14. The Second Reunion
Will placed a frying pan on the cooker and turned the heat on full. Then he cracked several eggs into a mug and whisked them with a fork. On the worktop to his right was a sealed box where Moxie would remain forever, once they had buried it.
Mary was seriously frightened by the assassination of Will's cat, but Will himself seemed to be taking Moxie's loss harder than how it happened. He had been silent ever since the day before when Mary and Elaine had got home.
Will prodded the eggs in the pan about with a wooden spoon, until the omelette was round, then closed his eyes and stroked Kirjava's head. Then he looked at the pan again.
He hesitated, before savagely beating the eggs again to scramble them.
Mary was on what she had decided as a business trip to oxford. Oliver Payne wanted her back on the team.
She didn't feel she was crawling back, Oliver sounded pretty desperate on the phone, and besides, she missed working in the lab, the thrill of getting closer and closer to her goal, even the disappointment in realising her calculations were wrong.
When she entered the lobby where the porter sat behind his desk, she smiled. The porter nodded at her.
The building itself had changed since her leaving. Maybe Sir Charles Latrom had taken control of the entire building. The place did seem in better condition that before. She reached the Dark Matter unit and knocked on the door.
It opened almost at once and a flustered Oliver Payne stood there with some papers in his hands.
'Ah Mary thank God,' he said
''Morning to you too...' she said 'What's up?'
'Well, I kinda cheated on ol' Charles... I think he was getting out of control. So I slipped most of the research funds into a new account without telling him.'
'Ooooo, not breaking rules are we?'
'Well, technically I have the power to do so, but he's vanished of the face of the earth, so I want to protect the funds before his solicitor gets them.'
'Seems like a good idea. So what can I do for you?'
'I want you back on the team.' he said, looking her straight, 'It's not the same here without you and our progress is getting slower and slower. It would be best for me to remain a director, so I can clear up the financial mess I've made, but I'll share with you.'
'Plus you like being director anyway?'
Oliver paused, trying to work out if she was being sarcastic or not, then his boyish face shone through again and he grinned.
'Yeah well…'
He showed Mary in and around the lab. 'We suffered a real set-back with the loos of the Cave,' he said, avoiding Mary's eye, 'I dug up some old backups of the hard dive, and with a little programming, got the system back online. But you knew the most about the hardware.'
'Yes, sorry about that, I'll be able to fix it. Who has actual control and owner ship of the unit?'
'I do. Charles was just an outside financial provider. A sleeping partner if you will, now he's gone, I can claim all authority. Just need to clean up the money.'
'All right then.' said Mary decisively, 'but I can't come in and out of the office every day, I don't have my place in oxford any more.'
'That's fine. I'll sort out your spot again and you yell when you're ready to start.'
'I'll start at home. The adaptor card needs to be re-designed, I can do that.'
'Fair enough. I'll contact you in the morning, and in the mean time, I'll get on the blower to Sam, our assistant director.'
'OK. I'm going to have a look at the cave first, get some information.'
Oliver nodded and walked into his office, Mary walked back into the cave room.
The hardware had been kept in good condition, but the damaged equipment was missing, and the machine clearly hadn't been switched on for a long time. In the cabinet next to her she found a cardboard box containing the damaged equipment. She turned the card over in her hands and began to see the original design, and how she could make a new one. Then the voice of her dæmon floated into her mind.
'Should we really fix it after we were told to destroy it?'
Mary put down the computer card and thought for a moment.
'Yes.' She murmured, 'if we're back in the business we're back in control. We can make sure it's not misused.'
She collected up the card, wiring and put them back into the box. The she looked in on Oliver. He was on the phone. She waved the box at him and he nodded.
Will slowly chewed his scrambled eggs and toast at the table. He wanted to go up to oxford himself and see Lyra.
Well, not see her, but be next to her. They had the idea she would know they needed her and Pan. Maybe she needed him too.
Kirjava rubbed against him and they looked at the clock. It was twenty to two. They'd better start back toward school or they'd be late for science.
Pity.
Elaine was about to have a job interview. Neither Mary nor Will knew this, she wanted to surprise them by triumphantly coming home and announcing she had a new job at a local precision engineering company.
The Manager opened the door to his office and beckoned her in.
'Good morning Mrs. Parry, are you well?'
'Yes, thank you, yourself?'
'Very well, thanks. Have a seat.'
He offered a chair, and Elaine sat down.
'H'mm,' said the manager, ten minutes later, 'I have to say I'm impressed Mrs. Parry, I was worried that your past medical conditions might cloud you performance, obviously a slight schizophrenic wouldn't be up to the job, but I'm not prejudice, and I've taken a liking to your ideas about administration. I'll need to consider my notes, then I'll phone in a couple of days.'
'Thank you very Mr. Gallagher, I'll look forward to speaking to you again. Good day.'
And she walked out the building with a smile on her face.
It was Saturday and Will was up and ready to catch the train to oxford. Mary had come home announcing that she had a job at the lab again. Even Will's mother seemed pleased about something.
In any case Will and Kirjava confidently ate some Weetabix and walked to the train station. The next train was in ten minutes, so they sat down on the benches and watched people coming and going.
When the train arrived, they looked along it's length until they found a reasonably empty part.
It was a one and a half hour trip from Winchester to Oxford, but Will slept through most of it. He was woken by the guard.
'You got a ticket?' he said,
Will blinked himself awake and Kirjava stretched on his knees,
'Huh? Oh, no- half-return to oxford please.'
'And the cat?' said the guard with a sceptic look,
'Er, oh sorry, he ran away back to our old house again. You don't mind do you?'
Will rubbed Kirjava's ears in a soppy way.
'I should, but next time bring him in a cat box or something... Hey, if you've got him, you're on your way home. Why d'you need a return?'
'I didn't pay on the way, and, well I felt kinda guilty.'
'Mmm. Makes a change.'
Will gave the guard a ten pound note and the guard handed him some change and his ticket. He walked off.
'Ran away? Winchester's a bit far to run from oxford for a cat.' said Kirjava in an undertone.
'I didn't know what else to say... Where are we anyway?'
'Dunno... Can't be far- look, there's the power station.'
The train was slowing as it approached the platform, Will looked around him and saw one or two people that had appeared while he slept.
The driver came on over the intercom announcing that they had arrived at Oxford.
Kirjava jumped lightly down and they got off the train and slipped through the crowds and onto the street outside.
Their thoughts on Lyra and Pan, they made their way toward the gardens.
Lyra and Pan were already there; She stood in front of the fountain looking past it at their bench about thirty metres away. She didn't go to it yet because Will wasn't there. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew.
'Not yet.' She said under her breath, 'not yet... not yet, now.'
Will walked into the garden and was pleased to see there was only one other person there, a woman sitting quietly on a bench reading a book. They walked on, round the fountain, until they reached the bench. Will sat down on his side and felt calm again. He looked on the other side of the bench and whispered a hello.
No one answered.
Like last time he carefully moved along slightly and began to imagine Lyra sitting next to him. Kirjava was next to him, Pan next to her.
Then a mental switch in his mind clicked and he hugged the invisible space next to him that was Lyra.
He closed his eyes and rubbed Lyra's back as they lent on each other.
He might have doubted that she was really there, he might have been kidding himself on out of lust, but he didn't care. It all seemed real enough to satisfy his mind.
Then, out of nowhere, Will felt warmth and the solidness he lent on vanished. Taking him by surprise he fell forward and landed on the cold ground, then he looked up.
Will placed a frying pan on the cooker and turned the heat on full. Then he cracked several eggs into a mug and whisked them with a fork. On the worktop to his right was a sealed box where Moxie would remain forever, once they had buried it.
Mary was seriously frightened by the assassination of Will's cat, but Will himself seemed to be taking Moxie's loss harder than how it happened. He had been silent ever since the day before when Mary and Elaine had got home.
Will prodded the eggs in the pan about with a wooden spoon, until the omelette was round, then closed his eyes and stroked Kirjava's head. Then he looked at the pan again.
He hesitated, before savagely beating the eggs again to scramble them.
Mary was on what she had decided as a business trip to oxford. Oliver Payne wanted her back on the team.
She didn't feel she was crawling back, Oliver sounded pretty desperate on the phone, and besides, she missed working in the lab, the thrill of getting closer and closer to her goal, even the disappointment in realising her calculations were wrong.
When she entered the lobby where the porter sat behind his desk, she smiled. The porter nodded at her.
The building itself had changed since her leaving. Maybe Sir Charles Latrom had taken control of the entire building. The place did seem in better condition that before. She reached the Dark Matter unit and knocked on the door.
It opened almost at once and a flustered Oliver Payne stood there with some papers in his hands.
'Ah Mary thank God,' he said
''Morning to you too...' she said 'What's up?'
'Well, I kinda cheated on ol' Charles... I think he was getting out of control. So I slipped most of the research funds into a new account without telling him.'
'Ooooo, not breaking rules are we?'
'Well, technically I have the power to do so, but he's vanished of the face of the earth, so I want to protect the funds before his solicitor gets them.'
'Seems like a good idea. So what can I do for you?'
'I want you back on the team.' he said, looking her straight, 'It's not the same here without you and our progress is getting slower and slower. It would be best for me to remain a director, so I can clear up the financial mess I've made, but I'll share with you.'
'Plus you like being director anyway?'
Oliver paused, trying to work out if she was being sarcastic or not, then his boyish face shone through again and he grinned.
'Yeah well…'
He showed Mary in and around the lab. 'We suffered a real set-back with the loos of the Cave,' he said, avoiding Mary's eye, 'I dug up some old backups of the hard dive, and with a little programming, got the system back online. But you knew the most about the hardware.'
'Yes, sorry about that, I'll be able to fix it. Who has actual control and owner ship of the unit?'
'I do. Charles was just an outside financial provider. A sleeping partner if you will, now he's gone, I can claim all authority. Just need to clean up the money.'
'All right then.' said Mary decisively, 'but I can't come in and out of the office every day, I don't have my place in oxford any more.'
'That's fine. I'll sort out your spot again and you yell when you're ready to start.'
'I'll start at home. The adaptor card needs to be re-designed, I can do that.'
'Fair enough. I'll contact you in the morning, and in the mean time, I'll get on the blower to Sam, our assistant director.'
'OK. I'm going to have a look at the cave first, get some information.'
Oliver nodded and walked into his office, Mary walked back into the cave room.
The hardware had been kept in good condition, but the damaged equipment was missing, and the machine clearly hadn't been switched on for a long time. In the cabinet next to her she found a cardboard box containing the damaged equipment. She turned the card over in her hands and began to see the original design, and how she could make a new one. Then the voice of her dæmon floated into her mind.
'Should we really fix it after we were told to destroy it?'
Mary put down the computer card and thought for a moment.
'Yes.' She murmured, 'if we're back in the business we're back in control. We can make sure it's not misused.'
She collected up the card, wiring and put them back into the box. The she looked in on Oliver. He was on the phone. She waved the box at him and he nodded.
Will slowly chewed his scrambled eggs and toast at the table. He wanted to go up to oxford himself and see Lyra.
Well, not see her, but be next to her. They had the idea she would know they needed her and Pan. Maybe she needed him too.
Kirjava rubbed against him and they looked at the clock. It was twenty to two. They'd better start back toward school or they'd be late for science.
Pity.
Elaine was about to have a job interview. Neither Mary nor Will knew this, she wanted to surprise them by triumphantly coming home and announcing she had a new job at a local precision engineering company.
The Manager opened the door to his office and beckoned her in.
'Good morning Mrs. Parry, are you well?'
'Yes, thank you, yourself?'
'Very well, thanks. Have a seat.'
He offered a chair, and Elaine sat down.
'H'mm,' said the manager, ten minutes later, 'I have to say I'm impressed Mrs. Parry, I was worried that your past medical conditions might cloud you performance, obviously a slight schizophrenic wouldn't be up to the job, but I'm not prejudice, and I've taken a liking to your ideas about administration. I'll need to consider my notes, then I'll phone in a couple of days.'
'Thank you very Mr. Gallagher, I'll look forward to speaking to you again. Good day.'
And she walked out the building with a smile on her face.
It was Saturday and Will was up and ready to catch the train to oxford. Mary had come home announcing that she had a job at the lab again. Even Will's mother seemed pleased about something.
In any case Will and Kirjava confidently ate some Weetabix and walked to the train station. The next train was in ten minutes, so they sat down on the benches and watched people coming and going.
When the train arrived, they looked along it's length until they found a reasonably empty part.
It was a one and a half hour trip from Winchester to Oxford, but Will slept through most of it. He was woken by the guard.
'You got a ticket?' he said,
Will blinked himself awake and Kirjava stretched on his knees,
'Huh? Oh, no- half-return to oxford please.'
'And the cat?' said the guard with a sceptic look,
'Er, oh sorry, he ran away back to our old house again. You don't mind do you?'
Will rubbed Kirjava's ears in a soppy way.
'I should, but next time bring him in a cat box or something... Hey, if you've got him, you're on your way home. Why d'you need a return?'
'I didn't pay on the way, and, well I felt kinda guilty.'
'Mmm. Makes a change.'
Will gave the guard a ten pound note and the guard handed him some change and his ticket. He walked off.
'Ran away? Winchester's a bit far to run from oxford for a cat.' said Kirjava in an undertone.
'I didn't know what else to say... Where are we anyway?'
'Dunno... Can't be far- look, there's the power station.'
The train was slowing as it approached the platform, Will looked around him and saw one or two people that had appeared while he slept.
The driver came on over the intercom announcing that they had arrived at Oxford.
Kirjava jumped lightly down and they got off the train and slipped through the crowds and onto the street outside.
Their thoughts on Lyra and Pan, they made their way toward the gardens.
Lyra and Pan were already there; She stood in front of the fountain looking past it at their bench about thirty metres away. She didn't go to it yet because Will wasn't there. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew.
'Not yet.' She said under her breath, 'not yet... not yet, now.'
Will walked into the garden and was pleased to see there was only one other person there, a woman sitting quietly on a bench reading a book. They walked on, round the fountain, until they reached the bench. Will sat down on his side and felt calm again. He looked on the other side of the bench and whispered a hello.
No one answered.
Like last time he carefully moved along slightly and began to imagine Lyra sitting next to him. Kirjava was next to him, Pan next to her.
Then a mental switch in his mind clicked and he hugged the invisible space next to him that was Lyra.
He closed his eyes and rubbed Lyra's back as they lent on each other.
He might have doubted that she was really there, he might have been kidding himself on out of lust, but he didn't care. It all seemed real enough to satisfy his mind.
Then, out of nowhere, Will felt warmth and the solidness he lent on vanished. Taking him by surprise he fell forward and landed on the cold ground, then he looked up.
