"Jane," Ned repeats. He understands the need to pick a name of one's own. There's a reason he goes by Ned, and only Ned. No one here knows any other name of his apart from that (except River, but psychic knowledge doesn't count, and she knows not to ever use it), and he intends to keep it that way. Besides, Jane is such a lovely name. He's sad to hear that she and Dirk parted ways, but it makes sense to him that she'd want to see the world, if she was able. To have adventures, find her place, somewhere where people might not know about her origins, and be able to use them against her.

Dirk's question about Daneel baffles him; he excuses away his interval of silence by saying, "You might want to ask him that. I can't speak for him." But that wasn't what Dirk asked - he asked what Ned thought. He lets out a little, half-exasperated sigh, as they are coming upon the community garden, "The way he's programmed, depends on being able to sort people into very rigid categories. There are humans, and there are robots, and there's nothing else. The Laws that govern the way he thinks are based on that. Robots exist to serve humans, and protect them. That's supposed to be their only reason for existing."

Ned kicks at an errant stone, sends it skittering off into the distance. It's a small, but effective way of venting his frustration. "But then he came here and there are aliens, and human-looking people with strange powers calling themselves mutants and refusing to be called humans, so he doesn't know how to categorize anyone anymore, including himself. Add to that the fact that he got turned human for a bit and didn't feel all that different or superior, and it's giving him a bit of a headache-slash-complete-existential-crisis."