It rang but she did not answer. I triedagain. On the fourth attempt she answered and sobbed into thephone, "What do you want." Come home and let's tal...," I said, "I can't discuss things overthe phone." Oh Ian, how could you. I thought I knew you. Oh Ian ..."She again started crying and if a hole opened under me andswallowed me I would not protest."Come home... Please.."She hung up and I sat dejected on the sofa and waited .. andhoped .. and prayed.After about a half hour I heard her car and. When asked, PLATO would just reply, “It’s for a future project.”The technicians and operators assumed that some of the machinery– especially the strange chairs and tables– had something to do with one of the projects which PLATO was working on involving remote neural paths. One of the few things which is beyond the healing capabilities of Dr. Bernaldi’s marvelous ATOs is massive destruction of the spinal column. PLATO proposed that rather than attempting the reconstruction of the entire spinal. It was wonderful how exact it was. There is no exact answer as to why Germany lost WWII. You could argue about the Russian Campaign or the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until you were blue in the face but there would still be disagreement. But you always knew that tan(x) = sin(x)/cos(x). And it would be the answer no matter where you are. It was the same in Germany as it was here, in small-town USA. Math came naturally to me and I loved it. After math was lunch. It had always been me, Casey,. God, what a variety, she thinks. Every size, shape, color, flavor, all the bells and whistles one can ever think of. She choses a box of what looks to be relatively normal ones, pays for them and walks out with them in a plain, discreet paper bag.When Alexis gets home, she tells Noah about the purchase and that on Monday afternoon, they will perform the grand experiment."Oh, I can't wait. I've wanted to do this for a long time." Really, just how long?" Oh, since I was about ten." Shit, and I.