Taban: Great. Thanks. (rubbing his head) What the fuck is going on with this place? Why doesn’t any of it make sense?

HARE: I am unsure.

Taban: And why does Daley keep wanting to go out? His heart is on its last legs.

HARE: Yes.

Taban: Did you see a man by the ship?

HARE: No.

Taban: So he’s losing it. Or is he?

HARE: What is USER Daley losing?

Taban: Never mind. The point is, we can’t be stranded on this hellhole. We just can’t. Not in a place where walking in a line gets you twisted around and lost in some bizarro-mutato dimension, and where some creepy invisible dudes may or may not be hanging around the ship. Right?

HARE: Yes.

Taban: I mean, just look at it. It’s not like anyone would want to come here anyway, even if we managed to get off this rock to tell them about it.

HARE: Disputable. There are many geographical and topical anomalies here.

Taban: Better left alone, I say. Some shit just isn’t worth exploring.

HARE: . . .

Taban: Don’t take offense to that.

HARE: My primary purpose is exploration.

Taban: I know. Just—you know what I mean.

HARE: . . .

Taban: Anyway. If he tells you to go out, don’t listen to him. He’ll want to use you to look for things—don’t do it.

HARE: Please clarify. Why should I disobey USER Daley’s command?

Taban: Because if you go out, you’ll use up your power source. It’s limited, right? And I can fix minor breakdowns, but I don’t have a replacement for your—battery. You have to conserve energy, or you’ll shut down. And then you’ll leave me alone with him. Please don’t do that.

HARE: I understand.

Taban: But will you do it?

HARE: Yes.

Taban: Good.

[A few moments pass.]

Taban: (looking outside) It never snows here, does it? It’s all ice. Have you ever seen snow, HARE?

HARE (processors whirring): No.

Taban: I guess you need a specific atmosphere for that. Back where I grew up, it snowed all the time.

HARE: On Earth?

Taban: Yep. Calgary, before it was buried by the Comeback. You know where that is?

HARE (processors whirring): I do now.

Taban: Got snow there all the time. They called it ‘the decade without summer’ in those parts—before all the people left. Just snow and snow and snow. I used to show up to school an hour late and say I got lost in the snow, because it came up to my shoulders. Worked about a fourth of the time.

HARE: Does USER Daley originate from the same area?

Taban: I have no idea. He talks a lot about the famine, so I’d bet not. We didn’t have problems with shortage of food in Alberta. Not much. Not even the plants made it up there. We just had to worry about the cold.

HARE: Humans from Earth do not come naturally equipped for low temperatures.