Conversation · Feld Mural

The once-bright mural towers above you, saying "FELD ELECTRICAL R&D."

Somewhere in Martinaise, Lieutenant Kitsuragi is consulting his notebook... A sudden draught turns a page between his hands. You're going to need him if you want to listen to the wind.

Why do I feel like I know this place?

Indeed. Somehow you knew it was here. An urban ruin gutted by looters that once used to consume money and dispense warmth and light.

You felt it, before, when it rained in Martinaise and you felt the cold of the rain. The feeling persists. It has been in you ever since.

Pull on your knowledge to understand what caused the twins to hear radio in their heads.

You know a lot about radio. Enough to know: You have no idea how or why those boys heard Speedfreaks FM in their heads.

Knowledge like that isn't just obscure; it's unknowable. Dangerous theoretical facts like that are probably protected under the Coalition Government's Articles of Dominion, Title XIV, Article 7c. While an expert might be able to suss it out on their own, a layman like you has no hope.

You don't know how it happened. But the stores of your knowledge are vast and there is something crucial in them.

What's that?

You know where Ruby isn't.

She isn't in the fishing village. She's not with her bullet under the floorboards in the shack. So where could she be?

Land's End? You took in the sights there with Lilienne. Ruby wasn't up the disused radio tower, among the reeds, or beneath the boardwalk.

The alcoholics never mentioned seeing Ruby either. Idiot Doom Spiral gave an exhaustive account of recent events, but never mentioned seeing Ruby.

You've searched the whole coast for Morell's traps. Just as you didn't find the Insulindian phasmid, you did not find her.

Nor is Ruby in the Church. Some criminals still seek sanctuary from sacred buildings, even though sanctuary laws were abolished decades ago. But Ruby wasn't such a one.

And, while you might not have seen much of the coast, you were probably right: The ULAN frequency is likely connected to all this. Ruby dabbles in advanced radio theories. The Speedfreaks FM case is a radio mystery. That may not be coincidence.

So I was right! ULAN -- she is here!

That isn't a fact yet. But it's a compelling suspicion.

Suddenly there's a sigh, carried on the molecules around you, moving, flowing from high pressure to low pressure. Like that of a woman emptying her lungs. She wraps the collapsing stone box in front of you in her breath, flowing through it...

Where does it go?

In through the collapsed roof, flowing down a concrete staircase -- to the basement, sweeping away footprints in the dust on the stairs. And then the beach below the boardwalk, its winding tunnels... a whisper away.

What is happening...

SHE'S DOWN THERE.

Say: "I think she's down there. Below this building."

"Okay -- why?"

"The twins did hear the radio from here, so something is happening..."

"True... But how do we even get in there? The doors were on the collapsed side of this building... they're gone, basically."

Finally, my time to shine!

"There's a ladder next to the sign." (Point to it.) "Perhaps we can climb it? Enter through the roof?"

"Perhaps you can climb them. We're not climbing anything. I'm 43 years old -- and I plan to live to see 70."

There has to be a way to use brute force. Climbing sounds unsafe. Brute force is safe. Look around and find something to break if the ladder fails.

The lieutenant glances down the coast, toward the fishing village. "There's also still the question of how the twins tuned into Speedfreaks FM..."

"Can we look into that later?"

A shuffle of nylon as the lieutenant shrugs. "I don't know... It's your call, detective. If you drop the radio lead now, just be prepared to live without having done it."

"You just want to dial your favourite radio station, don't you?"

A shuffle of nylon as the lieutenant shrugs. "I'm only observing that there's another lead you wanted to follow. And that if you drop the radio lead now, just be prepared to live without having done it."

"We should look into that before we move on."

A shuffle of nylon as the lieutenant shrugs. "It's your call, detective. If you drop the radio lead now, just be prepared to live without having done it."

"Yeah, I don't know..."

"Because I hope you didn't mean to climb that ladder..." He points to the ladder next to the sign and says: "It's not safe."

"The wind told me."

He shrugs. "So how do we get in there? The doors were on the collapsed side of this building... they're gone, basically."

"We've looked everywhere else."

"Right," he shrugs. "How do we get in there? The doors were on the collapsed side of this building... they're gone, basically."

"Ever since I woke up -- maybe even before -- I've been getting these strange cold spells."

"Good, good, yes. Cold spells..." He seems incredulous. "So basically your hangover is telling you she's down there?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

"Yes. I can literally talk to my hangover. That's how bad it has gotten."

"Right. How do we get in, though? The doors were on the collapsed side of this building... they're gone, basically."

... Well, in fairness, you haven't seen much more of the coast. But you do know one last thing: ULAN. Ruby dabbles in advanced radio theories. ULAN, the Speedfreaks mystery -- it might just be related.

Does that mean she's here?

If she's here on the coast, she'll be here. And besides, something weird happened to the twins around here. It'd be nice to know what caused that. Another fact for your collection!

Still nothing. Your head is full of obscure facts, none of which are helpful here. Move on before you make another scene.

Let's see, let's see... Just flicking through the index of your knowledge...

Cool. No rush.

We have, uh... Radio brands, radio crimes, radio comedies, radio dramas, radio physics, radio psychics, radio scandals, radio shows, and way more in-between, but, uh....

But?

Nothing that would be useful here. Sorry.

I know about ULAN frequencies. Does that help?