Aason at last

As you are well aware, in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rome was suffering from polyhydramnios, an excess of fluid in the womb, because Aason, her unborn child could not make contact with her. The Vuduri on Deucado reconnected her and gave Rome the means to contact her baby. However, the procedure wore her out and she slept for some eight hours before awakening and attempting contact.

Some people really like Rome speaking to a fetus. One reviewer wrote, One of the real treasures of the book was "the baby". I fell in love with the baby and his relationship with his mother. Others found it downright creepy. There's nothing I can do about it. The story is the story. Here is Rome's first contact with her baby named Aason:

     She could feel the baby, feel his heart, his mind. She could sense his thoughts, unformed and yet already influenced by the Vuduri around him. Within his mind, there was something else as well. Another channel perhaps. It was a different kind of communication. But over this channel all she found was simply blackness and the steady lub-dub of her heart. She pushed it aside and opened her mind, feeling about until she contacted the spark that was her unborn son’s mind. Finally, relieved, she spoke to her baby in her head for the first time.
     “Aason?” she thought.
     “Mother?” replied the unborn infant. “At last! You are here! Oh Mother, I have been so frightened.”
     “Why, my baby?”
     “Because I could not find you. There were others here but never you. I kept pushing and pushing, trying to find you. I pushed so hard.”
     “I am here now, my son,” Rome thought. “And I will be with you from now on. You do not need to push any more. It was hurting me. You must stop. When the time comes, you will be with me.”
     “I can stop pushing?” Aason said, confused.

Note the throwaway line regarding "Another channel perhaps" - this was meant to be a clear reference to Rome's EM "cell-phone in the head" that was still trying to come online.