"Yes, it was a great loss." Well, to ZEX anyway. The rest of the VUX populace had practically thrown a party about never having to see humans ever again. Ah, the difficulties of being the only open-minded sophisticate in a populace of bigoted xenophobes. "I'd really given up contact with your species for a loss, until my Captain came to see me." ZEX smiled fondly at the thought. "And then there was my incarceration here of course, and my transfer into this body, which has given me far more insight into your species than I'd ever hoped to achieve before." A bit more than was comfortable at times. He really wanted his old body back.

"Yes, I think this has been most fortunate for both of us." ZEX tried to mimic Teisel's smile in response. It took on a more natural look for a few seconds when he squeezed his hand in response. Humans didn't squeeze each other enough! "Mmmm, a mutually beneficial partnership between us... what we could achieve with one another. Mmmm..." Entertaining fantasies of just such things for a moment before getting himself back on track. What had Teisel said... "Ah, and I can sympathize about wanting to keep your mind off of certain things. This place does wear on the nerves over time." ZEX waved a bit to gesture at the Institute before returning to caressing his hand. "As for my plans tonight... I have a certain objective in mind that might require some exploration. But surely someone of your skills will have no objections?"