Adikor looked at Jasmel, then back at his wrist. “There’s no way it’s naturally occurring? No way it could have welled up from the rocks?”
“Not a chance,” said Lurt’s voice. “It was slightly contaminated with what I eventually realized was the cleaning solution used on the floors of your lab; there must have been a dried residue of it that dissolved in the water. But otherwise it was absolutely pure. Ground water would have minerals dissolved in it; this was manufactured. By whom, I don’t know, and how, I’m not sure—but it absolutely isn’t something that occurred naturally.”
“Fascinating,” said Adikor. “And there was no trace of Ponter’s DNA?”
“No. There was a little of your own—doubtless you sloughed off some cells while mopping up the water—but none of anyone else’s. No traces of blood plasma or anything else that might have come from him, either.”
“All right. Many thanks!”
“Healthy day, my dear,” said Lurt’s voice.
“Healthy day,” repeated Adikor, and he pulled the control bud that broke the connection.
“What is heavy water?” asked Jasmel.
Adikor explained, then: “It must be the key,” he said.
“You’re telling the truth about the source of the heavy water?” asked Jasmel.
“Yes, of course,” Adikor said. “I collected it from the floor of the computing chamber after Ponter disappeared.”
“It’s not poisonous, is it?”
“Heavy water? I can’t imagine why it would be.”
“What uses does it have?”
“None that I know of.”
“There’s no way my father’s body could have been—I don’t know—converted somehow into heavy water?”
“I highly doubt it,” said Adikor. “And there’s no trace of the chemicals that made up his body. He didn’t disintegrate or spontaneously combust; he simply disappeared.”
Adikor shook his head. “Maybe tomorrow, at the dooslarm basadlarm, we can explain to the adjudicator why we need to go down to the lab. Until then, I hope Ponter is all right, wherever he might be.”
After getting Mary Vaughan set up in the genetics lab at Laurentian, Reuben Montego grabbed some lunch at a Taco Bell, then headed back to St. Joseph’s Health Centre. In the lobby he saw Louise Benoit, that beautiful French-Canadian postdoctoral student from SNO. She was arguing with someone who appeared to be from the hospital’s security department.
“But I saved his life!” Reuben heard Louise exclaim. “He’d certainly want to see me!”
Reuben walked up to the young woman. “Hello,” he said. “What’s the problem?”
The woman turned her lovely face toward him, her brown eyes going wide with gratitude. “Oh, Dr. Montego!” she said. “Thank God you’re here. I came to see how our friend is doing, but they won’t let me go up to his floor.”
“I’m Reuben Montego,” said Reuben to the security man, a muscular fellow with red hair. “I’m Mr. Ponter’s …” Well, why not? “… general practitioner; you can confirm that with Dr. Singh.”
“I know who you are,” said the security man. “And, yes, you’re on the approved list.”
“Well, this young lady is with me. She did indeed save Ponter’s life at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.”
“Very well,” said the man. “Sorry to be a pain, but we’ve got reporters and curious members of the public trying to sneak in all the time, and—”
At that moment, Dr. Naonihal Singh walked by, sporting a dark brown turban. “Dr. Singh!” called Reuben.
“Hello,” said Singh, coming over and shaking Reuben’s hand. “Escaping from the telephone, are we? Mine has been ringing off the hook.”
Reuben smiled. “Mine, too. Everybody wants to know about our Mr. Ponter, it seems.”
“You know I’m delighted that he is well,” said Singh, “but, really, I would like to discharge him. We don’t have enough hospital beds as it is, thanks to Mike Harris.”
Reuben nodded sympathetically. The tightwad former premier of Ontario had closed or amalgamated many hospitals across the province.
“And,” continued Singh, “not putting too fine a point on it, but if he could be gone from here, perhaps I would stop being pestered by the media.”
“Where should we take him?” asked Reuben.
“That I am not knowing,” replied Singh. “But if he is well, he does not belong in a hospital.”
Reuben nodded. “All right, okay. We’ll take him with us when we leave. Is there a way to sneak him out without the press seeing?”
“The whole idea,” said Singh, “is for the press to know he is gone.”
“Yes, yes,” said Reuben. “But we’d like to get him somewhere safe before they realize.”
“I see,” said Singh. “Take him out via the underground garage. Park in there; take the staff elevator down to B2, and exit through the corridor there. As long as Ponter keeps his head down in your car, no one will see him departing.”
“Excellent,” said Reuben.
“Please to take him today,” said Singh.
Reuben nodded. “I will.”
“Thank you,” said Singh.
Reuben and Louise headed upstairs.
“Hello, Ponter,” said Reuben, as he came into the hospital room. Ponter was sitting up on the bed, wearing the same clothes he’d been found in.
At first Reuben thought Ponter had been watching TV, but then the doctor noticed the way he was holding up his left arm, with Hak’s glass eye faced toward the monitor. More likely, the Companion had been listening to further language samples, trying to pick up more words from context.
“Hello, Reuben,” said Hak, presumably on behalf of Ponter. Ponter turned to look at Louise. Reuben noted that he didn’t react the way a normal human male might; there was no smile of delight at the unexpected visit from a gorgeous young woman.
“Louise,” said Reuben. “Meet Ponter.”
Louise stepped forward. “Hello, Ponter!” she said. “I’m Louise Benoit.”
“Louise pulled you out of the water,” Reuben said.
Ponter now did smile warmly; perhaps everyone here looked the same to him, thought Reuben. “Lou—” said Hak’s voice. Ponter shrugged apologetically.
“He can’t make the ee sound in your name,” said Reuben.
Louise smiled. “That’s fine. You can call me Lou; lots of my friends do.”
“Lou,” repeated Ponter, speaking for himself in his deep voice. “I—you—I …”
Reuben looked at Louise. “We’re still building up his vocabulary. I’m afraid we haven’t gotten to social niceties yet. I’m sure he’s trying to say thank you for saving his life.”
“My pleasure,” said Louise. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
Reuben nodded. “And speaking of being all right,” he said, “Ponter, you from here go.”
Ponter’s one continuous eyebrow rolled up his browridge. “Yes!” said Hak, speaking again for him. “Where? Where go?”
Reuben scratched the side of his shaved head. “That’s a good question.”
“Far,” said Hak. “Far.”
“You want to go far away?” said Reuben. “Why?”
“The—the …” Hak trailed off, but Ponter moved a hand up, covering his giant nose—perhaps the Neanderthal equivalent of pinching one’s nostrils.
“The smell?” said Reuben. He nodded and turned to Louise. “With a honker like that, I’m not surprised that he’s got a keen sense of smell. I hate the smell of hospitals myself, and I spend a lot of time in them.”
Louise looked at Ponter, but spoke to Reuben. “You still have no idea where he’s from?”
“No.”
“I’m thinking parallel world,” said Louise, simply.
“What?” said Reuben. “Oh, come on!”
Louise shrugged. “Where else could he be from?”