They were counting down for us to leave before they were going to drop a bomb on us. “These scientists just don’t care!” someone exclaimed. We had our own countermeasures set up in case they really weren’t bluffing and planned to blow us up. When they finally counted down to zero, there was a light fizz in the air as someone jumped up and shouted “Nitrogen!” Both sides had released something meant to counteract some kind of thermal reaction.

The teacher was giving a lecture on living with compassion and how there was more to life than working for 64 hours a day. He shared an anecdote about walking beneath the “Understood tree” by the bridge and finding his purpose in life. Someone in the audience was spamming the powerpoint presentation with Discord notifications that were only visible to other users.