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Within two months the transition was over. Erisa was in her apartment perusing the newspaper for positions and thinking about going to work for General Electric as a salesman. "Of course, that means I have to travel." She rejected the thought. She had Pete. Only if they travelled together.

Pete had written the document that shut the door on the paper archives. He argued, apparently without flaw, that the Subterranean TV worked fine and absolutely allowed the paper to be sealed up and forgotten -- at least as far as Erisa's job was concerned. Erisa's boss got a new PC, a laptop for home, and even a PC for home on the Internet so she could apply quality control at her leisure. The county Commissioner got a laptop with a "cellular modem" so he could monitor things. The Mayor got a laptop. The congressman got a laptop. Erisa and five other people lost their jobs at a county commission meeting.

"Yea, I'm sorry." Pete was genuinely sorry that it was his report that planned Erisa out of a job.

"Yea," Erisa said quietly, "I know, it's not your fault. You were taken up by this thing. It's really amazing. It's really amazing that it works."

"Yea, and its going to make a mint for the county because only government organizations are permitted to own and operate these things," said Pete. Then he mused, "You know, we have already gotten four of those helmet set ups. Cost a million dollars." He was thinking about the cost because "Yea, and its going to make a mint for the county because only government organizations are permitted to own and operate these things," said Pete. Then he mused, "You know, we have already gotten four of those helmet set ups. Cost a million dollars." He was thinking about the cost because Erisa's whole department was less than $200,000 a year.