Nevertheless, he was a difficult man to stay angry with. He literally cringed while waiting for me to react. So I calmed down. “Any chance you can cancel the deal?”
“No,” he said. “I wrote a receipt, took the money, and gave it to him.”
“No escape clause?”
“What’s an escape clause?”
I found myself thinking about the thief poking around in the Rainbow data banks. “Paul,” I asked, “how’d he find out you had it?”
“Oh, that’s no big deal. Everybody knew. I didn’t make a secret of it. And anyway I took it with me the other day to the monthly meeting of the Chacun Historical Association.”
“How’d they react to it?”
“They loved it. Friend of mine even brought a sim of Garth Urquhart.”
“Paul, the person who bought it, did you know him? Prior to the purchase?”
“No. But he was at the meeting.” He tried grinning again. “Little guy. Name’s Davis.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
“I’m sorry if I upset you. Selling it seemed like the right thing to do.”
“Maybe it was. I’m not upset, Paul. You doubled your money so I guess you came out of it all right.” I thought about returning the bonus he was sending us, but there was really no point in that. I’d just earned it.
I stared at the empty space Paul’s image had occupied. How could he be so dumb?
But there was nothing to be done about it.
Even though we were no longer involved with Polaris artifacts, I was still curious about the incident itself. I began to think I’d never rest easy until I could at least construct a rational sequence of events that could have resulted in the disappearance of Maddy and her passengers. “Jacob?” I asked. “Is there a visual record of the Polaris departure?”
“Checking.”
While he looked, I went to the kitchen and got a cup of tea.
“Yes, there is. Do you want me to set it up?”
“Please.”
The office morphed into a Skydeck terminal. And they were all there. Maddy and Urquhart, Boland, Klassner (looking barely alive), White, Mendoza, and Dunninger. Along with a crowd of about fifty people. And a small band. The band played a medley of unfamiliar tunes, and people took turns shaking hands with the voyagers.
Martin Klassner was propped against the back of his seat, talking to a rumpled man, whom I recognized immediately as Jess Taliaferro, the Survey director who’d organized the mission and had himself eventually disappeared. It was an odd scene, Klassner and Taliaferro, two men who’d walked into the night on different occasions, and never been seen again. Klassner’s lips barely moved when he talked, and his hands trembled. I wondered that they’d send a man so obviously ill on such a journey.
There was a physician on one of the accompanying ships, but that hardly seemed sufficient.
Nancy White stood near a souvenir shop. She was trim, attractive, dressed as if she were headed out of town for a holiday. She was talking quietly to a small group, one of whom was a tall, dark-complexioned, good-looking guy, who looked worried.
“Her husband, Michael,” said Jacob. “He was a real estate developer.”
Urquhart was surrounded by journalists. He was smiling, holding up his hands, no more questions, folks, I really need to get on board, okay just one more.
Chek Boland was flanked by two women. “He’s been described as the man who solved the mind-body problem.”
“What’s the mind-body problem, Jacob?”
“I’m not clear on it myself, Chase. Apparently it’s an ancient conundrum. The issue seems to revolve around the nature of consciousness.”
I thought about asking him to explain, but it sounded complicated so I let it go.
Tom Dunninger and Warren Mendoza were holding forth for another group near the ramp. “The one next to Dunninger,” said Jacob, “is Borio Chapatka. Ann Kelly’s there, too. And Min Kao-Wing - ”
“Who are they?” I asked.
“At the time, they were the major biomedical researchers.”
There was a fair amount of gesturing and raised voices. Whatever they were talking about, it was loud and open to debate. Ann Kelly appeared to be making notes.
Madeleine English, crisp and blonde and very efficient, came out of a side passageway with a tall man. He was a looker. Big, red hair, dark eyes, and a faintly lascivious smile. Probably a few years younger than she was. “That’s Kile Anderson,” said Jacob. “He’s a journalist. Assigned to Skydeck. It’s how he met her.”
“This was her boyfriend?”
“One of them.”
Boland looked up, straight across the terminal at me, almost as if he knew I was there. He had classic features, with dark bedroom eyes. One of the women with him looked familiar. “Jessica Birk,” said Jacob. She’d later become a senator.
Birk eventually detached herself and wandered through the boarding area, taking a couple of minutes with each of the passengers, giving the journalists a clear shot whenever possible, shaking hands with all. Good luck. Enjoy the flight. Wish I were going with you.
Maddy disappeared with her male friend up the tunnel leading to the ship.
Moments later he came back down alone, looking forlorn. He surveyed the people around him, shrugged, and walked off.
Klassner, assisted by Taliaferro, got to his feet and started for the ramp. Several of the onlookers crowded around to shake his hand. I could read their lips. Good luck, Professor.
Klassner smiled politely, and said something.
Nancy White joined them and gave him her arm to lean on. Taliaferro answered a call on his link. He nodded, said something, nodded again. Looked at White. Sure, she told him, go ahead.
He looked apologetic. I could make out Something came up. Have to go. Sorry.
He made a quick round of the other voyagers, wished them luck, then was pushing through the crowd. Within moments he’d disappeared down the concourse.
There was an announcement that the Polaris would be departing in ten minutes, please board, and everyone began moving toward the ramp, saying their good-byes, waving for the cameras. A journalist cornered Boland, asked a couple of quick questions, What do you expect to see out there?, and As a psychiatrist, will you be more interested in the reactions of the other passengers than you are in the collision itself? Boland answered as best he could. I’m on a holiday. You don’t get to see something like this very often.
One last round of farewells, and they drifted into the tunnel, all smiles.
EIGHT
The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the loss of the Polaris passengers and its captain continues, and we will not rest until we are able to deliver a full and complete explanation. God willing, we will know everything before we are done.
- Hoch Mensurrat,
Spokesman for the Trendel Commission
Rainbow Enterprises does not deal in run-of-the-mill antiquities. We trade almost exclusively in items that can be defined as having historic value. We aren’t the only business of our kind in Andiquar, but if you’re serious, we’re the ones you want to talk to.
A couple of days after Calder let the vest get away, I received a call from Diane Gold. She was furnishing a house that she’d designed. Getting ready to move in with her third husband, I think it was. The house was on top of a hill on the western edge of the city, with a view of Mt. Oskar, and she was trying to establish a Barbikan theme. You know, flashy drapes and carpeting, lots of cushions and throw rugs, and wooden furniture that looks as if it’s about to take flight, everything contrasted against period artwork, with its exaggerated sense of the ethereal. I’ve never cared for the style myself. It seems to me to be pure shock value, but then I have an old-world taste.