Julien smiles faintly. "There are a lot of humans and animals who've been... changing, sometimes getting weird powers. We're all linked to stranger people somewhere far away, and now we're taking on their traits. People like that are called the numbered." It's more complicated than that. For one, most people accept that they are the reincarnations of these stranger people.

"But I guess you're not one. And you probably don't have any more of an idea about this place than I do." He scans the bridge again, the bird eyelids showing in the corners of his eyes. "It's like something out of TV. Too bad I was never big on science fiction."