yeah, i was on the fence a lot about the joining. the hive mind made a really strong case and is very nonthreatening and helpful. and it makes sense that carol would be skeptical, because it killed her person and it has more or less been love bombing her which she is probably hyper vigilant about due to her experiences with the conversion camp, etc.

i have been leaning towards a nefarious or at least cold, calculating logic behind the signal for a while. like ever since it came out they wouldn't pick fruit. that's where it started to read like maybe the signal is an efficient kill program to wipe out highly intelligent life but leave biospheres more or less intact.

and that there's maybe something to the biological imperative of the signal that only works if, on some deeper semi-concious level, the drones believe it is all for the greatest good of life and humanity. so when confronted with highly resistent individuals who they can feel are experiencing intense grief from the collective's actions, it starts breaking down. not enough to free anyone, but enough that action halts.

but really, i am mostly sucked in due to the human dramas of these characters. lakshmi's loathing of carol cracks me up. i hope we get more collisions between them.