9S makes a face at the mention of textbooks. Pah! Reading physical pages is so slow. A little voice in his head would be worrying; that would be a sure sign of someone hacking him. But the rest of it makes sense. Knowledge and survival instinct.

9S brightens when he realises the stranger is from the carnival rather than one of the locals. His internal clock has gone all weird since he arrived, undoubtedly because he's not synched to the Bunker anymore. "2 days ago at 7:00am, Carnival time." He continues, "My name is 9S. I'm assigned repair and scouting duties. What's your name and role?"