"Gods", the drone knew, were quite often highly advanced beings who thought it would be fun to mess around with primitive civilisations -- do a few tricks, corner the market on whatever valuable resources were available, and then move along as soon as they'd gotten bored. There'd been at least one case of a renegade Mind that had done that, centuries upon centuries ago, when Contact was still developing its protocols. That had gotten messy before it was all over.

If the drone could have convinced itself that this girl was such a being, along with the other "gods" of which she spoke, it would have felt marginally better about her. Except that didn't completely square with the narrative, did it? Nor with the incredibly aberrant readings it had picked up from her, nor with her apparently unshakeable conviction of her own reality and experience.

The whole business really pissed Skaffen-Amtiskaw off, frankly.

Its aura colour went a deeper grey and took on a slightly metallic sheen. "You, frightening? Can't imagine why. Seems like you've designed yourself to have exactly the opposite effect."