HERSCHEL
Who is the Traveler
How does she know you

MARGARET
She didn’t say

HERSCHEL
Anyway
Where did she come from
How did she find us up there in space

MARGARET
I knew her face

HERSCHEL
She can materialize
A jungle out of thin air
That seems rather impossible
She can travel into space
And transport us anywhere
Could she be all powerful

MARGARET
I wouldn’t know
HERSCHEL
And she could glow!
Margaret, I’m a scientist
And there are methods
Observe, research, and hypothesize
Those are my rules
Could I have left them
In Printing House Square, 1835
You pushed the satellite
Down the ramp, did you not

MARGARET
I suppose…?

HERSCHEL
You suppose!
That was twenty-five thousand tons
And you rolled it like a ball

MARGARET
It felt like instinct

HERSCHEL
Instinct?

MARGARET
I don’t know how
HERSCHEL
Speaking of…
The Traveler said that you
Can turn things into gold
An alchemist

MARGARET
It was just a stick

HERSCHEL
Organic material
A piece of wood
If I were you, I’d be touching
All the timber I could
And giving it a try
Put your hand on the taffrail. Turn it into gold

MARGARET
…Right now?

HERSCHEL
If you wish to follow the Scientific Method with
Me, yes. Concentrate

(MARGARET sighs, then radiates. A beat.)
MARGARET
No difference - it’s still just a plank of wood
HERSCHEL
Perhaps. But from the least of nature’s works, we
May learn the greatest of lessons
Do you feel any closer to solving your mystery
Any more alive
Than you did on your roof
In Printing House Square, 1835