"You seem fairly real and human to me," Moriarty notes. "Milliways magic and all, I'd presume."

Moriarty listens further, although he can't profess to understand fully. He doesn't know if self-deception is truly part of his emotional repertoire.

"Must've been a shock," he says, a little lamely, because that's a hefty understatement, "but maybe it's better to know, rather than not."