Rei's Rescue - Rome's Story

In the original long form of Rome's Revolution, we saw Rei's Ark rescued from space. We also saw two white space-suited individuals (who we later found out to be Rome and Canus) help Rei in his re-animation.

One of the scenes deleted from the long-form was called "The Night They Recovered Rei - Rome's Story" but it is now in the archives. In this little story, Rome is much more "Vuduri-like" in that her mind floats free from her body. I decided to make her more "Essessoni-like" trapped in a Vuduri society so this had to go. Here is the story:

     Rome didn’t actually sleep in the traditional sense. None of the 24-chromosome, mind-connected Vuduri really slept. They rested each night, of course; they had to. Their bodies needed the time to regenerate the same as all humans have since the dawn of mankind. Unlike their predecessors, however, it was during this quiet period that their minds soared within the Overmind, contributing to its growth, absorbing its extended senses. This meditation also served a second, more insidious purpose. All the private memories and sensations a person experienced during the day were spread and shared with the other minds within the group, effectively robbing those memories of their personal nature. Because of this process, when a decoupled mind was finally deposited back into the body, it began the next day cleansed of any vestige of individuality.
     On this particular evening, during her assigned rest period, Rome lay perfectly still within her quarters on a mattress that molded itself around her body. Rome’s eyes were closed, her breathing was shallow but steady. Mentally, she floated free, using the minds of others to watch the recovery mission occurring in space over 100 light minutes away, almost 2 billion kilometers. Because the Overmind used gravitic modulation, the crewmen within the spacecraft were so close to Rome, cosmically speaking; it was as if she were right there with them during the operation.
     Rome watched as one of the space tugs returned from recovering Rei’s sarcophagus, leaving the huge Ark II quietly alone in orbit around Dara. In anticipation of the tug’s arrival, the Overmind insisted that Rome’s mind return to her body. The Overmind was going to require her services so it declared her rest period over even though it was far too short. It did not occur to Rome to challenge the order. She arose and prepared to answer the call to duty.

In the current version, the explanation for why she was selected to reanimate Rei is more important than the how.