Like many pre-intelligent creatures, both subspecies of Plain Speech Valley squirrels were highly social animals. Much of their social lives
-(well, there's a reason the ascension of Earth-than-was would be sparked by the _H. sapiens_ line of hominids some millions of years later, rather than by the Plain Speech species 9792 and 9794.)
+(well, there's a reason the ascension of Earth-that-was would be sparked by the _H. sapiens_ line of hominids some millions of years later, rather than by the Plain Speech species 9792 and 9794.)
sharing secrets
And beside them, a friend or a mate
-"_I'm_ your friend. _I_ understand you. You can share your secrets with _me_."
+"But _I'm_ your friend. _I_ understand you. You can share your secrets with _me_."
"That's not what I meant."