Scene 1. Release

Now back at The Factory, Lilly has been assigned an office with a large desk, a drafting board, a telephone and file cabinets. The security on Lilly has been steadily increasing, her portion of the factory floor is closed to all, except to the workers directly assigned to her. Her office has a guard stationed at her office door during the day and returns to her office door if she comes in to work at night. The office is always kept locked and she does not have the key and has to have security open the office.

The Professor visits Lilly every few days and Roc visits once in a while, when he is in town. Her other friends, Trish, Liz, Tex and the kids have been asked to stay away, for 'security reasons'. They are told that this is to keep the press bothering them, but they all think that there must be a more important reason.

The Chief invites The Professor and Lilly to the ‘electric light tube product press release’, for the new incandescent light tube product lines. The Chief and Ellie have taken Lilly’s original designs and made them into several practical variants, with accessory sockets, light fixtures, stands and wire strings. The small low-voltage electric light tubes can be run from batteries, useful for portable lanterns and for automobile lights. The larger electric light tubes are higher voltage and brighter, for room lighting in homes. The very large industrial sizes are for factory floors and streetlights. Lilly and The Professor are seated behind a reflective glass panel to watch, out of the sight of the press.

The press-room fills to capacity, with many observers left standing on the sides of the room. The Chief walks out to the podium and waves to the crowd, the crowd responds with a cheer. The Chief then narrates the history of the discovery. He states that the discovery was made at the local college and further developments were then made here, at The Factory. He makes no mention of Lilly or The Professor.

The Chief then pulls a curtain open. On the back wall is mounted a flat black wooden panel, facing out. Mounted on the panel are examples of each type of incandescent electric light tube in initial production at The Factory. The Chief proceeds to press buttons on his lectern. He describes the application for each type of ‘electric light tube’ as he lights it. He proceeds to demonstrate all of the ‘electric light tube’ types on the panel.

Seated off to the side, in the back of the room, is The General, frowning. He occasionally looks down to take notes. He could have sent an underling to this press conference, to retrieve the written press release, but The General insisted that he see it for himself. He was also present at the original demonstration.

The Chief waves at the board and states, “All of the products shown today will be available for sale by the end of the month,” “and new lighting products, yet to be announced, will be available soon after.” He ends the meeting by posting a world-wide list of distributors for these new products. He then waves to Ellie, standing at the conference room door, “Be sure to pick up a press-kit on the way out!” The Chief then holds a small item up over his head, it is projecting a beam of light. “Also included in the press-kit is a ‘demonstration lantern’!” The ‘demonstration lantern’ is small, cylindrical, self-contained, battery-powered, hand-held ‘lantern’ that projects a fairly bright, directional beam out one end. The crowd roars and jumps up cramming to the door, to be first for the kit, and especially the ‘demonstration lantern’.

Lilly also stands up and jumps into the air, “I want a ‘demonstration lantern’ too!”

Scene 2. Invisible-Ray

Lilly telephones The Professor and tells him excitedly about her second invention. She then meets with The Chief, Ellie and The Professor in the The Factory conference room. Lilly spreads out her drawings onto the large conference table. The Chief smiles, “Your draftsmanship has improved markedly, Lilly.”

Lilly smiles and starts, “These drawings are for my new ‘Invisible-Ray’ device.” “I have also discovered that the device can not only light up the florescent screen with an image, but it can also expose photographic film and make a permanent record of the ‘invisible-ray’ image”. Here in this photograph you can see a package containing a frozen fish. The package is still unopened and opaque to visible light.” “These glass plates are of the same type as used for the college observatory’s astro-photography research." "These developed plates clearly show the shadow or negative image of the fish skeleton, this photograph was made from the opaque wrapped package with the fish inside."

Lilly continues, “I would demonstrate the device’s operation for you here in the conference room, but it might be dangerous as the ‘invisible-ray’ from the device can penetrate living bodies and possibly disrupt living processes.” “We'll have to set aside a dedicated area for the operation of this device at The Factory, far away from people for this reason. “We should do research to determine exactly what effect the ‘invisible ray’ has on living tissue.” “In the mean time we can check the effectiveness of the shielding with photographic film as it is quite sensitive to the radiation exposure.”

The Chief then stands and stares intently at the photographs, his mind whirring, “A device like this could be a great advance for medicine!” Lilly nods in agreement, knowing that the device is used for examining 'broken bones', among other things, in Apollo's world.

The Chief then drops back into his chair, suddenly looking very worried. Lilly starts to pick up a fabrication drawing to begin discussions on the device’s design. The Chief does not even glance at Lilly or the drawings, he stares blankly at the conference room ceiling.

The Chief dryly interrupts Lilly, “Lilly, I don’t think it is safe for you to work here at The Factory any more.” Everyone turns to stare at The Chief for his statement out-of-the-blue. He continues to stare at the conference room ceiling. He is no longer interested in the discussions about this dangerous new device. Everyone clamors for an explanation.

The Chief sits in silence for a long while. Finally, The Chief turns to The Professor, “You must take Lilly back to the college and confine her. Do not tell anyone where she is.” The Chief looks at Lilly, “Lilly you must remain out of contact with everyone from now on.” “You are in danger for your life!” The Chief then looks at The Professor, “And you too!”

The Chief then stands, “I’ll have a truck sent to return you to the college.” “From now on Lilly, you will only be working with The Professor in one of his closed labs,” “And no one else.” “Plan on living in that lab as well.” “Once you have working prototypes The Professor will bring the devices and the drawings here, to The Factory.” “Don’t show these drawings or devices to anyone.” “We will continue the development process here at The Factory. We will work to convert the prototypes into producible products, if possible,”

“And if we are allowed.”

“Even doing this work here at The Factory, will not be without risk!”

“It may already be too late...”

Scene 3. Exile

On the drive back to the college The Professor looks toward Lilly, "I don't think you will stay undiscovered if you remain on campus,” “even if you stay in one of my closed labs my assistants or the janitors will see you eventually." “We’ll have to find you a place, off-campus, where maybe you can still work and be safe.”

The Professor, frowning, suddenly smiles with a thought, "How would you like to do some astronomy research this winter?" "I think we can keep you safe at the college observatory." "You still won't be able to make phone calls to your friends and family, just to me," "But I promise to be your go-between with your world for the duration of this crisis." "I don't know how long this crisis will last, but let's plan for your sabbatical to be for astronomy research over this winter,” “And hope we can bring you back into the world in the spring."

Lilly, is looking down at the floor, depressed, until the mention of astronomy research, "You'll let me use the big telescope?" "And you'll come visit me often?"

"Yes, but don't break it!" "Or me!"