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at their gigs had gotten so big that they were now being booked into small to medium concert halls instead of the bars they’d started in . Joe even interviewed a number of “managers” and they had moved from their van into a bus. On this particular morning they had all gathered in a coffee shop to talk to one of the manager candidates. Allie came back from the restroom to find him at the table with the other band members. Immediately she thought that he didn’t fit their image, too slick. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but looked like he was. When she sat down across from him he looked mildly startled. “Holy shit! Eva, you’re gorgeous! Why don’t you dress like this for your shows?”
                  Allie looked down at herself. She was wearing a snug midriff t-shirt, cutoffs and sandals. “Doesn’t fit our music.”
                  Joe said, “Give it up Steve. Yes, she’s beautiful , but she wants us to succeed on the music, not her sex appeal.”
                  “ Come on ! It’s hard enough to make it in this business, For God’s sake, you’ve gotta play all your cards!”
                  Allie got up from the table. “Joe, let me know when you’ve got someone else for us to talk to?”
                  They all watched wistfully as she walked out the door. “Joe, you’ve got to talk some sense into her! Are you the leader of this band or what?”
                  “Yeah,” he chuckled ruefully , “I’m the ‘ leader ’ , but I do exactly as she says, just like the rest of the guys.”
     
                  Dans and Forst had just watched a split screen video with two views at right angles of absolutely nothing but a black background. The start of the video showed the setup of the two cameras and the black cards and lights. The split screen views showed the black background for 20 seconds, then, suddenly a spray of water erupted in the middle of the space, shooting upward out of nothingness. For that video Allie had opened a port from a cold water pipe in the lab to the spot a t the focal point of the cameras .
                  Forst’s head jerked back, eyes wide. “What just happened?”
                  Dans looked at him intently, “Something like a wormhole was just opened from a vessel containing pressurized water to the viewing area. The vessel was about 15 feet from the visible opening you saw on the video. ” Dans didn’t want to say it just came from a water pipe in the wall. Didn’t sound sophisticated.
                  Forst raised an eyebrow , “This is real?”
                  “Absolutely.”
                  “Because it’d be pretty easy to fake with a good video editing program … ” He trailed off tentatively.
                  Grimly Albert said, “That video has not been manipulated at all. Not even an adjustment of brightness or contrast.” He ran the same segment, and then others repeatedly to let Forst look for video editing artifacts.
                  Forst turned to Dans, “Wow! Amazing. Can you bring the equipment here? Or do I need to go to your lab to look at it? Will the University let you sell me the manufacturing rights?”
                  Albert looked dow n at the table. His jaw bunched and he muttered, “I can no longer reproduce the phenomenon.”
                  “What?” Forst guffawed and slapped his knee. “’If you can’t reproduce it, it ain’t real.’ I’m pretty sure I’m quoting you correctly on that one!”
                  “It was reproduced hundreds of times and I col lected reams of data! ” Dans said hotly, “ I just can’t reproduce it anymore… ” He trailed off .
                  Forst leaned back in his chair, “You have got to be shitting me!”
                  “I’m looking for a collaborator