Chapter 6 — Graduation

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*****

~ 1 ~ “Rhoda, I need your help!” Esther had rushed to intercept Rhoda just as she stepped out of Ricardo’s office in Reginald Steuben’s Institute.

“Esther, what is it?”

“I can’t get back into Herbert’s private Workspace! I was doing a minor fabrication for Herbert there, that I promised him I’d get done before he and Eugene get back from their business trip. I left the fabrication open while I was out, so I could come back and finish it, but now I can’t get back in. While I wasn’t there, someone must have entered his Workspace and sealed it, although the Separator's Workspace is open.”

“Are you sure someone’s not still inside Herbert’s private Workspace?”

“I thought of that. Het could have been inside, because he has Herbert’s permission to enter, but I’ve just talked to him. He suggested maybe it was Kane or Gabrielle—I mean Katerina; Gabrielle’s her nickname. Katerina might have permission, because she does sometimes pop in when we’re working there. But she and Kane were in their offices when I telephoned Het from mine.”

Rhoda thought aloud, “To get in, a person would need Herbert’s permission, which you have. It’s possible that such a person would exit the Workspace, leaving it closed to those who rank lower than himself or herself. Esther, I have a few minutes to spare, so let’s go look, although it may be a bigger problem for you to get me through Arch security, than it will be for me to reestablish your access to Herbert’s Workspace.”

Esther looked thoughtfully at Rhoda. “Yes, that could be a problem.”

~ ~ ~

The guard at the Arch Executive Entrance said, “This request is for an unscheduled entry, Miss Knox,” acting as though Miss Knox, not Miss Rosen, had made the request.

Esther said sweetly, “Raymond, it’s really an emergency, and Miss Knox and I are going only to the room that she’s cleared for. If you want me to, I’ll sign a voucher.”

Raymond located the form and pushed it over to Esther to sign. “I’ll send an escort, he said. Then he looked at his watch. “In fact, I'll come with you myself, since my shift is nearly over and I see my replacement coming.” He handed a pass to Miss Knox, who dropped it into her purse, smiling at him.

Esther took Raymond’s arm. “You’re a dear, to be helping a girl in distress.”

Rhoda saw that Raymond was responding to what he felt to be Esther’s rank in the Circle. She knew that he should not have let her into the Keep on his own authority, in these days when Keep security was on maximum alert. Rhoda was aware of the Keep being on highest alert whenever she came to give Maker lessons to Esther and Het—even though it was mostly out of sight. She saw that to Raymond, however, the damage which could be done to him by Esther, who was close to Dr. Kane, was of greater concern than the damage that a Clan Keen Maker might do in the Keep. In fact, both Raymond and Rhoda knew that the security show of force was for internal consumption.

On their way through the corridors, Rhoda said, “Esther, my chore should take only a few minutes, so you’ll be able to finish up your fabrication right away.”

Hearing Rhoda’s remark, Guard Raymond decided to wait outside the door to Herbert’s Workshop and see Miss Knox out.

Esther opened the Workshop’s Front Gate—the Gate fabricated by Rhoda during Esther's first Maker lesson. When she had watched Rhoda fabricating it, Esther had thought that she was learning to play with fire; now she sensed that Rhoda could walk right through the Gate, if she wanted to.

Guard Raymond, peering through the open gateway, found himself looking into the mouth of a large, dark cave—the lair of some fearful creature. He had been motivated to allow a security infraction on his watch by the desire to see for himself what was beyond the Gate, as well as by his fear of crossing Esther. Then, seeing Esther hold open the Gate for Miss Knox to enter first, Raymond was startled by her display of subordination to Miss Knox. Even more startling to him was Miss Knox’s sudden disappearance from sight, into the darkness of the opening. He saw Esther, however, hovering calmly at the Gate. “Just a few minutes, Raymond,” she said, and followed Miss Knox, closing the Gate behind her.

Arriving at Rhoda’s side, Esther was able to see only the entrance to Herbert’s Workspace, looking like a grey curtain which would not yield an inch to her. At once, Rhoda began speaking rapidly to the curtain in Old Goth, pausing occasionally as though listening to the other side of a conversation. Esther had never before witnessed this kind of behavior, and she felt that she should tell Herbert about it. Soon, the curtain wavered and vanished, and a way appeared into Herbert’s Workspace. Rhoda said, “Esther, let me enter first to make sure that all is secure. This ancient Workshop apparently has some obscure protocol which needs to be updated.”

Rhoda stepped into the Workspace and spoke again in Old Goth. Esther thought about Herbert confidently telling her and Het that there was little more to be learned from Rhoda, and that their infrequent Maker lessons would soon end.

Seeing Rhoda gesture to her, Esther entered the Workspace, where Rhoda told her, “Esther, I’ve learned that Dr. Kane and Katerina were here together yesterday. Their visit confounded the Powers’ protocol—in a way similar to that in which the guards at the gate were unable to deal with our visit here under their rules. You can tell Herbert about their visit, and I’ll explain it to him in detail if he wants to know more. Esther, you’ll have no trouble now with access. But I need to run now, and your guard Raymond is working overtime without pay.”

~ ~ ~

Rhoda opened the Gate and said to guard Raymond, “I’m late, too, Mr. Conner. Let’s go.” Seeing Raymond staring into the dark cave, she said cheerfully, “That look of a cave is a sign, warning that Makers’ Workshops are devilishly tricky and dangerous places to get around in.”

“I’ve been wondering about it. That makes sense, Miss Knox.”

“Miss Rosen’s key got locked inside her Workspace, so I used mine to let her in. Otherwise, she would have been unable to finish her work for Dr. Schooner before he returns; she might have been in trouble if she hadn’t finished it.”

Miss Knox’s remark inspired Guard Raymond to rewrite the report of the security infraction. His shift replacement countersigned it, and—noting that the original was now to be sent to Herbert Schooner’s office and the copy to their Security Chief Byron—he said, “Did you know that yesterday Dr. Kane himself and his secretary Katerina paid a visit to the Workshop? He had me escort him, and he told me not to let anyone in except for Dr. Schooner.”

Raymond nodded. “Yeah. Dr. Schooner’s more important than I’d thought, and I’ve just learned in there (nodding toward the Workshop) that Dr. Schooner's a base I’ve got to always touch first .”

~ ~ ~

Some time earlier, Herbert had explained to Esther that it would be necessary soon to close the Workshop and transform it again into a wagon, with the Separator within it. They would transport the Wagon Workshop to the Ontario Workshop to get the "Miner" on which she and Het had been working, and then they would transport both parts of the Soma back to the Keep in the Wagon Workshop. The two parts must be moved in this manner, he had told her, because in order to unite them into one Device, the two must mellow into a common Workshop Province without exposure to Earth’s Province. Like Het, Esther had been led to understand the Miner to be a practical Device for mineral extraction. Now her mind had spun with this new information from Herbert, who had continued in assuming her knowledge about things like the Soma, which was common to him and Kane. She had bluffed her way in, and she had been trying—after Herbert’s tirade about the Soma over her cinnamon rolls—to lean more about it. She had not guessed that she had been helping to make the Soma. “Why do you have to bring them both back here?” she had asked Herbert.

“For the most important reason of all, Esther: The Friend can properly vest in the completed Soma only in a place belonging to him. That place is the Keep, with the membership of the Circle around him. Otherwise, the vesting will go awry, as it has done in the past.”

“Well, we certainly don’t want the vesting to go wrong again, Herbert.” Esther wondered if she really meant that.

~ ~ ~

The fabrication which Esther would have been prevented from completing by lack of access to the Workspace, was a Device for joining the Separator with the Miner without spontaneous fusing of the two into the Soma. In this state, they would be safely transported back to the Keep.

Looking at her workbench on which the the joining Device was taking shape, Esther found her mind so full of Rhoda that she was unable to focus on her work. She felt “edgy”, as Het had told her that he usually felt after conversing with Rhoda.

Esther took a deep breath and looked around the Workspace. Something was different. Oh, God! It’s the Inner Sanctum! I can see it; it’s real! Then she saw all sorts of other things in the Workspace in the Antechamber, which had been hidden from her sight and touch until then. I’ve graduated! Rhoda has just now given me my diploma!

~ ~ ~

After Herbert’s return on the next day, Esther showed to him her completed work on the joining Device. She knew that he still believed the Inner Sanctum and the full extent of the Workshop to be invisible to her.

“How will you test my work, Gesalec?” she asked him, addressing him by his old name, as she did only when they were alone.

“For testing, I must take the joining Device into my Inner Sanctum.”

“Would it be impertinent of me to ask the way to your Inner Sanctum?”

“The way to it is from this Workspace or from the other Workspace where Eugene is now. But neither of you can see it or make use of it. And with Miss Knox’s level of instruction, you never will. Later, there will be time for me to complete your apprenticeship so that you can use the Inner Sanctum, but now we must prepare for the vestment of the Friend.” Herbert abruptly turned his back to Esther and strode into the Inner Sanctum. Esther, thinking that he must be fully expecting her to see him disappear into the wall, in fact saw him clearly within the Inner Sanctum. He located and wheeled out into the Workspace a wheelbarrow-like Device for transporting the joining Device into the Inner Sanctum.

“That’s a good trick, Gesalec!” Esther exclaimed, feigning surprise. “But why do you need a means of transport for the seal? It’s not too heavy to carry by hand.” The seal looked like a large clay pigeon with a spindle protruding from the top.

“Because the weight of a Device can change drastically when it crosses the Threshold. Now, place it on this carrier, allowing only your hands to touch it.” While she was doing this, Esther was feeling that she did not like the attitude expressed by Herbert’s abruptness. She was free now, in his presence, of that fear for her life which had lurked in the background of her existence ever since he had declared his plans to her before consuming her cinnamon rolls. With him it had been all business and no lovemaking since then. As he “disappeared” again, Esther became aware of the complete absence in her, of the romantic attraction to Powers of the Inner Sanctum which the Touchstone claimed would always animate recruit Keen Makers. She had been attracted to the power of a place only once, when she had toured the empty Oval Office with her father and some of his colleagues.

Esther packed up her tools, which she had brought from the Ontario Workshop for the now-completed fabrication, seeing, from the corner of her eye, that Herbert was watching her, enjoying his “invisible” superiority. The fool! Does he really see the two of us ruling the Clan? No way! Rhoda can run loops around him. Esther, you need a change of plans.

As Esther walked into the Separator’s Workshop where Eugene was busy, Herbert (whom she no longer thought of as Gesalec) remained visible to her in the Inner Sanctum. Because she was able to hear him, she thought that he was probably hearing her say, “Eugene, I’m taking my tools back to Ontario. Please let Herbert know. He has disappeared into his Inner Sanctum.”

“Uh, okay; I’ll do that.”

Esther went into the locker room directly across the hall from the Workshop, relieved by her inability to see through these walls. She sat, thinking, on a bench in the otherwise empty room.

When Eugene walked in after a seemingly short time, he seemed startled, but pleased to see her.

“Are you quitting early,” Esther asked him.

“Early? It’s late; check you watch.”

“You’re right, Eugene! It’s been over an hour!”

“Almost two hours, by my reckoning. Esther, Herbert is happy doing whatever he’s doing, on his own.”

“I think it's been a long day for both of us, Eugene.” Esther stood up and stretched, gaining Eugene’s full attention as he sat down to change his shoes. “Do you have any plans for this evening?”

“I have nothing in the works, Esther.” Eugene stood up, and Esther helped him to remove his lab coat.

“You’ve been out a lot lately, Eugene; we hardly get to see each other.” Esther took his arm, he picked up her tool case, and they departed like intimates. I’m going to learn how Herbert has been stringing you along, Eugene.

When Herbert Schooner entered the locker room some time later, Esther was—at the same moment—a few miles away, in a restaurant’s ladies’ room applying to her wrists a touch of her witch-doctored perfume. Eugene was waiting at their table, sipping wine, while the French restaurant’s staff were preparing their dinner. Esther had driven them there in her Porsche after choosing the restaurant, and she had offered to pay. It happened to be the same restaurant in which Eugene had enjoyed a memorable evening with Marge Hemming, so while he waited for Esther to return, Eugene began comparing Marge—who demanded to be pleased—to Esther—who aimed to please. Esther returned to their table then, aiming to please Eugene and get him to talk about the things that he had been doing at Quinceañera Beach.

At that moment, Herbert’s mind was occupied by plans concerning Esther. I must soon risk sharing with Esther my secrets at Quinceañera Beach, where she may serve me best. But… Timing, Gesalec; timing. And I must keep Swinthila’s Right and Left Hands hidden from her. She would revolt at the sight of them. He had kept from Eugene any knowledge of their existence, although they knew of him, and they knew his scent.

~ ~ ~

A few days later, a chance came for Esther to learn whatever she could about Herbert’s Inner Sanctum while it was unoccupied. Her experience there was, however, not as she had expected. The Inner Sanctum greeted her like the wheelhouse of a ship at sea, pitching about in a savage storm! In panicked haste to escape the storm, she exited from the Inner Sanctum into Herbert’s Workspace, instead of returning to the Separator's Workspace from which she had entered. Herbert’s Workspace appeared to have changed! It was not as it had been several days earlier, and it was not as it had been in the days when she and Het were receiving their first Maker lessons from Rhoda there.

It was larger, and it was filled with workbenches, cabinets and a shelf holding a long row of journals. She hoped at once to learn from the journals what it was that Eugene truly was doing at Quinceañera Beach; she had learned that he did not, in fact, understand what it was that Herbert intended.

Esther pulled out the last journal in the row, thinking that it was likely the most recent. She flipped a few pages, seeing that they were written in German, in Herbert’s hand. She was able to read them slowly, with difficulty. But the Makers’ Chants on the pages were inscribed in Old Goth, which she read much more easily. Her curiosity burned.

From the Touchstone, she had learned about casting apprentice’s Nets around the master Makers’ journals in order to understand them better. Now, Esther carefully worked out such a Chant in her mind. Then she spoke it, casting a Net around the journal in her hand in order to become “an apprentice of the journal.”

Although this was Esther’s first such experience, she understood at once what it was when she was drawn suddenly into a Strand of Living Memory of another woman who had read the journal. Shivering with excitement and awe, she saw the woman’s hands holding the journal open to the page which Esther herself was now examining. That woman’s understanding of the German text was becoming known to her— Herbert’s writing becoming as comprehensible to her as English! Then the image of the woman’s hands merged into the sight of her own hands. Overcome by the wonder of it all, Esther slowly sat down upon a bench, clutching the journal.

Esther understood that the Strand of Living Memory came from a woman who was fluent in the German which Herbert/Gesalec had used— and that woman knew Herbert intimately! The woman had more difficulty with the Old Goth than Esther had. That woman…the jewelry on her hands… Oh, my God, it’s Gabrielle’s hands and mind that I’m experiencing!

~ 2 ~ "Scott, I'm Herbert Schooner. I think you might have heard about me.” Herbert, who had dropped into Scott's office, was fishing.

"Oh, yes. Het talks about you often, Dr. Schooner, and I've seen you around occasionally with him and Esther. What can I do for you?”

Scott had been getting some coaching from Arlo in recognizing and responding guardedly to offers of alliance from persons of higher position and greater influence: “Never turn them way, making an enemy. String them along, at least.”

"I’m interested in your perplex theory," Herbert replied. “It should, I think, help me frame some, er, design issues which are larger than those issues which occupy your colleague, Dr. Kerrigan."

Scott hesitated. I know Het is not telling me everything; is he keeping secrets from his boss, too? He said, "Yes, I believe I understand, Dr. Schooner. Dr. Kerrigan seems to have a rather narrow focus in these days.”

"Ah, that says it all, Scott, doesn't it? You can appreciate that I have a hypothetical matter about which Dr. Kerrigan is not concerned because it’s outside the application which he has in hand— a rather specialized mobile Device."

~ ~ ~

"What is the use of this thing, Het?", was a question which Scott had asked Het more than once, about the project on which he was working occasionally in Ontario. At first, Het had talked about a ‘rickshaw’. Then he had called it another “Device”— the “Miner”— which he also called the “Soma”. Scott had come to feel that he did not like Goth terms; he wanted to continue using the terms which the two of them had developed in working on Het’s meta time theory. He especially disliked “Soma”, because it made him think of insects.

Het had answered each of Scott’s what’s-it-for questions with something like, “We talked about making a very simple mobile Device, but then we got into making a much more sophisticated one for industrial purposes, like a highly adaptable conveyor belt. This is useful to me because it exercises ‘our theory’ in a more profound way.” Scott had never received any kind of satisfactory answer, and in truth he did not want one. He had concluded that Het himself was deliberately trying not to understand the Soma’s purpose. Strangely, Het’s situation caused Scott to feel a touch of sorrow. It seemed to him that Het was afraid of something, and fear did not become Het.

~ ~ ~

In answer to Herbert, Scott said, ”I suppose, Dr. Schooner, the hypothetical matter concerns the kind of meta time regions that the Soma might move across?" By dropping in the word “Soma”he was following Arlo’s advice about insiders’ name games. Was he, Scott, even supposed to know it? Herbert would know that Scott could have learned it only from Het. Did Herbert Schooner even care?

“Ah, yes, the Soma. An ideal Device—like Carnot’s Cycle.”

Het is not afraid of any “ideal Device”. Scott said, “Herbert, recently I’ve been developing a theory about distinguishing the domain of one meta time region from another as a Device approaches the limit of one region from the meta dimensions of the other.” There; I’ve tossed some chum on Dr. Schooner’s water, Arlo.

Scott observed Herbert’s smile. The fish are feeding on it. Then he remembered that Het had told him of Herbert reading the reports which he and Het had written for Dr. Kane—which meant that he knew something about perplex theory. Scott wanted to ask Herbert if he had read the seminal paper which he had written on the subject. The paper had been out for a few months now, to very favorable reviews—the best of which had been followed by an offer to Scott of an endowed chair in Mathematics at William and Mary.

The letter offering him the position was on his desk. When Herbert had walked in, Scott had been reading it through for the third time.

”Actually,” Herbert replied softly, in the manner of one sharing a very important fact, "the hypothetical matter concerns a mobile Device of a rather different nature than that of the mining Device on which Dr. Kerrigan and Esther Rosen are now engaged, which, as you must know, is meant for mineral extraction by moving through solid rock like a glorified earthworm.”

This was more than Het had told Scott. Mining was an application which had not crossed Scott’s mind. Billions of dollars could be made by it; Het would get a cut, while saying nothing about it! Het’s been afraid that I’d find out that he’s cheating me out of my share.

Scott asked, “The question of traversal within a meta time region, as does this ‘glorified earthworm’” (“I like the name,” he lied.) “contrasts greatly with the question of traversal between meta time regions, does it not?”

Herbert smiled and nodded. “Yes. The glorified earthworm moves only within a meta time region.”

The way in which the man had said the word “earthworm” caused Scott to want Herbert Schooner out of his office as quickly as possible. He felt as though slimy, worm-like tentacles were waving all around him, greedily touching every part of his body. Scott said, “The theory of traversal between meta time regions is very complicated, because a traversal path must be continuous and—as in the case of a complex curve in space—the partial derivatives must exist at every essential point. That is, not in just three dimensions as in physical space, but in all of the essential dimensions of the traversal path’s meta time and in the meta time of the traversed meta regions.”

Scott glanced at Herbert, who was listening with a lean and hungry expression. Why did I say that? “That’s the general case, Dr. Schooner, and it’s more or less intractable, but if we assume that the essential dimensions are ordered, in some appropriate sense, then one can collapse the dimensionality of meta time to a single dimension for the meta regions traversed, and to a single dimension for the Device’s pathway.”

“Are there limitations on the form of the single dimensionality?”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Schooner; I see that I haven’t made myself clear. The single dimension cannot be a known function of the existing dimensions. The single dimension is merely one of the essential dimensions of each meta system. The condition in dimensional choice is only that there must exist one event in which the chosen dimension coincides in beta meta time for the traversed systems and in alpha meta time for the traversing system. In that case, the traversal is a partial ‘accomplished fact’ for the traversing system.”

“Does that mean, Scott, that the selection of the singular essential dimensions and the coinciding event is an empirical question?”

“Yes; it’s merely a practical matter, the possibility of which the theory makes clear.” Scott felt sweat oozing from his armpits.

“So, if one successfully fabricated a traversing single dimensional Device, I should think that such a Device could be used as the foundation for a new traversing Device by successfully finding another dimension which also satisfies the traversing conditions.”

“I think that’s possible, Dr. Schooner.” Scott, despite his growing personal apprehension about Herbert, was becoming interested in this problem. “I think there are two extreme cases. The most interesting, to a biologist like Het, is that the two coinciding events of the new Device are partial events of a larger event. The other extreme is that the two coinciding events are merely correlated in some statistical sense.”

“Those cases are not necessarily mutually exclusive, are they?”

“No, but they both mean that, having a single-dimensional traversing Device in hand, one might be able, practically, to add more dimensions rapidly.”

“So, in principle, there’s no limit on the dimensional density of the traversing device.”

“I can’t prove that in general, because it’s an empirical question, but inductively, a restricted theory could be developed for each extreme, with which to search for a meta theory joining the two cases. Het was very much excited by the idea.” After voicing this lie, Scott glanced again at Herbert, away from the distant point in space at which he always looked when he was talking about technical matters. He caught a fleeting frown, and added, “Het thought it might be a para-genetic way to enlarge the scope of natural selection—the kind of stuff that biologists get excited about.” Although that might be true, Scott suspected that both Het and Herbert had in mind a Device—the Agent Calipers—for which Het had brought to him the idea and for which Scott had developed some theoretical parameters, inspiring him to say these things to Herbert Schooner.

Scott felt the invisible tentacles again. Oh, shit! Het was trying to figure out what Herbert’s up to, and Herbert has been fleecing me, trying to find out if that’s what Het is doing instead of staying “focused”. He glanced at the wall clock. It was ten to the hour. “Dr. Schooner, you must excuse me, as I have a class to teach in a few minutes,” Scott lied. He stood up and snatched some papers from his desk.

Herbert said, “Thank you for your time, Dr. Scott. You’ve given me some things to think about.”

Scott felt the panic of prey barely escaping a predator. Rarely, in that condition, was he able to think well on his feet, but this time he did. Knowing that Professor Cox had a class at this hour, and that the professor was usually late, Scott walked briskly to the classroom where the class was held, aware of Schooner tracking him. He entered the room, saw that Cox was not yet there, and went to the blackboard. He erased the blackboard and began writing equations.

Herbert paused at the door, glanced at the dozen students and at Scott preparing to lecture, and moved on. He knew that Scott was wary of him, and he chided himself for having started out too familiarly, by calling him, “Scott.” He had given in to his malevolence, which the smell of Scott’s fear of him had aroused. But he thought that Scott might prove to be useful, although he was only lightly tethered to Het, and Het was only lightly tethered to the Circle—mostly through his focus on developing his meta time theory, and by his attraction to Esther. …Esther? Would Esther be able to work her way into Scott’s confidence, and bind him more tightly to the Circle’s influence?

~ 3 ~ Esther entered Scott's office unannounced, wearing modest business attire. She knew that her usual approach to a man, for getting what she wanted, would not work with Scott, so she asked, "Scott, may I speak with you for a few minutes? It’s about something that’s of equal concern to each of us." She had led Herbert to believe that she was going to try to lure Scott into his sphere of influence. Well, it was a challenge for her.

"Sure, Esther; have a seat. …How's Victor,” he said, to bait her.

"Oh, haven’t you heard? We broke up long ago,” Esther replied nonchalantly, maintaining a modest distance from Scott. They had never talked much with each other, and the little conversing which they had done had been almost always in Victor's presence. Esther had avoided the long technical dialogues between Het and Scott. She supposed that Scott would not have cared about her breakup with Victor more than a year earlier. And he might not have known about it.

"No, I hadn't heard. Het and Eugene haven't mentioned it to me,” Scott lied. “Should I feel sorry for you?"

"Please don't, Scott. It wasn't meant to last forever. What is? Both Victor and I are better off now."

"Oh, good. I was afraid for a moment, Esther, that you wanted…personal help or advice. What would I know?"

"Well…,” Esther replied slowly, “Its personal in a way, Scott. I'm thinking maybe you’ve felt—as I’ve begun to feel—that the work we’re doing with this cloaking technology could, in the worst case, turn nasty."

By playing her card abruptly, Esther had struck at Scott's deepest apprehension about what it might truly be in which Het had gotten him involved. His meeting with Herbert a few days earlier had deepened his apprehensions. Then, Esther had played her role of vulnerable woman just right. Scott asked, ”Esther, do you know what’s really going on? What the stakes are, and who the players are?" He was communicating to Esther his hidden concern which she had unearthed. For the moment, he almost trusted her. Is Dr. Schooner’s earthworm really a cloaking technology?

"Together, Scott, maybe we can figure that out. I heard Herbert Schooner say this is an evil business that goes back to Hitler."

"Does it concern the Device that Herbert Schooner and Eugene Hemming are working on, too?”

I’ve made progress already. “No, Scott. It’s a Device that’s being made in the Ontario Hanger near where we work on the ‘earthworm’. I'll share with you what we’ve learned about it, because it's one of the things worrying me.” Leaning slightly in his direction, she asked, "Scott, do you think the Commons are real?"

"I think of the Commons as a useful hypothetical construct, like gauge fields, Esther, but that’s not the way they talk about it sometimes, is it?”

"Well, I think the Device is designed to move around in the Commons. Is that even possible?"

"It can't be. Meta time regions—the so-called Provinces—are indeterminate essential dimensions—without physical, temporal and three dimensional constraints. Until they’re resolved in an event in an actual 'ecosystem' they exist only as potentials. …Why are they building it?"

"Scott, I’ve been hearing it called a 'Commons Crawler'. It’s supposedly intended to rescue some workers trapped in the Commons, like miners in a collapsed mine."

Scott stared at Esther in disbelief. "You're serious," he muttered. Esther looked truly sincere, and worried. "Can I see this thing? I can't believe it. Who’s making it, Esther?”

“People from one of the Knox companies are making it. And, Scott, I’ve heard a rumor in the Ontario hangar that Rhoda's aircraft—the one that was reported on in Aviation Week—can enter the Commons.”

“I read the article. Het said he talked with a guy—Dr. Jerrod Cunningham from Santa Barbara—and with the reporter. They agreed that it was a faked article to scare the Soviets."

Soviets? Esther was surprised, and Scott sensed her disbelief. "We’re surprising each other, aren't we, Esther? Maybe we do need to talk things over. But first, I need to gather some information on my own."

~ 4 ~ "May I join you, Rhoda?"