HappyHappy (part 16)
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Mr Zoat
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1st September 2013
19:43 GMT -5
Artemis looks mildly confused. "Bournville is an actual place?"
"Yes. It was the top of the line Victorian town built by the Cadbury brothers for their workers. It's also the place the dark chocolate brand I resurrected is named after."
Wallace arranges more of the names Edward Mackensen provided us with on the hologram display. Faces, employment history, and… I'm not sure whether I should be worried or relieved that we've got this much information on known associates. And when they're all in place, he looks decidedly unsatisfied. "We've got a problem."
"Someone's been making drugs in a company town when I'm the one who owns the company."
"Not that." He gestures at the display. "Why would any of these guys know anything about alchemy?"
He's got a point. A few drivers, a depot manager, a welder… Yes, some of them have something obvious to add to the enterprise, while others…
"This chap." I point. "Charles Andrews."
Artemis frowns, calling up his expanded history. "The… Homeless guy?"
"'No fixed address' doesn't mean homeless. Did I ever tell you about The Tate Club?"
"The place in London where the wizards hang out?"
I nod. "Criminal record. A couple of speeding tickets, both in London. And he didn't have the same hair style, but I'm pretty sure that I remember seeing him in the club on one of my visits."
Wallace raises his eyebrows. "What happened to perfect memory?"
"Wizards. There are plenty of ways for them to disguise themselves. Altering my memory would be difficult, but changing their own face a little would be easy. What else do you notice about his record?"
"He's been unemployed… His whole life."
"Good suit for an unemployed man. Unemployment benefits in Britain aren't that good."
Wallace nods. "Street magician?"
"That's my guess." I have my ring quickly review Cadbury's records. "Never applied for a job with Cadbury or KordTech."
Artemis nods. "Guess he's not a joiner."
"Could be that. Or it could be that he's not good enough."
Wallace looks sceptical. "I don't know, Oh El. This isn't something a guy who knows nothing could have come up with."
I call up the mass spectrometry results.
"Look, each of the patches contains basically the same thing. The only difference is the… Tiny amount that can't be properly analysed with conventional equipment. That looks to me like he found a potion recipe somewhere and adapted it."
Wallace nods. "So he can follow a recipe but doesn't know enough to create things outside of that."
"It's a thing in Britain. We've actually got lots of magicians, technically, but they're usually weak and ignorant. They get by on cunning and the greater ignorance of the people around them. One or two good tricks they parlay into wider significance."
Alright, London's the most surveilled city in the world… And we have access to all of their records. Again, not… Totally comfortable with that, but… Facial recognition-. Ring, that query's going to take too long. Do the processing yourself.
Compliance. Results available.
And suddenly I know nearly everywhere he's gone in central London for the last twenty years. Any one particular place-.
"Here." The Grand Hotel, of course. "I think he's been living here."
Artemis frowns. "Do magicians earn enough to live full-time in fancy hotels?"
"Not usually, but it's easy to nudge a few minds so that they think you're a guest. Put up a glamour so that they're only selectively aware that the room you're occupying actually exists. There are all sorts of ways to manipulate people with magic if they can't defend themselves at all." There's a reason why the Metropolitan Police put up with John Constantine, and it's not just because of that Watford mess. They needed someone with his skills. "I'll get in touch with my old friends at The Tate Club and see if they're prepared to talk to me."
Wallace calls up a London street map. "Think it's safe for me and Arte to check out his hotel?"
"Probably. I suspect that it's booby trapped… If he's planning on ever coming back, which given that he's moved to Bournville, he may well not be."
Artemis nods. "Like, an explosive..?"
"Probably not. Probably some sort of curse, or maybe a minor demon. If it's the first, your spell eaters should be able to take it… Unless it's indirect. But again, I don't get the impression that he's particularly powerful. It would probably be bound to an object-. You've got your-?"
Artemis and Wallace both pull out their rune stones.
"Good, good. I've got silver-plated iron daggers if you want them, but honestly you should be able to handle a minor demon without special measures."
Artemis holds out her hand, so I fabricate a knife with a sheath that will fit on her harness.
Wallace frowns thoughtfully. "How smart would a demon be?"
"Uh… This is a pile of assumptions we're making here, but I'd guess that if it attacks you then it's probably as intelligent as a feral animal, and if it holds off and waits then it's probably as intelligent as… My old praexis demons."
"Could we bargain with-" Artemis glares at him and slaps his upper right arm. "-with-. I don't mean like that."
"You necessarily do. It's a demon. Even just freeing it from bondage would just free it to inflict misery on other people. If you want to try and get information from it, give it a choice of having its physical form destroyed by either physical trauma or Essence of Vitriol. Your super acid will cause lasting harm. If there's a demon there at all, which I emphasise we don't know."
Artemis nods. "We sweep the place, find where he's been hiding, and go through his stuff and see if there's anything magical there."
"You and Wallace will."
"Okay." Wallace raises an eyebrow. "And where are you going?"
"Bournville. It's not strange for me to visit; I own the company. I'll walk around, monitor our suspects remotely and see if I see any problems. If you turn out to need me I can be back in London in a few seconds, but I'm still hopeful that we can end this without a violent confrontation."
Artemis frowns. "Did you miss the part where they tried to kill a guy to keep him quiet?"
"Frankly, I don't think a magician like this is skilled enough to pull that off. I'm not sure why it happened, but that's why I'm going to go in softly. Anything else?"
They shake their heads.
"Alright." I generate a zeta tube construct. "Let's go."
19:43 GMT -5
Artemis looks mildly confused. "Bournville is an actual place?"
"Yes. It was the top of the line Victorian town built by the Cadbury brothers for their workers. It's also the place the dark chocolate brand I resurrected is named after."
Wallace arranges more of the names Edward Mackensen provided us with on the hologram display. Faces, employment history, and… I'm not sure whether I should be worried or relieved that we've got this much information on known associates. And when they're all in place, he looks decidedly unsatisfied. "We've got a problem."
"Someone's been making drugs in a company town when I'm the one who owns the company."
"Not that." He gestures at the display. "Why would any of these guys know anything about alchemy?"
He's got a point. A few drivers, a depot manager, a welder… Yes, some of them have something obvious to add to the enterprise, while others…
"This chap." I point. "Charles Andrews."
Artemis frowns, calling up his expanded history. "The… Homeless guy?"
"'No fixed address' doesn't mean homeless. Did I ever tell you about The Tate Club?"
"The place in London where the wizards hang out?"
I nod. "Criminal record. A couple of speeding tickets, both in London. And he didn't have the same hair style, but I'm pretty sure that I remember seeing him in the club on one of my visits."
Wallace raises his eyebrows. "What happened to perfect memory?"
"Wizards. There are plenty of ways for them to disguise themselves. Altering my memory would be difficult, but changing their own face a little would be easy. What else do you notice about his record?"
"He's been unemployed… His whole life."
"Good suit for an unemployed man. Unemployment benefits in Britain aren't that good."
Wallace nods. "Street magician?"
"That's my guess." I have my ring quickly review Cadbury's records. "Never applied for a job with Cadbury or KordTech."
Artemis nods. "Guess he's not a joiner."
"Could be that. Or it could be that he's not good enough."
Wallace looks sceptical. "I don't know, Oh El. This isn't something a guy who knows nothing could have come up with."
I call up the mass spectrometry results.
"Look, each of the patches contains basically the same thing. The only difference is the… Tiny amount that can't be properly analysed with conventional equipment. That looks to me like he found a potion recipe somewhere and adapted it."
Wallace nods. "So he can follow a recipe but doesn't know enough to create things outside of that."
"It's a thing in Britain. We've actually got lots of magicians, technically, but they're usually weak and ignorant. They get by on cunning and the greater ignorance of the people around them. One or two good tricks they parlay into wider significance."
Alright, London's the most surveilled city in the world… And we have access to all of their records. Again, not… Totally comfortable with that, but… Facial recognition-. Ring, that query's going to take too long. Do the processing yourself.
Compliance. Results available.
And suddenly I know nearly everywhere he's gone in central London for the last twenty years. Any one particular place-.
"Here." The Grand Hotel, of course. "I think he's been living here."
Artemis frowns. "Do magicians earn enough to live full-time in fancy hotels?"
"Not usually, but it's easy to nudge a few minds so that they think you're a guest. Put up a glamour so that they're only selectively aware that the room you're occupying actually exists. There are all sorts of ways to manipulate people with magic if they can't defend themselves at all." There's a reason why the Metropolitan Police put up with John Constantine, and it's not just because of that Watford mess. They needed someone with his skills. "I'll get in touch with my old friends at The Tate Club and see if they're prepared to talk to me."
Wallace calls up a London street map. "Think it's safe for me and Arte to check out his hotel?"
"Probably. I suspect that it's booby trapped… If he's planning on ever coming back, which given that he's moved to Bournville, he may well not be."
Artemis nods. "Like, an explosive..?"
"Probably not. Probably some sort of curse, or maybe a minor demon. If it's the first, your spell eaters should be able to take it… Unless it's indirect. But again, I don't get the impression that he's particularly powerful. It would probably be bound to an object-. You've got your-?"
Artemis and Wallace both pull out their rune stones.
"Good, good. I've got silver-plated iron daggers if you want them, but honestly you should be able to handle a minor demon without special measures."
Artemis holds out her hand, so I fabricate a knife with a sheath that will fit on her harness.
Wallace frowns thoughtfully. "How smart would a demon be?"
"Uh… This is a pile of assumptions we're making here, but I'd guess that if it attacks you then it's probably as intelligent as a feral animal, and if it holds off and waits then it's probably as intelligent as… My old praexis demons."
"Could we bargain with-" Artemis glares at him and slaps his upper right arm. "-with-. I don't mean like that."
"You necessarily do. It's a demon. Even just freeing it from bondage would just free it to inflict misery on other people. If you want to try and get information from it, give it a choice of having its physical form destroyed by either physical trauma or Essence of Vitriol. Your super acid will cause lasting harm. If there's a demon there at all, which I emphasise we don't know."
Artemis nods. "We sweep the place, find where he's been hiding, and go through his stuff and see if there's anything magical there."
"You and Wallace will."
"Okay." Wallace raises an eyebrow. "And where are you going?"
"Bournville. It's not strange for me to visit; I own the company. I'll walk around, monitor our suspects remotely and see if I see any problems. If you turn out to need me I can be back in London in a few seconds, but I'm still hopeful that we can end this without a violent confrontation."
Artemis frowns. "Did you miss the part where they tried to kill a guy to keep him quiet?"
"Frankly, I don't think a magician like this is skilled enough to pull that off. I'm not sure why it happened, but that's why I'm going to go in softly. Anything else?"
They shake their heads.
"Alright." I generate a zeta tube construct. "Let's go."
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