Slate puts out the candles so he could sit in absolute darkness. He knew in a situation like this Chef Ram would push people out of his way and possibly stab an intern. Slate knew he didn’t have the personality of Chef Ram, but realized he didn’t need to. In this ship Slate had a pen full of lambs he could use to do his bidding. He would [mindcontrol] one of them and have them tell Marble a made up story about why he had to stay inside.