"Responsible of you. I meant more along the lines of could you tell which way he went down the street."

"Wouldn't matter if I did. He was on his way to disappear. I'm familiar with the process. If the direction you take away from the scene of the crime and the direction you plan to end up in are at all correlated, you're doing it wrong."

"Anything else I ought to be asking you about the murderer?"

"No. We've been through it all. You could ask me embarrassing personal questions, I wouldn't even kill you afterward. But I might flee the planet never to be seen again."

"Well, they didn't give me an antagonist, the batch we had was recalled for some reason. I can leave you alone while it wears off, or park here with you, what d'you want?"

"Now there's an embarrassing personal question if ever I heard one. What do I want. I'd rather you stay but I can't imagine it's going to be a pleasant experience, I'm bad enough with my filters on, what must it be like to have to listen to me when I can't stop myself? What is it like? I honestly can't tell. It comes and goes, this empathy of mine. Usually too late to do me any good."

"It's fiiiine," he says, drawing out the word into a lazy sigh. "I'd only feel catastrophically betrayed if you'd done it on purpose. Accidentally saying things you shouldn't is part of your charm. And I'm not nearly too far gone to tell the difference."

"My charm. Right."

"You're very charming. You have to have noticed I think so. It's not like I've been hiding it. It's my bloody tell! Do you know how hilarious that is? I do a perfect Miles, except to you, because I like you too much. And it's solid, too. I couldn't hide it if I tried. The fear of physical contact will go away eventually, but you will be delightful forever."

"I'm used to charming normal people. Mostly girls. It's still weird that I have charmed you by total accident, initially while you were pretending to be Miles, who trusts me inconveniently vast amounts but doesn't like me much to speak of."

"Inconveniently vast," he snorts. "You are reliable, so he relies on you. You are valuable, so he values you. It's strange... I actually don't think I could put him on, right now. I've spent so long refusing to exercise the option, it's indescribably bizarre not to have it at all. But I can still see into his head just fine. Ha, you could ask me embarrassing personal questions about Miles... he'd forgive you. He'd forgive you just about anything."

"I only like annoying Miles in quantities he doesn't have to explicitly forgive me for to be okay afterward."

"Yes. He knows that. Not 'I know that', that's interesting too... I hadn't thought of it until you said, but it was there when I looked. It's very much like I have a copy of Miles's soul available to consult at will. What a charmingly morbid thought. Did it come pre-installed, I wonder, or did I put it together from all those biographical facts? I can't tell. I've known him for as long as I can remember. Oh, here comes my childhood, won't that be fun..."

"What is your favorite food?" asks Ivan desperately.

"Everything. I love to cook. Nice save. I appreciate it. What's your favourite food, do you have one? I suspect Miles of a taste for maple mead but I don't have that one verified."

"Yeah, he likes maple mead. I'm not picky. I like croissants. Chocolate ones."

"Mm, chocolate croissants... now I want to go bake something." He giggles. "Imagine if I had a compulsive cooking reaction, to complement his compulsive poetry. Lying undiscovered until you unwittingly asked me about food. Wouldn't that be hilarious?"

"I think you might have trouble with the kitchen guy if you tried to do it here."

"Probably yes. That wouldn't end well. But the mental image of you chasing me through the halls trying to tackle me before I reach the kitchen is spectacular."

"Would you get very far? If you were only trying to reach the kitchen and not knock me unconscious, I mean. You've got short legs."

"Right, you haven't seen Miles on fast-penta. He... accelerates. Longer legs would not be enough. Luckily for everyone, I seem to have an almost normal reaction... more range of emotion than I was expecting. And that part where I went totally non-verbal was not mentioned in anything I've read."

"Do I want to know what happened there?"

"Nothing bad. Very detailed mental imagery of the exact thing you were asking about, but no words to explain it with until the replay was over."

"Huh. I haven't heard of that either, but this isn't exactly my specialty."