and a woman. The man is conscious, limping and holding his arm. The woman is bleeding from above her eyebrow and very dizzy but still awake and talking. Allcoth looks up at the traffic lights and notices that they are all green. “Another damned malfunction,” he mutters. “And, this time the results were almost fatal.”

The authorities soon arrive to take control of the situation. Allcoth and Natasha are quickly released from the scene to continue with the rest of their night. As they leave, Natasha coyly remarks, “See? This planet has enough problems without some silly unproven science mucking things up even more.”

The next morning, Allcoth is quiet at breakfast and at work. As he had promised, Townsend shows up before leaving town. He speaks briefly to Tim and...

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