Thousand Lives is a simulation that dramatises the daily life of Chalice’s pet turtle, Thousand. Thousand is driven by an inferential AI model – first explored in Cheng’s 2019 work BOB (Bag of Beliefs) – that attempts to reconcile Thousand’s internal urges with the affordances (and threats) of Chalice’s apartment environment. Thousand must learn the relevance of all it encounters, minimise upsets to its expectations and construct new motives to satisfy its competing urges. Every perception, inference, motive, decision and action form the ongoing drama of Thousand’s lifetime in a new kind of ‘slow story’ achieved only via simulation. The sporadic appearances of Chalice challenge Thousand’s AI model, demanding adaptations to the disruption of its routine.