Could it be that the Primer was just a conduit, a technological system 
that mediated between Nell and some human being who really loved her? In the 
end, she knew, this was basically how all ractives worked. The idea was too 
alarming to consider at first, and so she circled around it cautiously, poking 
at it from different directions, like a cavewoman discovering fire for the 
first time. But as she settled in closer, she found that it warmed her and 
satisfied her, and by the time her mind wandered into sleep, she had become 
dependent upon it and would not consider going back into the cold and dark 
place where she had been traveling for so many years.