Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 46

The Not Sex Scene 4 of 9

Virga, the leader of the Vuduri on Helome, is determined to use Rei's genetic material to force an evolutionary correction in the development of her charges. Quite simply, she wanted Rei to mate with her people. However, knowing Rei, he wasn't going to go along without a fight. Virga will never see it coming. Here is Part 4 of 9:

     “There are no set rules,” Rei replied. “You talk. You make nice. You touch. Then things just start to happen.”
     “What do I do?” Virga asked with uncertainty in her voice.
     “I’ll start,” Rei offered. He looked into her eyes. “You have beautiful eyes,” he said huskily.
     “I do?”
     “Yes. As Essessoni, our eyes don’t glow. You Vuduri, the backglow from your tapetum, it’s stunning,” Rei said. “It’s mesmerizing.”
     Virga allowed herself a small smile. “Go on,” she said.
     “And you have a killer body.”
     Virga frowned at this and recoiled slightly.
     “No, no,” Rei said. “It’s a compliment. I’m saying you have a body to die for.”
     Virga cocked her head and furrowed her brow. Then she raised her eyebrows and smiled. “So you do find me attractive?”
     “Absolutely,” Rei said.
     Virga pulled herself up and sat in a cross-legged position. “Then I will tell you, you have a beautiful body too. I have never seen anything like it. Your musculature…It is hard to describe. Vuduri men are so, so…”
     “Puny?” Rei offered.
     “Yes!” Virga exclaimed. “They are small, like women. But you, you are built like I always imagined a man should be constructed.”
     “Sleek,” Rei said, straightening his back and puffing his chest out. “I just want you to know that I understand your predicament and I completely agree with your solution. Interbreeding with the mandasurte or Essessoni is exactly what you need.”
     Virga’s smile broadened. “I am glad you agree,” she said.
     Rei continued. “What’s happening on Helome is exactly what MASAL told me was his plan.”
     “You spoke to MASAL?” Virga asked, in amazement. “I knew that you destroyed him but you actually met him?”
     “Oh yeah,” Rei said. “Rome and I had nice chat with him before we vaporized him.”

It appears that Rei is trying to distract Virga. She certainly seems to have warmed up to him. Maybe that will make her more receptive to the next bombshell he is going to drop on her.

Tomorrow.

The Not Sex Scene 3 of 9

Virga, the leader of the Vuduri on Helome, is determined to use Rei's genetic material to force an evolutionary correction in the development of her charges. Quite simply, she wanted Rei to mate with her people. However, knowing Rei, he wasn't going to go along without a fight. Virga will never see it coming. Here is Part 3 of 9:

     “Well, when Rome and I were captured by the Onsiras, they injected me with a copy of MASAL’s 24th chromosome. You may end up worse off than you are now.”
     “You have already had a child. We know this is not an issue.”
     “You’re wrong,” Rei said, holding his hands out. “I was injected after Aason was born. We don’t know what kind of kid we would make next.”
     Virga looked away. Her head tilted down for a moment then snapped up.
     “The Overmind is willing to take the chance. And I see what you are doing. You are trying to delay. Please do not make this any more difficult. I do not need to clarify the point I made earlier. You know that we can extract your genetic material in a way which is infinitely more painful. I suggest you cooperate since you do not have control.”
     “You’re right,” Rei said, exhaling noisily. “I give up. What do you want me to do?”
     “Get up on the bed,” Virga said. Rei complied, knowing full well that Virga was watching him as he climbed up.
     After he was settled, she clambered up to take a position at the head of the bed. She flipped over on her back and spread her arms and her legs. She looked at Rei and said, “It is time to impregnate me.”
     Rei looked down at her and said, “What about foreplay?”
     “What is that?” Virga asked, frowning.
     Rei sighed. “No wonder the Vuduri don’t like sex,” he said. “You really have no idea, do you?”
     Virga raised up on her elbows. “No, I do not. Please explain.”
     “Foreplay is like, it’s like getting in the mood,” he said. “It’s how you get intimate.”
     “Why do you need to get ‘in the mood’?” she asked. “This is about procreation, not recreation.”
     Rei just shook his head. “It’s biology. When a man is under stress, his sperm loses its motility. It decreases the likelihood that the woman will get pregnant. Most people find if you try too hard, it doesn’t work. On the other hand, if you make a man feel wanted, relaxed, things just go better.”
     Virga sighed and sat upright. “What is involved?” she asked, unenthusiastically.
     “There are no set rules,” Rei replied. “You talk. You make nice. You touch. Then things just start to happen.”
     “What do I do?” Virga asked with uncertainty in her voice.

Hmm. Rei is going to teach Virga about sex. It doesn't look like he is going to get out of this. I assure you this will not go over well with Rome. Let's see whatever tricks he has up his sleeve tomorrow.

The Not Sex Scene 2 of 9

Virga, the leader of the Vuduri on Helome, is determined to use Rei's genetic material to force an evolutionary correction in the development of her charges. Quite simply, she wanted Rei to mate with her people. However, knowing Rei, he wasn't going to go along without a fight. Virga will never see it coming. Here is Part 2 of 9:

     “It’s not just there. Essessoni are all-around larger, in general, if that’s what you mean,” Rei said. “It’s in the genes.”
     Virga took a deep breath. “Then we have made the right choice,” she said. She removed her soft boots, first one foot then the other. While holding the ray-gun steady, she fumbled around, trying to unclasp her jumpsuit. It took a little doing, being that she could only work with one hand, but eventually her clothing fell to the floor, leaving her as naked as a jaybird. She waited a moment then a moment longer. Finally, she spoke.
     “I do not see any physiological reaction,” she said, waving at Rei’s groin. “Do you not find me attractive?”
     Rei nodded toward the gun. “Having a blaster pointed at your, um, head is kind of a turn-off, if you know what I mean.”
     “But, but…” Virga protested.
     “Look, I know what you’re thinking,” Rei said. “You’re afraid I’m going to go all Erklirte on you and you need the gun for protection.”
     “Y, yes,” Virga stammered.
     “Well, that’s the worst thing you can do,” Rei replied.
     “Why?”
     “Because look at me. I’m way bigger than you. If I decide to, I can overpower you in about eight tenths of a second, grab the gun and then you have an armed Essessoni running amok.”
     “But I have guards outside,” she said. “You would not get very far.”
     “Exactly,” Rei said. “So what’s the point? Just lose the gun. It isn’t going to change things between you and me one way or another.”
     Virga blinked rapidly while she processed what he said. Finally, she took a deep breath and turned to press the stud on the door. One of the two women reached in and took the pistol from her.
     After the door closed, Virga turned back to Rei. “Satisfied?” she asked.
     “I suppose,” he said. “But I’m thinking you might not want my genes, anyway.”
     “Why?” Virga asked, incredulously.
     “Well, when Rome and I were captured by the Onsiras, they injected me with a copy of MASAL’s 24th chromosome. You may end up worse off than you are now.”

Notice how I snuck in the reference to metric time, shown in bold? It amused me. Anyway, Rei's argument seems pretty well thought out to me. Let's see if Virga buys in to it tomorrow.

The Not Sex Scene 1 of 9

Two days ago, I showed you that Rei forced Rome and MINIMCOM to leave Helome placing himself in Virga's custody. Virga's intentions were clear. She wanted her people to mate with Rei to force a genetic correction in the development of her race. However, Rei wasn't going to go along without a fight. Virga will never see it coming. Here is Part 1 of 9:

     Virga and the two women accompanied Rei to the front door of one of the apartments. The door opened automatically as they approached. Once inside, Rei looked around. The room was unlike a standard Vuduri apartment. It actually looked reasonably comfortable with a workstation in the corner, a large bed against the far wall, a sitting area and a doorway which Rei assumed led to a refresher.
     “Comfy,” Rei said in an offhanded way.
     “This is to be your mating chamber,” Virga said. “We have done our best to fashion it in a manner pleasing to you.”
     “You did a good job,” Rei said approvingly.
     “We are to perform a test,” Virga said. “I have been selected by the Overmind as the first candidate. I am ovulating right now so it is time for you to inseminate me. Please take off your clothes.”
     Rei whipped around to look at her and her two companions.
     “Uh, I don’t know how much you know about the Essessoni,” he said, “but we don’t normally have sex in front of an audience.”
     Virga looked confused. Her eyes took on a defocused look while she considered Rei’s statement. After a moment, she nodded and held out her hand. One of her companions gave her a plasma pistol and both of the other women left the dwelling.
     “We are alone, as you requested,” Virga said, holding the gun up to Rei’s head. “You will now take your clothes off.”
     “Uh, OK,” Rei said. Seeing no other option, he reluctantly unbuttoned his brown shirt and placed it on the corner of the bed. Virga stared at his chest and broad swimmer’s shoulders and her eyes widened slightly. He kicked off his shoes then unbuckled his tan pants and removed them, along with his underwear, making a neat pile along the edge of the bed.
     Virga looked at him up and down and her arm trembled slightly.
     “Are all Esssessoni built like you?” she asked hesitantly.
     “Some are, some aren’t,” Rei said without a hint of modesty. “I don’t exactly exercise regularly but my job is pretty strenuous.”
     “That is not what I mean,” Virga said, looking down at his waist.

Some things about women, at least how I as a man write about women, don't change. Virga sees Rei as a stud. Let's see if he can exploit that.

Are comic books science fiction?

Last Thursday night, my daughter aka Lupe and my brother Bruce accompanied me to see the Dr. Strange movie which was really good, by the way. Now Dr. Strange is all about the mystical arts so clearly at its core it is fantasy. But not all movies or comic books are based upon magic.

Take Star Wars, which looks a hell of lot like science fiction, it still is not. It is science fantasy because there is a lot hand-waving and you have humans mixed with aliens. And it took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It is clearly not extrapolated from current, known science.

But take a comic book like Iron Man. In fact, let's focus in on the original Iron Man movie. How was that not science fiction? It was based in the modern day with human, not alien, characters and built upon a technological base that was not hard to swallow at all. What exactly were the fantasy elements as opposed to the science fiction elements? Well, the hero wins out. But the hero wins out in my books, too. We, as Americans, like that when the hero wins out.

Take another comic book, Spider-man. Sure when Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider and got spider powers. But my hero, Rei, was given a pill that modified his genetics and gave him sonar-vision and a "cell-phone" in the head. What's the difference?

Let's look at Batman. Are his stories science fiction? I don't see why not. He doesn't even have super-powers. He just is physically well-trained, like Jack Reacher, and uses his intellect and technology to defeat villains. That's barely science fiction at all.

There are certainly plenty of comic books that are indisputably science fiction, like the Firefly series which was actually based upon a science fiction TV show.

So, maybe I'll leave it at this. Just because it is a comic book doesn't imply whether it is fantasy, science fantasy or science fiction a priori. It just depends upon the plot and the need to invoke technologies that we do not know not to be true.

What do you think?

The Terrible Choice 2

Yesterday, we saw that Rei and Rome were presented with a terrible choice: Rome's life in exchange for Rei's. There was no way that Rei was going to let Rome be harmed so he decided to do the only thing he knew how to do. He was going to think his way out of this situation. All he needed was for Rome and MINIMCOM to trust in him:

     “Rome, listen to me,” Rei said mentally. “No matter what I say next, do not react. I am going to tell them I’ll go with them. I want you and MINIMCOM to leave here.”
     “No!” Rome cried out loud, twisting in place and grabbing onto Rei, pressing her head into his chest.
     “Rome!” Rei thought sternly, looking down at her. “Just make a big show of leaving. Use a regular PPT tunnel. As soon as you are through, reverse your course and come back here in full stealth mode. I’ll figure out something.”
     Rome looked up at her husband’s eyes. “I can’t leave you with her. She, she wants her people to mate with you!”
     Rei put his hand to her chin. “Rome, do you trust me?” he asked mentally.
     “Always,” Rome replied.
     “Then do as I say.”
     Rome lowered her eyes.
     “OK,” Rei said out loud. “I’ll stay. I’ll do what you want on one condition.” He looked at Virga with a dark expression. “You promise you will let her go? Safely?”
     “Of course,” Virga replied. “We have no need for her nor any wish to harm her. We are just trying to save the people of our planet.”
     “OK, then,” Rei said. He tilted Rome’s chin up toward him. “I love you, sweetheart, but I cannot and will not let them hurt you. This is the only way.” He kissed her lightly. Rome grabbed the back of his head and kissed him far more passionately. She kissed him so hard he finally had to pull her off of him.
     “OK, I’m going now.” Rei moved Rome off to the side. “You be good. Have a safe trip and tell Aason that I love him,” he said. He released her and added, “Oh yeah. Thank your daddy for all the flowers and vines.”
     Rome looked at him, confused, as tears came streaming down her cheeks. Rei backed off and winked at her after making sure no one was looking. Rome sat down heavily in the pilot’s chair as Virga and the two now-armed guards led Rei along the corridor, past the cargo compartment and down the cargo ramp.

Please note the apparent nonsense statement, highlighted in bold, that Rei made as Rome and MINIMCOM were leaving. This was Rei's way of setting a trap for Virga that she would never see coming.

I'll let you stew on this for a day before I tell you what happened.

The Terrible Choice 1

Yesterday, Virga informed Rome that she was taking Rei with or without Rome's permission. Now having known these characters for 40 years, I know they were just going to go along with this without a fight. Admittedly they are in a compromising position but they have the inimitable MINIMCOM who can always be counted on to save the day:

     “Perhaps I made it seem as if you had a choice in the matter,” Virga responded forcefully. “Let me clarify. We are taking him. Your only choice is whether you wish to leave here alive or not.”
     “No,” Rome said, pressing her back up against Rei. “MINIMCOM,” she thought. “Can you transport them out of here or disarm them?”
     “No,” replied the computer/spacecraft within Rome’s head. “The quarters are too tight to move them without risking harm to you. In addition, just outside, they have some heavy artillery aimed at me. We would sustain serious, possibly fatal, damage before I could get us out of here.”
     Rome whipped her head around and looked out the windshield. She saw row after row of white jump-suited Vuduri holding shoulder cannons, aimed directly at them.
     “Rei?” Rome whimpered.
     Rei looked down at his wife and draped his arms over her. “Don’t I get a say in this?” he asked in English.
     “No,” answered Virga. “You are the only candidate we have encountered so far. Plus you have proven yourself heroic and rather brilliant. You will make an excellent genetic donor to help us right our path. Your contribution will be invaluable.”
     “What if I don’t want to participate,” Rei said. “You can’t make me.”
     One of the two women standing next to Virga dialed up the intensity of her pistol to the maximum position. “We do not need her alive,” Virga said, pointing to Rome. “As for you, we do not even need the upper half of your body. We are only after your genetic contribution. Your brain is irrelevant to us.”
     Rei looked at the pistols. He was familiar with their capabilities since his encounter with Estar back on Earth. He thought for a moment then opened up a channel to Rome and MINIMCOM.

Things are looking grim. And you know Rome's safety is the most important thing is Rei's life. Let's see how he deals with it tomorrow.

The Trade

Yesterday, I explained how I try and steer clear of explicit sex scenes in my science fiction novels. However, when Rome and Rei arrived at Helome, I knew what was coming and if I didn't figure out a way, Rei was going to have to cheat on Rome and have sex with Virga.

All this was set up in the unlikeliest of places, that of MINIMCOM's cockpit. Here is how it went down:

     “Is this an inconvenience to you? Do you mind if we just wait here until MINIMCOM decrypts it?” Rome asked.
     “We do not mind at all. You can take as long as you want. In fact, you may keep the slab permanently,” Virga said.
     Rome was confused. “We do not need to keep it,” she said. “As soon as MINIMCOM decrypts it and downloads the data you can have it back.”
     “We do not need it back. You may have it. We will trade you for it.”
     Rome stood up from her seat. “Trade it for what?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
     “For him,” Virga said, pointing at Rei.
     “I, I, I do not understand,” Rome stuttered.
     Virga looked at her with a deadly serious expression. “Our planet is full of pure-bred Vuduri with a particularly strong diploid variant of the 24th chromosome. Almost all of our babies are born now with all the traits of the Onsiras. Living machines. We need to correct the genetic errors and soon or we will become the very thing we abhor. That is why we need him, his seed.” She pointed at Rei’s groin.
     “You cannot,” Rome protested.
     “Oh we can,” said Virga firmly. “We have determined that the only way to combat the genetic drift and push our species back toward humanity is to infuse our 24 chromosome complement with the 23 chromosome set of the mandasurte. Half-breed mosdureces, like yourself. The more primitive the better. And what could be more primitive than a living Essessoni?”
     “No!” Rome said, moving over to Rei. “You cannot have him. He is mine.”
     The two women behind Virga stepped beside her and pulled out hand plasma projectors, aiming them directly at Rome’s head.
     “Perhaps I made it seem as if you had a choice in the matter,” Virga responded forcefully. “Let me clarify. We are taking him. Your only choice is whether you wish to leave here alive or not.”

Uh-oh. This is an explosive situation. It is also one of my favorites. Starting tomorrow, I'll show you how Rei talked his way out of having sex with Virga.

Implicit Sex

I write hard science fiction. I also include a lot of action, adventure and a hint of humor. I am also a romantic at heart so there is plenty of romance included in my novels. However, I do not include explicit sex scenes in my books. In The Ark Lords, I even have a "not sex" scene where Rei actually talks Virga out of having sex with him.

Here is a brief synopsis of places where I could have put in more hard-core sex but chose to not do so:

- Rome's Revolution: the Espansor scene. It is shown leading up to Rome and Rei making love and then the morning after but nothing in between. This is your classic fade to black.
- Rome's Revolution: the journey to Tabit. Rome is feeling particularly randy and she drags Rei back to bed but that is all you get to see. Rome is lying in bed, completely naked, hard for Rei to resist.
- Rome's Revolution: the journey to Earth. This is about a week after Rome gave birth so they had to be very careful. However, they were stuck in the Flying House for a week with nothing to do so you can't blame them for wanting to fool around.
- The Ark Lords: the "not sex" scene mentioned above. I'll give you more details on that tomorrow. But rest assured, Rei remains faithful to Rome. It is pretty funny.
- Rome's Evolution: Rome's training on her way to becoming a telepath. Having sex with Rei is the quickest way for her to acquire the necessary new skills but it is implied, not shown. This was OMCOM's suggestion and it did work.
- The Milk Run: Aason's training with Aroline to become proficient in First Contact skills. This scene parallels the one in Rome's Evolution but Aason learns to communicate telepathically bi-directionally. Again, this was OMCOM's suggestion since he knew that it had worked with Aason's mother.
- The Vuduri Companion: the day after Rome and Rei learn they have been granted virtual immortality. Their bodies (and libidos) were rolled back from age 75 to age 25 so the first thing they did is hop into bed together. However, they are severely out of condition and it exhausts them.

So there you have it. Maybe one day I will get the urge to actual write erotica but not today. You cannot ignore the fact that people want to have sex but I am looking for action and for me, explicit sex just slows things down.

20 at last!

The whole purpose of Rome and Rei coming to Helome in the early part of The Ark Lords was to track down the elusive 20th data slab, entitled Mission Parameters, that had been separated from the rest on Deucado. Whatever was on that slab was important because when Rome mentioned it to Captain Keller, his face turned white as a sheet. Well, here on Helome, they would have no idea what that slab contained and therefore no reason to hide it. At least that was Rome's hope:

     “That is what Bukky implied to me,” Rome replied. “Whites against Grays. It appears this is the way it must play out on every world your people touch. This must be what Darwin means.”
     “It makes no sense,” Rei said. “Let me look and see if I can find anything else.” He jumped back to the beginning then slowly scrolled his way to the end. “That’s it,” he said, finally. “That’s all of it. Nothing else about Darwin or Whites and Grays.”
     Rome looked at Virga. “When I was in the Overmind, I remember seeing an image of a pile of black silicon slabs.” She used her hands to show the approximate dimensions. “Are they stored here?”
     “Yes,” Virga said. She walked down to the end of the room and pointed to another glass case. Rome put her hand up to the glass and peered in. She jerked her head back.
     “Twenty, Rei,” she said excitedly. “There are twenty!”
     “Is that important?” Virga asked.
     “Yes,” Rome answered eagerly. “The twentieth slab contains vital information. It is why we came here. May I see it?”
     Virga pressed on the corner of the glass and the case opened. “You may touch them,” she said. “They appear to have been designed to remain intact for many centuries. They are among the few things that do not seem to have degraded with time.”
     Rome reached in and pulled out the last slab. It was labeled, ‘Volume 7 – Chemistry, Nuclear Reactions’. “Oh,” Rome said, disappointed. “I was thinking you would have stored them in order but I do not suppose you had any reason to.” She slid the slab back on its rails and pulled out the one above it. It was labeled, ‘Volume 11 – Archeology, Anthropology, Linguistics.’ Rome put it back. She positively squealed when she pulled out the next one.
     “Volume 20 – Mission Parameters” she said, waving it around. “Rei, we found it!”
     “Excellent,” Rei said. “Way to go.”
     Rome showed it to Virga. “This is why we came. This is the missing link. We believe this is the cause of the war within the Essessoni colonies.”
     Virga said “Do you have any way to access the data? We do not. It has been frustrating.”
     “Yes,” Rome said. “We have the proper data interface within MINIMCOM. Can we take it to him?”
     “By all means,” said Virga, sweeping her hand forward.

At long last, Rome now had the 20th data slab in her possession. All she has to do is stick in MINIMCOM's universal read and the secrets of the Ark Lords will be a secret no more. But be careful what you wish for. Bad things are coming your way, merely by possessing this information.