Interview with Rome I - Part 15 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 15 of 17.
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Rome: I know it sounds funny but it all worked out. The Overmind now had a new mission, to protect and nourish the Vuduri on Deucado. To serve them. Rei and I were reunited. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. I missed him so. Like I said earlier, just like with my mother, it was as if a piece of me had been removed. Once we were together, the Overmind helped us defuse the war before it started.
Perry: And everybody lived happily ever after?
Rome: No. Wouldn’t that have been nice? The whole point of Deucado was to sequester the mandasurte so that MASAL could complete his plan. Once the mandasurte were liberated, the Onsiras would have to resort to Plan B, to wipe out the planet and deal with the fallout later. That’s why Rei and I returned to Earth the first time, to stop them before they could complete the plan. We had no idea that MASAL was still alive and directing it all.
Perry: MASAL. The volcano. That is rather famous.
Rome: It wasn’t the plan at first. We just wanted to let the world know about the plot. But we didn’t know who was Onsira and who wasn’t. The plan was to tell my mother, the only person in the whole world that I knew I could trust. I needed to tell her about the plot. Then we’d broadcast it to the whole world and that would be the end of it. The Vuduri don’t hate the mandasurte. They’d just rather not deal with them. But even the Vuduri have enough sense to know that genocide is not a good thing.
Perry: So why didn’t your mother carry out your plan?
Rome: Because she didn’t know. I was arrested before I could even reach her. I was tried and convicted and Rei got me off. My mother showed up and once she saw that I was going to be safe, she cast herself out, Cesdiud, before we could even discuss it. She wanted no part of an Overmind that would treat me like that. While I was thrilled to see my mother, it really threw, again Rei’s phrase, a monkey wrench into the works.
Perry: Well I know that you succeeded. What was your fallback plan?
Rome: Once we were banished to Havei, I had MINIMCOM dispatched to fetch Commander Ursay. I trusted the man completely. I was virtually certain he was not Onsira. As certain as I could be about anyone who wasn’t my mother. Once he arrived, my uncle was going to take us to Berlis Harbor, to Onalu, to use the broadcast facilities there. That would reach the mandasurte. Commander Ursay would simultaneously reach the Vuduri. It was a good plan.
Perry: But…
Rome: Then Estar… (Rome mutters something her breath) Estar kidnapped Rei and I before we could execute the plan and had us shielded so we couldn’t contact MINIMCOM or anybody. That did not turn out well for her.
Perry: She died.
Rome: Yes. I didn’t intend to kill her but she was certainly determined to kill us. When it comes to me and my safety, my Rei is rather single-minded and he was not about to let them harm me. He killed one guard and maimed another while Estar and I wrestled for control of a plasma gun. The ceiling collapsed and crushed her skull. It wasn’t on purpose but there was nothing I could do. Rei and I escaped and followed a lava tube down until we were safe enough to call for MINIMCOM to come get us. Before that could happen, we stumbled across MASAL, buried deep beneath Kilauea.

Tomorrow, part 16