"I think 'different but functional' is the best anybody can demand after being randomly kidnapped to a unfamiliar galaxy and kept under house arrest in a medical base in the middle of what appears to be the arctic even if they aren't missing part of their brain," Ratchet says, his voice a little dry. He sobers again after a moment, frowning, not that York can see.

"What happened? To Washington, I mean, with his AI implantation? Feel free to not tell me, I know it's not strictly my business, but I don't know a lot about these implants to begin with so I'm curious."