When the plasma lifeform said the rhetorical question in a gentle tone, Alex felt a faint burning sensation on his exposed skin. Alex knows what this means, and Alex also knows what kind of risk it means to do so.
He gained the trust of plasma lifeforms by breaking with human civilization, but now, he is trying to save human civilization from disaster. This is obviously very unreasonable in the eyes of plasma life forms. Alex knew that this would lower his rating in the plasma lifeform, lower its trust in himself and increase his suspicion of himself. This may even be a problem for later actions.
One of the most obvious and intuitive consequences is that if the plasma lifeform no longer trusts itself, it may kill itself at the risk of losing both.
Therefore, every word Alex said was extremely cautious. But Alex did not show this on the surface.
