Testing, testing, 1...

You will recall from several several previous articles that the actions of the magic yellow pill, given to Rome and Rei, had numerous effects. In fact, OMCOM's potions are at the core of many of the major developments in the entire Rome's Revolution series as well as The Milk Run. Besides fixing Rei's back pain and giving him sonar-vision, it also took the underlying substrate for the bloco and stilo and converted them from digital to analog transmission thus giving Rei the "cell-phone" in his head.

But Rome already had a bloco and stilo. The yellow pill was successful in converting the apparatus. But because she took the yellow pill later than Rei, it took her a little longer for the cell-phone to come on line. She had remarked to Rei that her bloco and stilo were malfunctioning when they were crash landing on Deucado. But here is the first time she found out why:

     Rome listened again, more carefully this time. The noise she heard reminded her of that other channel inside of Aason, the one that only showed darkness and sound.
     She pushed toward it and thought tentatively, “Hello?”
     “Hello, Rome,” said a tiny voice.
     “MINIMCOM?” Rome was delighted. “You are alive?”
     “Curious choice of phrasing but yes, I am fully functional, thank you.”
     “How are you inside of my head? I have my PPT connection off.”
     “This is not a PPT connection. This is…something else,” replied MINIMCOM.
     “What? How are you doing this?” Rome asked.
     “It is an electromagnetic linkage.”
     “What?” Rome thought to herself. “How?”
     “Do you remember the yellow pill that Rei gave you to fix your back?”
     “Yes. It worked very well. My back is fine.” Rome thought.
     “It did a little more than that,” MINIMCOM offered.
     “Like what?” Rome asked, slightly unnerved.
     “It refined the transmission apparatus already inside your head. It is just now coming online.”
     “Is this why my blece and stilo stopped working?” Rome asked tersely.
     “Yes. This new equipment and the old devices utilize the same elements of your neural circuitry. There was not room in your head for both types of elements,” explained MINIMCOM.
     “Why?” Rome thought. “I did not ask you do this. Why did you do this to me without my consent?”

Tomorrow, Rome finds out how it happened and who was responsible for the changes in her head.