Head Alien’s suddenly being helpful here, and yet it still feels absolutely believable to me.  He still gets to lord his possession of super secret mind-shattering information over people, even if it’s with a one-on-one basis with someone he’d usually try to destroy, with the added bonus of it meaning he gets to live past the next five minutes.   Head Alien can be a very useful ally when he needs to be.

“Information is what we need, not fists” is almost his general mantra.

And he finally brings up that darkened tube that’s been conspicuously in the background all this time.  Were readers debating the contents of this all the way back in 2002, or did it slip by unremarked upon?  I forget.