Tales of the Vuduri_Year Five

by Michael Brachman

  However, our hero, Aason Bierak, was eventually able to use the abilities he inherited from his mother to communicate with the aliens, determine why they were attacking humans and he acted to rectify the problems. In fact, the first K'val he encountered, Sh'ev B'oush, became one of his best friends. The K'val themselves became the first alien members of the human-led Galactic Union. Sh'ev even makes a guest appearance in a short story entitled The Immortals and his son, B'shev are the stars of The Vuduri Knight, if I ever write it. I like the K'val, they are good and caring creatures and fierce warriors. They are great to have a friends and should be feared as enemies. I hope I get time to explore their lives and culture more down the road.

  Entry 5-357: December 23, 2017

  The Ark IV

  About a week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I wanted to talk about the Ark program and the Ark IV in particular.

  In case you forgot, the Arks were built of several sections. The lead section was the command compartment and the service module which also contained the SSTO (Single Stage to Orbit) booster for returning to space. The next section was the crew compartment that looked like this:

  The next section was the cargo compartment which was just a little larger than the crew compartment. On all the other Arks, the last section was the propulsion module. The Ark IV was different. It had an extra propulsion module used to get the Ark up to speed then it dropped off and then Ark IV looked like all the other Arks. The reason for the extra booster was because Nu2 Lupi, the target for Ark IV, was an incredible 48 light years away. The only reason they sent an Ark such a long distance is because the Sagan mission told them there were not one but two habitable planets, doubling the chances of a successful launch.

  The Arks were designed to travel at 5% of the speed of light meaning the Ark IV should have taken about 960 years to get there under optimal conditions. It was so far away that the designers felt their Grey drive wouldn't have enough juice to get them the whold way hence the extra propulsion module. In reality, it took them closer to 1300 years, that's 13 centuries, to get there. In fact, when Aason Bierak came across the settlers on Hades, they hadn't even been there for a hundred years.

  Amazingly enough, the landing procedures for the Ark IV worked perfectly even after such a long trip. The command crew separated the cargo compartment and flew the crew compartment down to the surface and landed. They then ignited the SSTO booster and flew back up into space and docked with the cargo compartment. They jettisoned the propulsion module and landed the cargo compartment fairly close to the crew compartment.

  The reanimated colonists went about their business setting up their new home, the Darwin people started their secret agenda and all was well until the K'val arrived. This was not anything the planners of the Ark program could have planned for.

  Entry 5-358: December 24, 2017

  The Ice Planet

  A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I wanted to talk about the idea of an ice planet, one just at the far edge of the habitable zone. My thinking was that the planet cannot be so cold that there is never any liquid water. I didn't think life could start on such a world and it was important that I had some life there. And that life, such as it was, would have to adapt to maintaining whatever warmth the sun could provide.

  So I started with the plants. I figured that leaves would be very inefficient. They maximize surface area to capture sunlight at the expense of exposure. So I made the trees, at least, toughened and I made their bark the photosynthetic surface. A cylinder would have the least surface area exposed and the trees simply had to grow large to collect sunlight. I also wanted to portray the trees as crazy zig-zag, like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, as if they were huddling together for warmth. Here is my original concept art and then my brother Bruce's full realization which you can click to zoom in on:

  If you look carefully in the middle of the lower image, you can see the Ice Saberoo hiding beneath the snow and leaves. I made his primary sense modality infrared since warmth would be the most treasured commodity on the planet. The two things on the top of his head are not ears but extremely sensitive heat detectors which he keeps balled up when not in use. Again this is to minimize heat loss.

  When the colonists from Ark IV arrived there, they settled on the equator where there was liquid water a few months out of the year and they made their homes deep in the woods for maximum protection against the elements. It wasn't comfortable but it was survivable. It is luck for them that Aason Bierak came along and discovered their whereabouts. A rescue or resupply mission would come as soon as he found his sister and returned to Deucado.

  Entry 5-359: December 25, 2017

  Cyanoglobin

  A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I wanted to talk about cyanoglobin versus hemoglobin. Why? My thinking was that not every planet would be iron-rich. I postulated that Hades, the Ice Planet, was copper-rich and iron-poor so that if life was going to evolve, it would have to make that part of its plans. Take a look at this chart showing the different types of blood (Chart courtesy of Andy Brunning and Compound Interest)

  You can click on the image to get a zoomed-in version. Note the second block, entitled haemocyanin (the British spelling) which is the proper scientific term for cyanoglobin. This is the principle oxygen-carrying molecule in spiders, crustaceans, shrimp! and horseshoe crabs. According to the author, unlike hemoglobin, hemocyanin does not bind to blood cells but rather circulates freely in the blood. And just like hemoglobin, it is a different color, nearly clear, when it is devoid of oxygen and bright blue when fully oxygenated.

  Another little tidbit that I found out is that while hemocyanin is only a quarter as efficient in transporting oxygen as hemoglobin, it performs better in cold environments with low oxygen pressure. Like under the sea or, you guessed, the ice planet Hades. We have a winner! According to Sean McGrath, "It is not that hemocyanin gets better at carrying oxygen at low temperatures; it is just that hemoglobin gets worse at low temperatures."

  Since shrimp becomes an important theme later in the book and I worked with horseshoe crabs in graduate school, I thought I'd give them and their blue blood its due. You might be interested to know that the blood of horseshoe crabs is harvested and used in the treatment of bladder and prostate cancer. The hemocyanin contains a specific antigen that causes the human immune system to start making an antibody that also destroys tumor cells. Pretty neat, huh?

  Entry 5-360: December 26, 2017

  Blasts from the past

  A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I wanted to talk about Aason Bierak getting ready for first contact with true aliens, the plant people known as the K'val.

  One of my favorite things to do is to bring back some scenes from the past and incorporate them in new ways in my new books. One of the more memorable scenes in Rome’s Evolution was Rome's training night with Rei. In a somewhat awkward conversation, OMCOM had to explain to Rome that she needed to use a sexual interlude to learn how to be a telepath. In The Milk Run, Aason had to become not only a mind-reader but a mind-writer too. He had to be able to transmit his thoughts to his target, not just detect what they were thinking.

&
nbsp; So once again, sex and the awkward conversation that preceded it had to be invoked both as an homage to Aason's parents as well as continuity with the next generation:

  OMCOM said, “You have all the same abilities that your sister does. You could learn to harness them as she did.”

  Aason stood up. “She’s been in training for 10 years. How am I going to acquire that kind of skill in a few short hours?”

  “Well…” OMCOM hesitated. He turned to look at Aroline. “Young lady, I know this will seem like a strange and completely inappropriate question but are you a virgin?”

  “What?” Aroline gurgled. She stared at the livetar but his expressionless face gave her no further insight. She looked down at her lap and said, “No,” in a very quiet voice.

  “Very well,” OMCOM said. “Would you mind terribly having sex with young Aason here?”

  “Come on, OMCOM,” Aason shouted. “That isn’t even funny.”

  “I do not have a sense of humor,” the livetar replied. “Allow me to explain. Many years ago, when your mother had to become a telepath, having intimate relations with your father was the quickest method for her to acquire those skills. It was very effective as well. She was able to learn to harness her PPT transducers and EM transceivers very quickly. It effectively allowed her to learn how to read minds. She used your father as her training bench so to speak. Coincidentally, it was also the night that Lupe was conceived.”

  “Well, ew,” Aason said with disgust. He shook his head. “Even so, reading minds is one thing but first contact protocols require transmission, too.”

  “You have the equipment to do exactly that,” OMCOM answered back.

  Aroline’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of equipment?” she asked hesitantly.

  I thought that was pretty funny, "what kind of equipment" based upon the context but they got it all straightened out. You know, I never did consider whether Zac, Aason and Aroline's first born was conceived that night. Oh well, I'll figure it out some day.

  Entry 5-361: December 27, 2017

  First contact

  A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I would like to show you Aason's first contact with the plant people called the K'val. As would be the case in any remotely realistic science fiction, the chances of the aliens speaking understandable English are zero. But because Aason is dealing with thoughts, he can use his ability to translate the alien's thinking into terms we can understand:

  OMCOM used his hands to split his head in half and the two pieces separated, coming to rest on the livetar’s shoulders. Aason took a breath and the silane fluoride in the air made him cough violently and repeatedly. The creature tilted his head and watched the boy go through his gyrations. Eventually, he regained control and forced his lungs to stop their spasms. When the coughing fit subsided, Aason activated his combo PPT/EM apparatus and “spoke” to the creature for the first time.

  “I am Aason Bierak,” he said. “I am not here to harm you.”

  In real life, the sounds the creature emitted were grating. But within Aason’s mind, his response was surprisingly clear and coherent.

  “You are a meat-bag,” the creature said. “You will kill us the first chance you get.” The alien stopped speaking for a moment then added, “As you should.”

  “No!” Aason said more forcefully. “I know that you’ve been taking our people. I want to know why.” The odor emanating from the creature was very musty. It smelled like decaying leaves. Aason could only wonder what a human must smell like to the creature.

  “You are food for our Lord,” the alien replied. “He commands us to give Him one of your kind every year.”

  “Who is your Lord?” Aason asked. “Why do you feed my people to him?”

  “The Lord is…the Lord,” the creature answered. He turned his head away from Aason. “And we must feed Him your kind because we are not worthy.”

  “That doesn’t make it right,” Aason said. “We’ve done nothing to harm you.”

  “It is not a matter of choice,” the plant-man stated. “Long ago, my kind were simple plants along the ground. We were happy to just soak up the sun and the rain and sway with the wind. Then the Lord came to our planet, we call it Ay’den. He raised us up. He gave us intelligence and these limbs.” The alien flapped his arms up and down. “We are called the K’val, the very word itself means we are the Unworthy.” The creature lifted up his arms, palms outward.

  It may not seem like it but this is a deep insight into the psychology of the K'val trying to deal with god-like creature Molokai. The bottom line is that Aason's "powers" worked and no matter how foreign the thoughts, his psychic ability let him translate Sh'ev's thoughts into English so we could understand what is going on. The K'val are not a bad species but they were made to do horrible things in the name of their Lord, Molokai.

  Entry 5-362: December 28, 2017

  35th Century Dogfight

  A week ago, I reminded you that as we hit the home stretch for Tales of the Vuduri, I won't have time to truly flesh out all the Big Ideas I had for the novel The Milk Run. Instead, I am presenting some capsule summaries of the motivation behind a subset of those ideas. Today I'd like to cover a little bit of how I played with technological sophistication.

  One of the reasons I took humanity back to the Stone Age and then brought them forward again was to make their technology different from ours but not so far ahead that we couldn't understand the principles. I did the same thing with the K'val on Ay'den. They were once just plants who, according to Sh'ev, "were happy to just soak up the sun and the rain and sway with the wind." But the god-like creature, Molokai, needed them to achieve a high level of development so he lifted them up, gave them intelligence and fostered a series of wars between the various factions to raise their level of sophistication.

  By the time Aason Beirak got to Ay'den, they had developed interplanetary spacecraft and had jet fighters. But their level of technological innovation was way, way below the Vuduri's 35th century starships. So I wanted to have a dogfight over the air of the once invisible planet but I needed Aason conflicted. He was trying to make peace with these people so he could find out what happened to Lupe but they kept attacking him so he had to figure out a way to defeat them without causing too much death and destruction:

  “They will know we are tracking their ship,” OMCOM said from behind them. “I suggest we loop around and take them head on while we are waiting for the ship to arrive.”

  “Take them on with what?” Aason asked.

  “Junior’s cannons will do. He can slice up their craft into tiny pieces.”

  “We don’t know if the fighters are manned or unmanned. Just in case they have live pilots, I don’t want to kill any of them,” Aason said. “We’re here to find the creature made out of light. If we attack the K’val, it’s going to be harder to make peace with them. We won’t get any information if we’re shooting at each other.”

  “Very well,” OMCOM said. “Junior, take off small sections of their airframes, just enough to put them out of control. They’ll back off when they see we have overwhelming firepower.”

  “OK,” Junior said. He tilted his nose up, climbing rapidly and twisting, executing a full 180 degree barrel roll. He straightened out and headed right for the oncoming armada at three times the speed of sound. The fighter jets split into two sections, peeling off to the right and the left. Junior was easily able to dodge their missiles and ammunition. As he was passing them, with a series of zzt, zzt, zzt sounds, he fired off his PPT cannons. Three of the blips on the MIDAR screen disappeared immediately.

  “You didn’t kill them, did you?” Aason asked frantically.

  “Nope,” Junior replied. “I took off a section of their airfoils and control surfaces. They can still land in a controlled f
ashion. And you were correct, they are manned fighters.”

  Over and over again, Junior fired his cannons, slicing off wingtips and stabilizers, whatever it took. First one, then three more craft dropped off the MIDAR display. At this point, there were only two of the jets left. One took a sharp left turn and headed away from him. Now there was only one left and it was coming around for another run at them.

  “Any way you can grab the pilot?” he asked Junior. “Can you transport him to the cargo bay?”

  Aason's tactics worked. The K'val clearly knew Aason was the boss but he chose not to obliterate him. This bought him the time he needed to get the lay of the land and to find out who Molokai was and what role he played.

  Entry 5-363: December 29, 2017