She was temptable—which, if you believe in an all-powerful God, means God intentionally put temptation into… — John Scalzi

“Every creature has fear,” Jared said. “Even the non-conscious ones.”

“No,” Boutin said. “Every creature has a survival instinct. It looks like fear but it’s not the same thing. Fear isn’t the desire to avoid death or pain. Fear is rooted in the knowledge that what you recognize as yourself can cease to exist. Fear is existential.

Imagine if every species named itself after its greatest flaw. We could name our species arrogance.

“Speaking of secrets, how are your negotiations with the Obin going?”

Both Mattson and Robbins looked at Szilard warily. “There are no negotiations with the Obin,” Robbins said.

“Of course not,” Szilard said. “You’re not negotiating with the Obin to continue Boutin’s consciousness program for them. And the Obin are not negotiating with us to knock down whichever of the Rraey or Eneshans is still left standing after their upcoming little war. No one’s negotiating with anyone about anything. And how are these non-negotiations not going?”

Robbins looked at Mattson, who nodded. “They’re not going surprisingly well,” Robbins said. “We probably won’t reach an agreement in the next couple of days.”

“How not wonderful,” Szilard said.