"I was processing internal and external stressors by concealing my true motivations for my actions through the elaboration of reassuring and self-serving but ultimately incorrect explanations. I was ... rationalizing. This was subconscious and I was not immediately aware of it." Still holding the scanner out between the two of them like a shield in place of the suit of cold armor, Spock's face grows grim, strangely green.

He coughs, thick, like there's something caught in his throat. "I came here because I felt lonely."