“Rome looked out the cockpit window, up at the sky. In broad daylight, it was not possible to see any stars. But she knew they were up there, Tabit among them.
OMCOM was curious. “How would that translate into her taking her specific actions?”
Rome looked back down at the console. “While she could not compute the timelines or decision trees, Estar knew Rei represented extreme danger to MASAL’s plan and had to be terminated. But it wasn’t just his physical existence that needed to be stopped, it was his ideal. So she had to have him die in a way that appeared natural. Anything that singled him out would have planted the seeds.”
“The seeds of Rome’s Revolution,” OMCOM said off-handedly.
“Me, anybody,” Rome said. “But Estar failed. Twice. Because Rei could think for himself. When Estar returned to Earth and MASAL discovered that she had failed, he sent agents to Deucado to introduce the idea of killing all of the Essessoni on sight.”
Do you feel sorry for MASAL? Of course you don't. But Rome is going to point out the incredible irony of Rei's Ark showing up just at the exact wrong time.
Tomorrow.
Entry 4-264: September 16, 2016
The Slabs: The Revolution Revisited, Part 2
Yesterday, we saw Rome trying to explain the amazing coincidence of Rei's Ark being recovered just as MASAL's plan was nearly complete. Today, I am presenting to you the second half of the conversation showing Rome's complete grasp of the irony:
Rome stifled a laugh. “Poor MASAL, Rei and his people couldn’t have come at a worse time. Just nineteen more years and the bulk of the halfway-intelligent mandasurte would have been gone. The Onsiras would have reached critical mass and taken control. The Vuduri would be helpless by then. But the Ark was on its way to Deucado filled with Essessoni. Not just their physical selves but their ideals. So they had to be destroyed.”
“And yet they were not,” OMCOM said. “Because of you.”
“I had help. Remember the Overmind awakened. Before I was introduced, he thought his charter was to suppress the mandasurte and to destroy all the Essessoni with a single blow. That is why he did not attack them at the enclave. He knew that if he flushed them out, he could eliminate them all at once. Failure was not an option. Not one Essessoni could be allowed to survive.”
“Why?” asked OMCOM. “A few stragglers could not be dangerous.”
“I do not agree,” Rome countered. “Once the war against the Essessoni was declared, if the Overmind didn’t wipe them out in a single definitive strike, a guerilla war would have begun. Look at Hanry Ta Jihn. He fought against impossible odds against the Erklirte and yet, in the end, his side won. The guerillas always win in the end. Ideals always win.”
“Also, they did not account for you being on the inside. So I must agree. You already had your ideals and your ideals defeated them.”
“It was not a defeat,” Rome said. “It was a victory. For sanity.” She sighed as she thought back to the trials that the Vuduri and the various Overminds put her through.
“Enough reminiscing,” she said, shaking her head. “Let us get on with it.” She inserted the next slab and watched the entire history of mankind before the Great Dying flash by. As she watched the images explode on the screen, she realized the reason the Overmind of Earth suppressed this information. In its own way, it knew that general knowledge was dangerous. Particularly this knowledge.
To be fair, when I wrote Rome's Revolution, I didn't know any of this was going on either. It was until I finished what was then Book 1 of the VIRUS 5 trilogy that the plot became apparent to me, too. I had to lay it out but then I got to review it again with Rome.
Entry 4-265: September 17, 2016
The Slabs: Rome and Art 1
Past, present, future, mankind has always felt the urge to render what he sees and feels in art. So, too, in the 35th century world of Rome's Revolution, we've always known that Rome had a fascination with art and artistic expression. One of the most important scenes I ever wrote was about pre-Cesdiud Rome's love of art. Rei used it break through her icy Vuduri exterior. Unfortunately, that scene got tossed overboard when I collapsed the three-novel version called VIRUS 5 down to the modern version. I will be publishing that little scene (finally) in the upcoming compendium entitled The Vuduri Companion.
We also know that Rome decorated The Flying House both as an Interior Designer as well as an artist on their year-long journey from Tabit to Deucado. I mean, who puts up wallpaper in a spaceship? We also know from Rome’s Evolution that when she retired, she converted her parents' solarium into an art studio and spent her golden years painting. So Rome's specific past and future all point to her preoccupation with art.
Therefore, in the early going of The Ark Lords, it should not be surprising that when Rome and OMCOM got to the slab holding all the art history records of the Essessoni culture, she should stop to take a deeper look:
When OMCOM was done, Rome picked up ‘Volume 15 – Art History, Sculpture, Architecture’ and slid it in.
“Go very slowly,” Rome commanded OMCOM. “I want to see this one.”
“Of course.”
One by one, from the very early cave drawings through Egyptian pottery, the Greeks, the Romans, all zoomed across the screen. Rome saw paleoliths, petroglyphs, the huge heads on Easter Island. The artwork advanced past the Middle Ages. All of the masterpieces of the bygone days flashed by. They passed through the Renaissance and into the age of Impressionism. Suddenly, Rome shouted out, “Stop!”
“What?” OMCOM asked.
“Go back a few images. Slowly,” Rome said. The pictures on the screen changed twice.
What was Rome so excited about? It is something that I truly love. I'll explain tomorrow.
Entry 4-266: September 18, 2016
The Slabs: Rome and Art 2
Yesterday, we saw that Rome could not help herself when she got to slab #15 which was the accumulation of all the art history records of man before The Great Dying. In this section of The Ark Lords, Rome had vowed to not stop and look too deeply. There was simply too much information to acquire so she forced herself to delay her studies until all the records were transmitted to the Library OMCOM.
But all that fell apart as some of the most beautiful paintings ever created by man flew by on her screen. This is how it went:
“There,” Rome said. “Stop there.” She stared at the image for a long time. It was clearly flowers floating on water but painted in a soft stylized way. There was no attempt at rendering it realistically.
“What is that painting?” she asked.
“That is entitled ‘Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond’ by Claude Monet,” OMCOM replied. “But you are only looking at one small piece.”
“Let me see the whole work,” Rome said.
The image zoomed out and showed a huge three-part mural, six meters across in total.
“That is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen,” Rome said, marveling at the image in front of her. “How could someone create something so, so inspiring?”
“Art, by definition, is all about communication,” OMCOM said. “That this artist communicates with you means he is reaching across the centuries to tell you how he feels. He insisted this painting always be displayed on a curved wall so that the viewer felt encompassed.”
Rome sat back in her chair and looked out the windshield. “I have had it all wrong,” she said. “I have just tried painting what I see, not what I feel. This…” she looked back down at the screen. “When I go back to painting, this is what I want to do. This is truly art.” She just gazed at the screen, putting her mind into the scene. Finally, she shook her head. “I cannot dwell on this. There is too much work to be done. There will be plenty of time for me to review this later. Go ahead and finish downloading this volume.”
I picked that painting in particular because a) I love it and b) when I finally got to see the origi
nal at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I was blown away by how big it was. This image only gives you a hint of that so try and see it for yourself someday:
Entry 4-267: September 19, 2016
The Slabs: Future Fiction
Since the 24-chromosome mind-connected Vuduri have no privacy, they had long given up the desire to be creative. They were too afraid of what others might think by looking into their minds. As such, the Vuduri had no art, no music and no literature. When Rome first met Rei and he told her about fiction, she did not believe that such a thing was possible. She point-blank asked him why anybody would ever want to know about "altered truth".
However, once she because Cesdiud, cast out, she learned to appreciate all the arts, including literature. She learned to enjoy movies, called volma, in Vuduri. So during the library section of The Ark Lords, when she came across the next volume including all the Essessoni literature, she found it completely gratifying:
While there were some images of musicians, bands, orchestras and instruments, mostly the viewscreen showed data files being downloaded with titles, artist, album covers and genres. This slab took longer to download than the previous ones. At last OMCOM completed it. The next one was entitled ‘Volume 17 - Literature: Fiction, Non-fiction, Religion, Philosophy.’”
When Rome had first met Rei, the idea of fiction was inconceivable to her. But now she understood it fully and could not wait to dive in and read some of the works of the earlier age. OMCOM made relatively quick work of this slab. The next was labeled ‘Volume 18 – Movie and TV Archives.’” Rome placed it in the reader.
“There appear to be two completely different storage formats here,” OMCOM said.
“What do you mean?” Rome asked.
“One format is a simple series of frames with a sound track. When flashed up on a screen, the human eye would retain the image long enough such that each static frame would fuse and you would see it as a moving image. Volma.”
“What is the other format?” Rome asked.
“It appears to be a holographic sequence. I believe this would be used to create dynamic, three-dimensional images.”
“MINIMCOM, can you adapt your heads-up projectors to compensate and merge the bit streams?”
“Of course.”
“Let me see one of them,” Rome asked. “I want to see what it looks like.”
So even though Rome had a massive job to do, she had to take a moment out to watch a movie. Wait until you see which movie she picked out. I'll tell you tomorrow.
Entry 4-268: September 20, 2016
The Slabs: Future Past
When I decided to resume my writing career, shockingly, the first book I wrote was not science fiction but rather a romantic novel entitled Future Past. It was a book about a fictional reality show in which the protagonist (a fictionalized version of me) was given the opportunity to meet or see again every girl he had ever dated, loved or known to see if a woman from his past might be the woman of his future. If you ever get the chance, check it out.
But having gotten that novel out of the way, it was time to dive into science fiction and the world of Rome's Revolution. However, I didn't want to abandon my first "child" so I found a way to slip in a reference to the book in The Ark Lords. Here is that scene:
“What about a movie called ‘War of the Worlds’?”
“I have several of those,” OMCOM said. “Yes, there is one in 3D.”
“Wait!” Rome said, holding up her hand. “Do you have one called ‘Future Past’?”
“Yes, there is one with that title.”
“Then pick a scene from that one,” Rome said. “Rei was always telling me about that movie. It was based upon the real life story of his grandfather. How he met Rei’s grandmother.”
MINIMCOM darkened his windshield and dimmed the lights. His holo-projectors took the two separate data-streams and projected them so that they caused ripples of interference and light. Suddenly, Rome was looking at a completely realistic, three dimensional representation of a Hollywood sound stage, wires and lights hanging overhead. A heavy-set man with graying hair was sitting on a sofa next to a petite woman with short brown hair and bangs.
The man was speaking. “Well, I didn’t,” he said. “I didn’t end up with anybody. You know it and I know it even if nobody else’ll know it. I can’t believe they both turned me down. It was just a stupid charm. Am I that horrible?”
The woman reached over and placed her hand on top of his. “Let me tell you something. I think you’re an amazing individual. You’re attractive, you’re funny; you’re like a genius. You got along really well with the women.” OMCOM froze the image.
“Was that Rei’s grandfather?” OMCOM asked.
“I don’t think so. Rei told me there were people called actors since they acted in movies. So I believe this was an actor playing the part of his grandfather,” Rome said. She was about to command OMCOM to continue then changed her mind. “Shut it off,” she said. The image disappeared and MINIMCOM changed the windshield back to transparent, allowing light to flood into the cockpit. “There will be plenty of time to watch movies,” she said. “Rei will be so pleased. He loves them.”
Do you like how I wove that in? That scene was lifted directly from my first book. I made the protagonist of Future Past become, in my fictional universe, Rei's grandfather. Pretty cool, huh?
Entry 4-269: September 21, 2016
The Slabs: Number 20
The entire novel The Ark Lords is about Rome's quest for truth and the awful people that would stop at nothing to prevent her from learning about who caused The Great Dying. However, up until this point, Rome did not know that she did not know something.
There had to be a pivotal point whereupon our plucky heroine Rome stumbles across this missing link. Frankly, her life would have gone a lot more smoothly if she hadn't. But if you take the long-term view, ultimately it was a secret that had to get out and the longer it took, the more devastating the consequences. So here is the scene where Rome finally finds out that there are those within the Essessoni community who are hiding a terrible secret:
She finally reached the last slab, entitled ‘Volume 19 – The Rise of the Industrial Era, the Space Age, Modern Culture.’ She slid it into the reader and didn’t even pay attention to the data being downloaded. Her mind was elsewhere.
“I am finished,” OMCOM said, trying to get Rome’s attention. “I am ready for the last one.”
“Huh?” Rome remarked. OMCOM had startled her from her daydreaming. She looked over to the co-pilot’s seat. There were no more slabs. “That’s all that there is. That was the last one,” she said.
“It is not,” OMCOM said. “There is one more slab. There are numerous references to it in the underlying indexes.”
“Are you sure?” Rome asked, looking around the cabin. “I was very careful. This is all that they gave me.”
“There is definitely a reference to a 20th slab,” OMCOM said. “It is entitled ‘Volume 20 - Mission Parameters.’ There is no doubt about it. Are you sure you did not drop it or misplace it?”
“I’m very sure,” Rome said. “This is all they provided. I counted the slabs when Rei first gave them to me. There were only 19. You have received all 19. I’m certain I did not misplace it.”
“I can confirm Rome’s statement. She entered my cockpit with exactly 19 slabs,” MINIMCOM chimed in.
“Then there is one missing,” OMCOM said a bit fussily. “I will begin integrating and cross-referencing the data. I leave it to you to find out what happened to the 20th slab. It would be more efficient to have a complete accounting of the data before the Vuduri arrive back from Earth. I happen to know they will be returning with an immense amount of data.”
Rome pulled Volume 19 out of the reader and placed it on top of the rest. She picked up the entire stack and placed the slabs back on the co-pilot’s seat.
“I will do that,” s
he said. “I will return these and find out what happened to the missing slab. MINIMCOM?”
With that, the starship rose off the ground and headed back toward New Ark City.
So there you have it. The truth has been laid bare. There is a slab called Mission Parameters that has mysteriously disappeared. Rome is like a bloodhound. Once she gets on the scent of something, she will not stop until she finds it. Lucky for me because it makes for one hell of a story!
Entry 4-270: September 22, 2016
The Trellis
On the new world of Deucado, the bulk of the people there were the Deucadons, Ibbrassati or Vuduri. There were only 500 or so Essessoni, the people from our time initially. Yet their autonomy (and aggressiveness) allowed them to set the tone for a number of cultural changes to the new world.
One such quirk they brought with them was fear of an unnatural and swift death from above, courtesy of the 'falling blankets' who were cloth-like creatures that could smother you. So the Essessoni built trellises in front of their homes so they could enter and exit without fear. Here is what one might look like:
In the first part of The Ark Lords, Rome initially thought them silly until she herself was attacked one time. Here was her initial take on the architectural trend:
As Rome approached the Mullens’ home, she walked under a trellis, entangled with honeysuckle vines. The smell was intoxicating. Most of the Essessoni lived in fear of the “falling blankets” that inhabited the cane-tree forest and most of them had built such trellises in front of their homes. It seemed slightly paranoid to Rome but there were many things about the Essessoni that she would never understand. She got to the front step and stopped, her arms burdened with the loose 19 data slabs.