"I see. Do you have any reason, aside from the way Miguel reappeared, to think that the test was a partial success?"
"Yes. At three different times since this morning I've heard the sounds of a river flowing under the house."
"You heard what?" Dowland said.
"A river flowing under the house. The noises were quite unmistakable. They lasted for about thirty minutes on each occasion."
"What would that indicate?" he asked.
"Well, obviously ... this time period and another one—the one in which that river flows—have drawn close to each other. But the contact is impermanent or imperfect at present."
"Is that the way the machine is supposed to operate?"