Testing, testing, 1, 2...

Yesterday, in Part 2 of Rome's Revolution, Rome came to find out from MINIMCOM that there had been some changes made on her physiology and in her brain. As you can imagine, initially, she was not very happy about it. Here is the middle part of that conversation:

     “Why?” Rome thought. “I did not ask you do this. Why did you do this to me without my consent?”
     “I did not.” answered MINIMCOM.
     “Then who did?”
     “OMCOM,” replied MINIMCOM.
     “OMCOM?” Rome asked, confused.
     “Yes, OMCOM. He thought it might come in handy down the road. He especially wanted Rei to have the apparatus.”
     “Rei has this too?” Rome did not know what to do with this information.
     “Oh yes. His transmission apparatus is coming along very nicely. He also has developed some other, fairly unique, capabilities.”
     “Have you spoken to him?” Rome inquired.
     “Yes.”
     “How is he? How is my husband?” Rome asked anxiously.
     “He is fine.”
     “Does he know what has happened to me?”
     “Not yet,” replied MINIMCOM. “Since this was the first time I have ‘spoken’ to you, there was no information to pass along to him.”
     “Will you tell him that I am fine? And that Aason is fine?”
     “You can tell him yourself, very soon.”
     “How?” Rome asked, startled.
     “As I stated, you both now have the very same transmission apparatus inside each of your heads. You will be able to connect to him yourself.”
     “So, are you saying I will be able to talk to Rei, using this method?” she asked.
     “Yes. This is the first time that this has ever been done. It will take me a little time to arrange the channels but once I have it sorted out, you should be able to talk to him directly. And Aason, too. Rei will be able to ‘speak’ to Aason as well.”
     “Aason?” Rome said, fear flooding into her mental voice. “What does this have to do with Aason?”
     “The pill modified Rei’s genes before you became pregnant. Aason has inherited these traits.”
     “What have you done to my baby?” Rome gasped in her mind. “Will it hurt him?”

Imagine finding out that your unborn child had been genetically modified by an amoral computer the size of a planet? Tomorrow, the conclusion of Rome's awakening to the new day.