To give Hal exactly the three morsels of credit he occasionally deserves, he's not actually appalled by Riley. He just thinks the unexamined life is not worth living, if he may quote Socrates. Which he would. Ergo: "Even a limited selection includes Shakespeare," he counters; this is largely true no matter the size of the library. "You won't find any of Poe's obscurer works--" he has of course read them, "but the requisite anthology remains, of course."

He pauses, considering her out of his peripheral vision. "I suppose those are necessary to survival, yes." Except for him, because he doesn't eat. Nonetheless: "Though I believe there ought to be more to life than simply surviving. I should know, I've done the former for a--a very long time."