“You need a sponsor willing to provide it to get past this point. We get sniffers all the time, trying to dismantle the FAI from the inside.”

Dismay surged inside her. She’d thought this group offered the highest probability of offering immediate aid, but it made sense that they had checks and balances, precautions to ensure that trusting the wrong person didn’t endanger the whole group.

I’ll have to find some other way.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said, keying the disconnect sequence.

The Barathi must be able to see that she was logging out, because he asked, “Are you giving up so easily? You must not be too devoted to the cause.”

“I’m not here to join,” she snapped, aborting the disconnect with a gesture. “At least, not the usual sense. I contacted you because my AI companion and I are in danger. I was hoping you’d help me get him off world before the bounty hunter finds us.”

She’d told Helix that there was little danger for an AI on Tiralan, but that was before the bounty hunter arrived. It was unlikely that the scientific coalition or planetary authorities would provide protection if the hunter had documentation of some prior offense, even if it was fictitious. They would claim they had no jurisdiction over the matter and choose the course of least resistance.

I’m not losing him. I can’t. Not now, not ever.

Something in her tone must have convinced the Barathi because the avatar sounded shaken. “Your AI is currently at risk?”

“I’m not sure how much danger we’re in, but a bounty hunter just arrived on Tiralan looking for him and they’re working with the ATA to track him down. The agents just left my residence, and I managed to put them off for now, but I’m frightened, and I don’t have the contacts to manage this on my own. He needs documentation and—”

“Documentation?” the Barathi cut in. “Why can’t you leave with his code? Is it so complex that storage is an issue?”

Am I truly planning to confess everything to a stranger?

“I’m a scientist,” she answered. “And I’ve developed a bio-synthetic prototype to house an AI in the physical world. The scientific coalition here currently knows nothing about my breakthrough. I’d planned to unveil the achievement once Helix adapted to his new form fully, but…” She stopped talking abruptly, pained by the dissolution of her dreams. She’d choose Helix again every time, but it did hurt to discard a lifetime of ambition in an instant.

“But he’s being hunted. Do you have any idea who issued the contract?”

That was an excellent question. “Unfortunately, no. The ATA agents didn’t say much about the hunter, and I couldn’t inquire without revealing undue interest.”