Heh. "Plants come up with a lot of useful stuff, actually. Medicine and so on. Some make less than useful stuff, I'm looking at you castor beans and nightshade, but still."

"Ooh, best not get me started on that subject, we're taking a break from intense science nerding."

"Right, sorry." He takes a careful sip. "There's something about coffee. Even though it's not tasty by itself. Good stuff."

"Mm, yes. Now, if you could figure out a way to bottle the way coffee smells, you'd make a real fortune."

"I think that exists, actually... No, away nerdy thoughts! What won't send me back to science... Are you a fan of comedy shows? They're about as unscientific as you can get."

"Monty Python is one of the great literary works of the human race," she offers.

"I have acutally seen some of Monty Python's work. It's still a classic a hundred eighty years later. Do you know the hiding spot skit?"

"Nnnot that one, not off the top of my head."

"I think it was actually called 'how not to be seen'? Eh, nevermind. The Holy Grail was fun, too."

"The Holy Grail was massively fun."

"My favorite knight was Sir Not Appearing In This Film."

"Oh, yes. I think my favorite moment was either when the witch tried by absolutely ludicrous means goes, 'It's a fair cop' or the bit at the end where everyone gets arrested."

He does something halfway between a laugh and a giggle. "I liked the bridge keeper's inconsistent questions a lot, too."

"You kind of have to wonder what would happen if someone actually got a question wrong. Would the keeper even know? All the people who got thrown into the chasm displayed ignorance, not inaccuracy."

"The world will never know for sure. But my guess is lightning."

"Alas. Although--the creators are still alive in this world, we could write a letter and ask if we really wanted to, or maybe someone already has and we could find that."

"Hm. I almost feel like the fact that nobody got anything wrong is part of the joke, though. Their stuff can be layered like that if you think about it long enough."

"I see your point...unless you count the time that one knight stumbled over his own favorite color, I suppose."

He shrugs. "When you dissect a joke, it dies. A lot like a frog, really."

"...And we're back to Biology," she laughs.

Hah! "I swear it was an accident." Sip, sip.

"Oh, I believe you. But what is the world coming to when not even comedy is safe?"

"At least we still have conspiracy theorists, politicians, and talk show hosts. The piercing light of science will never reach them."

"Yikes. I think I'll take my chances with comedy."

"Trust me, those kinds of people are still around in the spacefuture. Unfortunately." Sip. His coffee's nearly gone now.