"Where I come from, every single life is important," Devero says quietly, looking between the two of them. "Even the lives of stubborn, selfish, hateful terrorists."

But he feels like he owes them more of an explanation than that. He thinks about it for a moment, scrubbing one hand through his hair, then says, "Do either of you have any idea what the term 'genetic bottlenecking' means?"

He's pretty sure he knows what the answer is but just in case--