It was reassuring to hear those words - that it seemed he wouldn't have to act alone. He had lost at least six decades, but he had learned the values of working with others in things like this. "In my youth, I was taught many skills - fighting, investigating, climbing - and as I aged, I learned curiosity. How to ask questions, and how to find the answers. I retained my mind in my old age, but less my body."

And then, with a hint of a smile, he went on to add, "Before my arrival here, I had seen ninety-two years. It seems I lost many of them somewhere along the way."