ATDTDA (11): Stormy weather, 322-326

[Paul Nightingale]

Time for Kit's prayer to be realised. The new Tesla tower is "a peculiar
dark geometrical presence".

If Kit is having second thoughts about taking money from Vibe (eg ". aware
that there was no role for his destiny as a Vectorist within any set of Vibe
goals he could imagine", even when avoiding "a dispute with the gent paying
the bills", 319), then Vanderjuice's story is timely: "One day, just around
the time I was beginning to feel dishonest taking Vibe's money, the checks
stopped arriving ." (323). Kit responds "miserably".

As we read Vanderjuice's account the narrative shifts to his pov: "One day,
chatting with young Traverse ." (324), the first time Kit's family name, the
name that ties him to Webb, has been preferred to his given name in these
pages. Perhaps Vanderjuice is succeeding Webb, Vibe and Gibbs at a paternal
figure for Kit (That "young" sounds protective). Hence, the possibility that
Kit might escape Yale and go to Gottingen: ". among my old stomping grounds,
in fact. I keep in regular touch, and I could drop them a line if you like."
(325) Such introductions drove Frank's narrative forward previously. Is this
the solution to Kit's problem, or an evasion, as Vanderjuice puts it: ". a
form of escaping reality, and sooner or later comes the payback."

Kit wants to trust both Vanderjuice and Fax: the Professor is already an
anti-Vibe, and Fax, we're told, "had never been the feckless character his
father had assumed him to be". Visiting Tesla might be a 'betrayal' of his
father, something similar to Kit's 'betrayal' of Webb. Cf. Dally's departure
at the end of the previous chapter, her independence provoking "fatherly
pride" (317).