"Touch is fine," he said. She'd picked up somehow on his anxiety, he was almost glad for it. It meant he wouldn't have to do overly much explaining. "As long as I have a warning."

He snorted at Nina's little jab, but otherwise ignored it. He had his reasons for doing things the way he did, reasons for believing what he did.

"I can tell you it's genetic chimerism. I can tell you it was experimental and I still don't fully understand the process."