“They cannot stop what they cannot see,” said MINIMCOM. “I will make certain that I get my passengers home safely. Have no fear.”
“When will you be back?” Rei asked.
“A round trip only takes eight days,” replied MINIMCOM. “So I will see you in one week.”
“Great. Thanks buddy,” said Rei.
“De nada,” replied MINIMCOM.
Rei laughed at MINIMCOM’s attempt at Spanish. He watched as the cargo ramp retracted and the hatch closed. MINIMCOM’s powerful EG lifters raised the smooth, sleek starship silently up into the air. Heading west, over the lake, MINIMCOM’s nose tilted up as he soared into the sky. His plasma thrusters roared to life and in a flash, MINIMCOM vanished from sight.
So that’s it. MINIMCOM becomes the protector of the world, an interstellar taxi and speaking long-dead Spanish? I’m sure we’ll find things for him to do in The Ark Lords, Rome’s Evolution and even a small part in The Milk Run. Tomorrow, the end of Rome's Revolution.
Entry 4-178: June 22, 2016
The End (not really)
Yesterday, we saw MINIMCOM take off to serve in his new role as interstellar taxi and guardian of the Deucado star system. The festivities had ended and it was time for Rome and Rei to find their new home and settle into what was to be their life going forward. This little scene took place after they had said their goodbyes to the celebrants:
Rome reached back and took Rei’s hand. “Let’s go see our new house,” she said, “I am exhausted.”
“I like that idea,” Rei said. He beckoned to Fridone and Binoda. They came over to where Rei and Rome were standing. Binoda handed Aason back to Rome who cuddled him as Rei spoke up.
“Family,” Rei said addressing the group, “it’s time to go home.”
While it was not much of an escort, there were three of the Vuduri flying carts made available to them. Pegus and Keller insisted on showing them to their new house. It was not very far from the fledgling spaceport. Following exploring the house and having a brief meal, all of them were done for the day.
After Aason was put down, in the quiet of their own room, Rei and Rome lay in their brand new bed. The night air was a calming presence. Rome turned to Rei and propped herself up on one elbow.
“Why am I so tired?” she asked. “We spent most of the voyage here doing nothing. All the issues have been resolved. Do you think I am getting ill?”
Rei laughed and put his arms around her, cradling her. “No, Miss Saver-of-the-universe. What you are doing is finally relaxing. It’s what home is all about. It’s yours now. Do you know what I think you should do?”
“What?” Rome asked.
“I think you should let me hold you, close your eyes and let the world go on. You deserve it. It is time to get a good night’s sleep.”
Rome closed her eyes, nestled even closer and breathed a contented sigh. “I love you, mau emir,” she whispered.
“I love you, too, baby,” Rei said, kissing the top of her head.
“Rei,” she said breathily as she drifted off.
“Yes, honey?”
“Do you remember the wish I made when we had my first ‘birthday’? The one where you made me promise to not tell you what it was.”
“Sure,” Rei replied.
“Well, I just wanted to tell you that now the second part of my wish has also come true.”
“That’s nice, Romey,” Rei said tenderly. “Now go to sleep.”
And she did. As Rome slept, she dreamed of living in a perfect place with her family and a man who loved her more than life itself. When she awoke, she knew it was no dream. She was in paradise and the world, no the universe, was in harmony for now and for all time. At least it would be if she had any say in the matter.
So that’s it. The end of Rome’s Revolution. I hope you enjoyed it. But rest assured, that is not the end of the adventure. Not by a long shot. Rome told me so herself. More on that tomorrow.
Entry 4-179: June 23, 2016
Taking a break
Now that I have completed an exhaustive and thorough review of Rome's Revolution, I am considering taking a break from posting these blog entries. Not permanently but just easing up a bit. Let me hit you with a few stats:
This blog started in on December 23, 2012 with an article about How to speak Vuduri. Since that time, I have not missed a single day in nearly three and a half years. Today's blog post is number 1278. That's a big number. Tales of the Vuduri, Years One through Three are over 414,000 words. When I get around to finishing Year Four, I'll be over half a million words. Since I "sell" the book for free, the sales figures themselves don't really represent any kind of substantial income. Nonetheless, as I write this article today (about two weeks before publication), I have "sold" over 3000 copies of the Tales of the Vuduri series, well over 1100 of Year One alone.
When I first started the blog, I wanted to use it in place of my wiki entitled “The Science Behind the Science Fiction” because the wiki format didn't really lend itself to the volume of material I wanted to present. So I switched to blogging and Goodreads provides a nice platform for doing just that. I had no compelling reason to switch. I know some people do their own blogs and try and monetize the page views but that was less critical to me. What was critical was that I produce high quality content (and amusing images) so that search engines like Google would rank my ramblings higher than cookie cutter web sites or other promotional material. My thinking was by sticking a hypertext link to Rome's Revolution in nearly every post, the sheer volume alone would raise it to the top. If you search for the term Vuduri, you will see that I have had a modicum of success since the region known as Vuduri is an actual part of Nigeria.
My most popular blog entry ever was called Rome Unleashed 2. It weighs in (to date) at 751 page views. I have no clue what caught people's attention there. The second most popular article was entitled He's alive! Part 2 weighing in at 632 page views. Once again, I don't know what triggered so much interest. Maybe it was the Part 2? There was a time when, if I had 30 page views, I thought it was awesome. Now if I log in at less than 200, I think the entry was a bust.
But still, my point was to make the page so desirable by Google that it would pop up in searches and direct people to the books. Did it work? I don't know. I've sold about 800 books in the Rome's Revolution series. More than none but way less than a New York Times best seller. So this brings me round to the topic at hand. Are these blogs working? Is it worthwhile? Should I take a break?
I guess you can tell from the blabbiness of this entry that there is no way. I have so much more to say. And maybe one day one of these posts will go over 1000 page views. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
Tomorrow, let's dive into The Ark Lords and review a conversation that I personally had with Rome herself!
Entry 4-180: June 24, 2016
The Ark Lords begins, part 1
Have you ever seen a movie that had a sequel and wondered what transpired between the two parts? Like between what was later called Episode 3 of Star Wars and Episode 4 which was first known as Star Wars but now they call it A New Hope? Well, LucasFilms and Disney are preparing to do just that. The movie is called Rogue One and, in theory, the movie is about how the Rebel Alliance came into possession of the plans for the original Death Star. Why the plans has to be smuggled on their version of a USB stick, I'll never know. Clearly they had the technology to transmit information between star systems. Oh well, it made for a better movie. So the very same thing happened to me after completing my first (three) novel(s).
Let's back up up a step. Now that we have completed the review of Rome's Revolution, it is time to turn our attention to the future. Actually, that sounds a little funny because the whole saga takes place in the 35th century so I guess I mean the future of Rome and Rei. A long time ago, I gave you a brief summary about how the novel The Ark Lords came about. It had to do with a shower moment when I realized that the or
iginal Erklirte (Ark Lords) and The Great Dying were related to one another.
Also, I needed the back story for my (what was to be then) YA novel called The Milk Run. Just like Rogue One, I was curious what had happened between the end of Rome's Revolution and the beginning of The Ark Lords. I got what I needed. I learned what transpired but what I never shared with you is that the background leading up to The Milk Run came from Rome herself! I mean, I needed the information and who better to supply that information that one of the characters themselves?
"What?" You ask. "Are you crazy? How could a fictional character dictate the contents or background of a fictional novel? How could they tell you anything?" Well,this isn't the first time that I have mentioned this. It is certainly a well-documented phenomenon, that of characters speaking directly to the author. It is so well documented that new authors express distress when their characters don't speak to them.
I was long past being shocked at the experience and decided to exploit this effect for myself. I'll fill you in on the conversation tomorrow.
Entry 4-181: June 25, 2016
The Ark Lords begins, part 2
Yesterday, I laid the groundwork for having a conversation with Rome herself. The conversation took place after Rome's Revolution but before the start of The Ark Lords. It just came to me one night, when I was thinking about The Ark Lords, I decided the best way to fill in the gaps prior to the start of the novel was to speak to Rome. I had never directly asked her a question but I figured I'd give it a try.
I gave her a holler. Imagine my surprise when she answered me. She had been sleeping with Rei but she was willing to come out and meet with me, in a bathrobe no less. It was white, of course. After all, she is Vuduri. But I didn't even know they had bathrobes. Regardless, she did ask me to keep our voices down so as to not awaken Rei. I was happy to oblige. It was her house.
I asked how things were going and she told me everything was wonderful. She seemed happy but I detected a hint of wistfulness to her. When I probed further, she told me that things were going so well that she felt a little empty. All of the adventures that had driven Rome's Revolution were now in the rear view mirror and she was having trouble finding a new challenge that would rival those previous experiences. I guess she had turned into something of an adrenaline junkie and just didn't know it.
As the author, I knew I could divulge some information to her but not everything because this interlude took place before the novel began. I did share with her that I had stumbled across some information (I didn't tell her what) that might be germane to her situation and that's when she told me she had been thinking about what to do with her life. She said based upon her training as a data archivist, accumulating information seemed like a worthwhile endeavor and matched to her skill set. I encouraged her and told her it was a great idea. I did let on to her that for my upcoming novel, I had to start it with a bang. It was actually her idea to start out the The Ark Lords with a fire. It would only be a grease fire but it was better than nothing.
We chatted a little bit more about inconsequential things and at that point, I excused myself. I had what I needed. I thanked her for her time and she went back to bed. I just had to jot down what she told me and the rest of the book pretty much wrote itself. I kind of like that. 79,000 words later, The Ark Lords came out. When that book was done, it was time to have another conversation with Rome but I'll tell you about that some other time.
Entry 4-182: June 26, 2016
Setting the stage anew
In order to provide continuity between the ending of Rome's Revolution and The Ark Lords, I decided the best place to start out would be in Rome and Rei's house. After all, that was where the previous novel ended. I had no idea what the house looked like so I sketched it out using my rudimentary skills as an artist. My incredibly talented brother Bruce brought it to life in the never-released book trailer for Rome's Evolution:
I needed it to be U-shaped so that Rome could look across the courtyard and see OMCOM coming up to the door. The fact that this doesn't actually take place until some 50 years later wasn't important. I didn't want to paint myself into a corner. So I built our heroes a U-shaped house. The living room and dining room and kitchen were on one side. The master bedroom was toward the rear. Aason's room was along the corridor and the far side of the house was the in-law suite where Rome's parents would reside, at least temporarily.
When the novel The Ark Lords opens, Rome's parents have moved into their own home and with so much extra space, Rome turned the farthest corner into a studio. I knew what kind of action, if you could call it that, took place in the dining room (the conference with Ursay where he announces their pardon) and where Aason had his fling with his girlfriend, Windy, when he was a teenager.
That left the kitchen. I laid it out fairly traditionally. I knew the sink had to be on one side with a window facing the outside so I put the stove top on the other side with a hood over the burners. I put a small table in the back, a dinette set, for less formal meals.
All I needed was for Rome to set herself on fire. Not really. But I did need a grease fire. I needed MINIMCOM to swoop down and take away the burning pan, using his cape as a shield. I knew that scene would come up later in the book so I wanted to establish the actions early.
OK, the stage is set. Let's get on with this show!
Entry 4-183: June 27, 2016
The intro goals, part 1
In the beginning of The Ark Lords, it was necessary for me to establish some principles. The novel was a direct sequel to Rome's Revolution and that meant that many of the concepts from the first book applied. But I needed to show you where and how things had changed. In this case, I thought I'd give you the introductory paragraph and then explain what I was trying to accomplish:
“Rome?” Rei Bierak called out in a panic as he soon as he entered the house. Greasy, grayish smoke was billowing out of the kitchen. Not waiting for a reply, Rei activated the “cell-phone” in his head and shouted, “Rome?” as he sprinted toward the kitchen.
“Help,” was his wife’s terrified mental reply. “It’s on fire.”
Rei burst into the kitchen and saw yellow flames flashing over the induction stovetop. Rome had a vase in her hands, full of water. She started throwing it toward the stove.
“NO!” Rei yelled.
He was too late. The water was already on its way. He leaped at Rome and knocked her and the vase to the floor as the stovetop exploded into flames. Rei scrambled to cover Rome’s body with his, protecting her face with his arms. Flaming globs of grease pelted his back and shoulders. After a few moments, Rei rolled off of Rome onto his back long enough to put out any embers smoldering on his clothes then rolled back toward her again. Rome’s eyes were wide open.
“Rei?” she croaked. Her voice had the timbre of a person frightened out of their wits.
“Are you all right?” he asked hoarsely. He ignored the minor conflagration around him.
“I think so,” she whispered tearfully.
So what was it that I wanted to establish? First, everybody has skills. But no one can do everything. So Rome, bless her heart, was trying to do something that was not part of her skill set. This was the first time she had ever cooked a hamburger. Next, I had her start a grease fire to show this was not one of her core competencies. The reality is, the beef was from a bison which is inherently lower in fat and less likely to catch on fire than a regular burger. Dramatic license.
I also wanted to show that Rei was one of us and he was armed with a set of practical skills, like knowing how to put out a fire. I also researched grease fires and learned the underlying principles as to why you NEVER throw water on a grease fire. The water sinks to the bottom and then becomes steam which expands and scatters the grease causing a greater surface area to burn. Boom. Conflagration.
Finally, I needed to refresh your memory that Rome and Rei (and MINIMCOM) shared a secret EM channel whic
h Rei called the cell-phone in the head. I also wanted to reestablish MINIMCOM's character, to show how he had grown but that'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Entry 4-184: June 28, 2016
The intro goals, part 2
Yesterday, I gave you a little introduction to the novel The Ark Lords, that allowed me to establish some fundamental principles. Rome and Rei's modest kitchen had a sink, a dinette set and a stove with a hood. Poor Rome had set a grease fire and then made things worse by throwing water on it. Here's how Rei reacted:
That was all he needed to hear. Rei rolled over, got to his feet and surveyed the situation. The aerogel walls of the kitchen were not flammable. The rest of the mini-inferno would have to be dealt with later.
Instinctively, Rei searched for the most mundane item in any kitchen: a fire extinguisher. Realizing this was a concept foreign to the Vuduri, his mind raced trying to come up with an alternative. “Gotta stop the pan first,” he muttered to himself, staring at the burning skillet on the stovetop.
“MINIMCOM?” he asked inside his head, “are you around?”
“Yes,” replied the starship that was once a computer. “What do you need?”
“Send your livetar down here, quick,” Rei said. “We have a fire.”
With the typical whoosh and pop of the starship’s transporter, a two-meter tall figure appeared, dressed all in black, complete with cape. The head was bullet-shaped with only slits where the eyes and mouth would usually be. It was called a livetar and was simply a walking hollow shell, made up of VIRUS-based constructor units. It was controlled by MINIMCOM but without any intelligence or autonomous spirit. The livetar looked about and spotted the burning pan. It reached over its shoulders, grabbed its cape with both hands then flipped the cape over the skillet, smothering it and gathering it to its body. With another whoosh and pop, the livetar and the flaming pan were gone.