Times Without Number by John Brunner Read Free Book Online Page A

had hoped that at least one fresh

clue would emerge from this interrogation. He said, "Does that mean we

still have nothing concrete except the date of the deal?"

"I'm afraid so," the shorter inquisitor sighed. "And he gave us that

truthfully of his own free will. Have you, though, inquired of the

authorities in Jorque concerning the travellers who registered with them

on or about that date?"

"Of course, but . . ." Don Miguel shrugged. "The person who brought the

mask for sale has not been traced. No doubt he ignored the requirements

of the law."

"The justification of the law lies in men's obedience thereof," said

the taller inquisitor in sententious tones. It was not an observation

which struck Don Miguel as adding very much to the discussion.

He said, "Well, at least you can tell me what kind of enchantment this

villain might have used."

"There are many possibilities. One imagines a drug of some sort, to dull

the will. Or he may have constrained Higgins to look at some bright spot

-- perhaps a reflection on the mask itself -- and then soothed him to

oblivion with gentle words."

"This kind of thing is possible?" Don Miguel demanded.

"Why, surely, sir. Though we prefer that the fact should not be noised

around; you'll understand that these are the techniques we use ourselves

in inquisition, and it would be fatal if people were forewarned about

them."

Don Miguel shook his head in wonder. He found all this barely credible;

however, the inquisitors were experts in their own field, and he was

compelled to take their word.

"Do you still hold out any hope of further progress?" he ventured.

"Very little, sir. Very little indeed -- though of course we shall

continue to try."

If the interrogation of Higgins had reached a dead end, the only thing

to do was to head back to Jorque and continue his investigations on

the spot where the mask had turned up. Accordingly, he left Londres

that same evening by fast coach, and passed a miserably uncomfortable

night in wishing that someone would hit on a safe means of adapting

time apparatus to ordinary land-travel. In extreme emergencies, theory

suggested, it could in fact be used for such a purpose, by employing

the spatial displacement factor; it was not, however, judged safe to

turn this notion into practice, because the travellers must inevitably

arrive a small fraction of a second before leaving their starting-points,

and the effects of this phenomenon were inherently unpredictable.

Therefore there were coaches, with horses to drag them along . . . and

maybe nothing more was needed than better roads, complained Don Miguel's

tortured bones as he made his way after a hasty breakfast from the

staging-inn to the Jorque office of the Society, a great house set in

spacious grounds not far from the cathedral.

Here he was received by an old-young man with a pale face and high,

hesitant voice whose eyes fastened greedily on the Prince's seal at the

foot of Don Miguel's commission. He was probably a failed Licentiate,

Don Miguel diagnosed from his manner and his tone.

"We have much discussed the problem which you are come to look into,"

said the fellow fawningly, having introduced himself as Don Pedro

Diaz. "We are all impressed with the way you saw straight to its heart."

Don Miguel was in no mood for hollow flattery. He countered brusquely,

"It was no more than anyone of intelligence fit to grace the Society must

necessarily have deduced! As yet, moreover, the heart of the matter still

eludes me. Since my departure for Londres, have you found out anything

further concerning the stranger who's alleged to have brought the mask

for sale?"

The other looked disconcerted. "Why, we were not told to do so," he

objected. "Was it not enough to have arrested the merchant Higgins and

his clerks?"

Sometimes Don Miguel found himself wondering how it was that almost a

century had safely passed since Borromeo turned time-travel loose in

this imperfect