Perhaps Ray shouldn't be so sure of that, but Naraht has already promised to reserve judgement until Bernard gets back.

He does chuckle a bit at the question about excretion. "Well, the majority of what we excrete is vaporous," he says. "But we do have to pass small amounts of solid matter. It looks rather like volcanic sand...well, I've been told that it's more of a grey than black color, but you probably get the picture."