A slow shake of his head. "No, they were not. Simply rolling over and giving up is pathetic and cowardly. Even after the disaster, losing the lighthouse and the doctor, we still have tools to claw our way back to survival, and thriving." A shrug that makes the wine in his glass slosh a bit. "Perhaps I can simply see how they got to their conclusion, wallowing in despair and only seeing the worst."

Since the station, and the lingering hallucinations of his death - flashes of seeing the fear and fatalism in the eyes of his wife and Ishida as they stood with him to face the serpent - he has been wondering at what point any of them should give up. How long should they fight? What constitutes living in a dead world? What is death to a dead thing? But he doesn't say anything about it, only putting in, "Without the influence of those who had been stuck here, we are free to choose our own goal, now. If we reject Pluto's goal, the Wild Hunt's, and even Solis' goal, what new goal can we set for ourselves?"