There's a gentle breeze in the room where Kyeo wakes up. And the lighting is also not what one normally finds on a spaceship (or, the kind he's used to, at least).
"So, we could fix that for you as well, although - well, how do you feel about that idea, if it involved direct mental editing instead of months of - you'd object, wouldn't you, if I called it - instead of months of treatment?"
"As I said, we disagree on whether what you experienced was that. But it was only an interest check; I'm not planning to push the matter."
"I'm not sure I would describe you as ever having been set up in this way. The resemblance is... very superficial. At best."
"You want to put me in a situation where I am meant to - exhibit - availability to -" They fixed his throat but apparently not the thing where occasionally the world pretends to end hard enough that he believes it.
What kind of question is that. Does he have empathic powers. Kyeo stares at him for a moment then nods.
The guy produces a box from the inside of his suit and then a tab from inside the box. "Under the tongue," he instructs.
This man is probably not in fact a doctor but maybe he doesn't have to be? Kyeo puts it under his tongue. The end of the world spins to a graceless halt.
"I think the difference where we're not encouraging you to do something duplicitous, and in fact are specifically trying to cultivate something authentic, is a pretty key one."
"Seems to me that the difficulty was in the people engineering the situation expecting inauthenticity. We don't."