"I mean- apart from where everyone has a set of the brain handcuffs right now," and he taps the back of his neck to indicate the restraining bolt he's referring to. "Yeah, they're fine. But I was on the outside of the Hephaestus when Mr Big and Dr Bad came home to roost and my gravity boots got turned off, so. I started drifting."

His fingers drum on the bench for a moment, before he starts fussing with pockets for his cigarettes. "And while I was out there, I finally figured out what the Dear Listeners were trying to do. Why the star kept increasing gravity on us, why the calls kept coming through in the first place. They wanted to talk to us."

He looks as his hands - he's not lighting the cigarette, just twirling it between his fingers as he pulls it out of the packet. "Or, you know. That's what I guessed. Kind of had to cross the red line and test it first." He stretches both hands around and ends it with jazz hands. "Leap of faith."