13. Infiltration
By nine o'clock in the evening the oxford town centre was both dark and deserted. The occasional drunk staggered out of the local pub or two lovers strolled down the streets quietly talking to each other. But the rest of the town was silent and sleepy.
Only two figures looked out of place, two children, both girls, were creeping across the shadows, takings steps not to be seen. They were succeeding, only the odd glint of light that reflected by chance off a button or watch showed they were on the street at all.
Lyra and Katie were heading for the Oxford Oratory where Lyra was sure they would find some answers. Katie and her dæmon followed silently, both assuring each other that for good or bad this espionage would be over quickly. Pan was slightly ahead of Lyra, peering round corners to ensure they were not caught even before they reached their target. This wariness was not entirely necessary, but Will's obsession of stealth had brushed onto her and she wanted to be like him now.
'How are we going to get in?' whispered Katie,
'Dunno… we'll open a window or something.' hissed Lyra.
They stumbled the last few yards and looked down the ally Lyra had been taken down earlier that day and inspected the back door. It was wooden with thin metal covering it for extra strength. There was a small keyhole crudely drilled out on their side, but otherwise the door was utterly plain and flat. Lyra didn't fancy herself for picking locks, or opening them by magic, so she motioned Katie to follow her round the corner.
Here there was a small yard paved over by flagstones that had grass and weeds peeping out from the edges. Other than a wooden table with a chair drawn up to it, the courtyard was empty. The back of the dark oratory had windows on it, so the two girls and their dæmons pressed themselves against the wall to avoid detection, but all the windows were dark and gloomy except for one, where a flickering naphtha lamp threw shadows and silhouettes onto the glass and the paving slabs below it. Lyra pointed and the other girl nodded. They crept along the wall so they were under the lit window. Conveniently it was on the ground floor, so they could faintly hear what was being said inside the room.
'The filing has been finished sir, Stevens asked that you check on Manderlain.' said a pale, unimportant sounding voice,
'Good,' said another, this one was stern, and had authority in it, 'you may go home. I shall see Mr. Manderlain now upstairs.'
'Very good.' said the first voice.
There was a sound of chairs scraping on a thin carpet and the speakers left the room.
The light went out.
Katie looked at Lyra, 'What now?' she said, Lyra didn't respond, but looked vainly at the wall of the building, looking for some way of breaking in. Pantalaimon saw the drainpipe and went to it,
'I can climb up here, I did it earlier today.' Lyra nodded, but no sooner had Pan jumped onto the first bracket than another light in the building came on.
Pan jumped down and the girls moved under the window, but this one was on the second floor. They couldn't hear anything that was going on inside the room.
'We're going to have to break in.' said Lyra, Katie looked more terrified than ever. Lyra looked at the windows in turn, and she noticed the state they were in. The frames were of thin wood that hadn't been treated against the rain for years, Lyra could see a peeling transparent layer that used to be wood seal. The glass was filthy with years of neglect. The locks on the windows seemed to consist only of a catch on the inside.
'Look,' said Pan, 'we could open that with a crowbar or something.'
'You don't have a crowbar, do you?' said Katie to Lyra,
''Course not, but I know where we can get one quick, stay here and keep a look out.' With that, Lyra and Pan ran back round to the front of the oratory and across the road. No more than twenty metres away was the local black smith. Lyra knew him well, or used to, but she knew that he had a bin of scrap metal round the back that was sure to contain her makeshift crowbar.
Katie and her dæmon were sitting as quiet as their hearts would let them wondering why they had chosen to go with Lyra on this crazy trip. She fingered her emergency knife in her pocket, but did not take it out. Instead she peered down the ally on the side of the oratory and shrank back every time a figure stalked past. The nearest lamppost was across the street, so the passing people had shadowed faces to Katie's position. She kept thinking that they were looking at her.
After about five minutes (half an hour it seemed to Katie,) light footsteps announced Lyra's return. She brandished a strip of flat steel triumphantly.
'What's that?' said Katie,
'Crowbar.'
Lyra went to a window in the corner and begin to prise it open. The lock stretched and bent on the rotting frame and then fell off with a clonk. The two girls stopped dead, frozen in position with fear. The light in the window went out, and they girls heard faint clomping footsteps. Then another light came on next to the one that went out. Katie and Lyra breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously and climbed carefully through the window.
They found themselves in some sort of archive room, filled with filing cabinets arranged in aisles. Coreopsis jumped through last and Katie closed the window behind him.
'What shall I do with the lock?' she whispered,
'Put it behind one of these cabinets.' said Lyra, walking around the room. She went up to a random file and pulled out the top drawer. It was full of invoice documents involving large sums of money. 'Looks like it's more than an oratory here…' she said, showing Katie the paper.
'Better put it back.' was all she said.
They crept over to the door and peered out. They were at the end of an empty, dimly lit corridor with many branching doors leading off in all directions. They stole along, hugging the walls. When they found another corridor leading off their one, they peeped round the corner and followed it. Then on their right, they found a flight of stairs leading up and down. Katie looked up and put a hand on the banister, but Lyra whispered;
'Hang on, I want to see where they lead-' She pointed to the stairs leading down. Katie nodded and they tip toed down to the basement. There was a single door with a simple latch lock on their side. They opened it and looked in, it was totally dark, save the light they let in from the corridor. In the gloom Lyra could dimply see the chair she had been bound to and the back door that she'd left through.
'Let's unlock the back door,' said Coreopsis, 'then we can escape through it if we need to.' Katie looked at Lyra as if to ask permission, but Lyra nodded approvingly. Katie ran lightly across the floor and clicked the latch of the door open, and then she locked the latch open. They climbed the stairs again and went to the second floor. They could hear a faint murmuring coming from down the hall, but it was too muffled to make out. The tip toed along until they got to the door were that voices came from.
'I won't tell anyone else about it,' said the same voice as the one they had heard downstairs, 'but you should be more careful. Good night.'
The door to the room opened and the two girls froze in horror. Lyra looked around and dragged Katie into the room opposite to the occupied one and pulled the door so only a crack remained to look out of. A man stepped to the door and then turned round again, 'Yes?' he said, 'you have something else to say?'
'Well,' said a voice, Lyra recognised it as one of her captors, 'I was wondering about the girl…'
'What about her?'
'Well, that is, what are we going to do with her? You said you were unsure earlier today…'
'I have told you this already- I can't make any firm conclusions until I have made my call to Geneva.'
'But…'
'I don't have the authority to do anything without first consulting my man in Geneva. I shall talk with him and no doubt he will suggest the same as I had in mind.'
The other squeaked something that the others couldn't make out, Lyra saw the first man stare at the second and say, 'Didn't catch that…?'
'But there's no funding left for the Lady Coulter's research…' the other burbled, Lyra shuddered, she knew what was coming. 'The Lapland station was utterly destroyed by the gyptians and witches…'
'We'll see about that.' concluded the man, 'In any case, I'm going home.'
He closed the door and walked down the corridor. Lyra and Katie waited a minute, and then followed. When they got back to the ground floor, they saw the man walking slowly down the corridor they had come from, checking if the doors were locked. Lyra and Katie crept back to the landing, and watched. Finally, the man got to the filling room. The door opened and he looked in, the he stepped into the room and looked around. Seeing nothing he stepped back onto the corridor and locked the door.
'He's going to lock the door to the basement!' hissed Katie, 'We'll be trapped!'
Indeed the man was now walking toward the stairs,
'Make a run for it.' said Lyra, she waited for the man to check the next door, then she grabbed Katie's arm and ran down to the basement. The man looked up and yelled out, but they kept running.
Lyra clicked the lock and pulled on the door, but it didn't budge- the man was catching up.
'No! It's already unlocked!' said Coreopsis, Lyra fiddled with the lock again, the door opened and they fell through and ran.
When they were at a safe distance Katie said,
'What's the Lady Coulter's research?'
'Mrs. Coulter, my mother; you don't want to know.'
'But I do. You should tell me after all that.'
Lyra sighed, she had the impression that telling Katie about the Maystadt Process wouldn't do much for her karma- and it wouldn't do much for her arm either.
'OK I will, but not here and not now.'
By nine o'clock in the evening the oxford town centre was both dark and deserted. The occasional drunk staggered out of the local pub or two lovers strolled down the streets quietly talking to each other. But the rest of the town was silent and sleepy.
Only two figures looked out of place, two children, both girls, were creeping across the shadows, takings steps not to be seen. They were succeeding, only the odd glint of light that reflected by chance off a button or watch showed they were on the street at all.
Lyra and Katie were heading for the Oxford Oratory where Lyra was sure they would find some answers. Katie and her dæmon followed silently, both assuring each other that for good or bad this espionage would be over quickly. Pan was slightly ahead of Lyra, peering round corners to ensure they were not caught even before they reached their target. This wariness was not entirely necessary, but Will's obsession of stealth had brushed onto her and she wanted to be like him now.
'How are we going to get in?' whispered Katie,
'Dunno… we'll open a window or something.' hissed Lyra.
They stumbled the last few yards and looked down the ally Lyra had been taken down earlier that day and inspected the back door. It was wooden with thin metal covering it for extra strength. There was a small keyhole crudely drilled out on their side, but otherwise the door was utterly plain and flat. Lyra didn't fancy herself for picking locks, or opening them by magic, so she motioned Katie to follow her round the corner.
Here there was a small yard paved over by flagstones that had grass and weeds peeping out from the edges. Other than a wooden table with a chair drawn up to it, the courtyard was empty. The back of the dark oratory had windows on it, so the two girls and their dæmons pressed themselves against the wall to avoid detection, but all the windows were dark and gloomy except for one, where a flickering naphtha lamp threw shadows and silhouettes onto the glass and the paving slabs below it. Lyra pointed and the other girl nodded. They crept along the wall so they were under the lit window. Conveniently it was on the ground floor, so they could faintly hear what was being said inside the room.
'The filing has been finished sir, Stevens asked that you check on Manderlain.' said a pale, unimportant sounding voice,
'Good,' said another, this one was stern, and had authority in it, 'you may go home. I shall see Mr. Manderlain now upstairs.'
'Very good.' said the first voice.
There was a sound of chairs scraping on a thin carpet and the speakers left the room.
The light went out.
Katie looked at Lyra, 'What now?' she said, Lyra didn't respond, but looked vainly at the wall of the building, looking for some way of breaking in. Pantalaimon saw the drainpipe and went to it,
'I can climb up here, I did it earlier today.' Lyra nodded, but no sooner had Pan jumped onto the first bracket than another light in the building came on.
Pan jumped down and the girls moved under the window, but this one was on the second floor. They couldn't hear anything that was going on inside the room.
'We're going to have to break in.' said Lyra, Katie looked more terrified than ever. Lyra looked at the windows in turn, and she noticed the state they were in. The frames were of thin wood that hadn't been treated against the rain for years, Lyra could see a peeling transparent layer that used to be wood seal. The glass was filthy with years of neglect. The locks on the windows seemed to consist only of a catch on the inside.
'Look,' said Pan, 'we could open that with a crowbar or something.'
'You don't have a crowbar, do you?' said Katie to Lyra,
''Course not, but I know where we can get one quick, stay here and keep a look out.' With that, Lyra and Pan ran back round to the front of the oratory and across the road. No more than twenty metres away was the local black smith. Lyra knew him well, or used to, but she knew that he had a bin of scrap metal round the back that was sure to contain her makeshift crowbar.
Katie and her dæmon were sitting as quiet as their hearts would let them wondering why they had chosen to go with Lyra on this crazy trip. She fingered her emergency knife in her pocket, but did not take it out. Instead she peered down the ally on the side of the oratory and shrank back every time a figure stalked past. The nearest lamppost was across the street, so the passing people had shadowed faces to Katie's position. She kept thinking that they were looking at her.
After about five minutes (half an hour it seemed to Katie,) light footsteps announced Lyra's return. She brandished a strip of flat steel triumphantly.
'What's that?' said Katie,
'Crowbar.'
Lyra went to a window in the corner and begin to prise it open. The lock stretched and bent on the rotting frame and then fell off with a clonk. The two girls stopped dead, frozen in position with fear. The light in the window went out, and they girls heard faint clomping footsteps. Then another light came on next to the one that went out. Katie and Lyra breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously and climbed carefully through the window.
They found themselves in some sort of archive room, filled with filing cabinets arranged in aisles. Coreopsis jumped through last and Katie closed the window behind him.
'What shall I do with the lock?' she whispered,
'Put it behind one of these cabinets.' said Lyra, walking around the room. She went up to a random file and pulled out the top drawer. It was full of invoice documents involving large sums of money. 'Looks like it's more than an oratory here…' she said, showing Katie the paper.
'Better put it back.' was all she said.
They crept over to the door and peered out. They were at the end of an empty, dimly lit corridor with many branching doors leading off in all directions. They stole along, hugging the walls. When they found another corridor leading off their one, they peeped round the corner and followed it. Then on their right, they found a flight of stairs leading up and down. Katie looked up and put a hand on the banister, but Lyra whispered;
'Hang on, I want to see where they lead-' She pointed to the stairs leading down. Katie nodded and they tip toed down to the basement. There was a single door with a simple latch lock on their side. They opened it and looked in, it was totally dark, save the light they let in from the corridor. In the gloom Lyra could dimply see the chair she had been bound to and the back door that she'd left through.
'Let's unlock the back door,' said Coreopsis, 'then we can escape through it if we need to.' Katie looked at Lyra as if to ask permission, but Lyra nodded approvingly. Katie ran lightly across the floor and clicked the latch of the door open, and then she locked the latch open. They climbed the stairs again and went to the second floor. They could hear a faint murmuring coming from down the hall, but it was too muffled to make out. The tip toed along until they got to the door were that voices came from.
'I won't tell anyone else about it,' said the same voice as the one they had heard downstairs, 'but you should be more careful. Good night.'
The door to the room opened and the two girls froze in horror. Lyra looked around and dragged Katie into the room opposite to the occupied one and pulled the door so only a crack remained to look out of. A man stepped to the door and then turned round again, 'Yes?' he said, 'you have something else to say?'
'Well,' said a voice, Lyra recognised it as one of her captors, 'I was wondering about the girl…'
'What about her?'
'Well, that is, what are we going to do with her? You said you were unsure earlier today…'
'I have told you this already- I can't make any firm conclusions until I have made my call to Geneva.'
'But…'
'I don't have the authority to do anything without first consulting my man in Geneva. I shall talk with him and no doubt he will suggest the same as I had in mind.'
The other squeaked something that the others couldn't make out, Lyra saw the first man stare at the second and say, 'Didn't catch that…?'
'But there's no funding left for the Lady Coulter's research…' the other burbled, Lyra shuddered, she knew what was coming. 'The Lapland station was utterly destroyed by the gyptians and witches…'
'We'll see about that.' concluded the man, 'In any case, I'm going home.'
He closed the door and walked down the corridor. Lyra and Katie waited a minute, and then followed. When they got back to the ground floor, they saw the man walking slowly down the corridor they had come from, checking if the doors were locked. Lyra and Katie crept back to the landing, and watched. Finally, the man got to the filling room. The door opened and he looked in, the he stepped into the room and looked around. Seeing nothing he stepped back onto the corridor and locked the door.
'He's going to lock the door to the basement!' hissed Katie, 'We'll be trapped!'
Indeed the man was now walking toward the stairs,
'Make a run for it.' said Lyra, she waited for the man to check the next door, then she grabbed Katie's arm and ran down to the basement. The man looked up and yelled out, but they kept running.
Lyra clicked the lock and pulled on the door, but it didn't budge- the man was catching up.
'No! It's already unlocked!' said Coreopsis, Lyra fiddled with the lock again, the door opened and they fell through and ran.
When they were at a safe distance Katie said,
'What's the Lady Coulter's research?'
'Mrs. Coulter, my mother; you don't want to know.'
'But I do. You should tell me after all that.'
Lyra sighed, she had the impression that telling Katie about the Maystadt Process wouldn't do much for her karma- and it wouldn't do much for her arm either.
'OK I will, but not here and not now.'
