The right sort of client seemed to be elusive.
Rosie delivered the Book's machinery. There was a complicated interface that went between the Chemical Communication Analyzer and the Language Acquisition Engine. The CCA would collect chemical vapors, analyze them, and send the analysis to the Engine; the Engine would decode them and send the resulting vocabulary back to the CCA, which would then translate; the CCA would finally hand the translation back over to the Engine and, presumably, to the Book.
They tested the apparatus on a variety of chemical vapors; during the tests Tallie listened in with the CCA's original headset. The Book declared that it was pleased.
Rosie's second project, though, was a mystery to Tallie. That one was a strange device with a drilling unit, a cradle of some kind, and a long curved ramp. Rosie showed how the drill could be adjusted to an exact depth - or height, Tallie thought, since it was pointed upwards - and Rosie and the Book agreed on an exact setting for it. Then Rosie went back to reinventing Henry Hall's engine.
And nothing happened. Well, that's not accurate: the Book's business continued, as it always did. It accumulated a number of interesting stories, and dispensed stories in return, as it always did. There were many pots of tea, as there always were. But the whole problem of the Orb and its translation seemed to have been forgotten, as far as Tallie could see. The Book was not forthcoming on the topic, and when pressed it would always tell her (again) that they were waiting for The Right Sort of Clien
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