I motioned the approximate size with my hands, and also took a moment to catch a breath.
‘The dealer leant forward to touch it, but Charles removed it and placed it back in the bag and put the bag back on the floor between his feet, so that he remained in constant contact with the bag. Charles then put his hand in his pocket and put his fist on the table. Both men leant forward as Charles opened his palm. At that point, the other man started laughing. Charles then placed whatever was in his hand back in his pocket. The two men now started to talk rapidly as a car pulled up and the shooting began.’
‘What was in his hand? Did you see?’
‘No, but I did manage to pick his pocket.’ Out of my own pocket I now pulled an opaque plexiform box. Opening it up, I carefully picked out a little figurine of a boy carved in ruby. We all sighed in appreciation of the pure artistry of the little model, only slightly larger than a thumbnail.
‘So they have the egg,’ Paul said, interrupting my report. ‘Great Ra, well we may as well step back and face the music then.’ The three of us stared at him.
‘Have you lost your marbles?’ Ramin said. ‘This is a live event. We don't step back until the dead date has passed. We still have every chance of recovering the egg.’ Ramin was cross that his partner was so rattled. Looking at me, he suggested we took a quick break. He had a point. At the moment we had more questions than answers, and at the moment I didn't want to think about what those answers implied.
‘Right. Clio, find out what in the name of Ra happened to the recording devices. Paul, trace the car and get visuals on the occupants when they ditched it. Go and talk to anyone in the area. Let's see if we can follow that lead. Ramin, help him with that but don’t leave the hotel. I need you to lie low for a while. Check all the CCTV footage and see what the police reports are saying. I'm going to Cambridge to Charles’ house tomorrow morning to see if I can find any clues there. When you’re done here, I want you ready to relocate to Cambridge. It’s time to move operations. We missed our chance here. Now it’s time for the endgame.’
#15 Neith -Beta Earth
As I stepped off the train, I headed towards Charles’ home. He lived on the other side of the town, so I walked through the heart of Cambridge. I loved Cambridge and Oxford; as with Alpha, these two university towns had developed along similar lines. If anything, the glories of the two Beta towns were stronger and more intense. Possibly because they were such rare examples of collegiate learning.
In Alpha we had many more examples in every country. Towns that built up around the university colleges, their lineage running back hundreds of years. Some were marking their first millennium. I would never argue less is more when it came to centres of learning and education, but when a civilisation only had a few universities, they became incredible centres of excellence. All the expertise and resources were refined into only a few institutions. It was hardly fair or equitable for the masses, but it did result in towns of deep beauty and focussed learning.
Cambridge was humming, and for the first time in Beta I felt a little bit more comfortable. There was something in the air that felt like home. Obviously it wasn't the cold or the drizzle, but here in Cambridge I could ignore all that and I smiled as I headed toward the dead man's flat.
I knew that the front door was likely to be watched, so I headed around the back. I had a cloak with me, but I suspected it wouldn't be much use here. Cloaks are good at mirroring, so if you covered yourself in one, people didn't notice you. But it wasn't brilliant; if someone was looking hard they would notice an issue or if they were standing too close, then they would be part of the mirror. It was a bit like a fake moustache; it sort of worked, but for heaven's sake don't rely on it.
Charles’ house was bound to be under scrutiny by the neighbours so they'd notice anything odd. Instead, I was just going to have to rely on good old counter-surveillance skills. Happily, I aced my East Berlin term as well as my Chairman Mao term. And Gadhafi’s secret police. Wherever there was fear and suspicion, you could usually find an Alexandrian student trying to get through their exams. And like I said, I aced them. Avoiding detection by a bunch of British suburban neighbours was tricky, but I was up to the task. I left a little wow bang in the bins at the other end of the alley. I loved those little bangs. Packed with psychedelic substances, they moved via air and direct contact dispersal and could trick nearby citizens into thinking or feeling whatever we needed. As it went off, I slipped in through the rear gate and picked the back door’s lock.
Inside the house I discovered it was the abode of a man that didn't live there on a regular basis. The kitchen was spotless and the fridge only had a few items inside. The freezer was full of frozen ready meals and I imagined the microwave saw the most action in this room. A single coffee cup sat in the sink, waiting to be washed. I swabbed it
