As paltry a thing as life. [ he looks up, as if through the ceiling to stare at the wall of the dome, and his lips quirk into a smile. ] Though I would prefer to be in control of my own death, if possible. [ when it becomes inevitable, he wants to foil inevitability in the final way possible— to see that he can at least die on his own terms, before his body betrays him or hands wrap around his throat or water gushes into his lungs. ]