Chapter 4

"Who might you be?"

"A man simply looking for answers. I know who you are. I just ask for your help."

"Very funny. Now tell me why you're here in the middle of the night. Money? Research? Take your pick, but the security cameras will help get you arrested very quickly."

"No, I am here to only ask for your assistance, for knowledge I do not possess and am in desperate need of. If you are willing to share what you know that is. The answers I seek have led me to believe they lie with the stars."

"Oh... I know who you are. Dead man should have given it away, it wasn't that long ago. I read that you were man who knew nothing of the solar system and intended to keep it that way."

"Yes. But I still seek your cooperation."

"My boy, there is no point in you being here if you do not wish to learn of our system."

"No! I need to learn about the stars."

"Excuse me?"

"Constellations, star formations, birth, death, the universe's creation and life. The solar system is small, limited. The information I need is large and vast and spans the universe, I am sure. I believe you can help me."

"Hmmm... You may be right. Sit down, I think I can help you. Sounds like a fun little project."

The soft, high notes of a small symphony did not make John's mornining as delightful as he wished. The fact he had been awoken by the sound of the violin wasn't the issue, what Sherlock always failed to notice was the time at which he played. Today it was 5:24am and John tried his damnedest to get more sleep, but the constant sound of C#s, Es and B flats argued against his wish.

He quickly learned to block out the sound, allowing some reasonable time for sleep until 7:25am. When John forced open his still groggy eyes and dragged his legs from under the covers so he was sitting up, the music had stopped. John walked out and down the hallway, still silent if the thudding of his feet on the floorboards underneath was ignored.

When he walked out towards the open living room, he found Sherlock sat quietly in his armchair, with his fingers steepled. He was consumed with thought once more, no doubt replaying the video clip within his mind. There was a glint in his eye as John walked past, meaning he wasn't completely cutting off the world, acknowledging John's presence.

"Any new ideas then?" John asked as he turned the kettle on and looked through the cupboards for a quick breakfast. Sherlock remained motionless but answered.

"Sadly not. Though I have considered a few possible approaches." Deciding to not eat at the moment, John sat opposite Sherlock with his cup of tea.

"Approaches? Where to look Antric do you mean?" There was a pause.

"No, not where Antric is. I have no clue on that matter. Places to find more evidence however, I do have some ideas."

"So why aren't you out looking then? You normally rush off by now."

"Questions, questions, questions, that's all you are this morning," Sherlock mumbled quickly before taking a quick breath and continuing. "No. I know where to go, I just don't intend to go there."

"Oh for God sake, you're sending me there aren't you?"John said, now agitated.

"It's perfectly logical. I need you to go the planetarium and look around Antric's office," Sherlock calmly requested.

"Then go there yourself! You spot and notice things far more quickly that I do. You know what you're looking for. I'll probably miss some ridicously small clue that you'll blab at me about later for not noticing."

"I atually have complete faith in the fact you will do fine. You'll spot anything major on your own, and of course Lestrade will be with you. You have much better eyesight than him," Sherlock said, trying to boost John's spirits.

"Say that with Greg here next time," John said quietly. "It's just his office, and you shouldn't be cooping yourself up in here anyway. What happened to taking full part in a case and getting back out into the world?"

"The planetarium is a public place and is busy even at this time of year. I'm a dead man, random members of the public don't just ignore that if you wave a couple of files in front of their face." John looked away when Sherlock made the winning point, but his annoyance in Sherlock's lack of participation didn't cease.

"So what are you going to do while I'm gone?" Sherlock widened his eyes with fake surprise.

"I thought you respected people's privacy!?" he exclaimed and John had to refrain from throwing his mug at him, worsened with the detective's sly grin.

Shortly after their conversation, Sherlock confirmed a reply from Greg about meeting at the planetarium and John went off to get ready to go. As he headed for the stairs, deciding whether to grab some food at Speedy's Cafe or one near the planetarium, he looked towards Sherlock.

It was only a split second, and would have been seemingly normal, but it is the split second that Sherlock would secretly not have wanted. The man was still sat, with hands steepled in front of his face and was sat motionlessly in his chair, par the movement of his chest from steadied breathing. And his closed eyes. His eyes were creased like he was forcing a single blink with all the energy he possessed, but also gave a sharp intake of breath. These actions were within the space of not even a second, or at least the time John looked before Sherlock returned to his calm state. John considered not leaving, as he recognised these actions, but decided against it.

Sherlock was in pain.

Greg was waiting outside the planetatrium, hugging his coat in the bitter winter wind that was whipping about. Few people wandered around the building, even fewer walking inside. John mentally cursed at his friend, who could have come along with less eyes to see him, but then less eyes meant a more clear chance of seeing and recognising Sherlock. John followed the DI indoors, no other members of Scotland Yard assisting a search of Antric's office.

"What's Sherlock been doing?" Greg asked as they walked down a darkened corridor which had several stars and planets printed on the wall.

"Sat staring into space, trying to find a detail hidden in what he can remember of the video clip. Any luck sending a copy through?" John said.

"Should be able to drop a copy off tonight if the IT department get off their arses. At least he's staying focused."

"No choice, some people who Antric worked for are paying us to find him now," John informed him. Greg was slightly taken aback.

The corridor ended into the main viewing hall where the cleverly made video on space and stars would normally be played during the busy tourist season in summer. Greg led the way up to the hall, until they reached a small flight of stairs behind a 'Staff Only' door and finally an old scuffed door with a slightly newer plaque: 'Proffesor Benjamin Antric - Astronomy'. John opened the door and walked in first.

After seeing Antric's marvelous workplace at the observatory, John must have anticipated an equally lavish office at the planetarium. It seemed the idea may have been located back at the second building of the observatory, because this was not expected. It was a small, dark room with only one window at the back, but the blinds were down and blocked out most of the light. A large desk of unvarnished oak filled most of the room, with neatly arranged piles of books and papers covering the surface, par a few random pieces of paper in the middle, letters and an uncapped pen idly waiting to be picked back up. The curved lamp was turned off and left to sulk in the corner of the desk. At one corner of the room was a metal filing cabinet, and in the opposite corner by the window stood a telescope ready to observe the stars when the right night arrived.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Greg asked. John walked into the middle of the room. The walls were dark, the floor clean but old and everything feeling untouched.

"Sherlock wanted us to see if anything was off, or at least I think that's what he meant."

"Doesn't look like anyone's broken in... May as well look around." John walked over to the telescope, noticing that it wasn't the most high-tech piece of equipment he'd ever seen, but it certainly wasn't an amateurs telescope either. Possibly passing an enthusiasts, but then Antric wouldn't need anything more with the observatory in his palm. While Greg filed through any unlocked cabinet drawers, John sat down in the worn leather chair. He looked at a few letters, checking a few in the piles. All were research papers, and the books ranging from basic astornomy to advanced star science papers with the odd geology experts book. Content with the surface of the desk, he checked the sides. To his left was a small cupboard, and the other side was three deep drawers. With the iron key still in its slot, John turned the lock and opened the cupboard door. It was several shelves slotted into the space, with merely millimetres between each one. It was when John pulled one out that Greg looked over.

"Woah!" was all he seemed capable of saying when the mixture of rocks and gems came into view within the tray. Among the more boring rock specimens, there were labels indicating the different types, their category number, orgin, age, supplier. Some occasionally had extra notes, usually to do with special properties. A few of the specimens had a golden rim around the slot, the notes revealing that these particular specimens were rocks from space. In the end, John left Greg to study each tray and its contents. Instead, he looked at the three drawers. He opened the first one. It was filled with envelopes, a mixture sealed and ripped open. Pens were hidden in the crevices down the side, but otherwise it was a draw of unimpressively categoried letters compared to the top of the desk.

The second drawer revealed another textbook on astronomy. Unsuspicious of the contents underneath, he moved on to the third drawer. A laptop charger, phone charger and various other cables and equipment for the telescope. Antric's laptop must have been back at the observatory. If it wasn't, then John may have discovered some sort of trail. It was probably obvious to Sherlock but always a thrill himself. With a possible trail discovered, John went back to the second drawer. He pulled out the textbook, noticing something different as he placed it on the desk. It wasn't a beginner's astronomy book, nor an experts. The book ranged somewhere in the middle. Immediately John noticed the brightly colored post-it notes sticking out from the top and side of the book. He flicked through and scanned a couple of the marked pages. While the book was on astronomy, with a section or two on astrology, the marked pages held a similiar theme.

Stars.

Deciding that it was part of Antric's work, despite the rather low acedemic level of the book, John opened the drawer to put it back. That was when the folder underneath was clear, appearing full of papers and copies, paper clips and notes sticking out the top, and the bright note of who it was addressed to even clearer. Instead of telling Greg, John panicked, placing the book back and closing the drawer.

"Find anything?" Greg asked. John pretended to struggle with closing the drawers so that he didn't look him in the eye.

"Nah, nothing really interesting," he lied. Did he take the file now, or did he leave it here for someone to find? John had no clue on what to do! Taking a quick breath, he reverted to the truth and looked up at Greg. "Laptop's not here though." The DI nodded.

"I'll get someone to contact Coombs so he can check the observatory office." Both of them left the planetarium, Greg completely calm compared to the silent thoughts John was processing. Thoughts that he needed to discuss with Sherlock.

The conversation was planned, most reponses thought through. John gave the same raven from yesterday a small look, its eyes monitoring the street and feathers ruffled from the wind. He calmly walked up the stairs. Sherlock came into view as he walked in, still sat in his armchair and took note of John's presence by looking over when he walked in.

"How did the search go?" Sherlock asked. John pretended to not know his discovery and smiled.

"Good. No-one's broken in."

"It took you that long to realise?" Sherlock curiously asked.

"Greg and I decided to look around," John started, walking over and sitting in his own chair, idly picking up the paper. Sherlock was now staring. "I found something interesting."

"And what could that possibly be?" Sherlock drearly asked, seeming to believe John's discovery was either pointless or obvious.

"Oh, just the reason you took the case." He peeked over the top of his newspaper, meeting Sherlock's solid stare and the hint of panicked rage burning within his eyes. But it was gone the next second, he cleverly removed all emotion from his eyes and proceeded to throw his head back and look at the ceiling.

"I doubt that entirely," Sherlock muttered, now waiting for John to speak. He failed in containing an aggrevaited sigh, folding the newspaper and leaning forward.

"An astronomer doesn't hide a folder under a mid-grade textbook in the second drawer of his desk with a note on top with a dead man's first name written on it." That was the exact truth. The flourescent yellow note had Sherlock's name scribbled in capitals. The last thing John wanted was for someone from Scotland Yard to find it and raise suspicion of Sherlock, but he couldn't steal it either. Sherlock remained silent for a few moments.

"You believe a folder as my reason for the taking the case..." he muttered. "You are right to some degree, but also wrong. Shame that you couldn't pick it up."

"Then what's your reason?" John asked, knowing that lecturing Sherlock on the potential danger of the police finding the folder and suspecting him of being involved with the kidnap was slowly becoming more likely.

"If you must know, John... Antric isn't just an astronomer, or a geologist. Aside from being a scientist, he is a friend of mine."