She froze in mid-stride, a telltale, faltering flicker in the soft glow of her body's markings. Wonderful. In the throes of inspiration, in the depths of imagination, her subconscious somehow saw fit to make her cognitive castigator a blathering smartass.

"...humph."

She didn't bother to turn. A sharp crack whipped through the cavern as she snapped her book shut.

"So assured of our situation, yet telling me in the same breath that any effort to understand it is pointless. All the same, I don't see you running."