's comments saying that Captain Keller and to a lesser degree the people in the front of the Ark II were behaving irrationally. I also had the random fact of The Great Dying which was always part of my "future history" but I always thought it was just a terrorist's attack gone wrong. All of the sudden, it clicked, the two events were related. BOOM! A new novel.
And finally, in a previous post, I discussed Rome's nightmare. I never had an explanation for her terrible dream until I was writing the end of Rome's Evolution. So either it is just the phenomenon of creating a consistent, uniform future history and people just behave consistently or... (and this is the explanation I prefer) ...these stories really are true, they just didn't happen yet!
I know it sounds crazy but I really believe it. There are so many instances where I threw stuff into the book for no reason, only to discover weeks, months, sometimes years later that made sense.
I have already given some examples. When Rei "recognized" Rome, I had no explanation of that until I started writing Rome's Evolution. I explained away no robots by inventing The Robot War which then merged beautifully into MASAL. MASAL, in turn, gave me the Onsiras which explained Estar. I wanted a villain in the Part 1 but never had a reason why she would want Rei dead.
The list goes on and on. The entire book The Ark Lords fell out of one reviewer's comments saying that Captain Keller and to a lesser degree the people in the front of the Ark II were behaving irrationally. I also had the random fact of The Great Dying which was always part of my "future history" but I always thought it was just a terrorist's attack gone wrong. All of the sudden, it clicked, the two events were related. BOOM! A new novel.
And finally, in a previous post, I discussed Rome's nightmare. I never had an explanation for her terrible dream until I was writing the end of Rome's Evolution. So either it is just the phenomenon of creating a consistent, uniform future history and people just behave consistently or... (and this is the explanation I prefer) ...these stories really are true, they just didn't happen yet!
March 4, 2013
Future History of Man
While I constructed an entire future history of the Earth and mankind, that is not what I am referring to. What I was thinking was just as history is a (more or less) common remembrance of past events, maybe somehow, as a species, we had a common remembrance of the future.
For example, we've all seen science fiction movies where all anybody wears is white, people talk in soft monotones, computers are always plotting the overthrow of man and so on. Staples of most futuristic societies have spaceships, transporters, aliens, rayguns and the like.
So I thought to myself that if I created a future culture that contained every stereotype of our future perception, maybe it would transcend being a rehash and maybe feel more like this really was how our future was. Then the characters could move about in a universe that everybody was already familiar without necessarily having to spell out every detail.
It got to the point where, when I did not have a future stereotype, I had to explain it. While the chapters in the book are not named, I had private names for each. There was one chapter called "Where are all your robots?" because that was a nagging question throughout the first three-quarters of Rome's Revolution. That is when Rome launched into her discourse about The Robot War which we learned later was actually started by MASAL.
For example, we've all seen science fiction movies where all anybody wears is white, people talk in soft monotones, computers are always plotting the overthrow of man and so on. Staples of most futuristic societies have spaceships, transporters, aliens, rayguns and the like.
So I thought to myself that if I created a future culture that contained every stereotype of our future perception, maybe it would transcend being a rehash and maybe feel more like this really was how our future was. Then the characters could move about in a universe that everybody was already familiar without necessarily having to spell out every detail.
It got to the point where, when I did not have a future stereotype, I had to explain it. While the chapters in the book are not named, I had private names for each. There was one chapter called "Where are all your robots?" because that was a nagging question throughout the first three-quarters of Rome's Revolution. That is when Rome launched into her discourse about The Robot War which we learned later was actually started by MASAL.
Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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