"Symbiont? I've met a couple symbiotes - Venom's one, and Jadzia Dax is another. You look very different than they do." Kinner's amazed that there seem to be so many species that can bond with other creatures to the benefit of both, without harm. The Thing's more brutal parasitism, done without the host's consent, is in a minority, at least among sapient species.

He knows that such creatures exist on Earth - aphids and ants, pilot fish and sharks - but he's never gotten to know one personally. The Thing couldn't be bothered to explain itself. As far as Kinner knows, it saw humans as food and nothing more.