Twistor (27 page)

'Next, Ton unrolled the rug. Parts of it were folded over and sewn to the coarse undersurface, but the main part made a rectangle a bit less than a meter wide and about a meter and a half long. Its woven design was intricate and rather beautiful, but the colors had been dulled by time. Ton found a flat level space on the floor and smoothed the rug on it, then seated himself on it. If he was going to die here, he might as well be comfortable.

'Finally, he placed the leather-bound book in his lap and examined it. He found that if he held the sphere against his chest with his chin he could grasp the book with both hands and have sufficient light for reading.

'
And so Ton began to read. The pages were handwritten in a thin spidery scrawl, and fortunately were in Ton's native language. But there were many difficult and unfamiliar words. It took him some time to get the drift of the text, but with persistence the general content of the book became fairly clear. This was a book about magic, or, more specifically, about how certain magic objects or talismans were used. Much of the writing was obscure and confusing, but Ton became convinced that Zorax's "mementoes" were among the talismans discussed in the book. There was much discussion of something called the "Urorb." Ton concluded this was probably the very sphere that presently was nestled under his chin. Apparently it could be used not only for making light but also for "farscrying," whatever that was. There was something called the "Surplice" which sounded like the rug he was sitting on, but was apparently intended to be worn like a loose coat and was used for "farwending." The description of how to do this was very involved and confusing. And there was the description of a weapon, probably the swordlike object, called the "Pricklance," which was used for "farpiercing." This also involved the use of the Urorb in some way. That was about as much as Ton was able to comprehend from the writing. The remainder of the book dealt with words, objects, and concepts of which he had no grasp at all. Finally Ton put down the book and released the Urorb, for his neck was getting quite stiff from holding it for so long.

'Lying on his back, he held up the shining sphere and gazed into its depths. The book had said something about fixing a place in the mind for "farscrying." He thought of his home, of his mother and father and what they must have gone through when he was kidnapped.

'Suddenly Ton realized that he was looking into his mother's kitchen, and that she was putting bread into the oven. He felt very happy to see her and called out
to
her. But she showed no sign of hearing him. Her eyes looked red, as if she had recently been crying. He found that he couldn't watch his mother for long without feeling very sad and homesick. So he began to experiment with the Urorb.

'
He soon found that by concentrating on any place he knew well, he could produce a view of it. For a while he was fascinated by this, but soon the growing hunger pangs in his stomach brought him back to reality. Farscrying was a powerful trick, but it didn't get him any food or water or any way out of his predicament. He was still trapped.'

Hearing deep, regular breathing, David peered through the dimness. Melissa and Jeff were both sound asleep. Too bad, thought David. Just when the story was getting interesting.

He stood, stretched, and walked to the door-hole. He unfastened the branches that held the batting in place and moved it aside. Leaning out through the door-hole, he inhaled the rich night smell of the forest and savored the touch of cool breeze on his cheeks. It was quite dark now, and his dark-adapted eyes could make out patches of stars through gaps in the forest canopy. One star seemed bright. Very bright. Venus? No, it wasn't a planet. It was quite distinctly twinkling. Sirius? Canopus? Perhaps Arcturus? No, it had a soft yellow color, probably G- or K-class.

He tried to recall the brighter stars he'd memorized when, as a teenager, he'd mapped the Illinois skies with his homemade reflector telescope. He was sure that there was no such star in Earth's northern hemisphere. Interesting. Perhaps some of Sol's neighbors were closer in this universe. The four-plus light-years to Alpha Centauri had always seemed an unreasonably large distance.

The door chimes sounded, and a hollow-eyed Elizabeth Ernst hurried to the door. Her children had been missing
for
over ten hours. Through the viewer she saw two large men in dark suits. She opened the door.

'Good evening,' said the taller of the two, ' I 'm Agent Bartley of the FBI. This is my associate, Agent Cooper.' Both men presented her with wallets containing picture IDs. 'We've been assigned to investigate the disappearances,' Bartley continued. 'We'd like to ask a few questions about your children.'

'Come in,' said Elizabeth, and introduced herself. She led the agents to the dining room, where a dejected Paul and a worried Victoria Gordon were seated at the dining table. A platter of broiled salmon was in the middle of the table, and on their plates was food that had just been served. Elizabeth performed the introductions and invited the two men to sit down. They did so but declined Elizabeth's offers of food or coffee.

'Agent Bartley and I met this afternoon,' Vickie said. 'We talked for about an hour.' She took a bite of salmon.

Bartley nodded and produced a brightly colored children's book from his briefcase. 'Do any of you recognize this book,' he asked.

Vickie shook her head. ‘No,' said Elizabeth.

'She hasn't seen it,' Paul said. 'I only bought it this morning. It's about dinosaurs. Melissa said she wanted to show it to David—' Paul stopped talking abruptly and put his head in his hands.

Elizabeth looked at him with concern. She was worried about Paul. He'd never been able to deal very well with strong emotions. 'Where did you find the book?' she asked, turning to Bartley.

'It was on a table near the door in the laboratory room, ma'am,' he said. 'The fingerprints on it match the school prints of your daughter.'

'What about the blood?' Paul asked in a strained voice.

'The red substance found on the floor of the laboratory is definitely human blood,' said Bartley. 'The lab analysis confirmed that. But we have no matches. We checked Dr
Harrison's
blood group and also those of your children. The blood in the laboratory came from someone else.'

Paul looked relieved. Elizabeth noticed that he was drumming his fingers on one knee, a sign of tension.

'Now, Professor Ernst,' Agent Cooper said, 'would you please tell us what happened this morning?'

Paul recounted for them how he had taken the children first to the bookstore, then to his office. 'I was working at my terminal and they were sitting reading their books quietly,' he said. 'Then I looked up, and they were gone.

'I wasn't worried at first.' The fingers drummed. They've been to Physics Hall with me many times before. They know their way around, and it isn't a particularly dangerous place. I thought at first they'd just gone to the restroom or were visiting with one of my colleagues down the hall. But when they didn't return, I became concerned and began to look around. I started on the third floor. Then I got one of the secretaries to check all the women's restrooms. Finally, I thought of David. Since he's a great friend of theirs, it occurred to me that they might have gone to his laboratory. I'd taken them there just last week, and he showed them his experiment and gave them each a balloon—' At the word 'balloon' Paul's voice broke, and he was quiet. The finger drumming continued, faster.

'David Harrison is a good friend of the whole family,' Elizabeth said, covering the pause. 'For the past six months he's been our regular guest for dinner on Wednesday evenings. He brings a good bottle of wine and we have dinner. He and Paul talk physics, and after dinner he tells the children fairy tales.' Agent Cooper's face assumed an expression that might have been a smirk, and he wrote something in his notebook.

'What happened when you went to Harrison's lab, sir?' Bartley asked.

Paul cleared his throat, his hand quiet. 'Professor Weinberger was there with some campus police officers.
Vickie
was there too, and she showed me what they had found. The big wooden sphere, and all that blood . . . ' He paused for a moment, then continued.
'
I was very concerned for David, but I didn't connect it with Melissa and Jeff until Sam, uh, Mr Weston told me that he'd seen the children heading for David's lab a bit earlier. I guess the book clinches it.' He shook his head, then stared at the table. The fingers drummed again.

Elizabeth looked directly at Agent Bartley.
'
What do you think happened to them?' she asked firmly. She wanted the official view. She was not secure with the 'twistor field' explanations Paul and Vickie had been telling her.

There was a trail of blood, ma'am,' said Bartley, consulting his notebook.
'
It led to the loading area behind Physics Hall. We established that a van had been observed parked there with the motor running. We've located the van and traced it. It was rented yesterday by an individual using stolen identification. The van contained bloodstains that match those in the physics laboratory. It was abandoned in a parking area behind the drugstore in the U-Village Shopping Center. A witness at the Goodwill collection station there saw four men in movers' coveralls leave the vehicle and drive away in a car. She did not recall seeing any children with them, but that doesn't prove anything. There may have been others involved who took them before the van was abandoned.

'
Our other lead is the listening devices that were found in the laboratory a few days ago. Mr Weston gave them to us. We've identified them as a commercial product, and we're tracing them back to the supplier. In summary, Mrs Ernst, we believe Dr Harrison and your children were kidnapped by the four individuals seen in the physics building.'

Paul suddenly looked up, an expression of disbelief on his face. 'Kidnapped? That's absurd! What about the
sphere?
They went through the twistor transition. You can't just leave them there! We've got to get them back, if they're still alive!'

Agent Cooper raised an eyebrow. 'We have no information about any "twisted condition," Professor Ernst,' he said. 'What are you referring to, sir?'

Paul looked wildly at the agent, his fingers drumming hard. Elizabeth wondered what he would say next. 'Dr Harrison and Miss Gordon have been working on a device that makes things . . . it converts . . . ' He stopped abruptly and for the first time looked directly into Agent Cooper's wide blue eyes. Then he looked down at his rhythmically moving hand for a moment. 'Never mind . . . ' he said finally. 'The physics . . . it's complicated. You . . . wouldn't understand.'

Vickie opened her mouth, looked at Cooper, and closed it again.

Agent Bartley looked closely at Paul, then at Victoria, but he didn't say anything. Agent Cooper began to ask a stream of questions centered around David's background, interests, and personal life. Victoria answered most of them.

When the agents finally ran out of questions, Elizabeth felt strangely relieved, as if she had been a suspect held in custody and was about to be released. Bartley gave her his business card, then gave one also to Paul. On the back of each card he'd written a telephone number.

'You already have my card, Miss Gordon,' he said. 'If any of you receives contacts, ransom demands, or new information, call me at this number immediately.' Finally the two agents rose and walked to the door.

As Elizabeth showed the agents out, Victoria looked across the table at Paul. He looked in very bad shape. She noticed that his fingers were nervously drumming against his knee. She considered how to get his mind working in more constructive channels. He was staring with rigid
intensity
at his plate of uneaten salmon. 'Isn't it odd,' she said, 'that they didn't ask more about the sphere.'

As Elizabeth was seating herself again at the table, Paul gulped down the remainder of his wine. He looked across at Vickie, inhaling deeply. 'No, it's not,' he said. The sphere is a piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit with their preconceived notions, so they're pretending it isn't there or that it isn't relevant. That attitude is hard to penetrate. I couldn't see the point of telling them about the twistor effect,' he said. 'Even if they believed me, it would only distract them from finding the thugs with the van. And who knows, maybe those people did kidnap David and the children . . . '

'I doubt it,' said Vickie, shaking her head. That big wood sphere proves that the twistor apparatus is involved in this. It transported itself somewhere, and probably took David and the children with it. Those fake movers must be the ones who bugged our lab. I think they'd been listening and finally came to steal the twistor hardware. I'd guess David set up for a big field and twisted the machine away to keep them from getting it. And I'm very much afraid that he and the children went with it. Otherwise, someone would surely have seen them leave with the movers.'

Paul was again staring fixedly at the table and drumming his fingers.

Victoria took a deep breath, trying at the same time to make eye contact with Paul and Elizabeth to project enthusiasm. 'OK folks, now for the hopeful news,' she began. 'We learned some things this afternoon that I think are going to be important. I was late getting here because the results are still coming in.

'You see, I'm a member of a support network at the U of W organized by a group of women graduate students in the sciences. We get together once a month to talk about our work and our problems and our accomplishments, and we help each other when we can. Today I needed help, so I yelled. And I got help. Lots of it.'

Paul's
fingers stopped. He was looking across the table at her, interested. Elizabeth had also turned to look directly at her.

'A friend of mine in the botany department,' Vickie continued, 'is doing her Ph.D. on the cell structure of trees. This afternoon she used their scanning electron microscope on a slice of the wood from the big sphere. She says that the microstructure of the wood is qualitatively different from any she's seen before. She had the whole department in looking at it. They're very excited about the "radical species variant" she's found.'