  In the context of the two fluid model of space-time fluctuations proposed to
tame the transplanckian problem encountered in black hole physics, it is
postulated that the inflaton is the fluctuation of mode density, ``the vapor
component'' of the model. The mass of the inflaton is occasioned by the
exchange of degrees of freedom between the ``vapor'' and the ``liquid'', the
planckian ``soup'' in which usual ``cisplanckian'' fields propagate. This
exchange between vacuum fluctuations is modeled after its counterpart in the
real world i.e. black hole evaporation. In order of magnitude, a very rough
semiquantitative estimate, would situate the mass somewhere between $10^{-10}$
and $10^{-5}$ planck masses, the largest uncertainty being the mass of the
planckian black hole fluctuation i.e. the entropy that one ascribes to it.
