She seems like a nice enough kid, and if he were manipulative enough he'd also be figuring that anyone who can help him stay alive should be sucked up to. (He's not sucking up. She just seems nice, and he's grateful.)

Whew. So she's from another time, as well. "Kind of like that, yeah. I'm from far enough in Earth's future that people can live on starships these days. It's a lot bigger than what the first astronauts had to put up with. I can... I can almost forget that we're one sharp knife away from a puncture and..."

He whistles, miming air escaping from a ship.

"It's a lot easier these days."