"About that." Dirk feels--physically, mentally, metaphysically, narratively, more tired, more weighted down than he has in... a long, long time.

"I should probably warn him, and you, that the 'story' is part of the problem. I've been reliably informed I sound 'four or five magnitudes more insane than I usually do' if I explain in any detail how I know. It's there, I've got as much control over it as I ever do, but it's not connected to anything. The whole story just isn't fucking there. It's a hundred disconnected stories that merge when they interact and then divide again. And I don't know if it's just that weekend, but I don't think it is."