Kaveh had hoped this wouldn’t come up again, that Nikola had improved enough that death wasn’t on his mind anymore. But that wasn’t how these guys worked, was it? Death wasn’t some nebulous unknown on the horizon for these guys, it was strictly planned, had a definite end.

“Are you in pain still?” asked Kaveh. “Do you still want to die?”

“RIGHT NOW, IT DOES NOT PAIN ME TO CONTINUE LIVING, BECAUSE I FIND LEARNING ABOUT YOUR CIVILIZATION GRATIFYING, BUT ALSO SADDENING, BECAUSE THE SUPERORGANISM WILL DESTROY IT SOON ENOUGH.”

Kaveh groaned, pulling his knees up to his chest and letting his forehead fall to them. Jesus fucking Christ. Okay. “Give me an educated guess. How long before one of the arms of the Superorganism with the capacity to do real damage arrives?”

“MY EDUCATED GUESS WOULD BE BETWEEN FIVE AND FIFTEEN YEARS.”

He looked back at Agent Rock-Kicker and his colleague. They clearly weren’t hearing this, because they still looked bored. “Well, that’s . . . not right now. And we don’t know what will happen.”

“WE DON’T KNOW, BUT WE HAVE AN EDUCATED GUESS. AND I INTEND THAT MY SYMPHYLE AND I WILL BE DEAD BEFORE IT HAPPENS.”

Kaveh sighed, resigned. “Five to fifteen years before the world will end.”

“THE WORLD WON’T END, JUST YOUR CIVILIZATION.”

“Right.”

The two sat there for some time, watching the waves lap up on the shore. After a couple of minutes, Nikola continued. “IT LIKELY WON’T END RIGHT AWAY. THE SUPERORGANISM WILL MOST PROBABLY STUDY YOU FOR SOME TIME BEFORE IT DECIDES THAT YOU ARE TOO DANGEROUS TO CONTINUE ADVANCING.”

Kaveh looked at Nikola, who had hardly moved since he’d parked himself on the rocky shore. “So there is a possibility that we won’t go extinct in my lifetime.”

“A GOOD POSSIBILITY. YES.”

Kaveh took a deep breath and cringed at the card he was about to pull. “You like me, don’t you?”

“I ENJOY YOU VERY MUCH, DEAR CLEVER CREATURE.”

“So if you won’t do it for Cora, and you won’t do it for Ampersand, would you do it for me? How can I convince you to . . . stop this talk of ending your life and Ampersand’s life?”

For the first time since they’d sat down, Nikola finally broke his staring contest with the ocean and turned to look at Kaveh. “I ENJOY YOU VERY MUCH. I ALWAYS HAVE. THE OTHERS SEE YOU AS VIOLENT AND CRUEL. CERTAINLY, YOU HAVE THAT CAPACITY, BUT YOU HAVE WONDERFUL CAPACITY FOR COMPASSION AS WELL. I DISCOVERED YOU. YOU ARE MINE. I DON’T WANT TO WATCH YOU DIE.”