The Slabs: The Revolution Revisited, Part 1

Yesterday, we saw Rome's brain set on fire, figuratively speaking. Observing so much knowledge concentrated in one place caused her to use her cognitive faculties in a way she never imagined. However it was the Library OMCOM who had to point out to her that this was merely an extension of the revolution she had started several years earlier:

     When Rome and OMCOM got to ‘Volume 14 – History through the Middle Ages, Middle Ages to the 18th Century’ Rome paused as she was about insert the next data slab.
     “All this information makes my brain feel like it is on fire. I just now realized why Estar introduced the rogue memrons into your infrastructure, rather, Planet OMCOM’s. I know why she had to try and kill Rei and why she had to make it look like an accident.”
     “Really?” OMCOM commented. “And you say this why?”
     “Because he could think for himself. All the Vuduri would see that. I noticed it right away. I now know that Estar made a grievous error when she let Rei live for even 10 seconds.”
     “That seems like a bit of an exaggeration.”
     “No,” Rome insisted. “Metaphorically, he represented the end of MASAL’s plan. All Essessoni do.” Rome laughed. “Actually, it isn’t even a metaphor, since Rei really did destroy him. But MASAL’s ideal, of transforming mankind into a gaggle of organic robots, that dream ended when the Essessoni arrived. Estar knew this somehow.”
     “Rome looked out the cockpit window, up at the sky. In broad daylight, it was not possible to see any stars. But she knew they were up there, Tabit among them.
OMCOM was curious. “How would that translate into her taking her specific actions?”
     Rome looked back down at the console. “While she could not compute the timelines or decision trees, Estar knew Rei represented extreme danger to MASAL’s plan and had to be terminated. But it wasn’t just his physical existence that needed to be stopped, it was his ideal. So she had to have him die in a way that appeared natural. Anything that singled him out would have planted the seeds.”
     “The seeds of Rome’s Revolution,” OMCOM said off-handedly.
     “Me, anybody,” Rome said. “But Estar failed. Twice. Because Rei could think for himself. When Estar returned to Earth and MASAL discovered that she had failed, he sent agents to Deucado to introduce the idea of killing all of the Essessoni on sight.”

Do you feel sorry for MASAL? Of course you don't. But Rome is going to point out the incredible irony of Rei's Ark showing up just at the exact wrong time.

Tomorrow.