He tucked the information away and left his cabin, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his knuckles, wanting to process what he'd just learned, but eager to join the others on the bridge for the moment so that he could be occupied with something else while his mind went through and worked out the connections.
It took nearly two days and one more jump before Jack tried to broach the subject of his dream with Billie. By the time he'd rejoined the others, it was clear that Antille had managed to have his little chat with her, and she was clearly pissed with him. Gone were the vague half smiles. Instead he was back to narrowed eyes and set jaw. He decided to let her cool off before he tried again.
When he finally did, she lifted one hand and pushed past him to stalk down the corridor, saying just one thing back over her shoulder.
"You talk tome, Jack. Not Herve. You talk tome. Haven't you screwed things up enough?"
"I am talking to you, Billie. I need to talk to you.Now. "
She stopped in the corridor, planted her fists on her hips, and waited.
He started telling her about Daman then, about his revelation and the connection, but before he'd even gotten to mentioning Outreach, she lifted her hand again.
"Boring, Jack," she'd said, then spun on her heel and disappeared down the corridor.
From that point on, she made a point of staying close by Dog, hanging on his every word, and shooting meaningful looks in Jack's direction. By the time the orbital and the jeweled curve of Utrecht started to grow in the front viewscreens, his sense of relief was almost palpable.
It was almost over. They could get back and get out of there.
As they drew in to dock, Jack realized that he hadn't made any plans. He had nowhere to stay and nothing apart from what he carried in his luggage. He didn't know how long it would take Billie and Antille to sort things out, and now, with the current mood, he had to rely on the archeologist to work on her and try to convince her of the wisdom of what he'd suggested. He was even tempted to talk to Dog and try to get him to convince her, but he knew exactly what Billie's reaction to that would be. Maybe later. Right now it wasn't worth the risk.
It still left him with the problem.
He drew Dog to one side in a quiet moment.
"Dog, I need somewhere to hole up while Billie and Antille sort things out."
Dog grinned. "I was going to suggest it, Jack. You can stay at my place until you're ready to leave. You are planning to leave, aren't you?"
"Oh, yeah," said Jack. "There's no doubt about that. Not even a hint of doubt."
Dog clapped him on the shoulder. "That's settled then. Good."
Dog looked genuinely pleased with his decision.
They rode down to the surface in Dog's other transport, amongst the rubbish and the detritus and the stained seats. Neither Billie nor Antille seemed to notice, and as they broke through the clouds and Balance City swung into view, all other thoughts were swept away. It didn't matter whether Jack had begun to hate the place; the city was magnificent, and the approach made it more so. Once again, Jack was swept away by the majesty, craning in his seat to get a better view of the spire and the clustered buildings spread across the upper plateau and crawling, supported, down the sides. Even the color was unimportant; whether it affected his sensibilities or not, the sight was still something to inspire simple awe.
Even Billie and Antille seemed captivated.
As they docked, Billie turned to Dog.
"We should go out to the dormitories at the university and get some stuff organized."
Antille nodded his agreement.
"Then we can meet back here or somewhere to talk about what we're going to do."
"Billie..." said Jack.
She turned to look at him. "I have to do some stuff, Jack. I need to get some clothes and other things. I need to get cleaned up. We can talk later."
He understood the sense of what she was saying, but he still wasn't very happy about it.
"It might be better if we met in the morning," she said.
"Yeah, that makes sense," said Dog.
Thanks a lot, McCreedy, thought Jack. A big help. Jack looked at Antille, and Antille gave him the barest of nods, signaling that he knew what Jack wanted of him.
Dog suggested they meet at the bar around midday. He gave Antille directions and they agreed it was a plan.
In the open spaces of the docks, the ordered lines of ships all around him, Jack stood and watched as Billie headed off with Antille to the entranceway that would take them to the surface. He'd just found her, and now she was leaving again. He watched the doorway they'd disappeared through for a few seconds, his hand holding his luggage lead loosely in his grasp.
"You coming, Jack?" said Dog.
"Yeah," he replied after a moment, letting out a sigh as he turned to follow.
Twenty-eight
Dog's apartment was deep in Algol, and McCreedy led him unerringly through the narrow streets, barely looking to check that he was following. Jack was still uneasy at the prospect of letting Billie go off alone with Herve back to the dorm rooms at the university, but right now he had to accept that it was the best course of action. They'd meet up as soon as Billie and Antille had gotten their stuff in order. He guessed Billie had some other things to think about too...and hopefully Antille would have the opportunity to talk some sense into her.
Despite the encapsulated nature of Balance City's levels, the apartment building was much the same as any other in any city Jack had known. Of course, they were different from anything back in the Locality, but these were fixed buildings, not programmed. Dog's place was on the third floor, and they took stairs, rather than an elevator, and then went down a dimly lit hallway to a plain unmarked door. There was a number on the door-thirty-six-but nothing else. Dog palmed the outside lock and stepped back to allow Jack to pass.
The apartment was small but functional, and Dog led him through the rooms. There was a lounge, a kitchen/ dining area combined, bedroom, bathroom, and a spare room. Dog indicated that Jack should drop his bags in there, and then led him back to the living room.
"Take a seat," he said, indicating the plain, square sofa. It was beige, just like most of the other fittings and fixtures in the apartment. There was nothing about the place that spoke of Dog, no personalization, none of the little things that people accumulated. It was anonymous. If Jack didn't know better, he would have thought the place was completely unlived in. Still, if you were a pilot, hopping from place to place, maybe an apartment would have that feel-just a simple practical utility, somewhere to sleep when you were in town. He'd seen Dog with that woman, though, on their first meeting. This didn't look like the sort of place Dog would be bringing someone like that back to either.
"Can I get you a drink?" Dog asked.
"Yeah, bourbon if you've got it."
Dog opened a cupboard off to one side and clattered around in it, finally turning back waving a bottle in one hand. "Scotch okay? It'll have to be. I haven't got anything else right now."
Jack nodded and Dog poured the drinks. He spoke to Jack without turning around as he busied himself with the glasses.
"There's someone I want you to meet, Jack. He should be here soon."
"Here?" Jack took the proffered glass and settled back on the couch, swirling the warm golden liquid.
"How's that?"
Dog settled in a chair opposite and cupped his own glass between both hands, staring down into the contents before peering up at Jack through his hair. "I put a call in from the ship."
"Okaaay," said Jack. "Why would you do that? What's this all about, McCreedy?"
Dog settled back in his own chair, brushing his hair out of his face. "You've been very useful, Jack, and hopefully you'll continue to be useful. Now with the navigational material and the location, we'll be able to expand the contact with the aliens. The temporal disperser was an unexpected bonus, and once we work out how it operates, we should be in a position to exploit the technology properly. Who knows what else they've got."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "We?" he said.
Dog waved his hand. "Not important for now. Of course, we're still going to need your services until we work out some other way of communicating with the coatracks. I can't see why they won't look after you properly in the meantime."
"Okay, McCreedy, what are you telling me? I'm not doing anything with anyone. I'm getting the hell off this planet, and if I can convince Billie to come with me, then that's that."
Dog leaned forward again. "Wait and see, Jack. You don't have much of a choice."
"Oh, I get it.... You're hooked up with the damned Sons of Utrecht. Is that it? I don't know why I didn't see it sooner. Antille suggested something, but I dismissed it. I told him I could trust you." Jack slowly placed his glass down. "I can't believe it, after what we've been through. What, was it a setup all along?" He got to his feet.
"Sit down, Jack. Drink your drink. It's nothing to do with those idiots."
Jack narrowed his eyes, but did as instructed. He was interested now despite his growing anger.
"So what's your angle, Dog?"
McCreedy lifted his hand, rubbed his thumb and finger together in the universal gesture, and grinned.
"What do you think? You know me, Jack. A job's a job. Follow the cash. You should understand that."
Jack made a sound low in his throat. "I'm not interested, McCreedy. As soon as I can I'm out of here."
Dog shook his head. "It's not that easy, Jack. I wish I could tell you it was, but it's not." His voice was deadly serious, and there was the vaguest note of resignation in it.
The door announced an arrival, forestalling any further discussion, and Dog placed his glass down and went to answer it. Jack contemplated trying to leave, but right now there was too much remaining unanswered. He wanted to see where this led for the moment, and whom the mysterious visitor would turn out to be.
He didn't have long to wait; Dog returned a few moments later, followed by two men. The one in the rear was clearly hired muscle, making Jack's mind up for him immediately about what he was going to do. The other one looked strangely familiar.
"Ah, Jack Stein. Hello," said the newcomer. His companion moved to take up position on one side of the door, his hands clasped behind his back. The man who had spoken was graying, a plain, unremarkable face, a dark suit, the latter marking him out as an offworlder. Jack knew the face, but he couldn't remember from where.
The man paused, frowned, and then moved to take up a seat. He gave Dog a curious look as well. He leaned forward, crossing his hands in front of him.
"You don't remember me, Mr. Stein, do you?"
The way he spoke was familiar too. Jack looked from him, to Dog, to the two standing by the doorway, and then back again.
"No. Should I?"
"Probably not. The name's Thorpe, Mr. Stein. Andrew Thorpe. The last time we spoke was a couple of years ago. It was only very brief, but I remember it quite well. You seem to have changed somewhat since then."
Jack suppressed a wry grin. Yeah, he'd changed all right. "No," said Jack. "Refresh my memory."
Thorpe nodded. Meanwhile, Dog had taken one of the other vacant seats. The other man remained by the door, watching impassively.
"Around the time you had located the artifact, when you became involved with Christian Landerman and the others, we expressed interest in retrieving the item, and I spoke to you then."
Again thewe.
"Enough of the mystery," said Jack. "I've had enough games for the moment. Who are you and what do you want?"
Thorpe sat back. "I represent the interests of Outreach Industries. Mr. McCreedy here is one of our freelance agents."
Suddenly it all clicked into place. The ship, some of McCreedy's comments. Jack turned and looked at Dog accusingly. Dog merely shrugged. And Jack did remember this guy Thorpe. He'd called back at the Yorkstone apartment, but Jack had told him what he and Outreach could do.
Thorpe continued speaking. "Ever since then, we've been keeping a fairly close eye on you, Mr. Stein.
When you ended up on Utrecht, we became interested, very interested. It seemed wise to make use of what we knew about you, and we know quite a lot about you, Mr. Stein."
"I don't see what-" Jack started, but Thorpe cut him off with one hand.
"We know even more now," he said. "McCreedy sent in his reports as soon as he was within communication range. And very interesting they were too. We had no idea how valuable his past associations with you would turn out to be."
Jack's mind was racing now. The big man by the door was severely limiting his options. There was Billie to think of too. He knew the way Outreach operated, and not a lot stood in the way of their quest for what they wanted. Already they owned the technology around the jump drive. They knew all about Antille as well. The best thing he could do for the moment was pretend to play along until he found out exactly what they wanted, but he could guess. His revelation about that kid down in Old put it firmly into place.
"Tell me what you want."
Thorpe gave a little smile. "I'm pleased you see things our way, Mr. Stein. Of course, assisting us will have its rewards. We need you to help us communicate with the alien beings, establish contact-introduce us, if you like, until we establish our own mechanisms. We need to study how that all works. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, you are our sole means of doing that at the moment. For that reason, you have become a very valuable resource."
Jack felt anger growing within him anew. He wasn't quite sure if it was anger with Outreach, or anger with Dog. He clenched his teeth together, trying to keep it under control. He couldn't help saying one thing though.
"You get well paid for this, McCreedy?"
Dog looked down at his hands, but didn't answer.
Jack sniffed and turned his attention back to Thorpe. "And what if I just leave? What then?"
"I'm sure you've seen the way things work in Balance City," said Thorpe. "I think you would find it difficult to leave. Besides, I believe there are certain things that are important to you here. We wouldn't want anything to happen...."
Jack started to stand, the anger boiling up inside him-Thorpe could only be referring to Billie-but as he moved, the hulking man by the doorway took a step forward. Jack gritted his teeth and sat back down.
"Dammit," he said. "This goddamned place. I've had enough of it."
Thorpe smiled fully this time. "Oh, I'm glad you feel that way actually, Mr. Stein. I'm sure you remember the Locality. We have a nice little place arranged for you there. It will be just like coming home, won't it?"
"The Locality? But Billie..." said Jack.
"Will be taken care of. We are far more interested in you, Mr. Stein. Your niece is unimportant."
Jack glared at Dog, who was unable to meet his gaze.
"We are very excited about the work we are about to do together, Jack," Thorpe continued.