Mr. Hanawa, seated at the wheel, bowed politely to them as they went by.
"As Dancer says, it's true the Technicians haven't made an opportunity to talk with Patron," Dr. Koga said, "but you have to remember their work has kept them busy. That kind of hard physical labor is good for their out- look on things, I'm sure.
"After Patron and Guide's Somersault-and this is actually something they brought on themselves, since as members of the Izu Research Institute they made it all inevitable-the Technicians suffered a lot, though not as much as their colleagues who were dragged off by the police and not taken to court.
"I was able to resume my medical practice, but the other Technicians had to hide their research and use their technical skills somehow to earn a living. With automation taking over factories, these skills were less in demand, but once they took a job at some small subcontracting factory they quickly rose to the top and could show what they were capable of.
"Some of them worked in university and business research labs, doing experiments under the supervision of people who used to be their colleagues, making one-micron incisions in the brain and so on. Universities and indus- tries on the cutting edge needed high-caliber technicians like them.
"I think my colleagues are valuable in that they're hard workers who don't have any academic ambition. Working for ten years at the bottom of the heap has made them tougher. After I met them again, I thought that the self-ridiculing name Technicians they'd given themselves was actually a good choice."
Dr. Koga wound his blue Saab, a car that suited him perfectly, through the sprinkle of hamlets in the area that went by the overall name of the out- skirts-an area along the river that stood in contrast to the highway on the opposite shore. As they drove up the rough ancient-looking road, he explained that the name outskirts wasn't a proper noun.
Kizu was impressed by Dr. Koga's explanation about the Technicians.
Somewhat inadvertently, he said, "Doctor, I guess after all you're the Tech- nicians' highest adviser, aren't you?"
"I'm not even a Aw-level adviser," Dr. Koga said. "Rather, I feel they've cut me off. They don't even let me into the rooms they share in the dormitory."
Kizu was surprised to hear this, though it did fit with what he'd heard from Dancer.
"Ogi and Dancer told me," he said, "that the Technicians won't let them into the five rooms they've taken over either. Of course Ogi doesn't go into the Quiet Women's rooms, but Dancer, too, has refrained from doing so.
Ms. Tachibana and her brother are the only ones from outside whom the Quiet Women allow in, and sometimes they participate in their prayer sessions.
"So the problem the office staff has at present is this: After the first wave of people have settled in here, they have to help out the second and third waves.
It wasn't the original plan to have these two sects be the first groups here; Patron was hoping that people who'd gotten in touch with him individually would make up the first group, which is why he had Ogi contact all of them.
The two sects that made up the first group keep to themselves and have no interest in other followers who've moved here. The Technicians especially are like that. What can be done? Dancer asked me about this."
Eyes on the seething water rushing down the edge of the ditch beside the road, Dr. Koga managed a warm smile.
"I imagine the office staff wants the Quiet Women to open up their quarters to others-women only, of course-and want to assign beds in the housing at the Farm on an individual basis. In the beginning, though, there's nothing we can do but accept these two subgroups as the first residents.
"After this base is settled, and the second and third waves of individual believers move in, hopefully these subgroups will eventually disappear of their own accord. But this can't be done overnight, Professor. Patron has finally publicly begun his new church movement, and we can expect his influence will be felt on each and every individual here. As this starts to happen-or as it happens once more, I should say-won't it be possible to keep the Techni- cians from becoming a fixed sect within the church? The Technicians have returned to Patron's church and found a new raison d'être, so to speak, so it's not a good idea to fall over oneself trying to control them.
"This might not be the answer you're looking for, and you might be upset that you're being treated like some kid running an errand, but that's all I can say right now. I'd appreciate it if you'd convey my thoughts to Dancer."
They drove up over the ridge of the mountain chain, coming out on a gentle slope of neat harvested fields. Dr. Koga parked the car at a spot where there was a pull-off that protruded from the low point of the slope. A farm- house sat above the stone wall high on the opposite slope, and an old man who had come out to the edge of the garden bowed politely to them. Dr. Koga gave a friendly bow back.
"Let's walk along the path through the fields to a place where you can see the entire valley. That's Isamu's grandfather by the way, the boy in the Fireflies."
Below where the path petered out was a neat little chestnut-tree orchard, and looking down through the soft green leaves they could see the modest line of buildings in the jug-shaped hollow along the river. The road leading up from the eastern edge that ran along the river valley was cut off from view by a small pass rising up like a bump, cutting off the view of the Hollow be- yond. The cross-Shikoku highway bypass, too, was hidden in the shadow of a mixed cedar and cypress forest jutting out from the edge of the chestnut grove.
"It was called Jug Village for a long time, apparently," Kizu said, "and looking down at it from here it's easy to understand the legend that grew up that for hundreds of years the village was shut away inside a jug."
"I'm sure the topography does account for many legends," Dr. Koga responded. "But if you drive twenty minutes over to the Old Town district they're opening up a Denny's Restaurant, so it's not hard to understand why the Young Fireflies march through forests at dawn, trying to shore up their collective illusion."
Dr. Koga laid a plastic sheet over each of two black natural boundary- marker stones. As they sat down side by side, facing the valley, Kizu had the feeling that he was about to hear something more detailed than any of their earlier brief conversations. And indeed that's how it turned out.
"While we traveled here by train I confessed a lot of personal things to you, Professor," Dr. Koga began, "and I'd like to take up where I left off. I can understand why Guide had such drawing power over the researchers at the Izu workshop, but why did Patron? For one simple reason: We quite naturally believed that when he went over to the other side he communicated directly with God. Listening to Patron's sermons after his trances, one couldn't help but believe-the kind of belief that brings on a deep feeling of content- ment. In his trances Patron and God had a genuine rapport. After returning from the other side, Guide's painful efforts would allow the vision Patron experienced to be transmitted in words we could understand. And this whole vision was powerfully real.
"The radical faction's action program was created as an extension of that reality. Especially as events sped up, as we began to swing into action, as we listened to secret reports coming in from the sites on our strategy list, we felt that we were a part of Patron's trance. And then-out of the blue-the Somer- sault came crashing down on us.
"Now we wondered what the Somersault was all about. Along with Guide, Patron led us, his advance guard, urging us to hurry and make his message from God come true. Is that what the Somersault was-the two of them standing at the head of the troops but losing their nerve at the last minute? We wondered what God would say to the apostate Patron the next time he had one of his trances: a frightful thing, if it actually took place. But an even more frightening thing happened: For ten years Patron was out of touch with God. I find the term somewhat vague myself, though the Quiet Women evaluate it quite highly, but I think this is what they mean when they say that Patron fell into hell. From the beginning, Guide's torture and death came about because of reports that Patron was starting a new religious move- ment. They drove us into a terrible predicament and left us there, with just the two of them starting something new.