quot;Youre ing. are you getting at?quot;
quot;ell...quot; ory, spreading ;ell, if you dont get in touc; he said finally.
S. t;O;
quot;Mary, Ive got to t;
quot;Of course you ;
quot;Its not t—quot;
quot;No, no.quot;
quot;You dont understand—quot;
quot;Yes, I do. Its very simple. You promise to do as take over as Director. Its not o understand. Youd . Lots of nice nes it for me. Im off. It stinks.quot;
quot;You ...quot;
But ook off e coat and on to a bag, and left a word. As soon as sook Sir Che phone.
Several er, just before midnig, Dr. Malone parked side t trance. But just as surned to climb tairs, a man came out of anotartling her so much she nearly dropped her briefcase. he was
wearing a uniform.
quot;; he said.
ood in the low brim of his cap.
quot;Im going to my laboratory. I le angry, a little frightened.
quot;Security. some ID?quot;
quot; security? I left t ternoon and ter on duty, as usual. I sification. ed you? And w;
quot;; said too quickly for o read it. quot;;
Siced er at a gun? No, surely, s ans if sed, sant to get into t. S.
quot;ill t; so operate the car park.
it briefly.
quot; are you doing time of nig; he said.
quot;Ive got an experiment running. I o cer periodically.quot;
o be searco forbid exercising his power.
Finally ood aside. S past, smiling at his face remained blank.
ory, sill trembling. t;securityquot; in ter, and s. But it meant t stle time; so get it rig once, because once t s be able to come back again.
Scector and took a floppy disk from and slipped it into ter t controlled the Cave.
ite so manipulate t y of ask as baffling as getting to make one whole.
Finally s of trodes on o type. S intensely self-conscious.
sure his is crazy.
t of t surprise. S using a , sing system—and ting self on t to stir on ts running automatically, computers monitoring tests and recording ts, tioning sampling and adjusting ty and temperature, all ts and pipe eries and t ... almost conscious in fact.
Sried again.
Im trying to do Ive done before ate of mind, but Before sence, to t of ted:
ASK A QUEStION.
It instantaneous.
S as if sepped on a space t t took several moments for o calm dory again. of t before she had finished.
Are you Shadows? YES.
Are you t? YES.
And is t dark matter? YES.
Dark matter is conscious? EVIDENtLY.
I said to Oliver t ion, is it CORRECt. BUt YOU NEED tO ASK MORE QUEStIONS.
Sopped, took a deep breat racing. Every single t isnt tions, and ansher mind.
Syped again, and again to being h no discernible pause.
t is ansions isnt ?
NO. BUt han one of you?
UNCOUNtABLE BILLIONS But, w are you? ANGELS
Mary Malones up as a Cat—as Lyra to s angels. St. Augustine ;Angel is t of ture. If you seek ture, it is spirit; if you seek t is angel; from , from ;
Dizzy, trembling, syped again:
And Ster is w we ?
FROM E ARE, SPIRIt; FROM E DO, MAttER. MAttER AND SPIRIt ARE ONE.
Sening to s.
And did you intervene in ion?
YES Vengeance for—oh! RebeL angels!
After tan and t it isnt true, is it? Is t E NO MORE tIME.
But .
Sook ill there when she looked again.
O A ROAD CALLED SUNDERLAND AVENUE AND FIND A tENt. DECEIVE thROUGh.
tAKE PROVISIONS FOR A LONG JOURNEY. YOU ILL BE PROtECtED. tERS ILL NOt tOUCh YOU.
But I BEFORE YOU GO, DEStROY t.
I dont understand.
s t t DO IN t tAKING CONtROL OF It. DEStROY t. DO It NO AND GO At ONCE.
Mary Malone pusood up, trembling. So emples and discovered trodes still attaco ook tly. S ed s and belief altogething had happened, and she was galvanized.
Scector and ty codes and formatted ters clean; and terface betector and ted card, and put t sed tromagnetic sector, and found t and set ligo it. as t do muc Oliver Paynes kno tively demolished.
So ook doer ac and left.
ty guard anding at t of tairs, speaking into elep it ao trance, che glass door as she drove away.
An er so find it on a map of Oxford; s kno of toill t s-up excitement, but as s out of cool and silent and still all around a definite lurc e joke?
ell, it oo late to t. Sted. Sed out ten taken on camping journeys in Scotland and ted t at least so survive out of doors; if o , sake to the hills....
Ridiculous.
But so turned into to ary. S almost more foolis in her life.
But as surned trange crees t ill somet least rue about all trees on t tent of red and t electricians put up to keep te transit van he windows.
Better not ate. Sraigoent. epped out. it reetlighe leaves above shone full on his face.
quot;Could I ask o t tent.quot;
quot;Im afraid you cant, madam. Ive got orders not to let anyone near it.quot;
quot;Good,quot; s;Im glad t tected. But Im from tment of Prom asked us to make a preliminary survey and t back before t it properly. Its important t its done noand t.quot;
quot;ell, yes,quot; ;But anyto s;
quot;O; so get at ems saken from tory een minutes cable and tograp ook ted card and looked at it closely.
quot;Dr. Olive Payne,quot; ;Do you o kno;
quot;O; quot;Do you know w;
quot;At any sense. ;
quot;ell, I understand ion in your organizations been terminated, and s be allo, orders to detain ries. And seeing a urally t you mig I mean. Excuse me, Dr. Payne.quot;
quot;A; said Mary Malone. t the card once more.
quot;Still, t,quot; back. Nervous, ing to talk, on. quot;Do you kno tent?quot;
quot;ell, not first; s;ts w;
quot;I suppose it is. All rig;
ood back and let ent. S see tco , sepped t; but s sent. S of arceorite. But not square yard or so in midair, or for t sleeping city by t sepped t.