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coming from.”
    He shrugged. “We’re far from the only people to have that kind of expertise.”
    “But you are more or less the only people with the raw materials. Particularly for the drugs. And it’s being done on a large scale.”
    Callum examined his fingernails. “I won’t have you trampling all over my Faculty,” he told me. “The Old Board did that. We never got anything done.”
    “Well, it sounds to me as if some of your smart little Students are getting a bit much done right now, Callum,” I told him. “This stuff breeds crime, and that’s the last thing we need right now.”
    He looked at me. “Isn’t this a bit... domestic for your brief?”
    “Until we have something better to deal with this kind of thing, no.”
    We stared at each other for a while. Finally, he said, “I’ll make my own inquiries.”
    “And you’ll report back to me.”
    “And I’ll report back to you. By the end of the week.”
    “I want this thing shut down,” I told him. “No more whisky, no more drugs. If you can’t do it yourself, I’ll do it for you. I have plenty of time on my hands.”
    He laughed, but it sounded forced. “All right,” he said.
    “And the Faculty records, Callum.”
    “I’ll make sure you get them,” he said. His smile returned. “You know, you could have done all this by letter.”
    “I tried to do that,” I told him.
    He nodded. “Fair point. I apologise. Is there anything else I can do for you, while you’re here?”
    “You can give me that bottle of whisky you’ve got in your office.”
    It was worth a try, but Callum was too good. We looked at each other for a few moments, then he chuckled, and after a moment I chuckled too. He said, “I have half a bottle of single malt that my predecessor left behind. I was keeping it for a special occasion, but you’re welcome to take it with you.”
    “Thanks,” I told him. “But I need to keep a clear head.”
    He stood up. “So, are we friends again?”
    We had never been friends to start with, but it wasn’t worth quibbling about. “Just get those files to me, Callum. And sort out this whisky thing.”
    He nodded. “Right at the top of my to-do list. Trust me.”
    He walked me back down to the foyer. The glass staircase was even more nerve-wracking going down than going up, but I thought I managed to hide my discomfort. I nodded pleasantly to Claire as we went by, but she had her head buried in her appointment book and seemed not to notice. Half past four. Subject leaves .
    Outside, Callum looked at my bicycle. “I wish you wouldn’t chain it to this,” he said, nodding at the sculpture. “We have bicycle racks, you know.”
    The nearest bicycle rack was almost a quarter of a mile away across a series of barren plazas. The walk across the ground floor of the Faculty was bad enough, without having to go any further. I said, “I’ll remember, next time.”
    “You’re always welcome, you know,” he told me. “Don’t be a stranger.”
    As lies went, it was one of the more transparent anyone had ever told me, but I smiled. “Thanks. I’ll take you up on that.”
    “You do that.”
    We shook hands, and I got on my bike and rode off into the windy wilderness of Science City.
     
     
    T HE DAYS WERE still short at this time of year, and I had a long way to go. Late afternoon dusk was beginning to gather before I even reached the edge of Science City, and I switched on the little dynamo-driven lamp on the front of the bike, even though it hardly gave out any illumination at all.
    What I’d told Callum was true. The last thing we needed right now was some kind of alcohol and drugs gang operating out of Science City. Quite apart from the criminality it was bound to cause, I didn’t want the Scientists having any kind of leverage over the rest of us. On the face of it, the Science Faculty was blameless with regard to the Old Board – they wanted to remain autonomous no matter who was running things, and resented official