Arcadia

38

It occurred to Jack, as he walked along the corridors accompanied by the two men, that if someone like Emily had been there, she might have given him a lengthy lecture on ceremonial through the ages. She could have described the various ways popes, emperors, kings and presidents had used ritual to inspire awe, turn equals into inferiors and the courageous into trembling supplicants. Whether it was a throne room or an oval office, a cavalcade or a motorcade, the object was to win any argument by psychological intimidation before it had even started.

The great elite of science was no different. The entire top floor of the residence had been taken over; security men were placed every few steps; Jack passed through room after room, being examined or merely ignored by ever more important-looking people. Eventually he came to the holy of holies, the inner sanctum, laid out in an old-fashioned style with comfortable chairs and settees and huge windows, the curtains drawn to keep out the light.

The door shut behind him, leaving Jack in what he at first thought was an empty room. Only as his eyes got accustomed to the dim light did he realise he was wrong. A tiny man, frail and almost elf-like, was perched on a chair. He did not move, but sat with his hands clasped on his lap, looking at him curiously, judging how he reacted to these strange circumstances.

‘Please sit down. You are Dr More, I believe.’ Jack started in surprise; he expected a voice to match the appearance, as thin and wispy as the man’s body, but instead it was a deep baritone, clear and precise.

‘Yes. Who are you?’

He looked mildly puzzled. ‘Did they not say? Oh, they do like their mystery, no? Forgive me. My name is Zoffany Oldmanter. Please sit down. I do not like looking up at people.’

He should have realised. But Oldmanter was so different from anything he might have expected that he sat himself down opposite the man, so fearsome in reputation, so harmless in appearance, and studied him with renewed interest. It was no surprise that he had not recognised him; there were no photographs. Oldmanter never appeared in public; no one outside an inner circle had seen him for years, decades. He was his reputation, and his unimaginable power. He was very old. He had spent a lifetime accumulating his resources of countless companies, huge lands and hundreds of millions of people, all serving his laboratories and controlled with an iron grip. He had never taken his rightful place on any of the governing councils, preferring to get whatever he wanted by informal means — a request here, an attack there. His army was said to be the best equipped in the world, the most ruthless when let loose on anyone who opposed him.

Now he was sitting, alone and unguarded, opposite him. Jack could lean over and break his neck with one simple movement.

‘But you are not going to,’ Oldmanter said, almost apologetically.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Break my neck, or whatever it was passing through your head.’

‘You read minds?’

‘I don’t need to. I suspect it would be very tedious. No; everybody thinks the same when they meet me for the first time.’ He smiled wanly. ‘I used to find it annoying.’

‘What am I doing here?’

‘You did not say how honoured you are to be in my presence,’ he noted.

Jack shrugged.

‘Good. I hate obsequiousness. It is perfectly simple. I want an explanation of the lamentable chaos that seems to be overwhelming Hanslip’s laboratories. Let me list the things that concern me,’ Oldmanter said. ‘One of my advisers has gone missing. Dr Hanslip is refusing to respond to any communications. There was a catastrophic accident last week that resulted in widespread disturbance and Hanslip is ostentatiously trying to blame it all on renegades. He has also, I learn, lost his star mathematician.’

He paused. ‘I do not care too much about any of that, but I am very concerned about the state of Dr Hanslip’s project.’

‘I’m sure that I don’t know...’

‘I am sure that you do.’

‘I am bound by my oath of confidentiality.’

‘I am well aware of where your loyalties lie, and I honour you for that. Nonetheless, circumstances have changed. Hanslip’s operation will soon enough belong to us, as will all the information it owns.’

‘In which case surely it would be better to wait until then?’

‘I would, if I was confident that the situation wasn’t going to degenerate further. What are you looking for?’

Jack hesitated for a moment. ‘Why do you think I am looking for something?’

‘In the middle of a crisis you suddenly leave and travel south. You try to ensure that you cannot be tracked from the moment you get to the mainland to the moment you arrive here. Naturally we have your institute watched. It is standard procedure when we are negotiating to acquire something.’

As the man seemed to know a great deal, there was little to be gained by pretending otherwise. ‘We were subject to attempted sabotage and theft. I was sent to make enquiries. My main task is to track down Angela Meerson, who, as you say, has vanished.’

‘Theft of...?’

‘Some data.’

‘Have you succeeded?’

‘I have scarcely started.’

‘I see. You understand that with the resources I have at my disposal I could track Meerson down very much faster than you could.’

‘I doubt that. You would make a great deal of noise and put her on the alert. She is, as perhaps you know, very intelligent and almost paranoid in her lack of trust in others.’

‘You have a low opinion of our skills.’

‘I do. I have learnt over the years that the bigger the organisation, the clumsier it is. I will find her faster and more efficiently than you can.’

Oldmanter considered this remark for a moment and then said: ‘You are not telling me the entire truth, of course.’

‘Of course not,’ Jack replied with a smile. ‘It is the truth, nonetheless.’

‘Very well. Bear in mind that I wish to secure control of this technology for the good of humanity. Hanslip has neither the vision nor the resources to develop it properly. I do. Your assistance will be valued and rewarded, if and when it is forthcoming.’

‘I have nothing useful to offer you at the moment.’

‘Then I would urge you to remember my words when you do.’

Jack moved swiftly when he left Oldmanter’s quarters. The first task was to escape the residence unnoticed. For this he assumed he had an advantage; if Oldmanter truly thought that he was a high-ranking scientist, and the polite way he talked suggested he did, then no one would assume he had the skills necessary to evade them. With luck, he could disappear thoroughly before they even noticed he had gone.

Signing out, he decided, he could do without. Instead, he left through the doors that led to the service area, full of the sort of people that Oldmanter scarcely knew existed, the cooks and cleaners who toiled unseen in the bowels of the building. There he ducked and weaved through the corridors, borrowing at one stage a floor sweeper’s brown coat and cap that he found hanging on a peg by a cupboard. Then he went to the loading bay, where the food came in and the rubbish went out. It was not hard to hitch a lift in one of the trucks, and he was certain he could rely on the suspicion and surliness of such people for protection. Did you see anyone unusual this morning? No. Not a soul... Many a time he had been faced with such obstruction. It was the first and often enough the last response to any question.

He got out at a busy intersection where there were only multiple lanes of transports but no pedestrians. No one paid any attention to him as he slipped out, thanking the driver with a clap on the shoulder as he slid to the ground. The man never even looked at him, just grunted as he slammed the door. Then he spent the next hour criss-crossing the area, a commercial zone full of factories and processing plants, surrounded by massive high-rise blocks for the workers who kept them going, ducking into buildings and out the back, walking, then doubling back. He left his wallet with his money card in it on a bench where he knew it would be found and, inevitably, stolen. Once it was used, his location would be tracked wherever it went, and his followers would go off on a wild goose chase, convinced they knew exactly where he was.

He hadn’t really believed Hanslip when he had told him to be careful just before he left. But if Oldmanter in person was intervening, then it was serious indeed; this was not a man who occupied himself with details. He had tens of thousands of people who could have come and interviewed him. Now he knew the institute was being monitored, and Oldmanter considered Angela’s technology to be so important that it required him to get involved personally. This was no longer tidying up after a security lapse and an embarrassing accident.

He now had the entire night to pass before he could get into the Depository. It was cold, it was wet and he had no money. All of a sudden, life was much less pleasant.

The moment he arrived the following morning at the daunting steel gates which led to the main entrance, he realised that, if Emily did not show up, there was not a chance he could find anything on his own. It was huge. A vast building, so tall and long that the edges were lost in the fog, the windowless walls in grimy concrete, bleak and unwelcoming, surrounded by barbed-wire fencing. It would be like looking for a piece of paper in a city, even if the place was well organised, and he suspected strongly that it would not be.

That was all he needed. He was cold and miserable from having been on the streets the entire night. There was nowhere to sit by the road, which was covered in rubbish and filth, and nowhere to get anything to eat or drink, even if he had had any money, just a bleak, broad multi-lane highway which led nowhere. He began to feel his spirits sag, and to wonder what he would do if Emily Strang did not turn up. Why should she, after all?

Then there was a shout from behind him. As he turned his heart lightened, and not just because it was now possible that he might succeed in his task. The sight of her walking along, in a thick coat, bag over her shoulder, smiling as she waved, revived his spirits. Still, there was nothing that remarkable about her, he reminded himself. Just a renegade, who showed her nature in the loose way she walked, the ostentatious scruffiness of her clothes.

‘I’m late. Sorry about that,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Dear God! What’s happened to you? You look as though you slept on a bench all night.’

‘I was on a bench, but I didn’t sleep. I had a meeting last night. I thought it would be a good idea to make myself scarce.’

‘Why?’

‘I met the great Zoffany Oldmanter. In the flesh.’

‘Aren’t you important then.’

Even she had heard of him. But of course she had. Oldmanter was the instigator of the current campaign against the renegades.

‘If he finds out I went to your Retreat yesterday, it won’t take long for him to figure out who I came to visit.’

‘Then I might get to meet him as well?’

‘A few of his rougher people, more like.’

‘I see. I am beginning to wish I had never met you, Dr More.’

‘It would be best to make him lose interest in you. Are you sure you have had no contact with your mother?’

‘I’ve already told you. I’m not protecting her. It’s not as if I owe her anything.’

‘Can we go in? I’m freezing out here. How well do you know this place?’

‘Fairly well. I’ve been here often. Are you sure you don’t want to get some food or something? You really do look a fright.’

‘It’s not the first time.’

‘Hmm,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘What an unusual scientist you are, to be sure. Well, if you’re certain, let’s go in. It is a complete mess in there, and huge amounts of material get lost or destroyed, but what still exists is in there, somewhere. If I know where to look, I might find what you’re after. You will have to give me a hint.’

‘We found an electronic reference to what was supposedly an article published in 1959. The copy we obtained contained some script called the Devil’s Handwriting. It was in fact in something called the Tsou notation, which was only invented half a century ago. It appears to be a fragment of your mother’s work. The complete document is said to be in the papers of an academic who died in 1979, which were lodged in here.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes,’ he said, a little ruffled by her tone of disdain. ‘Why?’

‘It’s just that I have never heard such a ridiculous story in my life.’

‘It’s the best we have.’

‘You are desperate, then.’

‘What are the chances that this man’s papers are in there?’

‘I have no idea,’ she said. ‘If they ever existed then I don’t imagine anyone has looked at them, and it’s the things which are consulted which get destroyed. Nobody can be bothered putting them back again. Finding them may take some time, but the only way to tell is to go and look.’

‘Then let us begin,’ he said.

They spent all day on it and despite Emily’s skill and knowledge they came up empty. Jack doubted whether anyone else could ever find it, even if they tore the place to bits. How she did it, by what process of logic she went from one underground level to another, marching what seemed like miles through anonymous, half-lit ranks of files, occasionally pulling out a flashlight, examining a shelf, then grunting and moving on, he did not know. Still, she gave the impression that she knew what she was doing, and the more he trailed after her, the more confident he became. There was something about her competence which reassured him.

Even when a deafening siren went off after many hours and she cursed noisily he did not feel too disheartened.

‘Chucking-out time,’ she said with a sniff of disapproval. ‘We’ll have to stop and come back tomorrow.’

‘Have you found anything?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I have established that the papers still existed fifty years ago, which is pretty good. I have even narrowed down where they might be. So we have made progress. One thing puzzles me, though.’

‘And that is?’

They were walking swiftly towards the exit, feet clattering on the cold concrete floors. Jack was looking forward to being outside once more; the weather wasn’t good, but the clammy feeling inside the building was even worse.

‘There is no trace of anyone ever having consulted them. In order for someone to have hidden something among the papers, they would have had to find them first. In that case there would be a record that they had been looked at. It would really be a great help to know more,’ she said.

‘I’m afraid I...’

‘Great secrets, my renegade ears unsuited to hear?’

‘That sort of thing. Also, the less you know, the safer you are.’

There was a long pause, with each feeling offended at the way the other was speaking. Jack was the first to make amends.

‘Can I offer you some food? A meal? There must be somewhere round here.’

‘I thought you had no money,’ she pointed out.

‘True.’

‘We can offer you hospitality, if you wish to accept it. It will not be as comfortable or hygienic as you are used to, but you don’t look as if you can afford to be too fussy. You smell a bit, as well.’

He accepted the invitation; he had no real choice as he didn’t fancy the idea of another night sleeping in the open. In summer he might not have minded, but at this time of year it was far too cold. Besides, he was tired and worried. He felt half dead by the time he was led into a bare chamber furnished only with a rough bed, after a quick but surprisingly enjoyable meal. He collapsed onto the bed before Emily had even left him alone in the room. As he sank into oblivion, he was sure he heard a faint titter of amusement. He didn’t care, as long as everyone let him be.

When he did finally surface, he was bathed in sweat and couldn’t immediately remember where he was, why he was there. Only the smell from the pillow, used no doubt by many people before him and without even a sterilised cover, jolted him back to understanding. Slowly, desperately, he levered himself up and sat on the edge of the bed for a while before going to find the shower.

The bathing facilities were primitive beyond belief; just a tube with a nozzle which rained hot water down on him. At least it took his mind off his thoughts, forming and half-forming uncontrollably as he dried himself.

The clothes they had found for him were a different matter; they reminded him of his past too much. He had to dress like one of the people he was more used to watching and controlling. Trousers, cream top and a light blue jacket. There was a mirror in the washing room, and he examined himself thoughtfully when he was done. He had not shaved, and in the clothes he looked very different. No longer the sleek member of the elite, but not convincingly anything else yet either. He looked ridiculous.

Emily didn’t agree. ‘Much better. You don’t look quite so full of yourself.’

‘Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.’

It was only six in the morning, but the trip back to the Depository was a long one, especially as Jack insisted on a roundabout route and walking the last mile. He wasn’t even entirely certain why he was bothering, but Emily seemed quite optimistic and he didn’t have any other ideas at the moment.

‘It was a long shot, you know,’ he said as he padded after her down yet another dimly lit corridor made of stacks of rotting cardboard boxes.

‘Thrill of the hunt,’ she said, craning her neck to stare up twenty feet into the gloom. ‘This place has never defeated me yet, and it is not going to today.’

So, when she finally gave a cry of triumph and clambered up a ladder, then pulled out an old box which cascaded dust onto his head, he was surprised, and relieved. Above all, he was quite proud of the fact that he had gone to the trouble of finding her. He doubted anyone else could have made their way through this hell-hole of antiquity so effectively.

She gently carried the box down and blew even more dust off the top. ‘Look.’

He could just make out the writing on an old label, nearly detached and yellow with age. ‘Lytten, Henry. Papers. 1982/3346.’

‘What are the numbers?’

‘An old and now entirely useless filing system. We’re lucky. If the label had fallen off I would never have found it.’

‘Well done. Now let’s have a look and leave.’

She laughed. ‘Oh, dear me, it’s not that easy.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘There are another eight boxes up there. It could be in any one of them. Still, the longest journey starts with a single step,’ she added cheerfully, taking him over to a desk in a dark corner. ‘You look through this one and I’ll start getting the rest down. Now, what are we looking for?’

‘It could be an electronic data holder. Or a paper printout. That’s the most likely.’

‘Off you go, then.’

He did as instructed. Piece by piece, he took the papers out of the boxes and settled down and tried to read, if only because Emily had begun to do the same. He didn’t want her to realise that he found reading difficult, that he was long out of practice. It was made tolerable only by the fact that he would occasionally sneak a glance at the young woman now sitting opposite doing the same, a frown of concentration on her forehead somehow making her dusty face oddly attractive.

It had an almost hypnotic effect on him, to concentrate absolutely on something. He even began to have a faint glimmer of understanding of these people and their insistence on the virtues of pointless activity.

Alongside that was a sense of growing frustration. What was all this stuff, these boxes of old, dank notebooks and crumbling envelopes? Everything was written by hand, and he had never seen that before, except in a museum. He was impressed by the effort, but he had to struggle through every word, and even then they meant very little to him.

There were dozens of notebooks, folders, packets of paper, some covered with writing, others with only a few illegible scribbles. He spent half an hour on an old, yellowed, fragile sheet, carefully analysing each letter, adding them together then extracting the sentence, but it meant nothing. ‘I will see the storyteller next Wednesday’ had so far lost any context that there was no hope of understanding its significance, if it had ever had any. Another scrap, which was written on a primitive writing machine and so was much easier to read, was equally problematic — ‘Mr Williams’ work over the past three years has ranged from the incompetent to the fatuous. He is ideally suited to a career in your bank.’

After three hours Emily found it, but only because she ignored his instructions and went through everything. The prize was not what he had anticipated. No little sliver of plastic or metal. No freshly printed sheets of symbols. Instead, it was buried at the bottom of a large box of papers, and it did not look new or fresh. It was scarcely larger than his hand and consisted of about fifteen pages that were bound in leather. The dust as he opened it made him sneeze. Inside was page after page of the bizarre script which meant nothing to him and which, Hanslip had said, only a machine could understand.

He studied it closely. It was written by hand, in an ink which had not faded. Only the first page was in normal characters. It read, ‘The Devil’s Handwriting’. There was a stuck-down piece of paper with ‘Tudmore Court’ printed on it in black.

‘That must be it,’ he said. ‘Well done!’

‘Not what you expected?’

‘No. Tell me, does this look as if it was recently put there?’ It seemed more than ever like a bizarrely complicated way of hiding something. The box and its contents looked as though they had been undisturbed for a very long time indeed: the dust, the smell of decay, the mouse droppings all appeared as though they had never been touched.

‘If it was, then it was hidden by someone who knew what they were doing. I would have said it had been there for a while. Look,’ Emily said as she picked up another book. ‘You see the mark here? It’s the outline of the notebook. The cover has stained it a little. That only happens over a long period. And it was slightly stuck to the papers above it. That again normally takes years.’

She took it from his hands, examined it closely, then held it to her face and sniffed. ‘If you want my opinion, then it seems like the real thing to me. Genuinely eighteenth-century.’

‘What do you mean? Eighteenth-century?’ he asked sharply. ‘Not twentieth?’

‘No. The paper, the handwriting, the smell...’

‘That’s not possible.’

‘Then we will have to go through the entire lot carefully. See if there are any other references, to give it a context. Faking one document is hard, but faking several of them would be almost impossible. We can run some tests on the paper and ink.’

‘Let me try something else, first of all. Could you call the man in charge?’

Emily ran up the stairs and came back a few minutes later with the caretaker, the old man who had waved his hand dismissively when they had arrived and allowed them to wander around at will.

‘Has anyone else ever asked for these papers?’ Jack asked him. ‘I know there are no official records. But unofficially?’

‘These? Why do you ask?’

‘Answer the question.’

‘No one has been to look at them. Officially or unofficially.’

He glanced sideways, very slightly, but in a way which put Jack on the alert. Taking Emily by the arm, he pulled her close.

‘I think we should get out of here quickly,’ he said. ‘Not through the main gate. Is there another exit?’

She nodded. ‘Follow me.’