Cantrel follows one of the strange people; Alag follows the other. These were people whom we noticed watching the fire. They were a little too calm about the whole thing, and that attracted our attention to them. Amazingly enough, they both end up at a small boarding house. Nearby is an alley that's had a couple of doors show up on the Map of Here. Alag and Cantrel scout the area, and nothing in particular is noted.

The rest of the group heads back to Marylebone High Street, and are not (noticeably) followed. Ashleigh, Kate, and Dafnord head off to the Diogenes Club to talk to Mycroft.

Mycroft doesn't make them wait too much, and tells Ashleigh that he assumes there is some explanation. Ashleigh explains that they found an incendiary in 221B, and tried to defuse it, and it went off. Mycroft explains that his man didn't see anyone leave the place and hoped that Ashleigh had a good way of doing it from a safe distance.

Ashleigh hedges a bit, and then finally admits that they used levitation. Kate provides a demonstration. Mycroft seems sure that this is a trick of some sort, and Ashleigh doesn't show a lot of patience in explaining.

Ashleigh tells about the mesh which held the explosion in the room, and Mycroft raises a bit of an eyebrow, wondering how such a thing might work.

Ashleigh continues, telling Mycroft about Crittendon's mismatch of calluses with being a locksmith, and his Oxbridge accent. Mycroft apologizes for the unobservant help.

Around this time, Ashleigh has a theory that would explain all of the situation. The theory that the group has put together is that Sherrinford used Crittendon's people to make the parts for a time machine that he has built from Ashleigh's plans, has gone off on some sort of adventure, and annoyed someone from downtime. This someone set the trap for him. However, explaining this requires explaining a lot of things.

After thinking for a moment, Ashleigh tells Mycroft about the time machine and the group's theory.

Mycroft assures Ashleigh that Crittendon's people are not the Government. They both wonder if Crittendon is one of Sherrinford's people.

Mycroft is amazed about time travel, but mentions that it explains things, a lot of things that he has had no explanation of for years. Afraid that Mycroft might lose some of his laziness, Ashleigh explains timelock. The sum total of these explanations takes a long time, and bends Mycroft's mind more than a bit, but he is fascinated. He explains that there seem to be at least three groups of people operating in London with time-travel, not including our group. We explain to him that one of the groups may be the group that we were at odds with when we were first here (read Worldbenders).

Mycroft asks Ashleigh if she still has the annoying habit of writing things down. She does. Mycroft mentions that he might like some of her papers at Oxford, but advises she not go there herself, given the events of the day.

Suddenly, Mycroft realizes where Kate is from and how it annoyed Ford. He has a good laugh over the thought that Kate was not an actress Ashleigh hired to annoy Sherrinford, but the real thing. Mycroft thinks it would have been better to actually get an actress, and doesn't seem to realize that Ashleigh didn't get Kate simply to annoy her brother.

They make an appointment for 14 months hence, Mycroft will need help with something big. Mycroft also opines that Sherrinford wasn't coming back, and gives his explanation, which has some merit to it.

Our rendezvous with Mycroft is Midsummer's Day, '97, or the 21st of the month of some number of 5-month periods after.

We decide we need to get hold of Paratime, and decide to leave forward, as that's where Mycroft said Sherrinford would go.

We get hold of Watson and have Watson send some telegrams scattershot to Holmes, and to have our watchers watched by the Irregulars and information sent on them to Mycroft.

Alag goes off to 221B and retrocogs. He finds nothing, and presumes that the trap was set in psilence. He finds the period that psilence was used, and it was a couple of days shortly after Holmes left. Interestingly enough, they seem to have mailed the psilencer there. Alag sends this information off to Mycroft.

Along about 7 or 8 in the evening, a pin appears in the Map of Here. Both Alag and Lorelei send off 2nd sight viewpoints, and look around. Alag's opinion is that the interesting thing here is a confluence of telegraph wires. Hmmm.

Around 11, we get a message from Watson. Wiggins had 221B watched, and two suspicious characters prowled about the place a couple of hours ago. He doesn't know if they're there or not. Alag goes off to check the place, and finds nothing except a well-hidden Irregular. Alag retrocogs. Two ordinary (to Alag) working-class people showed up, wandered the neighborhood, and checked it out. They quickly pick the lock, case the house, and then professionally search the place with a flashlight. Alag sends more messages to Mycroft. These messages, by the way, are critical glamours with color photos that vanish after they've been observed. Alag is quite tickled over the imagined look on Mycroft's face over them.

Chris makes the midnight appointment, and we leave.

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