“No, I think they’ve got some exploring of roles to do,” Rhiow said. “Meanwhile, we’ll have your ‘bad’ gate up and running again within a couple of days. But before we go … there’s one more thing we have to do.”
Fhrio actually put his whiskers forward at Rhiow.“With pleasure,” he said, and went off to bring up the timeslide again so that they could take care of it.
Urruah was standing talking to Ith. Rhiow wandered over to him, and as she came he turned to her and said,“ ‘Artie’ … Don’tehhifusually have more than one name?”
“Some places,” Rhiow said.
“So what was his? Did we ever find out?”
“Doyle,” Arhu said. “Actually he had two last names … unusual. Arthur Conan Doyle.”
“A very nice boy,” Urruah said. “I wonder what he’ll make of himself in the world.”
“Hard to say,” Rhiow said, “but he certainly likes dinosaurs …”
“Rhiow?” said Fhrio. “Ready.”
Patel was standing on the District Line Tube platform, looking around him with astonishment. His trainers were covered with mud … but there was no mud anywhere in sight: nothing but the platform in front of him, and a light bulb high in the ceiling.
He clearly heard a voice say, from somewhere down low,“Sir? You’ve dropped your book …”
He looked for the voice … but saw no one. Only his copy ofVan Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopediasat in its plastic bag on the floor nearby.
“Uh,” Patel said. “Uh, thanks …” He picked it up, staring again at his trainers: spent a fruitless moment or so trying to scrape the stinking mud off them: and then went on down the Tube platform.
Behind him, whiskers went forward: and Rhiow went back to fetch her team, with its new part-time member, and go home.