“We did not say they are being [i]actively[/i] controlled.” Roth’Orsa clarified. “Depending upon the Cradle’s methods, it would not strictly be necessary. As we mentioned, you have known that the Cradle can influence your artificial intelligence. However, it has been an assumption that the Cradle cannot influence an organic mind. There are no laws of physics that prevent an organic brain from being rewritten against its own will.”

Again, there was just a brief delay before Roth’Orsa continued. Her expressions and tone were essentially unreadable, but considering the fact that she generally seemed to be exceptionally prepared for any topic, any delay seemed to imply that she was considering some part of the issue heavily. “The knowledge of the Rahn’Saki on the interaction between organic and artificial neural networks is greater than you may assume. “It is true that an organic consciousness can not simply be drastically rewritten, then returned to the body in a different state. The brain would reject such obvious differences. Even if the brain could be made to adapt, the process would be obvious to any observers. However, smaller, iterative changes over a longer period of time could certainly be both effective and subtle. The brain will adapt to small changes in a neural pattern, so targeted changes over time could rewrite an organic consciousness to accept the Cradle’s goals as their own. Given enough time, an organic consciousness could even be replaced entirely.”

Roth’Orsa lifted up one hand and gestured towards the table. With a simple thought, she brought forth holographic copies of her own people’s files on the Director-General and Agent 595. At least what was being shown came from intelligence gathered in recent months, by whatever means they had available. “Vreta’Sori considers you someone to trust. He believes the motivations you express outwardly are your genuine motivations. As well, you are young, with less time for potential influence to your mind. We know disappointingly little about the respective backgrounds of Director-General Smith and Agent 595. The scenarios we are expressing to you now we believed to be less-likely than the alternatives before, but data gathered during the meeting has given us cause to re-evaluate. We believe that the Cradle Institute seems [i]too[/i] willing to re-unite the device on Rothia with the Cradle, in the context of our observations on Human psychology through the centuries. It is not common behavior to willingly give up one’s influence unless there exists no other reasonable choice. The options you suggested during the meeting were what we expected from the majority of Human leaders with influence over the Cradle. Your people did question the fact that the being within the object did not provide evidence of its claims regarding the Hegemon, but we noticed that Agent 595 was quick to speak up in its defense, and to make excuses for it. We are now considering a possible future in which we are being deceived, there are no Hegemon, and the motivations of these Cradle beings is unknown.”

The Speaker quickly returned her stare to Freyr’s eyes. “You spoke of rumors of an organization potentially controlling aspects of your society from beyond the Border. Could you tell more of these rumors?”