John Hackworth, somehow, was better than anyone else at making the 
transition between the society of Drummers and the Victorian tribe, and each 
time he crossed the boundary, he seemed to bring something with him, clinging 
to his garments like traces of scent. These faint echoes of forbidden data 
entrained in his wake caused tangled and unpredictable repercussions, on both 
sides of the boundary, that Hackworth himself might not even be aware of. Carl 
Hollywood had known little of Hackworth until several hours ago, when, alerted 
by a friend in Dramatis Personae, he had joined his story in progress on the 
black decks of the show boat. Now he seemed to know a great deal: that 
Hackworth was the progenitor of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, and that he had a deep relationship with the Drummers that went far beyond 
anything
as simpleminded as captivity. He had not just been eating lotuses and getting 
his rocks off during his years beneath the waves.