However, when Karl finally won an invitation to dinner with the family, he saw the painting and made the error of trying to work it into the conversation.
"Herr Moe'n, that is a very nice work of art you have on display in the living room."
Grandfather lifted his eyes from his soup and said, in a very dry voice, "That's not a work of art."
"I don't understand," said Karl, and all the while Flikka said shut up, shut up please with her eyes and chin.
"It is a live video feed from a ship," said Caspar's father. "Maintained constantly, at a high cost."
"A cost I choose to bear," said Grandfather.
"A live feed? But the image is completely motionless."
"Their time-slope is almost vertical," said Caspar's father. "It currently stands at something around one second to the year, and it's steepening. They've been on their way for over thirty years, local time. A voyage of exploration outside the Galaxy. You see, my father's wife is on that ship. That's her, about to catch the ball. If you waited another year you'd see it make contact with her hands. Wonderful, isn't it?"
