“How can you not know? Antille was working on the damned thing, wasn’t he? You have to have some

  idea where he would have kept it.”

  Heering shook his head. “Dr. Antille was very careful about the object. After all the trouble we had with it… Well, you understand.”

  Jack did understand. The artifact itself had already been the cause of a couple of deaths, and very nearly his own. At least two separate groups had enough interest in the thing to involve large sums of money and complete disrespect for anyone who might get in the way. Antille was probably wise to have stashed it somewhere, but it did little to help Jack’s current dilemma.

  “Fine. I’ll just have to make do with what we’ve got.”

  Heering nodded and stood back to let Jack walk into the office before him. Heering followed, closing the door quietly behind him. He stood with his back to the door, watching Jack with that detached scrutiny, looking as if he were waiting for Jack to do something.

  “What is it?” said Jack.

  “Perhaps you will find something here?” said Heering.

  “Oh, I get it,” said Jack. “What do you want to do? Test me or something? It doesn’t work like that.

  Now, can we get on with it?”

  Heering looked disappointed, but nodded and stepped into the room, taking up the seat in front of his desk. He pulled out a keyboard from a compartment just below the surface and tapped a couple of keys.

  The screen sparked into life. Jack was still having difficulty coming to terms with this old technology.

  In some ways Utrecht was completely modern; in others…

  “I have the items under a strong encryption routine. It will take a few minutes for the material to unpack.”

  Jack took a seat and sat back, prepared to wait. Whatever Antille had passed on to his colleague was crucial. Jack knew that much.

  While he was waiting, Heering tapped another couple of keys and started scanning other notes on the screen. Jack could make little sense of what he could see over the archeologist’s shoulder.

  A good five minutes later, a small bell-like tone came from the screen, and Heering turned to beckon Jack forward. “Here we are.”

  Jack crossed and peered over his shoulder, standing just behind him. On the screen was a page of notes.

  It was a picture of an actual page, handwritten formulae and arcane symbols spread across it. Heering hit a key and another image replaced the first, then another and another.

  Nothing. There was nothing there Jack had a hope of understanding. “How am I supposed to work with this?” he said.

  “Perhaps if we go to the end,” said Heering. He hit another couple of keys and the images flicked past one after the other, finally stopping on a single page. “These are the concluding notes. Most of the previous pages relate to explanation and the steps to reach those conclusions with some background material. I believe this page relates to the coordinates that Dr. Antille believes will lead to the relevant world.”

  Jack squinted at the screen with a slight frown. It contained line after line of what looked like formulae.

  Whatever information the page contained, it was completely opaque to him.

  “Dammit. It’s useless. I don’t know anything about astronavigation. What am I supposed to do with this?”

  He stood straighter, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

  “I suggest you find someone who does,” said Heering.

  “You said you’d looked at the conclusions. Why can’t you help?”

  Heering shook his head. “I have looked at the translations and the derived projections. I too know very little about astronavigation, Mr. Stein. I know about deriving the relevant formulae and coordinates, but to actually put them to practical use… I am a theoretician.”

  Great. The true academic in the ivory tower.

  “And how exactly am I supposed to find someone who can help? Here? I need a ship and I need someone who can navigate it. I’m sorry, but I didn’t see much evidence of anywhere I was likely to find that in Balance City.”

  Heering spun his chair slowly to face Jack.

  “As above, so not below,” he said.

  “Huh?” Jack looked down at him blankly.

  “I thought that would have had relevance for you, Mr. Stein,” said Heering, a slight smile for once appearing on his lips.

  “I don’t get it.” He remembered some phrase like that, but he couldn’t see the connection.

  Heering continued to look amused. “Your niece spoke often about the notes, the ancient alchemical texts that you had used on a previous case. Being, as you are, a psychic investigator, I thought that phrase might mean something to you. As above, so below…”

  That was what it was. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before. What of it?”

  “I am sorry,” said Heering, the smile slipping away. “It was my little joke. Balance City is not all as it seems. Clearly you have seen only the surface levels. There are levels below. It is quite different down there. I suggest you go back and investigate the lower regions. You might just find what you are looking for.”

  Damn. Of course. That was why he hadn’t seen any shops or facilities in the city. All of them were out of sight in the lower levels. He should have remembered the way the city grew downward as well as up. He’d seen it clearly enough on the way in, but his mind had been on other things.

  “But can’t you help at all?” asked Jack.

  “I am sorry,” said Heering. “Transportation is not my area of expertise. If you want to engage in space travel, I suggest you find someone who knows about such things. I truly cannot help you.”

  Jack grimaced. Heering was right, of course. “Okay, I’m going to need a copy of that page, if it contains what you say it does.” He pulled out his handipad. “Can you send it to me?”

  Heering looked troubled. “I’m not sure that I can—”

  “Dammit, Heering. I need that stuff.”

  “But I cannot do that. I don’t think we are equipped for that. The best I can do is give you a print of the page.”

  “A print?”

  “Yes, a reproduction on paper.”

  Paper? “Damn,” breathed Jack. This place was full of anachronisms. Back home, a reproduction on

  paper would cost a fortune.

  He nodded slowly. “There’s one last thing, Dr. Heering.”

  Heering looked up. “Yes?”

  “I need access to the rooms where Billie was staying. I need to see if there’s anything of hers that I can use.”

  Heering pursed his lips and shook his head slowly.

  “What?” asked Jack.

  “I would have no idea about where the young woman was staying. It is unlikely we could find anyone to assist in that at the moment. The accommodations are not very well attended at this time of year. I’m afraid to do so would take some time, and there’d be explanations and authorities.”

  Of course there would. This was Utrecht. Jack sighed. “Okay, it was a thought.”

  Heering nodded his understanding. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  Chapter Five

  All the way back on the shuttle, Jack was turning options over in his mind. Despite what Heering had told him, he thought it doubtful that he’d find what he needed in the lower levels of Balance City. He’d seen what sort of people lived here already. Regardless of their little party time, there were the marks of rigidity everywhere. The sort of person he’d need would be a little freer than the mind-set that pervaded the upper reaches. He just couldn’t imagine that it would be so much different.

  Maybe he should call for help, but he couldn’t think who there might be who could help. Typical. He’d rushed into this without thinking things through. Billie was missing, and here he was charging in like some ancient knight in armor, except he didn’t have a horse, he didn’t have a weapon, and he didn’t quite know where he was going.

  He reached into his pocket and reassured himself with the crinkle of paper shoved into his pocket. It was thinly coated with some sort of protective gloss, it was true, but that would protect it for only so long. He’d just better not lose it in the meantime. If he was lucky, he might be able to find some way to transfer it to the handipad, but everything he’d seen of Utrecht so far made him doubt that. Next to the paper sat the small stone shard. He felt the tingle as his fingers brushed its edge. He hadn’t had time to look at it properly, and he didn’t want to yet—not until he was in the sort of setting he needed. The hotel room wasn’t ideal, but it was close enough to what he wanted. He could set the door to do not disturb and then see what he could get out of the stone itself.

  The wind farm distracted him for a few minutes, the giant blades turning, flashing with light, the lines of white support poles stretching on to infinity. In unison, all along the lines, the small green and red lights continued to blink. It must be a bizarre sight late at night from the other side. A wall of winking colored eyes staring back at you. There was only one word for it: alien.

  Funny that he should think of that particular word. Alien. That was what it was all about—the hunt for the alien homeworld, if it was the homeworld. Jack had had previous dream contact with these strange beings, or at least it was possible that he had. He had dreamed them, and in some way, devoid of speech, they had communicated with him. Silvery bodies and featureless cylindrical shafts that led to whatever sensing faculties these creatures had. For all he knew they had been a mere construction of

  his subconscious mind, filling in strange details to make up for the void of his own experience. Well, maybe Billie and Antille knew the truth of it now. That was where they’d gone—seeking the

  homeworld. There was no way he could tell on his own.

  Mercifully there was no one else on the shuttle on the way back in. Nor was there any sign of his erstwhile fellow passenger, which gave Jack some comfort. What Heering had said about being

  between semesters was working to his advantage. It was only a small thing, but a good thing all the same. These stuffy Utrechtians made him distinctly ill at ease.

  And he was back to thoughts about how he could possibly find what he needed in this place. An entire people who used one day in the year to break free from their cultural rigidity. That was what Festival was all about. It had to be. Then there was the whole experience with the officials when he came in, and yet they’d allowed him to buy his way out of the situation. There was a contradiction there, but not one that he was equipped to puzzle out right at the moment. And Billie—Billie with her complete distaste for authority—how the hell had she put up with it for so long? Two and a half months wasn’t too much time, but for Billie…

  Damned if he knew what his place was as far as Billie was concerned.

  Here he was on a foreign world, completely out of touch with his people and customs and devoid of his regular contacts. Anyone he could have possibly approached was days, weeks away, and he doubted they had the skills he needed anyway. He didn’t move with pilots and navigators. Most of his contacts were strictly ground-based. It looked like he would just have to make do with what he had himself.

  He sat back to watch miles and miles of empty brown fields slip by as the shuttle headed back into the city.

  Fifty minutes later he stepped back into the hotel lobby, only now really noticing the contrast from the previous evening. The wide leather sofas and small chintzy tables and chairs were virtually unoccupied.

  A local businessman was sitting on one of the couches. Jack knew he was a local. The bright green suit and purple shoes gave it away immediately. Jack nodded in the man’s direction, but he was fixedly ignored.

  Shuffling around in his pocket, he retrieved the map given to him by the girl at reception and headed for the front desk. Another young woman stood there, smile slipping into place automatically.

  “Yes, sir. May I be of some assistance?”

  “Um, yes,” said Jack, as he spread the map out on the desk between them and smoothed out the crumpled paper with the flat of his hand. “One of your colleagues gave me this map yesterday, but it doesn’t seem to have everything I need.”

  “I don’t understand, sir. What are you looking for?”

  “I can’t see any shopping facilities. Other things. Where would they be?”

  The young woman blinked a couple of times, then smiled again. “The hotel shop has many things you might need. Anything else you can order through the hotel system and it will be delivered to your room.

  Perhaps there’s something I can help you with.”

  He wondered if there was some way of cutting through this shit. “Look, have you got a map of the lower levels, please?”

  The smile slid away. “It is not recommended that visitors to Balance City visit those areas. We can accommodate all your needs here.”

  Jack shook his head. “No, not good enough. Have you got a map or don’t you?”

  The receptionist pursed her lips. “Yes, we have such a map.”

  “Well, can you give me one, please?”

  Her expression became even more severe, disapproving, but she ducked below the desk and came up bearing a folded glossy piece of paper. Jack slid it from her grasp and proceeded to unfold it on the desk. It had several interconnected leaves. Jack examined the first. A large empty space, vaguely oval in shape, sat at the center, what Jack presumed must be the central spire upon which Balance City was built, and all around the edges of it were districts marked out in different colors. He flipped over to the next page. Another level was shown, again with the central blank space, but this time the level’s diameter was smaller. Again, color-coded regions spread out from the central oval, but not covering as much area. Flipping rapidly through the remaining pages, he found similar maps, each decreasing in size until the last and smallest one. Each one had a written key along the outside edge, and grid references. He folded it roughly back up and slipped it away in his pocket.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  She merely nodded.

  “I don’t suppose you have a digital version of this?”

  A flicker of a frown and she shook her head, her face still registering disapproval.

  “No, I didn’t think so.”

  He could feel her watching him all the way to the elevators.

  “Damned stupid tourist,” she was probably thinking to herself, but why anyone would want to come to Balance City as a tourist for any possible reason escaped Jack for the moment. As the elevator doors slid shut, Jack noticed the parrot-clothed businessman watching him too. He allowed himself a wry grin as the elevator climbed toward his floor. So Jack Stein was the odd one out. Okay. He could live with that.

  Back in his room, he shrugged off his coat and hung it on a hook behind the door, reaching into the pockets to retrieve both maps, the paper covered in calculations given to him by Heering and the small stone shard. Pressing the indicator to be sure he wouldn’t be disturbed, he dropped all but the stone shard on the small table and drew the curtains. The power from the fragment still tickled at his fingers, which gave him some comfort. The object’s importance hadn’t been an illusion. Stripping off his trousers and shirt, he moved to the bed, lowered himself to lie in the center on his back, cupped the stone piece between his hands in the middle of his chest, and began his relaxation routine, maintaining concentration on what he held while his breathing slowed. He had none of his tools here, the inducer pads, the sterile surrounds—he’d just have to trust that he could force himself into sleep state with his practiced techniques. He had to be able to force the dream and control it rather than just let it happen.

  Little by little, Jack felt himself start to drift down through alpha, deeper. Awareness started to slip away, gently rocking him into the edge between wakefulness and dreaming. The stone, he thought. The stone. Billie. Concentrate on Billie, on Antille. He conjured their images in his mind, trying to link them to the stone chip held warmly between his palms.

  There was light. Blue-white light picked out details of a familiar landscape. Jack stood in a pretty field, squinting against the glare. Grass, wild and tangled, sprinkled with tall wildflowers, stretched out toward a low hill in one direction, and what he presumed were trees in the other. They didn’t look like trees, but they grew out of the ground and were clustered together. In place of trunks, four large branches stuck into the ground, and they were slick, reflecting back the bright light. A single spire

  reached skyward on each one, making it look like a cluster of framed cathedrals. The air carried a tang.

  Jack wrinkled his nose. It was a bit like old sweat. He turned slowly, looking for some clue that might tell him where he was. Which way was he supposed to go? He thought about heading for the trees, but there seemed to be nothing prompting him to go in that particular direction. For a moment he tried willing himself upward, but in this instance he seemed confined to the ground. No flying here. Pity.

  With a shrug, he started walking in the direction of the low hill.

  As he neared, a figure crested the rise, silhouetted with glare so he could not make out the features. He stopped walking and waited. The figure stood at the top of the rise, seeming as though it were looking down at him. Jack couldn’t quite tell. The figure started down the gentle slope and gradually grew more distinct. It was a man, and as he drew closer Jack could see exactly who it was. Carl Talbot was heading down the hill in his direction, wearing a pale suit and half-open shirt, his hair slicked into place like something out of the old vids. Talbot took his time, and Jack waited. He glanced behind him once or twice, but the cathedral trees were still there, so he turned his gaze back to watch Talbot’s steady approach. When Talbot was about ten feet away, though distance was always deceptive in the dream landscape, he stopped.

  “Hello,” said Talbot.

  “Hey,” said Jack.

  There was a silence, followed by a slight buzzing in the air, like the sound of insects.

  “What are you doing here?” said Talbot.

  “I guess I’m looking for you,” Jack answered slowly. But that couldn’t be right. He forced himself to concentrate, but his willpower kept slipping away.

 

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