"Not as bad as it is now," he begins, then tilts his head slightly and corrects himself by adding, "But, as you say, that also isn't meant to be flattering. When we were here before, the atmosphere was primarily just one of abandonment. I wasn't hungry unless I didn't eat, and I didn't feel any particular compulsion in any direction."

He notices the little device again, the way it hangs around the guy he's talking to, and indicates it with a small gesture of his hand.

"Tracking...? Security? I've seen A.I.s a little like that." But he doesn't say where or with whom, and it is indeed quite different from a tiny projection of a man in a suit like the one he has on, the A.I. Tex and York had showed him.