Human? Very well, We wish to fathom the meaning of that word, all the more. You are a third form of the chimpanzee. The common form is an alpha-male (as you put it) hierarchy, in which females mated only with the alpha—though there were many cheats. The bonobo variation was a subform that managed its society through sexual reward. You are an advanced variation on these two methods. Very curious, to Us. This is one step toward comprehending what that complex evolution that led to you—an advanced form mentally but conflicted socially—deeply means.

“You’re a machine. A bunch of electronic bips and stutters.”

A long pause, then:

Then We ask merely for a particular constellation of such information. By direct experience through you.

She gasped, trying not to lose it entirely. “You… would barter that for a civilization?”

We are a civilization unto Ourself. Greater than any of you singletons can know.

“I… I can’t. I won’t.”

6.

“You will,” Siloh said with stony serenity.

Rachel blinked. “No!”

“Yes.”

“This is more, much more, than required by all the Guild standards of neural integration.”

“But—yes. You will.”

In her sickening swirl of emotions, she automatically reached for rules. Emotion would carry no weight with this Nought. That was, in a way, the point of Noughts.

She felt on firm ground here, despite not recalling well the welter of policy and opinions surrounding the entire Nought phenomenon. They had come to the Library to help dissolve human biases in approaching Messages. An era of experience and profound philosophical analysis, much of it by artificial minds, had created a vast, weighty body of thought: Library Meta-theory. A lot of it, she thought, was more like the barnacles on the belly of a great ship, parasitic and along for the ride. But the issue could cut her now. Given a neurologically integrated system with two parties enmeshed, what was the proper separation?

“This issue is far larger than individual concerns.” Siloh’s face remained calm though flinty.

“Even though a Trainee, I am in charge of this particular translation—”

“Only nominally. I can have you removed in an instant. Indeed, I can do so myself. Now.”

“It would take a while for anyone to achieve my levels of attunement and focus—”

“I have been monitoring your work. I can easily step in—”

“The Sagittarius Composite doesn’t want to ‘sleep’ with you.”

Siloh froze, composure gone. “You are inserting personal rebuke here!”

Her lips twitched as she struggled not to smile. “Merely an observation. And yes, ‘sleep’ is a euphemism. Sagittarius desires something it cannot get among the Nought class.”

“I can arrange matters differently, then. I do know that people use euphemisms to avoid directly confronting facts.” Siloh’s face worked with several unreadable signals—as though, she thought, something unresolved was struggling to express itself.

She said firmly, “I want to remain at work.”

Suddenly he smiled and said lightly, “Oh, you may. You definitely may.”

An abrupt hand waved her away. Plainly Siloh had reached some insight but would not share. But what? Siloh’s bland gaze gave away nothing. And she was not good enough at translating this strange being, yet.