Part of the fascination of writing Rome's Revolution was the interplay between the two cultures. The Vuduri viewed food as a means to an end. This was Rei's attempt to show Rome that food can be an event in itself:
Rei walked over to the food dispensers and had a quiet discussion with OMCOM. When he was done, a cabinet opened and a tray appeared with two cups filled with a black liquid. Next to them sat a bowl with a white, crystalline substance and a small beaker of a white liquid.
Rei carried it over and set the tray down on the table.
"Is this more soup?" Rome asked.
Rei broke into a big smile. "It's a surprise."
"So what is it?" Rome asked.
"If I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?"
Rome shook her head slowly then shrugged. "All right," she said, sitting down.
Rei placed one of the cups in front of her. He lifted up a utensil.
"This is a spoon," he said.
"I see that. It is just as you described," she replied. "Now what?"
"OK, first take two spoonfuls of the sugar, the white powdery stuff, and mix it in," he said, pointing to the bowl. "Here, watch me. You dip it in here…" He lifted one spoonful out and dropped it into his cup. "Then you drop it in here…"
Rome said, "I may not be connected to the Overmind anymore, but I am not stupid."
Rei looked up at her. "I'm sorry, honey. I was just kidding you."
"Why?" Rome asked.
"Because…because that what's people do when they are in love," Rei countered.
Rome smiled. Then the smile faded. "Why?" she asked.
Rei shrugged. "I don't know, they just do. Go ahead."
He waited until Rome added in the sugar then he pointed to the beaker. "Now add in a little cream and stir," he said.
"How much do I add?" Rome asked.
"You go by color," Rei said. "Here…" He lifted the beaker and added a dollop to his cup. "Add enough to match my color."
Again, Rome followed his instructions.
"It's ready. Now take a sip," he said, "and be careful, it's hot."
Rome seemed leery, but she lifted the cup to her lips and tasted it. A number of expressions flashed across her face ranging from fear to confusion to delight.
At last, she spoke. "This is wonderful!" she said. "What is it?"
"It's coffee," said Rei with pride. "I've been dying for a cup. OMCOM said it was no problem. And now we have it."
"It is so rich with flavor! It is so, so stimulating!" she gushed.
"Wait till the caffeine kicks in!" Rei said.
"I love this," Rome said. "I have never tasted anything so good in my entire life."
"As far as I can tell, you've never tasted much of anything," Rei observed.
Rome sighed. "I think you are right about that."
"I've got more for you," Rei said, "but I don't want to take too much time. Maybe later I can whip up some other stuff."
There are two jokes here. The first is that Rome's people never saw a spoon before and thought it was silly. At last Rome understood its purpose. The second was having her say that coffee was so stimulating. Caffeine is half the reason we drink it. Rome got to the point where she learned to love food so much that there was a while, especially when she was pregnant, that she packed on a few extra pounds. Her mother noticed this right after Rome's "trial" and Rome dedicated herself to getting back to perfect shape.
Entry 1-343: December 3, 2013
The Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope
As mentioned several times in previous posts, one of the effects of the 24th chromosome was to place a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope within the Vuduri eye. In fact, in Rome's Revolution, the first thing Rei noticed about Rome was that her eyes glowed due to the tapetum behind her retinas. The first time the Maksutov-Cassegrain Reflector was mentioned was in context of Silas Hiram's telescope on what had been called New Earth and now is referred to as Helome. Silas brought the telescope to Alpha Centauri aboard the Ark I and he used it to visualize Earth. He was the first person to notice that Alnilam had disappeared which caused a cascade of events leading up to the discovery of the Stareaters.
I figured it was time to give you the optical properties of such a telescope. The way a Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector works is that light comes through the transparent front lens, is focused on to the back mirror (or in the case of the Vuduri, their tapetum) which refocuses the light onto the prism and onto the eyepiece. The effect of all of this is that the focal length of the telescope is effectively three times that of a traditional telescope for the same length. It makes for a very compact, yet powerful, design.
From Wikipedia:
The Maksutov–Cassegrain is a variation of the Maksutov telescope named after the Soviet/Russian optician and astronomer Dmitri Dmitrievich Maksutov. It starts with an optically transparent corrector lens that is a section of a hollow sphere. It has a spherical primary mirror, and a spherical secondary that in this application is usually a mirrored section of the corrector lens.
Here is an image of the optical path (thank you Wikipedia):