Why in god's name wasn't Chard asked for his opinion ? It was not as if it was too complex a question for him to contemplate, even though it was not within the bound of his normal field of excellence.
A simple reference to Chard may have saved many lives and resultant collapse of civilisation. Quantum theory is not everyone's cup of tea of course, but Chard was fully aware of the implications of ignoring its basic, if complex, theorem.
The Outer Hebrides had survived most of the subsequent terror and destruction, but was still a bleak and unhospitable place to be in mid-February.
