I shall not give it all away though except to say that Anita in her own way, and Norm through his curiosity about Hindu philosophy and religion begin to arrive at certain conclusions. Anita too has an experience like Norm, and remembers a strange dream in which she is presented a model of the universe. It is in the shape of a tornado, this universe, and there is a low pressure in the center of the tornado just like the eye of a hurricane. A substratum ether is present everywhere in the tornado except in the center. The three forces force the ether to condense into matter.
Light too is a manifestation of ether.
And if you are wondering if this is not all crazy because, after all, no scientist now believes there is ether you have another revelation waiting for you in the book. Anita dies young. Two weeks before she turns sixteen. We come to know that her life reflects and is a strange imitation of the life of the great Hypatia who lived in Alexandria at the time when Christianity began to spread and be thrust around the world. The great library of Alexandria, it is speculated, was burned by either fanatical Christians or Arabs, and Hypatia was tortured to death.