Ned and his plants -- Daneel can't pretend to understand it, except so far as to know that strange things are happening beyond his own situation. He looks at Ned a moment, curious about what this must be like for him, how it might be possible.

Watching Ned, watching his own bare toes through the frigid water, swaying with each rush of water. The shore is an alien thing; Aurora, like most Spacer planets, is a world of gardens. Gardens are tame, orderly, safe. This is... chaos, wildness. Spacers snubbed it in favour of safety, and Earthers feared it and went underground. Daneel finds it fascinating, dark, dangerous and primaeval. Aurora must have been like this once, and Earth too, long before.

This train of thought is abruptly cut short as one particularly big wave. He's used to robotic strength and robotic weight, and he has neither of these now. The water -- surprisingly strong -- sweeps him off his feet entirely, and with a startled, frightened yelp, Daneel goes under.