Conversation · Soona, the Programmer

"Yes, what is it?" She doesn't look up from the keyboard.

"Right, I'll let you work in peace now." [Leave.]

"The radio relay tower is in bad shape. I don't think we can use it to reach the Archer."

"That is not good. In case you have not noticed, Martinaise is not exactly a hub for high-powered radio antennas..."

She has an idea, though. You can see the tiny signal lights firing inside her brain...

"I don't see any alternative. We're just going to have to build the antenna ourselves."

"That sounds hard. Can't we just get one from someplace else?"

"Not the sort of antenna we require. The Coalition has a near-monopoly on mega-low-frequency radio equipment. Fortunately, they do not have a monopoly on physics."

"We need metal. A lot of it. The taller the structure, the better. Something that is both prominent and easily accessible. If it's near a power source, even better."

"Wait, we can just build an antenna?"

"Yes. From a technical view, it's not even difficult. The difficult part will be finding the right location."

"Now we're talking! What do we have to do?"

"Why don't we just use your AR-1?"

"Because it's a completely different class of antenna. It would be like using a high-end racing carriage where a long-distance lorry is required."

"Have you seen anyone suspicious -- say, a woman named Ruby?"

"What? No. No one suspicious around here."

She hast not seen her, sire. 'Tis true.

"Hey, about that two-millimetre hole again..."

"The swallow, you mean." She looks up, slightly irked. "What about it?"

"A hole in the world... What does that mean exactly?"

"Exactly, what does it mean?" There's something frantic about her as she locks her gaze with you, eyes shining like pearls. "Up to now it has been impossible to say what it is, because it's impossible to measure nothing."

"What do you think it is? What qualities does nothing have? How do you measure something that does not exist?" She's suddenly absorbed in the conversation, waiting for your answer.

Easy, you measure it by the world around it.

That's a little above your pay grade at the moment.

"I can't even understand how we're talking about something that doesn't exist, let alone measure it."

"You measure it by its surroundings -- by that which does exist," she replies, "which is what I've been trying to do. I've tried using hydrotransducers to record the silence -- to find out where it begins."

Hah! Hydrotransducers. So that's what those water basins are -- devices for recording sound through water.

"But honestly, it's not progressing very well." She grows silent, staring at her circle of basins -- it looks like some ancient ritual.

But does it have anything to do with necroplasmic life forms? 'Ghosts' in everyday parlance.

"You measure it by collecting data on its surroundings, on that which exists."

"Exactly," she nods, "very true! That's what I've been aiming for, that's why I have those basins. I've tried using hydrotransducers to record the silence -- to find out where it begins."

"I don't know, I'm not here for some science, I just want to solve a murder so I can go home."

"Hold on a moment -- does it mean we're now living in a world that has holes in it?!"

"I don't know, are we? That's what I'm trying to figure out here. But how do I figure it out?"

"You said that the research isn't going well. Why not?"

"Because it's just trial and error, trying to locate the swallow -- the exact point in space."

"The off-site copy you brought me helps, but..." She stops mid-sentence. "You know what, it would be great if you could just stop talking and let me work."

"If you could bring me the off-site copy then it would help -- a lot."

"And I don't have a..." She stops mid-sentence. "You know what, it would be really helpful if you could just stop talking and let me work."

"That's all I wanted to know about the scary two-millimetre hole in the world... for now." (Conclude.)

"Great." Her hands are a whirl on the keyboard. "Thanks."

"Is the hole connected to the data loss in your journal?"

"Yes, that's what led me here..." She stares at the burnished antenna on a nearby table. "But I suspect it might be something a bit more complicated than that."

"Do you have any idea where this hole might be located?"

"Somewhere underneath those roof beams, I assume." She looks up, eyes trying to pierce the pitch-black heights above, but without much success.

Only a faint criss-cross of rafters can be made out from the dark, most of the tower disappearing into the shade.

Strange things may flourish in the dark...

"Why there?"

"There's this place at the back of the church, a place where all audible vibrations seem to decease -- I've named it 'the swallow'. And the higher you go, the less you record."

"The pillar of silence? Are you sure it's not just an architectural quirk?"

"Maybe. But it's oddly close to the physical coordinates of the data loss that led me to this place."

"This is where the crab-man lives."

"I know."

"You don't think crab-man might be somehow responsible here?"

"No, I don't."

She sounds mildly annoyed by this line of questioning, her hands typing hundreds of commands into the machine.

"Does it have anything to do with ghosts?"

"Ghosts?" she repeats. "No, I don't think so, I don't believe in ghosts."

"What about other supra-natural entities?"

"I don't believe in them either."