I cheated

Everybody likes a happy ending. I wanted one for Rome's Revolution as well. So when Estar first tried to murder Rei, I thought the book would suffer if she succeeded. Likewise, when Rei and Rome were deep within Kilauea, MASAL fooled everyone and used Rome's PPT transceivers to turn the tables and force her to shoot at Rei.

Well, for Estar's first murder attempt, while I thought it was cool, it didn't really leave me a way for Rei to not die. Rei was in the airlock, the air evacuated, and he was about to suffocate. I thought about having him race over and put on a spacesuit which had its own oxygen supply but frankly I didn't think he had enough time to get it on and get the oxygen flowing.

So I cheated. The sarcophagus was designed to freeze a person and give them a one-way trip to the stars. Rei came right out and said that nobody could survive being placed in cryo-hibernation twice. Yet I allowed Rei to hop into the sarcophagus, close the seal and start the freezing cycle which for some strange reason began piping oxygen into the chamber. It makes no sense but it did save his life and I'll bet you read right past it and gave Rei an attaboy for being so clever but it was a cheat nonetheless.

Remember, I claim these stories are true, they just haven't happened yet. So when Rei and Rome were underneath Kilauea and Rome aimed her blaster at Rei's head, I thought she was really going to kill him. This was so depressing to me that I actually had to stop writing the book for a weekend. Finally, on Monday morning, much to my relief, it occurred to me that Rei just needed to be transported out there before Rome shot him. But how? That's when I came up with the snap, whoosh, pop PPT tranporter tunnels. I doubled back and introduced them in the shack in Hawaii so that you, the reader, didn't think I invented them just to get Rei out of a jam. But I did.

Here is the actual passage:

     Rome came closer and stopped ten feet away from him. She pointed the weapon directly at his head. With a will of its own, Rome’s other hand reached up and twisted the intensity dial on the pistol to make sure it was at its maximum.
     Rome looked at Rei, feeling utterly helpless. Through her tears, Rome said, “I love you, Rei.”
     “And I love you, sweetheart.” Rei said.
     Rome closed her eyes. There was a whoosh and popping noise just as she squeezed the trigger. The blast was intense. When she opened her eyes, Rei was gone as was a good portion of the robot that had been holding Rei’s shoulder.
     Rome screamed “Reiiiiiiiiiii!” at the top of her lungs until she had no more breath in her. Something snapped. The force that had been driving her limbs ceased having any meaning or power. She raised her pistol and fired it right at MASAL blasting a huge chunk into the air. She became living fury. She fired the weapon over and over and over. Shrapnel exploded everywhere.

Just by making Rome close her eyes, I was able to pull it off.

But I did cheat.