It was a closed shop, a secret society, a powerful network. The Protocol underpinned the Agents work, allowed them to “talk” to each other, connect, work, deal. The Protocol decided who could join, made demands on how they joined, what they could do, which members they could connect with. They said it made their work easier, ensured interoperability, efficiency. The Protocol included some, excluded others. You had to sign up to The Protocol. Humans had made The Protocol but the Agents ran it and now developed it. The programmers could just watch, excluded. Other humans watched too, included: The owners.