Interview with Rome II - Part 4 of 9

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 her interview into two parts. Here is the second half of Rome's interview, part 4 of 9.
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Rome: Let’s call the Espansor bands level 4. They let you go beyond the spoken word. You can access thoughts and feelings. In our particular case, all the way down to the soul. (Rome sighs.) Aason learned how to do this without the bands during his search for Lupe but the internal experience is essentially the same as the bands.
Perry: And the next level?
Rome: The next level, level 5 would be what the Vuduri experience. Total immersion. Your thoughts, and the occasional feeling rare as they are, are shared by all, all the time.
Perry: Is there a level 6?
Rome: There is but I have never experienced it myself. Aason told me that when he was in Heaven, for the briefest of moments, he was in contact with a being beyond reason, beyond comprehension. And for that fleeting moment, everything that ever existed fit into place. It was only a flash and when he came back, Aason had a lot of trouble articulating it. Even when I was in Lupe’s mind, after they returned, I only got a hint of what he experienced.
Perry: OK. Is there anything beyond that?
Rome: Not that I know of.
Perry: OK, so where does your mind reading fit in?
Rome: I was born a connected Vuduri and I can still connect now if I so choose. But the mind reading, it’s like a level 4. It’s like the Espansors, maybe a little less so. Less speech-like, more imagery and feelings but not as immersive. That’s why I say it was pretty easy (Rome smiles), once I was trained.
(Perry leans forward)
Perry: Can you read my mind right now?
Rome: To some degree.
Perry: So what am I thinking?
(Rome leans toward him and rests her hand on his shoulder)
Rome: Like I said, it’s not so much verbal as it is imagery, with feelings. Right now you are engaged, even slightly excited over this interview but you’re also distracted. Your mind is not just here but on the things you were doing but had to stop to meet me. Now you are thinking, this is pretty clear, that this is a little invasive. Now you are actually getting just a bit frightened.
(Rome removes her hand from his shoulder and leans back.)
(Perry takes a deep breath.)
Perry: Yeah, I can see that. I’m glad I didn’t think of anything embarrassing.
(Rome winks at him.)
Rome: You can see why the Vuduri were spiraling to their ultimate doom. Everyone being inside your head teaches you to not be terribly creative for fear of embarrassment. I mean, what if you think of something stupid. It’s very inhibiting. And that lack of creativity made its way to the Overmind which, in turn, controlled the minds of many Vuduri. For some brave souls, sometimes, if they had an original idea and felt the need to claim ownership, they had to go to Mind Court.
Perry: Mind Court?

Tomorrow, part 5