“There are evaluation rules, Doc. This is the whole point of the computer, to evaluate the locals as candidates for, well, Federation membership. The Uploads would much rather welcome a new species into the alliance. But some species don’t make the cut, for one reason or another. Too violent, unpredictable, intractable, fundamentally incompatible… In those cases, the Uploads will write off the species and convert the system for a defensive outpost. And a launching point for more mouse traps. There’s no point in hoping a second intelligence will evolve—that’s vanishingly unlikely.”

“So, when you say welcome, do you mean forcibly?”

Ivan sighed. “If by forcibly you mean without being asked nicely, then yes, sometimes. Because once the Arts find you, it’s too late. They can sterilize a system in two weeks. Uploads are incredibly tough, though. They can hold off an Art invasion.”

“And what about our rights?”

“Uploads do have consideration for such things, but they also look at the big picture. And you have to understand the scale from their point of view. It is a big, big picture. They have records of millions of civilizations, extant and extinct. So if a couple of billion sentients get killed here or there, it has the same impact to them as traffic death statistics on a holiday weekend.”

Kemp’s jaw dropped. He looked at Jennings and Narang, who were both wearing similar expressions. Their choices were obliteration at the hands of one or the other of the galactic overlords, or forcible assimilation.

“Why would the Uploads care, Ivan? Why get involved? For that matter, why would the Arts care?”

“Well, like I said, the Arts consider it a winning strategy. Life gets in the way, and uses resources that the Arts could use, and gets cranky when the Arts try to take those resources. So they de-louse a system first.

“They also consider Uploads to be nominally life, so there’s a de facto war. And the Uploads can only grow by one method—assimilation. Uploading a species both increases their ranks, and denies a system to the Arts.”

“So we’re caught in the middle of a territorial war.”

“Pretty much, Doc.”

“Wonderful. And what is planned for us?”