[ This is about the response Cadel provokes in most adults at home, that he needs someone looking after him-- and, honestly, it's not off base. He's just oblivious, and so used to taking care of himself with no one to depend on but Thaddeus (who takes 'disproportionate response' to a new level) that he tends to brush it off. But he does direly need some kind of trustworthy support, or he's liable to end up barricading himself in his room with his computer and convenience store snacks indefinitely.

This assurance brightens Cadel a little. He's palpably more comfortable discussing technical matters than anything else. ]

Really? So you're from the same Earth as him? He's built up the major tech company here, so I assume he's been looking at our nanomachines. I wanted to ask him about it. It seems like they're responsible for a lot of the strange things that happen here. [ Cadel's trying to be careful not to commit to revealing how smart he is; he hasn't decided yet how open he'll be in the real world, vs. online, about his intelligence. But he has to be at least a little or he won't get anywhere... ]