The 16th Amendment, Ergodicity And A Sortilege

Operation Luna, 43.

Thanks to Mimir's interpretation of the US Tax Code, the Nornwell company, which employs Steve Matuchek, has, over a three year period, overpaid fifteen thousand dollars and the Matucheks have overpaid nine hundred:

"'Refunds will be expected, with interest.'" (p. 391)

Steve opines:

"There's little doubt in my mind that the Sixteenth Amendment was inspired directly by Hell..." (pp. 391-392)

That is what we call Going Too Far.

With the IRS off their backs, the Matucheks can focus on rescuing their daughter from outer space and some technicalities are involved:

Valeria's companions, Svartalf and Fotherwick-Botts, "'...carry a strong ergodic charge.'" (p. 392);

"...a sortilege revealed that Val should toss away the piece of meteor." (ibid.)

They manage to get the broom moving back into the Solar System but there is more to be done. 45 pages and 6 chapters remain. The climax approaches.