Old Town
As I explained yesterday, in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, I had Rei take a trip down to the Deucadon's underground city. When I resurrected this scene for The Ark Lords, I retired the original section and moved the Deucadons to more spacious quarters. So what you are about to read became known in that novel as Old Town. Here is the original description:
At last they passed through an archway and Rei was astounded to see they were entering a gigantic cavern, far bigger than The Cathedral. He thought about all the caves where Fridone and Trabunel lived and realized the size and layout of this cave was similar but on a much larger scale. The dynamics of this planet and how it formed such huge caves was beyond his ability to figure right at the moment.
This cave, though, was different from that of the Ibbrassati in a major way. Instead of smelling like smoke, metal, must and sweat, this place smelled clean, fresh and inviting. On the inside of this cavern was an entire city, built into the living rock. The ring at the base of the structure reminded Rei of the Anasazi Indian villages at Chaco Canyon. But going up the walls, it looked more like an inside out version of a Pueblo Indian settlement built into the side of a mountain. The sheer size of it made it almost impossible to describe any further. The city was built totally vertically, apartments and working space integrated into the rock face, arching straight up for almost 400 meters.
What struck Rei was the unevenness of the city. These people had been on the planet for 500 years. At this point, he would have expected their underground city to be polished and professional. This one was rough and although it was massive, it was temporary looking. Here and there were some artistic touches. Many of the surfaces were chiseled in a tasteful manner with murals, swirls and other patterns. But overall, it just looked rustic. This was another future, again not what Rei expected. Just as the Vuduri had made choices in how to employ technology, these Deucadons, as Rei had come to call them, made choices that did not stem from the same tree as their forefathers. In their own way, they were just as oppressed as the Ibbrassati. The asteroids and now the Vuduri had seen to that.
Tomorrow, I'll finish the description and show you the image that was in my mind.
Entry 3-073: March 9, 2015
Old Town, part 2
Yesterday, I gave you the original description of Rei's trip to the Deucadon's underground city. When the scene was reinserted in The Ark Lords, I retired this part and had Bukky refer to it as Old Town. Their new city, described in that novel, was vastly improved both in size and living conditions. Here is the rest of the original description:
Within the town center, there was a park or plaza and mounted in the middle was a gigantic cylinder, nearly 50 meters in diameter. Perched way at the top of the cylinder was a glowing light, so bright that Rei could not even look directly at it. The color the orb emitted resembled sunlight and probably explained why there was day-glo yellow thread-grass and cane-trees growing everywhere. Passing them by were small vehicles that looked like golf carts or one-man trucks moving about. Also, there were many people but on their walk across the main courtyard, they did not encounter any of them, nor did any seem to stop and take notice of them.
Rei’s disorientation gave him a slight case of déjà vu. His experience moving through the center of the city was reminiscent of the first time he entered the Great Hall at Skyler Base. And he was given just as little opportunity to look around. Melloy led them into a building that was at least three stories tall, built into the living rock. They entered through a doorway that led into a fairly modern entry way. They made their way across into a plainly appointed room. If Rei did not know that he was nearly a kilometer beneath the surface, he would have guessed he was in a bizarre office building, maybe even on Earth from just a century earlier.
Here is the image that started me thinking:
Entry 3-074: March 10, 2015
Lunch with Bukky, Part 1
As I mentioned yesterday, one of the casualties of crushing the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution into a single novel was Rei's trip down to the Deucadons' underground city. As I also mentioned, this section was resurrected and expanded during Rome's descent in The Ark Lords.
Another portion that was eliminated was Rei's interaction with Bukky, the leader of the Deucadons. In the modern version, we get to meet him during the denouement of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. We get a much better sense of his personality in The Ark Lords.
In the meantime, here is the excised "Lunch with Bukky" section from the original long-form:
The three men gathered up some food and took Rei to an eating area. They sat him down and Rei was relieved to see that his place setting was an ordinary plate with a knife, fork and spoon, although they were made out of a substance that he could not readily identify. A tall, distinguished looking man came over and situated himself standing at the end of the table. Melloy, Steben and Tridin stood up. Rei followed suit.
“This is Bukky,” said Melloy in reverent tones. “He is our leader.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Rei said, extending his arm. Bukky reached over and shook his hand. Rei found it encouraging to see that while they had advanced in some ways, in others, these people had retained their connection to Rei’s society and their way of life.
“I listened in to yar conversation via two-way,” said Bukky in a deep, resonant voice. “While my boys here were bein’ cautious, I cannawt tell how pleased I am to see that there are now more of us from Earth. At least ya are nawt the horrible little people who have infested this world.” Bukky pulled up a chair and sat down at the head of the table. After he was seated, the other three men sat down so Rei did as well.
“How many of ya are there?” Bukky asked. “How many of yar people did ya bring in yar Ark?”
“Over five hundred,” Rei said.
“Over five hundred, hmmm,” said Bukky. He appeared to be doing some mental arithmetic. Finally, he spoke up. “I would offer our home to ya,” Bukky said, waving his arms widely, “but it will take some time to build up the infrastructure to support that many additional people.”
“We have equipment, supplies,” Rei said. “We were able to land the cargo section of our Ark. Melloy told me that when you got here, you were never able to get a proper start because your cargo section crashed.”
“Yes,” said Bukky sadly, “we have had many setbacks. That was just one. There were countless others.”
“How do you live down here?” Rei asked. “What do you do for air, water? What is that giant light in the center of town?”
“I can explain it,” said Bukky. “But it is a very long story.”
“I have time,” Rei said thoughtfully.
Tomorrow, Bukky explains it all.
Entry 3-075: March 11, 2015
Lunch with Bukky, Part 2
Yesterday, I gave you a little taste of the conversation between Rei and Bukky, the leader of the Deucadons, the first time Rei descended down to the underground city.
This was a pivotal scene in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution but it was summarized into a brief telephone call in the modern version.
Here is part 2 of that conversation:
“I have time,” Rei said thoughtfully.
“Very well,” said Bukky. “After the first stroid hit, ya already know we were forced underground. But what ya do nawt know is that our forefathers had the great good fortune of puttin’ most of their power rods in an underground cave as part of a minin’ operation. We could not live above so they did some explorin’. They came across this place and transported the whole thing here. So even though there were very few of us, we did start out with a tremendous power source. That globe in the middle of the city is an arc-light, powered by the very same rods that ya must have had on yar ship.”
“That was one thing we did right, huh?” Rei said. “Still ticking after 1000 years.”
“I do nawt kno
w that they tick,” Bukky said, “but they do allow us to do certain things.”
“Right. I see a lot of vegetation down here,” Rei observed.
“Yes,” said Bukky. “We have adjusted the wavelengths of the light to resemble that of the sun. Much of the plant life here thrives under that type of light and our people do as well.”
“OK,” Rei said, “I understand that part. What about the air?”
Bukky looked off into the distance. “We have spent much time studyin’ the nature of motion. Our forefathers called it applied string theory. We are masters of conduits, micro-tunnels, fiber optics and so forth. For example, our invisibility suits are simply one adaptation of those studies. Our air system consists of micro-tunnels that feed up to the surface. We dissipate CO2 and bring in oxygen in a way that cannawt be detected. The total surface area of our air exchangers is so vast that naw instrument would detect us yet the total volume of air replaced gives us the same content as if we were on the surface. It is simply because we are so deep within the planet that there is even a pressure differential. We use that pressure difference to exhaust the CO2 and we use a modified form of the Bernoulli principle along with some fans to bring in fresh air.”
“That’s amazing,” Rei said. “So what do you do about water?”
“We use the same principles,” replied Bukky. “We have an enormous collection area of microtubules that draw water from the surface usin’ capillary action and we collect it into cisterns and that becomes our water supply.”
“Doesn’t that make the ground a little dry there?” Rei asked. “Wouldn’t somebody notice that you are sucking all the water from there?”
More engineering details tomorrow.
Entry 3-076: March 12, 2015
Lunch with Bukky, Part 3
Two days ago, I gave you a little taste of the conversation between Rei and Bukky, the leader of the Deucadons, the first time Rei descended down to the underground city.
This was a pivotal scene in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution but it was summarized into a brief telephone call in the modern version.
Here is part 3 of that conversation:
“Doesn’t that make the ground a little dry there?” Rei asked. “Wouldn’t somebody notice that you are sucking all the water from there?”
“If they were lookin’,” said Bukky. “There is nawt much vegetation in the area. There are patches of desert all around this planet. Someone would have to measure the total rainfall and compute the theoretical water table to detect that somethin’ might nawt be right there. It is the middle of nawwhere and the Vuduri do nawt seem that industrious when it comes to researchin’ the planet.”
“OK, I get that,” Rei said. He thought back to how the Vuduri and how they approached things. “Um, I had to be indelicate but what do you do about your waste?” he asked.
“It’s nawt indelicate. That is a very reasonable engineerin’ question,” Bukky answered. “There is an underground river, far to the west of here that drains down and eventually merges into the River Karole. We mix our waste there. The total amount of organic matter is so small, relative to the volume of the water, that no one would ever detect that we were enrichin’ it with our sewage system.”
“That is sleek,” Rei said. “You really do have this underground living thing down. And the Vuduri never suspected?”
“Nawt to this point,” said Bukky. “And we were hopin’ to keep it that way. We have no desire to have more of our people killed.”
“Would you go back to the surface if you could?” Rei asked.
“It is somethin’ that we are goin’ to have to address some day. Our ‘sun’ is not as strong as it used to be. The power rods are losin’ a little strength. We will have to replace it somehow. We are building’ up a geothermal plant but we do nawt know how much power it will generate yet. Whether it will power our ‘sun’ sufficiently, we will have to see.”
“Well if you lived on the surface, you’d have the real sun,” Rei said. “Then it wouldn’t matter.”
“Yes but it is somethin’ we do nawt know how to accomplish. Even if we could somehow make peace with the flaggin’ little people, this planet is still goin’ to get smacked hard every so many years. We are far enough underground that we would be safe short of a planet-killer.”
Tomorrow, Rei and Bukky wrap things up.
Entry 3-077: March 13, 2015
Lunch with Bukky, Part 4
Three days ago, I gave you a little taste of the conversation between Rei and Bukky, the leader of the Deucadons, the first time Rei descended down to the underground city. This was a pivotal scene in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution but it was summarized into a brief telephone call in the modern version.
Here is the final part of that conversation:
Bukky continued, “ I can say that it would be nice to be able to go up and get supplies once in a while without worryin’ about our lives.”
“I understand,” said Rei. “And I have to tell you that I am totally impressed. The way you’re equipped, you can stay down here, for a really long time. But my problem is, I have to get back. I have to go back on top.”
“If the Vuduri find ya, they will kill ya,” Melloy said, speaking up for the first time since Bukky arrived. “We already explained this to ya.”
“Yes,” said Bukky. “Are ya sure ya would nawt want to remain here where it is safe?”
“Nowhere is safe,” Rei said grimly. “You spoke of a planet-killer. And that’s just an asteroid. Well, the Stareater is bigger than that. It eats suns for crissake. That’s why I have to get back to my people. I have to get back so we can figure out some way to deploy our planetary defense system that we invented. Our best guess is that we only have a year or two before one gets here.”
“I heard ya talk about it and I must tell ya that it sounds completely crazy. But if ya saw it first hand, then who am I to say it is nawt so?” said Bukky. “This is what we will do. The boys here will take ya as far north as they dare. They will get ya close to yar group. After that, ya are on yar own.”
“Thank you, Bukky,” Rei said, standing. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I hope I can repay the favor some day.”
“That is nawt necessary,” said Bukky, rising up. “All we ask is that ya do nawt reveal our presence to anyone. We can only remain safe as long as we remain hidden.”
There is certainly quite a bit of irony here and not by accident. The first thing Rome does to disarm the Erklirte and stop the war before it starts is reveal the presence of the Deucadons.
Entry 3-078: March 14, 2015
Not quite the Flintstones
Yesterday, I described Rei's exit scene in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution when he left the underground city. In a previous post, I showed you a little scene from The Ark Lords where Rome discovered the flywheel-powered vehicle with their unusual wheels. Here is the final deleted scene Rei first encountered these person transports:
“We should be goin’,” Melloy said. “He has a long journey ahead of him.”
“Yes,” said Bukky. “We wish ya good luck. Melloy, ya can get started.”
“Yes sir,” Melloy said. All three of the Deucadons arose and they led Rei to a storage room where they collected some supplies along with some skins filled with water. The group of four retraced their steps back across the courtyard and towards the outskirts of the small city. As they walked, Rei tried to absorb the concept of the underground city. He knew it was pointless to ask them the detailed workings so he decided to concentrate on a single detail.
“What powers your vehicles?” Rei asked, pointing. “Are they electric?”
Melloy looked where Rei was pointing and said, “No. They use flywheels. We use compressed air tanks onboard if the vehicles get somewhere and run out of energy. They are light enough that if they get stuck, they are easy to push back to the charging station.”
“Sleek,” Rei said. “No pollution.”
“We could nawt afford it down here,” said Steben. “Air is too precious. And electricity. People can walk anywhere.”
“I understand,” Rei said and they walked on. He realized that as an engineering problem, it really would take many decades to design an infrastructure that would support so many people so deep underground.
It is true that these are not the Flintstones and the vehicles are foot-powered but that's what I had in mind. Pardon the screen-cap but that's all I have to show you my inspiration.
Entry 3-079: March 15, 2015
Let’s fly… across a river?
After Rei had left the underground city, Melloy, Steben and Tridin led him to a fairly narrow part of The River Karole in the second part of Rome's Revolution. We already know that even though Rei was a good swimmer, he knew he could not make it across. Well, the Deucadons had the answer. They had a rope buried beneath the sand that could be strung across. To make it over, they just need to fly through the air, zipline-style, using a tool they call a saft. Here is your first look at that tool:
Here is the section where Rei employed this unusual instrument:
Melloy bent over and dug around in the sand. At last, he found what he was looking for, a small rope, twine really, buried under the dirt. He grunted to Tridin and Steben who were busy untying something from one of the more substantial trees on the bank. They attached their rope to Melloy’s twine and the three of them retracted a bigger rope from beneath the sand.
There, before Rei, now swung a rope that traversed the river.
“Wow,” Rei said. “That’s really sleek. But how do we get across?”
Melloy reached within his clothing and pulled out another item. He held out his hand to show Rei a glinting piece of metal with two leather-like handles attached.