“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,” but we 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’s not the same thing,” said Bryant. “I wish you’d reconsider.”
“I wish I could,” said Priest.”But I 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. “I’m having 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 gibberish. 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.”We need to talk.”
“Of no consequence to you? Now just a—”
“Don’t interrupt. 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’ll never 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-lousy-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 in a bizarre juxtaposition, scientific apparatus stood side by side with exquisite Victorian antiques, bronze sculptures, 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.
“Where in hell am I?”