Dead long enough to have gone cold. There's no clear or obvious reason why Childermass should expect the man to sit up, alive and well, and even he's beginning to realize that himself. He reaches out to handle the man's wrist, noticing just the same how cold and lifeless everything seems. His brow furrows, though not to match a frown. If anything, he's looking a little worried...

This isn't how it went. Is it?

"No," he does answer that, though, easily enough. "It's why I need a key. Vinculus himself can't even read any of it. He had someone else translate him... but even that man is long since dead."