The front door being locked, the only way in was to sit on something inside. Baker found himself in a well upholstered chair fronting a cozy fire with a basset hound sitting in the next chair over. Baker whispered hello to the dog and then put a finger to his lips. Would the dog bark in warning? But he just sat there, enjoying the warmth. He seemed to be an older version of his species, taking everything in stride as it happens. And he’s probably seen a lot in this town down through the years, if he’s a native. Is this Stark’s dog?
Baker checks around downstairs but no sign of a mysterious table or book mentioned by Old Mabel. Was he on a totally wrong path? He pauses at the foot of the stairs to admire the detail in a classic statue.
Upstairs he found this planetary orrery. “There’s the little bastard rotating around the sun at its own arrogant little pace,” he complains softly. “Mars, the aggressive orb, pheh.”
In the upstairs front room he found what Old Mabel was talking about. Quite the shock! A table surrounded by 8 chairs very much like the one Wheeler had set up in the Blue Feather recently. Too similar — it must be Wheeler! But how? And that book — it’s the same as the one he checked out from the library the other week for Wheeler, but with a different number. 2? Wheeler’s is 3. 32 again? Things were adding up in his head and he didn’t like the direction they were leading. He took a quick snapshot of the table and grabbed the book. He teleported back in front of the apartment and ran away into a nearby alley.
Just in the nick of time…
He needed to get back to his dog ship. He felt his sojourn in the still very dangerous burg of INSCO was done. But he wasn’t finished with Old Mabel by any means.
Missing triangle.
Sunklands 