“The same holds true here in the United States— any concession the natives gave the European settlers was, at best, taken advantage of. By accepting ETIs like they’re human, we are leaving open doors for our generosity to be exploited. There are ways for us to show our compassion and generosity without leaving our systems and our society and our laws open for exploitation, and that is what the Third Option is about.”

“Ms. Sabino, most human persons would agree that individuality is a large component in being considered a person,” said Satomi. “Could you describe the personality of any of the ETIs in a way that humans might appreciate?”

What the fuck? That hadn’t been on the roster of preapproved talking points. It had all been broad, conceptual stuff about the nature of what makes a person, and do amygdalines fall under that umbrella, not “So what’s he like?”

“Yes,” she stammered, totally blanking. He’s withdrawn, deceptive, duplicitous. He lies. He’s perfectly capable of kindness, but withdraws it when it’s inconvenient for him, and it’s always inconvenient. He doesn’t take care of himself, he lives in constant fear, he refuses to sleep because he’s so afraid. He’s killing himself. He won’t let me help him.

“I can’t disclose details of interactions I’ve had.” Fuck, what to say? This was making her look like she had totally made this all up. “But the one I’ve had the most interaction with . . .” He hates it here. The sun is too bright. Our rooms are too cold. The atmosphere is too thin. He’s a miserable curmudgeon, and he hates everything. “He likes the ocean.”

That was a flat-out lie.

“Apes have personalities,” said Miranda. “Dogs have personalities. That doesn’t confer them legal personhood.”

“Mr. Miranda, you believe that the question of whether they have individuality, have personalities, is not relevant to discussions of the possibility of a Third Option?”

“Correct,” said Miranda. “Rights of any kind confer access to systems, but if any individual has a profoundly huge advantage, which we could assume any being advanced enough to traverse such vast distances would, and we confer them access to our systems, systems like wealth, land ownership, democracy, we are inviting them into systems that they could exploit.”

“Anyone can exploit a system; humans exploit systems designed for humans all the time,” said Cora. Hell, if he could dive in without the interviewer acting as a moderator, so could she. “Systems also confer protections as well as rights, and right now, ETIs in the United States have neither.”