For the next few days Steven had no time to think about Vateelin. He learnt from the television and the newspapers that Thomas/Tonitheen was in Casselton General Hospital.
In the meantime he was busily engaged in updating a computer program for a client of his, an insurance company enthusiastically computerizing risk factors. Steven had no need of subsidies from the purse of Ormingat. There was one brief interruption to his work that week, when Elgarith, the agent in Marseilles, needed protection, but that took no more than an hour of concentrated attention.
Then came Christmas Eve. Lydia took all the children to the vigil mass at St Joseph’s. In the old days it would have been a midnight mass, but times being what they were it was now celebrated at eight p.m., after a rousing singsong of all the old-fashioned carols. Beth and Josie loved it and joined in enthusiastically. Jacob sat at the back and stayed silent. The prayers made sense, but he had never been comfortable with all that singing.
While the family were away, Steven turned to the Brick. He had an uneasy feeling that something was happening that was of concern to him. Into the keyboard he instinctively typed the name TONITHEEN.
NO NEED TO KNOW. WE HAVE TRACED THE BOY. HE IS IN CASSELTON GENERAL HOSPITAL
The words on the screen above the Brick sounded dismissive. That irritated Steven.
‘That wasn’t hard,’ he said, flicking the transmit switch that enabled the Brick to receive spoken words. ‘He has been in Casselton General Hospital since the crash. Don’t you have anyone watching terrestrial telly for you? And all the newspapers?’
There was, of course, no spoken answer. The Brick could listen but was not equipped to speak. It was some minutes before fresh words appeared on the screen.
THE VOICE TRACE WORKED. WE HAD NO NEED OF OTHER PATHS
Then Steven made a mistake he would come to regret, though he did not know it at the moment he made it. He was simply trying to stir things a bit.
‘I would have thought that all that publicity would be a worry to those concerned with security! However, I am just the manipulator of one little protection unit. Who am I to criticize a system that has worked for so long?’
The screen cleared, like a self-erasing blackboard.
There was another long pause.
Then more words, ominous words, though Steven did not know it.
WE SHALL GIVE MUCH THOUGHT TO THIS
At that moment Steven heard the front door opening two floors below. He was about turn off the Brick, when more words appeared on the screen.
RETURN AT MIDNIGHT. PERMISSION HAS BEEN SOUGHT, BUT NOT YET RECEIVED
Steven put the Brick in place and gave a sigh. Clearly there was no peace for the wicked! He did not even bother to wonder what this ‘permission’ was all about. He had no doubt he would find out in the wee small hours of the morning.
Downstairs, Lydia and the family had already removed their coats and were going to their rooms to bring down presents for one another, all beautifully wrapped in glossy paper. It had been the custom, ever since the twins had realized that Santa Claus was just a fairy tale, to open all the presents on Christmas Eve and to sleep a little longer next morning. Lydia sometimes missed the whispers and the little voices calling out, ‘Has he been yet?’ whenever she passed the bedroom door. The standard reply was, ‘No, my loves, he hasn’t. He won’t come till you’re fast asleep!’
After the presents and a little light supper, everyone was supposed to go to bed. Lydia looked surprised when Steven said, ‘I think I’ll wear my new sweater tonight. The computer room can get a bit chilly after the heating goes off. You’d better wear yours too, Jacob. Then we’ll not forget it’s Christmas.’
‘Working up there? Tonight?’ said Lydia. She had been gathering up the wrapping papers into bundles, and putting them into a large plastic bag placed ready on the floor. Pausing in this work was as near as she would come to making any protest.
‘Just an idea I want to explore,’ said Steven soothingly. ‘And you know how interested Jacob always is.’
Lydia stooped to pick up a sheet of glossy green paper. If she was annoyed, she did not show it. ‘Try not to be too long,’ she said. ‘Remember Santa won’t come till we’re all fast asleep!’
‘Ah, but he’s been already,’ said Steven, taking the bundles from her and thrusting them into the bag. ‘That’s where you made your mistake.’
He smiled at her fondly as they held the bag between them, shaking all the foil and glitter down into it. The smile asked pardon, and Lydia’s returning smile gave it, albeit reluctantly. She shrugged her shoulders and said no more.
As soon as the door shut behind them in the computer room, Jacob demanded to know what it was all about.
‘Surely they don’t want you on Christmas Eve?’ he said.
‘They do,’ said Steven, ‘but I don’t know why yet. I suspect it has to do with Vateelin.’
Then Jacob forgot that he was a mature fourteen-year-old and said excitedly, ‘What’s happened? Has he shrunk again?’
‘I hope not,’ said Steven. ‘I can’t see that button working for him twice. You nearly broke it the first time.’
He set up the Brick on the table, unfurled the screen and pulled the lever that allowed him to speak to it.
‘I am here,’ he said irritably. ‘Get on with it.’
The Brick answered quite quickly, the words appearing on the screen.
IT IS ELEVEN THIRTY-FIVE, EARTH TIME. PERMISSION HAS NOT YET BEEN RECEIVED
‘Permission for what?’ said Steven.
BE PREPARED
Jacob was sitting on the camp stool by his father’s side. He looked at the screen and smiled. ‘That’s not an answer,’ he said.
‘If there is one thing you should have learnt by now, my son, it is surely that the machine is stupid when it comes to questions. If the question is the wrong one, or even if it is asked at the wrong time or in the wrong way, no answer will be given.’
‘Daft,’ said Jacob.
‘And there I absolutely agree with you.’
‘So what do we do now?’
‘We wait till it has something to say to us. Thumb-twiddling time, I think. Or if you care to lie down on the armchair, you can go to sleep till something happens.’
So when the machine flickered into life again, Jacob was fast asleep in the chair, and Steven was once more nodding off at his desk.
PERMISSION HAS BEEN RECEIVED. NOW IS TIME TO INSTRUCT
Steven was alert immediately. He flicked the switch on the side of the Brick and said, with a yawn, ‘What time is it?’
TIME IS TO PLAN TO ESCORT VATEELIN. ZOOM IN ON SPACESHIP. EDINBURGH, BY SCOTT MONUMENT
Wide-awake now, Steven manipulated the dials, going from a map of Britain, to the area around Edinburgh and then into Princes Street where, at two in the morning, the world was mainly asleep. Jacob woke up at the sound of his father’s movements. He came over and joined him just as the map turned into a picture.
The finest probe in the system went down into the soil, then right inside the spaceship, where Vateelin was sleeping uneasily.
At the base of the screen words began to appear, fresh instructions. The picture rolled upwards and away, allowing the message to take its place. A larger screen would have been helpful. These instructions were longer than usual.
AT THIS TIME TOMORROW NIGHT, THE SHIP LEAVES EDINBURGH. PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED FOR TRIP TO CASSELTON. PREPARE PATH AND KEEP SHIP UNDER VIGILANCE TILL IT REACHES CASSELTON GENERAL HOSPITAL. YOU WILL THEN STRENGTHEN SHIELD AROUND VATEELIN SO THAT HE WILL BE UNOBSERVED WHEN HE GOES INSIDE THE BUILDING TO FETCH HIS SON. THEREAFTER, SHIELD WILL EXTEND TO TONITHEEN ALSO. YOUR DUTIES END WHEN THEIR SHIP LEAVES EARTH
‘Big deal!’ said Steven irritably. ‘Very big deal! It will be the trickiest thing I have ever done. Just think of the variations in size and speed. Some Christmas Day I’ll have! I doubt if there’ll be time for dinner!’
Jacob gave him a look of encouragement. ‘You can do it, Dad. You know you can do it. And you’ll stop for Christmas dinner because Mum would be hurt if you didn’t.’
Steven gave a phoney yawn. ‘It’s all very well for some,’ he said. ‘You be off to bed now. I’d better get started on those beastly calculations.’