Chapter 13 Summary

In Chapter 13, dated February, 2051, Maria is working on "Lambert," the name she has given to the infant planet she is designing for Durham. She convinces Durham that she should give Lambert a plausible "history" by programming a simple solar system surrounded by a cloud of Autoverse elements that will come together to form one large planet, Lambert, and three smaller ones. She spends hours every day tweaking and testing her design.

As she is about to log off one evening, she receives a warning message on her computer screen that an automatic analysis of traffic on her network suggests that her work is being monitored by a third party. Almost immediately, the doorbell rings.

At the door is a woman who introduces herself as Detective-Sergeant Hayden from the Computer Fraud Squad. Maria is startled, and asks her inside.

Hayden shows her a picture...