… and here came the Carthaginian infantry.
A disembodied hand suddenly came out of the dust and grabbed him by the back of his collar, jerking him back hard. The next thing Lucas knew, he was lying on the floor of the apartment on Threadneedle Street, gasping for air and coughing his lungs out.
"That was the silliest display I've ever seen," said Dr. Darkness, standing over him.
"Those pachyderms almost pounded you into a pudding. Why the devil didn't you translocate?"
"I…" Lucas was seized by another fit of coughing. "I couldn't.. _ no time…"
"No time?'" said Darkness, with disbelief. "How much time does it take to think one coherent thought? Well, granted, for you it might take a while, but you could just as easily have thought your way out of that mess instead of wasting all that energy leaping about like a trout thrown up on a riverbank. I've never seen such a ridiculous spectacle. "
"I.. I couldn't think straight," Lucas said, slowly getting his, wind back. "It was… it all happened so damn fast…
"How the devil did you wind up in the middle of the Punic Wars in the first place?
What on earth made you think of that? No, on second thought, don't answer that,"
Darkness added, hastily. "You're liable to pop back there once again and I have a distinct aversion to large and noisy animals."
"I'm sorry, Doc. Thanks for-"
"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't thank me," Darkness said, with a grimace of distaste. "Now that I've saved your life twice in a row, I feel doubly responsible for it. I never should have taken that survey course in philosophy when I was back in college. It's been getting in my way ever since."
"Just the same, I'm grateful," Lucas said, getting to his feet and brushing off his clothes.
"Don't be grateful, be careful," Darkness said. "Be wary of stray thoughts until you learn proper control. You have just had a graphic demonstration of how much trouble they can get you into. I can't be hovering over you all the time like some sort of deux ex machina. In order for the field trials to have any validity whatsoever, you must rely on your telempathic chronocircuitry to get you out of trouble, not me."
"I'll try to keep that in mind," said Lucas. He looked around. "Where are the others'!"
"How the devil should I know? They were here when I left. At least, Miss Cross and that other fellow. were. Everyone seems to be popping off somewhere."
"Andre? Gulliver?" said Lucas. He looked in the other rooms, but the apartment was empty. "Andre wouldn't simply leave like that. And Steiger and Delaney were due back. Now there's no one here but us. That isn't like them. Something's happened…
Then he noticed the remains of the shattered wine bottle. He glanced at
Dr. Darkness with alarm.
"How much time has elapsed here since you left?"
"Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes perhaps?" said Darkness.
"I'm really not quite sure."
"What do you mean, you're not quite sure?"
"I can't be bothered with trifles, Priest," said Darkness, irritably. "When one routinely deals in light years, one doesn't sweat the occasional ten minutes..
"Well, something happened here in those ten minutes," Lucas said, tensely, "That bottle didn't break, it burst apart, as if…" his voice trailed off as he started looking around the apartment, trying to estimate trajectories, and finally, he found it-a bullet hole in the wall next to the armoire.
"Look at this!" he said. "Doc, they're in trouble! You've got to help me!"
"Look, Priest, I thought I already explained that-"
"Dammit, Doc, I haven't got time for this! I don't care about the validity of your field tests; I've got to find out what happened here. I can't fade out the way you can.
If I went back to see what happened. I'd be visible and there's no telling what I might be clocking into; but you could find out what happened without anybody seeing you."
"Yes, well, I suppose I could do that," grumbled Darkness. He grunted. "Perhaps you're right. Under the circumstances, I can't expect you to cope with all of this yourself. Do you want me to find out what became of Steiger and Delaney, as well?"..It could be important, Doc. Please."
Darkness sighed. "Very well." He grimaced wryly. "Do you think I could depend on you to remain in one place long enough for me to do that?"
"I'll try to think good thoughts, ~ said Lucas, sarcastically. "Yes, do," said Darkness. "I'll be right back."
He disappeared and almost immediately reappeared, standing directly behind
Lucas.
"I'm back."
Lucas jumped, startled. "God, don't do that!" He took a deep breath. "You certainly cut it close. You only left about a second ago!"
"So?"
"So what if you'd arrived a second earlier and seen yourself leave?"
"So what? As long as I didn't tell myself what I'd found out in order to save myself a trip so that I couldn't have found out what I told myself I'd found out in the first place, it wouldn't have caused any problems whatsoever."
"Huh? You want to run. that past me again?"
"Never mind. The important thing is that you were correct in what you had surmised. Something did happen here. Miss Cross and Gulliver were abducted at gunpoint by some character right out of a Frank Sinatra movie."
"Frank who?"
"Never mind. He looked like a 20th century gangster dressed by a Hollywood designer. His. 45 automatic was what made the bullethole you found. He shot at the bottle, apparently to impress them with the fact that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot if they resisted. They seemed sufficiently impressed. He made them surrender their warp discs, then he replaced them with some he had brought with him. Evidently, they were pre-programmed with the desired transition co-ordinates."
"What the hell is going on'?" said Lucas. "Where did they go?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," Darkness said.
"Great," said Lucas, with resignation. "Just great."
"That isn't all," said Darkness. "I tached to the 27th century, as well, to check with your headquarters. I spoke briefly with Steiger.
There's been an attempt on Forrester's life. He's critically wounded. Steiger's had to remain at headquarters’ and assume command."
"Good God," said Lucas. "What happened?"
"Steiger said a renegade T. IA. agent smuggled in a commando assault force in a briefcase and.." Darkness stopped and frowned. "In a briefcase? No, wait, that can't possibly be right…"
"Lilliputians!" Lucas said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Lilliput commandos!" Lucas said. "They murdered Steiger's brother, right here in this very room. They were after Gulliver. They must have-"
"Wait a moment!" Darkness interrupted. "Lilliputians? Gulliver' I knew I'd heard that name somewhere before.
You're talking about a novel by Jonathan Swift, for God's sake!"
"I can explain," said Lucas. "You see, Gulliver encountered Swift after he escaped from Lilliput Island and-"
"Never mind," Darkness said, holding up his hand to stop him. "This plot is becoming positively Byzantine. I'll simply try to follow along as best I can."
"Fine. What about Delaney?"
"He should be here."
"Well, he's not."
"Obviously. "
"So where is he'?"
"How the devil should I know?"
"Didn't you ask?"
"Steiger simply said that Delaney had to go on without him,"
"Did you tell him what happened to Andre and Gulliver'?"
"No, I thought I'd keep that information to myself," Darkness said, sarcastically.
"Of course, I told him. He was understandably distressed, but he said there was nothing he could do. "
"No, of course not," Lucas said. "He's second in command, He can't leave HQ with Forrester out of. commission. Finn must have gone on ahead, assuming we’d be here when he returned from scouting Gulliver's co-ordinates for Lilliput Island.