“The sucker pads at the end of each arm serve the same purpose, but the point is moot. By evaluating their species based solely on a hominid scale you fail to see the true nature of these beings. You bonded with Oscar—what did you experience?”

The memory of having been immersed in Oscar’s camouflage was fuzzy. “To be honest, it happened so fast, when I tried to think about it later I wondered if I hadn’t imagined the whole thing.”

“Use ABE to recall what you felt.”

My bio-chip tweaked a memory synapse, the moment and its accompanying emotions flooding my consciousness. “I got it. I’m just not sure I understand it. This is going to sound really weird, but being connected with Oscar, for a moment I felt this overwhelming sensation of unconditional love. It made me feel secure, like when I was younger and my family was still alive.”

“Before the anger tainted your present existence.”

“Yes. It was reassuring. It made me feel like I’m never truly alone.”

“All true. And everything I am about to reveal is also true, but you must be open-minded in order to absorb it. Robert, as a scientist indoctrinated in Western philosophy, you’ve been taught that the brain controls the body—it’s your entire justification for creating that bio-chip. In the East, we have known it is the heart that controls everything … the way we feel, our health, everything. Think about it. More than ninety percent of the nerves send impulses from the body to the brain—impulses controlled by the flow of blood from the heart—the only organ in the body that generates a measurable electromagnetic field.

“New studies—Western studies—have correlated the interstitial pause between each heartbeat with a person’s emotional well-being. The heart is regulated by the vagus nerve, a bundle of nerves that originates in the top of the spinal cord. Besides controlling the heart, lungs, liver, and digestive organs, the vagus nerve triggers our emotions of good. For example, when we witness a soldier reunited with his wife and children, or when we watch a movie with a happy ending, the vagus nerve stimulates a physical response, causing our chest to expand and tears to flow as our psyche is dominated by feelings of warmth. These same feelings happen when we hear a beautiful melody, or view a work of art … or experience love.”

“I get it, Dharma. What’s your point?”

She smiled at my ignorance. “Think about it from a higher level, Robert. The Creator hot-wired our species to do good things, encouraging us on a physiological and emotional level to commit acts of kindness and generosity. These acts of compassion all flow from the heart.”

“And the cephalopeds have three hearts. So what? Squids have always had three hearts.”