The traps spring into place, people duck and dodge and work together, trying to survive.
Someone else is trying to survive. His body is being kept deathly still, his vitals are being masked, and his mind is being blocked from telepathic prying as he has his initial wake up, so they don't sense the panic and the pain and wooginess. After he's more aware of his surroundings, he thanks his lucky stars that he wasn't vaporized or some such, but Hal knew about him, knew his name. He likely knew his history. He had to hope he'd go for something either appropriate to his history or just altogether something that wouldn't completely obliterate him.
That was the risk. That was the gamble. But he knew Hal saw him as a huge threat for all his prying into the rest of the ship, and knew he wouldn't let him walk away.
The best way for him to survive was to play dead. Because his only other option was dying.
Re: The Telepaths - You have a phone call.
Someone else is trying to survive. His body is being kept deathly still, his vitals are being masked, and his mind is being blocked from telepathic prying as he has his initial wake up, so they don't sense the panic and the pain and wooginess. After he's more aware of his surroundings, he thanks his lucky stars that he wasn't vaporized or some such, but Hal knew about him, knew his name. He likely knew his history. He had to hope he'd go for something either appropriate to his history or just altogether something that wouldn't completely obliterate him.
That was the risk. That was the gamble. But he knew Hal saw him as a huge threat for all his prying into the rest of the ship, and knew he wouldn't let him walk away.
The best way for him to survive was to play dead. Because his only other option was dying.