Are you happy?

Yesterday and the day before, we saw that Rome was quizzing the Overmind mercilessly in the middle of Part 2 of Rome's Revolution. She told it that it was an abomination and that it served no good purpose. After she rattled it to its core, she decided to go for the kill. She now want to know if the Overmind is happy? Does it need to be?

     “Do you recall my profession at Skyler Base?” asked Rome.
     “Of course,” replied the Overmind. “You were a data archivist.”
     “But I was also a lutteur for OMCOM.”
     “What has that got to do with anything?”
     “I was in charge of maintaining balance, of growth. I can feel that you are not in balance.”
     “That concept has no meaning to me. What would make you say that?”
     “It is very simple. Are you happy?” Rome asked.
     “What?” the Overmind sputtered. “I do not understand. I have never considered the need to be happy.”
     “You are following your orders. You are running your prison world. You are driving mankind into two branches. You cause endless suffering on the branch of mankind that represents creativity. You stifle your own people and make them thoughtless slaves to a plan that you did not even invent. Are you happy?”
     “I cannot say that I feel anything,” answered the Overmind. “So I cannot say that I am happy or not happy.”
     “Try,” thought Rome. “Try and assign a word to how you feel.”
     Again, the Overmind stopped speaking. Rome could feel its turmoil and allowed it the time to work through it. Finally, the Overmind spoke but only addressed the matter obliquely. “There is something wrong here on this world, with me. You are right. Something has been wrong for a long time. I had no way of knowing what it was. I had no way of examining it. I thought my mission here was clear and I followed it to the best of my ability. I took solace in that. But it was not right.”
     “The Overmind stopped speaking. Rome waited. After a long while, the Overmind spoke again. “I do know how I feel.”
     “And how is that?” Rome inquired.
     “I am lonely,” replied the Overmind.
     Although it could not see it, Rome smiled.
     “You have just taken a major step forward in healing yourself,” Rome said.

Rome was not kidding, either. While there is a lot more discussion, eventually, the Overmind comes to understand that, in fact, it is allowed to become happy. It is so entranced by Rome's eloquence and caring that it finds itself falling in love with her. But that's a story for another day.