' I’m trying to make you face up to it now, before it really starts eating at your guts,' said Bryant.
'She isn’t the same Andre. She’s not my wife.'
You and I both know that,' Bryant said,'butwe also know how you fell apart when your wife died. Lucas, don’t do this to yourself. Let Martin handle the interrogation. '
Priest shook his head. -We’re all going to have to face up to this sooner or later. It’s like making war upon ourselves. I can’t delegate responsibility simply because I don’t have the stomach to do what must be done.'
'It’snot the same thing,' said Bryant. 'I wish you’d reconsider. '
'I wish I could,' said Priest.'But1 can’t abandon my responsibility. When the time comes, I’ll have to wring her dry. Meanwhile, I think I’ll go get drunk.'
'A fine thing,' said Darkness, manifesting from his tachyon state. 'I send you out to gather information and you get yourself jailed.'
Phoenix quickly got his feet inside the cell. 'Man, am I glad to see you! But keep your voice down, for Christ’s sake! The guards will hear!'
'Of what concern is that to me' I have far more important matters on my mind. Have you managed to learn anything at all''
'I’ve learned plenty. Come on, Doc, keep it down, you’ll only-'
The door to the cell opened and a guard looked in. Seeing Darkness, he charged into the cell, his sword swinging in a sharp, descending arc. It passed right through the scientist.
'Get out,' said Darkness. 'Pmhaving a conversation.'
The burly tribesman stared at him, bug-eyed. The other guard came running in and tried to grab Darkness from behind, only to have his arms close around empty air. The two tribesmen stared at each other in astonishment. From behind them Darkness said, 'You two are beginning to annoy me. Phoenix, you speak their gib-berish. Tell them to get the devil out of here.'
'You’d better leave before you make him angry,' Phoenix said to the guards in Pushtu. They fled, screaming.
'Well, that’s all fine for you,' said Phoenix, 'but what do I do when half the Ghazi army comes running in here''
'That’s of no consequence to me at the moment,' Darkness said.'Weneed to talk.'
'Of no consequence to you' Now just a-'
'Don’tinterrupt. There have been unfortunate developments. Lucas Priest is dead. I homed in on his symbiotracer only to find a corpse. It seems he died saving Winston Churchill’s life. A noble sacrifice, I must admit, Churchill wrote some excellent books. Still, there’s the matter of your agents. I can find no trace of any of them. I must assume they were killed. The most logical explanation is that-'
There was shouting in the corridor outside the cell and the sounds of running feet.
'We’llnever get anywhere with these constant interruptions,' Darkness said. 'We’ll have to continue this discussion elsewhere.'
He translated into tachyons and disappeared from sight.
— Darkness! Wait-shouted Phoenix.
A large group of heavily armed Ghazis burst into the room.
‘Darkness, God-damn-you-iousy-son-of-a-'
An arm appeared out of thin air behind Phoenix. It grabbed him by the collar and yanked. Phoenix disappeared. The Ghazis trampled each other trying to get
out of the room.
'— bitch! ‘
'Really'' Darkness said. 'I should have left you back there to face those primitives.'
'Holy shit,' said Phoenix.
He looked around. He was in a large, cluttered laboratory with wall-to-wall computer banks and other electronic instruments. Dominant in the room was a huge radio telescope. The domed ceiling made the room an observatory. There was an incredible array of equipment, most of which Phoenix could not identify, and ina bizarre juxtaposition, scientific apparatus stood side by side with exquisite Victorian antiques, bronze sculp-tures, and oil paintings. Books were everywhere, in
shelves upon the walls, stacked on desks and tables, piled on the floor. There were thousands of them.
— Wherein bell am I''
He turned and saw a large bay window. The landscape outside was rocky and desolate. It was also ver- milion. He could see nothing but desert and rocks for miles. And he could see three moons.
'Doc''
He turned around. Darkness looked drained. He walked over to a large reading chair and collapsed into it.
' You can move!''
'Ofcourse I can move, you imbecile.'
'1 mean, you can walk like a normal person!'
The scientist made a wry face. 'Thank you. I assume you meant that as a compliment. Yes, I can indeed move about like a normal person, as you say, when I am not in transit in my translated state. In other words, I do not violate the Law of Baryon Conservation when I am home.
'Home'' said Phoenix. 'You mean … this is it.
He glanced quickly back at the window, at the three moons in the sky. -Christ, we’re not on earth!'
— Your powers of deduction are truly overwhelming,' Darkness said. 'There is a bottle of scotch on that sideboard there. Be so good as to pour me a glass. And help yourself as well.'
The scientist looked exhausted. Phoenix swallowed hard, then moved to comply. 'How the hell did you do … whatever the hell it was you did''
'The scotch, Phoenix, the scotch.'
Phoenix handed him the glass and Darkness tossed it down. 'I won’t try to explain how I did it, because I don’t feel like talking for six hours. What I did was to extend my tachyon field for a brief interval and drag you into it. I discovered I could do that, briefly, without altering the molecular structure of objects, but it de-pletes my energy severely. It’s quite an interesting phenomenon. Didn’t know that I could do it with people.'
'Waita minute,' Phoenix said. -You mean I’m the first person you ever tried that with''
'Well, I’ve never had occasion to attempt it with a living being before, — said Darkness. 'Theprinciple should be the same … the structure of molecules is, after all … you do feel all right, don’t you' '
I don’t know. How would I feel if my molecules were out of whack''
'That could be painful,' Darkness said.
‘Wery funny. How do I know I haven’t become like you' ‘,
' You could never become like me. But I assume you’re referring to an alteration in your molecular structure. Rest assured, it would take a great deal more than a brief exposure to my energy field to tachyonize your own molecular structure. However, if you find yourself leaving to go somewhere and arriving before you’ve left, I would say you may have some cause for concern.'
'Just where exactly are we'' Phoenix said.
'We are in another galaxy,' said Darkness. 'That’s all you need to know.'
' I can’t believe it.'
'That doesn’t surprise me. However, if you can manage to contain your incredulity, we have some things we need to discuss. Apparently the situation is a great deal more serious than I thought. With Lucas Priest dead, I have no way of finding the adjustment team. He was the only one of them who had one of my symbiotracers. And since your agents have all disappeared without a trace, I must assume the worst.'
'Drakov had Fox and Sable killed,' said Phoenix. 'My cover was blown when he recognized me.'
'Drakov' How does he fit into this''
'He’s leading the Great Jehad as Sayyid Akbar,' said Phoenix, then quickly brought the scientist up to date on what he had learned. 'The only reason he didn’t have me killed was that he wanted to turn me over to the soldiers from the other timeline. Doc, according to Drakov it’s an almost identical alternate universe. I wasn’t able to learn very much about it, but Drakov claims it’s enough like ours that he couldn’t tell the difference at first.'
'Interesting,' said Darkness. 'That may explain a great deal. I was wondering why the confluence effect did
