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"Moisture daood"

"Can you fix it?"

"Difficult Expensive"

Michael removed a wad of Austins from his pocket The old h"

"It’s what I’ve got"

"The Maestro doubts that Oil man like yourself?"

"Not anymore"

He studied Michael’s face "Ah The Maestro remembers He has heard some crazy stories True?"

"Depends on what you heard"

"Hunting for the barrier Sailing out alone"

"More or less"

The old man pursed his rubbery lips, then slid the money into the pocket of his apron "The Maestro will see what he can do Come back tomorrow"

--

Michael returned to the apart a heavy book to his satchel: The Reader’s Digest Great World Atlas It wasn’t one that people were permitted to check out He’d waited for the reference librarian to be distracted, concealed it in his bag, and slipped outside

Once again, he was called upon for a bedtime story This one was about the storht end with hiht in front of her With Sara, the subject of the previous night did not co She also see had happened at the hospital and let it go at that

In thehe left the apart for him

"The Maestro has done it," he declared

He led Michael to a CRT His hands scurried over the keyboard; a glowing map appeared on the screen "The ship Where?"

"I found it in Galveston Bay, at theway froh the data Departing froensfjord had sailed to Hawaii, then passed through the Pana to the time line Michael had established from the newspaper, that much would have occurred before the outbreak of the Easter Virus They had made port in the Canary Islands, perhaps to refuel, then continued north

At this point, the data changed The ship had traveled in circles up and down the coast of northern Europe A brief foray to the Strait of Gibraltar, then it reversed course without entering the Mediterranean and returned to Tenerife Several weeks elapsed, and they set sail again The epidemic would have been widespread by this tiellan and headed north toward the equator