quot;Im sorry,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot;Yes, maybe t;

    quot;s dark matter?quot; said Lyra. quot;ts  says on t it?quot;

    Dr. Malone sat doh her ankle for Lyra.

    S;Dark matter is  is. tuff out ts t. e can see tars and t s for it all to oget fly apart, to be a lot more of it—to make gravity  no one can detect it. So ts of different researcs trying to find out  is, and t;

    Lyra tention. At last talking seriously.

    quot;And  is?quot; she asked.

    quot;ell,  is—quot; As stle boiled, so s up and made tinued. quot;e ts some kind of elementary particle. Somete different from anyt ticles are very o detect. ... o scudy p;

    Lyra felt Pantalaimon nip  to get cross. It er telling o be trut s ruto tread carefully and just avoid direct lies.

    quot;Yes,quot; s;I knotle bit. But not about dark matter.quot;

    quot;ell, rying to detect t-undetectable ticles cras. Normally t detectors very deep underground, but ead is to set up an electromagnetic field around tector t ss out t  and lets t it ter.quot;

    S ss in a draook one hungrily.

    quot;And icle t fits,quot; Dr. Malone  on. quot;e t fits. But its so strange ...

    elling you t. Its not publiss not refereed, its not even ten dotle crazy ternoon.

    quot;ell ...quot; s on, and s Lyra t sop, quot;our particles are strange little devils, make no mistake. e call ticles, S nearly knocked me off my c noeam, you see, is a bit of an amateur arc. And   believe. But  ignore it, because it fitted in  t t? ts rigicles of consciousness. You ever upid? No  get our grant rene;

    Sy flower.

    quot;Yes,quot; Dr. Malone  on, quot;t: you cant see t to. Unless you put your mind in a certain state. You o be confident and relaxed at time. You o be capable—  quotation ...quot;

    So tten h a green pen. She read:

    quot; ... Capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts,  any irritable reacer fact and reason. You o get into t state of mind. ts from t Keats, by t t yourself in t state of mind, and t t;

    quot;t; said Lyra.

    quot;Oer. e call it to. ts our arc again. ellectual. But o Geneva for a job intervie suppose for a moment s rigo it, if you t about it. to your t;

    quot; about t;

    quot;I o t. Oliver Payne— one day testing t  didnt make any sense in t .  a piece of ivory, just a lump, and t. It didnt react. But a carved ivory cer of , but a atuette alking about elementary panicles here, for goodness

    sake. Little minute lumps of scarcely anyt ts  ed  was surrounded by Shadows....

    quot;And t some fossil skulls from a friend at tested to see ime t . toff point about ty, forty t, no Ser t, plenty. And ts about time, apparently, t modern  appeared. I mean, you knoe ancestors, but people no different from us, really....quot;

    quot;Its Dust,quot; said Lyra autatively. quot;ts  is.quot;

    quot;But, you see, you cant say t of tion if you  to be taken seriously. It does not make sense. It cannot exist. Its impossible, and if it isnt impossible, its irrelevant, and if it isnt eits embarrassing.quot;

    quot;I  to see t; said Lyra.

    Sood up.

    Dr. Malone was running o keep ired eyes clear.

    quot;ell, I cant see ; s;e mig omorro;

    So t .

    quot;t. Over t; sing to a screen t y gray. quot;ts or is, be o see to be linked up to some electrodes. Like for measuring brain ;

    quot;I  to try it,quot; said Lyra.

    quot;You  see anytired. Its too complicated.quot;

    quot;Please! I kno;

    quot;Do you, noific experiment. You cant come c to   sc;

    And s waking up.

    Lyra rembling. tell trut. quot;I found my ; sook out ter.

    quot; in t? A compass?quot;

    Lyra let ake it. Dr. Malones eyes  quot;Dear Lord, its made of gold. ;

    quot;I t does s  to find out. If I can ansion truly,quot; said Lyra desperately, quot;someto and I dont, can I try your Cave t;

    quot;, are o fortune-telling no;

    quot;Please! Just ask me a question!quot;

    Dr. Malone s;O,quot; sell me ... tell me ook up t;

    Eagerly Lyra took ter from urned t pictures even before ting at tco respond. As it began to s, cing, seeing doo truth lay.

    t of emporary trance.

    quot;You used to be a nun,quot; s;I  . Nuns are supposed to stay in ts forever. But you stopped believing in c you leave. t like my  all, not a bit.quot;

    Dr. Malone sat doaring.

    Lyra said, quot;ts true, ent it?quot;

    quot;Yes. And you found out from t...quot;

    quot;From my aleter. It , I to find out more about Dust, and it told me to come to you. So I reckon your dark matter must be try your Cave?quot;

    Dr. Malone s not to say no, just out of ;Very ; s;I t as ;

    Scrical ers cooling fan into t ttle muffled gasp. It  room  dreadful glittering c Bolvangar, ly squeezed him for reassurance.

    But Dr. Malone  noticed; soo busy adjusting scapping tters in anotrays. As sters and figures appeared on it.

    quot;No do; s a c;I need to put some gel on your skin to rical contact. It ;

    Dr. Malone took six taco various places on Lyras  determinedly still, but s ing hard.

    quot;All rig; said Dr. Malone. quot;to t. But ty and look at t;

    Lyra looked. tion dimly, but t  sended t ser, and imagined herself asking:

    does t Dust?  questions is she asking?

    Sally moved ters o flicker. Astonis of ration, and t notice tement t made Dr. Malone sit up: s foro concentrate again.

    time tantaneously. A stream of dancing ligains of took up patterns t o break apart and form again, in different s colors; t, t into s suddenly s like a flock of birds cion in tc trembling on tanding, t sime er.

    Sion: Is t? Is it tterns and moving ter?

    t. S meant yes. t occurred to urned to speak to Dr. Malone, and saw o her head.

    quot;?quot; she said.

    the screen faded. Dr. Malone blinked.

    quot; is it?quot; Lyra said again.

    quot;O put on t display Ive ever seen, ts all,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot; ;

    quot;I  it clearer t; Lyra said.

    quot;Clearer? ts t its ever been!quot;

    quot;But  mean? Can you read it?quot;

    quot;ell,quot; said Dr. Malone, quot;you dont read it in t doesnt . s  to ttention t you pay them.

    ts revolutionary enougs our consciousness t to, you see.quot;

    quot;No,quot; Lyra explained, quot;ed. tures if you ed to. Look.quot;

    And surned back and focused  time sended to  ter, y-six symbols laid out around t omatically ted in o point at tanding), t (for diligence), and framed tion:

    o do in order to understand the Shadows?

    t itself, and out of ter of lines and flasures formed  clarity: compasses, alpning, angel. Eacure flas number of times, and t three:

    camel, garden, moon.

    Lyra sao explain. time, ting back in e-faced, clutcable.

    quot; it says,quot; Lyra told ;its saying in my language, rigures. Like ter. But  says is t it could use ordinary language too,  up like t. You could fix t put  youd need a lot of careful figuring  ning meant anbaric—I mean, electric po. And ts all about messages. t s to say. But  on to t second bit... it meant Asia, almost t east but not quite. I dunno ry t ry of talking to Dust, I mean S   ures, only ticks. I t meant t picture on t I didnt understand it, really. I t  tant about it, only I didnt kno be lots of alking to S;

    Dr. Malone hless.

    quot;t; s;Yes, its Cion—fortune-telling, really.... And, yes, ticks. Its only up tion,quot; so reassure Lyra t s really believe in it. quot;Youre telling me t ting in toucicles? itter?quot;

    quot;Yea; said Lyra. ts of  t;

    quot;tures on t; Dr. Malone began.

    Lyra felt a flicker of a t at turned to to formulate a question urned back to her.

    quot;It says t youre important, too,quot; sold tist. quot;It says you got sometant to do. I dunno  it  say t unless it rue. So you probably ougo get it using and  says.quot;

    Dr. Malone . t;All rig;

    Lyra ted  Dr. Malone,  of exion and despair, range curned up from no it. But Lyra o tell truth.

    quot;I come from anot; s;Its true. I came to to run aer comes from ... from ter of Jordan College gave it me. In my Oxford t t one  o read ter by myself. I got a  see ures mean straig like you said about... doubts and mysteries and t. So   t and your Soo. So...quot;

    Dr. Malone er and folded its velvet clot, like a motecting ting it back in her rucksack.

    quot;So any; s;you could make t could talk to you in ed.

    talk to talk to ter. But  to kno? Dust, I mean, Ster. t to destroy it. ts evil. But I t t. So , S good or evil, or ;

    Dr. Malone rubbed urned her cheeks red again.

    quot;Everyt t; s;Dyou knoo mention good and evil in a scientific laboratory? ist  to o t t kind of t;

    quot;You got to t it,quot; said Lyra severely. quot;You cant investigate S,  is,  t t kind of t said you got to, remember. You cant refuse. o close t;

    quot;ttee decides at t;

    quot;Cause you got tonig; said Lyra. quot;You could fix to put ead of pictures like I made. You could do t easy. to give you to carry on. And you could find out all about Dust, or Sell me. You see,quot; s on a little ily, like a ducisfactory ;ter  exactly tell me o kno you could find out for me. Else I could probably do t Cicks. But pictures are easier to work.

    I to take t; s trodes on her head.

    Dr. Malone gave issue to he wires.

    quot;So youre going?quot; s;ell, youve given me a strange s no mistake.quot;

    quot;Are you going to make it do ; Lyra said, gathering up her rucksack.

    quot;Its about as mucing tion, I daresay,quot; said Dr. Malone. quot;No, listen. I  you to come back tomorro? About time? I  you to s;

    Lyra narrowed rap?

    quot;ell, all rig; s;But remember, to kno;

    quot;Yes. Of course. You ;

    quot;Yes,quot; said Lyra. quot;If I say I ;

    And s. ter at t back to his paper.

    quot;tak dig,quot; said t, so ask me about t.quot;

    quot;; said ill, on  once.

    quot;I t. Im not sure.quot;

    quot; to kno it?quot; he said.

    quot;In connection  trip. It  of tion vanisar ars. Youre probably too young to remember t. tallations all across tic....

    Any;

    quot;ell,quot; said ill, trying to keep calm, quot;I  trying to find out about t expedition, really.

    For a sc about preoric people. And I read about tion t disappeared, and I got curious.quot;

    quot;ell, youre not to-do about it at time. I looked it all up for t. It  a proper dig. You cant do a dig till you knoime on it, so t out to look at a number of sites and make a report. ogetimes on an expedition like ts or o split t. t tuff and  ours. In t on team. I t mospicles. ts. ransmitters, apparently.

    quot;And t of professional explorer. to some fairly erritory, and polar bears are alic.

    Arcs can deal   trained to s, and someone e and make camp and do all t of survival stuff is very useful.

    quot;But t in radio contact ation, but one day t come, and not t ion found t camp more or less intact, ten tores. But tsoever.

    quot;And ts all I can tell you, Im afraid.quot;

    quot;Yes,quot; said ill. quot;t journalist,quot;  on, stopping at t;You said erested in one of t?quot;

    quot;type. A man called Parry.quot;

    quot; did , I mean?quot;

    quot; dyou  to kno for?quot;

    quot;Because ...quot; ill couldnt t ;No reason. I just ;

    quot;As far as I can remember, ;

    quot;Rig; ill said, and turned to go.

    tctle. ill sahe building quickly.

    , so called, o all man  o  tairs:  the body.

    But  a journalist.

    t in,  do at bay till no it he mans life.

    still for   . People came and , looking at tings, talking in quiet voices, ignoring tendant stood in tes, led   move a muscle.

    Gradually ening ate sing  to defend ed o do t.  because it o do.  to stop tealing t so   to do t? All o ing pirates. ell, no ....

    And after all, o ill  ime to read) oo, under ttress in Cittagazze.

    Finally iced people moving more purposefully, and all in tion. ttendant elling t ten minutes. ill gat. o treet, o see e w he man had sounded friendly enough....

    But as o cross treet and go in, opped suddenly.

    tall man ting out of a car.

    ill turned aside at once, casually, and looked in tion look around, settle t of ie, and go into t t anyoy library and ed for Lyra.