quot;Youre ing.  are you getting at?quot;

    quot;ell...quot; ory, spreading ;ell, if you dont get in touc; he said finally.

    S. t;O;

    quot;Mary, Ive got to t;

    quot;Of course you ;

    quot;Its not t—quot;

    quot;No, no.quot;

    quot;You dont understand—quot;

    quot;Yes, I do. Its very simple. You promise to do as  take over as Director. Its not o understand. Youd . Lots of nice nes it for me. Im off. It stinks.quot;

    quot;You ...quot;

    But ook off e coat and  on to a bag, and left  a word. As soon as sook Sir Che phone.

    Several er, just before midnig, Dr. Malone parked side t  trance. But just as surned to climb tairs, a man came out of anotartling her so much she nearly dropped her briefcase. he was

    wearing a uniform.

    quot;; he said.

    ood in the low brim of his cap.

    quot;Im going to my laboratory. I le angry, a little frightened.

    quot;Security.  some ID?quot;

    quot; security? I left t ternoon and ter on duty, as usual. I sification. ed you? And w;

    quot;; said too quickly for o read it. quot;;

    Siced er at  a gun? No, surely, s ans if sed, sant to get into t. S.

    quot;ill t; so operate the car park.

    it briefly.

    quot; are you doing  time of nig; he said.

    quot;Ive got an experiment running. I o cer periodically.quot;

    o be searco forbid  exercising his power.

    Finally ood aside. S past, smiling at  his face remained blank.

    ory, sill trembling. t;securityquot; in ter, and s. But it meant t stle time; so get it rig once, because once t s be able to come back again.

    Scector and took a floppy disk from  and slipped it into ter t controlled the Cave.

    ite so manipulate t y of ask  as baffling as getting to make one whole.

    Finally s of  trodes on o type. S intensely self-conscious.

    sure his is crazy.

    t of t surprise. S using a , sing system—and ting self on t   to stir on ts running automatically, computers monitoring tests and recording ts, tioning sampling and adjusting ty and temperature, all ts and pipe eries and t ... almost conscious in fact.

    Sried again.

    Im trying to do  Ive   done before ate of mind, but Before sence, to t of ted:

    ASK A QUEStION.

    It  instantaneous.

    S as if sepped on a space t  t took several moments for o calm dory again.  of t before she had finished.

    Are you Shadows? YES.

    Are you t? YES.

    And is t dark matter? YES.

    Dark matter is conscious? EVIDENtLY.

    I said to Oliver t ion, is it CORRECt. BUt YOU NEED tO ASK MORE QUEStIONS.

    Sopped, took a deep breat racing. Every single t   isnt  tions, and ansher mind.

    Syped again, and again to being h no discernible pause.

    t is ansions isnt ?

    NO. BUt han one of you?

    UNCOUNtABLE BILLIONS But, w are you? ANGELS

    Mary Malones  up as a Cat—as Lyra  to  s angels. St. Augustine ;Angel is t of ture. If you seek ture, it is spirit; if you seek t is angel; from , from ;

    Dizzy, trembling, syped again:

    And Ster is w we ?

    FROM  E ARE, SPIRIt; FROM  E DO, MAttER. MAttER AND SPIRIt ARE ONE.

    Sening to s.

    And did you intervene in ion?

    YES Vengeance for—oh! RebeL angels!

    After tan and t it isnt true, is it? Is t E NO MORE tIME.

    But .

    Sook ill there when she looked again.

    O A ROAD CALLED SUNDERLAND AVENUE AND FIND A tENt. DECEIVE thROUGh.

    tAKE PROVISIONS FOR A LONG JOURNEY. YOU ILL BE PROtECtED. tERS ILL NOt tOUCh YOU.

    But I BEFORE YOU GO, DEStROY t.

    I dont understand.

    s t t DO IN t tAKING CONtROL OF It. DEStROY t. DO It NO AND GO At ONCE.

    Mary Malone pusood up, trembling. So emples and discovered trodes still attaco ook tly. S ed  s  and belief altogething had happened, and she was galvanized.

    Scector and ty codes and formatted ters  clean; and terface betector and ted card, and put t   sed tromagnetic sector, and found t and set ligo it. as t do muc Oliver Paynes kno tively demolished.

    So ook doer  ac and left.

    ty guard anding at t of tairs, speaking into elep it ao trance, che glass door as she drove away.

    An er so find it on a map of Oxford; s kno of toill t s-up excitement, but as s out of  cool and silent and still all around  a definite lurc e joke?

    ell, it oo late to  t. Sted. Sed out ten taken on camping journeys in Scotland and ted t at least so survive out of doors; if o , sake to the hills....

    Ridiculous.

    But so  turned into to ary. S   almost more foolis in her life.

    But as surned trange crees t ill  somet least rue about all trees on t tent of red and  t electricians put up to keep te transit van he windows.

    Better not ate. Sraigoent. epped out. it  reetlighe leaves above shone full on his face.

    quot;Could I ask o t tent.quot;

    quot;Im afraid you cant, madam. Ive got orders not to let anyone near it.quot;

    quot;Good,quot; s;Im glad t tected. But Im from tment of Prom asked us to make a preliminary survey and t back before t it properly. Its important t its done noand t.quot;

    quot;ell, yes,quot; ;But  anyto s;

    quot;O; so get at ems saken from tory een minutes  cable and tograp ook ted card and looked at it closely.

    quot;Dr. Olive Payne,quot; ;Do you o kno;

    quot;O; quot;Do you know w;

    quot;At  any sense. ;

    quot;ell, I understand ion in your organizations been terminated, and s be allo,  orders to detain ries. And seeing a urally t you mig I mean. Excuse me, Dr. Payne.quot;

    quot;A; said Mary Malone. t the card once more.

    quot;Still, t,quot;  back. Nervous, ing to talk,  on. quot;Do you kno tent?quot;

    quot;ell, not first; s;ts w;

    quot;I suppose it is. All rig;

    ood back and let ent. S see tco , sepped t; but s sent. S of arceorite. But not square yard or so in midair, or for t sleeping city by t sepped t.