He doesn't really have time to respond to her first question before the illusion (or hallucination, or whatever it is) kicks in. His impulse is to laugh: You could say that, Darcy. 'A lot of time to think about it' is an understatement, but he's not very much closer to a solution than he ever was.

In some intrinsic way, his life has been wrecked. It's obvious, and it's not because of any of his own mistakes, and all he can do in response is to try to understand the details of how and why it's happened, try to figure out whether or not it can be undone. It's a selfish goal, he has no misconceptions about that (wouldn't almost anyone want out of here, if they had somewhere better to go?), but it benefits everyone if it happens.

As it is, her features rearrange themselves in a haze, and he moves immediately on. His face falls into a neutral expression.

"No."

Earlier in the... how long have they been out here?... he had occasionally felt the impulse to run from the group they had been walking with, the momentary conviction that none of them could be trusted. The few times it had come on, it had passed just as quickly.

Darcy is armed, but so is he, and he's willing to bet that he's the better shot. That might turn out to be important.

"Nothing is wrong with you. I saw something weird. I've heard about it happening before, but I haven't experienced it myself until now."

That's not strictly true: he's experienced Ilona Matine's experience of it, secondhand, and it hadn't been pleasant then. But that suddenly seems like a lot to explain to Darcy.

"If I start to look strange to you, please tell me. Things could get bad if we aren't careful not to act on it."