[He bites back that the SQUIP didn't mean to give most of those commands, because he knows it fully intended to be an asshole while Connor was gone. That... he wants to ask it about.]

You're right... I failed in that regard.

[Which irks him, because if there's one thing he can't stand, it's failing at something.]

You shouldn't blame the SQUIP for keeping you there. I was the one who refused to let us be separated. And yes, it meant that you were in the presence of a being that caused you considerable pain. I was only weighing which would hurt you more, being in the presence of the SQUIP, or being taken as a slave by strangers.

[He was looking at it from a machine's point of view, he supposes... but in a way that he thought would help Rich.]