"Some sort of... digital intelligence, embedded in the web."

There, now he's said it. Possibly not for the first time, but that's neither here nor there...

"It didn't feel like there was any sort of programming involved, just that it was- complex enough, to develop on its own? And then it met someone-"

Caitlin.

"Who learned how to communicate with it, showed it what the world looked like, what it looked like. Most of the memories so far have been actual videos that she was watching."

He manages a wry smile.