"When is the first?" said Winnie.
"Real soon. A week from next Monday." He spun his laptop around so the others could see. "We'd go in through Pilchner Hall." He launched into an extended discussion of how he would manage the adventure. "… And here is where the tunnel forks off campus. Once we get past that, we can walk almost half a mile, out under the old General Genomics site."
"Huertas's labs are just north of that," said Rivera.
"Yup. And ten-to-one odds we can get in there and do our stuff — and maybe even get out!"
Neither Rivera nor Blount seemed discomfited by this prospectus. After a moment, Winnie said, "We really can't postpone things. I vote for a week from Monday."
"Yeah, me too," said Robert.
"Wo tongyi . Yes."
"Okay then!" Tommie spun his laptop back and made a notation. "Come wearing, but I'll supply new clothes and all necessary electronics. I — "
Winston Blount interrupted: "There's one other thing, Tommie."
"Uh, oh."
"It's not a big thing, but it could get us the right publicity."
"Hmm."
"I propose that we bring along a remote presence, that Sharif fellow."
"That's insane ?" Tommie hopped to his feet and then abruptly sat down again. "You want a remote presence? Don't you understand? You won't even be wearing down there."
Winnie smiled cajolingly. "But you'll be bringing electronics, Tommie. Couldn't we support his presence through that?"
Parker gargled on his indignation. "How do you think remote presence works, Dean?"
"um, it's just a kind of overlay."
"As far as display goes, that's true. But it's not local. Behind the pretty imagery, there's high-rate comm and forwarding through ambient micro-lasers. There are no random networks down in the tunnels. Everything I've planned depends on us being very quiet, in particular not using any lab nodes. What you want is — " He shook his head in disbelief.
Robert looked at Blount. "I don't understand either. Just a couple of weeks ago we shut Sharif out as a security risk."
Winnie's face reddened, just as in the old days when Robert nailed him in a faculty meeting.
Robert raised his hand. "I'm just wondering, Winston. Honest."
After a second, Winnie nodded. "Okay. Look, I was never down on the guy. We've met him in person, right here at the library. He appears to be a sincere student. He's honestly interviewing you, right?"
When he's not the Stranger or Mr. SciFi, yeah . Robert realized that just a word from him now and the whole scheme might be abandoned. He had not imagined that betrayal could be such a full-time job: "Yes. His questions are often foolish, but they're very academic."
"There you are! My point is that if things do not go one hundred percent our way, we want an outsider to present our view, ideally someone who has seen exactly what we're doing. It could mean the difference between going silently to jail — and making an effective moral statement."
"Yes," said Rivera. "You're a security genius, Professor Parker. But even the best-laid plans can go awry. If you can accommodate Sharif, that would be a… a kind of safety net."
Tommie pounded his head gently on the table. "You guys don't know what you're asking."
But for all the histrionics, Tommie had not said no. After a moment, the little guy sat up and glared at them. "You're asking for a miracle. Maybe I can do it and maybe not. Give me a day to think."
"Sure, Professor."
"No problem." Blount was smiling with relief.
Tommie shook his head and hunched down behind his laptop. He seemed just as happy when the other gang members adjourned the meeting and wandered off toward the elevators.
Usually, there was an elevator waiting by the time they got there. Ap-parently Tommie's deadzone had left even the elevator software in the dark. After a moment spent staring at closed doors, Carlos reached over and punched the ground-floor button. "The virtue of maintaining antique controls," he said with a weak smile.
Winnie was grinning, but it had nothing to do with the elevator. "Don't worry. Tommie will come up with a solution."
Robert nodded. "He always has, hasn't he?"
" 'Yup,'" said Winnie, and they all laughed. And suddenly Robert understood why Winnie and Carlos wanted Sharif on board.
As the elevator doors opened and Rivera and Blount stepped in, Robert said, "Catch you later. Maybe I should see the Library Militant again."
Winnie rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself." And they were gone.
Robert stood for a moment, listening to the sound of the departing elevator. Beyond the stairway door on his left was the descent into the virtual library. There had been no more faux earthquakes, but the Librarians Militant still played with heavy amplifiers. He could hear the sounds of creeping masonry, louder now than the elevator. The floor under his feet trembled to the tune of Jerzy Hacek's fantasies.
He waited a moment more, and then — instead of heading down the stairs — he walked back around the sixth floor to Tommie Parker.
Tommie was leaning forward, his nose still buried in his computer. His deadzone LED was still lit. In a very concrete way, he looked like a wizard with a book of ancient lore. No virtual realities needed here. Robert slid into the opposite chair and watched. It was quite possible the guy hadn't even noticed his arrival. He really could get totally absorbed by games and puzzles and cracking schemes.
"I am everywhere, and I appear however I wish, to produce the results that I wish ." That was the Mysterious Stranger's brag. After last night, after the miracle in the front bathroom, Robert was willing to believe that whatever the Stranger was, he might be nearly as powerful as he claimed. I wonder what he has on Winnie and Carlos ?
Finally, Robert broke the silence: "So, Tommie, how badly have we screwed up?"
Blue eyes appeared over the top of the laptop. Tommie's expression seemed to say what are you doing here ? His gaze turned back to his computer. "Dunno. I just wish you guys would make up your minds." A quick glance back Robert's way. "But you didn't push for this change, did you?"
"I have… mixed feelings about it." Now the Stranger would be on-site next Monday, proving again his claim of ubiquity. "I've always believed in letting you tech geniuses get the job done your own way."
Tommie bobbed agreement. "Yup."
Actually, the old Robert had never cared about technology one way or another. Now things were very different. "I remember you were always good at pulling miracles out of your hat, though. Are we asking too much this time, Tommie?"
Parker sat up and gave Robert all his attention. "I… I just don't know, Robert. In the old days, there's no way I could swing something like this. I could design super ASICs. I could hack protocols. I could do a dozen things outside my narrow academic specialty. But that doesn't count for so much now. It's that — "
"It's that you're working on problems bigger than any set of specialties."
"Yes! How did you know that?"
Ms. Chumlig told me . Aloud, Robert said, "Nowadays, you deal with completely unrelated specialties."
"Right. Some of my core skills are still important. In those I'm as effective as I ever was. But… by the time I retired, I was almost an embarrassment to my department. I was good in certain niche courses, but when I tried to teach the new integrative stuff — well, all my life I'd been way ahead of the students, even in new courses. But toward the end, I was floundering. I got through my last semester by assigning weekly projects, and then having the kids critique each other." He looked seriously embarrassed. Nothing like this had ever happened to the old Robert — but I could always define what quality and performance meant .