Journey to the Core of Creation

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Brian Stableford. Journey to the Core of Creation

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For Minwen,

Who provided a light in the darkness

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“Occasionally,” I confirmed. “But only once did he mention, en passant, that he had been personally acquainted with Professor Maret—and even then, he did not go into detail. If I were to hazard a guess that he had known him in his student days, it would only be a guess. I am not even certain—not absolutely, at least—that Dupin was once a Sorbonnard, or, if so, when. I have not the slightest idea what degrees he holds, if any, or even how he qualified for the red ribbon of the Légion d’honneur that he never actually wears. Indeed, after all the years I have known him, and all the hours we have spent in seemingly free-and-easy conversation, I can still say that Dupin’s past, before the day we met, is as much a closed book to me as the one you are holding in your hand.”

She took that aboard, slowly and carefully, and eventually said: “Ah!” She seemed to be wondering whether, in the circumstances, she should say any more, lest she reveal some nugget of information to me that Dupin had been carefully hiding from me for more than a decade. Eventually, however, she seemed to come to the conclusion that she was entitled to some revenge for Dupin never have mentioned her, even to the close friend that she felt entitled to be glad that he had.

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