You press the red button and the car speeds forward. Seconds later the car stops, the door au- tomatically opens, and the two of you leap out. The factory is a vast cavern, more than a mile long and a quarter of a mile high, carved by lasers out of the black volcanic rock. You are standing at the hub of a web of catwalks suspended high above the factory floor. Below you, in every direc- tion, are huge, powerful-looking machines. "I wonder what those things do, " you say. "I'm just as much at a loss as you are," Ling admits. "What next?" Just then your eye catches sight of strange, puls- ing glimmers of colored light far away on the other side of the cavern. "Look!" Ling exclaims. She has seen the lights too. "How lovely! They remind me of a garden in spring. Or fireworks. Or-" A wide, blissful smile is on her face. SHe looks like a little kid who has just been given an ice-cream factory. Before you know it, she's pulling you along the catwalk toward the lights. "We must go to the lights. THey are so beautiful." "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" you ask. The lights are stunning. But something about them makes you hesitate. They're a little too stun- ning, you think. Ling never answers your question. SHe's let go of your hand is is now running straight toward the lights. And you know you can't let her go alone. Continue to the next page