"I was there when Paul vanished. I opened that door myself, and he was just gone. We didn't get a chance to inspect the room, because we all elected to vacate the area, and then of course the building was demolished.

"That Paul was kidnapped by space lizards as a pawn in an interplanetary war? Sure, it's as good an explanation as any I've got for what happened to him. Whatever it was, it was weird. The electricity, the light, that sound, and then he was just gone!"

Dr. Baker paused and took off his spectacles, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe them.

"There's absolutely no evidence, of course. Some of the guys heard her story and went out there, but how are you going to find the dust of alien fingers and invisible magic screen particles in any case, much less in that mess.

"That stuff about quantum effects on choice, I asked her where she had heard about that. She said it was what the screen — Paul's diary — told her. It didn't seem like something she should normally have come up with. But she might have just put techno-jargon together from the Internet.

"Her Telling never varies. We've recorded them all. Her Telling changes, but not any factor or pertinent matters.

"She genuinely seems to believe what she's saying.

"I just don't know!

"Of course, other than her story, and several unconfirmed 'Paul sightings,' before and since she said he came back, from the moment he walked into his office to this very moment, no one else, no one, has seen any evidence of Paul.

"Wherever he came from, wherever he went, all mystery.

"I miss him. I hope he's safe."