ATDTDA (12): Beats going over the side, 328-329

[Paul Nightingale]

As they return, "Colfax seemed to be watching Kit more narrowly than usual",
which contrasts with his apparent lack of interest earlier. He is "morosely
insistent" when pointing out that search parties would have been more
interested in Kit's whereabouts than his own. At this point Fax admits he
has been spying on Kit, which retrospectively throws some light on his
behaviour in Tesla's company. Moreover, Fax's confession is juxtaposed,
here, to his clear indication that he is resentful of Kit's relations to his
father: "Look here, Kit, sarcasm aside, he is my father." (329)

Fax firstly says he's been spying on Kit ("keeping them posted", 328); but
then admits he is not averse to faking it in his relations with SV and FW
(329). He pushes Kit towards a deception that he hasn't really contemplated,
or been prepared to contemplate. Kit wants Fax to lie, to "tell them [he]
got lost in that storm"; Fax says it wouldn't work, and Kit himself must lie
about the "math pilgrimage". The difference is that the lie has to be buried
in the truth: Kit will openly go to Germany, so he won't be trying to hide
himself but his motivation. Empirical evidence will confirm his whereabouts;
his thinking will prove more elusive.

Fax says his father is "a man of religion despite all appearances", which
recalls SV's own protestation in the "offended righteousness" scene (320).
On that occasion Kit was circumspect, "not about to be badgered into a
dispute with the gent paying the bills" (319). Subsequently, Professor
Vanderjuice says that, for him, "things worked out anyway" (323); Kit,
however, feels he can never "buy [his] way out". A page later Vanderjuice is
planting the Gottingen seed (324-325); and we're told that Kit is "wary" of
Fax (325). At the start of the chapter, Kit was confirmed as a loner,
committed to work (318); as the chapter unfolds he has to deal with a range
of characters, all of whom offer temptation. This leads up to the moment Fax
tells him he has to lie about his religious experience, using as bait his
own feelings for his father: "Sounding so anxious for Kit to hear the truth
that he was almost to be pitied for it. Almost." (329)

Kit remains unconvinced. Fax has told him to tell the truth about what he is
doing, but lie about the motivation: is this what Fax himself is doing here?
Fax is as difficult to read as he was in the previous section, visiting
Tesla.