[ Hearing his laughter brings up some complicated emotions for Wolfe, the same way it did when, on occasion, he'd hear his class of postulants laugh. On the one hand, it's good to hear that pure sound of joy—on the other, it underscores the stark difference between how an individual might be versus what the world will make of them. Daylight hasn't been broken by the world, he thinks, and although they've only just met there is a sighing in his heart for what he expects will happen to him here. ]

Different periods and different worlds. The young man they think my "son" isn't from Earth.

[ Later, he'll have come to terms with the concept and started to make detailed notes on what he'd been doing prior to arriving in Santa Rosita in hopes he can figure out exactly what brought them here. But for now, the idea is still inane. ]

What is your time period?