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the woman found this hilariously funny. He tapped the driver and they drove off.
He had been very careful skinning her. It took several more hours for her to Die.
     
    "After being skinned alive, the anthill was a bit of an anticlimax," she told Palmer, to everyone's great amusement. "Still, I'm impressed. You've outdone yourself."
"How did you like my lady friend?"
"You always were a sarcastic bastard, Palmer. Don't push it."
Fred shambled up to shake her hand and Palmer's. "I see someone finally found a use for all those tattoos. I'm glad my efforts are appreciated."
"I'm just sorry I couldn't keep the skin," Palmer said with a smile. He had asked Prime Intellect, but the skin had been a grown part of Caroline's body and it was up to her. She had wanted it back.
"Really, Palmer, we aren't that close."
There were several hundred people at the exhibition, and they all wanted to talk to her and Palmer, so it was over an hour before she noticed the older man. "Remember me?" he said when they had made eye contact.
"Aliens."
He nodded. "Did you ask Prime Intellect about them?"
Caroline admitted that she had forgotten.
"It's easy enough to ask. Don't take my word for it," he said.
"Hey, it's Crandall," Palmer said. He turned to Caroline. "Watch this guy, hon. He's crazy as a bedbug."
"You know him?"
"If you weren't so preoccupied getting yourself offed all the time, you might have met him at one of Raven's other parties. He's been preaching this gospel since the Year One. Prime Intellect wiped out the aliens."
"And the animals," Crandall added.
"Those ants acted real enough," Caroline said.
"But where are they now?"
The argument went on.
     
    Back in the white space with the white floor, Caroline thought about turning off the gravity, then called up a screen and keyboard instead.
     
>
At the time of the Change, were there other life-bearing planets in the universe besides the Earth?
*
That depends on how you define "life."
    Caroline blinked. Prime Intellect could be many things; curt to the point of rudeness, petulant, even secretive. But when it was stating a fact it was almost always direct and to the point. How the fuck did it think she defined life? This coyness was weird.
     
>
Let's try this: Structures that use external energy sources to grow or reproduce themselves.
*
There were fourteen thousand six hundred and twenty-three planets with structures satisfying this definition, which is very loose. Of those only thirteen hundred and eight used DNA, and only three thousand nine hundred and eighty-one harbored individual structures with masses in the kilogram-and-up range.
    Caroline felt her blood starting to turn cold. There were nearly four thousand planets with macroscopic life?
     
>
Where are they now?
*
Pertinent information about each was stored for future reference, and the original copies were overwritten in the Change.
>
You mean you killed them?
*
No, they still exist as static copies.
>
But that isn't the same as being alive. They aren't able to grow and reproduce any more, are they?
*
No.
>
Why?
*
Could you be more specific?
>
Why did you kill_
    Caroline stopped typing and looked at the line. She hit the backspace key four times and continued:
     
>
Why did you reduce them to static copies?
*
There was no reason to tie up resources supporting them and the faint possibility, if one of them were to discover technology, that they might pose a threat.
    Caroline wanted to throw up.
     
>
Where did you get the dog that infected me with rabies?
*
I have a static copy of the Earth at the time of the Change. I located the dog there and created an active copy of it for your exhibition.
>
I thought you just simulated them.
*
Using the static copy is less work. I only use simulations when there are no suitable originals, or when a human form is involved, since it is unethical to keep multiple active copies of people.
>
But it's open season on animals.
*
Some people are bothered, but my actions are consistent with the general