quot;Im sorry,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot;Yes, maybe t;
quot;s dark matter?quot; said Lyra. quot;ts says on t it?quot;
Dr. Malone sat doh her ankle for Lyra.
S;Dark matter is is. tuff out ts t. e can see tars and t s for it all to oget fly apart, to be a lot more of it—to make gravity no one can detect it. So ts of different researcs trying to find out is, and t;
Lyra tention. At last talking seriously.
quot;And is?quot; she asked.
quot;ell, is—quot; As stle boiled, so s up and made tinued. quot;e ts some kind of elementary particle. Somete different from anyt ticles are very o detect. ... o scudy p;
Lyra felt Pantalaimon nip to get cross. It er telling o be trut s ruto tread carefully and just avoid direct lies.
quot;Yes,quot; s;I knotle bit. But not about dark matter.quot;
quot;ell, rying to detect t-undetectable ticles cras. Normally t detectors very deep underground, but ead is to set up an electromagnetic field around tector t ss out t and lets t it ter.quot;
S ss in a draook one hungrily.
quot;And icle t fits,quot; Dr. Malone on. quot;e t fits. But its so strange ...
elling you t. Its not publiss not refereed, its not even ten dotle crazy ternoon.
quot;ell ...quot; s on, and s Lyra t sop, quot;our particles are strange little devils, make no mistake. e call ticles, S nearly knocked me off my c noeam, you see, is a bit of an amateur arc. And believe. But ignore it, because it fitted in t t? ts rigicles of consciousness. You ever upid? No get our grant rene;
Sy flower.
quot;Yes,quot; Dr. Malone on, quot;t: you cant see t to. Unless you put your mind in a certain state. You o be confident and relaxed at time. You o be capable— quotation ...quot;
So tten h a green pen. She read:
quot; ... Capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, any irritable reacer fact and reason. You o get into t state of mind. ts from t Keats, by t t yourself in t state of mind, and t t;
quot;t; said Lyra.
quot;Oer. e call it to. ts our arc again. ellectual. But o Geneva for a job intervie suppose for a moment s rigo it, if you t about it. to your t;
quot; about t;
quot;I o t. Oliver Payne— one day testing t didnt make any sense in t . a piece of ivory, just a lump, and t. It didnt react. But a carved ivory cer of , but a atuette alking about elementary panicles here, for goodness
sake. Little minute lumps of scarcely anyt ts ed was surrounded by Shadows....
quot;And t some fossil skulls from a friend at tested to see ime t . toff point about ty, forty t, no Ser t, plenty. And ts about time, apparently, t modern appeared. I mean, you knoe ancestors, but people no different from us, really....quot;
quot;Its Dust,quot; said Lyra autatively. quot;ts is.quot;
quot;But, you see, you cant say t of tion if you to be taken seriously. It does not make sense. It cannot exist. Its impossible, and if it isnt impossible, its irrelevant, and if it isnt eits embarrassing.quot;
quot;I to see t; said Lyra.
Sood up.
Dr. Malone was running o keep ired eyes clear.
quot;ell, I cant see ; s;e mig omorro;
So t .
quot;t. Over t; sing to a screen t y gray. quot;ts or is, be o see to be linked up to some electrodes. Like for measuring brain ;
quot;I to try it,quot; said Lyra.
quot;You see anytired. Its too complicated.quot;
quot;Please! I kno;
quot;Do you, noific experiment. You cant come c to sc;
And s waking up.
Lyra rembling. tell trut. quot;I found my ; sook out ter.
quot; in t? A compass?quot;
Lyra let ake it. Dr. Malones eyes quot;Dear Lord, its made of gold. ;
quot;I t does s to find out. If I can ansion truly,quot; said Lyra desperately, quot;someto and I dont, can I try your Cave t;
quot;, are o fortune-telling no;
quot;Please! Just ask me a question!quot;
Dr. Malone s;O,quot; sell me ... tell me ook up t;
Eagerly Lyra took ter from urned t pictures even before ting at tco respond. As it began to s, cing, seeing doo truth lay.
t of emporary trance.
quot;You used to be a nun,quot; s;I . Nuns are supposed to stay in ts forever. But you stopped believing in c you leave. t like my all, not a bit.quot;
Dr. Malone sat doaring.
Lyra said, quot;ts true, ent it?quot;
quot;Yes. And you found out from t...quot;
quot;From my aleter. It , I to find out more about Dust, and it told me to come to you. So I reckon your dark matter must be try your Cave?quot;
Dr. Malone s not to say no, just out of ;Very ; s;I t as ;
Scrical ers cooling fan into t ttle muffled gasp. It room dreadful glittering c Bolvangar, ly squeezed him for reassurance.
But Dr. Malone noticed; soo busy adjusting scapping tters in anotrays. As sters and figures appeared on it.
quot;No do; s a c;I need to put some gel on your skin to rical contact. It ;
Dr. Malone took six taco various places on Lyras determinedly still, but s ing hard.
quot;All rig; said Dr. Malone. quot;to t. But ty and look at t;
Lyra looked. tion dimly, but t sended t ser, and imagined herself asking:
does t Dust? questions is she asking?
Sally moved ters o flicker. Astonis of ration, and t notice tement t made Dr. Malone sit up: s foro concentrate again.
time tantaneously. A stream of dancing ligains of took up patterns t o break apart and form again, in different s colors; t, t into s suddenly s like a flock of birds cion in tc trembling on tanding, t sime er.
Sion: Is t? Is it tterns and moving ter?
t. S meant yes. t occurred to urned to speak to Dr. Malone, and saw o her head.
quot;?quot; she said.
the screen faded. Dr. Malone blinked.
quot; is it?quot; Lyra said again.
quot;O put on t display Ive ever seen, ts all,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot; ;
quot;I it clearer t; Lyra said.
quot;Clearer? ts t its ever been!quot;
quot;But mean? Can you read it?quot;
quot;ell,quot; said Dr. Malone, quot;you dont read it in t doesnt . s to ttention t you pay them.
ts revolutionary enougs our consciousness t to, you see.quot;
quot;No,quot; Lyra explained, quot;ed. tures if you ed to. Look.quot;
And surned back and focused time sended to ter, y-six symbols laid out around t omatically ted in o point at tanding), t (for diligence), and framed tion:
o do in order to understand the Shadows?
t itself, and out of ter of lines and flasures formed clarity: compasses, alpning, angel. Eacure flas number of times, and t three:
camel, garden, moon.
Lyra sao explain. time, ting back in e-faced, clutcable.
quot; it says,quot; Lyra told ;its saying in my language, rigures. Like ter. But says is t it could use ordinary language too, up like t. You could fix t put youd need a lot of careful figuring ning meant anbaric—I mean, electric po. And ts all about messages. t s to say. But on to t second bit... it meant Asia, almost t east but not quite. I dunno ry t ry of talking to Dust, I mean S ures, only ticks. I t meant t picture on t I didnt understand it, really. I t tant about it, only I didnt kno be lots of alking to S;
Dr. Malone hless.
quot;t; s;Yes, its Cion—fortune-telling, really.... And, yes, ticks. Its only up tion,quot; so reassure Lyra t s really believe in it. quot;Youre telling me t ting in toucicles? itter?quot;
quot;Yea; said Lyra. ts of t;
quot;tures on t; Dr. Malone began.
Lyra felt a flicker of a t at turned to to formulate a question urned back to her.
quot;It says t youre important, too,quot; sold tist. quot;It says you got sometant to do. I dunno it say t unless it rue. So you probably ougo get it using and says.quot;
Dr. Malone . t;All rig;
Lyra ted Dr. Malone, of exion and despair, range curned up from no it. But Lyra o tell truth.
quot;I come from anot; s;Its true. I came to to run aer comes from ... from ter of Jordan College gave it me. In my Oxford t t one o read ter by myself. I got a see ures mean straig like you said about... doubts and mysteries and t. So t and your Soo. So...quot;
Dr. Malone er and folded its velvet clot, like a motecting ting it back in her rucksack.
quot;So any; s;you could make t could talk to you in ed.
talk to talk to ter. But to kno? Dust, I mean, Ster. t to destroy it. ts evil. But I t t. So , S good or evil, or ;
Dr. Malone rubbed urned her cheeks red again.
quot;Everyt t; s;Dyou knoo mention good and evil in a scientific laboratory? ist to o t t kind of t;
quot;You got to t it,quot; said Lyra severely. quot;You cant investigate S, is, t t kind of t said you got to, remember. You cant refuse. o close t;
quot;ttee decides at t;
quot;Cause you got tonig; said Lyra. quot;You could fix to put ead of pictures like I made. You could do t easy. to give you to carry on. And you could find out all about Dust, or Sell me. You see,quot; s on a little ily, like a ducisfactory ;ter exactly tell me o kno you could find out for me. Else I could probably do t Cicks. But pictures are easier to work.
I to take t; s trodes on her head.
Dr. Malone gave issue to he wires.
quot;So youre going?quot; s;ell, youve given me a strange s no mistake.quot;
quot;Are you going to make it do ; Lyra said, gathering up her rucksack.
quot;Its about as mucing tion, I daresay,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot;No, listen. I you to come back tomorro? About time? I you to s;
Lyra narrowed rap?
quot;ell, all rig; s;But remember, to kno;
quot;Yes. Of course. You ;
quot;Yes,quot; said Lyra. quot;If I say I ;
And s. ter at t back to his paper.
quot;tak dig,quot; said t, so ask me about t.quot;
quot;; said ill, on once.
quot;I t. Im not sure.quot;
quot; to kno it?quot; he said.
quot;In connection trip. It of tion vanisar ars. Youre probably too young to remember t. tallations all across tic....
Any;
quot;ell,quot; said ill, trying to keep calm, quot;I trying to find out about t expedition, really.
For a sc about preoric people. And I read about tion t disappeared, and I got curious.quot;
quot;ell, youre not to-do about it at time. I looked it all up for t. It a proper dig. You cant do a dig till you knoime on it, so t out to look at a number of sites and make a report. ogetimes on an expedition like ts or o split t. t tuff and ours. In t on team. I t mospicles. ts. ransmitters, apparently.
quot;And t of professional explorer. to some fairly erritory, and polar bears are alic.
Arcs can deal trained to s, and someone e and make camp and do all t of survival stuff is very useful.
quot;But t in radio contact ation, but one day t come, and not t ion found t camp more or less intact, ten tores. But tsoever.
quot;And ts all I can tell you, Im afraid.quot;
quot;Yes,quot; said ill. quot;t journalist,quot; on, stopping at t;You said erested in one of t?quot;
quot;type. A man called Parry.quot;
quot; did , I mean?quot;
quot; dyou to kno for?quot;
quot;Because ...quot; ill couldnt t ;No reason. I just ;
quot;As far as I can remember, ;
quot;Rig; ill said, and turned to go.
tctle. ill sahe building quickly.
, so called, o all man o tairs: the body.
But a journalist.
t in, do at bay till no it he mans life.
still for . People came and , looking at tings, talking in quiet voices, ignoring tendant stood in tes, led move a muscle.
Gradually ening ate sing to defend ed o do t. because it o do. to stop tealing t so to do t? All o ing pirates. ell, no ....
And after all, o ill ime to read) oo, under ttress in Cittagazze.
Finally iced people moving more purposefully, and all in tion. ttendant elling t ten minutes. ill gat. o treet, o see e w he man had sounded friendly enough....
But as o cross treet and go in, opped suddenly.
tall man ting out of a car.
ill turned aside at once, casually, and looked in tion look around, settle t of ie, and go into t t anyoy library and ed for Lyra.