Lambert pulls his hand back to himself as sharply as though he'd been burned, and takes a step away for good measure. He can't really contest that, or revisit the reasons the decision seemed more straightforward at the time, but...

"I did listen," he says, quietly. It's hard not to want to mirror the tension in the way Childermass is carrying, to press for a fight he doesn't actually want in response to the uncomfortable emotions welling up.

"I just picked the wrong trial to take. I didn't know there was anyone outside trying to get in, so I picked what I thought could help more people if we were stuck here longer." Maybe that would have changed the choice he made, maybe not. And it turned out all but useless in the end, any information he'd gotten something that the Deltas could have gotten just as easily. He hasn't even seen Shima since. For all he knows, the kid's gotten flattened with an energy blast...