Sure you do, she thought. Bash was clearly having a hard time dealing with her sudden re-adoption of her previous identity.

The Atn essentially evolved to become a new species, the Librarian continued. They were only one of many possible solutions to the problem of the Swarms solutions including the Magi ships.

So why not reprogram the Atn again, and get them to wipe out the Swarms? asked Bash.

Theyre a sentient species, said Dakota, and they possess free will. So you cant just go randomly repurposing them like that. She cast a wary look at the Librarian. Please tell me thats not what youre intending to do.

No, the Librarian reassured her. Our friend here it reached out to pat the aliens flank is going to do something much more interesting.

Well, whatever the hell its going to do, said Bash, watching as the creature suddenly lurched towards the exit leading from the docking bay, its joints scraping and rasping with every movement, its either going to be fucking spectacular or the biggest anticlimax in history.

Once they resumed their voyage towards the Swarm, their Atn passenger immediately began a long and laborious process of rebuilding itself. The quarters created for it by the Librarian resembled nothing so much as a garage constructed by a blind man, crammed as it was with various engineering implements that moved and operated according to the Atns will. She and Bash made a point of visiting it on occasion, watching in wonder as the Atn replaced first its limbs and then its carapace, until it resembled something chillingly close to a Swarm component. If it was even aware of their presence, it showed no sign of it.

Eight long weeks after picking up their passenger, the Magi ship came within range of a red dwarf system where the Maker Swarm had paused on its journey. They were all feeling drained by the enormous stress of waiting for the confrontation ahead, and tried to distract themselves in their own ways. Bash thus spent much of his time scanning the Accords tach-net relays for information about home, catching up on news and, he claimed, trying to figure out what the hell to do with the rest of his life. Sometimes they talked but, when they did, she still had the uncanny sense that his mind was somewhere else.

She could hardly blame him. They were a single ship going up against something capable of destroying entire civilizations, after all, and she had seen and suffered too much to be able to share fully the Librarians apparent confidence in their Atn passenger.

The red dwarf grew closer with each successive jump, until finally they emerged into normal space about 30 AUs from the star, out towards the edge of the system. Even this far out, the local environment proved to be infested with the Swarms countless components, all sucking up the energy necessary for their next mass jump across the Perseus Arm and closer to humanity.