AtD translation: invested in, invested by

[David Morris]

P452.6-12   The conferees had gathered here from all around the world,
Russian nihilists with peculiar notions about the laws of history and
reversible processes, Indian swamis concerned with the effect of time
travel on the laws of Karma, Sicilians with equal apprehensions for the
principle of vendetta, American tinkers like Merle with specific
electromechanical questions to clear up. Their spirits all one way or
another invested in, invested by, the siegecraft of Time and its mysteries.
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Here's my take on this passage:
1.  All of the conferees are "invested in, invested by, the siegecraft of
Time and its mysteries."
2.  All are, then, at battle with Time (capital T).
3.  That they are "invested by" that siegecraft implies that they are less
than autonomous in that battle.  "Time and all its mysteries" has
"captivated" them.  So, in essence, Time has agency, and the upper hand
against all those that siege against it.

David Morris