She froze, mouth open as she stared at the space between the TV and the window. She’d taken for granted that it was impossible, that it would always be impossible. Her mind went back to the last time they’d talked about high language, what he had said about desiring her to be capable of high language, to which she had expressed relief that she was not capable, and the discussion was therefore moot.

Oh, God.

“I . . . How?”

“Neural engineering through digital interface.”

“So . . . I could become post-natural, like you?”

“Yes.”

Such a quick, definite answer. He had clearly thought about this. He’d been sitting on this possibility, likely for a while. Had run through the logistics, considered schematics, imagined prototypes.

“I cannot prove a negative,” he continued. “I cannot prove you incapable unless I try. Given our ability to sense each other as we already do, it might be possible. Communication through high language is one way we are able to ascertain personhood.”

The sense of foreboding inside her continued to swell. “And the other?”

His bleary eyes finally found their focus, glowing at her now like warm suns through deep black smog. “When I located the Fremda group, there was no joy in a reunion with my brethren. They both demanded of me and at the same time ostracized me. But you did not. They did not comfort me, but you did. I rationalized the time I spent with you as study, but in truth, I personized you. The word you would use in English is humanize. I humanized you, even though it was perverse to do so.

“But after we were separated, and you came to me at the coordinates I sent to you, I expressed to you that I didn’t understand why you didn’t kill me when you first had the opportunity. You told me you would never do such a thing. You said to me that you wanted to protect me.

“And I had never felt such an intense desire to submit to another being. I was lost, steward to a group that despised me, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to say, ‘Yes, I will submit to you. I am tired, and I am afraid. I will do anything you ask, only please protect me. Protect me from the horrors of your planet. Protect me from the cruelty and callousness of my kind.’

“And it was a hideous thing to think. Perverse. Bestial. And I pushed it aside, and I sent you away, as I should have. But then Obelus took you, and again, I desired to extract you and no one else. I didn’t care about Esperas, or the others, but I did care about you. And it was perverse.