Jim nods, sadly. "The concept was abused in your time, and it was abused in Nietzsche's. People co-opted it and corrupted it to justify their grabs for power and their striving toward superiority. The wrong kinds of superiority. They forgot--or overlooked--what the man himself said. No one had yet reached those ideals. But people decided they had. Or they tried to convince others."

Something about the way Rhade confirms Jim's supposition, and the way he discusses the diversion from what their creator intended, leads Jim to think that Rhade still takes a great deal of pride in who he is.

"I'm sorry if it's an insensitive question," he offers, treading lightly. "Did something similar happen among the Nietzscheans? Corrupted ideals? Or factions using them to justify their own ends?"