‘We must be insignificant as we get the dregs no one else wants, is that what you mean?’
‘Well...’
‘Of course it is. You are quite right. A very second-rate organisation we are.’ Hanslip smiled. ‘Stuck on this revolting island on the fringes of nowhere. Nobody thinks we’re of the slightest importance and nobody pays much attention to what we are doing. Which is why it is so very annoying that this has happened.’
‘Then what are you doing?’
‘We are unlocking the deepest mysteries of the universe. Gaining access to worlds beyond the imagination, even beyond the power of science itself. We are conquering what does not exist.’
Jack considered this portentous remark. ‘Would you care to tell me what that means?’
‘Yes, although I must remind you of the need for secrecy. If you are to look for Angela Meerson, you need to know, if only to give you a sense of how important this is, and how urgent it is that you find her.’
Hanslip skirted round a solitary pile of seaweed, giving it a glance of distaste.
‘You know as well as I do that my contract here requires the highest level of discretion and loyalty. It is what you pay me for.’
‘Indeed. We have discovered a means of accessing parallel universes. Only one, at the moment, but once we understand the process properly, then potentially an infinite number. The space and resources that might become available to humanity would be stunning. It is also, of course, a scientific discovery of extraordinary importance.’
There didn’t seem much to say to this, so Jack contented himself with: ‘Really?’
‘Is that the best you can do?’
‘Congratulations, then.’
‘Officially, as you say, we are a minor little operation trying to eke out a few efficiencies in power transmission. In the last few years we have been quietly devoting ourselves to this other project. Angela noted a strange anomaly while running an experiment. We kept on getting more energy out than we were putting in. On its own it is a fabulous discovery: with the right equipment, a single watt of electricity could in theory power an entire city of millions. Since then we have refined the technology and discovered that if we do this in a tightly controlled space, then we can actually shift physical objects.’
‘How do you get from there to assuming the existence of parallel universes?’
‘That’s probably beyond your ability to understand,’ Hanslip replied in a slightly superior tone. ‘We transmit the matter — we began with electrons and have built up to more complex objects — then recover it. Analysis proves it has been gone for longer than it has been gone, if you see what I mean. The only scientifically valid explanation is that the matter has existed in a different state of reality. Another universe, in effect.’
‘Can you get to it, though? Electrons are one thing, but...’
‘We can. We have. There are now three machines. The first has been operational for four years and is capable of dealing with little more than molecules. The second was completed six months ago and can take up to two hundred kilograms; this has provided all the confirmation we need.’
‘What about the third?’
‘Still under development. It will take up to fifteen tonnes. It is designed to be able to move metal. Its power consumption will be colossal, though; far more than we can afford at the moment, and even more than Angela used up. ‘
Jack could see what the man meant by a discovery of extraordinary importance. He remained sceptical, however. What were the chances of a small, unimportant organisation making such a gigantic leap forward when others hadn’t even come near?
‘I hope you’re not suggesting that this mathematician of yours might have decided, in a carefree way, to go off and hide in a different universe? That would be suicidal lunacy, wouldn’t it?’
‘Quite. And although Angela is a lunatic, she is not suicidal. That’s why I am sure she has done nothing of the sort.’
‘So...?’
‘Angela is a psychomathematician,’ Hanslip said. ‘She works by harnessing emotions to power her calculations, and further enhancing these through the use of powerful stimulants. It is a highly specialised technique, but people established centuries ago that many people could do maths by associating complex calculations with things like shapes or colours. It is a sort of controlled insanity and in the right hands it can outperform any computer in intuition. Angela’s intuitions then have to be converted into orthodox calculations, of course, but she has done extraordinary work. Unfortunately, the process makes her emotionally unstable. In the last few months she was obsessively advancing a theory so outlandish it could not possibly be true, and fell in love with it to the point that she became capable of irrational actions to defend it.’
‘She is nuts, then?’
‘Sometimes. Her response to her calculations is like a mother defending a child, literally so. When she is in one of these states she would die, or kill, to protect whatever she is working on. She had come up with a new idea and wanted to stop the entire programme to explore it. She would not take no for an answer, and was incapable of listening to reason.’
‘Why does she work like that?’
Hanslip considered how to answer, coughing occasionally from the pollution in the air. ‘She was always exceptionally talented, but to enhance this she was subjected to a procedure some eighteen years ago. That is, she was put into an artificial coma, and a pregnancy was induced. The complex emotional responses were then captured and harnessed.’
‘How revolting. Was it voluntary?’
‘No,’ Hanslip said flatly, ‘and it was nothing to do with me. It was years before she came to work here. The procedure worked in that it greatly augmented her abilities, but it also made her so wayward that she became almost unemployable.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘You’ve got to find her, and you’ll need to take account of her unpredictability. Besides, one of the people involved in that experiment arrived here yesterday. It may be that he triggered some response and sent her into a panic.’
‘It couldn’t just be that she is suicidal?’
‘I doubt that. She would not risk depriving humanity of anything as important as herself.’
‘She’s that vain?’
Hanslip nodded. ‘Oh, yes. Personally I always thought it the best proof of the existence of multiple universes. One isn’t nearly big enough to contain her vanity.’
‘Anything else?’
‘Perhaps. I refused to reconfigure the experiment as she wished, but she went ahead and did it anyway. She began diverting time and resources away from the official programme to her own activities.’
‘Was that why you suspended her?’
‘I had no choice, but for Angela it may have been like having a newborn infant ripped from her arms. I had to ensure she could do no damage, either to the experiment or to herself. You must understand that this programme is way beyond our resources. Potentially it could be the largest research project ever undertaken. It is now getting to the stage where we need a more formal arrangement with a better resourced partner.’
‘Who?’
‘Oldmanter.’
Jack whistled.
‘Zoffany Oldmanter controls the most important and powerful institutions on the planet. He has the resources to develop this properly, in a way we could not. It is a sensible and necessary move. The negotiations were going very well indeed, until I found out that Angela had been misappropriating resources. I knew she would be likely to spread false rumours about the project in order to destroy any possibility of a partnership.’
‘I see. Did she know of this?’