Torturous, melting pain had never stopped afflicting Khan's very existence, gradually shrinking it, tearing it apart piece by piece to prepare to reforge it.
Yet, Khan's cells kept opposing the process, delaying it and creating enough breathing room for him to focus on the elliptical screens, allowing him to inspect his companions' victories.
The event was obviously reassuring. Khan hated nothing more than to send people to their deaths, so witnessing the widespread success of the elite team gave birth to some genuine but naive happiness.
Still, the ellipses disappeared after each victory, with Liiza's being the last, restoring that spherical separate dimension to its empty blackness, reminding Khan of his terrible predicament.
