Jane had feelings all along, thought Miro. But I didn’t think much about them because … because I didn’t have to. Because I didn’t see her. Because she wasn’t, in a sense, real to me.
“I just meant …” Miro said. “I just mean, good thinking.”
“Thank you,” said Jane. There wasn’t a trace of irony in her voice, but Miro knew the irony was there all the same, because it was inherent in the situation. Miro, this uniprocessing human, was telling this brilliant being that she had thought well — as if he were fit to judge her.
Suddenly he was angry, not at Jane, but at himself. Why should he have to watch every word he said, just because she had not acquired this body in the normal way? She may not have been human before, but she was certainly human now, and could be talked to like a human. If she was somehow different from other human beings, so what? All human beings were different from all others, and yet to be decent and polite, wasn’t he supposed to treat everyone basically alike? Wouldn’t he say, “Do you see what I mean?” to a blind person, expecting the metaphorical use of “see” to be taken without umbrage? Well, why not say, “Good thinking,” to Jane? Just because her thought processes were unfathomably deep to a human didn’t mean that a human couldn’t use a standard expression of agreement and approval when speaking to her.
Looking at her now, Miro could see a kind of sadness in her eyes. No doubt it came from his obvious confusion — after joking with her as he always had, suddenly he was embarrassed, suddenly he backtracked. That was why her “Thank you” had been ironic. Because she wanted him to be natural with her, and he couldn’t.
No, he hadn’t been natural, but he certainly could.
And what did it matter, anyway? They were here to solve the problem of the descoladores, not to work out the kinks in their personal relationships after the wholesale body swap.
“Do I take it we have agreement?” asked Ela. “To send messages encoded with the information contained on the descolada virus?”
“The first one only,” said Jane. “At least to start.”
“And when they answer,” said Ela, “I’ll try to run a simulation of what would happen if we constructed and ingested the molecule they send us.”
“If they send us one,” said Miro. “If we’re even on the right track.”
“Well aren’t you Mr. Cheer,” said Quara.
“I’m Mr. Scared-From-Ass-To-Ankles,” said Miro. “Whereas you are just plain old Miss Ass.”
“Can’t we all get along?” said Jane, whining, teasing. “Can’t we all be friends?”
Quara whirled on her. “Listen, you! I don’t care what kind of superbrain you used to be, you just stay out of family conversations, do you hear?”
“Look around, Quara!” Miro snapped at her. “If she stayed out of family conversations, when could she talk?”
Firequencher raised his hand. “I’ve been staying out of family conversations. Do I get credit for that?”
Jane gestured to quell both Miro and Firequencher. “Quara,” she said quietly, “I’ll tell you the real difference between me and your brother and sister here. They’re used to you because they’ve known you all your life. They’re loyal to you because you and they went through some lousy experiences in your family. They’re patient with your childish outbursts and your asinine bullheadedness because they tell themselves, over and over, she can’t help it, she had such a troubled childhood. But I’m not a family member, Quara. I, however, as someone who has observed you in times of crisis for some time, am not afraid to tell you my candid conclusions. You are quite brilliant and very good at what you do. You are often perceptive and creative, and you drive toward solutions with astonishing directness and perseverance.”
“Excuse me,” said Quara, “are you telling me off or what?”
“But,” said Jane, “you are not smart and creative and clever and direct and perseverant enough to make it worth putting up with more than fifteen seconds of the egregious bullshit you heap on your family and everyone else around you every minute you’re awake. So you had a lousy childhood. That was a few years ago, and you are expected now to put that behind you and get along with other people like a normally courteous adult.”