What was wrong with him? He was entering a deep hypnotic state. A crash curtain/airbag that OMCOM had installed in his brain to prevent an unwanted attack. How could Estar, or Rome, for that matter have known? Rei certainly did not.
Entry 4-063: February 28, 2016
Bloodcurdling screams
I love me some bloodcurdling screams. Free drama. The other day, I showed you how I shamelessly stole a scene from earlier in Rome's Revolution as Estar tried to reconnect Rome to MASAL's samanda. It did not work. While I did mimic that earlier scene moment by moment, the whole thing fizzled. There was no bloodcurdling scream.
I didn't want that little gem to go unnoticed so I made sure to include it during Estar's experiment where she tried to reconnect Rei. Again, I followed the exact set of steps described earlier in the book:
“What is wrong with him?” Estar said, turning to Rome.
“You are the one that injected him,” Rome said.
Estar turned back to Rei who was breathing peacefully now. The two technicians took positions by the monitoring equipment. Through their eyes, Estar could see that Rei’s vitals were stable. The EKG was unnaturally flat but she attributed this to Rei’s inferior mind.
Estar closed her eyes briefly then opened them. Regardless of what was happening, the genetic mutations were taking effect. It was not long before their instruments indicated it was time. Estar made a waving motion with her hand and the two technicians hurriedly left the room.
In their place, the soldiers took up positions one on each side of the table. The guard on the far side, the one who had hit Rei over the head, holstered his weapon, bent over and lifted up one of the copper plates that was sitting on the floor. The other guard picked up the other plate and held it near Rei’s head as well. With no fanfare, the box began to hum and suddenly, Rei stiffened and shrieked a bloodcurdling yell.
Rome started to get up but Estar turned to her and waved the weapon, indicating that she sit down.
“Please let me go to him,” Rome said. Estar glared at her and shook her head.
Back on the table, Rei took a deep breath and then his whole body seemed to relax. The two guards lowered the plates. Rei lay there, not moving at all.
So, did it work? Is he dead? Is Rei brain dead? Not hardly. Tomorrow, Rei begins the journey into the shadowy world of the Overmind. Only this one belongs to MASAL. Not good.
Entry 4-064: February 29, 2016
Going under
Yesterday, we saw Estar attempt to connect Rei to MASAL's version of the Overmind via application of the prosthetic 24th chromosome in the latter stages of Rome's Revolution. Rome had uttered the magic words "Blue Crystal Reader" which triggered a post-hypnotic suggestion implanted by OMCOM back on Skyler Base. None of them, not Rome, not Rei and not Estar understood the meaning of the words nor the effect they would have on Rei. Estar attempts to deal with it:
Back on the table, Rei took a deep breath and then his whole body seemed to relax. The two guards lowered the plates. Rei lay there, not moving at all.
“Rei?” Rome called out. There was no reaction on Rei’s part. The one guard removed the restraint on Rei’s right arm and lifted it up. He released it and it just flopped back on the exam table. He jostled Rei roughly and still got no reaction. Finally, in frustration, he backhanded him across the face and Rei opened his eyes but his stare was blank, diffuse.
Estar took two more steps toward Rei, checking back at Rome with each step. She made sure the weapon was pointed directly at Rome’s head then turned to look at Rei. She reached out with her mind and could feel a ghostly presence there like a fog tinged in blue. The swirling intelligence was beginning to congeal into a form but it was unlike the normal cloudlike presence experienced within the Overmind. This one was glinting, flashing, hard. It was not a mind like she was used to. It was an enigma. The presence glowed bright blue connected but apart, a crystalline wall surrounding it. Without knowing quite how to address him, Estar and the Onsiras version of the Overmind to which she was attached spoke to Rei using something like words.
“Rei Bierak, can you hear me?” the minds asked.
From within the transparent walls which protected him, Rei could see the probing silver eyes of Estar and a thousand others. Behind them was something else but Rei could not make out what it was. He could hear them calling to him with a siren’s song. He wanted to join them. He longed to join them. The voices in front of him tried to coax him out but he was not able to break free of the walls which imprisoned him, much as he wanted to. Rei struggled to let them take over but then he stopped. From deep inside his psyche, a familiar voice rang out.
Rei has run into OMCOM's wall, the protective device that OMCOM installed way back during Rei's hypnotic session. Tomorrow, Rei learns what the wall means and how to use it.
Entry 4-065: March 1, 2016
OMCOM's wall
It all comes down to this. Somehow, OMCOM had figured out that some day, the Vuduri would not be able to resist attempting to coerce Rei into joining them. In the latter part of Rome's Revolution, Rome had tripped OMCOM's post-hypnotic suggestion by uttering the phrase "Blue Crystal Reader" which simultaneously protected Rei from the Onsiras' intrusion but also allowed Rei to hear a replica of OMCOM's voice:
From deep inside Rei's psyche, a familiar voice rang out.
“You are to take control,” OMCOM’s voice echoed in his mind.
“OMCOM?” Rei asked, puzzled. “What are you doing in my head?”
“I am not here. I have left you instructions that you hear with my voice.”
“What kind of instructions?” Rei asked.
“Your mind is under assault. I have prepared a defense for you,” replied OMCOM’s voice.
“I see it,” Rei said. “It looks like a wall.”
“It is,” replied OMCOM.
“So this is the wall Rome told me about. Now I get it. It’s obvious. I had no idea about this.”
“Yes,” answered OMCOM. “The wall is there to protect you and your mind.”
“So what do I do now?” Rei asked.
“You resist. You keep the wall in place. Make a thread and extend it. Let only the thread loose.”
“How?” Rei asked. “How do I do that?”
“Watch,” OMCOM said and he demonstrated the techniques required to accomplish the feat of magic.
“I understand,” Rei said. “I can do this. And if I can do it then…” he paused. “Now I realize how the Onsiras can hide from the Overmind of Earth,” Rei observed. “They have their own wall. It is no wonder the Overmind could not get through.”
“Exactly,” replied OMCOM’s voice. “Now is the time. Now you choose what they can see and what they cannot see. Only let others see what they expect to see. You know them. Use it against them.”
“I will.” Rei said, “I know exactly what they want. Boy, can I give it to them.”
“Are you ready?” OMCOM’s voice asked.
“Yes, I am ready,” Rei replied.
“Then I release you now.”
This wall is not without precedent. Rome had that ability and she learned that from her mother Binoda. It is just that Rei is a novice at being connected and it would have taken him a long time to learn the discipline. OMCOM merely sped up the process. Armed with this psychic defense, Rei is ready to take on the Onsiras’ Overmind and the evil computer behind it all, MASAL.
Entry 4-066: March 2, 2016
My F-bomb
You don't know me but I assure you I never curse. My reason for not cursing does not rest on moral or religious underpinnings. Instead, to me, it is a self-imposed discipline and forces me to strive to find the proper words rather than just use vulgar, throwaway space-fillers. People don't believe that I never curse but it is true. And because of that, I rarely, if ever, allow my characters to curse. But there are some times when you can't avoid it. Well, you could, I suppose, but I aim to
write realistic fiction and never having the characters curse is tickling the edge of believability.
So it was, near the end of Rome's Revolution, that a situation arose where my hero, my idol, Rei Bierak, had to drop the F-bomb. I didn't like it. I tried to find away around it but he just felt it was necessary for the shock value it carried which was integral to the plot.
So here it is, a million words in, the one time and one time only that I let the F-bomb drop:
With those words, audible only to Rei, he let his mind go. He used the technique that OMCOM demonstrated to extrude a part of his consciousness out in way that could not be followed back to his place of safety. Rei allowed a tendril of his mind to creep around the crystalline walls protecting his existence and form a simulation of intelligence. With a second thread, he slipped past the accumulated spirits and probed their combined intellect. He could tell what they were looking for and so he let the visible consciousness assume more and more of the appearance they were expecting.
When the connection was complete, Rei’s simulacrum announced it would give them the answers to all of their questions. The artificial mind began to replay Rei and Rome’s history from the time Rei was awakened on Tabit to the present time in a more or less linear fashion. However, his version of the journey with Rome since they left Tabit was revised. Rei’s simulated mind showed them how Rome getting pregnant was not in his plans. He demonstrated to them how he had gotten a datacube from MINIMCOM with instructions on how to cripple their ship before they separated at Keid. Rei showed the onlookers how he was, in fact, the one who disabled the engines using what boiled down to a computer virus so they would not reach Earth in time for Rome to give birth. When the mass-mind inquired as to why, Rei simply explained that all he wanted to do was f**k Rome silly and a baby would just get in the way.
Pretty crude, huh? Remember, this was not the real Rei. This was a simulated Rei, designed to shock and dismay the on looking Onsiras. Tomorrow, I will show you aftermath of letting the F-bomb fly. Needless to say, it had the desired effect.
Entry 4-067: March 3, 2016
The F-crater
Yesterday, I explained the circumstances under which I finally had to let one of my characters drop the F-bomb. First and last. Today, I am going to show you that it had the desired effect and how it precipitated the closing action sequence in Rome's Revolution. So here is the aftermath of Rei's simulacrum dropping my one and only F-bomb ever:
While the Onsiras’ version of the Overmind was reeling from his crudeness, he hammered away showing them how, when Rome went into labor, he had drugged her and suffocated the living baby at birth and tossed its body in the recycling vat before Rome awakened. As far as Rome knew, the baby was stillborn. He would not let Rome look into the little coffin he had prepared and with cold joy, he showed them how he fooled Rome into thinking they were launching Aason’s body into space, the burial at sea.
“Monstrous,” was the distilled word this new Overmind suggested.
“I am Essessoni,” Rei’s simulated spirit roared back. “What did you expect?”
He could feel the ersatz Overmind recoiling, not wanting to be associated with him any longer. He grasped back and would not let it go. The Onsiras’ Overmind pushed harder and harder, with raw panic, feeling the taint of the Essessoni washing over it. While the Onsiras were preoccupied with separation, the other portion of Rei’s mind slipped past the horror-struck onlookers and sailed forth into the dimension that was the soul of the group consciousness. As Rei’s mind swooped and soared, he probed the innermost secrets of the Onsiras but only found bleak pockets of information. The deeper Rei went, the less there was of any feeling, not even human. To Rei it seemed as if he had tapped into the memories of a machine.
The Onsiras’ Overmind started to forcibly withdraw, shutting down Rei’s PPT transceivers. It was their version of Cesdiud. Rei could feel the connection closing. Just before the Overmind severed the connection completely, Rei pushed to its core. With blue crystalline clarity, Rei knew exactly what was going to happen and how. They were going to kill him. More importantly, they were going to kill Rome. They had no intention of letting either one of them leave this room alive.
I would like to point out that Rei cleverly supplied a fictional version of events such that it now appeared that both he and Rome were telling the truth. He showed how he did recycle (allegedly) the body of the baby, supporting his original assertion and at the same time launch a coffin into space which is what Rome claimed.
No matter, He touched the memories of a machine. What did that mean? Why, it means MASAL, of course. We know it but Rei does not. He sees with blue crystalline clarity and to him, it sounds pretty ominous. Don't forget, Rome and Rei are something like half a mile underground in a closed off chamber. Where are they going to go? How are they going to get away? Let's find out...
Entry 4-068: March 4, 2016
Lava tubes
According to Wikipedia, a lava tube is defined as "a natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. Tubes can be actively draining lava from a volcano during an eruption, or can be extinct, meaning the lava flow has ceased and the rock has cooled and left a long, cave-like channel."
Beneath an active volcano like Kilauea, there are many lava tubes. In fact, when my wife and I flew over Kilauea during our trip to Hawaii, we actually saw molten lava flowing from a lava tube into the ocean. Lava tubes can be quite long. One tube from Mauna Loa, also on the Big Island of Hawaii, has been measured at 31 miles.
Lava tubes can be quite wide, up to 50 feet wide but normally they are narrower. And as they get farther from the volcano that spawned them, they tend to narrow even more.
Rome and Rei were being held in a makeshift prison/laboratory under the seemingly dormant Kilauea built in a larger portion of a lava tube. The room had doors and walls but you could still see the lava rock on the ceiling. Here is the image of the one I used to envision Rome and Rei's capture from which they had to escape. I'll describe why this is important tomorrow.
Entry 4-069: March 5, 2016
My first fight scene 1
Nearing the end of Rome's Revolution, it was necessary for a fight to break out between Rome and Rei and their captors, Estar and two armed guards. This was not easy. I had never written a fight scene before and quite frankly, my heroes had always tried to figure a rational way out of crises. Rei, my protagonist from the late 21st century, had never been a classic man of action. During his interrogation and attempted connection to MASAL's overmind, something changed. Maybe it was the drugs that they gave him. Maybe it was his knowledge, for certain, that they were going to kill his beloved Rome. Maybe he always had it in him but chose to not let it out. Regardless, something was triggered.
If you will recall, Rei was nearly a foot taller than most Vuduri and physically fit. So he had a slight advantage from the perspective of sheer physical strength. But he also grew up having to think for himself whereas the Vuduri had learned, since birth, to let the Overmind do the thinking for them. Having physical skills and a mind to work them gave him a distinct advantage. Watch as Rei activates his man-of-action mode:
With a horrified expression on her face, Estar took a step backwards, away from Rei, lowering her arm in the process. The shock of what she had seen in Rei’s mind forced her to temporarily resort to a verbal command.
“Execute him,” she said to the two guards, “Now!”
“No!” Rome shouted. She leaped up and grabbed Estar’s hand, forcing it to point straight up.
The guard closest to Rome turned in place, away from Rei, reaching down to unholster his plasma gun. It was not there. He had given it to Estar. Meanwhile, from on the exam table, with his free hand, Rei launched his fist backwards and hit the guard standing on his right side squarely in the face, breaking his nose. Blood spattered everywhere. As the guard’s hands went to his face, Rei reached down an
d grabbed the injured guard's weapon, yanking it out of its holster. As he was withdrawing the pistol, Rei twisted his arm and pulled the trigger, all in one motion. The weapon discharged, blowing a fairly sizeable chunk out of the guard’s abdomen. The first guard, the one closer to Rome, heard the blast and started to turn back to grab at Rei. He never had a chance. Even though his connection to the Onsiras’ Overmind was brief, Rei already knew exactly how each of their bodies would react and he reacted quicker. He twisted around and squeezed the trigger even as he was swinging his arm upwards. The weapon fired continuously and when it got in the general direction of the first guard, the sizzling beam hit him with a glancing blow which severed his arm just below the shoulder. The guard fell to the floor holding the stump of his arm, writhing in pain and bleeding profusely.
Tomorrow, you will see how Rome, in her own way, also gets into the action.
Entry 4-070: March 6, 2016
My first fight scene 2
Yesterday, I started you in on my first fight scene which came near the end of Rome's Revolution. Rei had been strapped down to an exam table and injected with a dose of prosthetic 24th chromosomes. All it did was make him angry and he metamorphosed into a man of action. He used his one free hand to punch his Vuduri captor in the face, breaking his nose then grabbed the guy's blaster, killed him and cut off the other guard's arm.
But this still leaves Rome to duke it out with Estar, their would-be captor. As I said, this was the first fight scene I ever wrote so, in my basement, I had to choreograph every action at more or less full speed before I could write it. I had to make sure that each move was realistic, given the character's position and then determine the counter-move by their opponent. I did not know Rome had it in her but she fought quite well, given the situation: