Al often comes across like a robot, but every once in a while he’ll do something that reminds you that he is actually a human being. Like earlier, how I’d mentioned he’d actually offered us his opinion on something. This time he was playing an acoustic guitar-like instrument with eleven strings, zero frets, and a Picasso-esque aesthetic.

We ate our dinner of won-ton soup (Al had picked up the recipe in the future—whatever that means), engaging in discussion between mouthfuls. There were a couple main takeaways:

- Al can play quite a variety on that guitar-thing. Even dubstep. And he can play it well.
- In order to keep us safe, we would likely have to stay cooped up in this installation for around a century.
- Zoe resented that we’d likely have to stay cooped up in this installation for around a century, but was relieved to hear there was a ping-pong table.
- Tsering had spent some time in Los Angeles producing hip-hop records.

Of course, you know the old saw about the best-laid plans of mice and men…