[And Jedao does listen. He doesn't accept all of Eiffel's premises - he can think of a lot of reasons to save Eiffel's life other that morality. He's a man with a prickly self-righteous professionalism. There had been a gun on him, itching for an excuse. Eiffel's death would be a waste of a valuable experimental subject, when spare bodies were thin on the ground and the ground very far away.

He also doesn't think wanting one good thing makes Hilbert a good person, or that 'deep down' even means anything. Kujen wanted to make a world where no children ever starved, and he even mostly succeeded, but he's still the worst person Jedao ever met.

But he listens. What he hears, he imagines, says even more about Eiffel than it does about Hilbert.]

That's a very compassionate case for him to be here, on the barge.

But it's not a case for his valuing your good opinion over the object of his obsession, no matter how much I think he ought to be grateful for such a gift.

And it might actually be cruel, holding what he's most desperate for just out of his reach, while he toes the line, frothing and fixating in futility, and you know it won't give him what he's after even if he gets it.

You said there's only so many times you can butt your head against a wall before you realize it's not cracking, you're just giving yourself a headache. Maybe you removing decima from the board is one of those headaches he has a chance to learn from.