The Reader Appears

Methodically, Rome and Rei were making their way through each of the hangars, uncovering what nefarious deeds the would-be new Ark Lords were up to. Yesterday, Rome came across an Essessoni super-computer and quickly mastered its operation. She searched through it fairly exhaustively but it is pretty clear that the crew manifest is going to be harder to find. However, she did find one thing that surprised her at first:

     “I don’t think this computer has anything of importance. Most of its contents are designs and layouts for the starships next door as well a guide for managing…”
     Suddenly, she stopped speaking. Pressed against the back of the desk was an assembly that she recognized. Standing upright was a docking block with one of the jet-black Essessoni data slabs mounted within. Rome reached to the back and slid it forward. Her eyes widened.
     “Look, Rei,” Rome said excitedly, shaking the assembly. “Volume 20 – Mission Parameters. So this is where they kept it.” She pointed to the dock. “Is this your data reader?” she asked.
     Rei nodded. “That’s it,” he said. “But I remember Bonnie saying the reader was on the fritz.”
     “I remember that too,” Rome replied. “Can we at least try it? Can you activate it or attach it to the computer?”
     “Sure,” Rei said. He snapped the docking block to the other side of the computer. As soon as he did so, a new icon, like a piston without a rod, appeared on the desktop.
     “I guess it wasn’t on the fritz, after all,” Rome remarked. “Imagine that. The Darwin people lying about something,” she said sarcastically. She tapped the new icon and the cylinder opened up to show a folder and tree structure within. Rome tapped and swiped until she found what she was looking for.
     “Look,” she said. “Here is the orientation video, the Virus 5 video, the instructions on how to make more vaccine, specs for the canister we destroyed and so on. It’s all here.”
     She spun in place and looked over the room. She pointed to the vats.
     “They were preparing more vaccine,” she said. “They really were moving up the schedule.”
     “By about a hundred years,” Rei observed.
     Rome furrowed her brow. A dark expression washed over her face. She shook her head and stood up.
     “Well, they are done now but this computer does not have what we need. Let us continue.”
     “I agree,” Rei said. He pointed to the blank wall in front of them. “Let’s check the next building.”
     They left the bio-lab via the front door and waited while MINIMCOM opened the doors to the second to last building. Rome pushed past him and started to enter but MINIMCOM barked out, “Halt!”
     Rome pulled up sharply. “What is it?” she asked.

Did you notice Rome's sense of humor, highlighted in bold, is becoming much more sophisticated? So what has MINIMCOM all riled up? We'll find out tomorrow.