They’d reached the fifty-foot radius point.
If he hadn’t had a prisoner behind him, tied and bound to him and watching his every move, he would have dropped to his knees and howled at the sky in delirious joy. Of the now eleven times he’d made this journey, this one had been the most difficult. It was the heat; it had to be the heat. He felt utter dread knowing he still had one more Reality ahead of him. But, for now, he allowed himself some elation, at least a little. Even if he did keep it on the inside.
“We’re here,” he said, making sure he didn’t allow the relief to trickle into his voice. “I need a minute to set up. Don’t try anything. Or, um, I’ll have to, um, kill you.” Of course, not in a million years would he do that—the Blade operation was way too important, and it couldn’t happen if even one of the Alterants died—but she didn’t know that.
“Where’s here?” the woman asked, her voice hoarse and scratchy. “Why won’t you tell me anything?”
“Because you don’t need to know.” Frazier walked a little way farther until they were in the rough middle of the designated area. He let go of the rope, giving the prisoner the evil eye as he did so, knowing she’d get the message. He swung the Blade component off his shoulders, unhooked the leather straps, and let it thump to the ground in front of him.
“I’ve dealt with people a lot worse than you,” she said in a raw whisper.
Frazier barely heard her. He was down on his knees, studying the Blade. Or, more accurately, a part of the Blade. One of thirteen parts, it was a beautiful piece of work. Made of the blackest stone—a substance that did not even exist in any Reality, at least not naturally—it had no measurable shape or dimensions. Twisty, curvy, and slightly elongated, it was like a beautiful, abstract sculpture, with dozens of thin strands connecting two bulky end pieces, all of it harder and stronger than the toughest metal or stone. And blacker than the deepest, starless night.
Jane had made this. She’d created it. He’d begged her to explain how she’d done it, explain what the material was, explain the science behind it. But she always refused, saying it was on such a deep and complex level he’d never understand. A lot of it, she finally told him, came about purely on instinct, a result of her digging through the wonders of quantum physics and spacetime. But on several occasions, when she otherwise seemed asleep or lost in thought, he’d heard her whisper two words:
Dark matter.
He was sure of it. She’d said dark matter. Whether or not it had anything to do with the Blade, he couldn’t be sure. He certainly had no idea if what lay in front of him now was made of dark matter or contained it somehow. But his gut told him that his boss had stumbled upon a discovery that would alter the Realities forever if she ever chose to share it with her fellow scientists. But that, he knew, would never happen.
Dark matter.
He shivered, and feeling the chill in the brutal heat ripped him out of his wandering thoughts. He snapped his head up to look at the Alterant, who stood quietly, everything from her face to her hands to her clothes seeming to wilt toward the ground, a display of misery. He felt truly sorry for her, and knew it was because of how much she looked like Mistress Jane.
“I’m sorry this has been so rough on you,” he said, positive she’d think he was up to something and not being sincere. He didn’t care. “Sometimes I lose myself in the amazing things we’re trying to accomplish. Sometimes I . . . forget that the people we hurt along the way are human.”
The woman stared at him, disgust wrinkling up her face. Then she spat on the twisted black stone. “You can take your sick voodoo toys and shove ’em up your nose. Go ahead and kill me. Do whatever. I don’t care.”
Frazier couldn’t take his eyes off her for a long moment. She looked so much like his boss, it hurt his heart to hear her say such things. He felt a sudden surge of something between pain and love. He wanted to go to the woman, hold her, kiss her. In that instant, he didn’t want to hurt her like this.
“Get your ugly eyes off me,” she said. “I’ve seen rats who look more intelligent than you.”