21-4

Khoura raised a single eyebrow. “An accident? Not instinctive, or subconscious?”

“That’s my opinion,” they stressed, “but yes. It’s like… hm. What’s the best metaphor to use here?”

“I know my theory, Barrach. There’s no need for metaphors.”

Hesitantly, Rinet cleared her throat. “I… would appreciate the metaphors, actually.”

The corner of Khoura’s mouth twitched, just for a moment. “Ah, quite right. My apologies, Ms. Yso.”

Ceit’s gaze turned to Rinet, curious and a little bit suspicious. “Well,” they said slowly, “I suppose one way of thinking of it would be… a radio, where blocking a signal involves filling that frequency with static so nothing can be heard. If it was done intentionally, only specific bands would be blocked off, to conserve energy. In this case, though, it was like every single frequency was being filled with static.”

Rinet frowned. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t that be incredibly energy-intensive?”

“Within the metaphor, yes. It doesn’t quite work like that, it’s closer to… The point is, yes, essentially, it is. It’s generally only done by complete amateurs, who can’t keep it up for more than a minute or two, or those strong enough to be able to casually expend that amount of ‘energy’. If the latter were true, though, you’d expect to see a… much higher ‘density’ of static.”

“So,” Rinet said slowly, putting the pieces together, “as far as you can tell… we’re dealing with a complete amateur, who somehow has access to much more power than they should.”

Ceit blinked, then grinned. “Couldn’t have put it better myself.”

Khoura and Coleridge exchanged a glance, silently communicating.

“Is that… what could explain that?” Rinet asked, once it became clear no-one else was going to. “How unusual are we talking, here?”

“Not unprecedented,” Khoura answered, “but certainly unusual, yes. Thank you, Barrach – I’d reached a similar conclusion myself.”

They started to smirk, but stopped themself just in time. “So why did you ask me, then?”

“Doveryáy, no proveryá. Trust, but verify.”

Rinet made a mental note to look up the phrase later.

“Now,” Khoura continued, “Ms. Yso. Were you able to dig anything up?”

Rinet nodded, shuffling her notepad around so her documents were on top. “Yes, but don’t get your hopes up. ‘Zarah’ is a fairly common name, not something that can really be searched with any reliability. Cross-referencing it with ethnicity might return some results, but I got some… pushback, on that.”

And thank goodness, because to Rinet that was starting to edge into distinctly uncomfortable territory.

“Would you be able to force the issue?”

Rinet drummed her fingers on the table. “Possibly, using your authority, but it’d burn that contact for me, likely permanently. And… I wouldn’t, regardless.”

“Pardon?” Khoura asked, perfectly calm.

You picked a great time to develop principles, Rin. “I wouldn’t,” she repeated, forcing herself to make eye contact with the doctor, “as I believe it to be both outside the mandate of my position, and unethical.”

“…I see,” was all the response she received.

Ceit let out a low whistle, which immediately withered under the glare that Khoura turned their way.

“On the other hand,” Rinet added quickly, “I’ve passed on the relevant details to my contacts and a few partner agencies – for Seston and Auclair, too. As soon as something comes up, they’ll let me know.”

“Good.”