"We'll start making progress all of a sudden when VISAR gets properly involved," Hunt said.

"You think so?"

"That would be my guess if I had to."

"What do you mean, 'properly'?" Sonnebrandt asked.

"New insights and intuition still seem to be a biological specialty," Hunt answered. "We don't know how we do it, so it's kind of difficult to specify the essence of it to a machine, however much it might be wrapped up in associative nets and learning algorithms. Induction doesn't come easily even to a Thurien system. But once you've given it the idea, it will run with it and tell you in minutes what does and doesn't follow from your assumptions. VISAR did an astounding job of authenticity faking the Pseudowar that panicked Broghuilio's Jevlenese. But it was us who suggested it in the first place."

"Who? You mean you and Chris Danchekker?"

"Oh, there was a bunch more involved, too, at the time. But all Terrans, yes. The Thuriens admitted that something like that would never have occurred to them. Devious thinking and deception isn't their thing."

Sonnebrandt touched a finger to the avco disk behind his ear. "Just out of curiosity, is VISAR tapping into this conversation?"

Hunt shook his head. "It doesn't eavesdrop. Thuriens are finicky about things like that."

"How do you know when it's online and when it isn't?"

"You learn to cue it. It's a knack that you pick up."

Sonnebrandt rubbed his fingertip lightly over the device, tracing its outline. "This isn't the Thurien total-sensory thing that people talk about, right?" he checked. "It's just an audio-visual subset. That's what avco means."

"You've never tried the full Thurien system?" Hunt was surprised. For some reason he imagined all major scientific establishments like the Max Planck Institute as having a Thurien neurocoupler or two hidden away somewhere. But Sonnebrandt shook his head. Hunt flipped the mental switch to raise VISAR. "I assume you've got couplers installed at various locations around the place?" he checked.

"Sure. It's a Thurien ship. Comes with all the fixings."

"Josef's never used one. Think we could give him an introductory ride?"

"No problem," VISAR replied. "Finish your beers, and I'll guide you to the nearest ones that are available right now."

Thurien engineering tended not to be intrusive or ostentatious. VISAR directed Hunt and Sonnebrandt along one of the corridors from the Terran lounge area of the ship to a space divided into a number of partitioned cubicles. They entered one of them to find what looked like a fairly standard padded recliner, with panels of multicolored crystal mosaics positioned behind and alongside the headrest in a manner vaguely suggestive of sound baffles in an acoustic room. An array of video and other sensors covered the area from high on the walls and other directions to capture the subject from all angles for an accurate virtual surrogate to be produced. Otherwise, apart from a convenience shelf to one side, coat hanger, and a mirror, the cubicle was bare. A pattern of intriguing artistic designs relieved the monotony of the walls. "That's it. Take a seat," Hunt said, gesturing.

Sonnebrandt looked around, evidently mildly surprised. "What, no flickering lights and forests of wires? You don't stick your head in a helmet, or anything like that?"

"It all went out with steam radio. This is easier than having a haircut."

"Steam radio?"

"Oh, an English expression. Here. Hop aboard the VISAR express."

Sonnebrandt turned and sat down, looking mildly self-conscious. "This couples into the total nervous system, yes?" he said. "What exactly do I do?"

"It activates when you relax back into it. VISAR will guide you through. Your sensory inputs are suppressed and replaced by what the system channels straight into your brain. Likewise, it monitors your motor and other responses and manufacturers a total environment, complete with a surrogate self, that you think you're actually in. So instead of sending your body to China to experience what's going on there, it brings the information to you. Much faster and flexible. Hop from Thurien to Jevlen and another dozen of their star systems in an hour and be home for lunch."

"It wouldn't know what's going on in China," Sonnebrandt pointed out.

"I picked a bad example," Hunt conceded. "Thurien worlds are fully wired. They can send the data to reproduce what's happening anywhere. So you get injected into an authentic backdrop-the way it actually is there."

"It seems like a lot of effort to put in."

"Thurien psychology is different. They have this hangup about having to get everything exactly right. If something like this ever becomes standard on Earth, you're right-we'd never go to all that trouble. We'd probably make do with lots of extrapolations and simulation. VISAR does that to a degree, too, such as when you want to get the feel of being somewhere that's uninhabited or inhospitable. But where they can, Thuriens have this thing about getting it like it is… Anyway, lie back and enjoy, as they say. I'll hook in next door. See you in psy-space."

Leaving Sonnebrandt to privacy, Hunt went into the adjoining cubicle, sat himself down, and lay back. This had long ago become a familiar routine. A warm feeling of total ease came over him. He sensed the system tuning in to his neural processes. And in moments it was in passive reception mode, waiting for his directions. With Sonnebrandt, things would take a little longer the first time. The system needed to run a series of sensory calibration tests to fix a user's visual and auditory ranges, thermal and tactile sensitivity, and so forth in order to create inputs that seemed normal. Once done, however, the profile was stored and could be invoked immediately on future occasions. It was a good idea to have it updated periodically-a bit like getting one's eyes checked from time to time when approaching the age where things start to get fuzzy.

Hunt swung his legs down and sat up. Or at least, everything in his vision, realistic feelings of pressure against the recliner and friction of his clothes, and simulated internal feedback from his muscles and joints, told him that he did. It was only because of his past experience with this that he knew he was really still immobile in the recliner and would remain so until he decoupled from the system. In earlier days he had found it necessary to convey his wishes, for example as to where he wanted to "go," or whom he wanted to contact, as explicit instructions to VISAR. Now, his interaction with the system had grown subtle enough for it to respond to his unvoiced volition.

When he got up, the recliner behind him appeared empty. What he was seeing was coming into his head from the coupler now, not from his eyes. He walked back around to the adjoining cubicle and leaned casually against the side of the doorway. Sonnebrandt was to all appearances comatose, still undergoing the profiling process. It took a few minutes but was subjectively telescoped to seem a lot less. "Locate him here, too," he said inwardly, evoking VISAR. "Let's see how long he takes to twig it."

"Still can't resist playing a joke, eh?" VISAR observed.

"Consider it an experiment. Purely scientific curiosity."

Sonnebrandt stirred and focused back within the confines of the cubicle. For a moment he seemed unsure of where he was, like somebody coming out of a deep sleep. He saw Hunt, turned his head first one way, then the other to take in the surroundings, then sat up and turned to look at the recliner. He was clearly confused. Finally, he looked back at Hunt. "Do we have a technical hitch?"

Hunt shrugged. "I guess it can happen to anyone," he said noncommittally. "Want to take a tour around? We can try back here later."