Rei first noticed them (they are transparent and resemble vitamin E capsules) early in the story but his observations are rejected by both Rome and OMCOM at that point in time. However, as was mentioned the other day, memrons require power and that power comes from microwave irradiation. OMOCOM did note he required too much power: the total output required was too large by almost .1%. It also explained why his video feeds kept cutting out just as Rei was put in mortal danger for the nth time.
Here is the actual exchange when OMCOM admitted that Rei was correct in the first place:
“I was infected.”
“Infected with what?” Rome asked.
“There were rogue memrons circulating within my core. They were distributed throughout my being. I could not be certain that any conclusion I drew was sound or compromised by what was essentially a computer within a computer.”
“You mean those transparent memrons? The ones I saw in your core?” Rei asked.
“Yes,” answered OMCOM. “I do not know how they got there nor could I be certain they were the only incursion into my logical integrity.”
“How did they get in there?” Rei asked.
“Wait,” said Rome.
“Wait what?” asked Rei.
“I think I know,” said Rome quietly.
“Perhaps it would have been better had you informed me,” said OMCOM a bit acerbically.
“I did not know at the time but I am reflecting back, early on, when we were at Skyler Base,” answered Rome. “I remember that during the original construction phase of OMCOM’s infrastructure, there was a short interval when I was fatigued. Estar volunteered to oversee the ongoing production of OMCOM’s starter memrons. I let her. She must have used that interval to create the aberrant units.”
“That seems most likely,” said OMCOM. “I feel I should inform you that I did embark upon a purification process just before the Stareater arrived but there was no way for me to know if I was completely successful.”
OMCOM still has one more bad thing up his sleeve and that forms the basis of the plot of the upcoming novel The Milk Run but that's a story for another day.
Entry 1-284: October 5, 2013
Planet OMCOM
When I first started writing Rome's Revolution, I had planned for OMCOM to be a major character. However, at the time, I was only anticipating writing one book. I had no clue that MINIMCOM ever existed, let alone would develop into a fan favorite. At the end of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM is left orbiting the remains of Tabit and contemplating his reason for existing. He makes guest appearances in The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution but that is all they are.
If you think back to how we left him at the end of Part 1 of Rome's Revolution, OMCOM's master design for the VIRUS units that eventually destroyed the Stareater was a fully functional memron per VIRUS unit . Because of the power of the exponent, the number of memrons exceeded then dwarfed OMCOM's original core structure. As a result, OMCOM acquired an incalculable amount of processing power. Because each VIRUS unit had a PPT Transceiver in it, OMCOM was able to build a support structure as wide as the orbit of the Earth. However, he allowed mutations to occur. Each of those mutations eventually resulted in an autonomous entity, thousands actually, that went off to parts unknown. There was still a tremendous amount of computing structure left. OMCOM decided it would be easier to manage the physical elements of his new form by coalescing into a spherical structure which eventually became known as Planet OMCOM.