He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
"Well, demons have this mythological presence in addition to the actual one, and for a long time only a handful of people knew we were real, so actual information was thin on the ground. We suffered for the comparison and since they don't let us talk we can't really correct 'em. Angels and fairies are nearly as dangerous - well, to the individual summoner, they can't destroy entire planets - and they don't get that kind of treatment."
"Thank you. Very kind. I would object if you did that, and so would a lot of other people. Granted not for very long."
"How... tidy," says Miles. "Here's a question: do you think you could make a wormhole? If you test it, please do so very far away from any jump route people actually need."
"Well, yes and no. Vor nepotism isn't like everyone else's. Do they have the phrase, 'the reward for a job well done is a bigger job', where you're from?"
"I've heard, 'don't pretty up your summoning products unless you want them knocking on your skull in the middle of a good dream'."
"I'm not sure it's quite the same thing, but it sounds close. The implication around here is, if you're good at something, expect to be called upon to do it. If you're good at something and you make that fact known to the people in charge of making other people do the thing, expect to be called upon to do it a lot. 'Person in charge of making other people do the thing' is a pretty good description of Gregor."
"If you like meaningful work, I think you'll enjoy being Gregor's favourite person quite a lot."
"I like meaningful work! It is why I show up to summons. Unfortunately it is hard to say 'summoners, please, I like meaningful work, I will just terraform the entirety of Mars for you for a recent copy of the Extranet Crawler Report' when they won't let me talk."
"Happily, you have circumvented that problem here. Let's see... what else should I be giving you a crash course in? Have any questions been weighing on your mind since you got here?"
"I'm sort of curious about the two and a half dialects I got when I landed but that's hardly urgent... I found artificial gravity consistently enough in fiction I skimmed to suspect it's a real and nonmagical thing, can you confirm...? And why do people freak out so much about mutations here?"
He looks away, sighs, thinks, looks back.
"Right, so in the Time of Isolation, there was a lot of mutation going on. We haven't untangled all the causes for certain, but radiation from abandoned power sources breaking down, concentration effects from starting with a population of fifty thousand, and general wear and tear from living on a half-terraformed planet are the main theories. People became very upset about it, superstitious purity concerns and all that, and with the technology available in those days, about the only response they had was to practice widespread infanticide on any baby who came out looking insufficiently healthy and babylike. It's still done in some places. We're trying to get rid of the custom, but it's slow going. It hasn't even been a full century since we made contact with the wider galaxy again."
"I'm not a genetic mutant, not that that stops people throwing rotten food at me if I walk down the wrong street. Anyway, I'm pretty well patched to begin with. If it weren't for the miracles of modern medicine they'd have to carry me around in a bucket."
"Okay," shrugs Cam. "Between you and your doctor and any angels you conjure up, just thought I'd mention."