The techs had been told they were seeking a “gravitational anomaly” far deeper than any prior scan for trace ores or hidden methane had ever looked. But most of them knew a cover story when they heard one. The leading rumor — exchanged with fleeting smiles — was that the boss had found a map to the subterranean Lost World of Verne and Burroughs and TwenCen B-movies.

They’ll have to be told soon, Stan thought. Alex and I can’t handle the scans all by ourselves. Probing for an object smaller than a molecule, through millions of cubic kilometers of stressed minerals and liquid metal, would be like chasing a hurtling needle through countless fields of haystacks.

As if they’d be able to do anything about it if they did find the taniwha down there. Even Stan, who understood most of Alex’s new equations, could bring himself to believe the terrifying results for only a few seconds at a time.

I have four grandchildren, a garden, bright students with all their creative lives ahead of them, a woman who has made me whole by sharing my life for decades… There are books I’ve saved for reading “later. ” Sunsets. My paintings. Tenure…

Such wealth, modest in monetary terms, nonetheless made George Hutton’s billions seem like no big difference in comparison. It was hard, yet poignant, to be forced at this late date to take inventory and realize that.

I am a rich man. I don’t want to lose the Earth.

Stan’s satchel computer chimed, interrupting his morbid turn of thought. In a small volume above the open briefcase, an image took shape — of a gleaming cylinder whose surface sheen, wasn’t quite metallic, nor plastic, nor ceramic. Rather, it glistened slickly, like a liquid held fast in some tubular constraint of force.

That took long enough, he thought irritably, checking the figures. Good. The main antenna can be built using today’s technology. Nothing complicated, just simple microconstructors. Programming the little buggers, though… that’s going to be a headache. Can’t afford any lattice faults, or the gravity waves it radiates will scatter all over the place.