nice.’
‘There is no such thing as “nice” in this town, India,’ said Verity. ‘Didn’t your adventure this afternoon teach you that? You don’t talk to anyone
about our business, not unless you want to get robbed or cheated or murdered.’ She took a deep breath and rubbed her palms over her face. ‘Well, that’s it then,’ she said.
‘By now Sid will have given his father the journals so we might as well pack up and go home.’ She looked around the dining room. ‘This place seems OK, we’ll stay here
tonight. Tomorrow I’ll see if we can get you a cheap passage back to England on a freight ship.’
India felt sick with disappointment. She looked away out of the window so that Verity and Calculus wouldn’t see the tears welling in her eyes and felt for the pendant at her neck. She
wondered what Bella was doing at that moment.
‘What is that, India?’ said Calculus.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said wiping her sleeve across her face. ‘Just got something in my eye, that’s all.’
‘No,’ said Calculus, ‘I meant around your neck.’ He pointed to her pendant. ‘May I see it?’
‘OK.’
He removed it carefully from her neck, without touching the metal. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘My dad made it,’ she said. ‘He gave it to me just before he came back here for the last time. He said it was my own piece of Siberia.’
Calculus passed the palm of his hand back and forth over the metal. ‘Curious,’ he said. ‘Iron and nickel mostly, with traces of chondrites in the outer layers. This is
meteorite iron.’ He turned it over and held it up to peer along its edge. ‘It’s made of two pieces of metal pressed together,’ he said. ‘And there’s something in
between them.’
‘Here, let me see.’ Verity took the pendant from him and laid it carefully on the table. She pulled a small jeweller’s eyeglass from her bag and began to examine it.
‘There’s a pair of jumper pins on the upper edge,’ she said to Calculus, pointing to two tiny brass specks. ‘And there’s definitely something sandwiched in between the
two metal pieces.’
‘A micro-controller?’ said Calculus.
‘I’m betting it is,’ said Verity with excitement. She took out a pair of tweezers and turned the pendant over. ‘India, it looks like your dad went to a lot of trouble to
hide something in here.’
‘What sort of thing?’ said India. She had worn the pendant for several months without noticing anything unusual about it.
‘Possibly an integrated memory chip,’ said Calculus, ‘a storage device used by old-fashioned computers. They were very common once.’
India watched closely as Verity rummaged in the bag and pulled out a battered-looking black box with a small meter on the front and a pair of brass terminals on the top. She took out several
pieces of wire and some crocodile clips and proceeded to connect the brass terminals to the pendant. The needle on the meter didn’t move.
‘The chip must have deteriorated over time,’ said Calculus. ‘It will need something to kick-start it.’
Verity nodded. ‘OK, give me a spark, Calc,
but gently.
No more than thirty milliamps.’
The android took the pendant carefully between his finger and thumb. There was a small
snap
as a spark jumped from his fingers to the surface of the metal. For a moment, nothing
happened, then the needle on the meter flickered to life.
‘I have an output,’ said Calculus. ‘It’s a coherent data stream, there’s information here.’ The meter continued to flicker and Calculus was silent. At last he
spoke again. ‘It’s another journal.’
Verity punched her fist into an open palm. ‘Hot damn, this could be what we were looking for all along!’ India, do you realize what this means? I’ll bet those other journals
were just a red herring and all the information about Ironheart is stored here.’
‘What does it say?’ said India.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Calculus. ‘The message is
‘There is no such thing as “nice” in this town, India,’ said Verity. ‘Didn’t your adventure this afternoon teach you that? You don’t talk to anyone
about our business, not unless you want to get robbed or cheated or murdered.’ She took a deep breath and rubbed her palms over her face. ‘Well, that’s it then,’ she said.
‘By now Sid will have given his father the journals so we might as well pack up and go home.’ She looked around the dining room. ‘This place seems OK, we’ll stay here
tonight. Tomorrow I’ll see if we can get you a cheap passage back to England on a freight ship.’
India felt sick with disappointment. She looked away out of the window so that Verity and Calculus wouldn’t see the tears welling in her eyes and felt for the pendant at her neck. She
wondered what Bella was doing at that moment.
‘What is that, India?’ said Calculus.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said wiping her sleeve across her face. ‘Just got something in my eye, that’s all.’
‘No,’ said Calculus, ‘I meant around your neck.’ He pointed to her pendant. ‘May I see it?’
‘OK.’
He removed it carefully from her neck, without touching the metal. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘My dad made it,’ she said. ‘He gave it to me just before he came back here for the last time. He said it was my own piece of Siberia.’
Calculus passed the palm of his hand back and forth over the metal. ‘Curious,’ he said. ‘Iron and nickel mostly, with traces of chondrites in the outer layers. This is
meteorite iron.’ He turned it over and held it up to peer along its edge. ‘It’s made of two pieces of metal pressed together,’ he said. ‘And there’s something in
between them.’
‘Here, let me see.’ Verity took the pendant from him and laid it carefully on the table. She pulled a small jeweller’s eyeglass from her bag and began to examine it.
‘There’s a pair of jumper pins on the upper edge,’ she said to Calculus, pointing to two tiny brass specks. ‘And there’s definitely something sandwiched in between the
two metal pieces.’
‘A micro-controller?’ said Calculus.
‘I’m betting it is,’ said Verity with excitement. She took out a pair of tweezers and turned the pendant over. ‘India, it looks like your dad went to a lot of trouble to
hide something in here.’
‘What sort of thing?’ said India. She had worn the pendant for several months without noticing anything unusual about it.
‘Possibly an integrated memory chip,’ said Calculus, ‘a storage device used by old-fashioned computers. They were very common once.’
India watched closely as Verity rummaged in the bag and pulled out a battered-looking black box with a small meter on the front and a pair of brass terminals on the top. She took out several
pieces of wire and some crocodile clips and proceeded to connect the brass terminals to the pendant. The needle on the meter didn’t move.
‘The chip must have deteriorated over time,’ said Calculus. ‘It will need something to kick-start it.’
Verity nodded. ‘OK, give me a spark, Calc,
but gently.
No more than thirty milliamps.’
The android took the pendant carefully between his finger and thumb. There was a small
snap
as a spark jumped from his fingers to the surface of the metal. For a moment, nothing
happened, then the needle on the meter flickered to life.
‘I have an output,’ said Calculus. ‘It’s a coherent data stream, there’s information here.’ The meter continued to flicker and Calculus was silent. At last he
spoke again. ‘It’s another journal.’
Verity punched her fist into an open palm. ‘Hot damn, this could be what we were looking for all along!’ India, do you realize what this means? I’ll bet those other journals
were just a red herring and all the information about Ironheart is stored here.’
‘What does it say?’ said India.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Calculus. ‘The message is
Similar Books
