It didn't take MINIMCOM long to apply the force-projection of PPT tunnels into a continuous tunnel drive. This allowed him to travel at nearly 1000c which was almost an order of magnitude faster than that used by the Vuduri.
In The Ark Lords, we are introduced to the Null Fold drive in which MINIMCOM splits negative energy into real and imaginary parts and this new type of star-drive allows him to travel at 15,000c, yet another order of magnitude faster.
Somewhere between Rome's Evolution and the upcoming novel The Milk Run, MINIMCOM and OMCOM figure out how to use the previously discarded imaginary portions of the negative energy used in the Null Fold Drive in a push-pull arrangement. This new type of star-drive, called the Gen2 Null Fold can achieve speeds of 30,000c - a doubling of the previous top end.
But now the time has come to apply these principles, not to negative energy, but to dimensions themselves. This revolutionary new kind of star-drive, called the Null Fold X-Drive, has NO upper limit. Rather the top end is constrained by the amount of computing power carried by the starship. Imagine how fast a spaceship could go if the computer was the size of a planet!
Hey, wait a minute... Isn't that Planet OMCOM? Hmmm... Check out The Milk Run which should be out early next year.
Entry 1-321: November 11, 2013
How did Skyler Base miss Winfall's disappearance? Part 1
One of the puzzles of Rome's Revolution, was how the Vuduri, with all their scientific prowess, packed up their star-base at Dara too soon. After all, the only reason they sent Rome and the research crew out to Tabit and built the star-base was that they wanted to outrun the light waves emitted when Winfall disappeared. They built solar-system sized instruments so they could observe the event. Well, it’s all about time. Unfortunately, none of the Vuduri ever thought to test the effect of faster-than-light travel on the "current time" of the observer. Rei spotted this right away. When he mentioned this to OMCOM, OMCOM did not believe him. Here’s how the exchange went:
Rei thought about this for a moment. “How do you know your clocks are right?” Rei asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The whole FTL thing bothers me. As you approach the speed of light, time is supposed to slow down. It has something to do with acceleration because it isn’t symmetrical. When you go through the PPT tunnel, you are accelerating, like, infinitely fast. That should cause clocks to go, I don’t know, backwards?”
“Our clocks do not go backwards,” OMCOM replied. “That would violate local causality. You would ‘forget’ why you were there. No, this is something that we would have noticed by now. Our clocks, they do not change.”
“Well, sure because everything is traveling together, but relative to the clocks you left behind or the ones you are approaching, shouldn’t there be some implications?” Rei chewed on his cheek then continued. “Isn’t there a chance that time is absolute, relative to one position? So if you go faster than light, faster than time, your clocks won’t jive with where you are or where you came from or where you’re going, something?”
OMCOM did not answer right away.
“OMCOM?”
“If you were correct,” OMCOM finally answered, “then you would have the classic twin paradox. When this group of people returned to Earth, their clocks would be off by a measurable amount.”
“It’s all relative. Maybe when you jump toward a clock faster than light, time goes backward versus that clock. Maybe when you jump away from one, time speeds up. You wouldn’t notice because you are traveling with your clocks. I don’t know. This isn’t my area of expertise.”
“Such an effect has never been postulated or measured.”
“How would you measure it? And how does that make it not true? Really, OMCOM,” Rei chided, “don’t you think that traveling faster than light has to have some impact on the flow of time?”
Tomorrow, we will see Commander Ursay’s reaction to Rei’s ideas and the definitive experiment to prove Rei’s theory one way or another.
Entry 1-322: November 12, 2013
How did Skyler Base miss Winfall's disappearance? Part 2
Yesterday, we saw that Rei was able to figure out how the Vuduri missed the Winfall disappearance. He told OMCOM that traveling faster than light had to have some effect on the flow of time. OMCOM felt it his duty to bring Rei’s theories to the attention of Commander Ursay. If anything, the Commander was even more skeptical than OMCOM:
It was clear that speaking to Rei was a physical affront to the man. Rei ignored it. “Well, when you are approaching the speed of light, time slows down. But when you exceed the speed of light, maybe it speeds up, goes backwards, who knows? Maybe you guys just think you are farther along into future than you thought. Maybe the star disappeared right on time and maybe it was just your clocks that were off.”
“Impossible, our clocks are always correct when we return home.”
“Maybe it is relative to the clocks you travel away from? And toward. Maybe you carry your frame of reference with you. I really don’t know and I don’t know why OMCOM bothered you with this. It’s just that…”
“Just that what?” Ursay asked.
“It’s just that traveling faster than light has to have some implication with regard to the regular speed of light and time and what not,” Rei said. “It just doesn’t seem like you could get away unscathed by relativity.”
“It has not affected us at all, not even once,” Ursay said firmly. “Everything always works out correct. Is this all you have?”
Rei’s arguments were cogent enough that even OMCOM had to admit their possibility. The computer was intrigued enough that he and Rei rigged an experiment. They sent a space tug out past the light waves of Winfall's disappearance and at the same time, OMCOM beamed a time-encoded laser off of the tug. The reflection could be compared to the transmissions from the tug. When the signals came in, OMCOM tried to save face by minimizing the fact that a human was able to outthink the great and powerful OMCOM:
The evidence was irrefutable although OMCOM refused to make a big deal of it. At least he did admit that Rei was correct: “Did you ever get the calibration signal back? The one you bounced off of it?” Rei asked OMCOM.
“Yes.”
“And…”
At first, OMCOM did not reply. Finally, he said, “You were correct. There is a small discrepancy.”
“I told you!” Rei said. “You can’t just go flitting about faster than light without some reckoning.”
“I will consider the mathematics and develop a theory,” OMCOM said. “Now that I am aware of it, I will compensate. It will have no bearing on the immediate operation, regardless. I am going to send the probes to the wavefront now.”
Even though he would not tell Rei, OMCOM did make a note to pay attention to Rei’s ideas in the future.
Entry 1-323: November 13, 2013
Why so many people on Dara?
When the Vuduri decided to mount a mission to Dara in the novel Rome's Revolution, they packed up a very large spaceship called the Algol and sent 83 men and women to Tabit to establish a star-base.
Did they really need that many people? Here is the breakdown of the Skyler Base personnel:
Commander == 1
Tug Crewman == 6
Pilots/Navigators == 6
Data Archivists == 2
Stellar Cartographers == 4
Enviro Engineers == 8
Computer Wranglers == 2
Energy Engineers == 6
Riggers == 10
Supply Masters == 2
Analysts == 7
Comm. Engineers == 6
Mission Planning == 4
Admin == 10
Molecular Engineers == 4
Medic == 1
Nurse == 1
Misc == 3
Final Count == 83
Did they really need all those people? The simple answer is no. The Vuduri are just so timid, they needed to make sure they had enough Vuduri minds to create an Overmind powerful enough to make decisions. After all, it only takes three Vuduri to create an Overmind but it isn't worth much. More than 80 people was enough to allow them to relinquish command decisions to an entity without a body.
Entry 1-324: November 14, 2013
The Bloco, the Stilo and the Cloud
In a previous post, I discussed some of the effects of the 24th chromosome with regard to the physiology of the Vuduri. Two items conspicuously omitted were the Bloco (tablet) and the Stilo (pen) that are built into the heads of the Vuduri. They are mentioned several times in Rome's Revolution but not a lot is made of them.
These devices are electro-magnetic (EM) in nature, not gravitic-based. They are primarily designed to allow the Vuduri to interface with equipment. Just as a laptop, a tower computer or an iPad come with input devices, this is the Stilo. It is an input device. Imagine an keyboard inside your head. The Stilo is used to touch, move or enter data.
The Bloco is like the screen or monitor. It is a readout of information. The Vuduri use it to gain access to environmental conditions or images or whatever the broadcasting element requires. Think of it as a flat screen inside the head.
Because it is EM-based, the Bloco and Stilo make an excellent interface to computers such as OMCOM. There is no worry about OMCOM merging his consciousness with a communicant because they are digital in nature. The Overmind has blessed this particular method of interacting with computers because it is inherently limited.
It is also distance-limited. Like a Bluetooth keyboard, the Bloco and Stilo only work within a certain distance from the transmitter. On Sklyer Base on Dara, the only broadcaster was OMCOM and because he was Omnipresent, they worked everywhere on the base. On Earth, this is less true but nonetheless, it is the Vuduri equivalent to "The Cloud" except the channel of information is more restricted.
OMCOM exploited the genetic basis of the Bloco and the Stilo when he modified Rei (and Rome's) physiology. He changed their EM transmitters and receivers from a spatially-based system to a temporally based system. He turned them into essentially a walkie-talkie or cell phone built into their heads.
Rome first noticed that her Stilo and Bloco were not working after they arrived on Deucado. Rei never felt the loss because he never had a Bloco and Stilo in the first place. His cellphone in the head was first activated when he was imprisoned in the Nayor's house and he never looked back.
Rome made a somewhat derogatory remark about losing these mental instruments but overall, I think the ability to communicate directly with Rei, MINIMCOM and even Aason was worth the upgrade.
Entry 1-325: November 15, 2013
Reining it in
When I first designed the world of Rome's Revolution, I had the overwhelming desire to redo everything. That included their speech (Vuduri), their technology (gravitic-based), their social structure (Overmind-controlled) and their symbology. I made the Vuduri short so Rei could be tall.
I dressed them in white so Rei could stand out. I did everything I could to create a dichotomy between the two cultures. In the original long-form, Rei was not even able to read their signs or displays. He could tell that it was a written language but the letters and numbers were incomprehensible to him. Their food, style of dress, method of interaction, power sources, mode of travel, absolutely everything was completely different. I developed a severe case of fontitis in showing how different the computers were. In a previous post, I even stated flat out that Rome was too weird.
In retrospect, I think now that all of that might have been too much. The story is good: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl save all of mankind. It probably was not necessary to introduce so many variations on normalcy to get that point across.
Sometimes I dream that these books will be made into movies. But all of the stuff that I threw in to make the two cultures so different would be the first things to go. A movie is only 120 minutes long (give or take) and there is only so much time to develop the characters, the plot and the essential conflict. The fact that the images are up on the screen should be to enhance the story, not to detract from it.
So I learned my lesson. In the next novel, The Milk Run, there will be very little Vuduri spoken. There will be very few instances of typography and the hero, Aason Bierak, will act like a normal human being. Because the story is the story and that's what I want to get across. The rest is hand-waving and misdirection and that would be a sign that the story itself is not strong enough to hold up under its own weight.
Believe me, this story will hold up.
Entry 1-326: November 16, 2013
The Vuduri and Sports
This little essay is going to seem like it has nothing to do with Rome's Revolution but it does so be patient.
I love football. I love to play it (well, touch football at least). I'd like to say I love to watch it and I do but I really am an Eagles fan. If there is a game on between two arbitrary teams but it doesn't have any implications for the Eagles, I'm less likely to watch. This does not include the Super Bowl because that is a national holiday and the social ramifications transcend the game itself.
The same is true for baseball. I love playing it. I love watching the Phillies but if there is an arbitrary game between two teams and there is no Phillies implication, I'm less likely to be interested. This includes the World Series.
In summary, I cannot say I am a sports fan in general and I am certainly not a sports fanatic. But lots of people are and I certainly understand why. It is because sports are unscripted and are very real. In the case of professional sports, it's multimillionaires playing a game but that's OK. Regular television and movies are scripted and we can enjoy them for the cleverness of the writers but with sports, you literally can never know what is going to happen.
So, at long last, we come to the Vuduri. I made it seem like there is no place for sports in their culture. But the fact is, while they never would admit it, they engage in sports as well. They won't call it that. They would not even admit to competition for competition's sake. They hide this within the shroud of winnowing out certain people for certain positions. They have competition to make sure that the best and most coordinated people are placed within the most suitable jobs.
But how do you explain the observers? Are they just there to evaluate? They would tell you, yes, however even at the most mundane of competitions, there are always way too many Vuduri than can be explained.
As was demonstrated in Rome's Evolution, the Vuduri even come to enjoy gambling. They would tell you that it is just research but we know better. There are certain human impulses that supersede even the most rational of minds.
Despite the fact that they have 24 chromosomes and claim to be superior, somewhere down within their souls, the Vuduri are still human.
Entry 1-327: November 17, 2013
Happy Birthday, Rome
The heroine of Rome's Revolution is none other than Rome herself. We know her mother's name is Binoda and her father's name is Fridone. In an earlier draft of the novel, she had some sisters but in the modern version, she is an only child. In fact, in the current version, she is actually an experiment for the Overmind's breeding program.
But when was Rome actually born? It is somewhat of a puzzle because the Vuduri calendar is not the same as our Julian calendar.
So what do we know? We know that Rome is 25 years old when we first meet her in the year 3455 AD. That means she was born in the year 3430 AD. Not much to go on. The Vuduri are not big on birthdays but they do know how old they are.
The Vuduri New Year starts around what we would call September. They don't start it in
the middle of winter like we do. When Rei was in Rome's mind, he did find out that she was born in the month of Tiomas which runs from about October 31st to about December 10th so we can guess that Rome was born somewhere in mid-November. We also that when she was growing up, she occasionally called a Tiosimi which means she was born on the second day of the second week of the second month. If you do the math, it would equate to November 17th by our calendar. That would make Rome a Scorpio.
What are the characteristics of a Scorpio? From FamousBirthdays.com:
As a Scorpio born on November 17th, your sensitivity, caring nature and determination define you. Your friends and family can always count on you to provide them whatever support they need during tough times. You enjoy helping others and will often sacrifice your own needs to do so. Your dedication is not limited to friendships, as you meet all aspects of your life with great determination. When there is something you want, you will not quit until it is yours.
That certainly describes Rome which means it must be true. So in the absence of any more information, we will say that Rome was born on November 17th, 3430 AD which happens to be 1417 years from today. So Happy Birthday, Rome and enjoy!
Entry 1-328: November 18, 2013
CrowdCrafting
This tongue-in-cheek fantasy is brought to you based upon the imaginary world of Rome's Revolution.
The Alternative rock group Overmind released their new single, Up The Stream today. What makes this so unusual is that the song is bundled with an App called CrowdCraft for all iOS devices, Android, the Mac and PCs. There is also a browser-based version.
The CrowdCraft App allows the listener to modify the song to suit their own taste. The song is broken up into editable passages, instruments, melody and even individual notes. Each note can be adjusted in terms of ramp, duration, intensity and quality. The user can change whole instruments. For example, in Up The Stream, there is a final passage which is a synthetic organ chord. The user could change it to a piano, harpsichord or something even wilder.
Says Overmind: “There will be three versions of each new song. Our version will be the base. The listener can fashion their own but what is most fascinating to us is they can submit their adaptations and our computers will create a true synthesized version which would be the accumulated changes merged into a single, crowd-based song.”
This new form of social media can produce mesmerizing results. Overmind played a demo version of their prior release Travelin’ in Time which was given to 100 artists and rock groups to test the methodology. The original Travelin’ in Time is a very pleasant, upbeat ditty heavy on the synthesizers. The crowd-crafted version is deeper, richer with a hint of melancholy. Frankly the mass-produced version is more haunting and I must admit I have played it over again several times.
Says Overmind: “This is just taking the Social Media revolution to the next level. All humans have a common, species-based memory and set of tastes. The CrowdCraft App simply lets them merge essentially their consciousness and taste into a mass-mind kind of communication.”
Overmind used the popular crowd-source web site Kickstarter to fund the development of the application. They told me that this merging-of-the-minds can be used in a variety of sectors including architecture, recipes, fashion, literature and so on.
“It is our hope that our App can unite all of mankind into a single consciousness and therefore minimize the distractions that individual decision-making can introduce. We want everyone to be content and enjoy the peace that comes with consensus.”
We wish Overmind luck with their new venture. Their goal certainly seems worthy.
Entry 1-329: November 19, 2013
Is Winfall real?
I know I made up a lot of stuff for Rome's Revolution including the names of some stars. But what about Winfall? After all, it is this star's disappearance that causes the entire plot of Rome's Revolution to kick into gear.
Well, the name is made up but the star is not. Its actual name is Lambda Aurigae and it is part of the northern constellation of Auriga. It is visible to the naked eye and it is located 41.2 light years from Earth.
I picked this star because it is G1V class, similar to our sun and slightly below the galactic ecliptic. It was just the right distance such that the Vuduri could notice its disappearance but far enough away that whatever caused it to go bye-bye (aka Asdrale Cimatir), there would be enough time to react, observe and take precautions should they be necessary.
Of course the Stareater's mission was to gobble up stars that were going to go nova or supernova and there is certainly no evidence of that happening for Lambda Aurigae. However, its rate of speed through its local region shows it is a visitor from another part of the galaxy and thus makes it somewhat exotic and interesting.
The Kepler mission has not shown any evidence of any planets nor would I want to be because by the time Rome's Revolution takes place, it is gone.
So, the short answer is yes, Winfall is real but by using a fictitious name, I can imbue it with certain properties that make it a player in the drama without having to worry too much about actual facts.
Entry 1-330: November 20, 2013
Why did Aason speak so well, even as a baby?
In the middle part of Rome's Revolution, Rome is reconnected to the Overmind of Deucado and this allows her to speak to Aason, even while he was still in the womb. This part of the book has always been a fan favorite. This is an actual quote from a reviewer on Amazon:
One of the real treasures of the book was "the baby". I fell in love with the baby and his relationship with his mother.
However, not every reader likes this. Here is another reader's comments:
I did have one thing that was difficult to suspend my believe (sic) with. The fact that Rome could talk to Aason and he could communicate back in an adult manor (sic). As a parent myself, communication with a child is difficult at any age. I just would have had a easier time accepting the conversations if the language the baby used was more simplistic and more inquisitive.
Well, the answer is, Aason does not speak at all. He communicates using thoughts. The fact that I translate his thoughts into English uses language controlled by the Overmind.
There is so much I could not put in the book as it was too long to begin with but all Vuduri children are connected to the Overmind from the moment of conception. You will see this again in Rome’s Evolution. Therefore, their mental communication is mediated by the Overmind which has fully developed language skills except it isn’t a language. It is pure thought which I render into English so the reader can experience the dialog. However, if you look closely at the content of the communication, you will see the baby’s thoughts are extremely primitive. This is a rare instance where you must separate the communication channel from the communication itself.
So that's the answer. Go back and look not at how Aason talks but what he actually says. You will see it is very primitive and baby-like. But he does grow up eventually and becomes the hero of The Milk Run which should be ready early in 2014.
Entry 1-331: November 21, 2013
My first PhilCon
Last weekend, I attended my first SciFi convention to try and stir up some interest in Rome's Revolution. The convention is called PhilCon because it originated in Philadelphia before migrating to its current home at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, NJ. It is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and takes place in November every year. The first one was held in 1936 so by my calculations, that makes it 77 years and counting.
So what was it like? Did I accomplish my goals? Let's start with what was it like. I had seen science fiction conventions portrayed on TV and in movies as a bunch of costumed people running around acting silly. While there were some costum
es, very few people acted silly. I met some members of the PSFS that I knew and some that I did not know. They had an art show, a gaming suite, a Con Suite with some drinks and food and numerous lectures and events.
I met some valuable contacts and have made it my goal to be a participant in some of the panels or workshops next year. I also gained some valuable insights into the psyche of the science fiction Fan. I now realize there is a difference between a fan of science fiction and a science fiction Fan. Fans are similar to tailgaters at a sporting event. The hoopla surrounding the game is sufficient for some people and they aren't even interested in going to see the game. Others enjoy the tailgating but also love the sport itself. There are some people (like me) who never paid attention to tailgating and only cared about the game. I guess this makes me a fan of science fiction and not a Fan.
What about my other goal? Did I garner attention for the Rome's Revolution series? I don't think very much. I think the way to gain attention is to have a vendor booth, selling books and participating in events. Everything else is just noise and my message got lost in the noise.
All in all, I'm glad I went and I will go back next year but I also learned who I am and where I fit in Fandom which isn't much at all.
Entry 1-332: November 22, 2013
Who are the Suduri?
Within the world of Rome's Revolution much is made about the Vuduri and the Vuduri culture. The Vuduri are very cold and suppress their emotions, even original thought. This is because the Overmind is always watching and there is no privacy of thought. They have no religion, no culture in the artistic sense and can be likened more to ants than to caring human beings.
We know humans have feelings. We see within Rome this clearly evident and even within Binoda. So there is a desire to experience the right brain but it is suppressed. Has it always been this way? Did the Vuduri go from caring, regular human beings to the cold and insensitive people we meet the moment they acquired the 24th chromosome?
The answer is no. The day after most of the people gained the 24th chromosome, they were pretty much the same as the day before. The Overmind sprung up overnight and when it was first "born" it had no real direction on how it wanted to rule. Most Vuduri allowed the Overmind to gain as much power as it wanted. Some did not. As the Overmind matured and became more invasive, a minority of people objected and wanted to suppress the Overmind altogether.
The populace became more and more polarized. There were the Vuduri who got along and the Suduri who did not. The Suduri were very spiritual, believed in God and Heaven and wanted to live a life enriched by culture and interpersonal relationships which made them enemies of the Overmind. Eventually, the Suduri decided to leave Earth altogether although nobody knows where they went. You may find out two novels from now, tentatively entitled The Last Journey.
Entry 1-333: November 23, 2013
Death in space
Everybody knows it is dangerous to go up into space. The astronauts of Apollo 1 died in the capsule and they never even took off. The Challenger disaster happened 73 seconds after takeoff. Everyone aboard the Columbia died upon reentry.
Death is a part of life, or so says Rome in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution. The mission planners for the Ark program knew that people were going to die during the long journey so they sunk their money into the sarcophagi instead of the Ark II. We got to see some of the dead bodies in Rome's Evolution during Rei and Rome's trip back to The Cathedral.
When Rei got to Tabit, he was given an apartment of his own. This confused him because it made no sense that the Vuduri would build "extra" apartments 26 light years from Earth. Here is Rome's explanation from the original VIRUS 5 novel:
“How is it that you had a spare apartment for me?" Rei asked. “Surely you weren’t expecting any guests way out here. Why build more than you need?”
“We did not build more than we needed,” Rome said somberly. “We have had a few, eh, accidents. We have lost three people since we got here. In fact, the apartment you are in belonged to a man who just died less than one day ago.”
“What!?” Rei said, doing a double-take. “And you put me in there? Isn’t that a little ghoulish?”
“I am not sure what you mean. Accidents happen,” Rome said. “Death happens. It is all part of life. We cannot stop what we are doing just because a person died.”
“Oh,” Rei said, the implication sinking in. “Well, still then. I’m sorry.”
“Do not be,” Rome replied. “It was expected.”
“Expected? What do you mean expected?” Rei asked. “If you knew people were going to die, why didn’t you prevent it?”
“We did not know how they were going to die,” Rome explained. “Only that they were going to die. Accidental death is an actuarial hazard of being in space. Of this place.”
“Oh…” Rei pondered this for a bit. “Still, Rome, that seems kind of cold.”
“It is unavoidable,” said Rome. “We do our absolute best to prevent accidents, but they still occur. The person that died last evening was crushed by a cargo pallet that tipped over during a tremor. Before that, two others suffocated when one of the airlocks malfunctioned. We have been fortunate that no fatal accidents have occurred other than those.”
Later, I "borrowed" the death by shelving in one of the extra murder attempts on Rei's life. Sheesh, space is dangerous enough without people trying to kill you on purpose!
Entry 1-334: November 24, 2013
Death and Cesdiud
Yesterday, we discussed death in space and why they had an apartment available for Rei in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution. Rome was able to articulate a little bit more to Rei right after that:
“Were these people that died part of the Overmind?” Rei asked.
“Of course,” Rome replied.
“So what happens to their…I don’t know, their thoughts, their soul? When somebody dies, I mean. Are you, the Overmind, listening in?”
Rome went blank for a moment. She frowned then looked up a Rei.
“It is not a topic which we like to discuss,” she said quietly.
“Please. Tell me,” Rei asked plaintively.
She frowned and shook her head no.
“No? You won’t tell me?”
“Oh no, that was not for you. I am in communication with the Overmind. It says this discussion should end.”
“Why? Why can’t you tell me?” Rei asked.
“You are…” Rome took a deep breath. “You are Garecei Ti Essessoni, from before the Great Dying. The Overmind thinks we should keep apart from your kind. It does not want you in that arena. It does not want you enmeshed in our culture. And you are mandasurte. The Overmind and most Vuduri find it uncomfortable to be around mandasurte.”
While she did not realize it, Rome was about to join the ranks of mandasurte herself. Rome likened being cast out, called Cesdiud in Vuduri to dying:
“Sometimes, it happens…it is a birth defect. Sometimes…” She stopped speaking and put her hand up to her forehead, covering one eye and held it there for several seconds. From the way she tightened her shoulders, it was clear to Rei that she was in pain. She took her hand off her head and peered into Rei’s eyes intently. She took a deep breath and said, “Sometimes the Overmind stops the resonance.”
“Why would it do that?” Rei could feel himself being sucked down the path of confusion again.
“If someone thinks wrong thoughts, bad thoughts…OMCOM is telling me that your word for this condition would be ‘insane’, the Overmind has to remove them from compromising the whole. They are Cesdiud,” Rome said quietly.
“What is that? Cest what?” Rei asked.
“Cesdiud,” Rome replied. “Cast out.”
“Wow,” Rei said, “like, like cutting out a cancer?”
> “Yes.” Rome said. “And sometimes, if a person is dying and in great pain, they are Cesdiud as well.”
Rei shook his head. “What happens to the person? When they are cut off from the Overmind?”
“Oh, my…” Rome said. “We do not think about such things. I have never really considered this from a personal perspective. We live our lives connected. If it were permanent, it would be very bad, very lonely.”
“So, then that seems kind of harsh,” Rei observed. “You take a person who is dying and cut them off from the very thing that brings them comfort?”
“That is the way it is,” Rome said. “If a person is connected to the Overmind when they die, they sometimes think very unpleasant things.”
“Do you know?” Rei asked. “Like when the people died here? Did you hear them?”
“No,” Rome said. “It was handled.”
“So they were cut off?”
Rome did not answer.
It doesn't sound very pleasant to be in the Overmind when people die. In the end, I think we're all better off for Rome's journey toward liberating the living.
Entry 1-335: November 25, 2013
How did the Espansor Bands change their brains?
The Espansor Bands have figured prominently in Rome's Revolution since the beginning. They were an important part of the original VIRUS 5, the long-form version of Rome's Revolution and the modern version.
The bands themselves are purely electromagnetic in nature and just extremely sensitive versions of an EEG plus a pulsed magnetic driver. They sense brain waves and stimulate portions of the brain with a positive feedback loop. They are intended to be nothing more than walkie-talkies inside the head. They were helpful to the Vuduri, especially the ones who could not speak, to communicate with the mandasurte. They also allowed the Vuduri to learn to communicate with animals.
However, they were never supposed to be anything more than that. So why did they have such an incredible effect on Rei and Rome and Binoda and Fridone before that? And what did they do to them? Rome tried to explain:
“What about Aason, though? Is he part of this?” Rei asked.
“Yes and no,” Rome said, rubbing her tummy lightly. “You were very kind to never ask me, even once, how it was that I let myself get pregnant.”
“Well, you told me that Vuduri women control when they ovulate. So I just figured it was your decision.”
“No, it was not my plan,” Rome said. “I have been changed. You have changed me, my physiology.”
“How?”
“The bands, they are not…read-only, as you say. They are interactive.”
“I know that,” Rei said. “I get to live in your memories. I know everything there is to know about you.”
“It is more than that,” said Rome. “For us, the bands do more. How it happened for us is not their normal function. They have altered our neural pathways. We are…imprinted on each other. We are bound in a way that others never get to experience. It can only be for Asborodi Cimponeti.”
But the effects of the bands go even deeper than Rome realized. Rei's mind became more alert, more active, and reminiscent of the movie Charlie or Phenomenon. It also made Rome more intuitive since many of Rei's cultural ideas were planted deep within her psyche even when she didn't fully realize it.
In the end, their experiences with the bands made Rei and Rome a system which was more capable of solving problems that any person or any couple in the history of mankind.
Entry 1-336: November 26, 2013
The Samanda
What is a Samanda? The word itself means "seed" in Vuduri but that is only a loose translation. It was first introduced in Rome's Revolution. Rome attempted to explain the word to Rei:
“When people go to our star colonies, if they are going to live there permanently, they must join the Overmind there, a new samanda. There are a lot of politics…”
“What’s a samanda?” Rei asked.
“A seed,” Rome replied. “It is the point of origin of your Overmind. Our samanda is Earth. So even though we are here, when we go back, we will be able to rejoin the Overmind of Earth without reprogramming. We do not have enough people to form a permanent colony. This is not the case on other worlds. They each have their own Overminds. If you go to another world but do not join the samanda, you cannot be part of the Overmind there.”
“What happens?” Rei asked. “What happens to your connection if you don’t join?”
Rome had no answer. In her experience, this had never happened. The Vuduri crave insertion into the Overmind, any Overmind regardless of how different it is. And they are different. Once a new samanda forms, we have seen the Overmind that develops has its own unique personality. By my count, there are currently three major Overminds: Earth, Helome, Deucado plus MASAL's Sipre seen briefly at the end of Rome's Evolution.
Yesterday, we saw that Rome referred to herself and Rei as their own samanda and she was right. They formed a entity which was more than the sum of the parts. Their final words on the subject:
Rei sighed. “My beautiful, sweet Rome. You’re right. It doesn’t matter where we go. We could never be truly apart.”
“That is why I say we are our own samanda.”
When Aason and Lupe came along, they joined this mini-samanda. It's a beautiful thing. Think of it as the ultimate nuclear family.
Entry 1-337: November 27, 2013
The Stareaters
Way back when I first wrote VIRUS 5, the encounter with the Stareater was the climax of the entire book. It is still an important part of Rome's Revolution but it is no longer the be all and end all of the series.
For the longest time, I tried to keep it a secret. In fact, even when I decided to write the second book of the VIRUS 5 series, I renamed the first one VIRUS 5: Asdrale Cimatir which is the Vuduri word for Stareater in an attempt to obscure the "villain".
This obfuscation extended in a variety of dimensions. Here is the original logo:
You can see it is a stylized version of a Stareater getting ready to consume a star. Even my immeasurably talented brother Bruce's first version of the paperback obscured the identity of the Stareater. Here is the original compared side by side to the current version: