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By Root 562 0

charms were traditionally made that way. Generally from a rib, though sometimes, if there was a lot of inscription to be done, something larger was necessary, like a shin.'

"There's a fair amount of inscription here,' murmured the Doctor. 'Can you make anything of these runes?'

"They're very queer. I don't know of anything like them.'

'Do you?' Rust asked the Doctor.

'No.' The Doctor held the photograph up in the light and squinted at it.'But I think I know what they're meant to be.' Thales looked at him intently.

'Phonetic renderings of the supposed language of the elemental being summoned.'

'How would you know the language,' said Rust, 'without having already summoned - I can't believe I'm saying this.' He turned and pushed open the window, as if he needed the common sense of fresh air. The side yard was greenly overgrown. At least three large banana plants spread their fronds above a vigorous tangle of other foliage. Somewhere unseen, a fountain splashed softly.

'Theoretically,' said the Doctor, 'there could be prior communication between the -'

'Dimensions?' said Rust.

'I was going to say "planes of existence". A dimension is a property of matter, not somewhere you can actually be -'

Rust held up a hand. The Doctor stopped. Still gazing out the window, Rust said to Thales. 'You got the photo in the mail when?'

'Day before yesterday'

'Presumably, Chic would have emailed the other interested parties. Any notion who those might be?'

"The only ones I know of with sufficient purchasing power are the Musee de la Metaphysique in Geneva, the Yasui Collection in Tokyo, the Pryor Foundation in Virginia Beach, and, among private collectors, Louis Eikenberg and Pierre Bal.'

'Bal is French?'

'From Lyon, I believe. Mr Eikenberg resides in Los Angeles.'

Rust turned into the room. 'Mr Thales,' he said politely, 'I'm going to be real disappointed if you turn out to know more than you're telling about the whereabouts of this thingamajig.'

Thales said stiffly, 'You accuse me of murder?'

Don't get all huffy. We don't know that the charm was even there when the murder happened. Hell, until we go through the place, which could take days, we don't know the thing's not still there. Or hidden somewhere else.

All we know is that Chic mailed you a picture of it, probably three days ago, and this morning he's dead. I don't suppose you still have the envelope?'

'No.'

Rust shrugged. 'Of course, the murder and the charm could be completely unconnected. Chic knew a deal of unpleasant people.'

'What I don't understand,' said the Doctor, still examining the photograph,'is why the magician would mutilate himself to make this.'

'Unless the magician cut Chic's throat,' said Rust, 'I don't particularly care.'

Thales had sunk back in the chair and shut his eyes. 'Fundamentally, magic is an attempt to manipulate the laws of probability.'

'Ah, of course.' The Doctor nodded. 'like the stars.' The other two looked at him. 'Well, you know; He moved a hand vaguely in the direction of the heavens. 'Stars.'

'Yes,' said Rust patiently. 'I believe it's safe to say we both know about stars. Your point would be?'

'Stars are primarily hydrogen - that is, atoms containing in their nucleus one positively charged proton and one negatively charged electron - and they produce energy through fusion, which occurs when those atoms combine.'

The Doctor stopped, as if he'd explained everything. After a glance at Thales, Rust said,' And so?'

'Well, it's just that fusion is impossible. Identical electrical charges repel each other. Two positive protons from two different atoms -'

'- can't get close enough to each other for those atoms to fuse,' finished Thales. He suddenly, surprisingly, smiled. It made him look like a boy.

"That's very beautiful, isn't it?'

Rust looked from one to another of them. 'You're going to have to slow it down for the country boy. The stars that are burning aren't burning?'

'Oh, they're burning,' said the Doctor. 'It's just that, according to the laws of physics,