"I'll make sure she doesn't tell anyone else," Ned reassures, a little distantly. He's still thinking out the implications of what Daneel's told him. It had never occurred to him before now that, were it not for that message, Daneel might have thought that using his internal components might help the survival or escape odds of the others here. Would he have done it, Ned wonders? What was the comparative weight of the Third and First laws in a situation such as this one.

For the first time, perhaps ever, Ned is grateful to their captors for something. That ultimatum of theirs might well have helped to keep Daneel whole and unharmed, long enough for them to meet, to get to know each other, to become... whatever it is they are together now.

He doesn't often think about Daneel's difference in terms of his body and its internal circuitry. But now that his mind is on the subject, he asks, "Daneel, there isn't anything I ought to be doing, right? To keep you, uh, healthy or, I suppose, running optimally? Was it usual on Aurora for you to have, um, repairs?"