“I
couldn’t tell for sure.” Delaney said, letting the curtain fall back into position and turning around. “Could’ve been someone else, I-”
He suddenly threw himself to one side, hit the floor and rolled, coming up to a kneeling position with his pistol cocked and ready.
“Well, that was certainly amusing,” Dr. Darkness said. “What will you do for your next trick?”
“He had appeared sitting in the wooden chair across the room, with his legs crossed casually and a heavy blackthorn walking stick held across his lap. He was dressed in dark brown tweeds and a long, brown Inverness wool coat, which he wore unbuttoned. He wore a heavy gold watch chain in his tweed vest and a paisley silk ascot loosely tied around his neck. A brown fedora was tilted rakishly low over his right eye. They could see the back of the chair right through him. He seemed to flicker like a ghost on a television screen, parts of his body appearing solid one moment and transparent the next, the result of his atomic structure having been permanently tachyonized, making him “the man who was faster than light.”
Delaney exhaled heavily and lowered the hammer on the gun. “Christ, Doc. I wish to hell you wouldn’t do that!”
“What did you expect me to do, Delaney, come to the door and knock?” said Darkness. “Somehow I don’t think you’d enjoy explaining to the locals what a ghost was doing knocking on your door in the middle of the night.”
Delaney got up and put away the pistol.
“I always did rather enjoy Boston,” Darkness said, pushing his hat back on his head, “but not during this particular time period. Another hundred years or so and it will be a worthwhile place to spend a weekend.” He reached inside his coat and produced a bottle of wine. “I took the liberty of bringing this up from the wine cellar.” he said. “Not exactly your California red. but I suppose it will do if you’re not terribly particular.
He tossed the bottle to Delaney. Finn caught it one-handed and went over to the sideboard, where they had a decanter and some glasses.
“Come to check up on the old prototype, eh. Dec.” said Lucas. wryly.
“No, I just happened to be passing through this century and I thought I’d stop by for a drink,” said Darkness, sarcastically Delaney held a glass of wine out to him and Darkness negligently reached for it. His hand passed right through it. Delaney almost dropped the glass. Darkness frowned and grunted with annoyance. He reached for the glass again, this time more deliberately, and succeeded in taking it from Delaney’s hand.
“It’s getting much worse, isn’t it?” said Lucas.
“Well, it isn’t getting any better,” Darkness said, “How about you? Any problems?”
“So far, so good,” said Lucas.
“Taken any unscheduled trips lately?” Darkness asked. Lucas grimaced. “Not lately, no. I try not to allow myself to have any stray thoughts about specific times and places. I do my best to keep my mind on the here and now, wherever the here and now might be.”
“Don’t you find that a bit of a strain?” asked Darkness.
“It was a hell of a strain at first, but it seems to be getting easier. I guess my concentration is improving.”
“What about when you go to bed at night? Don’t you find your mind wandering? Do you have nightmares?”
“I meditate,” said Lucas. “I try to focus my mind. Like I said, it seems to be getting eater. I haven’t had any nightmares for a while. At least, none I can remember. And I keep waking up in the same place, which seems rather encouraging.”
“Yes, it certainly does,” said Darkness. “Perhaps you’re finally getting used to it. On the other hand, perhaps its because you’re exercising greater mental discipline. One would think that would go by the boards when you fell asleep.. unless you’re conditioning yourself with some sort of auto-suggestion through your meditation.” He frowned, it would be just like you to find a way to screw up the field testing by exercising greater self-control.”
“Well, excuse me all to hell,” said Lucas, sourly.
“You’re missing the point. Priest,” Darkness said. “While it is certainly laudable that you’re working to improve your already considerable powers of concentration, it is nevertheless not the object of this exercise.” “Oh, it’s an exercise?” said Lucas. “Forgive me. I thought we were talking about my life here.”
“Which. I will remind you, I had gone to particular trouble to preserve,” said Darkness. “The point is that an infant does not learn to walk by using various objects to steady itself. At some point, it has to let go and fall down a few times.”
“Yeah, well, if I should happen to ‘fall down,’ as you put it,” Lucas said, “I’ll wind up in some other time period, possibly in a highly unpleasant situation. And in case it’s escaped your notice, we’re on a mission here. I don’t exactly have the time for any side trips.”
“Your mission here is only of secondary importance,” Darkness said. “The telempathic temporal transponder will revolutionize time travel, but the field testing has to be completed first. That is the primary consideration, above everything else.”
“To you, maybe,” Lucas said. “To me, the primary consideration is staying in control. One slip and I’m liable to pop off to some other century. You have any idea what it’s like having to live with that?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” said Darkness. “I have to live with the fact that I may discorporate at any time and cease to exist… or exist everywhere at once. Becoming some sort of cosmic phenomenon was never my ambition. Priest, but it was the price I had to pay in order to perfect the device I’ve given you.”
“Well, forgive me if I’m not suitably grateful.” Lucas said, “but I never asked to be your guinea pig.”
“I don’t expect your thanks,” said Darkness.