headlights were sharp edged in the vacuum. Soon the tunnel widened into an enormous cavern, its walls and
roof invisible beyond the beams of light. I knew that the buildings and living spaces all through the vaults were filled with frozen corpses in their tens of thousands, and the thought of so many
dead – and so many ghosts – made my skin prickle with horror.
I peered nervously into the darkness beyond the reach of the headlights. ‘So what is it particularly the Authority were looking for on this alternate?’ I asked. ‘Did they tell
you?’
‘Officially,’ she said, ‘all I know is that they’re looking for scientific data of some kind.’
I looked at her. ‘“Officially”?’
She gave me a sly grin. ‘I’ll get to that. See, back when they started building their underground Retreat, the Icelanders on this alternate had the bright idea of inviting a bunch of
really smart people from other parts of the world to come live in it with them. After Shiva showed up in their telescopes, a lot of people around the world decided to blame the scientists, as if
they’d somehow caused it. Most of the very people who just might have been able to figure some way out of the mess they were all in wound up being hanged or burned alive on the grounds of
universities.’
‘Delightful.’
‘Anyway, among these scientist refugees was a guy by name of Hilbert Lake, who had led a research team involved in some kind of really cutting-edge physics research. He and his team all
upped and came to Iceland when they got the invite, except they ended up getting killed during the invasion.’
‘Ernest Schultner never told me any of this during my last briefing,’ I said.
‘That’s because I’m not supposed to know any of this.’
‘So how . . . ?’
‘Well,’ she said in a faux-conspiratorial whisper, ‘I heard something from Winnie, who heard it from a guy called Wallace.’
‘Winnie? You mean Winifred Quaker?’ Winifred was one of the Pathfinders I had met, although I was still to meet a few who were off on various long-term missions. They had been absent
from the island base since before my arrival.
Nadia nodded, and it occurred to me that the headlights were now doing a better job of illuminating the cavern than they had just moments before. ‘Wallace is another Pathfinder. It seems
he was in the base compound back on Easter Island, helping them sort out some computer network problem. He overheard your man Ernest Schultner talking to Kip Mayer . . .’
‘And Mayer is . . . ?’
‘Second-in-Command to Mort Bramnik. Bramnik’s the man in charge of the whole Easter Island Forward Base.’ Another I hadn’t yet encountered. ‘Anyway,’ she
continued, ‘from what Wallace overheard, it sounded like Lake and his team had been working on a prototype transfer stage.’
‘You mean they were building something they could use to escape to a parallel universe?’
‘Yep.’
I frowned. ‘That’s incredible,’ I said. ‘But the Authority already have transfer stages. They can already travel to parallel realities. Why would they need someone
else’s research?’
She shrugged. ‘Just do me a favour and don’t ask Schultner, or we’re all in big trouble.’
‘But—’
‘Just remember what Yuichi and I explained back at the start – play your part, don’t complain too much, and
especially
don’t ask too many questions and one day
we all get to retire to somewhere nice and safe.’ She frowned. ‘Is it just me, or is it getting brighter in here?’
After taking me on their grand tour of the multiverse, Nadia and Yuichi had ushered me into the Hotel du Mauna Loa, back on Easter Island – the place from which Yuichi
had shot me with a tranquillizer dart a second time as I tried to evade capture. Here, they explained to me what retirement was.
The Hotel du Mauna Loa was a dilapidated hotel bar that functioned as a gathering point for the Pathfinders. It also catered to a few other
roof invisible beyond the beams of light. I knew that the buildings and living spaces all through the vaults were filled with frozen corpses in their tens of thousands, and the thought of so many
dead – and so many ghosts – made my skin prickle with horror.
I peered nervously into the darkness beyond the reach of the headlights. ‘So what is it particularly the Authority were looking for on this alternate?’ I asked. ‘Did they tell
you?’
‘Officially,’ she said, ‘all I know is that they’re looking for scientific data of some kind.’
I looked at her. ‘“Officially”?’
She gave me a sly grin. ‘I’ll get to that. See, back when they started building their underground Retreat, the Icelanders on this alternate had the bright idea of inviting a bunch of
really smart people from other parts of the world to come live in it with them. After Shiva showed up in their telescopes, a lot of people around the world decided to blame the scientists, as if
they’d somehow caused it. Most of the very people who just might have been able to figure some way out of the mess they were all in wound up being hanged or burned alive on the grounds of
universities.’
‘Delightful.’
‘Anyway, among these scientist refugees was a guy by name of Hilbert Lake, who had led a research team involved in some kind of really cutting-edge physics research. He and his team all
upped and came to Iceland when they got the invite, except they ended up getting killed during the invasion.’
‘Ernest Schultner never told me any of this during my last briefing,’ I said.
‘That’s because I’m not supposed to know any of this.’
‘So how . . . ?’
‘Well,’ she said in a faux-conspiratorial whisper, ‘I heard something from Winnie, who heard it from a guy called Wallace.’
‘Winnie? You mean Winifred Quaker?’ Winifred was one of the Pathfinders I had met, although I was still to meet a few who were off on various long-term missions. They had been absent
from the island base since before my arrival.
Nadia nodded, and it occurred to me that the headlights were now doing a better job of illuminating the cavern than they had just moments before. ‘Wallace is another Pathfinder. It seems
he was in the base compound back on Easter Island, helping them sort out some computer network problem. He overheard your man Ernest Schultner talking to Kip Mayer . . .’
‘And Mayer is . . . ?’
‘Second-in-Command to Mort Bramnik. Bramnik’s the man in charge of the whole Easter Island Forward Base.’ Another I hadn’t yet encountered. ‘Anyway,’ she
continued, ‘from what Wallace overheard, it sounded like Lake and his team had been working on a prototype transfer stage.’
‘You mean they were building something they could use to escape to a parallel universe?’
‘Yep.’
I frowned. ‘That’s incredible,’ I said. ‘But the Authority already have transfer stages. They can already travel to parallel realities. Why would they need someone
else’s research?’
She shrugged. ‘Just do me a favour and don’t ask Schultner, or we’re all in big trouble.’
‘But—’
‘Just remember what Yuichi and I explained back at the start – play your part, don’t complain too much, and
especially
don’t ask too many questions and one day
we all get to retire to somewhere nice and safe.’ She frowned. ‘Is it just me, or is it getting brighter in here?’
After taking me on their grand tour of the multiverse, Nadia and Yuichi had ushered me into the Hotel du Mauna Loa, back on Easter Island – the place from which Yuichi
had shot me with a tranquillizer dart a second time as I tried to evade capture. Here, they explained to me what retirement was.
The Hotel du Mauna Loa was a dilapidated hotel bar that functioned as a gathering point for the Pathfinders. It also catered to a few other
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