Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 22

So now what?

Yesterday, Rei showed Rome that no matter how she phrased a question, anybody sufficiently skilled in the art of lying could twist that question around and lie without tripping Rome's new built in lie detector. Rome found this very discouraging. She thought it would be simple. It was up to Rei to teach her how to harness her new powers:

     “What do I do?” she asked sadly. “How can I know anything if the way I ask a question allows the other person to lie or mislead?”
     “From what I can tell, you shouldn’t be asking any questions at all. Just say words. Let their minds work against them. Their thoughts will betray them.”
     “I don’t understand.”
     “I’ll give you an example. Ask me if I know your father.”
     “Of course you do,” Rome said huffily.
     “So ask me then.”
     “Do you know my father?” Rome squeezed Rei’s hands tightly.
     “No,” Rei answered in all earnestness. Rome was shocked. Rei was telling the truth.
     “This is not possible!” she exclaimed. “I know you know my father.”
     “Because once again, you don’t know how I interpreted the question. From my perspective, when I think about it, nobody really knows anybody. Well, maybe except you and me. There’s too much depth. People only scratch the surface. Even me and your father.”
     Rome was breathing heavily. “I thought this was going to be the answer to all of our difficulties.”
     “It will be. It’s easy,” Rei said. “Look into my mind and just say your father’s name.”
     Rome looked at him warily and said, “Fridone.” And there it was. The image of her father appeared within Rei’s mind along with the warmth of his affection for the man. Instantly, several flashbacks came to Rei of the times they had spent together. Some good, some under not the best of circumstances.”
     “Now,” Rei said, as he saw Rome nodding. “Do I know your father?”
     “Yes,” Rome said, beaming. “I see now. I do not ask anything. I just give you reason to think about something.”
     “Exactly,” Rei said. “We Essessoni have spent our whole lives learning how to live within our heads. You have to come in without them putting up a guard. That way they can’t use their skills or defenses.”

So it isn't so much Rome grilling her subject as it is getting them to think about her topic of interest. Once she gets the hang of it, she will be unstoppable.

Not so foolproof as you think

Yesterday, Rei showed Rome what a lie looked like on the outside. He told her his name was Brave Counsel and, of course, Rome knew it was Rei Bierak. She was now going to test her powers as a living lie detector and the results will be pretty surprising:

     “You’re in my brain, right?” Rei asked.
     Rome nodded. “I feel the connection.”
     “Good. Now ask me the exact same question again.”
     “What is your name?” Rome asked, closing her eyes to concentrate on Rei’s answer.
     “Brave Counsel,” Rei answered again. Rome opened her eyes in shock. “You are telling the truth. I, I don’t understand.”
     Rei smiled. “My given name is Reinard, which means brave counsel. I think it’s German. My parents were always a little weird that way.”
     “But I asked you your name. How could you answer the wrong thing?”
     “I didn’t,” Rei said. “I chose to interpret your question differently than you intended. I answered the question I made myself believe you were asking and I answered it truthfully.”
     Rome harrumphed. “If I can’t tell if you are telling the truth about such a simple thing, of what use is this new ability.”
     “We’ll figure that out. Let’s try another one.” Rei pulled his hands away from Rome’s. “Ask me what girl is the love of my life.”
     Rome’s face lit up. This one would be easy. Rei put his hands back into hers. “What girl is the love of your life?” Rome asked.
     Rei leaned forward and stared into Rome’s eyes. “It was Sally Reynolds,” he answered, deadly serious.
     “What!?” Rome cried out, completely taken aback. She knew categorically that Rei was telling the truth. “Not me? I am not the love of your life?” Tears started welling up in her eyes. She tried to pull her hands away from Rei but he tightened his grip on them.
     He said, “of course you are. I said ‘was’, not ‘is’. And besides, you asked me what girl. Romey, trust me, you are every bit a woman, not a girl. I simply answered the question I made myself believe you asked.”
     Once again, Rome realized he was telling the truth.
     “What do I do?” she asked sadly. “How can I know anything if the way I ask a question allows the other person to lie or mislead?”

Tomorrow, Rei will teach her the logical skills to work her way around what appears to be a lie. Then they will turn her loose!

Brave Counsel

Yesterday, Rome and Rei reaffirmed their love for one another as a byproduct of Rome's training learning to be a telepath. The scene ended with the classic fade to black which I have since learned is the absolute worst place to end a chapter. You are practically begging the reader to set your book down knowing the characters are safe and happy for the moment. This increases the chances that they don't pick up the book again. if I had to do it over again, this next section would be part of the same chapter:

     The next morning, before heading out, a tired Rei and Rome sat at Binoda’s dining table, having coffee.
     “It’s great that your parents learned to like coffee,” Rei said, holding up a cup. “Saved me a lot of effort.”
     “I agree,” Rome replied. “Now that I am a living lie detector, as you put it, how do we go about exploiting this ability to find the people trying to kill us?”
     “Well, like Bonnie said, the first thing we do is go back to see Paul Chung. We all know he has more information than he let on.”
     “Of course,” Rome said. “We will be able to get the absolute truth from him.”
     Rei looked at her and wagged his finger. “Uh, before we start,” he said, “you probably need to know a little something about the lie detectors we had back in my day. They were called polygraphs and they weren’t foolproof. People used to get away with lies all the time.
     “What do you mean?” Rome asked him. “If that was the case, they couldn’t have been very good in the first place.”
     “No, there’s kind of an art to lying. This isn’t anything a Vuduri could understand. You’re all so used to having people inside your brains, you never perfected the method.” Rei looked around. “Here, I’ll show you,” he said. “Put your hands on the table.”
     Rome did so.
     “Now ask me something simple, like, what’s your name?”
     “OK,” Rome said. “What is your name?”
     “Brave Counsel,” Rei answered.
     Rome screwed her face up in surprise. “Your name is Rei Bierak,” she said. “I know this.”
     “You think you do. Now take my hands, turn on your lie detector and ask me the same question. Make sure you are good and connected.”
     Rome reached forward and flipped her hands upside down, palms up. Rei put his hands within hers.
     “You’re in my brain, right?” he asked.
     Rome nodded. “I feel the connection.”
     “Good. Now ask me the exact same question again.”

As a people, the Vuduri never did have much experience with lying. Keeping secrets, yes but lying, no. So it never occurred to Rome that people with some skill can fool a lie detector. She is going to have to learn to work around this fact.

Forever and always

Yesterday, Rome began her evolution into becoming a true telepath. Part of this training required her to use Rei as a willing subject for purposes of stimulus and response. Her instructions was for once in their married life, Rei was to be completely selfish and allow Rome to attend to his needs. While it was against his nature to ever be selfish, especially when it came to Rome, Rei was agreeable to participating in the experiment:

     To her credit, despite the distractions, Rome was every bit the scientist, performing tiny experiments and noting the results. She had been inside of Rei’s head so many times, she was already familiar with the terrain. But this was different. Unlike with the bands, she found she could direct Rei’s thoughts with very simple actions. It was fascinating to her to see that things she always thought Rei enjoyed, some of them were very pleasurable and others were not as important. She discovered some things that even Rei did not know he enjoyed. She was able to sense when certain motions strained his back which allowed her to alter her actions instantaneously to reduce the strain.
     Even as she was applying her ministrations, Rome knew this would ultimately be the end of the Vuduri in their current form. The very best of them had tried to eschew the flesh. They tried to deny their animal origins and this was a complete mistake. Humans were human and they had to embrace every part that defined the species. To reject the physical, as most of the Vuduri had done, was to reject their humanity. Rome knew that she had to communicate this to them, to take them back to something less and at the same time, something more. But that would be another day.
     As she tried different lovemaking positions, frequencies and intensities, Rei’s brain gave her animalistic feedback in a way that his voice, his utterances, his touch never could. Rei’s mind blazed with love and affection for his wife, combined with exploding sensations. Rome was so far inside his brain, it was almost as if she was making love to herself.
     After a while, Rome had all the information she needed but she did not stop. Just like with the bands, there came a point where there was no longer a conscious difference between them as their souls intertwined and merged. What could not be possible with any other human being was routine territory to Rome; not that that made it any less remarkable. The man beneath her was her gift from the heavens. What they had was beyond love. They were one. Forever and always.

The last sentence, in bold, was lifted directly from Rome's Revolution. Both Rome and Rei were thinking that the other was a gift from the heavens. The forever and always turns out to literally be true. But you'll have to read The Immortals in The Vuduri Companion to see how that came about.

Be selfish

Yesterday, Rome told Rei that her training requires that they go to bed together but that for once, and only once, he is not to think of anything other than himself. Rei loves Rome and he told her that he wasn't sure he could do that. Rome compromises a little bit:

     “You can think about me but I do not want you to consider my needs whatsoever. You must allow me to attend only to your own pleasure. You must be completely and totally selfish.”
     “Why?” Rei said with some protest. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
     “For this to work, you must. It is only for one night. Please? Can you do this for me?”
     Rei cocked his head, looking at Rome askew. “Let me get this straight. You’re demanding, for your training, that I just lie back and let you do all the work?”
     “Exactly,” Rome said with a smile. “Do you think you can do that for me?”
     Rei laughed. “I’ll muddle through it somehow.”
     “Excellent,” Rome said. She stood up and helped Rei to his feet. Very carefully but very sensuously, she removed Rei’s electrostatic blouse to reveal the miniature PPT tunnel underneath.
     “Don’t stick your hands in there,” Rei said, pointing to where his chest should have been.
     “We must remove the vest,” Rome said. “You can be without it for one night.
     “OK,” Rei said, “but be very careful. I don’t want you losing a limb.”
     “I will be careful,” Rome replied. She unclasped the leather-like thongs along the sides and Rei helped her lift the vest up and over his head and put it off to the side. Rei started to unclasp his pants and Rome slapped his hand away.
     “Allow me,” she said as she began to flood his brain with gravitic radiation emitting from her dual set of active PPT transceivers. “Everything must be so I can measure the effects.”
     “OK,” Rei said, shrugging. He watched in amusement as Rome removed his trousers. After that was complete, paying extra attention to make sure he did not flex his back, Rome had him sit back down on the edge of the bed.
     Rome removed her jumpsuit in the closest thing she could do to approximate a striptease. Noting that it had the desired effect, she knelt down and began her training in earnest.

Note the sentence in bold. I already told you once before that the edge of a PPT tunnel is the sharpest thing in the universe. This will come into play down the road. But let's assume, for this interlude, Rome will be careful.

Don't think

Yesterday, we saw MINIMCOM reactivate one of Rome's dormant set of PPT transceivers. The plan is for her to flood Rei's brain with dual sets of gravitic resonance and pick up the resulting vibrations using her EM receiver. Basically, she has the equivalent of the Espansor bands built into her head. It is time to moving on to the training phase of this exercise, one in which Rei is not permitted to do much of anything. I think he is in for a treat:

     Rome knelt down in front of Rei and took his hands in hers then looked up into his eyes.
     “Bonnie is spending the night in MINIMCOM,” she said. “OMCOM’s livetar is standing guard by the door and has set up surveillance devices around the perimeter of the house. We are safe and alone for the evening.”
     “OK,” Rei said, smiling. “Now what?”
     Rome picked up each of Rei’s hands and kissed first one then the other very tenderly.
     “Mau emir, I love you more than anything and I know that you love me.”
     “Of course,” Rei said uncertainly. “What’s that got to do with you learning to be a telepath?”
     “No Vuduri could ever understand this but our love travels in all dimensions. Our minds, our hearts, our bodies.”
     Rei nodded.
     “When we make love, it is not simply a sex act; it is the very definition of our expressing our love for each other via the flesh. As my lover and my friend and my Asborodi Cimponeti, you are always so careful to show this to me in, how should I say this, taking care of my needs?”
     “Well, sure,” Rei said.
     “In order for me to train my brain to use these new capabilities, I need your brain absolutely blank. You need to think only the most primitive of thoughts and I must be able to control them. OMCOM was very explicit regarding the training. He and I agreed that sexual pleasure is by far the simplest to effect. I must do things that I know will bring you pleasure and I must sense that pleasure. ”
     “Well, I think I can cooperate,” Rei said with a goofy grin on his face. “We’ve done this before.”
     “No. This time must be different. Tonight, I need you to think of nothing else other than yourself. You cannot think about me at all.” Rome squeezed Rei’s hands for emphasis.
     “What do you mean? How do I not think about you?” Rei asked, gazing down at his beautiful wife.

How many times does this happen in your life? Not many, I bet. Rei is in heaven and Rome learns to reads minds. I'd call that a win-win.

A willing subject

Yesterday, MINIMCOM informed Rome that he could reactivate her PPT transceivers that were deactivated way back when she first cast out, Cesdiud, at Skyler Base, in the Tabit star system. Rome had assumed they were gone forever but MINIMCOM said no. The Library OMCOM told Rome that with two sets of PPT transceivers and her EM link, she could effectively peer into the mind of anyone around her turning her essentially into a telepath. Basically, she would become a living lie detector without anyone knowing it. Sounds pretty handy. How would they go about this?

     “The normal method of activating transceivers is based upon negative energy generators,” MINIMCOM explained. “My null-fold splits negative energy into a real and imaginary component. It is the imaginary component that causes the pain. The real part should be painless. May I?”
     Rome thought about it for a moment then nodded. The livetar stepped forward and put his hands over her temple. After a moment, he stepped back. “It is done,” he said. “You now have two completely functional sets of PPT transceivers. You are the first Vuduri in the history of mankind who can now connect at will to two different worlds. If you were to go back to Earth, you could join the Overmind there.”
     “Really?” Rome said, putting her hands to her temples. “I don’t feel any different. OMCOM, are you saying I can now perform the functions you ascribed.”
     “To evolve into a true telepath, you must train yourself,” OMCOM offered.
     “How would I train myself to do something that has never been done before?”
     OMCOM stepped forward. “The methodology is very straightforward. You must find a willing subject and they must allow you to guide their thinking completely. The simpler the better. You will then use your heightened senses until you are able to lock into their thoughts. Once you do that, they will not be able to mislead or tell untruths.”
     “A living lie detector, huh?” Rei said admiringly. “That is so sleek!”
     “Where would I find such a willing subject?” Rome asked innocently, ignoring Rei’s comment.
     Both livetars lifted their arms and pointed to Rei.
     “Me?” he asked. He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
     “How do I do this?” Rome asked.
     In answer to her question, OMCOM took Rome aside and whispered to her, giving her very detailed instructions. Rome’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She whispered back to OMCOM. Eventually she nodded, indicating she got it.
     Rome had a strange look to her eye as she had Rei grab the remaining invisibility cloak. The three humans then left for the quick journey back to New Ark City.

Note the sentence in bold. It will become important later in the story.

So... Rei loves Rome. Rome loves Rei. What could go wrong with turning your wife into a living lie detector? Nothing, right? Rome's Evolution is about to begin!

Reactivation

Two days ago, Rome finished her interrogation of the Overmind of Deucado. The only possibility was the Vuduri woman helping Troutman and Steele was not from Deucado and therefore never part of the samanda there. This led to a discussion of lie detectors which Rome likened to the espansor bands that Rei and she used to look into the other's mind. As far as everyone knew, they had no such thing on Deucado. Or do they?

     “Inside their heads, you say?” Rome offered. “Like the espansor bands?”
     “The bands are way better,” Rei said. “I wonder if we could make Paul Chung put one on and you could question him.”
     OMCOM stepped forward and said, “You may not need to.”
     “I don’t understand,” Rome replied.
     “Rome, within your head are all the components that make up the espansors. You could effectively build a one-way device with just your brain alone.”
     “How?” Rei asked skeptically. “How would she do that?”
     “If Rome uses two sets of non-matched PPT transceivers, she could bathe her subject, or their brain more specifically, with enough gravitic radiation such that her EM link could pick up the electrical activity in the subject’s brain and use a feedback loop to cause an equivalent resonance in her own brain. It would be identical to the espansor bands but without any hardware. She would become what your people refer to as a telepath.”
     “You do know I only have one functional set of PPT transceivers,” Rome pointed out.
     “I can reactivate a second set,” MINIMCOM said matter-of-factly. “It would not be a problem.”
     “No, you cannot,” Rome countered. “Once they are deactivated, they can never be reactivated again.”
     “With your Vuduri technology, that may be true,” MINIMCOM corrected her. “But with my null-fold, I have the capability of reactivating them again.
     “Impossible,” Rome scoffed.
     “Not impossible,” MINIMCOM replied. “Back on Helome, when I was in the science lab with you and Virga, I saw your genetic chart. You actually have the potential for three sets of autonomous PPT transceivers. Not only can I reactivate your original connection to the samanda of Earth, I could even activate the PPT transceivers that would connect you to MASAL’s samanda.”
     “I’ll pass on MASAL’s, if you don’t mind,” Rome said with some disgust. She cocked her head. “You can really do that? Reactivate me?”
     “Are you sure you want to do that?” Rei asked. “When Estar did it to me, it hurt like hell. And I remember the scream you let out when Pegus reconnected you.”

I don't know about you but the whole thing sounds a little bit scary. The computers seem confident but then again they are not human. However, Rome and Rei have trusted them with their lives many times over and they never let them down. I wonder what is involved.

The Moon and Mars

Everything in my Rome's Revolution series is about far away worlds and the future. But every so often I like to take a survey of where we are in this world and what's coming down the pike. In this article, specifically, I'd like to highlight man's return to space for worlds both near and far.

The first and easiest place to visit would be going back to the Moon. NASA is planning on sending a crew looping around the moon in 2021. This would mostly be a shakedown cruise of the new Orion spacecraft. It appears that they want to build a construction station in lunar orbit so they can assemble ships that can go to Mars and get them there without always fighting Earth gravity.

Meanwhile, the Japanese have stated that they want to put a man on the Moon by 2030, the same year NASA is aiming for Mars. China landed an unmanned rover on the Moon in 2013, the third country to do so. They have also stated that they want to put a man on the Moon but they are shooting for 2036 which is a ways off. India held a contest for a private group to land a craft on the Moon but have not announced plans to send a human there as yet. Finally, we get to Russia. They, too, have announced they want to put a man on the Moon in 2030. It's going to be a busy place that year!

Between the Moon and Mars, it appears that NASA wants to land a man on an asteroid for science and practice. The unmanned probe Dawn was launched in 2007 and stopped by an asteroid called Vesta and it arrived in 2011. It stayed there for 14 months then exited and made its way to Ceres in late 2012. It has been there ever since. The spacecraft is still functioning and NASA is going to decide in the next month or so as to whether they are going to send it to a third asteroid called Adeona or keep it in orbit around Ceres until it fails. President Obama announced he wanted to send a human to one of the asteroids by 2025 but who knows if that will happen?

This leads us to Mars. Everybody wants to go there. NASA is currently developing the Orion spacecraft for just this purpose. As mentioned above, the target date is 2030 but that could slip. In the mean time, it is possible that when they get to the Red Planet, there will already be people there. Shades of Rome's Revolution! Who will these people be? If Elon Musk has his way, it will be SpaceX. He is planning on landing an unmanned craft in 2020. Originally it was going to be next year but got delayed because of "other priorities" which means Tesla, SolarRoof, etc.

If you don't want to wait for SpaceX, you can sign up for Mars One's Mission to Mars. You pay them money and they put you on a list and if things go well, you'll get selected to go. When they launch is anybody's guess but be forewarned, they are only planning on one-way trips. You can't come home again. Their web site indicates they are shooting for the early 2030's. I wonder what is so magical about that decade? It seems to be everybody's target. China says they are going to land a man on Mars by the "late 2020s" so it's pretty close to everyone else.

The one thing that everyone is forgetting is that there has already been a human on Mars. His name is John Carter and Edgar Rice Burroughs had him projecting himself there in 1912. I wonder if he is still there?

Another approach

Yesterday, we found out that the Overmind of Deucado had no knowledge of the break-in at Rome's Library and therefore no knowledge of the identity of the Vuduri woman helping Troutman and Steele. Things just weren't adding up. But as my wife likes to say, when the pieces of the puzzle don't match up, you are probably missing some pieces. It is Rome and Rei's job to figure out that missing piece, i.e. who was this mystery Vuduri woman:

     Rome opened up her eyes and stared around the room at the humans and livetars.
     “The Overmind has no knowledge of such a woman,” she said. “He was unable to detect a person with motives before the crime or since.”
     “How can that be?” Bonnie asked. “I thought you were all mind-connected?”
     “They are,” Rei said. “And they can’t lie. But they sure can keep secrets.”
     Rome held her hand up and closed her eyes again.
     “Is there anything at all, anything amiss that you could tie into this? Our lives depend upon it.”
     “No,” the Overmind replied. “You and Rei are beloved across this entire planet. There is not a single Vuduri here who has ill will toward you. From my understanding, the same is true of the Essessoni, Deucadons and the mandasurte. No, whoever this is, she has had no experiences that she has shared with me or any of the Vuduri. That or she was never a part of my samanda to begin with.”
     “Not part of your samanda?” Rome scrunched up her face. “How could that be?”
     “I cannot answer your question,” the Overmind replied, “but it is the only explanation I can postulate that fits the facts.”
     “Hmm,” Rome said. “I will have to think about that.”
     “I am sorry that I cannot be of more help,” the Overmind said wistfully.
     “I appreciate your efforts,” Rome said sadly. “We will have to find them another way.” With that, Rome disconnected. She looked up at Rei. “The Overmind has nothing to offer. He speculated that perhaps this woman never belonged to his samanda in the first place.”
     “How could that be? Do you think she was Cesdiud?”
     Rome shrugged. Rei looked around the room and stopped when he made eye contact with Bonnie. “You mentioned the police shows we used to watch. What would they do now?”
     “They’d haul the first witness back in and hook him up to a lie detector,” Bonnie said. “Try and catch him with an inconsistency. That’s all it usually takes to break them.”
     “What is a lie detector?” Rome asked, standing up.
     “It’s a machine they hook up to you and it records the person’s vital signs during an interrogation. Inside a person’s head, there are all sorts of things happening that might indicate their words were not the truth.”
     “Inside their heads, you say?” Rome offered. “Like the espansor bands?”

A germ of an idea is forming. It just takes a computer to fit the components together to come up with the ideal solution.