had put me in charge of Operation Triple-M, and I did dig out information that led
us to the Revisionists. I got most of it from one of my own employees, the pilot of
that bus. I made a bad mistake, Maureen, in hiring that evil maggot. My poor
judgement almost cost your life. I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry about what? Hilda Mae, my precious, if you hadn’t rescued me in Albuquerque,
years ago, I would be dead, dead, dead! Don’t ever forget it, because I never forget
it.’
‘Spare me your gratitude, Mau; I had fun. Both times. I borrowed some snakes from
Patty Paiwonski and hung this oaf upside down over a snake pit while I questioned
him. That sharpened his memory and got us the correct time line, place, and date –
Kansas City in Gregorian 2184 starting at 26 June on a previously unexplored variant
of time tine two, one in which the Second American Revolution never took place. It
is now designated time line eleven, and is a nasty enough place that the Circle put
it in the Someday File for cleaning or cauterising when we get around to it.’
Hilda leaned down and twiddled her fingers at Pixel, spoke to him in cat language;
he came at once and settled in her lap, purring loudly. ‘We put agents into that
version of Kansas City but they lost you the same day you arrived. Or that night.
They traced you from Grand Hotel Augustus to a private home, from there to the
Mayor’s palace, and then outdoors into the carnival. And I lost you. But we had
established that Pixel was with you… even though he was here every day, too. Or
almost -‘
‘How does he do that?’
‘How does Gay Deceiver have two portside bathrooms without being lopsided? Maureen,
if you insist on believing in World-as-Logic you will never understand
World-as-Myth. Pixel knows nothing about Einsteinian space-time, or the speed of
light as a limit, or the Big Bang, or any of those fancies dreamed up by theorists,
so they don’t exist for him. Pixel knew where you were, inside the little world that
does exist for him, but he doesn’t speak much English. In Boondock, that is. So we
took him where he can speak English -‘
`Huh?’
‘Oz, of course. Pixel doesn’t know what a cathedral is but he was able to describe
that one fairly well once we were able to get his mind off all those wonderful new
places to investigate. The Cowardly Lion helped us question him, and for the first
time in his life Pixel was impressed – I think he wants to grow up to be a lion. So
we hurried back and sent a task force to get you out of the Supreme Bishop’s private
jail. And you weren’t there.’
Dagmar picked it up. ‘But I was, and Pixel led them straight to me – looking for
you. I was in the cell you had been in – the proctors came for me as soon as you
escaped.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Hilda. ‘Dagmar had befriended you and that was not a safe thing to do,
especially after the Supreme Bishop died.’
‘Dagmar! I’m sorry!’
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‘About what? “All’s well that ends well”, to coin a phrase. Look at me now, ducks; I
like it here. So back they went to Oz, taking me along this time, and after I
listened to Pixel, I was able to tell Hilda that you were being held in Grand Hotel
Augustus -‘
‘Hey! That’s where I started!’
‘And that’s where you wound up, too, in a suite that isn’t in the hotel directory
and can be reached from inside only by a private elevator from the sub-basement. So
we came in by the scenic route, and caught the Committee with their pants down:
Lazarus had joined us, and now sat on the grass at my knees, without interrupting –
and I wondered how long his angelic behaviour would last. Now he said, ‘Mama, you do
know how true your words are. You remember when we moved? I was in high school.’
‘Yes, certainly. To our old farmhouse, out south.’