Entry 1-071: March 6, 2013
The Overmind's personality
An Overmind springs up whenever there are at least three Vuduri connected to each other. There is an infinitesimal delay between the thoughts of one Vuduri to the next and in the swirling, residual eddy currents, an autonomous entity arises.
However, the various Overminds, like any living creature, are shaped by their origin and their environment. The Overmind of Tabit, made up of 80 Vuduri, was rather rigid, dedicated to discovery and a bit autocratic. It followed the book and had a mission so it had no tolerance for bending the rules. That is why Rome was Cesdiud (cast out) so quickly. That plus it had a little prodding from OMCOM.
The Overmind of Deucado was made up thousands upon thousands of Vuduri and was supremely confident in its own abilities and rather imperious. Rome certainly knocked it down a few pegs in the middle part of Rome's Revolution but it was ultimately better for it.
The Overmind of Helome, first encountered in The Ark Lords, is more benevolent. It gives the Vuduri there much more free reign and just revels in the bounty and beauty of Helome. It is the closest we'll ever see to a hippie Overmind.
The Overmind of Earth, made up of several hundred million Vuduri, is closer to a god-like creature that guides and watches over the entire world. It treats many of the weaker-minded Vuduri like puppets but does tolerate independent thought to some degree. We've seen evidence of how it shaped the Vuduri culture throughout the first four parts. In Part 5, Rome's Evolution, we will finally get to meet the Overmind of Earth.
Entry 1-072: March 7, 2013
The Null Fold
In Rome's Revolution, OMCOM was able to communicate with Rei and Rome over a tremendous distance using what OMCOM called null-fold relays.
The null fold is taking the Casmir Effect and applying it to negative energy splitting it into "real" and "imaginary" negative energy. It boggles the mind. Anyway, "real" negative energy allows you to fold space geometrically, similar to a PPT tunnel which only lets you travel great distances algebraically.
In The Ark Lords we saw MINIMCOM utilize a null-fold star-drive to increase his effective velocity to 15,000 times the speed of light. This reduced the trip to Tabit from 7 days to 11 hours.
OMCOM also uses null-fold relays to communicate from Tabit to Deucado in real-time.
In the new book, Rome's Evolution, MINIMCOM finds new uses for the null-fold including stimulating neural growth allowing for regeneration of nerves that had previously been severed. He also uses the null-fold to activate PPT Transceivers that had been deactivated. The Vuduri had always assumed this was impossible. In theory, such a technique would allow Rome to reconnect to the Overmind of Earth, even though she had been Cesdiud on Tabit.
Imagine the possibilities!
Entry 1-073: March 8, 2013
Whatever happened to OMCOM?
OMCOM played a very important role in Rome's Revolution. He was Rei's first contact with the Vuduri civilization. He was instrumental in getting Rome Cesdiud (cast out) so that she could override the Casimir pump restrictions in the memron fabricator. He invented the concept of the VIRUS units although he used the Socratic method to lead Rei to design them.
When the Stareater attacked Skyler Base and OMCOM transferred his consciousness into the mass of VIRUS units, he became what is now called Planet OMCOM.
He's shown up at various points via his null-fold relays. He guided MINIMCOM when he first became a starship. He supervised the destruction of MASAL. He supplied a clone to serve as the data storage device for Rome's library. He even told Rei and Rome they had to produce a daughter named Lupe in the next few years.
But other than those minor interactions, what has he been doing out there, orbiting the remains of Tabit for all these years? Nobody knows. And you won't find out until 2014 when the last novel in the series, The Milk Run, is released.
Needless to say, it will surprise you!
Entry 1-074: March 9, 2013
Action, action, action!
When I first set about writing the modern version of Rome's Revolution, I really wanted to put my idea of consensus future history to work to build a kind of "you are there" story.
It started out with a beautiful little story about Silas Hiram and the first time he saw Earth from Alpha Centauri. This little vignette also introduced the idea of stars disappearing.
The next scene, the first to take place in the 35th century, was how the Vuduri discovered and rescued Rei's Ark. I think it was well written, evocative, cinematic and gave you a hint that you were in a new world.
The next chapter was Rei's awakening where you were as disoriented as he was and couldn't make much sense of what you were seeing. It introduced the concept of Rei's back pain and a hint of Vuduri technology.
It wasn't until Chapter 3 that we first meet OMCOM and start to learn about the new universe and the Vuduri language, the Overmind, etc.
Well, I made the mistake of showing those first few chapters to a professional writer and a professional science fiction writing coach. They both said chop this scene out, chop that scene out. Action, action, action!
In looking back, I regret that. I think the book is the book and people who have since read those deleted scenes said they were among some of the best written in Part 1. Well, after I am all done with Rome's Evolution and conclude the series with The Milk Run, I am going to go back and resurrect those scenes, along with others and put them all together in a book tentatively called The Vuduri Companion. Stay tuned.
Entry 1-075: March 10, 2013
Pal Boco is MINIMCOM
In the original manuscript entitled VIRUS 5, written in 1973, Rei Bierak was a petty bureaucrat in "The Destiny of Man" corporation. They were in charge of the Outward Bound program which was taking man to the stars. Each group would stage at a star-base (called Schuyler Base back then) until enough people arrived to spell them then the senior group left to find a new colony world.
Well, in Rei's case, he was the last group. They had found a better staging world farther out so they were shutting down the base. The star-base computer, OMCOM, was not happy about this. Sound familiar?
Rei had a best buddy, named Pal Boco, who was patterned after my brother Bruce. He had a dry wit and the occasional sour disposition but he was always there when you needed him.
In the modern version of Rome's Revolution, the whole dynamic of the situation was different so Pal Boco went away. Instead, a fussy little, humorless autopilot named MINIMCOM was fused into the airframe of a space tug with virtually unlimited storage memory and processing power.
Throughout Rome's Revolution and eventually, The Ark Lords, we saw MINIMCOM become self-aware, dry-witted and with the occasional sour disposition. But he was always there when you needed him.
I didn't know it when I wrote it but by the time I was done, I realized that Pal Boco had been reincarnated into MINIMCOM, the best friend Rei would ever have.
So thank you, Bruce, for the inspiration.
Entry 1-076: March 11, 2013
The five Arks and their command crews
I had sort of a set of rules when it came to selecting the command crews for each of the Ark missions. I tried to work in the last names of some real astronauts and occasionally, a character from the TV show 24.
Ark I - primary target: Alpha Centauri. Captain: Bill Allen
Pilot: Stan Linzersky
Co-pilot: Milo Shepherd
Ark II - primary target: Tau Ceti. Captain: Maury Keller
Pilot: Abu Fayed
Co-pilot: Mitch Alexander
Ark III - primary target: 82 G. Eridani. Captain: Dan Harrison
Pilot: Miguel Salazar
Co-pilot: Andy Coo
per
Ark IV - primary target: Nu2 Lupi. Captain: Evan Rossler
Pilot: Sam Eberhoff
Co-pilot: Adam Goldberg
Ark V - primary target: Chara. Mission Captain: Brian Tomkin
Pilot: Emil Vostok
Co-pilot: Tom Glenn
Entry 1-077: March 12, 2013
The List of Aliens
Classic science fiction stories have aliens. They used to be little green men but in recent years, they range from the tiny, to the cute to the big to the scary.
Rome's Revolution has its share of aliens but none of them, so far, are little green men.
First, we have the artificial intelligence aliens. This is Planet OMCOM, MINIMCOM, Junior and the OMCOM clone. We also met MASAL but he is no longer an issue.
Next, we have the non-corporeal aliens. These are the various Overminds and MASAL's Sipre which you will meet in Rome's Evolution, available this summer.
Next we have the Stareaters who count as their own species. They refer to themselves as Species Three.
Finally, on Deucado, there are alien creatures who have a surprising amount of intelligence.
In the book following Rome's Evolution, called The Milk Run, you will finally get to meet a genuine walking, talking green alien named Sh'ev B'Oush who turns out to be a pretty decent guy, for an alien, that is. Sh'ev's son, B'Shev, will be along some day. You will also get to meet the Creatures of Light. Finally, we will get to meet Species Two and find out what OMCOM has been doing out there for all these years.
Entry 1-078: March 13, 2013
Deleted scene: Rome encounters art
In the original, unabridged version of Rome's Revolution, Rei and Rome take much longer to get to know each other. Rome was very cold to him at first. A lot of their initial interaction was cut out so that I could get to the action sooner. In this deleted scene, Rei tried desperately to find out what happened the Vuduri's interest in art. He showed Rome a painting he had found. This is how it went:
“Why do we need those?” Rome posed to him. “Art? Music? We have outgrown their use. There is nothing lost that is required.”
“But there is,” Rei insisted. “Here, let me show you. I found it when I was going through the archives.”
Rei turned back to the view screen. He pressed a few icons and went back to a picture he had seen previously.
“Look at this,” he said.
Rome leaned forward and looked at the picture he was indicating. Her eyes widened then her stare became diffuse.
“Rome?” Rei asked.
She didn’t answer for a moment. Then her eyes focused again and she said, “This item has been catalogued. The painting is entitled The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dali.”
Rei replied, “I know that. I want to know what you think of it.”
Rome said, “He was a, your term is surrealist. He was from the twentieth century as measured by your calendar. This painting was created approximately 1970 AD. The picture was supposed to depict the thought processes of someone under the influence of a type of drug-induced double vision.”
Her eyes defocused again then she continued on tonelessly. “This painting was to be a celebration of his career combining elements of his homeland, an optical illusion and the nature of representation…” Rome stopped for a second. She focused on Rei again. “And his affinity for Spanish culture.”
“Rome, I don’t need a recitation of who painted it or why. I just want to know what you think about it.”
She shook her head. “I do not understand.”
“How does it make you feel? What does it stir up inside of you?”
She looked at the picture then back at Rei and let out a sigh. “Nothing,” she said. “I feel nothing about it. The painting is an aberrant use of colors and image progression. To you, it might be interesting, perhaps. I find it simply inaccurate. What is accurate is that nothing is stirred inside of me.”
“That’s my point,” Rei said. “Art is all about feelings. The artist conveys what he feels to you through his craft. Art has been around since man distinguished himself as a species over the apes. And that species no longer connects with you. You, your Overmind, you are different. You don’t feel things the same.”
She stared down at the painting again, blinking rapidly. Then she looked at Rei with a pained expression on her face. She looked down at the painting one last time and said in a very quiet voice, “I do not need to feel.”
Needless to say, it didn't go well initially. But much later, Rome not only learned to love art, she became an artist herself. She even built a studio in the solarium attached to their house on Deucado so she could paint in her spare time.
Entry 1-079: March 14, 2013
The Stages of Evolution of MINIMCOM
Stage 1: Fussy little autopilot computer.
Stage 2: Infused with uncounted peta-bytes of processor power and memory.
Stage 3: Spends so much time with humans that he becomes accustomed to their behavior. Personality forms.
Stage 4: After crash-landing on Deucado, he becomes fused into his space tug airframe using constructor units which are modified VIRUS units.
Stage 5: His personality is fully formed. He is clever, acerbic and completely self-aware.
Stage 6: Because of his dedication, he is emancipated and becomes his own entity, free to come and go as he pleases.
Stage 7: During his upgrade to the null-fold drive, he must give up a significant portion of his mass. He becomes a loving father and family member.
Stage 8: Dr. MINIMCOM. You'll have to see it to believe it.
Entry 1-080: March 15, 2013
How MINIMCOM and OMCOM swapped roles
In the beginning, OMCOM was a supercomputer who had a personality module and nobody to interact with. Rome was the Vuduri he cared about the most. In fact, he thought of her as his mother since she created him and finished his construction. But Rome was part of the Overmind and really did not have the skill set to interact with OMCOM in a meaningful way.
Then Rei came along. He was quirky, undisciplined, brilliant and engaging. OMCOM took to him right from the start because unlike the Vuduri, he treated OMCOM as a genuine entity instead of an appliance. After Rei and Rome slept together, OMCOM engineered Rome being cast out, Cesdiud, so that she could be freed of the cultural (and legal) restriction of arming memrons with Casimir Pumps.
Once the VIRUS units were developed and OMCOM transferred his consciousness to the gigantic mass and became Planet OMCOM, he became more distant, more god-like and we will not find out what he was doing out there until The Milk Run. MINIMCOM, on the other hand, was an effete, prissy little autopilot computer without access to emotions or even a personality module. In order for MINIMCOM to complete his mission of shepherding the Ark II to Deucado, he was augmented with uncounted peta-bytes of memory and processors and acquired a bit of OMCOM's personality in the process.
The only thing you can say is that MINIMCOM evolved. He had the processing power of OMCOM and a responsibility for seeing to it that Rei, Rome and the Ark II reached its target. MINIMCOM became caring. At first, he hid it behind an acerbic personality and often times had trouble hiding his sarcastic responses to human foibles. But when the time came, he sacrificed himself so that his charges could survive the crash-landing on Deucado.
He did not die. He rebuilt himself by infusing his memrons within the airframe of his space tug and became a starship. He developed a genuine affection for Rei, Rome and other humans to the point where they considered him a member of the family. He was so dedicated and industrious that he was emancipated and no longer required to serve humans. It was far too late, though. He loved Rei and Rome and even admitted so when he thought he was going to die during The Ark Lords crisis. He even gave "birth" to a son named Junior who figures to s
ome degree in The Ark Lords and to a greater degree in subsequent novels.
OMCOM returned, or at least a clone of him, in The Ark Lords and was an effete, somewhat sarcastic, mostly humorless, servant computer dedicated to navigating Rome's archives.
In the new novel Rome's Evolution, you will see MINIMCOM acquire new capabilities and really push his interactions with humans to a whole new level. OMCOM's clone becomes somewhat animated but his entire persona resembles that of the early MINIMCOM.
Bottom line: OMCOM became infinite and removed himself from day to day interactions with humans as an equal. MINIMCOM was given the capability to interact and did so to the best of his abilities. Many people consider MINIMCOM their absolute favorite character.
Go figure.
Entry 1-081: March 16, 2013
Livetars: size, colors and fonts
Livetars (live avatars) are animated shells comprised of VIRUS-based constructor units. They are projected by OMCOM, MINIMCOM, Junior and by OMCOM's clone.
They don't have any clothing. They are more like robots. Their shell is their outer covering. OMCOM is always pure white. This was done, in the beginning, because that's the way the Vuduri do things. Later, it served as a nice contrast to MASAL so I just stuck with it. His eyes and mouth openings are slits and he always talks in a metallic voice. I used Courier New 11 pt font for his voice. It seemed computer-like.
I got some of complaints about "fontitis" on Rome's Revolution so when OMCOM's library clone comes along, he also wore white but he speaks with a normal, human sounding voice. This equates to same Times New Roman 12 pt font as normal humans. The fact that he has not much of a personality is neither here nor there.
MINIMCOM always comes in jet black but with a cape. His mouth and eye holes are slits also although he can wink and smile when he wants to. I chose black to contrast him to OMCOM, obviously. The cape was designed to give you a sense of his showmanship which he's had almost since the beginning. He did use it once to scoop up a burning pan in The Ark Lords but that scene was strictly inserted to prepare you for his dramatic "death" scene. I always use Courier New 10 pt Bold font for his voice and italicize it when he is transmitting inside Rei and Rome's heads. I did that because when he was just an autopilot, he was small and it was supposed to be imbued with a tinny quality. Later, when MIMIMCOM became a starship and his livetar was a big, hulking, six foot six presence, I thought it'd be funny to keep the little voice. If you saw the movie Up and remember the alpha dog with his screwed up translator, you know what I mean.
Junior's livetar is the most interesting. Because he was a newborn, I made his livetar small, just a little taller than Aason and gray to fit somewhere between OMCOM and MINIMCOM. His voice and mouth holes are round and his face is more expressive, as is his voice. He, too, uses a normal Times New Roman 12 pt font. As he grows older (which you will see in Rome's Evolution) his livetar is taller and my plan is for him to reach a full two meters eventually, just like his dad. However, I think I will keep him gray just because.
Entry 1-082: March 17, 2013
The Espansors: Old and New
The name Espansor comes from ESP. These are the bands that allowed Rei and Rome to connect mind-to-mind. These bands have been around since the beginning, back when Rome's Revolution was still called VIRUS 5. This was in 1973.
In the first incarnation, Rei was a petty bureaucrat just waiting out his time to leave Schuyler Base (the spelling back then) and get on to the next colony world. OMCOM "delivered" Rome to him as a present for procuring OMCOM's gravity wave detector which eventually led to the discovery of the Stareaters.
In that version and the next revision, ironically called Rome's Revolution, they also met but now Rome Sevenate (she had a last name back in 1973) was escaping social persecution from a government which was forcing its members to use the Social AdjustMints to force them into planned behavior. Think of it as an early form of the Overmind.
In both versions, the bands were Rome's "secret" which were only available to a few select people. Rei and Rome used the bands to learn about each other's character in a very intimate way. The outcome was the same. Rei and Rome fell in love, joined forces and took on life as team thereafter.
In the current incarnation of Rome’s Revolution, the Espansors once again come into play and allow Rei and Rome to connect mentally as part of a demonstration by Rome. In this book, the bands are a normal part of society. They are used by the Vuduri to communicate with the mandasurte (mind-deaf) in the only way they know how.
However, in Rei and Rome's case, the Espansors malfunction and they connect soul-to-soul, just like in the original versions. This allows Rome to overcome the social conventions of not having feelings and not wishing to interact with the mandasurte.
The rest is (future) history.
Entry 1-083: March 18, 2013
Wine and Alcohol
In the 35th century world of the Vuduri, they don't make alcoholic beverages because they are not interested. They do make ethanol (see the post entitled “Rome's Rape”) as an industrial solvent.
However, once the Essessoni come to town, things change. On Deucado, some of Rei's group start an experimental vineyard and Rei brings a bottle of their wine to dinner at the Mullens in The Ark Lords. Edgar Mullen gets drunk and tries to molest Rome and it does not end well.
When Rei and Rome get to Earth to enlist the aid of Ursay in tracking down the Virus Strain 5 canister, Ursay has started a small vineyard and serves them a pitcher of one of his more promising wines.
In the upcoming novel, Rome's Evolution, several enterprising Essessoni procure food synthesizers and learn to make vodka and several other kinds of liquor. They do not figure prominently in the plot but they are mentioned.
Finally, Rome was not unfamiliar with the concept of alcohol as a beverage. Her father hailed from Havei (Hawaii) and they created a fermented coconut juice beverage called kefir which had about 10% alcohol. During the luau scene which has since been deleted, Rei and Rome drink a little and have the closest thing to an argument they ever had.
Entry 1-084: March 19, 2013
The Vuduri Culture
One of the problems with world-building is not only do you have to come up with a planet and species, you have to come up with an entire culture.
Since the Vuduri culture, along with the Overmind, came along by accident, I had to start simple. The cultural slice we see on Skyler Base during Part 1 of Rome's Revolution is just the tip of the iceberg but allowed me to build up the culture slowly.
Over the next few posts, I'll cover Vuduri clothing, food, housing, city layout, employment, transportation, government and entertainment. I wouldn't get my hopes up for entertainment too much as they did not appear to have any.
I'm slowly working my way through. I think I'll have it all down just in time to be done with the series. However, the mix of Essessoni, Vuduri, Deucadons and mandasurte (Ibbrassati) on Deucado is creating a whole new culture so maybe there is more to it that I know.
Entry 1-085: March 20, 2013
Vuduri Food
When we first meet the Vuduri on Skyler Base, we get a little bit of a skewed idea of what their food is like. The base is located on the moon Dara which has an unbreathable atmosphere. The entire base is self-contained and everything must be recycled.
Rei's first introduction to Vuduri food is through the food synthesizers which take protein molecules and other substances and create food. While Rei is not impressed with the food itself (he finds it rather tasteless), this is not a limitation of the food synthesizers but rather the wants and desires of the Vuduri themselves.
The food synthesizers are fairly flexible as Rei is able to get OMCOM to make him a cup of coffee very quickl
y. Rome learns to love coffee. During their year-long trip from Tabit to Deucado, Rei is constantly programming the food synthesizers to make Rome indescribable treats. We will even see in the upcoming Rome's Evolution that the food synthesizers are commandeered by the Essessoni to make things like vodka.
But once the settlers arrive on Deucado, the food distribution system becomes more like ours. The people there eat swishies, which are like fish, vegetables grown to the south. Rome's mother, Binoda, even establishes a bison herd to the north.
On the Earth, Rome's father's side of the family eat traditional Hawaiian food. But what about the rest of the regular Vuduri? What do they eat? Does everything come from a food synthesizer?
To tell you the truth, I really don't know. They haven't told me yet. I have to believe they eat some food which does not come from a synthesizer. And how would they keep their synthesizers loaded? Rome's father, Fridone, did tell her that when he first met Rome's mother, Binoda, the meeting was arranged ostensibly to review Fridone's research regarding migration patterns of the Hawaiian Red Opah. Now why would the Overmind be interested in fish unless it was "grist" for the food synthesizer engine? I don't know.
I guess if it becomes relevant in some future story, I'll worry about it. But for now, we have all the bases covered. The people eat. The people like us eat food. The Vuduri eat something but since it doesn't interest them, should it interest us? Maybe.
Entry 1-086: March 21, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 1: The livetars
Over the next few days, I will cover the variety (where it exists) of clothing worn by the various groups comprising the population of 35th Century Earth (and Deucado). The groups that I will cover will be the livetars, the Vuduri, the Essessoni, the mandasurte, the Ibbrassati and finally, the Deucadons who have the most interesting clothing of all. Today's topic is the livetars. As I have mentioned previously, they don't wear clothes as such. But their outward appearance does give you insight into their inward motivation.
Start with OMCOM, the entity who invented the livetar concept. You may think it was MINIMCOM but if you think back to the conclusion of Rome's Revolution, Part 1, you will recall that OMCOM appeared to Rei and Rome as a holographic image materialized by using null-fold relays to synthesize his image.
That entity, later realized "in the flesh" was all-white, with a bullet-shaped head and slits where the eyes and mouth would be for a human being. OMCOM picked white because that is the color the Vuduri always wore. He wanted to "fit in" as best as a livetar could. However, since it was not living, he made a conscious decision to not make the eyes and mouth look normal. He didn't even bother to create a nose slit since it had no purpose. This first incarnation of OMCOM in a bipedal form was the model for all livetars since.
The fact that OMCOM was dressed all in white came in handy when he was standing up to MASAL who was supposed to be the devil incarnate and represented the forces of evil.
But does black always mean bad? I would say no. MINIMCOM purposefully rendered his first appearance as a livetar as all-black. This was a) in contrast to OMCOM and b) MINIMCOM wanted to present an imposing figure. He even wore a cape even though it served no useful purpose, other than showmanship.
OMCOM's subsequent clones, like the library clone, always render their livetars in white. When you meet Planet OMCOM in The Milk Run you will see an all-white planet.
Finally (at least for now) there is Junior who rendered his livetar in gray. This was a conscious decision on his part so he could be distinguished between OMCOM and MINIMCOM. He could have chosen all-black, like his father but then as he "grew" he would eventually become indistinguishable, other than sans cape. He also picked round eye-holes and mouth-hole so that he appeared slightly more human. His whole persona is the most human of the three.
Here is a little tidbit for you: in 25 years or so, even Junior will have a son. His nickname is Trei (pronounced tray) because he is MINIMCOM III. His human companion is named Rory Bierak who is Aason's son and Rei and Rome's grandson.
It is all planned out!
Entry 1-087: March 22, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 2: The Vuduri
The first time we meet the Vuduri on Dara, they are all wearing the same clothing. These are white jumpsuits. There are different sizes but none really big enough for Rei. He finds the shoulders too tight. Even Estar, who we later find out is a spy, is dressed in a standard Vuduri jumpsuit.
The next group of Vuduri we meet is on Deucado. Here there are two types of clothing. Admittedly, the second type is not described very well other than "soldierly." Everyone else wears white jumpsuits. The lab technicians do wear lab coats. I suppose it is for sanitary reasons. Even Sussen, the spy, is wearing a traditional jumpsuit.
Why only white jumpsuits? The reason for this is that a) the Vuduri don't care about clothes so there is no reason to have different styles and b) they recycle everything so they just grab the next jumpsuit that is ready.
Finally, we meet the Vuduri on Earth. Once again, there are soldiers and white jumpsuits. But when Rei and Rome are captured by the Onsiras, we see that they have expanded their colors into black. How exciting! Once again, there are soldiers, lab coats and white jumpsuits. Even Binoda, Rome's mother, wears a white jumpsuit.
That's it. As far as I can tell, these are the only clothing the Vuduri ever wear. At least that is all they have ever told me. Rome did tell me that she wore loose-fitting pajamas to sleep.
If you want to call Rome a Vuduri, then she wears lots of clothes. She started designing her own clothes on the year-long trip from Tabit to Deucado. Bright colors - blasphemous! Once she settled down on Deucado, she starts dressing in different styles although she often goes back to the white jumpsuits. In her later years, when she becomes a full-time school teacher, she dresses differently each day for each culture on Deucado. She wears a white jumpsuit on Mondays, Deucadon style clothes on Tuesdays, Earth/Essessoni style on Wednesdays, mandasurte or her own style on Thursdays. On Fridays, she wears what Rei calls her school-marm dress outfit. That's his favorite. She wears a white blouse, with a light tan vest and skirt made out of "falling blanket" leather.
Entry 1-088: March 23, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 3: The Essessoni
The Essessoni are us. Even though the Ark II launched in 2067AD, that is only 54 years away. Think about how people dressed 54 years ago, in 1959. A little different but not too much different.
When the Essessoni were first awakened, all they had were their flight suits. But the combination of Ibbrassati and Vuduri have given them their normal wardrobe now. They wear shirts, slacks, underwear, socks and boots or shoes. They have jackets but the weather on Deucado is so mild, they really don't need them very often.
Think about the flight suits they had to bring with them, though. They had to be fresh and wearable after 14 centuries of storage. They were vacuum sealed in the cargo compartment and then exposed to the vacuum and cold of space so they stay preserved very well.
Rei brought a super-alloy straight razor with him, one that never needs sharpening. So he shaves pretty much every day as do most of the Essessoni. The Vuduri do not have facial hair and the Deucadons are partial to beards. The mandasurte would prefer to remain clean-shaven but sometimes they cannot.
Rei is partial to tans and browns. Other than that, their clothes are supposed to be easy to imagine because their tastes are similar to ours.
More tomorrow.
Entry 1-089: March 24, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 4: The mandasurte
The mandasurte are the forgotten people of the 35th century. The word mandasurte means mind-deaf and it isn't a race or
a culture as much as it is a definition. They are considered handicapped by the Vuduri. Those that are mind-deaf because they only have 23 pairs of chromosome (like us), are considered not-fully human.
The only distinguishing external characteristic between the Vuduri and the mandasurte is their mode of dress. Of course, they speak, they have feelings, etc. But up until the invention of the 24th chromosome, they were the exact same people as the Vuduri.
There is no overriding trend or characteristic in the method of dress of the mandasurte. On Earth, many of them have flocked back to Havei (Hawaii), which is where many of them hale from. When the Great Dying wiped out nine billion people, the only two significant pockets of life remaining were Hawaii and Portugal. These two groups eventually merged and became the Vuduri.
That is not to say that there weren't any people left in North America. There were plenty but they never advanced past an agrarian way of life. As the not-yet-Vuduri pursued science and technology that was not banned, they eventually returned to North America and retrieved most of the inhabitants. Thus in the 35th century, North America is largely unpopulated. I have no idea what happened to South America.
Back to their mode of dress, the mandasurte, at least the ones in Hawaii, dress in very comfortable, natural clothing. They don't have high style. They still wear Hawaiian shirts occasionally although their core technology is right around where ours is today. They have retained ties to their historical past. They still have Hula dances, still wear leis, still have luaus. They fish, they farm, they have art and music. They take care of themselves. Their most important distinction, though, is that they think for themselves. But most advanced thinking was inhibited by the overwhelming Vuduri presence.
Entry 1-090: March 25, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 5: The Ibbrassati
The Ibbrassati (The Oppressed) are the splinter group of the mandasurte who live on Deucado. The first waves of people were transported against their will when Deucado was still a prison planet. These people were made up of the best and brightest of the mandasurte. MASAL had calculated it was most important to wipe them out first. They only needed to be imprisoned on Deucado until the planet-killer asteroid hit in 19 years.
When Rei and Rome first met them, the Ibbrassati were dressed in rags made of rough cloth. Cane-tree bark could be stripped of its fibrous inner coating and those fibers could be woven into cloth. It was rough and scratchy but it was the best the people could do there with no other resources.
After Deucado was liberated, while a number of mandasurte returned to Earth, a large contingent elected to stay on Deucado as free men. Many of them had their families come and join them on Deucado, at first, courtesy of MINIMCOM's "stealth taxi" service. Later, this migration was encouraged and supported by the Overmind of Earth.
Once they were freed of the shackles of their oppressors, the Ibbrassati started wearing more "normal" clothing which is to say made of normal cloth. However, they had no such compulsion as the Vuduri to wear identical outfits. The only thing you could say about their clothing is that they were comfortable and typically of natural tones. Rarely did they seek bright colors or fabrics.
Once they learned to trap and kill "falling blankets" they expanded their repertoire to include leather made from the skins of the slow moving animals. All in all, they looked like a relaxed and comfortable group who were building world, side by side with Rei's Essessoni and the Deucadons and even, to some extent, the Vuduri contingent who decided to remain on Deucado as well.
Entry 1-091: March 26, 2013
Clothing in the 35th century, Part 6: The Deucadons
The Deucadons have the most interesting clothing of all. Think Darth Vader only comfy. Much of the clothing appears black, somewhat like leather. There are a variety of devices integrated within the costume including communication devices.
Due to their circumstances, the Deucadons had to master conduit science. They need this to bring fresh air down from the surface and expel carbon dioxide. They also have to bring in water and remove waste from their underground city.
They also learned to apply their conduit technology to an invisibility cloak that conducts light from the front to the back and side to side. This means when you are looking at them, you only see what is behind them making them functionally invisible. The cloaks also suppress IR. They dampen sound to some extent but they cannot suppress the fact that they are a solid body and sound waves must travel around them. That is how Rei was able to discover them with his sonar-vision even though they were invisible to the naked eye.
That's about as much as I know. I haven't spend much time with a crowd of Deucadons. The only ones I have met are Bukky, Melloy, Triden and Steben. Steben returns in Rome's Evolution as he gets involved in the discovery that there used to be sentient life on Deucado millions of years earlier. We'll also meet a Deucadon merchant and a casino dealer.
Entry 1-092: March 27, 2013
Vuduri Housing
In Rome's Revolution, we first encountered Vuduri housing within Skyler Base, on the moon Dara. The entire base was built as a series of concentric rings with apartments lining each corridor.
Each apartment consisted of a sitting area, a work-station, a bed and a refresher, aka bathroom. That's it. Because of the geometry of the base, some of the apartments were larger than others but it was not on purpose.
On every world where Rei saw Vuduri housing, he was appalled to find it never changed. Vuduri housing is a cross between a row house and prison cell block. Each apartment/home consists of a sitting room, complete with workstation, a kitchen/dining area, a place to sleep and a refresher. The Vuduri never thought about adding a spare room and I suppose they never worked from home.
Even on Helome, with its more flexible form of Vuduri, the housing is still the same. The Vuduri have no hobbies, they never entertain or enjoy entertainment.
At least on Deucado, they have helped build housing which differs from their own ideal design. The very first house built on Deucado for the Essessoni (Rei and Rome's house) was U-shaped with a sitting area, a dining area, a kitchen, a bedroom for Rei and Rome and a bedroom for Aason. The Vuduri even took the time to build an in-law suite for Rome's parents on the far side of the courtyard.
Rome's parents built a solarium while they were living there but eventually moved into their own home. After they moved out, Rei and Rome converted one of their rooms into an office/study, another into a playroom and Rome converted the solarium into her studio.
Progress!
Entry 1-093: March 28, 2013
Vuduri City Layout
The Vuduri are nothing, if not unimaginative. Everything in their lives is intended to be predictable and non-stimulating. So the only shape they could use to lay out their cities would be a circle. It is the only geometric shape that has no features.
Actually, their cities are laid out as a series of concentric circles with main thoroughfares running east-west and north-south and minor boulevards running southeast to northwest and southwest to northeast. Thus it is possible to get from anywhere to anywhere in a minimal amount of time. All cities have all surfaces paved, no vegetation anywhere.
The only feature that literally ever sticks out of any Vuduri city is the central tower, usually very tall, called (unimaginatively) The Tower. This building is used for observation, weather measurements, anything that requires elevation.
The first city the Vuduri every built, essentially the capital of Earth, is called I-cimaci which means The First. The second largest city is called E-brixome which means The Second. It looks nearly identical to I-cimaci but its tower (also called The Tower) is just a bit shorter.
Usually the Vuduri put housing to the southwest, administration to
the southeast, science and engineering to the northeast and civil services (power grid, waste management, food distribution) to the northwest. So you can go to any Vuduri city and know exactly where you are headed.
There are a few deviations. On Deucado, the Vuduri built their city as two overlapping triangles, like a Star of David and on Helome, their capital has twin towers and vegetation throughout the city.
Coming full circle, when we first met the Vuduri on Dara, at Skyler Base, in Rome's Revolution, their star-base was built exactly the same way their city was. Rei found it confusing at first but once he got the hang of the layout, he did find it easy to navigate.
The only difference was they did not have The Tower, instead they had a central common area for meals and some specialized rooms on the outskirts. This includes the tug hangars, the stellar observatory, the docking port for the Algol, storage for OMCOM's core, central recycling and the power plant.
Entry 1-094: March 29, 2013
Vuduri Transportation
Vuduri society is beyond communist. No one owns anything. Everything is community property. If you need an air car to get from point A to point B, you just take the nearest one and leave it wherever you go. If you need a starship and the Overmind sanctions it, you get it and the crew.
Most vehicles are powered by electro-gravity (EG) lifters. Electro-gravity is generated when you spin superconducting magnets very fast. However it only produces a repulsive force, that is, it needs a true gravitation field to push off of. But as a lifting device, it works quite well. The Vuduri have adapted it to most of their vehicles including personal cars, transports, airships and boats.
Their transports are divided into cargo carriers which resemble large, flatbed trucks and people carriers. Their people carriers look a lot like the fuselage of a tandem rotor, military style helicopter (think Chinook) but without the rotors. The cylindrical body has four stalks, two in the front and two in the back which extend and end in large EG lifters.
EG lifters can be used to do a lot of things but they are only truly effective in a gravity well. They can be used to get a spaceship to the edge of space but then their effectiveness drops off. You can close the magnetic shields and their backwash creates a low-level of artificial gravity which is useful on long space trips. I'll cover their starships tomorrow.
Entry 1-095: March 30, 2013
Vuduri Spaceships and Starships
The Vuduri have a variety of spaceships and starships but all use the same fundamental principles. All use EG lifters to get them off the ground and to the edge of space. All of them use plasma thrusters as their main impulse engine and PPT tunnels for hopping long distances. All use trim-jets to adjust their pitch, roll and yaw. All have small airfoils, insufficient to produce lift but aerodynamically sufficient to produce a control surface within the atmosphere.
For short excursions, the Vuduri use a variety of space-tugs. In Rome's Revolution, we saw several of these in use in the Tabit system. One of them crash-landed on Deucado and evolved into MINIMCOM the starship.
Other ships are small crew ships. They are just for getting people from one place to another. They have cargo ships as well.
The Algol was one of their most sophisticated designs. At its heart, it was a large, very powerful starship for transporting a crew of 80+ to a star system 26 light years from Earth. On the trip out there, the rear of the ship was fit with a set of cylindrical containerized storage units for transporting the tugs, construction materials, scientific equipment and so on.
The cylinders could be detached. One of them was cut in half and used as the staging area between the Algol and Skyler Base on Dara. For the return trip, the storage cylinders were left behind.
All Vuduri spaceships use a landing technique called aero-braking which was covered in an earlier post. The Vuduri determined it was the most efficient way to return to the surface of a planet. So set in their ways, that is why they selected Dara as their stellar observatory; because it had an atmosphere which would allow them to aero-brake. Admittedly, it was also easier to build a base on a world where there was some atmosphere but that was secondary.
Once the Vuduri had come up with what they considered the optimal design elements, they never varied from that. It took MINIMCOM to invent the continuous PPT-tunnel projector which allowed him to travel at nearly 100c. It took him several years but he eventually shared this design with the Vuduri who started building a fleet of what they called fast-ships.
Not to be outdone, (with OMCOM's help), MINIMCOM implemented the null-fold drive which boosted his top end by a factor of 15X. In the next book in the series called The Milk Run, OMCOM rolls out an improvement, the null-fold Drive II which can go twice as fast allowing Aason and Junior to move along at 30,000 times the speed of light. That is pretty damned fast!