Katherine looked impressed. «Parallel processing.»

A kind of metasystem. «I’ll call you if I get anything.» «i appreciate it,trish.» katherine patted her on the back and headed for the door. «i’ll be in the library.»

Trish settled in to write the program. Coding a search spider was a menial task far below her skill level, but Trish Dunne didn’t care. She would do anything for Katherine Solomon. Sometimes Trish still couldn’t believe the good fortune that had brought her here.

You’ve come a long way, baby.

Just over a year ago, Trish had quit her job as a metasystems analyst in one of the high-tech industry’s many cubicle farms. In her off-hours, she did some freelance programming and started an industry blog — «Future Applications in Computational Metasystem Analysis»—although she doubted anyone read it. Then one evening her phone rang.

«Trish Dunne?» a woman’s voice asked politely.

«Yes, who’s calling, please?»

«My name is Katherine Solomon.»

Trish almost fainted on the spot. Katherine Solomon? «I just read your book — Noetic Science: Modern Gateway to Ancient Wisdom — and I wrote about it on my blog!»

«Yes, I know,» the woman replied graciously. «That’s why I’m calling.»

Of course it is, Trish realized, feeling dumb. Even brilliant scientists Google themselves.

«Your blog intrigues me,» Katherine told her. «I wasn’t aware metasystems modeling had come so far.»

«Yes, ma’am,» Trish managed, starstruck. «Data models are an exploding technology with far-reaching applications.»

For several minutes, the two women chatted about Trish’s work in metasystems, discussing her experience analyzing, modeling, and predicting the flow of massive data fields.

«Obviously, your book is way over my head,» Trish said, «but I understood enough to see an intersection with my metasystems work.»

«Your blog said you believe metasystems modeling can transform the study of Noetics?»

«Absolutely. I believe metasystems could turn Noetics into real science. »

«Real science?» Katherine’s tone hardened slightly. «As opposed to. .?»

Oh shit, that came out wrong. «Um, what I meant is that Noetics is more. . esoteric.»

Katherine laughed. «Relax, I’m kidding. I get that all the time.»

I’m not surprised, Trish thought. Even the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California described the field in arcane and abstruse language, defining it as the study of mankind’s «direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason.»

The word noetic, Trish had learned, derived from the ancient Greek nous — translating roughly to «inner knowledge» or «intuitive consciousness.»

«I’m interested in your metasystems work,» Katherine said, «and how it might relate to a project I’m working on. Any chance you’d be willing to meet? I’d love to pick your brain.»

Katherine Solomon wants to pick my brain? It felt like Maria Sharapova had called for tennis tips.

The next day a white Volvo pulled into Trish’s driveway and an attractive, willowy woman in blue jeans got out. Trish immediately felt two feet tall. Great, she groaned. Smart, rich, and thin — and I’m supposed to believe God is good? But Katherine’s unassuming air set Trish instantly at ease.

The two of them settled in on Trish’s huge back porch overlooking an impressive piece of property.

«Your house is amazing,» Katherine said.

«Thanks. I got lucky in college and licensed some software I’d written.»

«Metasystems stuff?»

«A precursor to metasystems. Following 9/11, the government was intercepting and crunching enormous data fields — civilian e-mail, cell phone, fax, text, Web sites — sniffing for keywords associated with terrorist communications. So I wrote a piece of software that let them process their data field in a second way. . pulling from it an additional intelligence product.» She smiled. «Essentially, my software let them take America’s temperature.»

«I’m sorry?»

Trish laughed. «Yeah, sounds crazy, I know. What I mean is that it quantified the nation’s emotional state. It offered a kind of cosmic consciousness barometer, if you will.» Trish explained how, using a data field of the nation’s communications, one could assess the nation’s mood based on the «occurrence density» of certain keywords and emotional indicators in the data field. Happier times had happier language, and stressful times vice versa. In the event, for example, of a terrorist attack, the government could use data fields to measure the shift in America’s psyche and better advise the president on the emotional impact of the event.

«Fascinating,» Katherine said, stroking her chin. «So essentially you’re examining a population of individuals. . as if it were a single organism.»

«Exactly. A metasystem. A single entity defined by the sum of its parts. The human body, for example, consists of millions of individual cells, each with different attributes and different purposes, but it functions as a single entity.»

Katherine nodded enthusiastically. «Like a flock of birds or a school of fish moving as one. We call it convergence or entanglement.»

Trish sensed her famous guest was starting to see the potential of metasystem programming in her own field of Noetics. «My software,» Trish explained, «was designed to help government agencies better evaluate and respond appropriately to wide-scale crises — pandemic diseases, national tragedies, terrorism, that sort of thing.» She paused. «Of course, there’s always the potential that it could be used in other directions. . perhaps to take a snapshot of the national mind-set and predict the outcome of a national election or the direction the stock market will move at the opening bell.»

«Sounds powerful.»

Trish motioned to her big house. «The government thought so.»

Katherine’s gray eyes focused in on her now. «Trish, might I ask about the ethical dilemma posed by your work?»

«What do you mean?»

«I mean you created a piece of software that can easily be abused. Those who possess it have access to powerful information not available to everyone. You didn’t feel any hesitation creating it?»

Trish didn’t blink. «Absolutely not. My software is no different than say. . a flight simulator program. Some users will practice flying first-aid missions into underdeveloped countries. Some users will practice flying passenger jets into skyscrapers. Knowledge is a tool, and like all tools, its impact is in the hands of the user.»

Katherine sat back, looking impressed. «So let me ask you a hypothetical question.»

Trish suddenly sensed their conversation had just turned into a job interview.

Katherine reached down and picked up a tiny speck of sand off the deck, holding it up for Trish to see. «It occurs to me,» she said, «that your metasystems work essentially lets you calculate the weight of an entire sandy beach. . by weighing one grain at a time.»

«Yes, basically that’s right.»

«As you know, this little grain of sand has mass. A very small mass, but mass nonetheless.»

Trish nodded.

«And because this grain of sand has mass, it therefore exerts gravity. Again, too small to feel, but there.» «right.»

«Now,» Katherine said, «if we take trillions of these sand grains and let them attract one another to form. . say, the moon, then their combined gravity is enough to move entire oceans and drag the tides back and forth across our planet.»

Trish had no idea where this was headed, but she liked what she was hearing.

«So let’s take a hypothetical,» Katherine said, discarding the sand grain. «What if I told you that a thought. . any tiny idea that forms in your mind. . actually has mass? What if I told you that a thought is an actual thing, a measurable entity, with a measurable mass? A minuscule mass, of course, but mass nonetheless. What are the implications?»