"That doesn't matter." The shape he's made shakes its head, aghast. Emotions weren't natural to the Ancients after untold years spent on a higher plane, where they maintained that objectivity was their one constant.

"You're here now," he says. "On Earth. That makes you a part of this world, and emotional states come with that. It's part of this - being human." Rashad doesn't have to be human, technically, and it's clear that whatever he is, he's not. But he's living like one, and that's enough.