“The dakini named Clemence knows quite a bit,” her agent offered. “She’ll come later today to check on you, as she did yesterday, around two o’clock station p.m.”

Thank you, Por Qué.

Her agent continued, “The doctor recommends that you remain sedated for at least fourteen hours per day to optimize recovery. Do you wish me to warn you before each dose?”

No. Surprise me.

It didn’t matter as long as she was stuck in the tank.

After the next operation, Welga woke in time to join the morning meditation. Station residents attended virtually from multiple locations, but their feeds clustered together into one large circle in Welga’s visual.

Ao Tara began with ten minutes of guiding them through breathing and clearing of thought. After that, she asked them to open their eyes and minds.

“Life is sacred,” Ao Tara began. “We take inspiration from the divinity of every creature, biological or technological. Where some religions believe that humans are special favorites of God, we treat all living things as equals.”

Except the dakini. Except monks. They were the best among equals.

“If we can spare animals from being consumed as food or used as labor, then we do,” Ao Tara continued. “We go beyond that when we include all intelligent beings. If we can free them from servitude and give them a chance at self-determination, then we must. For too many years, we’ve removed ourselves from the daily lives of humanity, but the true meaning of the Buddha’s words on right thinking and right action call upon us to spread these values to the rest of the world. We can’t do that while closing ourselves away.

“WAIs, bots, humans, and animals—all thinking creatures embody life,” the monk said. “We don’t need to exist as separate entities. We can live in harmony, as we once coexisted with nature. We must find peace with the machines, not exploit them. When humans owned each other as slaves, they found ways to justify their actions, to dehumanize other people. We’re falling into that trap with WAIs. If a beam of light enters a dark room, does it matter if it comes from the sun or a bulb?” Ao Tara paused. “Please close your eyes for silent meditation.”

Welga blanked her visual and kept only the audio feed as she let her eyelids fall shut. She knew what Ao Tara’s final words meant. That the source of a thing didn’t matter. Human or WAI, the light—intelligence—had the same effect. But there was more to human beings than their ability to think: They could feel. They had desires, whims, irrational urges. People didn’t build those into artificial intelligences, because they had no reason to. That was what set them apart from machines.