His eyes got a bit unfocused, as he started calculating. But this was Richard's area of expertise. "You can at least put that fear to rest.

All things are relative. Compared to the energy involved in a major earthquake, this"-he jabbed his own finger at the screen-"is like tossing popcorn." Dingley's face cleared. "Yeah, Dick's right. And the energy levels aren't directly comparable anyway, since most of the impact happens on the fourth dimension, not the first three." He flashed that same quick grin. "To put it as crudely as I possibly can to you amateurs." Margo was looking exasperated. "For Pete's sake, don't you understand? Theycan't cover this one up!" Everybody went back to staring at her. "Look," she continued, "the only reason they got away with Grantville was because it was a once-only." She waved her hand. "Yeah, sure-weknow there have been dozens since then.

Dozens, at least. But why won't almost anyone listen to us? For the good and simple reason that they've been small events and almost all of them happen where you'd expect random impacts to happen. Somewhere in the ocean. Or, if it was on land, somewhere uninhabited or nearly so." She shrugged. "So, fine. So some fishermen in the north Atlantic Ocean swear they saw a sea monster, and a small village in Borneo found some sort of weird carcasses washed ashore. But nobody checked the fishermen's story because fishermen have been telling sea monster stories for centuries and while a biologist did go to that village in Borneo, by the time he got there the remains had rotted and all he could say was that they had definitely been some sort of very large and peculiar marine invertebrate." Richard started tugging his beard.

"Yes, true. And if a small village in the Sudan disappears, there are unfortunately far too many simpler explanations." "Well, there was…" But Karen didn't pursue the matter. She saw the point also.