"Actually, there's one thing I forgot to ask." At dinner, Kraft speared a piece of lettuce but didn't eat it. "What happened to Lecturer Petrie's belongings?"
Martin lifted his wineglass and took a small sip of the tart red wine. Frowning as he recalled, he said, "I think they sealed off the room he'd been staying in along with his belongings. Once word reached Dunling, someone suitable would come to collect them, or we'd send them over. Why do you ask?"
"Normally, every guest at the gathering is expected to give an academic presentation on the progress of their main research. Lecturer Petrie was no exception." Kraft put down his knife and continued, "It wouldn't have been improvised on the spot. He should have had a written draft prepared in advance."
"Uh, I don't think anyone thought to check for it at the time, but if what you say is right, it should still be in our possession."
"Exactly. I'd like to take a look at the draft." He wasn't expecting much, but learning indirectly about Petrie's recent research was still worth a try.
The small bottle they'd found on the Heretic, containing a little Black Fluid, was still among their belongings. Having seen it once, he doubted he'd forget that subtle, latent sense of suggestion.
After everything he'd been through, his will was no longer what it had been. The incessant false whispers in his mind could no longer sway him when he was faced with this substance, and certain things he'd dismissed at the time as unrelated associations had become clearer. That pool of pure black liquid was much like a bottomless well, leading into a lightless, shadowy depth.
[Black Fluid]
Finding another sample of Black Fluid wouldn't have been surprising. But Westminster bordered Dunling, and