"Not exactly," says Shephard. "Function-wise, Pi's just usin' that kind of thing to teleport. The portals don't last more than a second."

But he's not stupid. You don't last long in his line of work without recognizing subtleties of tone.

"'Course, now that I think about it, it ain't likely to be all that wise an idea for my end of the teleport anyways. Strikes me as the kind of thing you got to git exactly right the first time. Mind if we forget I said anything?"