Sentence The Sixhundredandseventyninth

 

At last, Little Levy said: "I have spoken with The Creator and because of my slip of the tongue I have been given permission to tell you a little; the Lady Griselda let go of the string which would have brought her here, and at a divergence of the Worm-Hole, something like a greenwood fracture of childhood, an outer splinter took a different direction and she is now in London, in 1867, in a part called Drury Lane; I know it well from a different life, she is safe and well for the moment, though the lady friend she has there, and I am allowed to tell you, is a Miss Sarah Siddons and is kept there by Sir Peveril MacFarlane whose valet is Dirk Doubleday, yet another of that inglorious race, and Sir Peveril has already encountered Griselda – who is now using the name Grace – and been struck by her comportment – he recognises her virginity and will be determined to take it!" he paused and looked round at Sam: "your friend Ludmilla – a descendant of Mikhail Lermontov and long before of Thomas Learmonth – will be able to learn much about them, I am sure, but I do not know anything beyond that which I have been told; you must understand that while there are some fixed Portals in the network of Worm-Holes, many, possibly most, are transitory and may only be available briefly at one point in the Space/Time Continuum which can prevent a Traveller from returning to their original departure point, particularly if they do not have a string such as that between Karla and Tavish, and to some extent, the fabric of the continuum itself can act as a solvent and erase a Worm-Hole, and once that happens – well, no more Travel from the points previously connected: it's a kind of self-repair that The Creator installed to prevent misuse," there was silence for a few moments, then Sam asked:

"would it be possible, can you tell us, for Tavish and his friends in Edinburgh to use the string to guide them here?" and he thought he saw something wary in Little Levy's eyes, before the wee boy glanced back at Jasmine: "there are no certainties, maybe 'yes', maybe 'no' - it would be chancy, but should they wish to attempt the voyage, The Creator would not interfere, save perhaps to ameliorate their predicament; it would be entirely at their own risk, but should they decide to attempt it, my suggestion would be that they link themselves, as well as holding on to the string, that would certainly increase their chances," and Sam clenched his teeth: "we can tell Tavish that, and maybe the others will choose to attempt it, but if I know Tavish – and I do, only too well, he will not want to leave without doing his damnedest to eradicate the other members of The Ring while he has a chance, and by that time he could be too late!" and Jasmine spoke softly to Levy, cuddling the boy and

smelling the shampoo from his hair and the baby freshness of his clothes and body: "but maybe he will enable the others to take the chance – Bernie and Tammy and wee Lolly could choose to come back, and Sister Evadne and the kitchen boy, Wullie, may choose the same, don't you think they have the right to choose for themselves?" and Sam agreed, so while Rilla was still out, he pulled the string tight and spoke into the can: "Ground Control to Major Tav . . . . . Ground Control to Major Tav, come in please, old friend, this is very important!"