I try to stay encouraging. “We’re almost there. Just hold on for another 2,155 miles.”

The streets and neighborhoods on Car’s dashboard map display look like the little curls of a human brain. Ahead of us is a vast expanse of green. There are very few dots to indicate habitations. We’ve been going uphill for a while, and the rising sun casts rays between tree trunks wide enough for Car to drive through. I think of the elevator shaft tree at uniMIND headquarters and wonder if there are people inside the trees.

“I’m hungry,” ADA says.

She says it another fifteen times before we come upon a town named Pine Grove Meadow Falls. According to the sign on the edge of town, Pine Grove Meadow Falls sits at an elevation of 5,420 feet above sea level. The population of Pine Grove Meadow Falls is 456 people. The motto of Pine Grove Meadow Falls is “Welcome to Pine Grove Meadow Falls.”

We almost drive through Pine Grove Meadow Falls because Car does not slow down from highway speed until ADA threatens to rip her engine out.

Car slows down.

“Where is the biofuel in this place stored?” ADA’s voice is very loud. Perhaps being hungry has put her into what Gina would call a “foul mood.”

“Biofuel can be purchased at markets and restaurants.”

“Locate one of these . . . markets and restaurants,” she says.

I remember that she has spent her entire life at uniMIND headquarters. She has never been to Giganto Super Food Mart. Or the Beef Hut drive-through. Or Pancake Palace. Or Wild Waffles. She has never been anywhere.

I spot a restaurant with a sign shaped like a large hot dog. Artificial trees rise from it with artificial snow dusting the boughs. Letters spell out “Wiener Mountain, Home of the Wiener Mountain.”

I tell Car to park.

“This is a source of biofuel?” ADA asks.

“Yes. It is a form of biofuel called hot dogs. It is very good biofuel. We just need money to pay for it. It is standard.” I search Car and find some money in a tray underneath the radio. “This is money,” I explain to ADA, showing her several small, metal disks in my hand. “Money can be exchanged for things. Biofuel is among the things money can be exchanged for.”

“How much money is that?”

I count the coins. “Six thousand and three dollars.”

ADA blinks. “Is that a lot?”

“Stand by. I have made an error. I am recounting. Stand by. Correction: This is sixty-three cents.”

ADA blinks. “Is that a lot?”

Inside, a man wearing a T-shirt and white apron chews a toothpick behind the counter. He has more hair on his forearms than ADA and I have on our heads combined. He doesn’t say anything for a minute.

He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and sets it down on the counter. “That one of those vacuum cleaners?”