A winning combination of power and insanity, that's how. I'm sure the precise number was just a method of emphasizing that the only means of escape is probably death, which given the conditions involved would realistically occur within a year or two if I couldn't puzzle out a means of escape before then.

-Which I would, in the event that I was forced to return there. I'd have to.

I suppose our current situation isn't much different from that to most people, right? Nearly everyone seems to be fighting rather hard for a way out.

[His smile returns.] You sound pretty heroic when you talk about going against the odds like that.