“Please stop sighing so loudly. It’s...not what I want to hear right now.” “Sorry. What do you want to hear? I doubt we have time for anything poignant.” “Actually, how much time is left?” “What does it matter?” “Nothing, I guess. I’d just like to know...ya know?” “The Clock says we have...a hundred and twenty seconds left until the End. Give or take a second or two.” “Not much at all, huh?” “No.” “Do you regret anything?” “Of course, but what’s it matter at this point? In minutes none of it will mean anything. Regret itself will be gone. There won't’ be anything to look back on, let alone anything to do the looking. So I wasn’t perfect. None of us were ever. And now...no one will even get the chance to try.” “That’s a little dark.” “I’ve never been a fan of deadlines. You know that. Makes me bitter and irritable.” ”And sigh a lot.” ”That too. Sorry. Again.” ”How about we try to come up with something? An endcap to it all? I know it’s pointless. No one will ever hear it except us.” ”I guess it’s better than just letting it wash over us without acknowledgement. But you and I, we’re not poets. We’re engineers. ‘Strong interpersonal communication skills’ isn’t why we’re even here. What are we going to say? ‘It’s been great?’” ”I don’t think it needs to be anything massive, man. Just...something, ya know? Like...I want to say that it was fun working with you. Despite your weird habits and freakish sense of humor, I’ve enjoyed these last few months crunching the numbers and gathering data. When we started, I thought you were a dick. But when...when we figured out the End was coming, and you locked us and the data in here… When you did that, I saw you as a person. Someone with a heart behind that brain and ego.” ”Thanks, I think. You are a pretty decent human being too. All things considered. Smart as a whip. Maybe smarter than me.” ”Really?” ”Maybe.” ”I’ll take it.” ”If I have to say something, then let me say that I’m really kind of pissed. I never wanted to find the answer to what should be an impossible equation. I wanted more time and I wanted things to end for me in a completely different place.” ”Where?” ”In bed with a beautiful woman. Like your mom.” ”Jokes on you, my mother is not a looker.” ”That explains your face.” ”Yeah...if we can josh each other, it can’t be all bad, right?” ”Maybe. We’re down to sixty seconds.” ”The Last Minute. Ever.” ”Yeah.” ”Dude, I just want to establish something here. No homo.” ”What the hell?” ”We have a minute left to live, man, and right now I want a hug like a drowning man wants oxygen. It’s not like anyone will ever know...ya know?” ”No. I guess not.” ”So…?” ”Come here, you big sap.” ”Thank you.” ”Thirty seconds. Don’t squeeze so tight. Who taught you how to hug, a grizzly?” ”My mother isn’t that ugly.” ”Heh. Twenty.” ”You going to count it all down?” ”No. Just waiting for this smelly press of hairy engineer flesh to come to an end.” ”I’m not letting go.” ”Goddamnit.” ”There’s the alarm.” ”Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” “Um...the alarm stopped. I was kind of expecting the End to be kind of sudden, ya know?” “I did say ‘give or take a second or tw—”