(7.6 Light Years from Tau Ceti)
A quick glance at a calendar would show that it was a little over seven months into their nearly year-long journey from Tabit to Tau Ceti and the colony world of Deucado. Rei and Rome were resting in the bedroom of what Rei liked to call their “flying house” which was one of the Vuduri space tugs with the cargo compartment converted into living quarters. They were lying in bed together when Rei excused himself. He got up and went into the refresher, buck naked, closing the door tightly behind him. He walked over to the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long time. Even though he looked like a young man, he had been in cryo-hibernation for 1388 years, making him over 1400 years old. He thought to himself that sometimes he was starting to feel like it or at a minimum, 1300 years old. Another time, he would have laughed at his own joke.
Rei straightened up with no discomfort at all. OMCOM had given him a pill back on Skyler Base that had almost completely cured his back pain which turned out to be an inevitable side-effect of the cryo-hibernation process. This was a great relief to him. While his back was vastly improved, he wasn’t sure about any other part of his body. Most of the rest of him ached. And it was getting worse.
He and Rome had a routine. Every day, after breakfast, they exercised furiously, practiced the Vuduri language and Rei learned as much of the Vuduri’s science, culture and history as was possible. For Rome, who had been connected to the Overmind her whole life, it was all second nature. For Rei, learning about gravitic modulation, molecular sequencing, transmutation and all the other arcane parts of Vuduri technology challenged every bit of the engineer in him. Rome was a strict teacher but Rei did not mind. He enjoyed it.
In turn, after lunch, they reversed roles. Rome extracted background information from Rei about his world and times and the times before that. During the interview process, Rome’s probing of Rei’s recollections made him embarrassed that he had not paid more attention in history class. But what was done was done. Rei did his best to dig out what he could from his memory. Sometimes, he cheated. Sometimes he described movies he had seen about particular events whether they were dramatized or not. Rome painstakingly recorded his reminiscences and musings and cataloged them, collating them into a database to be reconciled with the sparse records retained by her people when they arrived at Deucado. She maintained a meticulous timeline which was enhanced each time Rei produced a fact or date. Whenever there was a discrepancy, they did their best to reconcile it so that the information they transmitted would be internally consistent when the time came.
Tomorrow: Part 2.
Entry 2-174: June 18, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (2)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got to see. Now part 2:
In the afternoons, during their leisure time, Rei taught Rome Earth games, or at least, games from the Earth of his time period. She learned card games, checkers, chess and more. Rome was surprisingly competitive for a person who had subjugated her will her whole life and surprisingly brilliant for someone who had been taught to not think for herself. To an outside observer, it would appear as if she had been saving her brain and was now using its reserves all at once. Rome was blossoming before Rei’s eyes and it was a wonder to behold. Every thought, every feeling that Rome experienced showed on her face as delight and Rei loved just watching her absorb and integrate each novel experience into her new-found autonomy.
After their evening meal, they worked on Rome’s unending art and design projects and they listened to music. She even learned how to dance. Early on into their trip, Rei took exactly one harrowing space-walk to the vast cargo compartment of his ancient spaceship, the Ark II, and had recovered his personal music collection from there. His music was stored on a solid-state music slab, a gift from his parents which was designed to survive over the centuries. Rei’s music, along with the algorithms that OMCOM had uploaded to MINIMCOM before they left the Tabit system, meant that not an evening went by when they didn’t listen to what Rei called the classics or an original composition from MINIMCOM who was getting very, very good.
Infused with all this music, Rome was learning to sing and what a beautiful voice she had. Who would have guessed? She loved Handel, Joni Mitchell and Jeriko but her favorite performers were the Moody Blues which suited Rei perfectly. They were his favorite too.
Rei also tried to introduce Rome to movies. He got MINIMCOM to try to animate some of his favorites. The first one he tried was Gone With The Wind but that was a disaster because he couldn’t remember it well enough. The second was Sleepless in Seattle. Rome was kind enough to tell him she understood its appeal. The only one he really aced was The One That Got Away which was the true story of his grandfather who appeared on a TV reality show. He had memorized that one, right down to the dialog. It was an interesting experiment but their other activities amused them more.
Tomorrow, part 3.
Entry 2-175: June 19, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (3)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got to see. Now part 3:
In addition to all of this, Rome was slowly but surely transforming their utilitarian flying home into a showplace worthy of mention in Architectural Design although Rei was fairly certain that magazine did not exist any more. She adapted basic Vuduri designs and passed them through transforms which rendered them into styles such as traditional, contemporary and what Rei had come to refer to as pre-apocalypse. All in all, it was a nice life and only better awaited them when they reached the Tau Ceti star system and the colony world of Deucado.
They had just finished their swing by Omicron² Eridani, also known as Keid. MINIMCOM had requested the detour to make what observations he could without endangering them by getting too close to the Oort Cloud surrounding the star system. They had deemed it acceptable to go slightly off-course because it only added 11 days onto their total journey. Keid was actually a triple star system. The A-star had a mass of ¾ that of the sun and only had one gas giant. In Rei’s time, Keid had been identified as one of the top 100 stars most likely to have a terrestrial-type planet. But their survey showed that there was only a large quantity of loosely organized mass that hadn’t bothered to accrete into planets. Gravitational mapping indicated that the B and C-stars had probably been responsible for this. The three stars were locked into an eternal battle for possession of the gas and ice and particles of matter and the whole system would never amount to much. During their pass there were some unusual bursts of radiation, MINIMCOM took sufficient precautions to keep them at an acceptably safe distance.
While MINIMCOM was making his observations, it gave Rome a chance to refresh her skills as a data archivist. Rei had noticed that she had been out-of-sorts for the last month or so. The flurry of activity surrounding the scientific approach gave her something else to engage her mind and served as a diversion. That was Rei’s primary reason for allowing the excursion. Rome had said that it was unlikely that the Vuduri would be sending a probe to Keid any time soon so what little data they acquired would be useful to somebody some day. Rome saw to it that the data was systematically organized and preserved in a readily accessible format.
Tomorrow, part 4.
Entry 2-176: June 20, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (4)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got to see. Now
part 4:
MINIMCOM had also been getting a little surly lately which was amazing unto itself. While OMCOM had the depth of computing capacity necessary to generate a completely believable personality, MINIMCOM had started out much smaller and much more robotic. Grafting 32PB of storage and processing capacity seemed to have also grafted on a bit of personality as well. Granting MINIMCOM this one wish, even though it delayed them from their ultimate destination by a few days, seemed like a small sacrifice to make to keep the little computer happy as well. After all, he was the one doing all the work getting them to Deucado.
All through their journey, about once a week, Rei and Rome used the espansors, Rome’s mind-link bands, to explore each other’s history from an emotional and more visceral level. The bands had been a present from Rome’s mother to Rome, a keepsake to remind her of her father who was mandasurte, one of the mind-deaf, never part of the Overmind that ruled the Vuduri’s life. By using the bands regularly, the experience was becoming more efficient, no longer the overwhelming, all-consuming melding of the minds that led to them falling in love. They didn’t need that any more. They loved each other all on their own now.
Of course, sometimes, when the mood struck, they deviated from their routine, retiring to the bedroom and not just for sleeping. Recently, they were deviating from their routine more and more frequently. Perhaps it was the detour past Keid that stirred things up. Rei didn’t know and didn’t care.
All this came to mind while Rei was standing there, staring at his reflection in the mirror. He snapped himself out of his trance and leaned back, away from the mirror which was mounted on the wall. He sighed and turned on the water, splashing his face over and over again.
“Vroggon Chrosd ta Jasus,” Rei said to himself out loud, shaking his head.
“You speak Vuduri even when alone?” MINIMCOM asked, his tinny voice issuing from a grille mounted off to the side of the sink.
“That’s all we use now,” Rei said. “You know that. I have to keep practicing. Rome says nobody is going to take the time to learn English on Deucado, especially the mandasurte. And she’s right.”
Tomorrow, part 5.
Entry 2-177: June 21, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (5)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got to see. Now part 5:
“Very well,” said MINIMCOM. “Fiu veler ebanes am Vuduri.”
“That won’t help,” Rei said. “You’re missing the point.”
“Then what is the point?” MINIMCOM asked. “Is there anything I can do for you? Can I be of any assistance?”
“No you can’t,” Rei replied, a bit irritably. “You know, you’re sort of intrusive sometimes.”
“I am sorry,” replied MINIMCOM in a hurt tone. “I will keep quiet. You do not need to respond to me. After all, I am only a computer.”
Rei sighed. MINIMCOM was getting really good at simulating feelings. In fact, Rei wasn’t entirely sure that it was even an act.
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” he said, looking down at the grille. “It’s not your fault. It’s just that that’s the third time today.”
“Third time today for what?” asked MINIMCOM.
“The woman wants to make love all the time!” Rei exclaimed.
“Please state the problem then,” MINIMCOM asked simulating confusion.
“I can’t keep up with her,” Rei said exhaustedly. “I mean, I’m a man and all but… Jesus Christ. I’m 1400 years old. She’s getting to the point where she is insatiable.”
“Can you not just say no?” MINIMCOM asked earnestly.
“Are you kidding me?” Rei replied. “The woman is inside my head at least once a week. She knows exactly what I like better than I do myself. She knows what buttons to push. Plus, I’m more in love with her now than ever. It’s like I’m addicted to her. I could no more say no to her than I could stop breathing.”
“In that case, it would appear to me then,” MINIMCOM observed, “as the expression goes, you are talking out of both sides of your mouth.”
“I know,” Rei replied wearily. “I know it seems like I’m complaining but I’m really not. I just don’t know what’s going on with her. Or maybe it’s just me.”
“I think I understand,” said MINIMCOM. “Perhaps I can help. Might I interest you in an environmental analysis or more specifically a diagnostic scan?”
“Of what? Of me?” Rei asked.
“No. I meant of her, of Rome,” answered MINIMCOM.
“Why?” Rei asked, apprehensively. “Is there something wrong with her?”
“No. But I believe there is something about her that you probably should know,” MINIMCOM replied.
“This scan. Can you do it without her knowing it?” Rei asked. He had having no idea what MINIMCOM was getting at, but it had to be important for MINIMCOM to be so insistent.
Tomorrow, part 6.
Entry 2-178: June 22, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (6)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got to see. Now part 6:
“It is already complete.”
“So what’s up? Is she OK?” Rei asked with a bit of concern in his voice.
There was a momentary pause and then MINIMCOM replied in a flatter voice, “Preliminary analysis of metabolic intake and efflux indicates that Rome’s integral rating has increased by two tenths.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Rei asked.
“In human terms, she is pregnant,” MINIMCOM replied.
At first, Rei was shocked. Then he laughed to himself. He had noticed that even for a tiny slip of a woman, Rome had been growing ever-slightly more voluptuous. He had chalked it up to the reduced gravity figuring their exercise regimen wasn’t as effective as it could be against normal resistance. That plus Rei was always programming the food synthesizers to yield new treats, which Rome never failed to relish. He had also noticed that she was going to the bathroom more frequently but it didn’t click with him which was stupid. He, a self-proclaimed student of the movies, should have known that was always the shorthand they used to show a baby was on its way.
Thinking about it, Rei frowned. “I wasn’t even sure that I was genetically capable of getting her pregnant,” he said to MINIMCOM. He reflected on this for a moment then smiled. “This is great! How far along is she?” he asked.
“I estimate she is just now entering her second trimester,” replied MINIMCOM.
Rei counted on his fingers. Then he said, “Phew!”
“Explain please,” MINIMCOM said.
“I was doing the math to convert your goofy Vuduri metric months into something I could understand. I was just panicked for a minute that she’d give birth before we hit Deucado,” said Rei. “I’ve never delivered a baby. I’d have no clue how to do it.”
“Understood,” replied MINIMCOM. “We will be entering the star system in less than four metric months. You are correct. You will be planet-bound before she comes to term.”
“Does she know?” Rei asked.
“I do not know. I have not told her and she has not mentioned it to me,” said MINIMCOM.
“Well,” Rei said, “let’s go find out.”
Tomorrow, part 7.
Entry 2-179: June 23, 2014
Alternate Beginnings: Rome is pregnant (7)
This is a portion of the excised section from Rome's Revolution, when I had to crush the three books down to a single, full-length novel. This particular vignette was the original beginning of Book 2. It's a sweet little opening that nobody ever got
to see. Now part 7:
Rei came out of the refresher and found Rome still in bed, propped upon one elbow, smiling at him seductively. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed then leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He couldn’t stop smiling. He cupped her chin in his hand and stared into the complex eyes of the woman he adored.
“Qua a ala?” she asked in her lovely, lilting voice.
“Romey, my love...” Rei said.
“Vuduri, not English,” she corrected him, although not very sternly.
“No, for this, I have to say it in English,” Rei insisted.
“Very well. What is it?” Rome asked.
“MINIMCOM says you’re pregnant.”
She laughed. “Oh that.”
“You knew?” Rei posed.
“Of course I knew, silly. Do you not think I know my own body?”
“But, but…” Rei sputtered. “We used the bands just yesterday. There’s no way you could keep a secret like that from me. What’s going on?”
“What is going on is that I elected to keep this to myself,” Rome said cheerfully.
“How can you do that?” Rei asked. “I’m inside your brain.”
“Do you remember what I told you that I suspected about my mother?” Rome asked. “That she could keep part of her mind separate?”
“Yes,” Rei said.
“Well, I have come to know that I was right. And as it turns out, I have the same gift as her. I now know how to keep a part of my mind to myself.”
“How?” Rei asked, fascinated.
“It is like building a wall or a little house,” Rome answered, tapping her temple. “I can put as much or as little of my mind there as I want. So when we use the bands, we come together but I stay just a little apart. I can keep a secret if I want to. And this I wanted to. For now.”
“But why?” Rei asked. “Why keep secrets from me? Especially one as big as this?”