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[Florence Ambrose is a genetically-engineered "Bowman's Wolf", and a spaceship engineer. Sam Starfall, a squidlike alien in a humanoid environment suit, is her captain. Varroa Jacobsoni is a psychologist working for the corporation that created Florence's species, testing the "don't hurt humans" safeguards designed into her brain.]
| Varroa Jacobsoni: | "Given only a second to react, how do you decide if someone is human?" |
| Florence Ambrose: | "Clothes! They're wearing clothes. And I look for shape." |
| [...] | |
| Varroa Jacobsoni: | "Why did you choose clothing first?" |
| Florence Ambrose: | "If humans ever modify themselves to live in space without suits, they may not look human, but will probably still want pockets. So, given that you can't use size, shape, or even D.N.A. as being one hundred percent accurate, how would you define human?" |
| Varroa Jacobsoni: | "I'm passing you, because it's a lot easier to pass you than to answer your question." |
| Sam Starfall: | "Now that's human!" |
-- from "Freefall" by Mark Stanley, 2008-06-02 and 2008-06-04 (quoted strips are part of a story arc that started 2008-03-17)