[ for someone more feelings-minded, john makes an acute observation. science is human-centric to the point of becoming myopic. it's a quibble fitz shares, particularly given all the aliens and ai knocking about in his world. he nods along to his babble, unsure of where it's headed but willing to strap-in for the ride. there's cleverness scattered across the tangent, if nothing else. ]

[ slowly, ] So, you'd be annoying about it if I said we fell through a space-time portal — [ a beat. ] — or had our consciousness uploaded to a VR simulation, [ he rubs a hand across his jaw. ] or were cryogenically frozen before having said cryostasis chambers hijacked by the crew of this vessel.

[ just a few theories that make him sound more conspiratorial than scientific, he supposes. they're skewed due to small sample size: just himself, honestly. john is a new data point. ]