Blasts from the past

A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I wanted to talk about Aason Bierak getting ready for first contact with true aliens, the plant people known as the K'val.

One of my favorite things to do is to bring back some scenes from the past and incorporate them in new ways in my new books. One of the more memorable scenes in Rome's Evolution was Rome's training night with Rei. In a somewhat awkward conversation, OMCOM had to explain to Rome that she needed to use a sexual interlude to learn how to be a telepath. In The Milk Run, Aason had to become not only a mind-reader but a mind-writer too. He had to be able to transmit his thoughts to his target, not just detect what they were thinking.

So once again, sex and the awkward conversation that preceded it had to be invoked both as an homage to Aason's parents as well as continuity with the next generation:

     OMCOM said, “You have all the same abilities that your sister does. You could learn to harness them as she did.”
     Aason stood up. “She’s been in training for 10 years. How am I going to acquire that kind of skill in a few short hours?”
     “Well…” OMCOM hesitated. He turned to look at Aroline. “Young lady, I know this will seem like a strange and completely inappropriate question but are you a virgin?”
     “What?” Aroline gurgled. She stared at the livetar but his expressionless face gave her no further insight. She looked down at her lap and said, “No,” in a very quiet voice.
     “Very well,” OMCOM said. “Would you mind terribly having sex with young Aason here?”
     “Come on, OMCOM,” Aason shouted. “That isn’t even funny.”
     “I do not have a sense of humor,” the livetar replied. “Allow me to explain. Many years ago, when your mother had to become a telepath, having intimate relations with your father was the quickest method for her to acquire those skills. It was very effective as well. She was able to learn to harness her PPT transducers and EM transceivers very quickly. It effectively allowed her to learn how to read minds. She used your father as her training bench so to speak. Coincidentally, it was also the night that Lupe was conceived.”
     “Well, ew,” Aason said with disgust. He shook his head. “Even so, reading minds is one thing but first contact protocols require transmission, too.”
     “You have the equipment to do exactly that,” OMCOM answered back.
     Aroline’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of equipment?” she asked hesitantly.

I thought that was pretty funny, "what kind of equipment" based upon the context but they got it all straightened out. You know, I never did consider whether Zac, Aason and Aroline's first born was conceived that night. Oh well, I'll figure it out some day.