“The docents found him this morning, just like this,” said the curator. “It took him several minutes to realize where he was. He wandered around all night in a daze while an important meteorite specimen was being stolen. It’s a wonder nothing else went missing.” He glared at the former guard. “You are dismissed, Mr. Dunn. Collect your things and go.”
“Yessir,” said Harvey Dunn, crestfallen.
“Hold on there, Abner,” said Burton. “Mr. Dunn, please go and wait in the security office. I’d like a word with your superior.”
Harvey Dunn nodded and sulked away, still wiping tears from his eyes.
“I don’t tell you how to traverse the Nile, Dick,” said Donenfeld. “Don’t tell me how to run my museum.”
“Now Abner, I just want you to see things from that poor man’s perspective.”
“Are you telling me that you believe that poppycock? The old codger has clearly gone mad.”
Burton nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. That man is telling the truth, about all of it. Now, don’t you think, under these extreme circumstances, he should be allowed another chance?”
“What if he is in league with these miscreants?”
Abberline laughed. “And risk his job? For a meteorite? When there are so many more priceless artifacts in this museum?”
“Two such specimens we passed along this very hall,” said Burton. “The gold and silver—”
Donenfeld held up a hand. “Yes, yes, I know about the gold and silver specimens. I am familiar with every item in this museum, including its estimated worth.”
“Then you also know that we are dealing with forces beyond our current understanding,” said Burton.
“Bah!” Donenfeld spat. “You sound like those Theosophes who used to come pray and sway and chant before that bloody rock until I had the whole lot kicked out. What is really going on here, Dick?”
Burton gave a slight shrug. “I wish I knew. But I know this incident is so out of the ordinary that I believe you should give your man a reprieve, as it were.”
Donenfeld chewed his bottom lip. At last he said, “Oh, all right. But if he is a second late from now on…”
“You are well within your rights to do with him as you see fit,” said Burton. “Now, we’ve taken up enough of your time. I’m sorry this happened, Abner, but I assure you I am doing everything within my power to get to the bottom of it and ensure the safe return of the Wold-Newton meteorite.”
“Well, uh, see that you do. I don’t know what is going on here, Dick Burton, or why you’re up to your lapels in it, but I don’t like it.” With that he stomped off back up the corridor, presumably to tell Harvey Dunn that the old man still had a job.
“That was a nice thing you did for Mr. Dunn,” said Abberline.
“Well, none of it was his fault. No one could have stopped the Awakened from taking the meteorite.”
“So, you believe his story?”
“Oh yes.”
“What about all that rot about wandering around an outdoor market? The pink sky? Two moons?”
“Every word.”
“Are you going to tell me why?”
Burton looked at Abberline. “For the sake of your sanity, my friend, no.”
9. The Dream Key
“We’ve got them red-handed, but we can’t do a bloody thing,” said Abberline as they sat in Burton’s study later that afternoon. “Mr. Holmes wants us to wait and see what they do next.”
Burton puffed on a cheroot and nodded. “That is probably wise. We need to know exactly with whom or what we are dealing.”
“I don’t like it,” said Abberline. “All this waiting for them to make the next move, and us with plenty of cause to arrest them. It’s maddening.”
“I know what you mean, Frederick. But I’m afraid Mycroft Holmes is correct in this case.
“They must have something planned for that psychic space rock,” said Abberline. He uttered a giggle. “Blimey. Have you ever heard such a ridiculous phrase in your life? Psychic space rock.”
He laughed again before taking another sip of brandy. The news that shoggoths may have waylaid some of his best men had relaxed his personal rule about drinking on duty.
“They obviously need that black mineral substance for something,” said Burton. “I just wish I knew what. Perhaps it amplifies some dark power they innately possess, or wish to. They have certainly made a name for themselves among the city’s occult community.”
Abberline arched an eyebrow. “Bloody nuisance is more like it. I heard there was quite a row out front of the Theosophes meeting hall where Goforth and Swinburne have been holding court lately. There were some fisticuffs, and the head of the society and a few of his lieutenants were kicked out.”
Burton scowled. “Truly?”
“Oh, yes. Now Swinburne, Goforth, and that actor chap Whiteside have taken it over, spouting some mumbo-jumbo about connecting with their past lives. Every one of those Theosophes have gone giddy for whatever they’re sellin’.”
“What of the other three? Nash, Greensmith, and Peacock?”
“Lit out of town,” said Abberline. “Headed for Yorkshire, nearest we can tell. Mr. Holmes says he has some contacts out that way, but it will take days to learn anything.”
“That’s odd,” said Burton. “I wonder why they left, and if they are coming back.” He didn’t like the thought of these entities traveling the country, maybe even the world, in their commandeered bodies, while the owners of those bodies remained trapped in some inaccessible limbo.
“Beats me. It means we’ve got a few less Awakened to worry about though, at least for the time being.”
They drank and smoked in silence for a long time. Burton felt drowsy, but his nerves were too on edge for sleep. Besides, he wondered what strange new dreams would assail him once he closed his eyes. He remembered his hallucinations from the day before and shuddered inwardly, as from a damp breeze.
“What does Mycroft Holmes think of all this?” Burton asked.
“Oh, you know Mr. Holmes. Beneath his cool, calculating exterior, he’s as confused as we are. That’s extremely hard for a man who has to know absolutely bloody everything.”
They sat in silence some more. Soon Abberline became acutely aware of the deepening shadows outside the study window. “I should go. There’s paperwork to be done. Good evening, Captain Burton.”
Burton nodded. He knew the real reason Abberline was hesitant to remain at Gloucester Place a moment longer and didn’t think lesser of him for it. The growing shadows were the perfect hiding places for shoggoths.
“All right, then,” said Burton, rising from behind his desk. He shook the policeman’s hand. “Let me know what you find out, if anything. I feel as if something of great import is about to transpire.”
“And that’s what I’m afraid of,” said Abberline. “My kingdom for an ordinary cutpurse.” Abberline retrieved his bowler and disappeared down the stairs, where a police pantechnicon was waiting for him. Burton stared out the window as the two big drays pulling it clopped up the street, then stared at the cityscape stained pink with the setting sun.
He turned and looked at the shoggoth gun Challenger had constructed. He had set the professor to the task of building more, hoping that would give the man something to occupy his mind so he didn’t go completely mad. And if what Burton feared was about to happen came to pass, they would need every flame-thrower Challenger could produce.
He tossed the remains of his cheroot into the fireplace and retired to his bedroom, removing his clothes and putting on a fresh jebba. Then he sat and meditated for a while, but he kept seeing the shoggoth bubble up out of the nothingness he tried to create within his mind, like Harvey Dunn’s sack full of eyes.