"Then I believe you are running on optimal. I see no sign of malfunction to report."

He had the sense that his superiors would disagree, but...they weren't here, and he was. Under any other circumstances, he would be expected to make a judgment call in a way the Soldier would not. He was consistently told that he was better at "pretending" to be human, and was sometimes called upon to do just that.

"I am told the same. It's...good, isn't it? To be a part of that." Even if they were not free, they could ensure the freedom of others. Sacrificing the needs of the few for the betterment of the many. It wasn't as though they were even allowed to have needs that their handlers did not control, after all, so what did it matter?

Nothing about this man seemed wrong to him, beyond the distress he was feeling. Introducing further distress into the equation simply didn't seem...right. It wasn't efficient, and he didn't want to do that. He found that he just wanted to...hold the other, a little while longer, and soothe him until that tension was gone from his muscles. There was nothing he could do to improve or change their situation, but perhaps he could make it easier to bear.

He even hummed the same tune they had both recalled over the comms unit.