ATD: unanswered question #2

[bandwraith at aol.com]

"The first moment of the new age came when Merle picked up
Dally's broadcast, synchronicity linking Merle's old-world
alchemy with Dally's new world technology. Now of course
Merle and Dally would most likely hook up via cell-phones or
Skype. But in Against the Day we are witness to the first time
that happened, a fictional moment.."

Yea, that Integrocsope is something else- definitely a
steampunk type of contraption- but not without magic,
even with its secrets laid bare. Of course it wouldn't work,
but maybe that's the point? Before we can figure out that
it's impossible the narrative has already made use of our
imagination and moved on.

  "...Carl brought a kind of illumination, a brightening,
   a compensation for whatever it was about the light
  that was missing...

  The route to the hideout was thus like a way into
  a reefed and perilous harbor. If there had been more
  than four going in, there would have been no danger
  at all; it would have been just a mob of kids running
  through an old house. If there had been fewer, it
  would have been impossible to get beyond the first room"