I've included this supplementary material for Longshot to provide spoiler-free extras for interested readers. What follows are optional author liner notes with insights, explanations, and references for Chapter 3.
Even when our lips were held silent the vocal cords in our throats vibrated in minute sympathy with every word we thought.
Subvocalisation is a real thing, and is under intense research by both military and medical science. Replaying "imagined speech" is a touch-and-go effort right now, with most results barely reaching intelligibility, but progress is being made.
"I'm so glad we're not them. They dripped blood every 28 days."
Hopefully the story has made it clear at this point: while Askr and Zuri appear human, they are not of our species. Genetically, they have about the same relationship to us as Denisovans: physically roughly the same template, but otherwise very different.
"Askr might be appropriate"
Askr, in the Old Norse eddas, was the first male created by the gods.
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