Why Rome’s Evolution
So why the heck did I write Rome’s Evolution anyway? I mean The Ark Lords ended on a happy note. There were no more worlds to conquer. Couldn't Rome and Rei enjoy a little peace in their lives?
Originally, I had no plans on writing another novel. I did have this idea of writing a short story or novelette about the remaining members of Darwin who were skulking about on Deucado. I also wanted to scale way back from a cosmic threat to mankind to just a story about our heroes. What could be better than just a plain old (attempted) murder mystery?
I wanted to give Rome more power so I figured out a way for her to gain the ability to read minds. I remember vividly the climax was to be Rome and Rei's tussle with Steele in the woods south of Lake Eprehem.
But as I thought about it some more, I realized that the two jokers wouldn't have the resources to come after Rome and Rei. They would have needed help and there was nobody on Deucado who would help them. That got my mind churning and suddenly, the murder attempt became just the tip of the iceberg.
Now there were forces in play that stretched from Helome all the way to the Earth with Deucado caught in the middle. The second half of the story started writing itself. The idea of Junior being blown to bits and reconstructing himself. The idea of a serum that could turn humans into living robots. The idea that Bonnie Mullen could redeem herself by aiding in the effort to defeat the big bad.
Wow, now I was back to writing a novel. Instead of 40 or 50 thousand words, I was up to 84,000! The entire Ark Lords novel which was conceived of as a novel from the start came in at only 79,000. Imagine that! Anyway, tomorrow, I'll dive in to the setup behind this surprising development and how much fun I had writing the book.
Entry 5-086: March 27, 2017
Rome’s Evolution Begins
As I have mentioned on so many occasions, these stories come to me so easily, I believe they are true. They just haven't happened yet. My characters are so real to me that they supply all of the dialog and sometimes have conversations with me on the side. This book resulted from one such conversation with Rome. I had taken a trip to the 35th century just to check in on them and that was when she told me about her worries about the remaining few Darwin members running about loose on Deucado.
As I mentioned yesterday, this seemed like an adequate concept to write as a novelette, certainly not enough for a full-blown novel. I started taking notes on the cool things I could throw in there. The first and foremost was the play on the title Rome’s Revolution and calling it Rome’s Evolution. The play on words was set but how was Rome going to evolve?
I decided that since her brain had already been rewired due to OMCOM's magic yellow pill, I could exploit that and teach Rome to read minds. This seemed like a handy skill in investigating a crime. What was the crime? The attempt on Rome and Rei's life by the last two Darwin members on Deucado. I was thinking of Rome and Rei as kind of like Mr. and Mrs. Columbo investigating the crime.
Previously, I had told you that when I was first constructing The Ark Lords, I wanted to start out the novel with a bang. Well in The Ark Lords that bang was merely a grease fire. In Rome’s Evolution, I decided to make it a full out bomb. However, I couldn't let it kill off the main character. I'll show you how I avoided in a day or so.
A couple of other items I wanted to include: The Hand of Deucado, the most spectacular geological construct ever seen on the worlds of Man; a casino and the introduction of money on Deucado; linking back to items introduced in The Ark Lords like Hanry Ta Jihn's handgun and the Deucadons' invisibility cloaks and more. In a day or so, I'll show you a few frames of the animatics that my brother Bruce came up with for the never-completed book trailer for Rome’s Evolution
Entry 5-087: March 28, 2017
RE Foreshadowing
I love foreshadowing. As the author, I know what is going to happen down the road but you as the reader cannot know. However, one thing I've learned is there is no such thing as a coincidence so when I throw in random statements, you can be sure they are going to foreshadow something later on in the book.
In this particular case, I had already made up my mind that the "falling blankets" of Deucado were more than dumb animals that occasionally smothered and killed the colonists. I decided they were simplistic but had devolved that way on purpose. I explain that purpose later on in this book. But first I wanted to remind you of their existence. Here is how I did it:
Rei Bierak bent his head and ducked his six-foot plus frame down as he trotted through the trellis leading up to his home. One close call with a ‘falling blanket’ last year and even Rome had to admit having one in front of their house was prudent. She had dressed up the trellis with some plants imported from Earth but Rei scarcely took the time to breathe in the sweet honeysuckle aroma that permeated the area. He bounded up the three steps and flung open the all-white front door, hoping to make a dramatic entrance.
“Daddy’s home!” he said with a flourish. But his performance played to an empty theater. There was no one about. He shouted out, “Rome? Aason?” There was no reply. He closed his eyes and used his sonar vision to sweep the house, listening for signs of life. The only sound he heard was a strange tick-tack-tick noise coming from the kitchen. Other than that, it was deathly still.
He opened his eyes again, activated the ‘cell-phone’ in his head and called out, “Rome? Where are you? Where’s Aason?”
That was it. That was all the warning I was going to give you. But when it comes back later, you'll think back to the very beginning of this book. And don't forget the strange tick-tack-tick. It's not there for no reason. Tomorrow, we'll link back to The Ark Lords before we blow up poor Rei Bierak.
Entry 5-088: March 29, 2017
TAL Linkage
It was important for me to start out Rome’s Evolution not only with a bang but linkage back to The Ark Lords. I decided to do this by giving you a glimpse into Rome and Rei's life a couple of years after that previous novel in the guise of what would appear to be a rather mundane exchange between husband and wife. Here is the conversation between Rome and Rei after Rei came home to an empty house:
Rei opened his eyes again, activated the ‘cell-phone’ in his head and called out, “Rome? Where are you? Where’s Aason?”
“I’m at the library,” his adoring wife replied after a moment. “Aason is here with me.”
“What’s going on?” Rei asked. “It’s getting kind of late.”
“I’m so sorry, mau emir,” Rome answered. “We may have had an incident occur and we’re trying to sort it out.”
Rei looked around then set his shoulder bag down on the dining room table and headed toward the kitchen. “What kind of incident?” he asked as he was walking.
“Nothing major,” Rome responded. “The interns were away for the celebration of Tamas and when they returned, they found some items missing.”
“What kind of items?” Rei asked, sauntering into the kitchen.
“As far as we can tell, the only things missing are one of the Deucadon’s invisibility cloaks and Hanry Ta Jihn’s handgun.”
“That’s an odd set of things,” Rei remarked. “Do you think somebody took them?”
“We don’t know yet,” Rome replied. “The girls are trying to contact the remaining interns to see if one of them borrowed the items.”
“OK,” Rei said. “Are you going to be a long time?”
“No. The girls will figure it out. I’ll come back here tomorrow. Let me gather up Aason and we’ll come home.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rei said. “Take your time. I’ll get dinner started.”
“All right, mau emir. I will see you shortly.” With that, Rome cut the connection.
So there you have it in a nutshell. Rome is now the administrator of the Library which is the foundation of the University of Deucado. Hanry Ta Jihn's handgun has made an appearance, or rather a disappearance. And reference is made to someone stealing one of the Deucadons' invisibility cloa
ks. Who and why? Patience, my friend, patience.
Entry 5-089: March 30, 2017
Tick Tack Tick
A day or so ago, I gave you a little foreshadowing about blowing up Rei and starting the book out with a bang. You need to recall that after Rei swallowed OMCOM's magic yellow pill, he developed a series of new abilities. One of them was sonar vision, aka super-hearing. However, it only works when Rei's eyes are closed and when his head is vertical. The images he receives are so clear that if he didn't have some way to shut it off, he'd never be able to sleep.
Well, in this case, it was a good thing he has this special ability because if he didn't, he wouldn't have heard that strange tick-tack-tick sound coming from the kitchen. And it would have been a very short book. Here is that scene:
“All right, mau emir. I will see you shortly.” With that, Rome cut the connection.
Rei looked around the kitchen. Something smelled funny. It was faint but had an acrid, almost electrical odor to it. Remembering the odd ticking sound he heard when he first entered the house, Rei closed his eyes and performed an aural sweep again. He determined that the sound was coming from under the sink. He stooped down, opened the cabinet and found a large black box sitting there, with elaborate electrical circuitry and wires hanging from it. Mounted on the side was a digital timer that was counting down: 007, 006, 005. Rei leaped up and raced for the front door. He barely made it out when a tremendous explosion tore the front of their house apart. Rei was lifted from his feet and flung through the air like a rag doll. Something heavy hit his back then his head then everything went black.
Arg, that sounds like it really hurts.
Over the next two days, I'll show you some still frames from my brother Bruce's animatics. He did an amazing job but midway through , we realized that book trailers serve no purpose so we put a halt to the project. Too bad. It was really good.
Here is the scene where Rei lands on the front lawn prior to entering the house:
Entry 5-090: March 31, 2017
RE Animatics, part 1
Yesterday, I showed you the first scene from the never-released book trailer for Rome’s Evolution. It's too bad because Bruce did an amazing job with the animation. It was so good that we discussed the idea of him animating the whole book but ultimately rejected the idea as way too much work. You can seen the entire trailer such as it is if you care to. Be forewarned: it's an AVI file. For the less industrious reader, here are a few stills from the beginning.
The first still is Rei entering the house under the trellis in front of their U-shaped house. The trellis was set up to protect the Bieraks from "falling blankets" which are the soft but occasionally deadly animals that roam the cane tree forests on Deucado:
Bruce made the trellis a little higher than I proposed in the intro to the book. I claimed Rei had to duck down a bit but that was to establish that he was tall or at least tall relative to the Vuduri. In reality, Bruce's design is probably superior.
Rei enters the kitchen and because of his sonar vision aka super-hearing, he is able to detect the bomb planted under his sink before it goes off. He races out of the kitchen and out the front door before it goes off:
Tomorrow, I'll show you a few more still frames from the trailer showing the bomb going off and the debris hitting Rei in his back.
Entry 5-091: April 1, 2017
RE Animatics, part 2
Yesterday, I showed you the first two stills from the never-released book trailer for Rome’s Evolution. The animatics show Rei coming home in one of the Vuduri flying carts and landing on the front lawn. He then enters their U-shaped house and calls out for Rome and Aason. However, they are not home. Rei uses his sonar vision aka super-hearing to see if there is anybody about. There is no one. However he discovers there is a bomb planted under his kitchen sink:
Poor Rei. You can't see it in the stills but Bruce took exquisite care to show a large chunk of the front door hit him squarely in the spine. This sets up his awakening in a Vuduri hospital with a broken back.
Entry 5-092: April 2, 2017
The History of Pain
Yesterday, I showed you a few stills from the never-released animatic version of the book trailer for Rome’s Evolution. I don't think I could start out a book in an anymore spectacular way so it was time to rev up the engines and forge ahead with the plot.
However, it had been 10 months since the publication of The Ark Lords so I figured I need to put in a little review of how we got here. Rather than do it through a conversation or a lecture, I thought I would have Rei's mind recount past events as it climbed up toward consciousness. So here is an info-dump disguised as Rei coming out of his coma:
Pain has its own chronology. The simplest and easiest to remember is visceral pain, the kind that goes down in the gut and radiates from there. Like the pain Rei felt the first time he ran the marathon or the pain he felt when they froze him alive. Rei also remembered the pain when the auto-defibrillators incorrectly concluded his heart did not start and shocked him an extra time upon being reanimated. The misguided life-saving gesture almost killed him.
Next in line was the pain Rei remembered when he almost asphyxiated in the Vuduri airlock, a result of Estar trying to kill him. He also remembered the pain in his back from 1400 years of degeneration that OMCOM cured with his magic pill.
As Rei’s consciousness bubbled up and he became more aware, he remembered emotional pain, like the pain of leaving his parents behind as he traveled to the stars. Like the pain Rei felt when Sally Reynolds told him she was not going to accompany him on that trip. However, the worst heartache Rei ever felt was when Rome was integrated into the Overmind on Deucado and he thought he had lost her forever.
As hard as he tried, his eyes wouldn’t open. He racked his brain trying to recall something, anything that might give him a clue. He started with what he did know. He knew his name was Rei Bierak. Recalling the sequence of pain helped him remember being frozen and sent to the stars. He remembered being so cold when they first thawed him out. He remembered that two beings, dressed all in white, were attending him. At first, he thought they were monsters or aliens who resurrected him. Luckily for him, one of those monsters was Rome. Wait, Rome! That was the answer. His amazing, loving wife. He could picture her stunning face so clearly. He thought he caught a whiff of her wonderful smell, like vanilla surgical scrub. He missed her so much. Where was she?
Clever? I don't know. Different? Probably. Tomorrow, let's see Rei make his final breakthrough and figure out where he is.
Entry 5-093: April 3, 2017
He’s awake!
Yesterday, I showed you how I used Rei's rise to consciousness as a cleverly disguised info-dump to jog your memory on how he got from a frozen passenger aboard the Ark II to lying here in a coma on the world of Deucado, a span of 14 centuries. In a movie, you could see someone involved in a car accident and in the very next scene, wake up in a hospital. There is no need to see the paramedics pull them out of the wreckage or load them onto the ambulance unless it serves a dramatic purpose. I had no such need so that is why we jumped directly into this next scene from Rome’s Evolution:
The bright lights of the room were dazzling. It made Rei blink rapidly. Everything was white. Well everything except for the large black figure, complete with cape, standing with his back to Rei, arms akimbo, set firmly on his hips. Rei looked out the corner of his eye and saw his beautiful Rome dozing off in a chair in what looked like a very uncomfortable position.
“Rome?” he croaked, barely able to speak.
Rome’s eyes jolted open. “Rei!” she shouted, jumping up. “You’re awake!” Her smile spread from ear to ear as she raced to his bedside and put her arms around him.
“Ouch,” he said as she squeezed his shoulders. “Take it easy,” he murmured.
“I am sorry, mau emir,” Rome said, releasing him then kissing him tenderly. “I was so worried.”
Rei was finally able to force his other eye open. He tried looking ab
out the room. “Where am I?” he asked.
The large black figure at the base of his bed turned around. It was MINIMCOM’s livetar, his mouth slit curled upward in the largest smile Rei had ever seen on the animated shell.
“You are in a hospital in Vuduri City,” Rome said, caressing his forehead gently.
“What happened?”
“There was an explosion, at our house,” Rome said sadly. “That you survived…”
“An explosion?” Rei interrupted her, confused, “What…”
Rome pressed her finger gently to his lips. “Just rest,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything in due time.” She turned her head. “MINIMCOM, will you fetch the doctors, please?”
Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five Page 14
