/lit/ - Literature

Finished re-reading Blindsight and Echopraxia and while I can mostly figure out what's going on across both books there's one little bit that's making me feel like a complete brainlet.

In Echopraxia, at what point isBruks infected with Portia?

For the life of me I can't pinpoint it. We know it happens and we know the consequences of it, but when exactly does it happen because I'm lost. Was it when Lianna gives him the sample of Portia that the Bicamerals took? Indicating that they wanted him to get infected all along as part of their plan which eventually got fucked up in the end?

Also, why did Portia have to make Bruks kill Valerie? Sure I get that Valerie was a murderous sociopath who orchestrated the deaths of the Bicamerals and was fine with killing and eating her zombie soldiers, but in the end all she wanted was a friend as smart as her to talk to - she was just lonely all along :(