The face of a lovely woman appeared on the huge monitor just beyond the platform. Her lips parted in a white smile.

“I'd come off my coffee break any time for Mr. Austin,” the voice said flirtatiously.

The air above the platform shimmered with blue light at the nexus of lasers scattered in the walls. Stud by stud, beam by beam, but with lightning speed, the flashing lasers assembled a long open ship with a single square sail.

“C'mon.” Yaeger got up, and they walked onto the platform. Austin's vision blurred for a second. When it cleared they were standing on the deck of the vessel looking toward the gracefully upturned bow. Circular wooden shields adorned the sides.

“This is the next evolution in the program. Not only will you be able to see the ships in our inventory, you'll be able to walk around on the decks. The virtual perspective changes as you move. The simplicity of design made this one fairly easy. ”

“I'd say I'm standing on the deck of the Gogstad ship.”

“Correct. Built in Norway between A.D. 700 and 1000. The original ship was seventy-nine feet long and was constructed entirely of oak, something a bit more substantial than light beams. This is a half-scale model.”

“It's beautiful,” Austin said, “but what does it have to do with the material I gave you?”

“I'll show you what I found.”

They walked through the shimmering walls back to the console.

“It wasn't hard getting some data on the Mulholland Group,” Yaeger said. “As your dead lawyer friend told you, the company is involved in hydraulic projects. I had to dig around, but I found that it was part of a larger corporation called Gogstad. The logo of the parent company is the ship you see be fore you.” The hologram disappeared, and a stylized version of the ship appeared on the monitor.

“Tell me more.”

“I asked Max to start playing around with Gogstad. I didn't get much on the company, but apparently it's a huge transnational corporation involved in all kinds of stuff. Finance. Engineering. Banking. Construction.”

He handed Austin a computer disk. “This is what I found Nothing startling. I'll keep trying.”

“Thanks, Hiram. I'll review it. In the meantime I've got an other favor to ask of you and Max.” He related his visit to the Grabber center and his interview with the pilot's son. “I'd like to know if this plane was ever built and what happened to the I pilot.”

Max had been attentive again. A photograph of a large wing shaped craft appeared on the screen.

“This is a picture from the Smithsonian files of the YB-49A, the last Northrop flying wing bomber to take to the air,” the low voice purred. “I can give you a three-D rendering, like the ships.”

“This is fine for now. The designation etched on the cylinder was YB-49B.”

The photograph was replaced by a drawing. “This is the YB-49B,” Max said.

“What's the difference between this model and the one you just showed us, Max?”