Now that they were on Helome, I thought I'd have you, along with Rome and Rei, visit the remains the of the Ark I to compare and contrast what was done with the relic. The Ark I had been on Helome for nearly a thousand years so there was no reason to expect much of it to remain:
After what seemed like an eternity to Rei, the woods thinned out and suddenly, they burst into a clearing which was surrounded by a tall fence. The woman driving the cart slowed to a halt. She waited until the gate opened then she passed through. Rei turned in place and watched the fence seal back up. They drove up to a two-story building built out of standard Vuduri white aerogel. The rear section was so large it extended beyond the boundaries of the building’s front and stretched out well into the forest on both sides. When the flying cart settled to the ground, the screens detached and disappeared back into the roof of the vehicle. The three Vuduri women got out as did Rome but Rei just stuck his head out and looked up.
“Batwolves?” he asked.
“They only come out at night,” Virga said, smiling subtly. “You are safe.”
“OK,” Rei said and he followed the group to the front of the building.
The main door opened into a fairly wide vestibule. On the far end was a pair of double doors.
“We must enter into this airlock,” Virga said. “Even though the air on Helome is rather dry, we have found keeping out all humidity aids in preserving the artifacts.”
The five of them entered the vestibule and the outer door closed. A swirling burst of air shot up from the floor, flowing upwards into vents set up in the ceiling. An indicator at the far end changed from red to green and the double doors opened.
As soon as all five were through the doors, they slid closed tightly. The room they just entered was large and had an open, airy feel to it. Rei looked up at the domed ceiling. “This reminds me of your Great Room back on Dara,” he said to Rome.
“Most Vuduri buildings greater than a certain size have a center court,” Rome said, looking around.
Virga pointed to group’s right. “That room holds artifacts gathered from a settlement we found on the eastern coast. It was very primitive. Other than some strange utensils and some bits and pieces of metal, most of it was destroyed by successive generations of Piranha Rats.”
So, it turns out that Helome is drier than Deucado so the Ark I had not rusted at the same rate at all. It was sufficiently intact that Rome could continue on her hunt for the 20th data slab. Her memory of her time when she was in the Overmind told her it would be around here somewhere. Time to go look.
Entry 4-315: November 6, 2016
Starship Museum 2
Yesterday, we saw Virga take Rome and Rei to the remains of the Ark I. Because of a combination of the elements on Helome plus some precautions taken by the Vuduri, there was still enough of the rusted out hulk to examine. Rome was there to find the 20th slab. It was time to expose this fact to Virga so that she could take Rome to it specifically. Here is that interaction:
Virga turned and indicated the door in front of them. “That room holds the remains of a portion of the spacecraft that brought them here. We actually built this building around it. It had disintegrated rather substantially so unfortunately, there is not much to see.”
“What is over there?” Rei asked, indicating the room on the far side of the atrium.
“That room contains the remains of a settlement we found nearby. Even though they only lived here for a short time, they apparently decided to create two settlements, one on each side of the continent.”
Rome looked at Rei. “Just like the Deucadons.” She turned back to Virga. “Can we go in there?” Rome asked, pointing forward.
“Yes, of course,” Virga said. She marched up to the door, pressed a button and the door rose up, disappearing into the ceiling. The storeroom in front of them was huge, its ceiling a translucent canopy that let the light of Aleph shine through. In front of them was the nearly completely rusted out hulk of the cargo section of the Ark I. The only thing really remaining was the stainless steel lower portion. The interior was completely exposed. Rome spotted the storage compartments in the front section. They looked so odd sitting there with nothing around them.
“Do you mind if I go up there and look?” Rome asked.
“Of course, but be very careful,” Virga cautioned. “Many of the edges are still sharp.”
Rome marched ahead and stepped gingerly onto one of the twin cargo ramps. After climbing the ramp, she entered the area that would have been the body of the ship. It felt odd that she was inside the spacecraft yet was not. There was nothing overhead except for the skylight canopy. She deftly made her way to the front section where the storage lockers were located. The metal was shredded and there was no evidence of a bin for “Data” or the “S5 Vacc.”
“Did you find anything at all stored here?” Rome called out to Virga who was still standing on the display floor with Rei.
“Anything that did not disintegrate was moved to the other climate controlled rooms,” Virga replied, pointing to her left.
Rome shrugged and made her way out of the wreck and back to the group.
“In that case, may we see where the important items are stored?” Rome asked.
Note the phrase within bold. This phrase is meant to be a nod toward the schism between the Grays and the Whites. Tomorrow, Rome goes exploring looking for the answer to questions nagging her. Terrible questions. Questions so deadly that they nuked her Library to persuade her to cease her probe.
Entry 4-316: November 7, 2016
Future Anarchy
Tomorrow's election got me to thinking about government in the 35th century world of Rome's Revolution. I came to the realization that I am an anarchist because each of the three important worlds, Earth, Deucado and Helome had no actual government.
Every planet, every country, every organization needs the equivalent of a head of state. This has nothing to do with government, rather it has to do with the face of an entity. On Earth, ruled by the Overmind, at the end of Rome’s Evolution, we come to learn that Commander Ursay is the leading representative of the people there. On Helome, Virga is the leader in name only but she is the first of the Vuduri to greet off-world visitors.
On Deucado, it is a bit more complicated because there are so many different groups. The Vuduri contingent is headed up by Pegus. The Deucadons are led by Bukky. The Ibbrassati are represented by Trabunel. The Essessoni, and in fact the entire planet, are represented by the de facto leaders Rome and Rei although they would claim otherwise.
I guess in my future world, everybody gets along and everybody does their job so that the world moves forward in harmony. I see a future where there is no need for rules or government because people naturally want to do the right thing.
On our world, here in the 21st century, we haven't quite reached that level of enlightenment but it is important that we try. So please make every effort to go out and vote tomorrow to help us move toward that glorious future.
Entry 4-317: November 8, 2016
The Electoral College
In this age of high speed internet and ubiquitous WiFi, the question arises, why not do away with the Electoral College system for electing a President and go straight to a popular vote? The current system (except for Maine and Nebraska) are winner take all. If your candidate gets even one more vote than their next nearest competitor, you get all of that state's electoral votes. The method of apportioning the electoral votes equalizes some of the imbalance between very populous states like California and sparsely populated states like Vermont.
The real election does not take place until the Electoral College representatives actually cast their votes in December and the results are not formal until January. At that point in time, Congress tallies up their votes and the results become binding. The interesting thing is that the Electors are not formally bound to vote for the candidate who won the majority of the popular
vote. They do but they don't have to. This flexibility was introduced by the Founding Fathers on purpose. This allows the Electors to intervene if the people got it wrong (whatever that means) or if something occurs between the popular vote and the Electoral College tally.
While it is very rare that an Elector disregards the popular vote and votes for someone else, no Elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as pledged. These people are selected by their own political party and have very strong ties (and self-interest) in voting as pledged. Since the system was implemented right after the birth of our nation, more than 99 percent of Electors have voted as pledged.
But I go back to the question I raised at the top. Is it time to abandon this age-old institution and go to a straight popular vote? Answer: I don't think so.
Let's pretend for one moment that this new system was implemented. Every citizen would be issued the equivalent of a PIN when they register to vote. They could then vote at the polling place or at home using a browser and HTTPS. The votes would be counted on a central server and the winner would be declared in real time. Do you see any flaws with this? I certainly do.
If you allow the President of the United States to be elected by the results of a computer system, there could be bugs in the system, it could be hacked and therefore manipulated by other countries or terrorist groups. It just seems like a problem waiting to happen. Also, people with the necessary technology could manufacture PINs and the one vote per person rule could be violated.
So, in conclusion, I say that our Founding Fathers had an astounding and clear view of the rules for running our country and the Electoral College process prevents wide-spread abuse by placing a buffer between the popular vote and the election of our nation's highest official. I am OK with it. It ain't broke so let's not fix it.
Entry 4-318: November 9, 2016
Starship Museum 3
Several days ago, I introduced you to the closet thing to a museum that the Vuduri on Helome had at the beginning of The Ark Lords. It was the rusted out hulk of the Ark I. However, owing to the somewhat drier conditions on Helome and careful preservation by the Vuduri, there was still a semblance of the ship left. Rome was desperate to find out if there was any of the assumed vaccine for the S5 virus.
“Anything that did not disintegrate was moved to the other climate controlled rooms,” Virga replied, pointing to her left.
Rome shrugged and made her way out of the wreck and back to the group.
“In that case, may we see where the important items are stored?” Rome asked.
Virga nodded and led them out of the cavernous shelter, back through the doorway and into the room to their right. At first glance, it looked like a cross between a museum display and a library. As they wandered down the aisle, they came to a metal locker, sealed within a glass case. In the case next to it was a fairly substantial telescope on a burnished aluminum tripod.
“What is that?” Rome asked, pointing.
“We found this telescope contained within the metal cabinet you see there. Both were beneath the rubble of what must have been a residence. The original Vuduri landing party also found a fairly well-preserved journal inside the cabinet, one which was sealed inside a second box. Apparently, the Piranha Rats had no use for it.”
“A journal you say?” Rei asked, suddenly remembering something from several years ago. “Silas’ journal?” He turned to Rome. “Is that the one we saw back on Tabit?”
“I do not know,” Rome said. “Can we see the journal?”
“We would prefer not take remove it from its case,” Virga said. “It is very delicate. However, we have images of every page from within. Come with me,” she said. She led them over to a standard Vuduri workstation.
“You sit,” Rome said to Rei. “You can read the handwriting much better than I can.”
“Sure,” Rei said as he took the chair in front of the terminal. Virga reached over his shoulder and pressed some icons on the data interface causing the large display to show what looked like a schoolboy’s speckled black assignment book.
“That’s it,” Rei said in English. “Celestial Observations, Silas Hiram, New Earth, August 2121.”
Rei pressed the page down icon repeatedly, going past the pages he had already read back on Skyler Base, until he reached the end. He quickly scanned the words there then backed up a few pages. He let out a long sigh.
“What?” Rome asked. “What did you see?”
Tomorrow, what Rei saw that made him so depressed.
Entry 4-319: November 10, 2016
Starship Museum 4
Yesterday, Virga sat Rei down at a Vuduri workstation so that he could look at the images of Silas Hiram's journal captured from the original. Rei had seem some of the pages back at Skyler Base in the Tabit system but this was the complete journal. We don't know what was in there but it caused Rei to let out a long sigh. Here, at last, is what Rei saw:
“Let me read it aloud,” Rei said. “September 8, 2144 – I normally don’t comment on what is happening within the colony. I have tried to restrict my entries in this journal to my astral observations. But last night, something really peculiar happened. Tan Powel, one of the Grays, apparently tried smoking some local herbs and started ranting and raving about the Darwin Project. The things he said were bizarre. If any of what he said was true, these people are really sick.”
“Darwin,” Rome said. “There is that name again.”
“Let me keep going,” Rei said. Rome nodded. Rei hit an icon, proceeding to the next page.
“October 9, 2144 – Captain Allen had a town meeting tonight. He did a lot of talking but he didn’t say much. He hinted at the agenda for Darwin. No one could believe it. How can you have two groups, competing for the same resources, with completely opposite goals? The Grays are working tirelessly but their only objective is to leave this planet. The rest of us, the Whites, we’ve worked so hard to turn this beautiful planet into our home. How could the mission planners have missed something this fundamental?”
“Whites and Grays,” Rome exclaimed. “That is what Bukky told me happened to the Deucadons.”
Rei hit a key and continued. “December 12, 2144 – Things are coming to a head. Sammy D. was killed last night. Shot in the back. Ernst and the rest of us are headed for a showdown tomorrow with the Grays. They are either going to renounce their plans or we are leaving. I’m too old for this shit. Basically we have a war on our hands and they have all the weapons. But it has to be done. Things can’t go on this way. I told Mary to start packing, just in case. I’m going to go see the boys tonight and give them a heads up. One way or the other tomorrow is it.”
Rei pressed the page down icon but no other pages appeared.
“Is there any more?” Rome asked.
“No, that was his last entry,” Rei said dejectedly. “Is this really what happened to the Deucadons? A civil war?”
So sad. Even if the Piranha Rats hadn't gotten them, they were already at war with each other. What a way to start out on a new world. On a brighter note, Rome goes searching for the prize. And finds it!
Entry 4-320: November 11, 2016
20 at last!
The whole purpose of Rome and Rei coming to Helome in the early part of The Ark Lords was to track down the elusive 20th data slab, entitled Mission Parameters, that had been separated from the rest on Deucado. Whatever was on that slab was important because when Rome mentioned it to Captain Keller, his face turned white as a sheet. Well, here on Helome, they would have no idea what that slab contained and therefore no reason to hide it. At least that was Rome's hope:
“That is what Bukky implied to me,” Rome replied. “Whites against Grays. It appears this is the way it must play out on every world your people touch. This must be what Darwin means.”
“It makes no sense,” Rei said. “Let me look and see if I can find anything else.” He jumped back to the beginning then slowly scrolled his
way to the end. “That’s it,” he said, finally. “That’s all of it. Nothing else about Darwin or Whites and Grays.”
Rome looked at Virga. “When I was in the Overmind, I remember seeing an image of a pile of black silicon slabs.” She used her hands to show the approximate dimensions. “Are they stored here?”
“Yes,” Virga said. She walked down to the end of the room and pointed to another glass case. Rome put her hand up to the glass and peered in. She jerked her head back.
“Twenty, Rei,” she said excitedly. “There are twenty!”
“Is that important?” Virga asked.
“Yes,” Rome answered eagerly. “The twentieth slab contains vital information. It is why we came here. May I see it?”
Virga pressed on the corner of the glass and the case opened. “You may touch them,” she said. “They appear to have been designed to remain intact for many centuries. They are among the few things that do not seem to have degraded with time.”
Rome reached in and pulled out the last slab. It was labeled, ‘Volume 7 – Chemistry, Nuclear Reactions’. “Oh,” Rome said, disappointed. “I was thinking you would have stored them in order but I do not suppose you had any reason to.” She slid the slab back on its rails and pulled out the one above it. It was labeled, ‘Volume 11 – Archeology, Anthropology, Linguistics.’ Rome put it back. She positively squealed when she pulled out the next one.
“Volume 20 – Mission Parameters” she said, waving it around. “Rei, we found it!”
“Excellent,” Rei said. “Way to go.”
Rome showed it to Virga. “This is why we came. This is the missing link. We believe this is the cause of the war within the Essessoni colonies.”