To Leibniz the astronomer added: “If you are wondering about the point of all this, rest assured that what the Prince told me would have major ramifications for my ultimate interpretation of the tube, my ultimate understanding of what the tube, or telescope, is—what it actually is. Everything I am telling you, everything I have already told you, and especially everything I am still to tell you: it all touches the problem of the true nature of the astral tube.”

Hans held his hand beside Herr von Ulm’s hand and the little bird hopped from the one to the other. Herr von Ulm stroked the bird’s head. “If, Your Majesty,” he said, “the globe remains full of air even after I have pumped it, as your daughter suggests, then she should have no qualms about my repeating that operation with a little bird inside. God only knows what would happen to a bird in a vacuum, but if it is indeed a plenum, as your daughter suspects, then a bird should continue to sing in it quite contentedly! So, shall I put the bird in the globe, Your Majesty?”