The Slabs: Rome's Revelation, Part 1

At the beginning of The Ark Lords we saw MINIMCOM have a breakthrough in accessing the data contained within the Essessoni slabs. Yesterday, we watched through Rome's eyes as an incredible amount of information flowed from the Essessoni data slabs down to Library OMCOM's memron storage chamber a half kilometer below the surface. Just observing the vast array of images whoosh by awakened something fundamental in Rome. Something that could get her killed. Here is her revelation, broken into two parts:

     “OMCOM, can you talk while you are downloading?” Rome directed to the grille. Her voice was raspy.
     “Of course,” replied OMCOM.
     “I think I have just had a revelation,” she said breathily.
     “About what?”
     “About the difference between the Vuduri and the Essessoni. Why they are so different.”
     “I assume you are not talking about their views on the construction of the universe,” OMCOM replied.
     “No, this is broader than that. Allow me to explain. It is so complex, I may not make sense.”
     “Do your best.”
     “When I was in the Overmind, I was under constant pressure to let the Overmind do the thinking for me. Most Vuduri succumb to that pressure and even use the Overmind’s second sight to perceive reality. I did not. That is why they chose me to be the data archivist on Tabit. My eye-hand coordination was better than the other candidates and my brain reacted faster because I had the capacity to think for myself.”
     “That speaks well of you but is hardly the explanation for why the Essessoni are like they are.”
     “The difference is this,” Rome said insistently. “The Vuduri are braguocisi, in English, what, lazy? Not in the physical sense of the word but the mental sense. They like letting the Overmind think for them. But the Overmind is nothing but the combined intellects of the communicants. Which means it is intellectually lazy as well.”
     Rome paused for a moment then she spoke again. “And they are getting lazier. Look how long it took before the Overmind was even curious enough about the stars disappearing to send out a survey crew.”

Rome is literally straddling two worlds. The first, the one she is familiar with, is the world of the Vuduri where the Overmind prefers to do the thinking for the people. The second, Rei's world, is something else. Tomorrow I'll give you the second half of this scene.