Right. That’s what Ao Tara said before, two to three months if I go back. Does that mean the military could undo the changes, assuming they don’t court-martial me first?

“Unlikely. Your body will make its own adaptations as a response to the dakini technology, as it did for zips or flow. Reversing those changes to live in gravity would be significantly harder, and present technology makes it unadvisable.”

Welga closed her eyes. They refused to focus on her surroundings anyway. Her visual jumped to life behind her eyelids and showed her a crystal clear array of views from around Eko-Yi Station, including several of herself. Of course they’d watch her.

Could she see Earth, too?

“Your access to ground-based networks remains prohibited,” Por Qué explained, “in part to protect you from hackers, but also for station security reasons.”

They still didn’t trust her. Smart. Could she restrict her thoughts and Por Qué’s responses from bleeding back into the network?

“Yes, you can tell me to keep something private.”

Por Qué, keep every goddamn conversation private unless I tell you otherwise.

“Understood.”

That’s a new response.

“I thought you might be more comfortable with military colloquialisms.”

If nothing else, the dakini surgery would be worthwhile for these improvements to her agent. Having Por Qué back gave her more comfort than she wanted to admit. She’d always have someone for company.

She wished the station would let her use their spy swarms—which they must have—to check on the status of her loved ones on Earth. Connor and Papa. Luis. Nithya and Carma. Had Ammanuel made it back to San Francisco? Was Olafson still working Operation Organica? Had the team in the Maghreb made any progress? What was the political situation?

Ao Tara’s feed appeared, unasked, in Welga’s visual. “I see that you’re awake. I wanted to tell you that we’ve installed preventive measures for your seizures. Next we’ll give you an organ to generate zip-like micromachines. At this point, we encourage you to start participating in our daily meditations and discussions. I lead a session every morning at nine o’clock station a.m. You can get the detailed schedule from the station WAI. For meals, Doctor Kailo will order appropriate food from the kitchen. If you have any preferences, you can make your requests through the station WAI.”

“Can I talk to you privately?”

“In time, yes. For now, we want to keep you relaxed and maximize your healing. When you’re well enough, you can request one-on-one time with me, like every other Eko-Yi citizen.”

Relaxation didn’t come easy when all of Welga’s thoughts were chased by stop the Machinehood and what are they doing to me? Getting information from Ao Tara would be tough if she had to wait in line to ask her questions. She needed another resident to mine for information.