Charles Sheffield - Dark as Day

“Not much farther.” Karolus paused beside a door set flush into the tunnel’s side and banged on it hard. “Now, if they’re worth half the money I agreed to pay — here we go.”

The door cracked open, noisily, and a worried, gnome-like face poked through from the other side.

“Quick. In.” The man gestured to them, and jerked his head to glance along the corridor in each direction. “If anyone finds out that I let you in—”

“I know. They’ll cut your balls off and make you swallow ’em.” Karolus pushed past him. “So you’d better keep your mouth shut.”

“You said cash.”

“Damn right I did. What do you expect, that I’d give you a credit chit made out from Ligon Industries? I’ll pay you cash — tomorrow.”

“You told—”

“Never mind who I told or what I said. I was in a hurry. D’you think I carry that much on me in the middle of the night? You’ll be paid all right. Where is Sebastian Birch?”

“Up the staircase, one level. Along the corridor, right turn, and fourth door on the left. Locked.”

“Key?”

“Spinor lock. Here’s the codes.” The gnome handed over a slip of paper. “When you’re in, swallow it.”

“Right.” Karolus handed the paper to Alex. “Here you are. A chance to do something useful. We’ll save the explanations for later, but I hope you know what you’re going to do after you eat that. Because I sure as hell don’t.”

That made two of them — three, since Milly Wu was undoubtedly as ill-informed as Alex. The interior of the research facility, not surprising given the hour, was deserted, but the directions were easy to follow. They headed up a staircase, Alex one step behind and feeling like a criminal. Karolus walked in front and chatted easily to Milly, exactly as though they all had every right to be where they were.

“Along the corridor, fourth door on the right, and here we go.” Karolus halted. “Alex, do you want to do the honors?”

The lock was reasonably simple, in keeping with a minimum-security installation. Alex suspected that he could have opened it in fifteen minutes, even without the spinor codes. Five four-space rotations and a parallel displacement, and the spinor keys hissed finality.

“Right. That’s my job over and done with.” Karolus pulled the door, checking that it would open a fraction. “He’s all yours. If anyone ever asks, I was never here — and I’ll have half a dozen witnesses to prove it.”

“I thought you wanted to know why we need to see Birch.”

“I do — some other time. You owe me a favor, Alex, as well as an explanation. You get one, you give one.”

Karolus left. Alex pulled the door open wide. He peered in. The interior was a well-furnished apartment, not at all like the detention cell that he had expected. The living room was comfortable, dimly lit, and empty; as it should be, at this hour.

Two more doors stood at the far end. Alex advanced and opened the left-hand one, with Milly close behind. It revealed a tiny kitchen, unlit. Alex took a deep breath and turned to the final door.

It opened silently, revealing a small bedroom with a shower and bathroom attached. All the lights were off, but enough came in through the open door. Alex surveyed the room, then turned for a second inspection of the living room and kitchen.

They had hurried through the night to find and guard Sebastian Birch. Since this was a quarantine as well as a research facility, the one certainty should have been Birch’s presence.

So much for certainties.

Sebastian Birch, whoever he might be, whatever he might be, and wherever he might be, was nowhere in this apartment.

Jan had eaten a little too much cultured lobster at the Belly of the Whale; or maybe it was the rich chocolate dessert that did not agree with her. At any rate, at the time of night when she normally would be in the deepest phase of her sleep cycle, she found herself poised on the edge of consciousness. Faint imagined voices spoke inside her head, their mutterings just too faint to be understood.

She lay flat on her back, her thigh in companionable contact with Paul’s. He was sleeping soundly, as always. He didn’t usually stay over at the research facility — Valnia Bloom somewhat frowned on the idea — but preparations for the next voyage of the Achilles were going smoothly. He had pleaded for one more chance to capture her in his painting. She was, he said, an unusually difficult subject. Something in her smile — a certain wistfulness, a certain longing — eluded him. He wanted to try first thing in the morning, when his hand was at its steadiest.

Jan opened her eyes and stared up into darkness. Suddenly she was fully awake. The voices were not in her head, they were real. They came from the monitor system in Sebastian’s apartment. Was he talking to himself, in his sleep?

Not unless his voice could change instantly from male to female and back.

She stared over at the video monitor and saw nothing. Sebastian’s living room was empty, and his kitchen and bedroom were dark.

“Paul.” She nudged him, and he muttered a sleepy protest. “Paul, there’s someone in with Sebastian.”

She poked him in the ribs again, harder, and swung out of bed.

“What was that for?” He was finally awake, and grumpy.

“Someone is in Sebastian’s apartment. In his bedroom, I think.”

“What of it? Isn’t he allowed visitors?”

“At this hour?” Jan was into her clothes and feeling around for her shoes. “Look at the time.”

“I just did. Everyone in their right mind is asleep — as I was.” But he was on the edge of the bed, feeling for clothing. “I feel sure that he’s all right.”

“Somebody is with him. I heard a woman’s voice.”

“Then it’s Dr. Bloom.”

“It isn’t. She told me she would be away from the facility tonight.”

“So she changed her mind.” But Paul also was looking for shoes. “Oh, all right. Go ahead, I know you’ll worry unless you see for yourself. I’ll follow you down.”

Jan gave him a quick kiss on the top of his tousled head and was on her way while he was still fumbling at the bedside.

Thirty seconds took her to the door of Sebastian’s apartment. It was ajar, when it ought to have been locked. Suddenly wary — this was a quarantine as well as a research facility, so no one should be able to enter — she eased the door open and quietly stepped inside.

The living room was deserted, but she heard voices coming from the bedroom. A man and a woman — and neither one was Sebastian.

She moved to stand at the bedroom door and listen.

The man’s voice said, “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to reach Bat for the past quarter of an hour on my wrist unit. He’s inaccessible.”

“Not answering?”

“Busy line. He’s talking to Bengt Suomi. He’s ignoring my request for a priority override.”

They had been speaking in whispers, but suddenly the woman said, in a louder voice, “Look, this is ridiculous. We’re creeping around like burglars. How important do you think this is?”

“I can only go by what other people have told me. Bat never gets flustered, and he’s never in a hurry. If he says something’s urgent, it has to be really urgent.”

“Then we should go outside and shout and scream until somebody comes along who can help us find Sebastian Birch. But let me try something before we do that. I left my talk unit back in the work cubicle. May I borrow yours?”

“It won’t do any good. If Bat doesn’t answer a call from me, I don’t see why he’d take one from you.”

“You’re right, of course. But I may be able to cheat. The Puzzle Network employs a special access code. It’s for use by Masters’ level only, and I’m not supposed to know it. But I do. At least we’ll find out how important this is. ’Scuse me.”