Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 2
October 17, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 10 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is the final part of Rei's interview, part 10 of 10.
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Rei: I have no clue. Like I said, sometimes he did things because he liked us. He always thought of Rome as his mother. And I was the first human being to ever treat him like a being, not machine. And we executed his plan to ascend to become Planet OMCOM. Maybe this was his way of saying thanks. I don’t know. And it’s not like I can ever ask him.
Interviewer: Do you find this upsetting? That he manipulated you so?
Rei: A guess to some degree. But I can’t change it now so there’s no sense in crying over spilt milk. And to a large degree, it has enhanced our lives. Let’s just say I am ambivalent but I don’t obsess over it.
Interviewer: You certainly have had your share of adventures. Was this something you were used to?
Rei: Hardly. My life back on Earth was as plain of a story as you’d ever want to hear. My first adventure was going to be shot to another planet. All we need was air, water and some soil to grow our crops. Never did I dream I’d fall into the hands of some mind-connected dispassionate people, meet the love of my life, fight an Overmind, have to tow my Ark halfway across the universe, vaporize an insane computer, stop a war, make friends with the Stareaters, have to fight my own people, almost get blown up, killed, suffocated, the list goes on and on.
Interviewer: How has all of this changed you?
Rei: when I first left Earth, I was nobody special. I am not a natural born leader. I was more of a competent follower, happy to complete my tasks. I was not a fighter. I was gun-shy from a love affair gone wrong. I won’t say I was a mess but again, I just wasn’t anyone special. Now, well now, I don’t take anybody’s word for anything. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I’m not a violent man but I’ll do whatever I have to, to protect the love of my life, Rome, and my family, mankind, life itself. I have dedicated my life to doing what is right and I now trust my own, internal moral compass to guide me.
Interviewer: You have just stepped down as Coordinator of the Galactic Union. That would imply that you are a leader.
Rei: Agreed. I said I wasn’t a natural-born leader. Those lessons were hard-won.
Interviewer: Anything else?
Rei: Yes. It’s an incredible universe. If it wasn’t for that accident with that asteroid 1400 years ago, I wouldn’t be here today. I am the luckiest man in the world, the galaxy, to have found my soul mate and a society that is blending the good parts of the old world and new. Meeting new species and reveling in our diversity. I am very happy to be alive and very happy to be here. It’s been an amazing ride, one that I could never have dreamed of.
Interviewer: Well, thank you, Coordinator Bierak, I mean Rei. It has been an excellent interview. I truly appreciate your insights into how we got here. The entire Union owes you and your wife a debt that can never be repaid.
Rei: It was my pleasure. But to get another take, you really should interview Rome. After all, it was she who changed Vuduri society forever. It was Rome’s Revolution.
Interviewer: I will absolutely do that. Thank you again.
Tomorrow: part 2 of Rome's interview
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Rei: I have no clue. Like I said, sometimes he did things because he liked us. He always thought of Rome as his mother. And I was the first human being to ever treat him like a being, not machine. And we executed his plan to ascend to become Planet OMCOM. Maybe this was his way of saying thanks. I don’t know. And it’s not like I can ever ask him.
Interviewer: Do you find this upsetting? That he manipulated you so?
Rei: A guess to some degree. But I can’t change it now so there’s no sense in crying over spilt milk. And to a large degree, it has enhanced our lives. Let’s just say I am ambivalent but I don’t obsess over it.
Interviewer: You certainly have had your share of adventures. Was this something you were used to?
Rei: Hardly. My life back on Earth was as plain of a story as you’d ever want to hear. My first adventure was going to be shot to another planet. All we need was air, water and some soil to grow our crops. Never did I dream I’d fall into the hands of some mind-connected dispassionate people, meet the love of my life, fight an Overmind, have to tow my Ark halfway across the universe, vaporize an insane computer, stop a war, make friends with the Stareaters, have to fight my own people, almost get blown up, killed, suffocated, the list goes on and on.
Interviewer: How has all of this changed you?
Rei: when I first left Earth, I was nobody special. I am not a natural born leader. I was more of a competent follower, happy to complete my tasks. I was not a fighter. I was gun-shy from a love affair gone wrong. I won’t say I was a mess but again, I just wasn’t anyone special. Now, well now, I don’t take anybody’s word for anything. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I’m not a violent man but I’ll do whatever I have to, to protect the love of my life, Rome, and my family, mankind, life itself. I have dedicated my life to doing what is right and I now trust my own, internal moral compass to guide me.
Interviewer: You have just stepped down as Coordinator of the Galactic Union. That would imply that you are a leader.
Rei: Agreed. I said I wasn’t a natural-born leader. Those lessons were hard-won.
Interviewer: Anything else?
Rei: Yes. It’s an incredible universe. If it wasn’t for that accident with that asteroid 1400 years ago, I wouldn’t be here today. I am the luckiest man in the world, the galaxy, to have found my soul mate and a society that is blending the good parts of the old world and new. Meeting new species and reveling in our diversity. I am very happy to be alive and very happy to be here. It’s been an amazing ride, one that I could never have dreamed of.
Interviewer: Well, thank you, Coordinator Bierak, I mean Rei. It has been an excellent interview. I truly appreciate your insights into how we got here. The entire Union owes you and your wife a debt that can never be repaid.
Rei: It was my pleasure. But to get another take, you really should interview Rome. After all, it was she who changed Vuduri society forever. It was Rome’s Revolution.
Interviewer: I will absolutely do that. Thank you again.
Tomorrow: part 2 of Rome's interview
October 16, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 9 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 9 of 10.
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Rei: Geez. Let me answer your first question first. Right after she accused me of carrying Erklirte weapons in the Ark. She was right about that, by the way. Anyway, she told me the jumpsuit I was wearing was ill-fitting and she was right about that, too. It was too tight. So I went back to the airlock where they were keeping my sarcophagus so I could pull out my flight suit that I had brought from Earth. Estar rigged it so that the safety interlocks and OMCOM’s video feeds crapped out at the same time and I got caught in an airlock cycle. I would have died if it hadn’t been for my sarcophagus. It had its own internal air supply. I jumped in and locked myself in until it was all clear to come out.
Interviewer: And her motive?
Rei: You know about MASAL, right? (The Interviewer nods). Well his master plan to create peace and order for all mankind was to remove our humanity. Living robots. So he created the 24th chromosome to convert humans, ultimately, into things he could control. But the change wasn’t happening fast enough for him so he triggered the Robot War to thin the herd. As certain recessive elements of the 24th chromosome began to express themselves, the group split off and they were called the Onsiras. Unbeknownst to everyone, MASAL was still alive and hiding beneath Kilauea in Hawaii. He was the Onsira’s version of the Overmind. He directed everything from his hidey hole. Anyway, the only thing that could stop his plan from ultimately converting all of mankind were the mandasurte. They could never be controlled. And worse, if they interbred with the Vuduri, the mosdureces like Rome, they would never convert either. So MASAL hatched this plan to slowly but surely kidnap all the mandasurte from the Earth and have them taken to Deucado. This was a 20 year plan and after 20 years, an asteroid was going to hit the planet and wipe them out forever. It was brilliant but the arrival of a ship full of Essessoni, people used to thinking for themselves and armed with the technology to do whatever they wanted was a serious setback to MASAL’s plan. So Estar figured she would just kill me, have the Ark destroyed and that would be that.
The problem was, she didn’t understand us at all. She did not truly fathom the concept that we could think for ourselves. So when she tried to suffocate me, I figured out how save myself. When she rigged our tug to crash into Dara, I was able to figure out how to jump past the moon until we could right ourselves. When we arrived at Deucado, the Onsiras had already taken over. My brave little Rome took it upon herself to convince the Overmind there to follow a new path. When we got back to Earth and were kidnapped by the Onsiras, they miscalculated. They had no clue that together, Rome and I are unstoppable. We defeated them and stumbled across MASAL himself. I sprinkled some weaponized VIRUS units on him and Rome delayed him until they took hold and we detonated Kilauea and vaporized him. When we came back to Earth looking for Aason, we defeated MASAL’s shadow and started converting the Onsiras back to humanity using the pills OMCOM gave us way back when.
Interviewer: That part I know. I did not know the pills were from OMCOM.
Rei: Oh yeah. OMCOM and his pills. He made a special yellow one for Rome and me. I don’t know why. He said it was to fix my back and it did but it also rewired our brains so that Rome and I and our children can communicate using EM transmission. We call it a cellphone in the head. He also connected my auditory center to my visual cortex so that I can “see” in the dark with a kind of sonar-vision.
Interviewer: Why did OMCOM do that? How did that benefit him?
Tomorrow, the final part, part 10
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Rei: Geez. Let me answer your first question first. Right after she accused me of carrying Erklirte weapons in the Ark. She was right about that, by the way. Anyway, she told me the jumpsuit I was wearing was ill-fitting and she was right about that, too. It was too tight. So I went back to the airlock where they were keeping my sarcophagus so I could pull out my flight suit that I had brought from Earth. Estar rigged it so that the safety interlocks and OMCOM’s video feeds crapped out at the same time and I got caught in an airlock cycle. I would have died if it hadn’t been for my sarcophagus. It had its own internal air supply. I jumped in and locked myself in until it was all clear to come out.
Interviewer: And her motive?
Rei: You know about MASAL, right? (The Interviewer nods). Well his master plan to create peace and order for all mankind was to remove our humanity. Living robots. So he created the 24th chromosome to convert humans, ultimately, into things he could control. But the change wasn’t happening fast enough for him so he triggered the Robot War to thin the herd. As certain recessive elements of the 24th chromosome began to express themselves, the group split off and they were called the Onsiras. Unbeknownst to everyone, MASAL was still alive and hiding beneath Kilauea in Hawaii. He was the Onsira’s version of the Overmind. He directed everything from his hidey hole. Anyway, the only thing that could stop his plan from ultimately converting all of mankind were the mandasurte. They could never be controlled. And worse, if they interbred with the Vuduri, the mosdureces like Rome, they would never convert either. So MASAL hatched this plan to slowly but surely kidnap all the mandasurte from the Earth and have them taken to Deucado. This was a 20 year plan and after 20 years, an asteroid was going to hit the planet and wipe them out forever. It was brilliant but the arrival of a ship full of Essessoni, people used to thinking for themselves and armed with the technology to do whatever they wanted was a serious setback to MASAL’s plan. So Estar figured she would just kill me, have the Ark destroyed and that would be that.
The problem was, she didn’t understand us at all. She did not truly fathom the concept that we could think for ourselves. So when she tried to suffocate me, I figured out how save myself. When she rigged our tug to crash into Dara, I was able to figure out how to jump past the moon until we could right ourselves. When we arrived at Deucado, the Onsiras had already taken over. My brave little Rome took it upon herself to convince the Overmind there to follow a new path. When we got back to Earth and were kidnapped by the Onsiras, they miscalculated. They had no clue that together, Rome and I are unstoppable. We defeated them and stumbled across MASAL himself. I sprinkled some weaponized VIRUS units on him and Rome delayed him until they took hold and we detonated Kilauea and vaporized him. When we came back to Earth looking for Aason, we defeated MASAL’s shadow and started converting the Onsiras back to humanity using the pills OMCOM gave us way back when.
Interviewer: That part I know. I did not know the pills were from OMCOM.
Rei: Oh yeah. OMCOM and his pills. He made a special yellow one for Rome and me. I don’t know why. He said it was to fix my back and it did but it also rewired our brains so that Rome and I and our children can communicate using EM transmission. We call it a cellphone in the head. He also connected my auditory center to my visual cortex so that I can “see” in the dark with a kind of sonar-vision.
Interviewer: Why did OMCOM do that? How did that benefit him?
Tomorrow, the final part, part 10
October 15, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 8 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 8 of 10.
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Interviewer: So she forgave you?
Rei: Yep. She knew, in her heart, it wasn’t my fault and she was as in love with me as I was with her. Her heart ached because I wasn’t even around. She couldn’t stay away. We made love again and she taught me how to use the Vuduri shower. She got dressed and left and when I was getting ready to leave, that was when OMCOM made his move.
Interviewer: What was that?
Rei: For OMCOM to achieve his long-term goals, he needed two things. First, he needed a Vuduri who was willing to mate a Casimir Pump to a memron which is a capital crime to the Vuduri. Well, he accomplished that by getting Rome Cesdiud. The second thing he needed was a reason to perform this act. So he planted an idea in my head about building these tiny star probes which were really just flying memrons which could communicate using PPT resonance. When the images from the telescope came back from Winfall disappearing, they didn’t have a lot of information. Only that the star dimmed then disappeared as opposed to winking out. It didn’t really get us very far. So that’s when I brought the idea of the star probes. I played right into OMCOM’s hands. The Vuduri bought it, hook, line and sinker because they had come to realize I was able to think out of the box.
Interviewer: What box was that?
Rei: It’s just a saying. The Overmind being a singular intelligence, could only come up with one, best idea and had nobody to debate it. And here I was this disgusting Essessoni who could think of novel things. The only problem was that doing what I suggested meant somebody had to commit this crime and that was my poor little Romey. She is so brave. When the time came, she did not hesitate to offer her services, even though it would eventually lead her to being sentenced to death.
Interviewer: Clearly that did not happen.
Rei: No. I’ll get to that in a bit. Anyway, she built these star probes and OMCOM was able to prove that they worked. They were able to form this lensless camera that could essentially travel back in time to view past events. Everyone, including the Overmind, saw that the concept was valid. But OMCOM claimed that he needed a ton more star probes to give sufficient resolution. So we came up with a solution to build a lot more probes a lot faster. That was when OMCOM decided to hypnotize me and plant some post-hypnotic suggestions.
Interviewer: And why did he do that?
Rei: You know, to this day, I really don’t know. I mean it saved my life and all but I think he did it because he could and he had computed some scenarios where it might come in handy. OMCOM wasn’t evil and some of the things he did to us and for us were beneficial. But I think it was only because it was in his best interest as well. Or maybe he did care. Who knows? Anyway, by this point, the plan was to take the two space tugs and tow my Ark to all the way to Tau Ceti. Rome suggested we use the opportunity to launch the pile of star probes and get me some practice flying a tug. Nobody had an objection. And then that goddamned Estar tried to kill me, us, for the second time.
Interviewer: Second time? What was the first? And what was her motive.
Tomorrow, part 9
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Interviewer: So she forgave you?
Rei: Yep. She knew, in her heart, it wasn’t my fault and she was as in love with me as I was with her. Her heart ached because I wasn’t even around. She couldn’t stay away. We made love again and she taught me how to use the Vuduri shower. She got dressed and left and when I was getting ready to leave, that was when OMCOM made his move.
Interviewer: What was that?
Rei: For OMCOM to achieve his long-term goals, he needed two things. First, he needed a Vuduri who was willing to mate a Casimir Pump to a memron which is a capital crime to the Vuduri. Well, he accomplished that by getting Rome Cesdiud. The second thing he needed was a reason to perform this act. So he planted an idea in my head about building these tiny star probes which were really just flying memrons which could communicate using PPT resonance. When the images from the telescope came back from Winfall disappearing, they didn’t have a lot of information. Only that the star dimmed then disappeared as opposed to winking out. It didn’t really get us very far. So that’s when I brought the idea of the star probes. I played right into OMCOM’s hands. The Vuduri bought it, hook, line and sinker because they had come to realize I was able to think out of the box.
Interviewer: What box was that?
Rei: It’s just a saying. The Overmind being a singular intelligence, could only come up with one, best idea and had nobody to debate it. And here I was this disgusting Essessoni who could think of novel things. The only problem was that doing what I suggested meant somebody had to commit this crime and that was my poor little Romey. She is so brave. When the time came, she did not hesitate to offer her services, even though it would eventually lead her to being sentenced to death.
Interviewer: Clearly that did not happen.
Rei: No. I’ll get to that in a bit. Anyway, she built these star probes and OMCOM was able to prove that they worked. They were able to form this lensless camera that could essentially travel back in time to view past events. Everyone, including the Overmind, saw that the concept was valid. But OMCOM claimed that he needed a ton more star probes to give sufficient resolution. So we came up with a solution to build a lot more probes a lot faster. That was when OMCOM decided to hypnotize me and plant some post-hypnotic suggestions.
Interviewer: And why did he do that?
Rei: You know, to this day, I really don’t know. I mean it saved my life and all but I think he did it because he could and he had computed some scenarios where it might come in handy. OMCOM wasn’t evil and some of the things he did to us and for us were beneficial. But I think it was only because it was in his best interest as well. Or maybe he did care. Who knows? Anyway, by this point, the plan was to take the two space tugs and tow my Ark to all the way to Tau Ceti. Rome suggested we use the opportunity to launch the pile of star probes and get me some practice flying a tug. Nobody had an objection. And then that goddamned Estar tried to kill me, us, for the second time.
Interviewer: Second time? What was the first? And what was her motive.
Tomorrow, part 9
October 14, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 7 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 7 of 10.
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Interviewer: I can clearly see that that episode passed.
Rei: Yeah. The Vuduri were there to find out why the stars were disappearing, what we now know was the Stareaters, but they had given up on the search and packed everything up when the very star they were there to observe disappeared.
Interviewer: That seems disappointing.
Rei: They were besides themselves. All that time and effort down the tubes. Ursay, the base commander, needed Rome to help try and retrieve some data. Well, Rome wanted nothing to do with the Vuduri either. She was so mad! I had to come and sweet talk her into helping them. Which she did. They were going over and over the star charts and that is when I noticed that Alnilam was missing.
Interviewer: Alnilam? I am not familiar with that name.
Rei: Yeah, it was the center star of the belt, in the constellation of Orion. OMCOM produced some journals, in English, that I was able to read and we were able to use that data to figure out exactly when Alnilam disappeared. OMCOM was able to compute that whatever was causing the stars to disappear was headed straight for Earth and would be there in three years. The Vuduri freaked out.
Interviewer: Freaked out?
Rei: They were upset. But it was right then and there, no matter how things were with Rome at the moment, that I realized I might have some value in this universe. While the Vuduri and the Overmind thought they knew everything, they clearly did not. In fact, I was the one who came up with the idea of simply flying a telescope up, faster than light, turn around and look at the light waves from event. That was why they were there in the first place.
Interviewer: That would seem like common sense.
Rei: Yeah, but that is one thing the Vuduri lack, or lacked. Common sense. They were so used to deferring to the Overmind to do their thinking for them and the Overmind didn’t think of that itself.
Interviewer: The Overmind, as I understand it, is very powerful. Why did it not think of that?
Rei: Because this particular Overmind was only made up of 80 Vuduri and quite frankly, wasn’t all that smart. And it had this plan of dispersing its equipment in a certain pattern and they had prematurely packed up all their equipment. That plan was shot to hell. All it could think about was going home with its tail between its legs.
Interviewer: So when you suggested an alternative, were they receptive?
Rei: It’s funny. I don’t know if the Overmind thought it was a good idea or not. But Ursay didn’t hesitate. I think his human brain, maybe there was a part that was not completely a slave to the Overmind. He immediately ordered a tug to launch with a telescope. It would take an hour or two but at least they’d have some data to work with.
Interviewer: And did they?
Rei: Yeah, eventually. Rome was still icy cold to me and it hurt to be around her. So I went back to my quarters to wait for data to come in from the telescope. I used OMCOM’s resources to learn more about this time period and the Earth. The more I looked, the more depressed I got. All that got interrupted when Rome came to see me.
Tomorrow, part 8
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Interviewer: I can clearly see that that episode passed.
Rei: Yeah. The Vuduri were there to find out why the stars were disappearing, what we now know was the Stareaters, but they had given up on the search and packed everything up when the very star they were there to observe disappeared.
Interviewer: That seems disappointing.
Rei: They were besides themselves. All that time and effort down the tubes. Ursay, the base commander, needed Rome to help try and retrieve some data. Well, Rome wanted nothing to do with the Vuduri either. She was so mad! I had to come and sweet talk her into helping them. Which she did. They were going over and over the star charts and that is when I noticed that Alnilam was missing.
Interviewer: Alnilam? I am not familiar with that name.
Rei: Yeah, it was the center star of the belt, in the constellation of Orion. OMCOM produced some journals, in English, that I was able to read and we were able to use that data to figure out exactly when Alnilam disappeared. OMCOM was able to compute that whatever was causing the stars to disappear was headed straight for Earth and would be there in three years. The Vuduri freaked out.
Interviewer: Freaked out?
Rei: They were upset. But it was right then and there, no matter how things were with Rome at the moment, that I realized I might have some value in this universe. While the Vuduri and the Overmind thought they knew everything, they clearly did not. In fact, I was the one who came up with the idea of simply flying a telescope up, faster than light, turn around and look at the light waves from event. That was why they were there in the first place.
Interviewer: That would seem like common sense.
Rei: Yeah, but that is one thing the Vuduri lack, or lacked. Common sense. They were so used to deferring to the Overmind to do their thinking for them and the Overmind didn’t think of that itself.
Interviewer: The Overmind, as I understand it, is very powerful. Why did it not think of that?
Rei: Because this particular Overmind was only made up of 80 Vuduri and quite frankly, wasn’t all that smart. And it had this plan of dispersing its equipment in a certain pattern and they had prematurely packed up all their equipment. That plan was shot to hell. All it could think about was going home with its tail between its legs.
Interviewer: So when you suggested an alternative, were they receptive?
Rei: It’s funny. I don’t know if the Overmind thought it was a good idea or not. But Ursay didn’t hesitate. I think his human brain, maybe there was a part that was not completely a slave to the Overmind. He immediately ordered a tug to launch with a telescope. It would take an hour or two but at least they’d have some data to work with.
Interviewer: And did they?
Rei: Yeah, eventually. Rome was still icy cold to me and it hurt to be around her. So I went back to my quarters to wait for data to come in from the telescope. I used OMCOM’s resources to learn more about this time period and the Earth. The more I looked, the more depressed I got. All that got interrupted when Rome came to see me.
Tomorrow, part 8
October 13, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 6 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 6 of 10.
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Rei: The result is where we are today. His new way of thinking allowed him to predict the coming of the Stareaters. And he deduced that MASAL was still alive. And that he needed more computing power to figure out more stuff. All of this led to him realizing he had to manipulate Rome and me to get him what he needed, a planet-sized mass of Casimir Pump-based memrons.
Interviewer: How did he accomplish this?
Rei: He computed all chain of events that led backwards to a singular act. And that act was getting Rome tossed out of the Overmind. They call it Cesdiud.
Interviewer: And it worked?
Rei: Yeah, it worked. You have to understand, here I was, this dope from the 21st century, flung into the 35th century and I quickly learned I knew nothing. Less than nothing. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. I met this girl, Rome, she was really cute but kind of cold. Everything around me was bland and dull. But the Vuduri technology was incredible and nearly incomprehensible. When I was growing up, I read a lot of science fiction, speculative novels, and I guess that kind of got me ready for what could happen in the future. So maybe I was a little better prepared to accept all the changes. But the people! Everybody hated me without ever having met me.
Interviewer: Why did they hate you?
Rei: It wasn’t me personally. It was everyone from my generation, the Garacei Ti Essessoni, we were responsible for the near extinction of mankind and ruining the Earth. Plus the bozos that created the Ark program sent one Ark full of soldiers and criminals back to the Earth to try and conquer what was left. Those were the Erklirte, the Ark Lords. My people had a long and sad history and the Vuduri resented us.
Interviewer: Clearly that is not the case today. What changed things?
Rei: Well, Rome took me to her room and put these bands, called Espansors, on our heads so she could read my mind, me being mandasurte, mind-deaf and all. But when she went in there, she saw all the things I described to you. The ruined Earth. She saw who I was at the core. And I got to see into her mind as well. She is a really and truly a wonderful girl, a wonderful woman, who was tortured her whole life by having to act one way but feeling another. Something happened. The bands unlocked something in her. She pushed against their restraints so hard that they malfunctioned. She was able to penetrate my essence, down to my very soul. And I got to do the same. And to our shock and delight, despite that fact that I had come 26 light-years and 14 centuries to meet her, we found out we were soulmates. We were destined to be together. At that instant, she became the love of my life. And today, I love her more than ever. She is so good and earnest and smart and caring. You will never find a finer specimen of humanity than my Rome.
Interviewer: That sounds very nice.
Rei: It was for a short time. But old OMCOM had plans for us. I am not embarrassed to say but the end result of the experience is that we made love and fell asleep. When we woke up, Rome was cast out. She was so distraught; she threw me out of her room and it was clear she never wanted to see me again. Can you imagine, you find the girl of your dreams, your soulmate and boom, she wants nothing to do with you? Boy did that hurt.
Tomorrow, part 7
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Rei: The result is where we are today. His new way of thinking allowed him to predict the coming of the Stareaters. And he deduced that MASAL was still alive. And that he needed more computing power to figure out more stuff. All of this led to him realizing he had to manipulate Rome and me to get him what he needed, a planet-sized mass of Casimir Pump-based memrons.
Interviewer: How did he accomplish this?
Rei: He computed all chain of events that led backwards to a singular act. And that act was getting Rome tossed out of the Overmind. They call it Cesdiud.
Interviewer: And it worked?
Rei: Yeah, it worked. You have to understand, here I was, this dope from the 21st century, flung into the 35th century and I quickly learned I knew nothing. Less than nothing. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. I met this girl, Rome, she was really cute but kind of cold. Everything around me was bland and dull. But the Vuduri technology was incredible and nearly incomprehensible. When I was growing up, I read a lot of science fiction, speculative novels, and I guess that kind of got me ready for what could happen in the future. So maybe I was a little better prepared to accept all the changes. But the people! Everybody hated me without ever having met me.
Interviewer: Why did they hate you?
Rei: It wasn’t me personally. It was everyone from my generation, the Garacei Ti Essessoni, we were responsible for the near extinction of mankind and ruining the Earth. Plus the bozos that created the Ark program sent one Ark full of soldiers and criminals back to the Earth to try and conquer what was left. Those were the Erklirte, the Ark Lords. My people had a long and sad history and the Vuduri resented us.
Interviewer: Clearly that is not the case today. What changed things?
Rei: Well, Rome took me to her room and put these bands, called Espansors, on our heads so she could read my mind, me being mandasurte, mind-deaf and all. But when she went in there, she saw all the things I described to you. The ruined Earth. She saw who I was at the core. And I got to see into her mind as well. She is a really and truly a wonderful girl, a wonderful woman, who was tortured her whole life by having to act one way but feeling another. Something happened. The bands unlocked something in her. She pushed against their restraints so hard that they malfunctioned. She was able to penetrate my essence, down to my very soul. And I got to do the same. And to our shock and delight, despite that fact that I had come 26 light-years and 14 centuries to meet her, we found out we were soulmates. We were destined to be together. At that instant, she became the love of my life. And today, I love her more than ever. She is so good and earnest and smart and caring. You will never find a finer specimen of humanity than my Rome.
Interviewer: That sounds very nice.
Rei: It was for a short time. But old OMCOM had plans for us. I am not embarrassed to say but the end result of the experience is that we made love and fell asleep. When we woke up, Rome was cast out. She was so distraught; she threw me out of her room and it was clear she never wanted to see me again. Can you imagine, you find the girl of your dreams, your soulmate and boom, she wants nothing to do with you? Boy did that hurt.
Tomorrow, part 7
October 12, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 5 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 5 of 10.
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Rei: So anyway, Vuduri society has a strict caste system. There are the pure-blooded, dual pair of 24-chromosome devotees of the Overmind. They consider themselves “true” Vuduri. At the other end of the spectrum are the 23-chromosome mandasurte. The Vuduri call them mind-deaf. They are at best second-class citizens. Most Vuduri, if you pressed them, would say they aren’t even really human.
Interviewer: This is somewhat surprising. Does that still go on today?
Rei: Oh, no. My wife, she pretty much reshaped Vuduri society. They call it Rome’s Revolution. Anyway, everybody gets along today. No issues.
Interviewer: But back then?
Rei: Yeah. Rome’s mother was Vuduri and Rome’s father was mandasurte. So Rome was what they called a mosdurece, a half-blood. So she was tolerated but looked down upon by the “real” Vuduri. That’s what made her expendable.
(The Interviewer pauses to consider this for a moment)
Interviewer: Continue, please.
Rei: Anyway, they got me up, dressed me, took some blood and gave me a little time to recover while they made sure I wasn’t some disease-ridden wretch. That was when I met OMCOM for the first time.
Interviewer: Planet OMCOM? I have heard of him.
Rei: No. This was before he became planet OMCOM. This was back when he was just the base computer. Or has he liked to say, a glorified thermostat.
Interviewer: That seems a bit of a stretch.
Rei: It was. OMCOM was so vastly overpowered as to how he was being used. The Vuduri built him that way because they didn’t know what was coming and couldn’t take a chance on not having enough computing power when the time came. Well, old OMCOM was bored out of his gourd. He decided he was going to pre-compute every possibility in the universe every day so that when somebody asked him a question, he already had the answer ready.
Interviewer: That seems a bit ambitious. Precomputing all of reality?
Rei: Of course. And patently impossible. When the Ark came along, OMCOM was furious that he had not foreseen this and decided to do something about it.
Interviewer: What did he do?
Rei: Something that you or I would never do. He performed experiments on himself, to come up with a better operating system that would better predict future realities. When he came up with what he considered the best, he reprogrammed himself.
Interviewer: Was that not a bit reckless?
Rei: Sure. But he was a computer, not an organic being. It was in his nature.
Interviewer: What was the result?
Tomorrow, part 6
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Rei: So anyway, Vuduri society has a strict caste system. There are the pure-blooded, dual pair of 24-chromosome devotees of the Overmind. They consider themselves “true” Vuduri. At the other end of the spectrum are the 23-chromosome mandasurte. The Vuduri call them mind-deaf. They are at best second-class citizens. Most Vuduri, if you pressed them, would say they aren’t even really human.
Interviewer: This is somewhat surprising. Does that still go on today?
Rei: Oh, no. My wife, she pretty much reshaped Vuduri society. They call it Rome’s Revolution. Anyway, everybody gets along today. No issues.
Interviewer: But back then?
Rei: Yeah. Rome’s mother was Vuduri and Rome’s father was mandasurte. So Rome was what they called a mosdurece, a half-blood. So she was tolerated but looked down upon by the “real” Vuduri. That’s what made her expendable.
(The Interviewer pauses to consider this for a moment)
Interviewer: Continue, please.
Rei: Anyway, they got me up, dressed me, took some blood and gave me a little time to recover while they made sure I wasn’t some disease-ridden wretch. That was when I met OMCOM for the first time.
Interviewer: Planet OMCOM? I have heard of him.
Rei: No. This was before he became planet OMCOM. This was back when he was just the base computer. Or has he liked to say, a glorified thermostat.
Interviewer: That seems a bit of a stretch.
Rei: It was. OMCOM was so vastly overpowered as to how he was being used. The Vuduri built him that way because they didn’t know what was coming and couldn’t take a chance on not having enough computing power when the time came. Well, old OMCOM was bored out of his gourd. He decided he was going to pre-compute every possibility in the universe every day so that when somebody asked him a question, he already had the answer ready.
Interviewer: That seems a bit ambitious. Precomputing all of reality?
Rei: Of course. And patently impossible. When the Ark came along, OMCOM was furious that he had not foreseen this and decided to do something about it.
Interviewer: What did he do?
Rei: Something that you or I would never do. He performed experiments on himself, to come up with a better operating system that would better predict future realities. When he came up with what he considered the best, he reprogrammed himself.
Interviewer: Was that not a bit reckless?
Rei: Sure. But he was a computer, not an organic being. It was in his nature.
Interviewer: What was the result?
Tomorrow, part 6
October 11, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 4 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 4 of 10.
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Interviewer: So you really were not aware of the passage of time? You did not know how long you were asleep?
Rei: I apologize for not knowing your physiology intimately but does your species sleep?
Interviewer: Yes.
Rei: And when you wake up, are you perfectly aware of how long you were asleep?
Interviewer: Only in the most general sense. Environmental cues and all.
Rei: Do you use anesthesia during surgery?
Interviewer: Of course. (The interviewer raises a tendril) I understand. By its very nature, the sleeping being cannot be marking the passage of time. Otherwise it wasn’t truly asleep.
Rei: There you go. Anyway, the Vuduri had selected me at random for their study and started the resuscitation cycle. The hyper-oxygenated fluid drained away and the defibrillator fired and started my heart on the first try.
Interviewer: That sounds good
Rei: In theory, yes. In practice, no. The sensors that provided feedback to the machine were dead. So it didn’t know my heart was already beating so it fired again, way stronger this time.
Interviewer: Shocking an already beating heart. What did that do?
Rei: It’s a good thing I was young and strong. I survived. But the stupid thing was ramping up to zap me again and that third time would have killed me for sure so I mustered up enough strength to pull off the defib pads.
Interviewer: Since you are here and we are talking, I assume this worked.
Rei: Yeah. It burned my fingers but at least I was alive.
Interviewer: So then what happened?
Rei: The two Vuduri assigned to awaken me… Canus because he was sort of a medic and Rome because she was, uh, expendable…
Interviewer: Expendable?
Rei: My species has a lot of flaws. Again, it probably goes back to our caveman roots. One of those traits is bigotry. Us versus them. It has always been comforting that you were part of a group and that group was amassed to fend off other groups. You learned to hate those other groups. When I was growing up, it was race, the color of your skin, or your religious background, or your sexual orientation. All of these led to hatred.
(Interviewer shakes its head)
Interviewer: This is one trait that we do not seem to have in common. As a species, we always felt part of the one. When the Union made First Contact, we did not have any fear of them and thus no hatred.
Rei: Yes, I know. I’m always happy when First Contact goes well. It doesn’t always, you know.
Interviewer: I am aware.
Tomorrow, part 5
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Interviewer: So you really were not aware of the passage of time? You did not know how long you were asleep?
Rei: I apologize for not knowing your physiology intimately but does your species sleep?
Interviewer: Yes.
Rei: And when you wake up, are you perfectly aware of how long you were asleep?
Interviewer: Only in the most general sense. Environmental cues and all.
Rei: Do you use anesthesia during surgery?
Interviewer: Of course. (The interviewer raises a tendril) I understand. By its very nature, the sleeping being cannot be marking the passage of time. Otherwise it wasn’t truly asleep.
Rei: There you go. Anyway, the Vuduri had selected me at random for their study and started the resuscitation cycle. The hyper-oxygenated fluid drained away and the defibrillator fired and started my heart on the first try.
Interviewer: That sounds good
Rei: In theory, yes. In practice, no. The sensors that provided feedback to the machine were dead. So it didn’t know my heart was already beating so it fired again, way stronger this time.
Interviewer: Shocking an already beating heart. What did that do?
Rei: It’s a good thing I was young and strong. I survived. But the stupid thing was ramping up to zap me again and that third time would have killed me for sure so I mustered up enough strength to pull off the defib pads.
Interviewer: Since you are here and we are talking, I assume this worked.
Rei: Yeah. It burned my fingers but at least I was alive.
Interviewer: So then what happened?
Rei: The two Vuduri assigned to awaken me… Canus because he was sort of a medic and Rome because she was, uh, expendable…
Interviewer: Expendable?
Rei: My species has a lot of flaws. Again, it probably goes back to our caveman roots. One of those traits is bigotry. Us versus them. It has always been comforting that you were part of a group and that group was amassed to fend off other groups. You learned to hate those other groups. When I was growing up, it was race, the color of your skin, or your religious background, or your sexual orientation. All of these led to hatred.
(Interviewer shakes its head)
Interviewer: This is one trait that we do not seem to have in common. As a species, we always felt part of the one. When the Union made First Contact, we did not have any fear of them and thus no hatred.
Rei: Yes, I know. I’m always happy when First Contact goes well. It doesn’t always, you know.
Interviewer: I am aware.
Tomorrow, part 5
October 10, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 3 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 3 of 10.
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Rei: We had some. I was being a little bit dramatic. But most of the money was accumulated and hoarded by a tiny, tiny percentage of the population that the vast majority toiled away in abject poverty. Even the smallest comfort items were hard to come by.
Interviewer: Why did so few have so much? Why did they not share their, money, with everyone else?
Rei: Because humans are greedy. It comes from our caveman ancestors where resources were so hard to come by. As we developed as a species, we also developed the attitude that if some is good, more is better. And some got very good at acquiring while the rest were left to rot.
(Interviewer shakes their head)
Interviewer: Anything else?
Rei: Yes, it’s a whole laundry list. Terrorists were everywhere…
Interviewer: Terrorists?
Rei: Yes, people who were so fed up with things that they felt they could only change the status quo by overthrowing the whole system. And they did this by killing people at random. Everywhere. Using every means available. Death, disease, mass destruction, whatever it took. When I first awoke in the 35th century, when I heard about the Great Dying, I figured it was some terrorist had finally succeeded. It wasn’t until years later that we figured out that it was Darwin and the Ark Lords who had done it.
Interviewer: Pardon me but I do not see the distinction. A group used mass destruction to overthrow the system as you call it.
Rei: You’re right. They were just government-sanctioned terrorists. (Rei leans forward). Look, we’re a flawed species. We are trying to get better. To grow up. But growing up has its bumps and bruises.
Interviewer: I cannot claim innocence here. Our species had its dark times as well. I understand your main point. So you were chosen to be part of the Ark program?
Rei: Yeah. It took some doing but I got on Ark II. Destination Tau Ceti. Ha.
Interviewer: I do see the irony in your statement. What was the process like?
Rei: Preparing for cryo-hibernation was horrible. It was grueling. They gave us next to no liquids and diuretics for two weeks until we were so dehydrated, we were half-dead. In fact, when they were developing the protocols for the process, a bunch of people did die.
Interviewer: How long did this go on?
Rei: For me, about two weeks. They continually tested your cellular density and when there was sufficient room for expansion so that your cells wouldn’t burst upon being frozen, they put you in a sarcophagus and dumped hyper-oxygenated cryo-hibernation fluid over you and froze you.
Interviewer: That sounds painful.
Rei: Actually, they drugged us so that even though it was excruciating, our brains didn’t even register the full horror of it all. The next thing I knew, I was awake, as it turns out, in the 35th century.
Tomorrow, part 4
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Rei: We had some. I was being a little bit dramatic. But most of the money was accumulated and hoarded by a tiny, tiny percentage of the population that the vast majority toiled away in abject poverty. Even the smallest comfort items were hard to come by.
Interviewer: Why did so few have so much? Why did they not share their, money, with everyone else?
Rei: Because humans are greedy. It comes from our caveman ancestors where resources were so hard to come by. As we developed as a species, we also developed the attitude that if some is good, more is better. And some got very good at acquiring while the rest were left to rot.
(Interviewer shakes their head)
Interviewer: Anything else?
Rei: Yes, it’s a whole laundry list. Terrorists were everywhere…
Interviewer: Terrorists?
Rei: Yes, people who were so fed up with things that they felt they could only change the status quo by overthrowing the whole system. And they did this by killing people at random. Everywhere. Using every means available. Death, disease, mass destruction, whatever it took. When I first awoke in the 35th century, when I heard about the Great Dying, I figured it was some terrorist had finally succeeded. It wasn’t until years later that we figured out that it was Darwin and the Ark Lords who had done it.
Interviewer: Pardon me but I do not see the distinction. A group used mass destruction to overthrow the system as you call it.
Rei: You’re right. They were just government-sanctioned terrorists. (Rei leans forward). Look, we’re a flawed species. We are trying to get better. To grow up. But growing up has its bumps and bruises.
Interviewer: I cannot claim innocence here. Our species had its dark times as well. I understand your main point. So you were chosen to be part of the Ark program?
Rei: Yeah. It took some doing but I got on Ark II. Destination Tau Ceti. Ha.
Interviewer: I do see the irony in your statement. What was the process like?
Rei: Preparing for cryo-hibernation was horrible. It was grueling. They gave us next to no liquids and diuretics for two weeks until we were so dehydrated, we were half-dead. In fact, when they were developing the protocols for the process, a bunch of people did die.
Interviewer: How long did this go on?
Rei: For me, about two weeks. They continually tested your cellular density and when there was sufficient room for expansion so that your cells wouldn’t burst upon being frozen, they put you in a sarcophagus and dumped hyper-oxygenated cryo-hibernation fluid over you and froze you.
Interviewer: That sounds painful.
Rei: Actually, they drugged us so that even though it was excruciating, our brains didn’t even register the full horror of it all. The next thing I knew, I was awake, as it turns out, in the 35th century.
Tomorrow, part 4
October 8, 2020
Interview with Rei - Part 2 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 2 of 10.
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Rei: The civilized world had become so addicted to plastics in every day use that nobody considered what happened to them when we discarded them. They did not degrade. They just broke down into smaller and smaller pieces until those pieces were so small, they were referred to as nano-plastics. The nano-plastics were bioactive and caused a whole host of cancers that no one could cure.
Interviewer: That does not seem to be a problem on Deucado.
Rei: Yes, thank goodness. After the Great Dying, it took a thousand years for the nano-plastics to collect in wherever they are now. They’re still out there but at least they don’t affect the population on a day-to-day basis. The bottom line is that we were drowning in the toxic excesses of our unchecked population growth.
Interviewer: And that was why you created the Ark program?
Rei: I didn’t create it but yes, that was why it was instituted. There was a very good chance that Gaia was going to wipe the planet clean and we wanted to make sure the human race survived. Somewhere.
Interviewer: Please do not take insult with this question but why? Why was it necessary that the human race survive? Clearly you had demonstrated that you could not be entrusted with the stewardship of a planet. Why go somewhere else and start it all again.
(Rei takes a deep breath)
Rei: That’s a great question. You have a valid point. But let me ask you a question back. If you had a child and it did something terrible, horrible, but it wasn’t on purpose. Would you put that child to death or would you teach it to never do such a thing again?
Interviewer: Oh, yes. I see. You are saying your civilization was still in its infancy and it could learn from its mistakes.
(Rei nodding)
Rei: Exactly. Look at our beautiful world here. Look at Helome. Even look at the Earth, it has mostly cleansed itself. Mankind has learned. We’ll never repeat those mistakes again. (Rei laughs) We get to make all new mistakes now.
(Interviewer laughs)
Interviewer: So what was it about your life specifically that made you decide to abandon your home world and fly to the stars?
Rei: my life wasn’t so bad. My parents were really good people. They gave me a nice home and good education. But you’d have to be blind to not think the Earth was doomed. They were building a dome over the town where I grew up but that dome could only hold out Category 6 hurricanes. There weren’t even half-way done when Category 7s started to bust out. There was even some discussion of Category 8, planet-sized storms. It was just temporary. And nobody had any money…
Interviewer: Money. I have heard of it. What was it used for?
Rei: back then, we didn’t have infinite free energy so money was the agreed upon currency of exchange that measured the value of something produced. Like you would make something with your hands, instead of having a molecular sequencer build it. That thing you made had value to somebody else. So they gave you money in exchange for the thing. You could then take that money and buy something else that was of value to you. And so on.
Interviewer: I understand the concept. So why was it that you did not have any?
Tomorrow, part 3
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Rei: The civilized world had become so addicted to plastics in every day use that nobody considered what happened to them when we discarded them. They did not degrade. They just broke down into smaller and smaller pieces until those pieces were so small, they were referred to as nano-plastics. The nano-plastics were bioactive and caused a whole host of cancers that no one could cure.
Interviewer: That does not seem to be a problem on Deucado.
Rei: Yes, thank goodness. After the Great Dying, it took a thousand years for the nano-plastics to collect in wherever they are now. They’re still out there but at least they don’t affect the population on a day-to-day basis. The bottom line is that we were drowning in the toxic excesses of our unchecked population growth.
Interviewer: And that was why you created the Ark program?
Rei: I didn’t create it but yes, that was why it was instituted. There was a very good chance that Gaia was going to wipe the planet clean and we wanted to make sure the human race survived. Somewhere.
Interviewer: Please do not take insult with this question but why? Why was it necessary that the human race survive? Clearly you had demonstrated that you could not be entrusted with the stewardship of a planet. Why go somewhere else and start it all again.
(Rei takes a deep breath)
Rei: That’s a great question. You have a valid point. But let me ask you a question back. If you had a child and it did something terrible, horrible, but it wasn’t on purpose. Would you put that child to death or would you teach it to never do such a thing again?
Interviewer: Oh, yes. I see. You are saying your civilization was still in its infancy and it could learn from its mistakes.
(Rei nodding)
Rei: Exactly. Look at our beautiful world here. Look at Helome. Even look at the Earth, it has mostly cleansed itself. Mankind has learned. We’ll never repeat those mistakes again. (Rei laughs) We get to make all new mistakes now.
(Interviewer laughs)
Interviewer: So what was it about your life specifically that made you decide to abandon your home world and fly to the stars?
Rei: my life wasn’t so bad. My parents were really good people. They gave me a nice home and good education. But you’d have to be blind to not think the Earth was doomed. They were building a dome over the town where I grew up but that dome could only hold out Category 6 hurricanes. There weren’t even half-way done when Category 7s started to bust out. There was even some discussion of Category 8, planet-sized storms. It was just temporary. And nobody had any money…
Interviewer: Money. I have heard of it. What was it used for?
Rei: back then, we didn’t have infinite free energy so money was the agreed upon currency of exchange that measured the value of something produced. Like you would make something with your hands, instead of having a molecular sequencer build it. That thing you made had value to somebody else. So they gave you money in exchange for the thing. You could then take that money and buy something else that was of value to you. And so on.
Interviewer: I understand the concept. So why was it that you did not have any?
Tomorrow, part 3
Interview with Rei - Part 1 of 10
As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Here is Rei's interview, part 1 of 10.
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Interview with Rei on the day of his retirement
(Non-human) Interviewer: Coordinator Bierak, thank you so much for agreeing to sit down with us today.
Rei: That’s Coordinator Emeritus but I’d rather you call me Rei.
Interviewer: Yes, sir. Rei. Thank you again for having us. We are making this recording to go into the archives at the Library. The Library that your wife Rome built from nothing. Is that correct?
Rei: Yes, it was her idea and she saw it through. She wanted to accumulate all the knowledge of humanity before we spread to the stars.
Interviewer: It certainly has grown from that. The University of Deucado is now the repository for all human knowledge and other species. The Galactic Union archives are almost a third of the campus.
(Rei smiles)
Rei: Yes, I am very proud of Rome and what she has accomplished but now it is up to others to carry on with her work.
Interviewer: What is she doing now, now that she has retired?
Rei: Rome is very happy, she paints, she visits our children, our grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. Now that I’m not tied down by Union business all the time, we’re going to do a bit of traveling.
Interviewer: Does that include Earth? I understand you haven’t been there in a long time.
Rei: Probably. Yeah, I haven’t been back there in almost 20 years. It probably is time to go back for a visit.
Interviewer: It is hard to believe that you were born there over 1400 years ago. A lot has changed.
Rei: You have no idea.
Interviewer: What was life like back then? I do not think we can have any real perception, even with the historical records.
(Rei looks out the window)
Rei: Things were a real mess. Earth, every planet, resembles a living organism. Back when I was growing up, it was called Gaia or really, the Gaia hypothesis.
Interviewer: What is that?
Rei: It means that while it may not be intelligent, every planet is alive in the sense that it has its own geophysiology, like the eco-system but more, and like every organism, it tries to maintain homeostasis. And humans, were a disease that had overrun the planet and Gaia was fighting back. The planet was becoming unlivable, at least for mankind, as Gaia tried to rid herself of this infection.
Interviewer: This is fascinating. How was the Earth fighting back?
Rei: Greenhouse gasses were causing temperatures to rise, the polar ice caps had melted. The entire eco-system was breaking down. We had almost continuous continent-sized storms battering our cities. New organic diseases were springing up everywhere. And self-inflicted diseases, like nano-cancer were becoming rampant.
Interviewer: If I may interrupt, what is nano-cancer?
Tomorrow, part 2
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Interview with Rei on the day of his retirement
(Non-human) Interviewer: Coordinator Bierak, thank you so much for agreeing to sit down with us today.
Rei: That’s Coordinator Emeritus but I’d rather you call me Rei.
Interviewer: Yes, sir. Rei. Thank you again for having us. We are making this recording to go into the archives at the Library. The Library that your wife Rome built from nothing. Is that correct?
Rei: Yes, it was her idea and she saw it through. She wanted to accumulate all the knowledge of humanity before we spread to the stars.
Interviewer: It certainly has grown from that. The University of Deucado is now the repository for all human knowledge and other species. The Galactic Union archives are almost a third of the campus.
(Rei smiles)
Rei: Yes, I am very proud of Rome and what she has accomplished but now it is up to others to carry on with her work.
Interviewer: What is she doing now, now that she has retired?
Rei: Rome is very happy, she paints, she visits our children, our grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. Now that I’m not tied down by Union business all the time, we’re going to do a bit of traveling.
Interviewer: Does that include Earth? I understand you haven’t been there in a long time.
Rei: Probably. Yeah, I haven’t been back there in almost 20 years. It probably is time to go back for a visit.
Interviewer: It is hard to believe that you were born there over 1400 years ago. A lot has changed.
Rei: You have no idea.
Interviewer: What was life like back then? I do not think we can have any real perception, even with the historical records.
(Rei looks out the window)
Rei: Things were a real mess. Earth, every planet, resembles a living organism. Back when I was growing up, it was called Gaia or really, the Gaia hypothesis.
Interviewer: What is that?
Rei: It means that while it may not be intelligent, every planet is alive in the sense that it has its own geophysiology, like the eco-system but more, and like every organism, it tries to maintain homeostasis. And humans, were a disease that had overrun the planet and Gaia was fighting back. The planet was becoming unlivable, at least for mankind, as Gaia tried to rid herself of this infection.
Interviewer: This is fascinating. How was the Earth fighting back?
Rei: Greenhouse gasses were causing temperatures to rise, the polar ice caps had melted. The entire eco-system was breaking down. We had almost continuous continent-sized storms battering our cities. New organic diseases were springing up everywhere. And self-inflicted diseases, like nano-cancer were becoming rampant.
Interviewer: If I may interrupt, what is nano-cancer?
Tomorrow, part 2
Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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