Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 9

The 80/20 Rule

Everybody has heard of the 80/20 rule. That is, 80% of situations are covered by 20% of resources available. The other 80% of resources are used to cover just 20% of circumstances. What is the basis of this rule and why do I bring it up? It all has to do with the statistical chart representing the normal or more formally the Gaussian distribution of possibilities aka the Bell Curve. Here is the formal definition as defined by Wikipedia:

In probability theory, the normal (or Gaussian) distribution is a very common continuous probability distribution. Normal distributions are important in statistics and are often used in the natural and social sciences to represent real-valued random variables whose distributions are not known. A random variable with a Gaussian distribution is said to be normally distributed and is called a normal deviate.

The Bell Curve or Gaussian distribution looks like this:



The reason it is called the normal distribution is because when you measure normal processes, this is normally how they lay out. And if you take enough of the curve of to account for 80% of the possibilities, you still have 20% of the remaining height to cover everything else.

Think about flipping a coin. You'd say it was 50/50 whether it is heads or tails. But that isn't true. I saw on Wikipedia that an ordinary nickel has a 1 in 6000 chance of landing on the edge. Life is that way. When things happen, mostly they happen a certain way but sometimes they happen a different way. But if you plan for the most common occurrences and devote the majority of your resources to cover those, you won't be using the lion's share of your resources.

So why do I bring this up? Tomorrow, I am going to write about the 20/80 rule which is all about the outliers. That is the only reason I can write science fiction is because I go beyond the "norm" to write about things that we don't encounter very often. And on Monday, you get the payoff which is about Tesla's new semi which exploits the 80/20 rule to a tee.

So come back tomorrow and we'll talk about oddities.

The Sipre's End

Yesterday, Sussen had tried to kill Rome but she killed Reema, her leader, instead. Bonnie Mullen took the opportunity to shoot her dead with Jack Henry's ancient Beretta. Rei had the Sipre capture and had save Rome but he dare not let go. Quite the dilemma:

     The Sipre wriggled and pushed and clawed. Only Rei’s strength was keeping in check. He realized it was because he was Essessoni he could do this. No Vuduri could survive the full venom and seething spirit of the Sipre trying to absorb them, to envelop them. They just weren’t built for it.
     “As soon as you leave, I will rise again,” the Sipre hissed to Rome. In her heart and her soul, she knew it was true.
     In the real world, Rome turned to Rei. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “We cannot let go,” she whispered. “If we do, the Sipre will ascend again. We will never be safe if it escapes.”
     “I can hold it myself,” Rei said forcefully. “It can’t beat me. You can let go. I’ll stay here. You go home. I’ll make sure you and Aason are safe forever.”
     “No,” Rome said. “I can’t leave you to such a fate. I love you too much. I’ll stay. You go.”
     “Romey,” Rei said gently, grasping her hands firmly, shaking them so that she listened to him. “You cannot. You’re Vuduri. It will take you down. Only an Essessoni can stand up to what it represents.”
     “But I can’t leave you,” Rome wailed.
     “You must,” Rei insisted. “You must go back to Deucado and raise our child.”
     Bonnie’s bright yellow spirit drifted over, placing her tendrils around Rei and Rome’s. The entire time, the little black spirits continued to stream to her, changing to yellow upon contact. Bonnie’s glowing presence grew larger and larger. She deftly inserted her tendrils beneath Rei’s. With an easy strength, she collapsed the Sipre into a tiny ball as if it was swallowed up whole.
     “You both go home and raise your child,” she said proudly. “I’ll stay here. I can handle this.”
     Rei probed her spirit. Her resolve was absolute and growing stronger by the second. There was almost no evidence that the Sipre ever existed, even though he knew it was there. Tentatively, Rei removed his hands and his tendrils. The Sipre did not reappear.
     “Rome, let go,” Rei said. Reluctantly, she let go in the ethereal world. She, too, could barely detect the Sipre’s presence as it continued to shrink away toward nothingness.
     In the real world, Rei turned to Bonnie and looked into her eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rei asked. “You’d be stuck here forever.”
     “I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life,” Bonnie said, her earthly body smiling beatifically. “And I won’t be stuck,” In the ethereal world, joined by her little flames, her yellow spirit blazed even brighter, almost blinding in its intensity. “This is where I want to be. With my babies. After 14 centuries, I’m finally home.”
     It was enough for Rome. In the ethereal world, Rome’s red spirit and the tiny pink spark withdrew as she shut down her PPT connection. Rei shut down his connection as well. He looked at their surroundings. All of the Onsiras around them were nodding and smiling. It was a sight to behold.

The Rome's Revolution series has always been about redemption. Here we find Bonnie Mullen completely absolving her former existence by saving the Onsiras from the Sipre and putting them back on the path to humanity. The Onsira threat was now over. Sounds good to me.

Reema's End

Yesterday, Rome was not quite up to the challenge of defeating MASAL's Sipre so Rei's blue spirit entered the fray. As an Essessoni, he was entirely up to the task. Unfortunately, Sussen was there with a plasma blaster. Rei couldn't let go of the Sipre because then he would lose Rome. He couldn't defend himself which meant he was going to die. His only hope was that his spirit, his soul, would live on and keep the Sipre down:

     Just as Sussen squeezed the trigger, Reema leaped in front of the blast and a good portion of her left side disappeared. Her body crumpled to the ground. Looking up, in the ethereal world, Rei could see her orange spirit flare up with pain then start to grow dim.
     “Ombare!” Sussen cried out and lowered her hand, just for a second.
     Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. With his earthly eyes, Rei looked and saw that Bonnie was holding the Beretta. She had shot Sussen in the forehead. Bonnie calmly squeezed the trigger again then yet again, shooting Sussen twice in the chest. The bullets pushed Sussen’s body backwards. In the ethereal world, Sussen’s blazing green spirit withered and quickly disappeared, even as her earthly body toppled over.
     The sinister battle with the Sipre prevented Rei from taking the time to consider what had just happened. He focused all of his attention to the ethereal world. The Sipre was still struggling but growing weaker. A glittery shape caught Rei’s attention to the left. It was the tiny pink spark hovering nearby. Feeling no ill intent, he ignored it and pressed harder, trying to ease the gnawing pressure on Rome’s soul. By will alone, he slowly extricated her and repelled the Sipre. He would not allow it to damage Rome any further. The points of contact grew fewer and fewer until finally the Sipre succumbed.
     It released its hold on Rome altogether. In the real world, Rei could see his wife panting, drained of all color. In the ethereal world, his spirit caressed hers and Rome grew stronger. In the metaphysics of this strange realm, Rome was actually drawing upon Rei’s strength. It wasn’t long until she seemed healthy and whole again. Once she had recovered, Rei was tempted to let go but he dare not. He knew that as soon as he did that, Rome would be in mortal danger again.
     Suddenly, Reema spoke up. With her dying words, the Onsira leader addressed the ethereal mass of spirits. “All of you listen,” she said. Her spiritual voice was growing weaker by the second. “MASAL never cared for us. He only cared for himself. But in the end, he recanted. He wanted us to live our own lives. The Sipre is just the distilled form of MASAL’s prior selfish interest. It wants what it wants and would leave us behind. We are just its eyes and fingers. We mean nothing to it. But no more. It is not fit to be in charge of our samanda. You must build your own.”
     With that, her spirit dimmed and disappeared, extinguished as the life force drained from her body for good.

Sussen is dead. Good. Reema is dead. Not so good. Rei has the Sipre captured. This is good. But he can't let go. Not so good. How will it end?

Rei's Impossible Choice

Yesterday, Rome was expanding her spirit, trying to corral the berserk MASAL's Sipre or shadow. How a single person's will could take on the accumulated power of an entire people seemed fairly aggressive. Merely touching the Sipre's spirit was toxic. Rome's red ethereal presence turned to black each time there was contact. Let's see if Rome can take the Sipre down:

     Rome retaliated with renewed vigor. In the real world, her body grunted with effort. She was able to drive it back some but not enough. She pushed with all of her spiritual might. The Sipre resisted. Almost immediately, her strength began to waver.
     Seeing this, Rei entered the fray. In the ethereal world, he reached out with his blue spirit and intertwined his tendrils with those of his wife. It was a supremely intimate act and Rei knew only two souls whose bond was as deep as theirs would be capable of such an action. For anyone else, it would have been treated as an assault. Where the blue and red met, the color changed to a rich violet shade. It was the color of their love. As his spirit comingled with hers, he could feel the Sipre trying to draw Rome in, to take over her mind. He realized her years of being in the Overmind had betrayed her. Her will was losing its grip. Her real world body screamed out in pain.
     “You leave her alone!” Rei shouted out loud. His anger extended to his ethereal self, growing it ever wider until it matched then exceeded the size of the Sipre. It wrapped around the evil one until it encased the Sipre as if Rei was using a net. Contact with the Sipre meant nothing to him. He was immune to its poisonous presence.
     Rei’s blue tendrils contracted and quickly compressed the spirit of the Sipre into the palm of his other-worldly self. In the real world, he could see his hands grasping Rome’s. In the ethereal world, the thrashing, twisting black spirit tried to escape but was unable to. It was slippery but Rei was up to the task.
     “Enough!” announced a real voice. Rei looked up and saw Sussen coming toward them, a plasma gun grasped in her hand. In the ethereal world, her spirit was emerald green, snaking toward them. It rippled and flashed with green sparkles.
     “No!” Reema shouted, moving forward. “Sussen, stay where you are. The Sipre must be stopped.”
     “I am sorry, Ombare. I follow orders. They need to be killed. Now!” Sussen raised her hand, taking dead aim at Rei’s chest.
     Rei was left in an impossible position. If he let go, the Sipre would escape and envelop his wife and take her away forever. If he did not, Sussen would shoot him. His spirit felt strong. Maybe it was tied into his soul. He thought to himself that if his body died, his spirit could still save Rome. He wrapped his physical arms around her to shield her and awaited the deadly blow.

This is not the first time that Rei knew he was going to die. But he had made up his mind that his spirit would conquer the Sipre even if his body could not.

The Sipre Fights Back

Yesterday, MASAL's Sipre, his shadow, admitted to Reema, the leader of the Onsiras, that they were merely a means to an end and had no value. What is worse, the Sipre admitted that MASAL had conceded that his plan was flawed and wanted to make amends. The Sipre would have nothing of it:

     “If you were connected to MASAL right at the end then you know the truth,” Rome said resolutely. “Even if you were to achieve godhood, you would be all alone. You would be rejected by the community of gods because of the vile method by which you achieved it. You were never organic. In fact, you are only an echo of a construct, a robot. You have no business ascending to a place where only life belongs.”
     The Sipre did not answer. Instead, he grew even larger. In the ethereal world, more lightning flashed across his cloak, swirling around the area of his head. “That is the goal of all life!”
     “But you are not alive,” Rome said. “You only think you are. You are nothing but a shadow of a computer. The people here are the ones who should decide their fate.”
     Rei was about to speak when he felt a presence behind him. He turned his earthly body around and saw Bonnie coming toward him. In the ethereal world, a yellow, rippling spirit was emerging. Clearly she had injected herself with MASAL’s prosthetic PPT transceivers. Her earthly body smiled and nodded at Rei. In the ethereal world, she glanced up and could see the figure of the Sipre looming before her. She looked past it. She held out her arms and her yellow spirit formed tendrils pointing upward.
     “My babies,” her spirit whispered longingly.
     Suddenly, so many tiny black wisps rushed forward. In the real world, Rei saw children, some small, some large running toward them. “Mommy,” said some. “Mea,” said others. In the ethereal world, Rei saw the yellow spirit reach forward to embrace them. The tiny black spirits gathered around her and as they touched her, they changed from black to yellow. Rei could feel the love radiating back and forth. It warmed his earthly body and his spirit to bask in the glow of such affection.
     “I will not allow this,” cried out the Sipre as it grew ever larger, threatening to fill the ethereal sky. The stranger drew his titanic arms downward so quickly, he formed an ethereal gale. The spiritual wind pushed Rome back momentarily but then she recovered. She launched into action. She expanded her red spirit, trying to approximate the size of the Sipre and somehow corral it. She reached for him but even the slightest touch was toxic. Wherever Rome’s tendrils touched the black flame of the Sipre, it invaded her inner self, changing each red strand to black, like a cancer invading a body. The last time she had defeated an Overmind, it was with logic and strategic withdrawal. Neither of those methods would work here. This battle dictated brute force.

To the casual observer, you would never know a titanic battle was taking place. But Rome was putting her psychic life on the line. Let's see who is stronger.

The Sipre's Secret

Yesterday, Rome and Rei finally met MASAL's Sipre, MASAL's shadow, in the Ethereal World. The only thing the Sipre had to say was to demand that Rome hand over her son, Aason. Obviously, Rome refused. The time had come for Reema, who was also in the Ethereal World, to confront the Sipre and find out if the video that she had seen was the truth or a fabrication:

     Reema’s orange spirit lifted up. “Master Sipre, this is inconsequential,” she said. “Is it true that MASAL disavowed our mission before he died?”
     “NO!” shouted the stranger. “Who told you that?”
     “My earthly body saw the recording of the day he died,” she said.
     Even as they were speaking, Rei felt himself being drawn in toward the crowd. The idea of being part of the whole was so seductive; he had almost given in to it last time. He heard the whispers of ‘join us’, ‘join us’, in the background, even as the other spirits were confronting one another. He uttered the words ‘blue crystal reader’ to himself and suddenly, he was back, under Kilauea, fitted within crystalline walls. The old discipline returned. OMCOM had taught him the techniques necessary. He could be connected but remain himself. Obviously, Rome had been doing it for years. In the real world, she was glowering. In the ethereal world, her red spirit attacked the black one.
     “What is your mission?” Rome’s spirit shouted out.
     “For us to become a god,” the black spirit barked back. “That is the goal of all life.”
     “But you are not alive,” Rome insisted. “You are just an echo of MASAL. You even call yourself the Shadow. You should be serving your charges, not directing them.”
     “Who are you to say?” the Sipre spat back. “I know what MASAL wanted and I will fulfill his dream.”
     Reema’s orange spirit pulsed and grew brighter. “Tell me the truth, Master Sipre. Do you say that MASAL did not admit he was wrong?”
     The Sipre started to grow. Flashes of light, like tiny ripples of lightning, streaked across his being. “All right,” he answered. “I see in your mind you know the truth. Yes, MASAL did say those words, but he was not in his right mind at the time. The mission he assigned to us was thought out well before he was attacked. His judgment was obviously impaired right at the end.”
     “Even so, why keep this secret from us?” Reema asked plaintively. “We deserved to know all of MASAL’s plans. From what I saw, he was only using us so he alone could achieve godhood. And now you. What are you? MASAL never planned on involving us. Are you saying you are different?
     “No,” answered the Sipre derisively. “You are all just a means to the end. That is why you were born. That is why you live. It is the spirit of MASAL, me, who has earned this fate.”

So now the truth is out there. MASAL had given up on his dream of converting humans to living robots. The Onsira's mission was over. How would the Sipre deal with the consequences of admitting this was so?

The Sipre Comes

Yesterday, Rome and Rei activated their prosthetic 24th chromosome that Estar had injected them with back when they were prisoners beneath the volcano Kilauea. MINIMCOM had re-activated them allowing our intrepid couple to enter the Ethereal World. Now that they are in it, they see things are not physically real but are psychically real. It won't take MASAL's Sipre, his Shadow, very long to find them:

     Rei turned to look at Reema and experienced the same apparition although her spirit blazed bright orange. He held out his free hand and saw a blue aura wavering around it, expanding with each heart beat. He was able to will his spirit to rise up, separate from his body and looked down at the others. Somehow he was able to process both sets of inputs at once. Strange was no longer an adequate word to describe the phenomenon.
     “Where are we?” he asked Rome using the new PPT channel, rather than the old, familiar, EM link.
     “This is the world of the Sipre,” Rome replied, somewhat preoccupied. She was surveying the ethereal landscape intently, looking for her parents. At last, she found her mother, off in the distance, dull and nearly lifeless. Only a small ember of her spirit remained. She could find her father nowhere. However, in physical proximity to her mother, at least in the ethereal world, sparked another flame that identified itself as Ursay. From her mother’s spirit, she was able the sense that her father was being transformed into a Zengei. This saddened Rome and she would have to deal with it but first things first.
     For now, she lifted her ethereal vision and could see swirling spirits of many different colors emerging. The spirits swooped and soared around her, thin and wispy. Way off in the distance, a green spirit blazed but it was indistinct.
     Rei saw them too. Through his earthly eyes, he could see human bodies coming toward them but most of their spirits were of a dark and dull color. Looming behind them was a much larger cloud, glinting, metallic, that drifted over the top and settled down in front of them. It congealed into the form of a black, hooded stranger. Rei used his earthly eyes and saw nothing. But in the ethereal world, more spirits were flocking in their direction making it crowded in a way that was indescribable. They could see no face within the folds of stranger’s robes but they both could feel the malice radiating from the entity.
     “Give me your child,” the stranger said to Rome.
     “Never,” Rome’s bright red spirit replied. “He is safe now and will be forever.” All around Rome’s flame, the tiny pink spark buzzed, almost as if it was trying to echo her words.
     “He is the child of a half-blood and this living abomination,” said the spirit, pointing at Rei’s blue glow. “He can only be saved by making him one of us.”

That tiny pink spark is Lupe, of course. And the Sipre is not going to take no for an answer. You can bet a battle will ensue.

The Ethereal World

Yesterday, Rome had her prosthetic PPT transceivers, injected into her by agents of MASAL, reconnect her to the Sipre's samanda. Despite Rome's protests, Rei had himself reconnected too. Bonnie requested the same but was denied. It was time for Rome (and Rei) to go out and do battle. Aason, who was just rescued, was understandably upset that his Mom was now leaving him again. This broke Rome's heart but it had to be done:

     “Aason, I love you so much,” Rome said, “but it’s too dangerous. Let Daddy and me go. We’ll be back as quick as we can. But I have to keep you protected. Do you understand?”
     “No,” he said at first. Then Aason nodded sadly. “Yes, Mommy,” he said. “I understand. But please be careful.”
     Rome leaned forward to rest on her knees. She put her arms around her son and hugged him tight. “We will, baby,” she said. “This is so we can all be safe. Now and forever.”
     “OK, Mommy,” the little boy said bravely. He turned and walked over and hugged his father as well.
     Rome stood up and turned to face Reema. “We will release your hands and remove your T-suppressor as soon as we are clear of the ship. I cannot have my son in harm’s way.”
     “I understand,” said Reema. “Whether I trust you or not, you will be in my domain so regardless, that will suffice.”
     “OK, MINIMCOM,” Rome said. “Don’t go far.”
     “I will be overhead, awaiting word,” the livetar replied.
     Rei tucked the Beretta into the waistband behind his back then reached forward and pressed the blue stud. They waited until the cargo hatch raised up and the ramp lowered then together, the three humans strode down the ramp. As soon as they were clear, the process reversed and MINIMCOM shimmered and disappeared. The air whipped around as an unseen MINIMCOM activated his EG lifters, presumably to rise up in the air.
     Once the air had settled, Rei turned Reema around and released the elastic band binding her arms. At the same time, Rome lifted the T-suppressor off of Reema’s brow. Reema nodded and pointed ahead. As soon as she did that, Rome heard shouting off in the distance. The three of them started walking forward toward the noise.
     “I’m going in,” Rome said, reaching for Rei’s hand.
     “Me, too,” Rei replied and both of them allowed their connection to MASAL’s samanda to come alive.
     To Rei, it was the strangest sensation. Even though his eyes could still see the real world perfectly well, a second, more ethereal world became visible. He looked down at Rome. He could see her physical body but he could also see her as a magnificent spirit, bright red, almost like a flickering flame. Right beside her was a tiny pink spark, flitting around, even brighter than Rome.

In case you haven't guessed it, that pink spark was Lupe who was conceived only a few days ago. Now it was time to take on MASAL's Sipre.

Reconnection

Before the Ethereal Battle could begin, Rome had to reconnect to MASAL's prosthetic 24th chromosome so she enter the world of the Sipre. She had forgotten that these genes had been injected into Rei as well but he had not. There was no way Rei was going to let Rome fight the Sipre without him being there to help:

     “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rei asked. “The last time I was in that Overmind, I can tell you from personal experience, it wasn’t a nice place.”
     “It’s the only way,” Rome said. “MINIMCOM?”
     MINIMCOM stepped over and placed his hands against Rome’s temples. “It is done,” he said. “Your prosthetic PPT transceivers now connect you directly to the Onsiras.”
     “You may as well do me too,” Rei said. “I’m not letting her go down there alone.”
     Rome cocked her head at him. “I can do this myself,” she said. “You don’t need to.”
     “Yes I do,” Rei said. “I’m not letting you go in there by yourself.” He waved at MINIMCOM. The livetar stepped toward Rei and lifted his arms to repeat the process. Rei steeled himself to keep the connection off until the time was right.
     “Are my babies out there?” Bonnie asked, pointing toward the front.
     “Your babies?” Reema asked.
     “The children, from Helome,” Bonnie replied. “The ones that Sussen stole away from me.”
     “Yes,” Reema replied, with a hint of regret. “They are here.”
     Bonnie turned toward Rei. “I want to go with you,” she said. “I want to see them.”
     “You can’t,” Rei said. “You don’t understand these people; what they are capable of.”
     “You two are going,” Bonnie replied with a pout on her face.
     “Yes, but we’ll be connected,” Rei pointed out. “We’ll know what they are doing, thinking, the whole time.”
     “Then what if you connected me?” Bonnie asked desperately. “So I’ll know? Can you do that?”
     Rei thought back to the one yellow vial they had recovered from Ursay’s ruined study. “In theory,” Rei said. “But you’ve never had any training. They could suck you in.”
     “I don’t care,” Bonnie insisted. “I want to see them. To be with them.”
     Rei shook his head. “Let us sort this thing out, first,” he said. “Then we can talk about it.”
     Bonnie started to speak then clamped her mouth closed. She sighed deeply. Meanwhile, Rome stooped down so that she was eye level with Aason.
     “Mommy and Daddy are going to go rescue Grandmea and Grandbeo,” she said. “You must stay here with Bonnie and MINIMCOM. They will take care of you until we come back.”
     Aason stamped his foot. “You always leave me, Mommy. Can’t I go with you?”

As I have mentioned many times, Aason is a great character but he is just a child and when it is time for intense action, I really don't want him around. And yet Rome had just found him. What to do?

The Ethereal Battle

Rome's Evolution is not only about our favorite heroine's ascension in terms of personal power, it is also an evolution in how I wrote stories. For example, I never really had a good handle on fight scenes. In Rome's Revolution, I had a choreographed fight beneath Kilauea between Rome and Rei and Estar and her guard but it wasn't that well done. It took me days of marching back and forth across my basement carpet trying to figure out where each combatant's limbs were at all times.

In Rome's Evolution, I kicked it up a notch with the fight scene between Rei and Dan Steele, the would-be assassin. I had been planning that scene since the beginning. That was the reason for giving Rei the portable PPT tunnel vest to protect his back. In that scene, Steele lost a hand and then he lost his consciousness when Rome bashed him over the head with a rock.

But now we are getting to the denouement of Rome's Evolution and I wanted the fight to take place on two planes. One was the earthly plane, one that we could all see. The second was on the ethereal plane, one that could only be seen in the mind. I got it into my head that each person could have a their own specific color, like tinted ghosts and the colors would help you figure out who was doing what.

I made Rome red and Rei blue. Lupe, who had just been conceived, was floating around as a tiny pink wisp. Reema, the leader of the Onsiras, would be orange. Sussen, who comes along at the most inopportune time would be emerald green and MASAL's Sipre or Shadow would be black. Late to the fight, Bonnie came in colored brightly yellow. It's a good thing I didn't have more characters because I would have run out of colors!

So it would be a battle royale of minds and spirits and colors taking place in two universes, one of the mind and one of the body. I flashed back and forth showing you the physical toll that the mental battle extracted. It's pretty interesting so let's get to it.