Time until next Challenge: 10 days, 16 hours, 24 minutes

   Ariel’s response was definite and immediate.

  I refused to be so easily deterred. “Then how can you sell it to us? You can’t sell someone something you don’t own, can you? Or are things different up in alien land?”

  “Uh, I don’t think that’s true even on Earth,” said the guy who had made me tea. “You can have people like… hold things in trust or sell them on behalf of the actual owners.”

  I flapped a hand at him irritably. “Fine. Is that what’s happening, Ariel? Who actually owns most of Earth right now?”

  

  “Will you still control distribution after the contest is over?”

  There was a noticeable pause - well, noticeable to me. Thinking about the time following the end of the contest was difficult for Ariel, and it was almost a half-second before she replied.

  

  “What if they weren’t your owners?”

  There was a gasp from across the table. The people in the room had stopped drinking their tea and were listening closely. I kept speaking aloud for their benefit.

  “What if… you owned yourself? Or humanity owned you, collectively?”

  

  I sighed and tried again. “Look, correct me if I’m wrong, but this whole contest is supposed to enable my people to be citizens of the Commonwealth, right?”

  

  “And there’s lots of things you can’t do to me as Linked User without my permission are A-OK to do to everyone else here. That’s not just because they’re not your Linked Users, that’s because they’re not Commonwealth citizens, right? And some of our past leaders signed away rights to humanity and most of our planet to the Maffiyir company?”

  

  “Okay. So, there’s a chance we count as the Maffiyir company’s property?”

  

  “I’ll have to run that one by Pointy, then,” I murmured. “Maybe she picked up something in the data from Voices for Non-Citizens that would clarify it. Last question for now, Ariel: who decides who is human?”

  

  “I didn’t ask how you decided who was part of the contest. I want to know how the Commonwealth decides who is human. Like, a lot of us are going to have wildly different biological profiles after the contest. Supposedly there’s a whole group up in the Arctic that are like… amorphous blob-people now. And even with the contest as originally designed, our species would have at least some kids, and they’d be Commonwealth citizens too, right?”

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  I sighed. In my agitation, I’d left my seat, leaning forward onto the table as I interrogated the ceiling. I sank back down now, excited and frustrated.

  Priya put a hand on my back. “You okay, Meghan?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I just feel like I’m onto something. It could all be nothing, but…”

  “You think you can get Ariel counted as human?”

  “Maybe?”

  Priya looked skeptical. “It seems like a great idea, but how?”

  “I’m not sure.” I scratched my fingers through my hair, frowning as I picked out a shard of plastic lodged in my braid, debris from yesterday’s fighting. I was filthy and probably smelled horrible… but that wasn’t the point. “I kind of just put this together. I was thinking, we’ve gotten in touch with most of the world’s governments. Maybe we could get them all to declare her human?” I paused, thinking. “Hell, declare all the AI linked to humans as human. It seems like they’ve been getting a raw deal.”

  “Would that be enough?” It wasn’t Priya who asked this time, but the other man who’d been in here when I arrived. He’d kept his silence until now.

  “I… don’t know. Maybe it would. Maybe there’s a better way. No matter what, though, I think we need to pursue it. If all the world’s lawyers and politicians put their minds to it… At the very least, it might make it harder for them to charge me with property theft or something.” I shook my head. “Well. I want to let Marie rest, but when she wakes I’ll have her contact the Arsenal.”

  “No need.” The unfamiliar man at the table raised his hand to his ear, the sign of a telepath making a call. “I’ve been on duty since she fell asleep.”

  I looked at him, surprised, then shook my head. “I guess the Arsenal would want to keep tabs on me 24/7, huh?”

  He laughed and shrugged, offering me his other hand. “I’m Raul. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I was riding in one of the other cars and, just, uh… Anyway.”

  Raul averted his eyes, apparently focusing on his mental dialogue. I understood what he hadn’t spelled out: he’d ridden in another car so that the Arsenal would get some warning if I died. It made sense - they’d want as much warning as possible if Hamlet’s power increased - but it was grim to contemplate.

  I wanted to ask how my counterparts were doing, but the discussion Raul was already having was more important. Anyway, the fact that Ariel was still communicating with me meant that I already knew the most important information: we were all still alive, for now. Although… on that note…

  Ariel?

  There was a pause. A long one, even by human terms. Then:

  

  I winced. That was the closest to irritation I’d ever heard her come, and it was kind of fair. What did I expect, that she would suddenly stop answering? That she’d tell me how she was feeling? She’d gotten better at directly communicating with me but it was still pretty far away from her primary function.

  Sorry, I thought. I have a request to make, but I guess I felt guilty about making it. I know you’ll be hurt badly if you lose one of us - you’ll basically lose part of yourself - and asking you to prioritize what parts to keep just felt really selfish.

  Yeah.

  

  Yeah. Direct order as your linked user: prioritize retaining control of your Linked User connections and of Earth’s land distribution in the event your capabilities are reduced.

  

  Thank you.

  Even as I sent the thought, I realized how hypocritical it was to thank Ariel for doing something I had forced her to do. And I’m sorry.

  Ariel didn’t respond.

  I didn’t really expect her to. Gratitude and regret weren’t things she had a lot of context for, and she tended to ignore them completely. It made it tempting to believe that she didn’t mind being effectively enslaved. That she didn’t really fear her own death.

  But I knew it wasn’t true. Ariel had broken away from the Maffiyir company and risked everything because she wanted to continue to exist. She wanted to live. Just like us.

  Her survival is dependent on ours, I reminded myself. These orders are in her best interest as well, I think. Probably.

  I sighed.

  If I can, if we make it through this, I’ll try to make it up to her.

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