And physicists certainly do .sx But mathematics isn't like that .sx If everything's predictable , life's bound to get a bit damned dull .sx And mathematics can't be dull , by definition .sx There's always got to be something to find out or there's no point in doing it at all .sx " .sx " Funny , " Kate said .sx " Most people think just the opposite .sx " .sx " That's because they know it can't happen .sx Maybe for a while things can go round and round in a nice smooth orbit , like you saw on the screen there .sx But then some unknown factor , like the butterfly , interferes and attracts the particles - pulls them out of the pattern .sx And it all goes haywire .sx We call that factor a strange attractor .sx It's strange in the sense of alien , something that can't be included in the original equation .sx It's quite a frivolous little object otherwise .sx " .sx " Is that how you spend your time ?sx Chasing frivolous little objects ?sx " .sx " For months on end , " Dobie said .sx " They're elusive .sx They take a lot of catching .sx And when you've caught one , as like as not you don't know what to do with it .sx I suspect that's what happened to Sammy .sx In the end he left it where it was .sx Trapped inside the computer .sx " .sx " Poor little thing , " Kate said .sx " I know how it feels .sx " .sx " Yes , " Dobie said .sx " So do I. " .sx He got up and went to sit down in one of the armchairs instead .sx Yes .sx Very comfy .sx It wasn't a bad little room at all .sx He liked it here .sx " .sx .. I've just seen my wife off at the airport .sx She's gone to Paris .sx " .sx Kate sat down opposite him , not properly but perching herself on the upholstered arm .sx " Gone for long ?sx " .sx " No , " Dobie said .sx " Not for long .sx " .sx " Is that another dismantling job you have to do ?sx " .sx " I don't know , " Dobie said .sx " Better dismantled than broken into pieces , don't you think ?sx " .sx " That seems logical , Captain .sx But then we're not all Mister Spocks .sx People aren't logical .sx " .sx " Women even less so than men ?sx " .sx " I didn't say that .sx " .sx " More subject to their emotions , perhaps ?sx " .sx " Perhaps .sx Or to strange attractors .sx " .sx " How long have you been married , anyway ?sx " .sx " Not quite a year .sx " .sx " Oh well , shit , you have to give it a bit more of a chance than that .sx " .sx " That's what I can't help feeling , " Dobie admitted .sx The noise of an aircraft , passing high overhead , came to them both as a distant whisper .sx Friday morning .sx End of term .sx Everybody frantically trying to finish marking exam papers , except for Dobie .sx He'd finished his already .sx But there was a packet of stuff just arrived from George Campbell at MIT , six mini-discs loaded with computations , and to judge from George's accompanying letter some of the new sets were exciting .sx " That should keep you busy through the summer , " Mary Mayfield said .sx Mary Mayfield was the departmental secretary .sx She was very nice .sx " What about your own plans ?sx Spain again this year ?sx " .sx " Yes , I got an early booking .sx I'm off Monday .sx Six nice long weeks on the Costa del Concrete , should be fun .sx " .sx " I'm sure it will be , " Dobie said .sx " I except my wife's got something up her sleeve for me .sx But I don't know what it is .sx " .sx " She's in the business , isn't she ?sx So she ought to .sx .. Oh , by the way .sx Telephone call for you .sx Earlier this morning .sx " .sx " What , from Jenny ?sx " .sx " No .sx A Mrs Corder .sx " Mary was checking the indecipherable scrawl on her notepad .sx " Eight o'clock tonight , was that right ?sx " .sx Yes , you needn't have bothered .sx I hadn't forgotten .sx " .sx " Well , she says can you make it at her place instead of yours ?sx " .sx The Corders' house was the far side of Porthkerry Park , twenty miles distant at least with some nasty bumpy stretches .sx Dobie sighed .sx " I suppose so .sx " .sx " That's good because I said you could .sx " .sx At five o'clock , to make matters worse , it started to rain and by half-past seven it was pelting .sx Doubtless , Dobie thought as he peered astigmatically through the blurred windscreen , Jane that morning had had a peremptory word with a passing butterfly and her resultant accurate assessment of the forthcoming global climate had decided her to conduct such interviews as she had arranged for that evening cosily at home .sx It was , after all , a very palatial home .sx Dobie had only visited it two or three times before , but he had been impressed .sx You were meant to be impressed .sx It was placed on a narrow promontory thrusting out across the Bristol Channel , so close to the sea that in rough weather the waves sloshed right across the portholes , and its trendy-architect bungalow design included all manner of refinements and creature comforts , which ( or so Dobie hoped ) might well include a little something to warm the cockles , after a drive like this one .sx The house was called Pantmawr .sx Nobody knew why .sx Though of course you had to call it something .sx There was a large gravelled space outside where Dobie halted his steed , punctiliously leaving a clear space through to the front gate from the double garage in the corner ( which anyway was closed) .sx He checked the time before getting out .sx Three minutes to eight .sx Very punctual .sx The rain was still fairly whizzing down and he felt in no great hurry to leave his agreeably bottom-warmed car seat .sx To the south the horizon was dark with scudding clouds , black as a kookaburra's khyber and obscuring what on a less inhospitable evening would have been a spectacular sunset .sx He could just make out a few vague lights twinkling half-heartedly on the Somerset coast .sx The prospect of a little something continued to beckon him and he got out of the car and squelched purposefully over to the front door , loose gravel crunching under his feet .sx Tie straight ?sx Flies zipped up ?sx Yes .sx About to press the doorbell , he saw that a sheet of paper had been folded and tucked neatly under that brass knocker that provided an alternative , if unseemly , method of announcing one's arrival .sx He took it and unfolded it .sx It said :sx BACK SOON PLEASE GO IN MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME .sx This message had been typed in red , for some unfathomable reason , and Jane's squiggly signature appended in purple ink .sx Dobie tried the door .sx It was open all right .sx And of course all this was typical .sx He went through into the hallway , left his raincoat on a convenient hook and walked on into the sitting-room , which seemed to be rather more than comfortably warm .sx Central heating on , in midsummer .sx Probably no one had bothered to turn it off .sx He glanced at the note again before dropping it on to one of the side tables .sx He wondered what SOON meant .sx Probably anything from five to forty-five minutes .sx At least it was clear what MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME meant , and he saw that a whisky decanter and tumbler had been placed on a table beside the cocktail bar , in a shaded alcove on the far side of the room .sx Jane was an irritating woman , but she had her points .sx It was five past eight now and the sun well over the yardarm , time for a stengah , what ?sx .sx .. Dobie giggled foolishly to himself as he listened to the pleasant trickle of Glenlivet Double Malt tilting into the waiting tumbler ; there was something a bit memsahib-ish about old Jane , with her ruthless concern for the welfare of the natives and other lesser breeds without the law , such as men in general .sx Give 'em whisky and make 'em wait ; in university circles she'd end up a Vice-Chancellor , nothing was more certain .sx Whereas Jenny .sx .. Dobie took a healthy swig at the contents of his glass ( no sensible man would pollute Glenlivet with water , much less soda ) and turned away .sx He'd no idea where Jenny would end up .sx At the present rate of striking she'd be lucky if this time next year she wasn't being shipped off to South America or Mauritania or some such awful place , and when she got there she wouldn't even enjoy it .sx He gazed glumly at the array of photographs on the mantelpiece .sx Jane was there all right , both in a posed studio shot and ( looking naturally very much younger ) in a wedding photograph , clutching the right arm of a correspondingly youthful Alec .sx Another black-and-white shot of an even younger Jane clad in an abbreviated swimsuit and bathing cap turned out , on closer examination , to be a photograph of Wendy ; there seemed to be some kind of cup or sporting trophy on a small table somewhere in the background , but either the camera was slightly out of focus or else ( and more probably ) Dobie was .sx Further along the mantelpiece Alec was genially keeping up the good work , shaking hands with the Prince of Wales ; this one had an inscription that said 'Prince of Wales' Industrial Awards - Corder Acoustics , Cardiff' .sx The award itself , which appeared to be a small silver plaque , was mounted on a wooden shield directly alongside .sx There was writing on the plaque also , but Dobie couldn't read it .sx The light was decidedly dim here , but even so .sx And still no sign of Jane .sx Dobie went back to the alcove and sat down on the leather-backed couch behind the table .sx He took off his glasses , polished them with his handkerchief and put them back on .sx Everything still seemed to be fogged at the edges .sx He listened to the drumming patter of raindrops on the roof .sx " Not here , " he heard himself say in quite a loud voice .sx " Gone to Parish sic !sx . " He giggled again , this time audibly and took another shwig sic !sx of whisky , why the hell not , Alec had crates of the shtuff sic !sx down in the sheller sic !sx . Then he took off his glasses again and rubbed his eyes .sx Then he sat back on the couch and closed them .sx A warm glow of well-being radiated outwards from his stomach .sx The steady beat of the raindrops was soporific .sx Shopo - Yes .sx Soporific .sx He felt woozhy but pleasantly woozhy .sx Piles of cotton-wool - like clouds drifted peacefully across the horizon .sx Dobie slept .sx He woke up very abruptly and at once decided that he wasn't feeling all that great .sx Something was wrong and he didn't know what .sx He could still hear the rhythmic beat of raindrops but over and above that sound there was a very loud screaming whine that it took him a moment of two to identify as the sound of a jet engine , of an aircraft passing very low overhead .sx It was that sound , he realised , that had woken him up .sx For the rest he knew exactly where he was and what he was doing ; he was sitting on a couch in Jane Corder's house and he had just drunk a glass of whisky and had dropped off to sleep but that had to be wrong because his face felt still and everything looked wonky .sx .. Perhaps I'm ill , he thought , and they've put me to bed .sx Why didn't I wake up before ?sx Good God , perhaps I did pass out , how else could they have .sx ..? How very silly/odd/embarrassing/frightening .sx Frightening because I can't move my arms or my legs and that's because I've been TIED UP .sx .. HELP HELP !sx But this is just bloody ridiculous , incredible .sx .. All of that but none the less true .sx His wrists had been tied , not painfully but securely , behind his back and his ankles similarly fastened , not with a rope but with what looked like somebody's tie .sx Peering downwards with difficulty , Dobie recognised the tie as his own .sx Such pain as he felt - which was really more of a marked discomfort - came from the region of his mouth , which someone had thoughtlessly sealed up with what had to be a wide strip of sticking plaster .sx He had already made , inadvertently , a rather disgusting gugging noise ; he didn't attempt to make any further sounds , but listened instead .sx Apart from the thump of the falling rain and the fast-receding thrum of the aircraft engine , he couldn't hear anything .sx All was silent .sx His vision still seemed to be slightly hazy but he remembered now he'd taken his glasses off and put them on the table .sx There they were , beside the whisky decanter and the almost-empty tumbler .sx But even without them he could see quite clearly the face of the ornamental clock on the far wall , the hands of which now showed twenty to nine .sx