"What is that?" The apparition asked, looking at Lamont. "We were looking for it. We saw it in you, but you had no conscious memory corresponding to it. We couldn't tell where it came from."
You're right, I kind of mangled that phrase. I'll edit it.
The idea here is that something the attendants were trying to tease out of Lamont's subconscious was bothering him until he could identify what it was. Both Lamont and the attendants were surprised and confused by it.
As I recall, the original quote is that the sum is *different* than the sum of its parts.
Going out on a limb now, do these aliens worship Mary as their Nurturer Omega?
You're right, I kind of mangled that phrase. I'll edit it.
The idea here is that something the attendants were trying to tease out of Lamont's subconscious was bothering him until he could identify what it was. Both Lamont and the attendants were surprised and confused by it.
Actually "more than the sum" is an extremely common misquote, so maybe she'd really have said that.