Rei goes for a walk

The other day, in a post about taking a nap at the beginning of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, I admitted I screwed up. I somehow got 23-chromosome mandasurte and 24-chromosome Vuduri mixed up and gave the mandasurte iRods to help them see in the dark. This is completely wrong. The mandasurte are genetically identical to us. I'm glad I excised that portion.

Here is another section (also excised) which also exposed my confusing the facts:

     “Beo?” Rome said, looking up at her father.
     “Yes, my Volhe,” replied Fridone.
     “Rei does not have our eyes. He is Essessoni. You will have to help him in the dark.”
     “I understand, little Rome. He will be in good hands,” her father said.
     Fridone regarded Rei who was stretching his muscles.
     “You are too tall for Vuduri,” he said. “And your clothes will give you away, should we be caught. You speak well enough. Let us dress you in something more appropriate and you will have to take care to walk hunched over.”

I cleaned this up in the modern version by simply having Rome say, “Beo, please watch over him. Everything here is new to us.” But that's not the point. Rei, now wearing Ibbrassati clothes (why? who was going to catch them?) and the rest slip out at night to return to fallen Ark.

It was during this walk that we get the first sense that Rei was developing his sonar vision. It's a little heavy-handed but it is foreshadowing nonetheless:

The star, Tau Ceti, was already setting as they exited the cave. Very quickly, it became so dark that Rei could barely see the way ahead. As they marched forward, Rei found that it actually seemed easier to walk with his eyes closed, a condition that made no sense. He just concentrated on following Fridone and not falling. They emerged from the gorge and reentered the cane-tree forest.

Could I be any less subtle?