Draiss was used to not hearing from Ve'len for decades at a time now, and usually kept any questions to things of extreme interest, or things that he needed a quick answer, not a scientific dissertation. So asking three questions and answers in a row were unusual for both of them. He wasn't sure the third question had been understood or answered properly, but Draiss was certain Ve'len had answered the question correctly, if there was an error, it had been with the host asking the wrong question.<br/><br/>It took him several minutes to break off from his conversation with Ve'akama'len to answer Jashah, though he clearly had heard her. "My ego? Excuse you, I have no ego. Clearly, you are mistaking fully justified self confidence and competence with ego.<br/><br/>And no, I have no experiments that might have... 'mutated' into that... being. There were two planes that I reseeded with life and sealed away, and I need to get back to the lab and undo those seals, otherwise bad things might happen, though more in the way of unexpected events instead of hordes of snarling biohorrors. Sorry, tangent, no nothing that could have become him."<br/><br/>He frowned, something tickling the back of his mind, meaning his subconscious was poking him in the shoulder, and telling him that he already had the answer. He just hadn't put the pieces together to form the answer yet. "How long was I out? When the replacement escorts get here, we will either know how he came into existence, or I will collect his soul to find out."