Dear Victoria,

At last the lecture circuit has come to an end and I left the audience with a final portrayal of the Anomaly.  Using words, I depicted a vibrant, functional automaton and not the crafty manipulating creature that has emerged from our current work.  I hope their overall view leaves them with no doubt that any type of intelligence hides behind its glamorous facade. I did not realize when I agreed to this assignment how difficult a task this would be. It is now done, and I can turn my full attention to the actual nature of our subject.  My mind is no longer split between analogies, but can be solidified on the central conclusion of our findings; an intelligent being with premeditated intent guiding its actions.  Only one final encounter has left a shade on my intellect.  Yesterday at the end of my last lecture,  I received a visitor.

I was sitting in my campus office, completing the final rooster from the day.  A quiet knock preceded the entry of a young woman.  When I looked up from my work, I found myself confronted with the same student who had mesmerized me several months ago during my first lecture.  She had that same expression on her face that so reminded me of you. At once I was looking at you again and not a stranger. We had not had contact since that initial conversation and I cannot recall seeing her face in the audience in the lectures that followed.

After she had taken the seat that I indicated, an elaborate story spilled from her over the next half hour.  The bulk of her tale described her journey toward the decision to study the Anomaly.  She kept referring to her difficulty with this decision in reference to what had occurred during one of the lecture she attended. She kept referring to the strange question asked at the end of the session and the need to have clarification before she returned to her studies. I vaguely remember that particular occurrence since I related it to you in one of my letters. I had been daydreaming as I viewed the periodic table depicted in a tapestry hanging across the doorway with the lecture hall.  Someone had asked a question and the entire assembly became quiet in anticipation of my response.  I had forgotten about this event and had never gone back to the recordings to review what the young man had asked. I was not even sure if the question had been captured by the lecture records since only the lecture material is captured for the archives.

The young woman (she identified herself as Lisbeth) needed clarification on why I had not responded to his question.  It seems her final thesis has been based on the finding of my passed work. Her conclusions were in direct conflict with the argument made by the man’s question during my lecture.  The discord would place her final project in jeopardy. 

I listened to her patiently knowing I would be unable to respond without first reviewing the lecture recordings.  I admonished myself once again. First for letting my mind wonder during the lecture and second for not following up with my gut feeling that the question would return to haunt me. Lisbeth seemed to think that my refusal to answer was an indication that I either disagreed with the nature of the man’s question or was avoiding the subject.  I guess I should have explained to her the real reason I did not respond, but something warned me not to. I quickly assured her I would provide information to her as soon as possible, but I needed time to assemble the research material to support my response.  She was not accepting of my answer and I could see she knew I was being elusive.  We remained staring at each other across my cluttered desk, waiting for the other to blink. When I continued to sit silent and did not give an indication of continuing the conversation, she nodded and left the office.

The first thing I did was track down the recordings of my lectures.  Luckily the audio/visual engineer is an acquaintance of mine and this search was quickly achieved. The rest of the day was spent scanning through the October data trying to retrieve the offending lecture.  After several fruitless hours I finally found the occurrence.  There I was, my silent form positioned at the lecture podium with a blank stare, lost somewhere within the colorful tapestry hanging across the hall. A tall thin man had risen from his seat, indicating that he had an inquiry for me.  When I did not acknowledge him after a few moment,  he proceeded with his question.

“Why, when all our research has focused on the functional capacity of the Anomaly, there has not been a deviation from the present focused research?  Why has your team been so adamant about including no references to the possibilities of an intelligent component in reference to the Anomaly? Why has the intelligence and purpose of the subject been ignored as an explanation for some observations? Why has no emphases been placed on the mounting evidence that the Anomaly has shown preference over some communities and not others?”

There it was! The thing I had been dreading.  A direct question I could not answer without lying straight out.  Although he did not mention the Flynn Foundation explicitly, the insinuation was there. I guess it was lucky that I did not acknowledge this question, lost somewhere between Earth and New London. It would have been difficult to respond without giving away the true nature of our current project. I believe even if I had tried to direct his question away as having no consequence to our current view of the subject,  it would have done more harm than my lack of response. Looking at the reaction of the young man on the recording,  I could see only confusion when I closed my lecture without even glancing his way.  And yes, there sitting several rows behind him was Lisbeth, but she did not have a confused look.  Her look was more deflation.  As if her whole world was collapsing and it all balanced on my lack of retort.

Now I will need to derive an answer for Lisbeth. If her thesis depends on the true nature of the Anomaly, and she needs an argument to pursue her conclusion that the Anomaly is a static object,  this question is indeed paramount.  Of course, in the end her thesis will be proved wrong by our current research,  but for now I need to keep her off that track.

I knew somehow this decision to conduct lectures would turn out to be a disaster.  I just need to do some damage control now.  Then I can move on to more fruitful endeavors.  One more lie and I hope to be done with the subterfuge. 

Love

Annalis