Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two

by Michael Brachman

  Marriage

  In the 35th century world of Rome's Revolution, will people still get married?

  While there are many species of animals that are monogamous and have a single mate for life, there are many that do not. Animals don't have lawyers or taxes so whether they do or do not stick with one mate, it is for biological reasons and not as part of an institution.

  Humans seem to have tendency toward monogamy (ahem, with some exceptions) and certainly in our modern culture the institution have been formalized completely. But in the 35th century, the Vuduri typically don't get married. There are no taxes. Children are raised by the "state" meaning centralized. There is no traditional breadwinner. They only have sex to procreate and only at the behest of the Overmind to improve the species. There really isn't any reason to get married.

  The mandasurte are a little different. They raise their own children. Men and women often throw their fortunes in together. They are very honorable people so if a man commits to a woman, they call it Cesa. When Rei thought Rome was going to die, he wanted to be married to her before Aason was born so that his son would know that his parents were committed to each other. Here is how Rei learned about it:

  Rei looked at him, then Trabunel then back to Fridone again. “Do you guys still have marriage? Do you still get married?”

  Fridone pulled his head back, then said, “The Vuduri do not. But among our people, the mandasurte, yes. I was married myself. When a couple loves each other and wants to commit, they pledge themselves to one another.”

  “Is there any kind of ceremony?” Rei asked. “Is there a lot to it?”

  “Yes, we have one,” said Fridone. “There are a few elements but it is not fixed.”

  “Then sir, I want to marry your daughter. Now. I want our son to be born into a proper family.”

  So while Cesa is not quite modern marriage, it certainly embodies its spirit.

  Entry 2-294: October 16, 2014

 

  Sussen

  In the modern version of Rome's Revolution, Sussen is an agent of MASAL, the evil computer. She was placed on the prison world of Deucado to spy on things. When the Ibbrassati were liberated, she decides to high-tail it to Earth to warn the rest of the Onsiras. In fact, it was her escape from Deucado that precipitated the events that engendered Part 3 of Rome's Revolution. However, because MINIMCOM was able to fly nearly ten times faster than her, Rome and Rei had plenty of time to get to Earth and defuse that looming crisis before she even got close.

  Her grueling 28-day journey to Earth was interrupted by OMCOM who taunted her with a knock-knock joke to prove to her that she was utterly defeated. At the end of that book, I never did tell you what happened to her, even in the modern version.

  This is a good thing. It allowed me to recycle Sussen and make her the big bad in Rome's Evolution. Of course, at the end of that book, she got killed. Sniff, sniff. Don't be shocked when she makes a brief guest appearance in the upcoming novel The Milk Run. Part of that book takes place in Heaven so there are a lot of dead folk that reappear here and there.

  However, in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution entitled VIRUS 5, Sussen was not a member of the Onsiras. She did not have mismatched eyes. Instead, she was planted in the secret Ibbrassati enclave as a spy for the Overmind of Deucado. However, this was so dopey for so many reasons.

  First, the Overmind of Deucado claimed he didn't know exactly where the enclave was located. How could that be if a mind-connected member of the Vuduri was there? Maybe she didn't have a map. Also, why was she so kind to Rome? If she was a member of the sworn enemies of the Essessoni, wouldn't she attempt to facilitate the death of Aason rather than his birth?

  I don't know. Sometimes I have ideas that are just unworkable so they have to go. Sussen in the house was one of them.

  Entry 2-295: October 17, 2014

 

  Keller at war

  In the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution and even in the modern version, Captain Keller played a pivotal role in getting the Essessoni ready to march on the Vuduri compound. He was ready to go to war within 24 hours of being awakened from nearly 14 centuries of slumber.

  One reviewer found this too much to swallow. Overall his review was kind (4 stars) but check out the sentence in bold:

  Very unique and fresh story plot. It's refreshing when you come across a new idea in sci-fi, and all too rare. As the story unfolds, problems of logic start appearing though. A good example would be, it's not logical for a starship captain to wake from a 1400 year slumber, be told by a crewman that there are major issues about missing their destination, sleeping 1200 years too long, and everyone here wants to kill them, and to this the captain replies, "I don't have time for this", and starts breaking out the nukes to go to war within 24hrs of waking. Dialog at times is very good, but often is exceedingly mechanical. Outside of some of the absurd situations and lapses in logic, there is a good story here.

  Hold on a minute. A crewman? Did he mean Rei, the hero of the entire series? Maybe he rushed through the story. I mean I can accept "lapses in logic" but "a crewman"?? If I had any way to respond to this reviewer, I would have told him to read The Ark Lords. This book explains the whole back story regarding Darwin and why the people from the front of the Ark were so war-like.

  Wait, he did read The Ark Lords. Here is his review, again 4 stars:

  Good, but the first was better. A solid sequel but a much thinner story. So much ground was covered in the first book that in comparison, it seems a bit empty.

  Much thinner story? Rome's Revolution was three novels bound into one volume. The Ark Lords was a fully self-contained novel that addressed his initial concern. Maybe he missed it.

  One more thing: He said, "Dialog at times is very good, but often is exceedingly mechanical." Duh. The Vuduri do not use contractions. They don't even speak English. And half the characters are computers or body-less entities. Of course their speech was mechanical.

  Oh well, I guess you can't please everyone.

  Entry 2-296: October 18, 2014

 

  Keller gets oriented, part 1

  In both the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, as well as the modern version, Captain Keller is none too pleased that Rei was awakened first. Very quickly, he wants to establish control and push Rei into the background.

  “You again,” Keller said. “What was your name?”

  “Bierak, sir,” Rei said. “Rei Bierak.”

  “Are you from here?”

  “No sir, I’m a member of your crew.”

  “Oh yeah. So why are you dressed like them?” Keller asked. “And how do you speak their language?”

  “It’s a long story,” replied Rei.

  “I’ve got time. Entertain me. And help me up,” Keller said.

  Rei went over to him and helped the man try and stand. Captain Maury Keller was a large man, roughly 45 years of age. He had a full head of hair and broad shoulders. As he stood, he yelled out in pain.

  “My back,” he said. “Yowsers.”

  Rei leaned forward and touched his shoulder. “It’s to be expected,” Rei said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Maybe I should start at the beginning again. Then it will all make sense to you.”

  Keller pointed to the cot. Rei helped him over to it and the captain sat down.

  “All right. Start from the beginning. I know your name but who are you?” Keller said, this time clearly focusing on Rei’s face.

  Rei said, “I’m an engineer.”

  “Are you ranked?” Captain Keller asked him.

  “No, I’m not,” Rei said.

  “So what are you doing here and how do you know so much?”

  Rei looked off into the distance. “It all started when our Ark first got here, to the Tau Ceti system. The Ark actually ran well. We made it here pretty much on time. As we entered the Oort Cloud surrounding Tau Ceti, something hit the Ark and sheared off the comma
nd compartment and the SSTO booster.”

  “What about the AI?” Keller asked. “Collision avoidance?”

  “I have no clue,” Rei replied. “There’s nothing left of it to examine. It went wherever the command compartment went.”

  “Hold on a sec,” said Keller. “I was in the command compartment. How come I’m here? What about Fayed and Alexander?”

  Actually, we never did find out what happened to them. The Vuduri never recovered the command module which presumably contained their bodies. Oh well. Maybe Aason will find out in the upcoming novel, The Milk Run.

  Entry 2-297: October 19, 2014

 

  Keller gets oriented, part 2

  Yesterday, I introduced you to the scene where Rei tries to bring Captain Keller up to speed regarding their current situation. The problem is, the story is so unbelievable that Rei makes things worse, not better:

  “Hold on a sec,” said Keller. “I was in the command compartment. How come I’m here? What about Fayed and Alexander?”

  “I’ll get to that later, sir,” Rei said. “After we hit whatever it was that we hit, we must have looped around Tau Ceti and gotten some sort of gravity boost. The Ark was flung way out and we ended up in the Tabit system.”

  “Tabit?” asked Keller. “What the hell were we doing there?”

  “It’s just the vector we ended up with. Maybe luck of the draw? I’m not sure what to call it,” said Rei. “Anyway, it took us over 1100 years to get there. As it turns out, there were already people there. They’re called the Vuduri. They are the people here too. But it was the ones at Tabit who found us.”

  “If they found us at Tabit, what are we doing here? I still don’t understand what you have to do with all of this,” Keller said.

  “Well, they reanimated me first…”

  “You? Why you?” Keller interrupted.

  “I don’t know, sir,” Rei said. “Serendipity, I guess. They picked one of us at random and that one happened to be me. Anyway, these people are really different from us. I know it sounds strange but they are all connected mentally…”

  “What do you mean mentally? Like telepathy?” Keller asked.

  “I guess. Anyway, they are all connected into this collective consciousness called the Overmind. It’s pretty much in charge of things.”

  “The Overwhat?” Keller stuttered. “Overmind did you say?”

  “Yes sir,” Rei replied.

  “How did you come to know all of this? Does it talk? Did you speak to this Overmind?”

  Rei held up his hand and took a deep breath.

  “Sir, maybe you’d better let me just get through this and then I’ll answer all your questions. And yes, I did speak to the Overmind. Kind of. You speak to it whenever you talk to any of the ones that are connected. So, anyway, they were situated at Tabit to observe why some stars were disappearing…”

  “Disappearing?” said Keller.

  Rei held his hand again to stop him. Keller stopped.

  “Yes. So their supercomputer called OMCOM built some star probes that could travel faster than light…”

  “Buh. Impossible,” spat Keller.

  Tomorrow, Keller learns about the Stareaters. Naturally, he doesn't believe that, either.

  Entry 2-298: October 20, 2014

 

  Keller gets oriented, part 3

  Yesterday, Rei continued to try and bring Captain Keller up to speed regarding their current situation. In today's portion, Rei tries to explain about the Stareaters:

  “Buh. Impossible,” spat Keller.

  “No, possible. How do you think we got here so fast? We traveled 21 light years in just under a year, towing the Ark, even.”

  Keller seemed to deflate. “All right, go on,” he said sounding completely worn out.

  “OK,” Rei continued. “So because these probes can travel faster than light, they can fly away from or toward an electromagnetic wavefront. Essentially, they became a time machine. So they zoomed in on a particular star that disappeared and discovered that there were giant machines or creatures, we don’t know which, that were swallowing up stars whole.”

  “Swallowing stars? Bierak, do you realize how insane this all sounds?”

  “Pretty insane, sir,” Rei replied.

  “Well, I think you’ve been in space too long. Your brain is whacked.”

  “I wish it were, sir,” Rei answered back. “Believe me.”

  “All right, go on,” Keller said.

  “OK,” Rei replied. “So one of these things was headed right for us at Tabit and the rest seemed to be making a beeline for Earth.”

  “Well, clearly it didn’t get you. What’d you do? High-tail it and run?” Keller said condescendingly.

  “No, we built these little nanites, self-replicators. We called them VIRUS units to be cute. Anyway, we set them to work on the moon where the starbase was located and they consumed it. This Stareater came along and kind of swallowed the moon, which unleashed the VIRUS units within. They ate it up sort of from the inside and destroyed it.”

  Keller scowled, and then unfurrowed his brow. “So… problem solved?”

  “No. There are several hundred of these Stareaters headed toward Earth. We sent some VIRUS units back with the Skyler Base crew along with instructions on how to make more and more star probes. But we aren’t safe here. We have to get some star probes launched here too and develop a delivery system. You have to kill these things before they get to your star system otherwise, even if they are dead, their mass would destroy any worlds that got in its way.”

  “I’m having trouble believing that anybody could do such a thing,” said Keller. “How do I know you are telling me the truth and this is not just some brain damage from cryo-hibernation talking?”

  “You have to believe me, sir,” Rei said. “I have all the recordings and backup but they’re in the other tug, MINIMCOM’s tug.”

  “Who or what is MINIMCOM?” Keller asked.

  Yeah! Who or what is a MINIMCOM? More tomorrow...

  Entry 2-299: October 21, 2014

 

  Keller gets oriented, part 4

  As you can see by now, my original plan was to use this orientation session as an info-dump but a lot of it got chopped out when I compressed the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution down to a single, three-part novel. Here is the final portion:

  “Who or what is MINIMCOM?” Keller asked.

  “He’s a computer sir. He was controlling the other tug. When we set down on the planet, it got smashed by the Ark when it landed on top of it. I don’t how we’re going to do it but at some point, we have to see if we can salvage something from it. Unfortunately, I left the VIRUS units onboard MINIMCOM. To fight off the Stareater, we have to get more VIRUS units ready and we need star probes.”

  “Enough of that,” said Keller. “You still haven’t told me why you are dressed like one of them and how you speak their language. Is that Overmind of yours here?”

  “No, these people here are mind-deaf,” answered Rei. “They are called mandasurte.”

  “Mind-deaf?” Keller responded.

  “Yes, mind-deaf. They are a lot like us. They have to speak to one another to get heard.”

  “So, really, there are two species right now? Those that have telepathy and those that don’t?”

  “No, they are all the same species. The ones that are mind-deaf, there is just something wrong with them. And I forgot to mention this: they’re prisoners here.”

  “Prisoners?” Keller said. “What? Why?” He put his hands to his head and pressed hard, like his head was going to explode.

  “I’m not really sure, sir,” Rei said. “I haven’t really had the time to get the whole story. Our first order of business was to get you and our crew thawed out. Then we can see what’s going on in this world.”

  Rei heard a noise and turned to see Fridone standing in the entranceway.

  “Rei,” Fridone said, "Rome nacassode-i.”

&n
bsp; “A dite toraode?” Rei said.

  “Fonti.”

  “Hey Bierak,” Keller said.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “What are you saying? What language is that?” Keller asked.

  “It’s just called Vuduri, the same as the people,” Rei replied.

  “How is it that you can speak it?”

  “I’ve had a year to practice,” said Rei. “Rome and I were cooped up in one of the tugs which was converted to living quarters, kind of a flying house, for almost 12 months.”

  “And Rome is?” Keller asked, lifting his palms up.

  “She’s one of the Vuduri that I met.”

  “So she’s telepathic? Is she part of this Overmind?” Keller asked.

  “She was when I met her but now she’s like us. Now she’s mandasurte,” Rei replied.

  “I thought you said she was Vuduri. You aren’t making any sense.”

  Rei took a deep breath. “Sir, they are all the same species. They’re all human. But some are, you might call it handicapped. They just use the word Vuduri to mean human. They use the word mandasurte to refer to people when they cannot connect to each other mentally.”

  “So this Rome, she’s mind-deaf now?”

  “Yes, sir,” Rei said.

  “What happened to her? Was it the Stareater or what?” Keller laughed at his own joke.

  “No,” Rei answered, lowering his voice. “She was cast out. They call it Cesdiud.”

  “How come?” Keller asked. “Why’d they kick her out?”

  “From, uh, ‘consorting’ with me,” Rei said sheepishly. “I guess that really is not tolerated in their society.”

  “You couldn’t stick to your own kind?” Keller said.

  “Rome is very special, sir,” Rei said proudly. “You’ll get to meet her. You’ll see for yourself.”

  Well, it is science fiction. A lot of it can be unbelievable. And Rome really is very special.

  Entry 2-300: October 22, 2014