[Irvine shrugs without taking his gaze off the man.]

Why not? It did the other ... uh ... dozen?

[He kind of lost count after a while. They weren't very strong, but they were very creepy, with that cackle and those gowns.]

But you're the first one who's talked back to me, so ... maybe you are real. Where are we? Which continent?

[He's not expecting to know the name of the city, if it's either past or future, but the continent names won't have changed much. He hopes.]