Steele Interrogation 1

Yesterday, Rome and Rei were speeding their way toward Earth but no matter how fast they were traveling, it wasn't fast enough for Rome. She simply had to do something to get her mind off of the danger descending upon her son Aason. Rei offered to her the possibility of interrogating Dan Steele, the would-be assassin. Rome thought this was an excellent idea:

     Rei turned back to face the livetar. “MINIMCOM, can you help her? Make sure he can’t get loose?”
     “Of course,” the animated shell replied. The livetar and Bonnie left the room. A few minutes later, they returned with a groggy Dan Steele, his amputated arm wrapped in gauze. MINIMCOM maneuvered him to a seat and quickly wound white elastic bands around his chest, arms and feet so that he was completely immobilized.
     With rheumy eyes, Steele looked up at them, scowling as best as he could. Rome shook herself out of her funk and pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
     “Sussen,” Rome said. Then she waited for a beat. “She is after my son. Why?”
     Steele just glared at her but didn’t say a word. Rome gasped and turned to look up at Rei.
     “She assumed the Essessoni would fail,” Rome said sadly. “She left Steele behind to delay us. That is all. She is setting up a trap. She is waiting for us.”
     Steele furrowed his brow as Rome turned back to face him.
     “Yes, she knew you would fail,” Rome said, derisively. “Even though she told you otherwise. She had no confidence in you. You were set up.”
     “No way,” Steele spat. “She wanted you dead more than I did. She was the one that said your deaths would cause a ripple effect and get us back our planet.”
     Rome lowered her head and closed her eyes, concentrating on Steele’s thoughts.
     “Did you ever see her eyes?” Rome asked.
     “Yeah, so what?” Steele answered. “She looked like a Vook to me.”
     “She is not Vuduri. She is not Essessoni. She is not even human.”
     “What do I care?” he growled back. “She was helping us. That’s all that mattered.”
     “She wanted us dead now,” Rei said, taking a step forward. “But in the end, she wanted you dead too. She wants all of us dead so her race can take over.”
     “What do you mean ‘her race’?”
     “They are called the Onsiras,” Rome answered, eyes still closed. “They have a gene which makes them into living machines. Their leader was an insane computer named MASAL. He wanted to become a god and was going to use the Onsiras to wipe out the rest of mankind.”
     “So what happened to this insane computer?” Steele asked in a patronizing tone.
     “We vaporized him by detonating a volcano on Earth,” Rei said.

None of this should come as a surprise to Dan Steele. I think he is just playing dumb. Or maybe he is just dumb.