In case you were wondering, "no chill" is a recently used phrase for someone who is bogus or uncool. For example, Kyle's father has "no chill" in Victory Lap when he threatens to not let Kyle run cross-country.
Now back to Escape from Spiderhead. The conviviality of Abnesti's work space suggests that there is some sort of mutual respect between master and slave. Yet the way George Saunders, the Derek Jeter of short stories, describes Jeff's thoughts entering the "Spiderhead" as a place, "Which Abnesti always made a point of not keeping locked, to show how much he trusted and was unafraid of us," can be interpreted in two ways. In one way, he says that there is trust showing that Abnesti may have some chill, but bringing up that he "wasn't afraid" of them re-affirms the master/slave binary.
Abnesti also frequently brings up Jeff's murderous act, threatens him with taking away Skype with his mom, and alludes to personal actions in an "unprofessional way" also re-enforcing the fact that he has no chill.
The manner in which Saunders delivers Abnesti's attitude is as beautiful as a Chick-Fil-A meal on a Monday afternoon after a long Sunday wait. The way he is able to annoy the reader with a heart-less Abnesti focused only on work yet forgive him with a friendly, helpful Abnesti is very passive aggressive. Was Abnesti rushing to try and save Jeff's life for his personal studies or as a friend? Did Abnesti help pay for cream because Jeff is a buddy or as a means to use it against him? Would Abnesti drive across Harlem just so Jeff could get McDonalds when everyone is getting Mickey's?
As the Tootsie Pop owl says:
I would say Abnesti was not trying to help Jeff as a friend. He saw him mostly as a means to an end rather than a busy to hang out with. At the same time, I also don't think Abnesti wanted to see Jeff dead and was genuinely trying to save his life just because that's what you so with dying people.
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