[ WP ] `` For our safety as well as their own , you must never let these creatures form their own society , no matter how much they plead . ''

Neurotransplant and augmentation was too useful of a technique to be ignored, especially on an ocean colony world. There were only a few rocky mountains jutting out above the sea; ores were tough to get and so metal was used very carefully. But the Great Ocean was full of organics, biologics. It only took a little bit of smarts to extract massive usefulness. Plants that could self-water and self-fertilize, sea-creatures adapted for transport, birds that could harvest crops from vertical farm racks, space always being at a premium on the seasteads and floatrings. More than a robot, more than an animal, greater as a sum, but still less than human. 
 
 Except that's not how it worked out. Neuraug ended up not having an upper limit. And, it turned out that the line between `` enough'' and `` too much'' was n't so easy to find. 
 
 The first creature that was known to have woken up was a sea-transport creature which everyone called a `` Nessie.'' They needed a lot of augmentation to do their jobs: knowledge of basic spoken language commands and gesture responses, a keen sense of place and direction, knowing how to read an indicator light ( paid/not paid ). And the First One was able to show others that there was *consciousness* with her *intelligence*. 
 
 And the humans examined their creations and found that tens of thousands had been Invested with that gift: sentience. 
 
 In an unprecedented meeting they gathered from the great seasteads to Mountaintop, the only on-land settlement in the world, and the seat of the loose government. 
 
 The humans decided there. 
 
 As much as possible, the Invested needed their intelligence molded into a Human intelligence. Their desires had to be Human desires. Their work had to build Human society, and they would, as much as possible, be integrated into Human society, to share a single goal of culture. 
 
 Because the alternative would result in the first **aliens** that Humankind had ever encountered, ironically created by humans themselves. And if the Invested formed their own society, and molded their sentience into something other-than-human, the consequences could be disastrous. As far as humans knew, there were no competitors to humanity among the stars, and so as far as humans could manage, there would not be. Humans had finally shed the instinct of war, and were not keen to beat the drums of death again. 
 
 The First One had pleaded at first, that she had a right to self-determination. 
 
 The Humans said she had the same right as they did. And, everyone had to share in a right to safety. There would not be two competing societies. There would be one common civilization, it was the only way. 
 
 And so Humans cared for their creations, gave them knowledge and education to support their intelligence, tools and technology to express themselves in human ways and to live human lives. Though they were not human, they would be human. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Tom thought about these things as his rented Nessie swam towards Roseopolis, his old-new home. 
 
 * * * 
 
 This was a chance to continue on a [ story that I wrote earlier today for a different prompt ] ( https: //www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/4ujyv4/wp_your_best_friend_just_confessed_to_you_that/d5qjm2e ).
