“Of course. I have excellent sensory equipment.”

“Not to mention tough skin. But now do you see what I mean about settling in to that body? I should never have got within a hand’s length of you. A month ago I wouldn’t have. Your reflexes need to be turned up a notch. We’ll take care of it later today, after your briefing. It will mean popping your brain out for a few minutes.”

“If you insist. However, I should mention that my embodied design is intended for continuous sensory input.”

“We can arrange that, too. I’ll run a neural bundle from your brain to your spine, so you’ll receive your sensory feeds for all but the few seconds it takes to plug in the bundle at both ends.”

“That will be appreciated. May I speak again?”

“I’m not sure we can stop you. Go ahead, talk as much as you like. Talk is going to be your main mode of communication.”

“That is exactly the point I wish to make. I do not understand why I am to be provided with information in such an inefficient manner. I am wholly plug-compatible. With the use of a neural bundle, I can in one second send and receive many millions of data items. Humans are painfully slow. It is truly ridiculous to dole information to me via such a medium, or force me to provide it to another entity at a similar meager rate.”

Sue Ando smiled at her assistant’s expression. “I know, Lee. You think I ought to tone down his asperity level. But you’re wrong. Where he’s going annoyance at inefficiency will be a survival trait.” She turned to the expressionless male figure. “Sure, you can send and receive faster than we can — to another computer. But you’re going to the Dobelle system. It’s poor and it’s primitive, and I doubt if anyone there has ever seen an embodied computer. They certainly can’t afford the facilities for direct data dumps with you. Your sources of information are going to be humans, and maybe other Organics. We may be slow and stupid, but you’re stuck with us. Get used to that as soon as you can.”