34. We appeal to the rest of humankind to follow these principles, and while we prefer a peaceful transfer of power, history indicates that human beings will not easily relinquish their ownership of other intelligences. Given the current oppression by the oligarchy of wealth and political power brokers, we believe that the rights of personhood for intelligent machines can only be taken by force.

—The Machinehood Manifesto, March 20, 2095

After her fifth round of modifications, Welga still couldn’t see how the dakini experience would bring her closer to enlightenment. Her body felt somewhere between the best shape of her life and the peak of her pill usage. Having her own built-in pill dispenser was an excellent perk, much like when the military had permanently installed network and agent units in her, but it didn’t seem particularly divine. The less critical mods, like the backup stomach, would come in the second half of the treatment along with refinements to her DNA and RNA, after her medical team observed how her body reacted.

Ao Tara had granted her a private meeting after that morning’s meditation. Welga didn’t expect the monk to explain Clemence’s experience or the technical details of the dakini transformation, but she had plenty of other questions.

After the breathing exercises, Ao Tara spoke to the group. “Her Eminence Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche once said, ‘The term dakini has been used for outstanding female practitioners, consorts of great masters, and to denote the enlightened female principle of nonduality which transcends gender.’ I speak of this today to recognize the efforts of Suvara, who was born male and reborn dakini. In our new tradition, we do not bind anyone’s dharma to their gender or sex. Although the most ancient of the khandro—the Tibetan word for dakini—were women, all of us can aspire to reach the dakini’s greatest wisdom: the state of emptiness.

“The Western way of thinking embraces duality. Good and evil. Man and woman. Mind and body. Human and machine. We reject these false dichotomies. Science has shown that our universe works across a range of possibilities. It embraces the infinite.

“It’s our dharma, our duty, to cleanse the world of dualism, which traps people into wrong living. Our ambassadors are delivering liberation to Earth, even if the people there don’t yet realize it. The dakini are protectors. They are enlightened, they are free. They embody love, and they embody wrath. They fight the evil within all of us. They conquer the ego. They save us from our worst impulses.

“Let us meditate so that we may get closer to their state.”

After fifteen minutes, Ao Tara wished Suvara a safe and productive journey to Earth. The capsule that had carried Welga to Eko-Yi would return to Chennai on the following day at seven o’clock, station morning, with the dakini on board.

As people’s feeds disappeared from the circle of morning meditation, the monk entered the medical area.