Reconnection

Before the Ethereal Battle could begin, Rome had to reconnect to MASAL's prosthetic 24th chromosome so she enter the world of the Sipre. She had forgotten that these genes had been injected into Rei as well but he had not. There was no way Rei was going to let Rome fight the Sipre without him being there to help:

     “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rei asked. “The last time I was in that Overmind, I can tell you from personal experience, it wasn’t a nice place.”
     “It’s the only way,” Rome said. “MINIMCOM?”
     MINIMCOM stepped over and placed his hands against Rome’s temples. “It is done,” he said. “Your prosthetic PPT transceivers now connect you directly to the Onsiras.”
     “You may as well do me too,” Rei said. “I’m not letting her go down there alone.”
     Rome cocked her head at him. “I can do this myself,” she said. “You don’t need to.”
     “Yes I do,” Rei said. “I’m not letting you go in there by yourself.” He waved at MINIMCOM. The livetar stepped toward Rei and lifted his arms to repeat the process. Rei steeled himself to keep the connection off until the time was right.
     “Are my babies out there?” Bonnie asked, pointing toward the front.
     “Your babies?” Reema asked.
     “The children, from Helome,” Bonnie replied. “The ones that Sussen stole away from me.”
     “Yes,” Reema replied, with a hint of regret. “They are here.”
     Bonnie turned toward Rei. “I want to go with you,” she said. “I want to see them.”
     “You can’t,” Rei said. “You don’t understand these people; what they are capable of.”
     “You two are going,” Bonnie replied with a pout on her face.
     “Yes, but we’ll be connected,” Rei pointed out. “We’ll know what they are doing, thinking, the whole time.”
     “Then what if you connected me?” Bonnie asked desperately. “So I’ll know? Can you do that?”
     Rei thought back to the one yellow vial they had recovered from Ursay’s ruined study. “In theory,” Rei said. “But you’ve never had any training. They could suck you in.”
     “I don’t care,” Bonnie insisted. “I want to see them. To be with them.”
     Rei shook his head. “Let us sort this thing out, first,” he said. “Then we can talk about it.”
     Bonnie started to speak then clamped her mouth closed. She sighed deeply. Meanwhile, Rome stooped down so that she was eye level with Aason.
     “Mommy and Daddy are going to go rescue Grandmea and Grandbeo,” she said. “You must stay here with Bonnie and MINIMCOM. They will take care of you until we come back.”
     Aason stamped his foot. “You always leave me, Mommy. Can’t I go with you?”

As I have mentioned many times, Aason is a great character but he is just a child and when it is time for intense action, I really don't want him around. And yet Rome had just found him. What to do?