- The basement/library is all a-ruckus with novices working to finish Brother Kornhoer's machine.
- Brother Armbruster sulks (piously, we guess) in the corner.
- Dom Paulo questions Brother Kornhoer about the machine, and he states his light will be the most important improvement to the abbey since they went and got themselves a printing press.
- Well, someone's got an Edison Complex going on.
- He then gives the abbot a tour of the arc lamp, praising Thon Taddeo for helping Brother Kornhoer piece together the information he needed to get it working.
- Dom Paulo asks where the bulb will be hung, and hits the problem on the head.
- Kornhoer wants to hang it in a special place to act as Taddeo's work station, but Armbruster says he can read in the lectern like everybody else.
- They eventually decide on the alcove, but that means removing the crucifix from the wall.
- Armbruster goes straight-up Exorcist on that idea.
- Dom Paulo reminds Armbruster that the library is not a church, so religious icons are optional.
- He orders the crucifix taken down… for a time.
- Gulp.
- The next day, Dom Paulo remains in his study during the test, nursing his hemorrhaging stomach. He tastes the blood in his mouth before passing out.
- Gault finds him slumped over his desk and revives him. There sure is a lot of passing out and reviving in this book.
- Gault wants to get the medic, but Dom Paulo tells him to sit down.
- He's all, "I'm just bleeding a little internally, no biggie."
- Gault informs the abbot that the test of the arc lamp was a success.