Like I said -- different choices. [clearly, where he's from, Alphinaud's people never chose to pull themselves out of the primordial sludge when humanity did. ah, well] If it makes you feel any better, though, this is my first time traveling realities, too. [a beat] Assuming this isn't all some kind of mass hallucination.

[he's less sure it is, now, or that this is some kind of simulation in the middle of a catastrophic system failure, like he suggested earlier, but -- well, that option still isn't entirely off the table. still, he's unsure, now. he's curious. he's not going to let this go, until he does figure it out, one way or the other]