“You’re talking about Vortex, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Peabody appeared relieved. “Sorry for the lecture. I was afraid you might be unaware of the organization.”
“Coppersmith Mining ran into some trouble on Rainshadow Island a while back. There was evidence of a Vortex connection. The Coppersmiths and Arcane have a long-standing history. The problem was reported to J and J. So far, the investigations have hit solid quartz walls.”
“Within Arcane, Vortex is something of a legend,” Peabody said. “You know how it is with legends.”
“They never die. But there was nothing about this recent case that appeared to be connected to Vortex.”
“I’m afraid that’s not true, Mr. Jones.” Peabody gestured toward the entrance of the dark ride. “Will you follow me?”
“Sure.”
They went through the shadowed entrance and stepped aboard the small railroad car. Peabody put the train in gear. It lurched forward and headed down the narrow tracks.
At first there was nothing to be seen. The first few feet of the journey were made in darkness, but when the train rounded a curve, an eerie luminosity appeared, revealing a diorama of an old-fashioned laboratory. Figures in white coats and goggles were at work on a disturbingly familiar device.
Peabody brought the train to a jerky stop.
“Shit,” Gabriel said. He stepped off the car and moved to take a closer look at the device exhibited on the workbench. “It looks a lot like the prototype weapon that we just confiscated from Westover’s operation.”
“I was afraid of that,” Peabody said. He left the train and walked across the small space to join Gabriel. “Notice the glass canisters.”
Gabriel looked at the three tubes. “They’re empty.”
“The notebook that one of the figures holds indicates they are meant to contain a liquid crystal of some kind. I’m more concerned with the name embroidered on the lab coat.”
It took Gabriel a few seconds to make out the old-fashioned writing, because it dated from the First Generation. The style had changed drastically after the Era of Discord.
“Trenchard,” he said. He looked at Peabody. “Preston Trenchard is the name of the inventor that developed the suppressor. We found his lab and his body.”
“I think this figure is one of Preston Trenchard’s ancestors. According to Fallon Jones’s diary, one of the scientists who worked for Vortex back in the twenty-first century on the Old World was named Harvey Trenchard. Evidently he was a genius when it came to crystal technology.”
“Is this supposed to be a scene from the Old World?”
“No,” Peabody said. “If I am correctly interpreting the story that Aloysius Jones was trying to tell in this exhibit, it is a warning.”
Gabriel studied the scene. “A warning that a Trenchard came through the Curtain, settled on Harmony, and tried to go back into the weapons business. Apparently Preston Trenchard inherited both the technology and the talent.”
“Yes,” Peabody said. “There is a vast, mostly undiscovered trove of crystals and resonating amber here on Harmony, not to mention artifacts of a vanished civilization that was technologically advanced. But with so many resources available and so much potential, why go into the weapons business? That was the last thing anyone needed in the Colonial era. The city-states were struggling just to survive.”
“I doubt if anyone ever went broke in the weapons business, regardless of the era,” Gabriel said.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Lord of the Underworld showed up with the dust bunny and a pizza.
Lucy smiled at the sight of Gabriel standing in the doorway. He had an Ollie’s House of Pizza box in his hand. Otis was on his shoulder.
“It’s about time you two got home,” she said. “I thought you might have had an emergency at the office.”
“Ollie’s was busy tonight,” Gabriel said. “Long line.”
She eyed the box in his hands. “You stopped to pick up pizza?”
“I thought it would make things more romantic,” Gabriel said.
“Pizza? Romantic?”
“We met over a box of pizza, remember?”
“Oh. Right. How sweet.” She stepped back so that Gabriel and Otis could move into the hall.
Gabriel was trying to be romantic. She had to respect and appreciate the gesture. Okay, so she did not consider the days and nights she had been imprisoned in the Underworld chamber romantic. She had been hallucinating wildly, and Gabriel had been simply doing his job when he rescued her. But apparently he looked back on the experiences in a different light.