Even after he’s quit the program and shut down and crawled into bed, his brain is still patiently inventing and solving new puzzles, over and over in the dark. Alejandro would like it to stop, or move on to something besides linking red gems to gold coins. This could have been convenient back when he was struggling with state capitols and trig.

The game has made him its homunculus. What if this is his end state, the brainlock doom of permanent replay mode? Alejandro maps out a tricky spiral and thinks, hey, maybe this is what alcohol is supposed to solve.