“Where would you have us go?” Fridone asked skeptically. “You do not know where they are. Nowhere on this planet could be safe.”
“You are right, Beo,” Rome interjected. “Not on this planet. Junior has agreed to take you to Earth.”
“Earth?” Binoda exclaimed. “We were banished from there, just as you were. We are not allowed.”
Rome stood up. “Junior will take you to Commander Ursay. He will hide you on his farm until it is safe to return. Junior has all of his father’s stealth ability. He will get you there unseen.”
“Cowering like children out on a farm,” Fridone scoffed. Then he realized Aason really was a child. “I understand,” he said reluctantly.
“Mommy, Daddy,” Aason said, jumping up. “I don’t want to go.” He ran over and grabbed his mother, wrapping his arms around Rome’s legs.
Rome stooped down and cupped her son’s chin. Tears were starting to overflow her eyes and run down her cheeks.
“We have to do this, my baby. It’s not safe here. We can’t allow anything to happen to you. Grandmea and Grandbeo will take good care of you. Daddy and I will come and get you as soon as it is safe to come home.”
Aason hugged his mother around her neck. “Mommy, I’ll miss you so much.”
“And I will miss you, my love. But I would die if anything happened to you. Daddy and I can’t take that chance.”
Aason pulled back. He was crying too but he made a brave face. “I understand, Mommy. Whoever those bad men are, I hope you catch them and kill them back.”
“No,” Rome said. “We don’t kill anybody. But we will stop them. Then we can all be together again.”
Rome looked up at her mother. Binoda nodded.
“Come, Fridone,” she said. “We must pack some clothing. This might be a while.”
At least I can get Aason out of there for a portion of the book and get going with the fast-paced action and adventure. Rome and Rei have a lot of ground to cover and having Aason around would slow them down significantly.
Entry 5-115: April 25, 2017
The Tall Task
Yesterday, it was decided that Aason would go to Earth along with his grandparents for his own protection. This leaves Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM free to track down their would-be killers. But where do they start? All I can tell you is there ain't no such thing as a coincidence. And the story started out with an invisibility cloak and Hanry Ta Jihn's handgun going missing. I feel certain they will make a reappearance at some point in the story. But first, we need a plan:
After a prolonged and tearful goodbye, Aason and his grandparents left in Junior for Earth. As soon as they were gone, Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM reconvened around Binoda’s dining table to make their plans.
“Rome, MINIMCOM,” Rei said. “I know we have a tall task in front of us. But I need you both to understand my super-hearing is kind of busted right now. Plus I had a pretty hard knock to the head. I don’t know if you can tell or not but I’m still pretty fuzzy.”
“You had a severe concussion,” Rome said. “You don’t need to excuse it.”
“That’s not what I’m getting at,” Rei said. “What I’m trying to say is I might not be able to think clearly enough or act fast enough to get us out of this mess cleanly.”
Rei leaned forward to take Rome’s hand. “Sweetheart, you have to be the one in charge. If I say something that doesn’t sit right, you have to overrule me.”
Rome nodded slowly. “I understand. But I’m not worried. Let us get to the business at hand. As my father pointed out, these persons unknown could be anywhere on the planet. On top of that, we don’t know how many of them there are and we don’t know who they are. Where do we start?”
Rei stood up carefully and left the room only to return with a piece of paper and several of Aason’s crayons. He picked up the blue crayon and drew a long rectangle. He took a red crayon and stroked lines across the rectangle in a dense pattern.
“Say this is the Ark,” he said, circling the rectangle. “We know that the Darwin people were shipped out here to Deucado in the special gray sarcophagi.”
Rei grabbed a black crayon and blocked off the front of the crudely drawn ship. “Rome, do you remember the cages in the front?”
Rome nodded.
“I think the first thing we do is go back to the Ark and calculate how many of them there could be.”
“You were there when they started pulling them out, wouldn’t you know?” his wife asked.
Yes he was. But something as massive as the retrieval of 500 or so sarcophagi from the Ark would have been beyond Rei's ability to memorize.
Entry 5-116: April 26, 2017
The cloak (dis)appears
Yesterday, Rome and Rei had conjectured that Rei's would-be killer most likely was one of the remaining Darwin members running loose on Deucado. They knew that the Darwin members were sent to Deucado in the specially fortified gray sarcophagi in the front of the Ark II. Rome asked Rei how many there were, so they could gauge what they were up against and... Well, I'll let Rei tell you:
“I didn’t pay enough attention,” Rei said. “I think we need to go back and actually count.” Rei turned to MINIMCOM. “How many of the Darwin people did you and Junior cart off to Virga on Helome?”
“84 the first trip. 20 the second,” MINIMCOM answered. “104 total.”
“There,” Rei said. “So all we need to do is figure out how many we started with, subtract out 104 and what’s left is how many we’re looking for.”
Rome smiled. “I do not think your ability to think has been much impaired. However, you forgot one person.”
“Who?” Rei asked.
“Captain Keller. No matter what the theoretical number, you must add one since he was one of the original 84 sent to Virga on Helome.”
Rei sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know if this helps or not but I know that some of the sarcophagi were damaged. I remember seeing them in the cave behind The Cathedral.”
“Were they white or gray?” Rome asked.
Rei put his hand up to his head and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t remember,” he said. “Dammit.”
“It’s OK, Rei, we will check it out,” Rome said. She turned to MINIMCOM. “Would you mind taking us to Rei’s Ark and then to The Cathedral?” she asked. “We need to do our survey.”
“Your safety and well being is my first and only concern at the moment,” answered the livetar. “I am at your service until this matter has been resolved.”
“Then let us begin,” Rome said, rising.
Together, the group left the house. What they did not see was that after they were gone, the front door opened, apparently all by itself, and then closed again.
Uh-oh. A door opening and closing by itself and a missing invisibility cloak. Those two things can't be a coincidence. But who are they are and how are they related? We will have to find this out as we go along.
Entry 5-117: April 27, 2017
Agents, pt. 1
I wrote my first short story of any note in high school, back in 1969. My story was just for Pen & Ink, Haverford High School's monthly "literary" magazine. The 300-word piece was a dopey sort-of science fiction (natch) story that was really just a set up of a joke. This was the first time I was ever "published" and I use that word loosely because they were so starved for content that they rarely rejected anybody's work.
In college, I wrote a bunch of short stories and eventually got brave enough that I sent some into science fiction magazines with the hope of not only getting published, but getting paid to write. No such luck. I got quite a few rejection notices, very nearly all of them form letters, usually just pink slips with the same message. My final story, "Mars, Get Ready" was also rejected but this was accompanied by a personal note from an editor who told me that while this particular story was not suitable, I should keep at it. This was in 1973, the same year I wrote the first full draft of VIRUS 5.
Then life kicked in and I kind of stopped writi
ng until 2001 when my second wife left me. That was when I got the idea for a game show called "The One That Got Away" and I said to myself, I can write a book. Why not? It took me about a year and by 2002, I had the first draft of what came to be known as Future Past.
I was well aware that Future Past wasn't good enough to get published but it showed me that I had the stamina to write a 330-page novel so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work on the full-length novel VIRUS 5. The manuscript also took me about a year to write and polish but no sooner had I finished that book when I got the idea for the second and third parts. By 2008, I had three (what I thought at the time to be) well-written novels forming a trilogy. Surely that would be considered desirable to prove you weren't a one-hit wonder. I knew the days of directly submitting manuscripts to publishers was long gone and the only way to get your foot in the door was through an agent. So I bought a book called The Writers Market 2008 and dutifully noted the section regarding agents.
In September of 2008, I hopped aboard what I now call the "agent-go-round" which is a never ending cycle of sending in query letters, the first three chapters and waiting. The more polite agents got back to you and told you that what you had wasn't their cup of tea or not suitable in some other way. Others never got back to you at all. The road was paved with unending disappointment.
Tomorrow, a sad footnote to the journey described above but why there may now be hope again.
Entry 5-118: April 28, 2017
Agents, pt. 2
Yesterday, I described to you my tortuous path leading up to me deciding to get published by finding an agent. However there was one fact that I slipped in that you may not have noticed. Please note the year I started on this adventure: 2008. Remember that year? The stock market had crashed and everybody went into panic mode and truly our economy has ever recovered. Almost all of the agents started hanging up shingles signaling that they were no longer accepting new authors because publishers were only buying sure things which meant previously published authors.
I tried hiring a professional editor and paid her money to critique my books but the things she said were so harsh, I threw in the towel and realized my dream was never going to happen. I stopped sending in query letters and spent a long time rethinking my strategy. I knew about the Kindle and the more I read about it, the more I realized that I could self-publish and who needs an agent?
So I did. I compiled all three VIRUS 5 novels down into one super-long novel entitled Rome’s Revolution and in November, 2011, the book went on sale on Amazon. I also learned how to self-publish for the B&N Nook, Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords. I sold 77 copies of Rome’s Revolution within the first month. To date I have sold nearly 400 copies. All told, if you want to count the books I sell for free, the total is nearly 3600. I have actually received money for nearly 900 books. Not a lot but more than zero.
Even though the economy still sucks and agents and publication houses are still resisting taking on unknown writers, an entirely new market has appeared. HBO, Showtime, AMC, Amazon and Netflix among others are now producing original content which is fantastic. More channels are opening up every month, all of them hungry for quality programming. My books would make a phenomenal five year series. The first three would be Rome’s Revolution, year four would be The Ark Lords and year five would be Rome’s Evolution.
I wrote an email to a consolidator who sends content to Netflix for consideration and they told me nobody can get their foot in the door without an agent. So I am going to rewrite the first third of Rome’s Revolution entirely and heavily edit the rest. And then guess what? I am going to hop aboard the agent-go-round again. Who knows? Maybe this time I will succeed. Probably not. But I have to try.
Entry 5-119: April 29, 2017
Yes, Dear
Unless you have been reincarnated, I don't see how you or anyone can be qualified to be a "life coach" because we only get one life to live. Who's to say we lived it right until it's over? That doesn't mean people can't impart wisdom from their experiences but nobody can give you an exact guide.
There's lots of advice floating around regarding marriage. I've heard the phrases "Happy wife, happy life" and "You can be right or you can be happy" meaning the secret to a good marriage is keeping the Mrs. happy. Rei Bierak has only been married the one time, to the incomparable Rome, but he knew from growing up in a well-adjusted family that the homilies above were true. And since he is still recovering from a severe concussion, he had relinquished control of the search for the would-be assassin or assassins to Rome:
Rei’s Ark had crash-landed on a ridge part way up the slope of the northern mountains over four years earlier. In the two years since Rei and Rome had been here last, the Ark II had continued to rust, some parts of it completely rusted out. The outer hull, what was left of it, was orange-colored with streaks of brown and black. This was due to the fact that the upper two-thirds of the gigantic, cylindrical spaceship was made out of pig iron and Deucado presented enough moisture and oxygen to cause portions of the roof to collapse. Some of the pieces were fairly large.
The lower third of the Ark was made of martensite, a kind of stainless steel so it was in much better shape. While the upper portion of the Ark was softer and more malleable, the lower third had to be more rugged because when the Arks came in for a landing, they had no wheels or landing gear. They glided in then just belly-flopped their way down to the ground at a rather sizeable velocity. The martensite was not just a heat shield and a potential building material, it was also the world’s biggest landing strut. At least, that was the way it was planned. The way the Ark II actually arrived on Deucado was beyond anything the mission planners could have imagined.
Rei and Rome held hands as they carefully made their way up the entrance ramp into the long-abandoned crew compartment. Once they reached the top of the ramp, Rei tried to pull his hand free but Rome would not let go.
“I’m OK,” Rei said. “I can walk by myself.”
“No,” Rome said forcefully. “I don’t want to take a chance of you slipping on one of the pieces that have fallen from the ceiling.”
“But…” Rei protested.
“You said I was in charge,” Rome said proudly. “This is a command decision. You hold my hand.”
Rei smiled. “Yes, dear,” he said submissively.
This will be a recurring theme over the next days and weeks as they hunt down the would-be killers. But Rome is good-natured about it so I wouldn't worry for poor old Rei too much.
Entry 5-120: April 30, 2017
How many are there?
Yesterday, we saw that Rei Bierak was going to have to get used to saying "Yes, dear" to Rome as she was in charge of the investigation. She had MINIMCOM transport them to the rapidly rusting shell of the Ark II so they could count how many of the gray sarcophagi were sent from Earth. The total number of sarcophagi plus one would be the total number of Darwin candidates that might have been trying to kill them:
“Yes, dear,” Rei said. He knew this was a phrase he was going to be uttering a lot in the upcoming days. Cautiously, he executed a maneuver matching Rome’s who, in turn, guided him as he lowered himself on the other side. Now past the obstruction, they were able to make their way to the front where there was a pair of large metal cages encasing another two sets of shelves, one on the left, one on the right. The shelves within the cage were far more substantial than the flimsy ones in the rear. Rome reached up and took a hold of the metal mesh fencing and shook it with her hand. There was no more give to it now than there was two years ago.
Rei stooped down, making sure he did not bend at the waist, and mentally counted the stanchions that were used to hold the sarcophagi in place.
“Three on the bottom, middle and top,” Rei said out loud. He turned and pointed. “Another nine on that side so that makes eighteen per row.”
He gingerly made his way to the front, stopping short of the edge where a portion of the Ark had been torn away when it hit the asteroid. The lead edges were
ragged with shredded sheet metal curled and bound by the inner seal. Even though much of it had dulled with time and rust, many of the metal shards still had razor sharp edges that splayed outward. Rei shivered just thinking about them. He turned to the matter at hand.
“I count six rows,” Rei said. “So if my math is correct, that makes for 108 of the Grays.”
“109 counting Captain Keller,” Rome corrected him.
“Right,” Rei said. “So that’s our upper limit. MINIMCOM said he transported 104 of the Darwin people to Helome so worst case, we’re looking for five people.”
Rome nodded. “This is an excellent first step but to have that many running loose on Deucado is little bit dismaying.”
“I know I saw some cracked sarcophagi back at The Cathedral but I don’t remember if they were gray or white,” Rei said. “We’ll need to go there to confirm. That may cut down the number.”
“Agreed,” Rome said. She put her finger to her temple. “MINIMCOM says he will just transport us back to his cargo bay. I don’t want to take any more chances with your back than we need to.”
Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five Page 18
