As mentioned previously, the Vuduri prefer a world where they can land using aero-braking and they are fond of gravity as well.
Dara has a mass of 3.14 x 1024 kg which is 44 times that of Earth's moon. In fact, Dara is larger than Mars but made of a material which is much less dense. Regardless, because of its mass, its gravity is nearly 30% of the Earth which is substantial enough to keep hold of an atmosphere. The atmosphere is completely unbreathable, made up mostly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
Despite all the astrogeophysics, there was a much more mundane reason for postulating the size of Dara. It is simply that a moon which has an atmosphere is more interesting dramatically than an airless moon. It gave me many more opportunities to make Dara a player. It allowed the atmosphere to seep into the airlock and suffocate Rei rather than asphyxiate him. It allowed me to open up the gigantic doors of the tug hangar and have a wind swirl the dust around. All of these things give the mind more to work from an imagery standpoint.
In The Ark Lords, I had Rome and Rei land on our moon for a while. Because it was airless, it was just less interesting. They treated their moonwalk as just a variation of a spacewalk. Bottom line: you couldn't grow a garden on Dara but it was an interesting place to visit. Too bad it got sucked up by the Stareater but to a small degree it lives on in the VIRUS units that make up the mass of Planet OMCOM.
Entry 1-351: December 11, 2013
T-Suppressors
T-suppressors have been mentioned many times in Rome's Revolution and the other two novels in the series. Our first introduction to them was when Rei and Rome went to use the Espansor Bands and Rome knew enough to not allow the Overmind to listen in. In the end, it didn't matter because OMCOM ratted her out but that is neither here nor there.
When Rei inquired as to why the T-suppressors even existed, Rome did not put it in context of the Espansor Bands. Instead, she explained that when Vuduri traveled through the static PPT tunnel between Earth and Helome, they experienced great discomfort and the T-suppressor was the only device known to eliminate that discomfort. This was just a set-up so that I could produce the necessary visual when the Stareater appeared in the Solar System. This was during Rome's "People of Earth" speech and half the Vuduri passed out, including Rome. I'm not sure how he did it but OMCOM's livetar drew his finger across Rome's brow and somehow created a temporary T-suppressor so that Rome could regain consciousness and react to the situation. I think that might have just been dramatic license since OMCOM never did it before and he never did it again.
As Rei and Rome settled in on Deucado, they kept the T-suppressor so that they could enjoy using the bands while keeping their sessions private from the Overmind who lived there. It wasn't that important but Rome had developed a strong sense of self and desired the privacy the T-suppressor provided.
Of course, the T-suppressor became an integral element during the climax of Rome's Evolution when Rei and Rome captured Reema. It was necessary to cut her off from MASAL's Sipre until the Queen of the Onsiras understood the total situation.
After that crisis passed, I think maybe the T-suppressor fell out of favor. I think Rome's Revolution saw to that. However, with the upcoming novel The Milk Run, it is possible it might make a reappearance. I'll let you know.
Entry 1-352: December 12, 2013
Memories
When Rei and Rome first used the Espansor Bands, they had an opportunity to delve into each other's memories. Because the bands allowed each to see what the other saw, it was like looking into a mirror at another mirror, going off to infinity. This was one of the very first scenes I ever wrote in the whole Rome's Revolution trilogy and this set the stage for parts of the story that I never dreamt I'd have to fill in.
For example, while the mandasurte (mind-deaf) always existed and I knew that Fridone, Rome's father, was mandasurte, I never thought, in a million years, that I'd ever meet him. I took him away because he was a thematic problem. For Rome to abandon her parents and move to Deucado with Rei, it was necessary that her father not be an issue.
But then I wrote The Ark Lords and boom, there was Fridone. All of the sudden, the whole plot to eliminate the mandasurte became locked in and I had no control over it. That MASAL was behind it was a surprise to me but a pleasant surprise in that it was a great dramatic element. Otherwise, it would have had to be the Overmind with a secret genocidal agenda and this would have required that I destroy the entire Vuduri society.
When Rome looked within Rei's mind, she saw an Earth which was nearly ruined and explained, to some degree, why Rei was so willing to run away to the stars. But his memories included the flying horse, Sally Reynolds and his whole last day on Earth scenario.
I had dreamed about that and had most of the details laid out so it wasn't really a matter of painting myself into a corner. But when I decided to expand Rome's Evolution from a novella to a full novel, I knew that was the place to write up the whole story. This was a very pleasurable and satisfying experience. I knew all the parts and actually stringing them together for the first time and seeing that it made for a poignant vignette was pretty cool.
Anyway, the point of all of this that I wrote the Espansor Band scene with Rei and Rome delving into each other's memories and during the journey of producing the three novels, I was amazed to see how coherent and consistent those memories were when it came time to put them to paper. (Actually digital ink but whose counting?)
Entry 1-353: December 13, 2013
Opening Credits
I know I've mentioned this several times before but much of the material that was removed from the modern version of Rome's Revolution will make for a great set of opening scenes if the book is ever made into a movie.
When I wrote the original prologue to VIRUS 5, it took place 1300 years earlier, on New Earth in orbit around Alpha Centauri, and was the story about how Silas Hiram discovered that Alnilam disappeared. This is not particularly dramatic, although it is among the best stuff I've ever written and it will resurface in next year's The Vuduri Companion. But the opening scene of the book, in which one of the Vuduri space tugs nearly collides with the wildly tumbling Ark II, will make for a great backdrop to the opening credits, behind the titles scene. Of course this chapter, probably the second best thing I've written, was excised from the current version and it, too, will be in The Vuduri Companion.
The next scene, Rei's resurrection, was particularly dramatic and will make for a great flashback montage as the movie actually starts. Today's version of Rome's Revolution opens with Rei on a gurney and meeting Rome for the first time. But that original Chapter 2 also shows Rei waking up for the first time and seeing what he thought (fuzzy-brained) were aliens awakening him. I have a lot of fun in the book reminding the reader with phrases like "that monster was me" (says Rome) but because it is purely visual, it will make a better backdrop than part of the action.
The reality is, you are supposed to introduce the reader (and your movie-going audience) to your protagonist (or dual protagonists) in the first paragraph and give the reader the low-down on the essential conflict immediately. In the current version of Rome's Revolution I do that but that doesn't mean the other scenes don't have value.
Entry 1-354: December 14, 2013
Estar wasn't so bad
When I first wrote the novel VIRUS 5, before it evolved into Rome's Revolution, I knew that Estar was the villain but originally, her motives weren't that terrible. Oh sure, she wanted Rei and all the other Essessoni dead but her hatred of them seemed to stem from a heightened fear of the Erklirte rather than anything deeper.
It took me a long time to learn that Estar was just an agent of MASAL and it wasn't her fear of the Erklirte that made her so murderous. In fact, it was MASAL's fear that the Erklirte could s
et his eugenics program back that made her so deadly. Luckily for us she was also incompetent (she was only a half-brain, after all) and Rei was able to survive each of her murder attempts. I wasn't sad to see Estar die beneath Kilauea.