"The problem is that things stack, so if they try something small and then slip up later it'll be much worse. And name entanglement is so much that even a very small lie would potentially count for a lot."

"Well, do you want to try to even things out here as much as you can and then test it, or look at them and maybe be meaningfully closer and more likely to be in fact entangled?"

"It'd take a very long time to get things meaningfully more evened out here. I - sort of expect they'll make a mistake in that time, if we are entangled. I think we should look."

He thinks you'd make a mistake in the time it would take to mitigate the risks of a test. He thinks he should look.

"I think he should look at.... my one...... because then if looking makes it worse we can kill this bit and get a different bit if we want. She has lots."

Sigh.

"Uh. We could - if they have a phonetic alphabet - assign numbers to the letters, and both perform some mathematical operation on the number corresponding to the name, and see if we get the same output. To see if we're worrying over nothing and before spending a gate on it."

" - that's a good idea."

"Are there operations that work that way?"

"One he can do by hand will not be very secure against determined hacking, but unless someone here is very good at mental math and can't avoid doing it, it should let us check without accidentally learning the name if we don't already know it. I don't think I will compulsively reverse-engineer the hash, so maybe - she -" he points at Rirosseth - "should only relay to me while we try this, to limit exposure to risk. Do they have a phonetic alphabet?"

"They ask if you have something called a 'phonetic alphabet'."

"We do."

"They want you to write it out fairly big so they can see it through their spying mechanism, and assign numbers to each letter, and then do math to the numbers that correspond to your name, so they can see if they get the same answer with their guess."

"Okay." So he will teach them his world's alphabet.

" - that's Quenya."

"Not promising about whether our guess is right."

"Well, let's try it anyway."

Math ensues.

"They say it's the same number."

"Wow. Okay."

"So now I tell them to do the gate thing?"

"I think so."

Unless you have another idea I think the gate is the next step.

"Have to leave the Dome. Who all is coming with - Anaander -"

"I think by rights I should be considered less disposable than the proper cyborgs," she says, standing up.

"What, are you an improper cyborg?"