[He throws an apologetic look at the boy.] All I can tell you is that they were beyond my ken. I believe one of them was a hacker with skills worlds above anyone on my world. There may have been one or two others, and...one of my colleagues spent some time inside the community's...coding or something. I'm not at all clear on how that worked.

[As he's talking, one hand slowly creeps to the crook of his other arm and starts worrying the fabric of his shirt. He doesn't notice the gesture himself, but the rubbing beats in time with his singing nerves.]