Ch.8

John followed Brains into the conference room. He was surprised by how light and airy the room was, and also how large it was. For some reason, he'd imagined a small, dark room, similar to Brains' "office" back on the Island. There was half an hour to go before the conference, but already a large number of people had gathered, chatting over the backs of chairs, standing in clusters by the windows of milling around at the foot of the small stage at the end of the room. Brains led him to the stage.

A young woman with red hair stood by the laptop, a frown wrinkling her forehead. As she saw Brains, this smoothened out.

"Hiram! How're you this morning?" She smiled as they approached.

"I'm f-f-fine, Catrìona," Brains stuttered. "This is J-j-john, ah, the son of m-m-my, um, employer." John shook hands with Catrìona.

"Br- Hiram tells me you work at Jodrell Bank," said John. "I went there once, when I was a student."

"Really? That must've been before my time there, then. I only started there three years ago."

"Yeah, it was about four years ago that I went there."

They continued in the same vein for a while, until Stephanie Denver mounted the stage.

"Please take your seats, everyone, the conference is about to begin." She waited for everyone to get settled.

"G-g-good luck," whispered Brains as Catrìona went to her seat by the stage, looking very much like she'd rather be elsewhere.

As everyone settled, John found himself sitting next to a man who looked to be in his early thirties. He had neatly combed, dark hair, and wore expensive clothes. The watch on his wrist winked in the light. Wondering if he should introduce himself, he was torn away by Brains nudging him in the side. He turned to see an elderly gentleman offering his hand to shake.

"John, this is, ah, P-professor Graham, um, Radcliffe," murmured Brains. John shook the proffered hand.

"John Tracy."

"Ah, yes, Jeff Tracy's lad, yes?" The man had a distinct southern English accent.

"One of them," smiled John. If Gordon had been there, he would have undoubtedly announced "Number two!" in a gleeful voice, but John decided it wasn't necessary to stoop to his younger brother's level.

"Yes, yes, I can see the family resemblance." Radcliffe glanced up as Stephanie called Catrìona forward, then sat straighter in his chair. "I've been looking forward to listening to this one. Don't be fooled by her self-conscious manner; my experience of Scottish women is that they can be quite formidable when crossed."

Before John could reply, Catrìona started to speak.

TB

"That was g-g-great t-talk you, ah, g-gave today, Catrìona."

"Thanks, Hiram." Catrìona smiled at him over her mug of coffee. They were sitting in one of the many coffee houses situated nearby the conference site. John had gone off to meet Maria, and the sky outside was growing redder and warmer outside.

"So, you're employed by John's father," said Catrìona, gazing out the window and sighing. "What's it like?"

Brains swallowed his mouthful of coffee carefully before replying. "It's g-g-great. M-mr Tracy, ah, gives me f-f-free rein, um, over what I w-work on. Sometimes he, ah, specifies s-something, b-but, um, I still g-g-get a lot of, ah, freedom."

"That must be a lot of fun, letting your imagination run wild," sighed Catrìona wistfully. "I only get to let it run free at work when trying to guess what various systems might look like. Otherwise, it's eye glued to the telescope, pen at the ready, and hope to find something interesting."

"Have you, ah, d-d-discovered anything?"

"Nope. Well, I saw a comet once, and everyone got really excited, they were getting set to name it after me and everything. Then it turned out the thing had been spotted fifty years previously by someone called Graham Tracy."

"That s-s-sounds, ah, like Mr T-tracy's father's um, n-name."

Catrìona laughed that lilting laugh of hers. "Doesn't that just take the biscuit? It's almost like fate!" She smiled warmly at Brains. He smiled back. Then the moment was broken by a waitress bringing a re-fill.

Once she'd gone, Catrìona tapped the table thoughtfully.

"So, whereabouts do you live, anyway? Any family?"

"Ah, no," admitted Brains a little sadly. "N-not close family, anyway. I was adopted b-by a professor when I, ah, w-was small, um, b-b-but now I, ah, l-live with the, um, Tracys. They're like a f-family, I guess."

"Aw," said Catrìona, and Brains wasn't sure whether it was sympathy or a reaction to his claim that the Tracys were like a family. It was true, though.

"I've got the works, brothers, sisters, parents, more cousins, aunts and uncles you can shake a stick at... it's murder come Christmas time," she chuckled. "I used to agonise over what to get everyone. Now it's a case of, now, what shall I paint for whom?"

"You p-paint?"

"Yup."

"John's younger, ah, b-brother, Virgil, is a f-fantastic artist."

"Oh, whey, is he one of the Tracy brood too? I've heard of Virgil; I love his stuff. He's a musician too, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Brains shrugged. "They've all g-got, ah, something under, um, their b-belts."

"I'll bet they have," murmured Catrìona. She glanced at her watch. "Crap, is that the time? I'm gonna have to go, Hiram, I can only wait so late before calling my parents, what with the time difference."

"Here, l-let me walk you back." Brains paid the bill and gave Catrìona his arm. Together they stepped out into the evening.

Despite the warmth earlier that day, there was a fresh wind blowing through the darkening city. Catrìona's hotel was only a block away, so they walked arm in arm along the pavements.

This part of the city was pretty quiet, with only the occasional car passing by. Young couples walked hand in hand past them, absorbed in their own worlds. The occasional gust of wind blew the odd leaf by them.

"It's funny, this place seems so nice, yet..."

"What?"

"I hate cities. I grew up on Skye, one of the western isles. Very rural. Glasgow came as a bit of a culture shock when I went to university."

"I d-don't like, ah, cities m-much, either. I live with the T-tracys on their island."

They reached the entrance to Catrìona's hotel. She turned to him.

"Thanks, Hiram, for a lovely evening. It was really nice." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, then hurried inside.

Brains stood dumbstruck for a moment, his hand to the spot where her lips had touched him. Then, regaining his senses, he turned, and started on the walk back to his own hotel.