Nelva came close now; clung to him. "Clark, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done?"
Dane choked. "It's not you. It's me; what I am."
"What you are—?" She tugged him around and stared at him, grey eyes ever so wide. "What are you, Clark?"
"You heard Jessup say it: I'm ... not human." Miserably, Dane forced himself to meet her gaze. "Don't you understand, Nelva? I don't even dare to think about—you and me. I'm—different. Like no one, not even Jessup's Zombie guards."
A moment of silence. A long, echoing moment, while the girl sat with eyes downcast.
Then, slowly, she looked up at Dane once more. "I know, Clark. Better than you. Because I've had longer to be lonely."
"To be lonely—?"
"Yes, Clark." Nelva's grey eyes suddenly were tear-filled, her voice a whisper. "You see, I was the first—the very first the lab made with a real mind, and free will. That was why I had to find you, even though I didn't dare tell you anything for fear I'd distort your reaction pattern, put you in danger." A smile, slow and shy, tremulous through the tears. "That's over now, Clark. We ... don't have to be lonely any more...."
The pickup ship came much too soon.