"Come on! We had a bargain! I kept my end and then some!"

"Yes, you did. But neither of us knew to include the benefits of notoriety in the bargain. I just want a bit of credit where credit is due."

"Then you haven't been experiencing my nightmares, have you."

The intelligence in my head paused. "No. That's too raw for me to interface with."

"I think I understand. You have emotions, but they are subject to your intellect. Even at what I would call the subconscious level."

"I can sort of see what you are getting at. But it's still too raw."

"Alright, this analogy might help you. The human brain is not a monolith. Beyond even the right/left division, we are a stack of brains, each more evolved than the one before.

"At the bottom is the lizard brain. Use my knowledge to build a model of the lizard brain you can observe."

"Done. That... That is brutal. The emotions are so strong that the model is overloaded."

"Right. That is the most primitive part of our brain; its primary function is survival. Now, layer the structures specific to a dog on top of the lizard model."

"Done, and what a difference! I can relate to it now."

"Yes, we get along pretty well with dogs. Now add the monkey on top of that."

"Eh... Done? We must stop experimenting on them; I had no idea they were that close to sentience... maybe even sapient."

"I had my suspicions, which is why we don't use them in our lab. Now add the few differences that humans have."

"I get along with this model best."

"Okay. Here is where it's going to get ugly. Tell the model that you are a parasite and want to enhance its brain in exchange for sustenance."

Six Months Later

"Gentlemen, I am sorry to inform you that Doctor Gilgamesh will never recover."

"What happened?"

"It seems that he had a benign brain tumor all this time. Something triggered an autoimmune response to the tumor and destroyed all but the... Well, all but the lizard part of his brain."

((finis))