Black Star

Chapter Seventeen

"Wait here." Touchreik was dropped onto a chair and Antoine got ready to leave. Before he did so, he turned to Jak.

"We have to tell him Jak. We have to." Jak nodded and he was gone.

"Tell me what?" said Touchreik.

"Let's just wait. There's someone you need to meet."

Whilst they waited, Jak seemed agitated. Louey and Vanilla appeared and Jak called her over. Touchreik couldn't hear the words, but clearly, he whispered to her to take Louey out with a backwards nod. He sat at the end of the table dumbfounded, wringing his hands. He had no idea what was about to go on, but there was suddenly a change of mood and a lot of tension.

"Where's Antoine gone?" he croaked.

"He won't be long. There's someone you need to speak to."

"About what?"

"Let's wait, best we're all here."

They waited, Vanilla left with Louey. The professor accepted a drink of water and sat in silence at the table. He spun the glass around on the surface between his thumb and finger.

Around ten minutes later, the door burst open and in walked Antoine followed by another man he recognised. Not a stranger after all but the dude who had led him up to the chase all those years ago. Greetings were exchanged, drinks offered and the group gathered around the table. The tone seemed a little more jovial now and Antoine was all smiles. Touchreik faced the dude at the opposite end whilst the two humanists sat either side. The size of the table increased the distance between the four men.

At last, Antoine addressed Touchreik.

"Tell him what you told me," nodding to the dude.

He looked at them all one by one, should he backtrack or deny what he said? He decided to push on until he got a feel for where this was going.

"I had," he corrected himself, "have small samples of the caveman memory trace. Scraps of data. This data intrigued me and so I kept it."

"What's the nature of it?" the dude asked. It was clear now that he had as little knowledge of where this conversation was going as he did. As he waited for an answer, he looked at the other two. Jak was staring at Touchreik like it was some interrogation. Antoine became very animated, as if he might burst into laughter at any moment. "Tell him."

"Deep in his memory, probably fantasy there is knowledge of the word," he looked into each of their eyes. He was mystified as to why this word was so relevant to them.

"Black-Star," he said.

Everyone in the room looked at each other. Antoine clapped his hands jumped up and spun around on one foot. The dude fell back into his seat and threw his arms to the sides. Jak simply shuffled uncomfortably.

"I knew it, I told you. I knew it," said Antoine, punching the air and leaning into the dude.

"Knew what?" said Touchreik.

"We have to tell him," Antoine said, looking down on the dude who looked as if he'd seen a ghost. The dude shook his head slowly.

Antoine repeated this time, emphasising the words. "We... have... to tell him."

Jak nodded his head to one side. "He's right."

Antoine looked like he would explode with excitement and jumped back into his seat, the dude looked over his shoulder as if someone might be listening. He rolled his shoulders and leaned on his elbows, taking a deep breath.

"Gettin on for 20 years ago." He paused as if he may have grown tired of the telling. "It was a great gig for the two years I worked on it." He paused and Jak interrupted.