Act 1, Scene 1

When I started writing VIRUS 5: Asdrale Cimatir, before it became Rome's Revolution, I always thought in terms of how to make it into a movie. I called it writing cinematically but I'm not sure that's even a style. Anyway, the beautiful little prologue about Silas Hiram (see Silas Hiram, RIP) was for literary purposes only. It was meant to set a lyrical mood.

I wrote the first scene of the old book explicitly to be the scene behind the opening credits. It was the dramatic rescue of Rei's Ark II by the Vuduri tug pilots.

My thinking was the movie was going to open with Rei's resurrection by what he thought were monsters or aliens in the airlock/isolation chamber on Dara. But when VIRUS 5 got cut down and squashed into Rome's Revolution, I now think that scene would take place behind the opening credits and the actual movie would open just as the book does now... Rei awakening in the airlock chamber, seeing his sarcophagus in the corner and realizing it wasn't a dream.

I'll review the science behind Rei's freezing and awakening in a few days but I did want to mention that even though I was sad to let go of those two scenes, I think the movie will open better because you meet Rei, you meet OMCOM and you meet Rome right away. In the current form, you are presented with the immediate issue which becomes a crisis. In the older version, it took a lot longer to develop.

Don't worry though, you'll get to read Rei's resurrection scene, in its entirety, when I roll out The Vuduri Companion next year.