On a large LCD screen to one side of the big machine an image came to life. It was in full color, but something about the scene it displayed looked awry: though the image appeared to have texture, the coloring appeared to be two dimensional, like an old photo that has been retouched, or an image from an atomic microscope. The latter comparison was, perhaps, the most apropos, as the images were a magnified view of the three objects that had been had introduced to the sphere. But not seen using light. Instead they were being viewed using vibrations varying from the audio down to the gamma. These were sonar images.

Looking at the screen it appeared as though the objects were hovering in midair inside the sphere and this was, actually, exactly what was happening. They were being held there by the focused resonance being pumped into the sphere by the devices that radiated from its exterior, and as the tech adjusted the fields, they were able to flip the three objects over and move them around relative to each other.

As Matsuoka stared in silence at this parlor trick, Ito Hanso saw the childlike fascination creeping into the man’s expression and a reflected smile spread to his own lips. He had been right to send for the president of the firm.

Madeline rolled her eyes at this sycophantism and carried on with her explanation. “OK,” she said suddenly, making them jump once more, “for this next part of the demonstration, I would like to ask if you have a Matsuoka Industries cell phone, Mr. Matsuoka?” Shinobu Matsuoka looked at her confusedly and then nodded.

She then held out her hand and he stared at it a moment before realizing that she meant for him to give it to her. Disconcerted but keen to see where this all was going, he dipped his hand into his jacket pocket and withdrew a high-end but nonetheless fairly standard smartphone. Standard excepting that it was a platinum-plated version made especially for him. Madeline glanced at the extravagance a moment, then smiled and turned it over, glancing at the model number on the back.

“Domo Arigato.” She bowed to the man. “With your permission I will return this at the end of the demonstration.” She smiled. She was not used to being a showman, but it was easy to run a circus when you had an act like this.