The Prefect (81 page)

‘I'm going now,' Dreyfus said. ‘There's something I need to attend to, before I put it off any longer. I have to go to Hospice Idlewild. There's someone there I need to see, someone I haven't seen in a very long while. I probably won't be in Panoply when you come around, but I want you to know that I'm going to be with you every step you take. If you need a hand to hold, you can count on mine.'

‘I'll tell her what you said,' Demikhov said.

‘I mean it. I don't break my promises.'

Demikhov was about to usher Dreyfus from the room when he paused. ‘Prefect ... there's something I should show you. I think it's rather wonderful.'

Dreyfus nodded at the sleeping figure. ‘This is enough for me, Doctor.'

‘I'll show it to you anyway. Look at the wall.'

Demikhov conjured a pane into existence, filled with trembling neon-blue lines whose meaning Dreyfus couldn't fathom.

‘What am I looking at?' he asked.

‘Dreams,' Demikhov said. ‘Beautiful human dreams.'