If... [ And he stays quiet, drawing the word out and thinking as...

... as the group starts moving. They are running low on time, so he starts up again and talks a bit quickly. ]

... If she uses anything ground, I'm in trouble. On the other hand, I can talk to them? On yet another hand, I have a bit of an advantage over them.... despite really not having much of one at all because I have not used any of those skills for much more than sorting books in years...

[ He's a researcher! ]

... Is anyone good at public speaking? Would it be polite to call her ma'am or miss, because, well-

[ They're starting to move, which he indicates with a hand, so they really ought to move as well. ]