[That was stupid.] Xi snapped mercilessly. [Now we look pretty damn foolish trying to get information after you just killed our only lead.]
'He would never have talked,' Jake replied with absolute certainty. None of them had ever feared death, let alone the prospect of suffering.
[Don't mistake your limited experience for universal truth. Brain Eaters, Digestor Clones, and many other high-intelligence Digestors are perfectly capable of experiencing human emotions. Do you consider Lucia incapable of feeling emotions if she someday becomes 100% corrupted? Because that will eventually happen. If that's the case, you should start preparing yourself to kill her with the same cold pragmatism.]
The Oracle AI rarely sounded this moralizing, but Jake kept his mouth shut. He knew he was in the wrong.
