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 Professor Vanderjuice was along for the day, having completed whatever business had detained him in Chicago.

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Well, we know what business that was: a contract with Scarsdale Vibe to build an Anti-Tesla Machine! So, having completed the business, I suppose that means Vanderjuice is now working for Scarsdale. But that business is still a mystery to the Chums. Ray Ipsow seems the kind of bloke to keep a person's business their own business while also being stand up enough to help out the Professor if he were to really find himself in serious trouble. Ray may eventually have to let the Chums know what the Professor has gotten himself into so that they can have a big adventure saving Vanderjuice's ass and defeating Scarsdale! Although judging by the direction history continues to veer, people like Scarsdale usually win out.

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 Faint janglings of music ascended from the Midway pavilions, a bass drum thumped like the pulse of some living collective creature down there.

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I realize that a lot of my reading of the lines of this novel stem from my own beliefs and philosophies about how I think we should regard society, civilization, and living. But I'm also trying to rein it into the bounds of what I believe Pynchon is saying. And no matter how conservative a person's political leanings, I can't imagine their biases and prejudices could allow them to remain blind to his anti-colonial philosophy. It's just absolutely everywhere. And so I choose to read this bit as a statement of intent: we are a living collective creature. We must work together to survive. And the heart of what we are is primal, a tribal bass drum thumping away in time, orchestrating all the moving parts toward one overreaching goal. Keeping us alive. Trying to keep us healthy and moving forward. The "unbearable whiteness" is what we see; the pulsing bass drum beat, surely meant to evoke a tribal or primal sound, the sound of brown people, drives us. The sound which in America will become Ragtime, and then Jazz, and then Rock 'n' Roll.

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 The visibility today was unlimited, the Lake sparkling with a million highlights, the little electric launches and gondolas, the crowds in the plazas adjoining the mammoth exhibition buildings, the whiteness of the place nearly unbearable. . . .

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"The visibility today was unlimited"
Lew Basnight has a nearly paranormal ability to perceive his surroundings, as noted by Nate Privett when he first encountered Lew. Today he is up in the Inconvenience and nothing in the Fair can escape his vision, even, possibly, past the limits of the real. "Unlimited" seems pretty specific here. Just try to keep in mind Basnight's extra-sensory perceptive abilities and Pynchon's historical use of the term "inconvenience." By perceiving the world as it truly is, and not limiting what we see to what we desire, the inconvenient truth of it all will be exposed.

"the Lake sparkling with a million highlights"
The Lake being Lake Michigan (that's for my fellow West Coasters whose knowledge of U.S. geography really shits the bed east of the Rockies). This is the first mention of light and electricity in this opening line. The lake shines with reflected light. But the light only reveals the surface of the lake. Bodies of water beneath the surface are generally metaphors for the subconscious, or that which remains hidden from view. Perhaps a knowing, winking paradox at the unlimited visibility, or just a reminder that we are often blinded by that which we see, believing what is visible is the extent of what is actually there.

"the little electric launches and gondolas"
Next Pynchon mentions the "electric launches," reminding us of the electricity illuminating much of the fair at night. During the day, the sun makes everything sparkle, allows us to visualize our surroundings. But now, with electricity, the night has also been harnessed in much the same way. Better, stronger, more clear than lanterns and torches. It is a vehicle, as a launch or a gondola, to move us more easily through our surroundings. Perhaps much like a balloon through the air moving us across vast distances, through time and space. Technology as a means of propelling evolution forward faster and faster.

"the crowds in the plazas adjoining the mammoth exhibition buildings"
After that, crowds in the areas between the buildings, flowing to and fro, as a current might. The plazas being mere conduits for people to pass from experience to experience, and the experiences within the pavilions meaning nothing without the people passing through to light them up, to acknowledge them, to marvel at them, to illuminate them.

"the whiteness of the place nearly unbearable"
And finally, the unbearable whiteness which can be read as the new and flashy brightness of the electric light's ability to expose what was previously hidden, or to, you know, make visibility unlimited. Of course there is the other way to read the unbearable whiteness which I've covered earlier in the sections with Miles and Lindsay's foray into the fringes of the Fair.

". . . ."
Always an odd bit of punctuation for me but here it seems to say, "And so many other things I could mention, going on and on, being that visibility was unlimited, but I shall choose to stop here by adding this fourth period. Done!

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 In the short time he'd been riding with them, he'd almost come to feel more at home up in the Inconvenience than he did at the Agency.

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Well of course Lew did! The Chums are right good fellows who must be a lot of fun to pal around with (excepting Lindsay, of course). And who is there to joke around with back at the Agency?! Nate? Rewind? The dozens of nameless coworkers Lew named who would have been better suited for the Denver transfer? The ones who, daily, tried to convince Lew that Anarchists were around every corner blowing things up and destroying America? Why would Lew ever feel at home at the Agency? Why would Lew ever feel at home anywhere since he obviously isn't even in his proper timeline! I say "obviously" because it seems obvious to me but I guess it's just theory and speculation. But what do you expect from somebody whose formative years were spent watching In Search Of which begins with "This series presents information based in part in theory and conjecture." I was five years old when I began watching that show! My whole world became based in theory and conjecture!

"come to feel more at home up in the Inconvenience"
Lew has begun the transformation into a ballooner, more comfortable in the heavens than on the Earth. Already on the Earth, he had begun to see things in ways he couldn't unsee: weird hidden districts, labyrinthine hotels, union workers as human beings, chaotic and violent rulers. He was learning inconvenient truths which were edging him out of the comfort of the status quo. The Agency was where one believes what those in power want you to believe, grounded and sure; the Inconvenience is where one can see the true scope of things, throwing a wrench in the comfort of life trying not to care too much about anything but themselves. As Pynchon so starkly stated in Gravity's Rainbow, the "inconvenience of caring" was a thing so abhorred by so many that they would contort their world view and beliefs into pretzels of logic to continue to ignore it.

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 For some reason Lew felt uncomfortable telling the Chums of Chance about his transfer.

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Is this the emotional discomfort any person might feel when saying goodbye to friends? Or is this a particular discomfort that Lew feels due to his history of shifting places and more than once losing all that he has ever known? I suppose it's left for the reader to interpret as even Lew doesn't quite know why he's feeling uncomfortable. He might work it out in the next sentence or two and then won't I look like a foolish bastard, wasting all this time discussing a mundane line that's just meant to introduce a new scene! Acting like there's something mysterious Pynchon is holding back not only from the reader but from Lew himself! Why even mention the discomfort if it's not related to the themes of the book (whatever those are! Probably quaternions!).  Maybe it's because Lew extorted a whole lot of money out of Nate in the contract to move to Denver and Lew knows the money was made by crushing the hopes and dreams of the working poor!

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 Lew blew a smoke ring, and a few more concentrically. "Well now shit, there, Nate."

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And there it is. The final lines of this interaction and this section. Lew lording his winning hand over Nate, slowly, methodically, luxuriously. And then letting Nate know, in one incomplete sentence, how he pities Nate and his experience. He may run White City Investigations. He may hobnob with the rich and powerful. He may earn quite a bit of money oppressing workers and destroying unions. But his quality of life is for shit. He's never actually seen Chicago. He just lives there and exploits it. And he thinks he's going to trick Lew into a Denver transfer without ponying up anything?!

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 "No," Nate staring impatiently, "not too often, I work too late for that."

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First off, I highly doubt Nate is doing much work. So "I work too late for that" means "I'm usually passed out in my office by then." Nate also might be a little bit upset to learn that Lew's ability to perceive things better than the average person means that Lew actually gets more enjoyment and fulfillment out of his existence than Nate does. But mostly Nate is just getting angry and impatient because Lew noticed that Lew has all the power in this transaction and he's making the most out of it. He's really letting Nate dangle here. "You want me to go to Denver? Well, it's going to cost you, buddy!"