"I don't think that 2015 is way way before you," he said with an amused look to break the furrow of his brow. "Only 3 years before you were born and I'm only 43." He could do the simple quick math to figure out how old Ellie was. Another young one. He was split on how he felt about that.

He tilted his head a little, features narrowing. "What's that look like, 2039 - where are we at as a people?" It seemed like a reasonable question. "Way I figure it, we coulda gone two ways and only one is a good idea."

The other was, well, apocalypse. Or maybe he'd read too much.