“What the hell was that?” Rei asked. “Was that an earthquake?”
“Something has happened,” said OMCOM. “Near Rome’s library. Not an earthquake.”
“Then what?” Rome asked with fear in her voice.
“An explosion,” OMCOM replied. “You had better attend. I will meet you back there.” With that, OMCOM’s livetar winked out.
Rome started running down the corridor. Rei, carrying Aason, was right behind. Together, they dashed out of the cargo compartment, down the ramp and across the stand of trees to where MINIMCOM was parked. They quickly went aboard and rushed to the cockpit.
“Take us to Rome’s library,” Rei barked while buckling Aason into the pilot’s seat. “Pronto.”
“Absolutely,” MINIMCOM replied. The starship did not even wait until the cargo ramp was fully retracted before lifting off into the air. They heard the hatch swing down and lock. As soon as the cargo compartment was sealed, MINIMCOM fired his plasma thrusters and they quickly accelerated to Mach 2. It only took a few minutes to follow the mountains down to the plain below before arriving at the library site. They skimmed over the outer row of cane-trees approaching the campus proper.
“Oh no!” Rome cried out, pointing past the windshield. In the place where her library had stood, there was now a tremendous crater, several hundred feet across. Pieces of aerogel, bricks and other debris were scattered around the rim of the crater. Oddly, a small portion of the front wall remained. The rest of the building was simply gone. The trees circling beyond the edge of the crater had been knocked over, splayed outward in a radial pattern.
“Oh, Rei!” Rome whimpered and she started crying.
The Library is gone. So sad. Tomorrow, Rei puts together the pieces of the puzzle and boy is he mad!
Entry 4-300: October 22, 2016
The Mini-nuke 2
Yesterday, Rome, Rei, MINIMCOM and Aason flew back to the Library, only do discover it had been blown to bits. Even though it is not stated explicitly, I spent a lot of time setting you up so that you knew it was a mini-nuke. Now Rome and Rei have to figure out who did this and why. It was just a library for heaven's sake. Why destroy a library? This next section will make it all clear:
Angrily, Rei shouted, “OMCOM, are you still there?”
“Yes,” replied the computer through MINIMCOM’s grille. “The explosion did not affect me or the data stores. I am far too deep underground. But as far as I can determine the building has been destroyed.”
“Jesus Christ! MINIMCOM, take us down,” Rei commanded.
“I do not think that would be prudent,” MINIMCOM said. “There is a fairly high level of radioactivity right now. It is decreasing rapidly but I would wait a day or two.”
“Radioactivity?” Rei asked, confused. “They nuked the place?”
“Who would do such a thing?” Rome asked through her sobs. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you why,” Rei said, pounding his fist on the console. “Because of that damned 20th slab. They know you are on to something. This was the only way they could think of to stop you in your tracks.”
“It is all right, Rei,” OMCOM said soothingly through the grille. “It is not as bad as it looks. My infrastructure is completely intact. The building can be rebuilt.”
“Goddammit,” Rei said. “That’s not the point. You have no clue. But how could you? You aren’t even human.”
“Rei!” Rome said sharply through her tears. “OMCOM didn’t do anything. You should not be angry at him.”
“You’re right,” Rei said, pressing his jaws closed. He took a deep breath then said, “OMCOM, I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes then opened them and turned to Rome. “But you could have been there. You could have been killed.” Rei pointed at the crater. “I know who did this,” he said.
“Who?” Rome asked plaintively. “Who would do such a thing?”
“Keller,” Rei replied, “and his bunch of crazies.” He shook his fist in the air. “I’m telling you now; we’re going to put an end to this insanity.” He turned to face the grille mounted in the console. “MINIMCOM, take us to New Ark City.”
Tomorrow, Rei confronts the people responsible. Then they have to figure out what to do. The agents of destruction think they have erased the information contained within the building. Little did they know that all the data was safe nearly a meter underground.
Entry 4-301: October 23, 2016
The Bad Guys
Yesterday, Rome, Rei, MINIMCOM and Aason were headed back to New Ark City after they discovered that Rome's Library had been bombed. Up until now, the Gray-White schism had seem like a mild political difference. But this act of terror was beyond the pale. Rei was so angry and Rome was so distraught that Rei decided it was time to lay down the gauntlet:
It only took them five minutes to reach the airstrip outside the Essessoni compound, making a beeline for Keller’s office.
“Bierak?” Keller said, looking up from his desk. He seemed genuinely surprised.
“You’re goddamned right,” Rei said racing over. “You nuked Rome’s library?” Rei yelled, slamming his fist on Keller’s desk. “What the hell?”
“Sorry about that,” Keller said patiently. “I just heard. An accident, I assure you.” He glanced over at Rome who was carrying Aason. “I’m glad to see nobody was hurt.”
“How the hell do you accidentally drop an atom bomb on somebody?” Rei snarled.
“We thought the Vuduri could use some of the mini-nukes in deepening the southern harbor,” Keller said, completely innocently. “We took ‘em down there but they weren’t interested. My crew was flying back with them and one must have fallen out of the cargo hold by accident.”
“Accident, my ass,” Rei said. “What kind of idiots do you think we are?”
“Watch it, Bierak. I know you’re upset but you’re really close to insubordination. That location is on the main flight path between here and the Vuduri city. It wasn’t on purpose. Who’d be crazy enough to do that?”
Rome set Aason down and stepped right up next to Rei. “This is about the 20th slab and what it contains, isn’t it?” she asked.
Keller narrowed his eyes. “What slab are you referring to?”
Rome put her hands on Keller’s desk. She leaned forward and growled, “You did not want us to find out about the mission parameters for Darwin.”
Keller leaped up from his seat and shouted, “How did you…” Suddenly, he clamped his mouth shut. His face turned red as a beet. Beads of perspiration appeared across his forehead even though it was cool indoors. He stood perfectly still until he regained his composure. Finally, he took a deep breath, let it out slowly and sat back down. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said in slow, considered tones.
“Like hell you don’t,” Rei said. “We’re going to…”
Rome turned in place and tugged on Rei’s sleeve. “His reaction is confirmation enough. We have what we need,” Rome said to Rei using her mental 'cell-phone'. “It’s time to go. I know where we can find the missing slab.”
Rei twisted and looked at her quizzically. Rome nodded her head toward the door. Rei picked up his son and turned to Keller. “We’re not done yet,” Rei said. “Not by a long shot.”
So there you have it. The war between the Grays and the Whites has begun, just like on every other world where the two groups interacted. But why did it have to be this way? That is the plot line underlying The Ark Lords.
Entry 4-302: October 24, 2016
Traveling among the stars
Way back when, when Rome's Revolution was still the three novel version called VIRUS 5, I started out the first story a long time ago and far, far away from Rei's arrival on Tabit. I told you the story of Silas Hiram, a Ag professor and one the first farmers on New Earth, the habitable planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, called Aleph. I portrayed the world of one bursting with beauty and vitality. You can now read that story in
The Vuduri Companion, available in ebook and paperback.
However, when we got to 35th century, all of the colonists from the Ark I were gone. Vanished. Not a single trace. It turns out they were consumed by the Piranha Rats which swept over the planet like a plague once every 70 years. The colonists had no knowledge that they existed and therefore had no defense. The rest of the living things on the planet knew how to survive.
So the planet itself continued. I always wanted to go back there and start to explore it and The Ark Lords gave me the perfect opportunity to visit that world, now called Helome by the Vuduri. Yesterday, Rome told Rei that she knew where they could go to find the secret 20th data slab. And Helome is where they were headed. It was very exciting for me as a writer to get to explore a new world and create new life forms and a whole new ecosystem.
This is a little snippet of Rome's thinking:
Rei and Rome sat in MINIMCOM’s cockpit hurtling through space at an inconceivable speed. Rome was watching the virtual instruments MINIMCOM had constructed to simulate actual star charts, distance and a speedometer which showed their ridiculous speed, along with the regular instrumentation. Rei was staring through the windshield at the mesmerizing beyond-deep blackness of null-fold space in front of him.
“We’ve been handing Aason off to your mother a lot recently,” Rei said, finally, almost dreamily. “I’m starting to feel like we’re neglecting him.”
Rome turned her head to look at him. “We’re doing this for his safety, for everyone’s safety. Both he and my parents understand that. Junior is at their disposal. They’ll be fine together.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rei said, tearing his eyes away from the darkness that seemed to draw him in so he could look at Rome. “And you’re sure that they’ll have a copy of the slabs at Alpha Centauri, I mean Rogal Canduro?”
“Oh yes,” said Rome. “I’ve seen images of the artifacts stored in the facility on Helome, the occupied planet there. When I was in the Overmind, I had no knowledge of what I saw but reflecting back, I now know there was definitely a stack of Essessoni data slabs there.”
Tomorrow, we arrive at the beautiful world of Helome and get to see the new sights.
Entry 4-303: October 25, 2016
A portent of the future
I have to admit, when I wrote The Ark Lords, I had no idea that I was eventually going to write The Milk Run. I had no idea that Planet OMCOM was going to fashion himself into the galaxy's largest spaceship. I had no idea that Aason was going to have to travel to a dimension beyond comprehension.
So when I wrote this little section for The Ark Lords, I was just spit-balling because I needed something to fill in, by way of conversation, during the voyage to Helome:
“I still can’t get over it,” Rei said. He looked down at the virtual instruments. “Thirteen and a half light years in eight hours. MINIMCOM, you are beyond amazing.”
“Thank you,” replied MINIMCOM. “But OMCOM deserves the credit, although I suppose we must now call him Planet OMCOM to distinguish between the original and Rome’s copy. It was Planet OMCOM that designed the null-fold drive and implemented it. I am merely exploiting it.”
“Well it’s still damned fast, if you ask me,” Rei said. Rome frowned at Rei’s continued use of profanity but since Aason wasn’t around, Rei ignored her. “Are we going anywhere near the static tunnel between Earth and Alpha Centauri?” Rei asked MINIMCOM.
“No. Our vector is nearly at a right angle from that path,” replied MINIMCOM. “Besides, I can fly at a much higher velocity than one could achieve using the tunnel.”
“As far as I can tell, nobody can fly faster than you.”
“OMCOM says this is not the upper limit. He says that flight speed is proportional to computing power, believe it or not. I am flying at the maximum my particular configuration will allow. If you could construct a ship out of pure memrons without requiring a habitable airframe, you could go even faster.”
Note MINIMCOM's prophetic observation in bold. Maybe I always knew that was Planet OMCOM's fate. Maybe I didn't. But my characters always speak to me and tell me jaw-dropping stuff so I choose to believe that these stories are true. They just haven't happened yet.
Entry 4-304: October 26, 2016
The Vuduri Companion is live!
I am proud to announce that the web site for The Vuduri Companion is now live. In addition, I added it the growing list of books on my Author Platform MichaelBrachman.com. Here is a snapshot of the new web site:
It contains a clickable image of the cover, the introductory blub and all the buy links. As I mentioned it above, I also had to shoehorn it into my author platform. Here is a small portion of MichaelBrachman.com:
As you can see, I was running out of room so I split off Tales of the Vuduri into its own section. Ultimately there will be five of those. Also, this way, if I ever get around to writing The Vuduri Knight, I will have a place to stick it. Anyway, if you get a chance, please check the whole Vuduri universe series.
Entry 4-305: October 27, 2016
Typesetting 102
Normally, when you present a basic topic, you present it as blah-blah 101 implying it is the very first course you can take in college regarding that subject. Well, for The Vuduri Companion, I had to take typesetting the paperback to a whole new level so I am calling this post Typesetting 102.
First off, I had to include a Table of Contents which I never did before. It ended up looking like this:
I created a Word table and right-justified columns 1 and 3 for the chapter numbers and page numbers and left-justified the chapter titles themselves. I also put the story titles in small caps because I wanted it to match the font later in the book.
Another big difference was the use of spacer pages. I had to insert a blank page for the first time because every collection of short stories I checked always started the Table of Contents on the right side and the way the book laid out, if I did not, it would have ended up on the left-hand side. Same thing for Chapter 1. I had to insert a blank page to force it so that it started on the right, just like the Table of Contents.
Note that I got a little (very little!) creative with the chapter numbers by putting them in a large font. Finally, putting in the book title and chapter titles on the top of each chapter was a bear because each chapter had a different title.
Previously, the most complex book I ever typeset was The Milk Run. I employed all the techniques I learned from an article written by Michelle Proulx. For The Milk Run, however, even putting my name and the book title at the top in small caps, I only had to do it once for entire book.
So after you see how much work I put into typesetting this stupid thing, let alone spending 40 years accumulating the source material, the least you can do is go buy a copy, right? Please?
Entry 4-306: October 28, 2016
The Piranha Rats
The Piranha Rats were something I invented in 1973 when I was taking a biology class at the University of Michigan. I was writing a a paper on why the dinosaurs disappeared and I had this vision of a wave of evil mice sweeping across the landscape, eating everything in their path. Kind of like a mammalian version of locusts.
My thinking was they were so small and so voracious that even the gigantic dinosaurs would have no defense against them. Even if they stomped one or ten or a hundred, there would be thousands of others to nibble you to death. Think of swimming in a pool of piranhas and you had a pistol and you could shoot and kill maybe six or ten piranhas. The rest would still get you. I further postulated that the Piranha Rats' bones were very soft and that is why there was no fossil record of their existence. They simply swept over the planet, causing mass extinction, then they died out.
When the time came to explain why the Ark I did not result in a successful colony at Alpha Centauri, I pulled the Piranha Rats out of my memory banks and let them do the dirty work. I pretended that they slept underground, hiberna
ting for 80 years then came out when Aleph and Beth aka Alpha Centauri A and B were at their closest. Here is Rome's take on the evil little things:
“Oh no,” Rome said, pointing to the fourth planet circling Aleph. “The world offered by Beth is habitable in name only. It’s very dry and cold. There is no indigenous life. Helome is vastly superior in every way. Aleph is a good provider.”
“Except for the Piranha Rats,” Rei said. “I still can’t believe that was the reason the Ark I failed.”
“They are voracious and overwhelming when they attack,” Rome said. “They are a living carpet of claws and teeth that flow over the planet. Your people could not have been aware they were coming. They probably never had a chance.”
“But you’ve had people there for sixty years. How do they handle them now?” Rei asked.
“The Vuduri living there have spent much time building up a defense. The gestation chambers have been expunged from the continent the Vuduri occupy and unless the rats decide to swim across the ocean, our people will be safe for a long time.”
What was not stated was that many Vuduri did die before they got a handle on the situation. The Vuduri took over one continent and left the others to the Piranha Rats and as Rome pointed out, since they couldn't swim, it would be a stable arrangement.
Entry 4-307: October 29, 2016