Daneel is quiet a moment before he answers. He hears, he feels, he cannot understand this sentiment. How could Ned, how could anyone but especially Ned be not worthy of him? That Ned likes him in the tangled way of friendship and affection and sexuality that human have towards each other doesn't escape him. Things are simpler for him: there are friends, and there are people who are not his friends. Sex, kinship, jealousy, possessiveness: none of these enter into it at all. Ned is a friend, a very important friend. He's not the first nor the only, but that doesn't make that word any less important, any less of a badge of honour.

"Partner Elijah was human," he says at last. "He was no less a friend to me. I didn't think of him as less intelligent than myself, nor do I think such of yourself or anyone else here. Friend Giskard was important to me, yes, but if anything, his great importance was in spite of his lack of humanity, not because of it."

Daneel picks his words with care, trying to explain without giving offense. This conversation would have to happen at some point, he always knew that, but he'd hoped things would have been more settled before they reached this. "If anything, I suspect it is I who should not be encouraging you. I am aware of your affection towards me, and of the nature of it, but what I fear is that I cannot be what you need simply because I'm not human. You have been kind, and you're certainly my friend, but I greatly fear harming you through my failure to be anything other than a robot."