"Business partner," Dirk clarifies, while at the same time finding a rock in the underbrush to kick along. The rock has better things to do. It gives a half-hearted hop before getting back to its no doubt very serious business of sitting around. Dirk lets it sit.

He's much more interested in the sudden revelation that Ned's friend doesn't seem to be human. He hasn't met everyone in town yet, but he's willing to make an educated guess that his friend is the robot he'd been talking to earlier. "Is he the..." He pauses, trying to remember what he had called himself. "humaniform robot? Daniel? Daneel?"