[Fair enough. She may as well be echoing sentiments he himself has made before– the more that things change, the more they stay the same, so on and so forth. And no real change can happen until he uncovers who all's been bent on keeping it that way.]

You've made your point. [He unfolds his arms, shifting his weight restlessly. There's a distinct wryness to his voice, now.] Hopefully I'll get to bring this valuable intel back home with me. I'm sure we could always do a better job of saving those pandas.

[Yeah, he's being flippant, but it's more out of impatience than anything else. It's not as if hearing about the future isn't interesting on some level – it's quite interesting, actually. But... Talking about it like this almost makes it sound as if it's set in stone. And he can't stand the idea of that.

Change of subject, then.] What about here? You mentioned something about people turning to glass. Then there are these jellyfish things... [He shakes his head.] This sort of thing normal?

[And what about this still-nagging feeling that he's being watched? That supposed to be normal too? He must've swept the area a half-dozen times with his retinal implants while she was delivering her explanation, eyes wandering warily, unseen beneath his dark lenses. Still nothing to justify the persistent itch in the back of his skull.]