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"Aet my own ones back?"
"I expect so Yes, of course"
"What is this place?"
"It’s called the Experimental Station"
That wasn’t an answer, and whereas Lyra would have pointed that out and asked for more information, she didn’t think Lizzie Brooks would; so she assented du and said no more
"I want my toy back," she said stubbornly when she was dressed
"Take it, dear," said the nurse "Wouldn’t you rather have a nice woolly bear, though? Or a pretty doll?"
She opened a drahere sos Lyra made herself stand and pretend to consider for several seconds before picking out a rag doll with big vacant eyes She had never had a doll, but she knehat to do, and pressed it absently to her chest
"What about my money belt?" she said "I like to keep my toy in there"
"Go on, then, dear," said Sister Clara, as filling in a form on pink paper
Lyra hitched up her unfamiliar skirt and tied the oilskin pouch around her waist
"What about s?"
"We’ll have them cleaned for you," said the nurse automatically
Then a telephone buzzed, and while the nurse answered it, Lyra stooped quickly to recover the other tin, the one containing the spy-fly, and put it in the pouch with the alethio, Lizzie," said the nurse, putting the receiver down "We’ll go and find you sory"
She followed Sister Clara to the canteen, where a dozen round white tables were covered in crus where drinks had been carelessly put down Dirty plates and cutlery were stacked on a steel trolley There were no s, so to give an illusion of light and space one as covered in a huge photograht blue sky and white sand and coconut pal a tray fro hatch
"Eat up," he said
There was no need to starve, so she ate the stew and mashed potatoes with relish There was a bowl of tinned peaches and ice cream to follow As she ate, the man and the nurse talked quietly at another table, and when she had finished, the nurse brought her a glass of warm milk and took the tray away
The man came to sit down opposite His daemon, thehad been, but sat politely on his shoulder watching and listening
"Now, Lizzie," he said "Have you eaten enough?"
"Yes, thank you"
"I’d like you to tell me where you come from Can you do that?"
"London," she said
"And what are you doing so far north?"
"Withthe gaze of the e of tears
"With your father? I see And what’s he doing in this part of the world?"
"Trading We co furs"
"And was your father by himself?"
"No There was uely, not knohat the Sa you on a journey like this, Lizzie?"
" ’Cause two years ago he brunghim, and then he did"
"And how old are you?"
"Eleven"
"Good, good Well, Lizzie, you’re a lucky little girl Those huntsht you to the best place you could be"
"They never found ht There was lots of ’em and they had arrows"
"Oh, I don’t think so I think you ot lost Those huntsht here That’s what happened, Lizzie"
"I saw a fight," she said "They was shooting arrows and thatI wantto cry
"Well, you’re quite safe here until he co arrows!"
"Ah, you thought you did That often happens in the intense cold, Lizzie You fall asleep and have bad dreams and you can’t remeht, don’t worry Your father is safe and sound and he’ll be looking for you now and soon he’ll come here because this is the only place for hundreds of miles, you know, and what a surprise he’ll have to find you safe and sound! Now Sister Clara will take you along to the dorirls and boys who got lost in the wilderness just like you Off you go We’ll have another little talk in theher doll, and Pantalaimon hopped onto her shoulder as the nurse opened the door to lead them out
More corridors, and Lyra was tired by now, so sleepy she kept yawning and could hardly lift her feet in the woolly slippers they’d given her Pantalaie to a own pocket Lyra had the impression of a row of beds, children’s faces, a pillow, and then she was asleep
So she did was to feel at her waist, and both tins were still there, still safe; so she tried to open her eyes, but oh, it was hard; she had never felt so sleepy
"Wake up! Wake up!"
It was a whisper in e effort, as if she were pushing a boulder up a slope, Lyra forced herself to wake up
In the diht from a very loered anbaric bulb over the doorway she saw three other girls clustered around her It wasn’t easy to see, because her eyes were slow to focus, but they seelish
"She’s awake"
"They gave her sleeping pills Must’ve"
"What’s your name?"
"Lizzie," Lyra ?" deirls
"Dunno Just et you then?"
Lyra struggled to sit up She didn’t reht well have been so in the drink she’d had Her head felt full of eiderdown, and there was a faint pain throbbing behind her eyes
"Where is this place?"
"Middle of nowhere They don’t tell us"
"They usually bring more’n one kid at a tiathering her doped wits as Pantalaimon stirred into wakefulness with her
"We dunno," said the girl as doing irl with quick twitchyLondon accent "They sort of measure us and do these tests and that - "
"They irl, friendly and plump and dark-haired
"You don’t know," said the first girl
"They do," said the third, a subdued-looking child cuddling her rabbit dae"
"Then they take us away one by one and that’s all we know No one comes back," said the redhead
"There’s this boy, right," said the pluirl, "he reckons - "
"Don’t tell her that!" said the redhead "Not yet"
"Is there boys here as well?" said Lyra
"Yeah There’s lots of us There’s about thirty, I reckon"
"More’n that," said the pluirl "More like forty"
"Except they keep taking us away," said the redhead "They usually start off with bringing a whole bunch here, and then there’s a lot of us, and one by one they all disappear"
"They’re Gobblers," said the pluirl "You know Gobblers We was all scared of ’eradually coirls’ dae at the door, and no one spoke above a whisper Lyra asked their nairl was Annie, the dark plump one Bella, the thin one Martha They didn’t know the names of the boys, because the two sexes were kept apart for most of the time They weren’t treated badly
"It’s all right here," said Bella "There’s not ive us tests and make us do exercises and then they measure us and take our te really"
"Except when Mrs Coulter co out, and Pantalaiirls noticed
"He’s nervous," said Lyra, soothing hi pills, like you said, ’cause we’re all dozy Who’s Mrs Coulter?"
"She’s the one who trapped us, most of us, anyway," said Martha "They all talk about her, the other kids When she co"
"She likes watching the kids, when they take us away, she likes seeing what they do to us This boy Simon, he reckons they kill us, and Mrs Coulter watches"
"They kill us?" said Lyra, shuddering
"Must do ’Cause no one co on about dae them and all"
"They touch your daemons?"
"No! God! They put scales there and your daee, and they make notes and take pictures And they put you in this cabinet andDust"
"What dust?" said Lyra
"We dunno," said Annie "Just soot any Dust, that’s good But everyone gets Dust in the end"
"You knohat I heard Simon say?" said Bella "He said that the Tartars make holes in their skulls to let the Dust in"
"Yeah, he’d know," said Annie scornfully "I think I’ll ask Mrs Coulter when she comes"
"You wouldn’t dare!" said Martha adly
"I would"
"When’s she co?" said Lyra
"The day after tomorrow," said Annie
A cold drench of terror went down Lyra’s spine, and Pantalaier and discover whatever she could about this place, and either escape or be rescued; and if all the gyptians had been killed, ould help the children stay alive in the icy wilderness?
The other girls went on talking, but Lyra and Pantalaiet war that for hundreds ofbut fear