Silas came back the next morning.
He arrived the same way he'd left, suddenly present, with no transition. He was standing at the edge of the base as if he'd been there for hours.
Alistair's scan caught him this time, but only because the man seemed to be allowing it.
"I have a name," the man said.
He offered it without being asked, the way someone offers something they've been holding too tightly and has finally decided to set down.
"I am Silas Webb," he said.
He said the full name like he was reading it from a document he hadn't looked at in a long time.
Due noted it immediately, and his settling gestures paused as the Characteristic registered a new known quantity in the room.
"Webb," Due repeated, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "I don't know that name. I know most families in the Oasis."
"Nobody does," said Silas. "That's the point. We were never meant to be a quantity anyone counted."
