25
It would be a gamble, Will decided, to tell his grandmother. She might insist on going to the police. Or tell him he was crazy and book them all on the next plane back to London.
Instead, as Will, Gaia, and Andrew took it in turns to describe their visit to the laboratory of Vassily Baraban, she only nodded. The cozy expression she had been wearing vanished. In its place, her intelligence shone.
“So you have heard of Vassily Baraban?” Andrew said.
“Of course! My dear, who in Russia has not heard of him? There was disgrace. Trouble with strangelets.”
“Strangelets?” Andrew said.
“Clusters of quarks and strange quarks—particles that make up an atom,” Elena said. “It is thought these clusters were created in the Big Bang, when the universe came into being. And, without doubt, they are strange. Just one fragment, the size of a grain of pollen, could weigh several tons, and it could travel at one million miles an hour. In 1993, there was an explosion that started in the Pacific and traveled right through the Earth. It appeared in Antarctica nineteen seconds later. There are some who believe this was caused by an impact of cosmic strangelets. And you can see strangelets in equipment that accelerates particles to unbelievable speeds, then smashes them together.”
Will glanced at Andrew and Gaia. From their startled expressions, it was clear they were thinking the same thing. The notes in Baraban’s lab had appeared to describe a particle collider—twin tunnels that could speed ions along.
“So you can make strangelets in a particle collider?” Gaia breathed.
“Yes, my dear . . .” Elena looked troubled. “So you say Vassily Baraban was abducted—but you don’t know who took him?”
Will nodded.
“And this friend of yours, this boy, you think he has come up with a way to destroy a hotel in space.”
“Yes,” Will said.
“With a laser, perhaps?”
“We don’t think so,” Andrew said, glancing at Will. “At least, we’re not sure. But the e-mail talked about launching something. We think it’s a new type of weapon. Caspian described two tunnels—perhaps a particle collider. Could it be . . .” He hesitated. “Could you make a weapon with strangelets?”
Elena raised an eyebrow. “Highly unlikely.”
“But not impossible,” Andrew persisted.
“Who is to say what is impossible.”
Again, Andrew glanced at Will. Will’s expression had clouded over. Suddenly, he seemed to be a million miles away. “Whatever it is, we do really need to find Caspian,” Andrew continued. “If they’re going to launch something, of course they’ll need a launch site—and a laboratory—and enough space for the accelerator tunnels.”
“If the collider really is part of the weapon,” Gaia said.
“I think for the moment we have to assume it is.” Andrew turned back to Elena. “This complex would be vast. There can’t be many likely sites. Do you have any idea where it might be?”
“In Petersburg?” The old lady threw up her hands. “I don’t know, but I can make some calls. I have a friend, Vanya. He knows people. Perhaps he will have some idea.”
Will frowned. “I thought your phone was disconnected.”
“Disconnected! No, my dear—of course not!”
Elena went through to the telephone in the parlor. Will stood up, trying to peer through the window, but he could see only the reflected faces of Andrew and Gaia, the rose-patterned sofa, the violent paint on the walls. Every step forward, it seemed, he was blocked. Where was Caspian? Where was his mother . . . ? She had told him to call only on her mobile. His grandmother’s phone line needed repairing, she had said, so there was no point in her giving him the number. Will could still hear her voice. Lying. Suddenly, he felt weary. And trapped.
“I have to go out,” he said bluntly.
Andrew’s head shot up from his smart phone. He’d been in the process of Googling “strangelets.” “Where?”
“Just out,” Will said.
“But your grandmother—” Gaia protested.
“I won’t be long. The news will be the same when I get back.”
He didn’t look at her, didn’t look at Andrew. He needed to get out of that stuffy room packed with his family, with the past. He needed to walk.
“What’s wrong with him?” Andrew whispered, when Will had gone.
“What do you think? He expected to find his mother,” Gaia said quietly.
Two minutes later, Elena reappeared. She held up her hands to deflect questions. “Vanya is contacting friends who might know. He will call me straight back. Where is Will?”
“He went for a walk,” Andrew said.
Will’s strides were rapid. He wanted to know if Elena’s friend had any clues to the location of Caspian Baraban—but first he needed to clear his head.
He glanced up. The sky was murky, sinister black. Even in their boots, his feet were cold. He could feel the chill spreading like ice up his legs. Ahead, the warm light of a shop caught his eye. He glanced down into the basement, and he saw saleswomen in pink aprons, vegetables still half-covered in earth, unappetizing slabs of meat.
Will walked on, eyes now on the pavement, feet moving automatically. He thought of his mother. It was impossible not to. Was she out in this, he wondered. In this world?
She had to be. But where exactly? Had she come here because this was her birthplace? A city that was hers, barely shared with his father—so here she could escape, when in England she could not? But why avoid her own mother? Why come to St. Petersburg and hide out on her own?
And Caspian. Where was he? Was the equipment ready and waiting? Was Caspian already in some lab, his finger on the trigger . . . ? But of what? And why?
“Hey!”
Will’s body clenched. Two young men in trench coats had stumbled into him. Muscled fingers with rings clasped around Will’s coat. Will cursed himself. He hadn’t been paying attention to the street. Now the men seared Will’s face with their aggressive gaze. And their hands crept lower, to Will’s pocket.