[Aria]

Al emerged from the spinning, gut wrenching portal ride from the planar orrery into an environment almost as alien… he found himself in a lush garden, but unlike one that ever existed in the real world.  The humid air is bright with the sound of insects and birds, even the strange vegetation seems to hum to a tune of its own devising.  Lights float on a gentle breeze, seemingly at random and yet with a barely discernible sense of purpose…there is a pervading sense of peace, perhaps some subtle simfeed manipulation, but all in all, enough to set Al’s teeth on edge…

Silk’s persona emerged from behind a stand of impossible willows, her bare feet making impressions in the soft moss beside the babbling stream and her dress trailing behind her in the water

“Al, welcome to Aria’s domain.  She has insisted on meeting you before we can talk, this way please, and best behaviour, she is another one that is far more than she seems.  Your lot to be surrounded by beautiful and dangerous women ‘eh?” and she smiled…

***
_#89

[adamu]

"Heh. Some call it luck, some a curse. Me, I jist call it bein' me." He wondered if the sculpting here was good enough that the default UMS icon he used would suddenly have pockets with cigarettes in them. Bingo! As he lit up, he added, "Thing is, though, I ain't seen but the beautiful so far."

He was glad for the "smoke," though, because the ride here hadn't treated him so well. He'd been ready for the big jumps over the global grids, and the giant hooded figure at the gothic outer towers had been familiar enough after his last time here. But he'd been braced for the same giant cavern, not this damned enchanted forest. Feet a bit unsteady, even now back in his good old Docs and 501s, he figured he'd better focus on just one spot. Naturally he picked Silk's chest, and concentrated on whether her robes were see-through at all.

Whatever it took to still be standing whenever this Aria person decided to make her appearance.

[Aria]

It’s quite a small chest, but very nicely set off by the dress Silk’s persona is wearing…Al’s concentration is interrupted by a giggle and a feather light touch on his elbow…it’s not damn natural that things can seem too real here but that the rules can be bent to allow someone to creep up on a fellow undetected…spinning round and then looking down, Al is greeted by a cherubic face beaming up at him…she looks to be about eight, although he’s damn sure she’s not

“Naughty!  So this is the great Mr Guthrie?  Come with me…”

and the childlike hand grips his in a vice like grip that brooks no argument.  Aria, for that is presumably who this sprite is, dances ahead, and Silk just shrugs at Al with a wry smile on her face.

He is led into a glade that surrounds a glimmering pool and there his attention is grabbed by two more figures waiting.  Another bloody girl, this one gussied up to look like some fragging Alice in Wonderland…fits right in here, the other is a hooded black guy with strange snake eyes.  Silk whispered in his ear

“Careful Al, you clearly warrant a meeting with the whole of the unholy trinity!”

***
_#90

[adamu]

So this was Aria.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen her - she'd been there in the cavern, then disappeared, right before the first time he'd met Fairy Twinkle Dragon.

Could she read his thoughts? Hell no. Must be no big thing for these hippies to observe which data streams he was most acfively accessing.

But her grip. That was real. He'd been fairly certain you couldn't actually get hurt too bad, accessing with just a 'trode rig. But there was no denying that little hand had him tight.

And if these people could hurt him here...the very reason he'd come was to figure out if Silk had turned on him....

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Maybe she was just using the word 'unholy' in an ironic sense....

[Aria]

It’s the Alice that speaks first, in barely a whisper
 
“Locus! Even here I can feel the fates twisting as they try to accommodate him…probability is warped and the threads are tangled…”  Aria’s childlike fluting voice cuts through the mumbo jumbo
 
“He’s come here to demand answers from Silk…should we give them to him…he might not like what he has to hear”  the old black guy with the strange eyes remains impassive, clearly a watcher rather than a speaker  “come, you’ve seen him!  I’m sure we’ll all meet again.  We’ll be watching you Mr Guthrie, watching you with great interest!  Let’s leave him to Silk, she has a task for him, haven’t you sweetie?”
 
Silk shrugged again, clearly deferential to these people, whoever the hell they were…as soon as their personas had derezzed from the host she quickly held up a hand to forestall Al’s tirade
 
“Ok, you want answers…I can give you some at least.  I told you the truth as I knew it, you were at risk in London from the SK team.  Your presence wasn't enough to mask the family from the seers and we believe it was them that set the SKs on you, nothing else makes sense.  That they caught up with you again is only more proof.  The Guild is dangerously powerful and they have a frightening disregard for the harm their meddling might do provided it furthers their goals.  Aria isn't sure yet what this has to do with CFD, or at least she won't tell me, but the family are important to the Trinity somehow and you were whisked up in the maelstrom... 

Ok, ok, I know all this fate talk isn't what you came here for.  eTher hasn't confirmed this but I was able to trace the initial Nimrod drone launches back to Oxford...not the London base where the SKs jumped off from.  I can't prove it, yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that they were launched from a Knights staging area.  I don't intend to press my luck by quizzing eTher either, and I strongly suggest you don't, but I think on balance the family are probably still alive.  I can see patterns in things, that's how my gift works...and this is my reading of the threads...I trust you not to spread this information further.  If they are alive it is because the seers believe them to be dead.  William is being interrogated by the Security Services as we speak, it is hardly coincidence that they too were on hand to witness the whole thing.  He makes for a good witness, one that doesn't threaten anyone...why else would eTher save him when she could have so easily have saved them all?  I know she presents herself as a teenager but she is anything but.  I've got details of someone matching her description dating back to Celedyr's first appearances, before we'd even heard about drakes...

So, is that enough to satisfy you that I haven't deliberately sent you and the family into a trap?  I know the shadows breed paranoia and I have precious little to back up my assertions, so I will have to ask you to take me at my word..."
 
***
_#91
 

[adamu]

All she'd been doing as far as Dog was concerned was preach to the choir. And gorilla spider would keep up his whisperings until it saw proof. So no, he wasn't satisfied.

But there was no percentage in telling her that.

And in his gut, he wanted to trust her.

"Well, it' might go some way if ya answered a few other questions." He flicked his spent butt into the pool the three other individuals had been standing around. "Reckon if they's anything ta all this silliness, then ol' Al better start keepin' score. So was them three there this Trinity yer talkin' 'bout? An' what's the Alice-lookin' chica call herself? Who're the seers? An' what's the Guild?"

[Aria]

Silk smiled again at Al

“Well those are questions I can answer for you, more or less…yes, they are the Trinity.  It’s not a formal title or anything, or even what they call themselves, but it’s a handy enough moniker.  They are the defacto heads of the Choir, thirteen individuals, seven mages and six technos, all seers of one sort or another. 

The Alice-lookin' chica is Summer, a technomantic oracle of sorts.  The Resonance is the repository of all information that has ever been digitised, Summer is lucky, or unlucky, enough to be able to see the trains of probability running through it all and predict futures from the data, mostly unconsciously as I understand it.  Sort of how I see the threads of the Pattern but based on a different source of intel.

As to the seers I mentioned, that would be the Seer’s Guild, a European organisation that started in France advising the nobles.  It has split from them since and is rumoured to work for Lofwyr, or the Black Lodge, or some other dark shadowy figure.  They offer divination to whoever can pay for it in essence.  But they have a deeper agenda than that, one I don’t know specifically, but whatever it is puts them at odds with the Choir’s goals.  And no, before you ask, I can’t tell you what the Choir’s goals are either but it certainly doesn’t involve killing off CFD researchers!”

***
_#92

[adamu]

"Well, hon, that do make a story."

He was lighting a new cigarette - becuase apparently they were free in here.

"So its Guild versus Choir over some sorta problem to which you are not privy. Check. Guild's the bad guys, so I reckon y'all represent the forces o' goodness an' light. Check. An' all o' y'all see patterns o' the cosmos, but usin' different media. Check.Hell, fortune-tellin' by committee - can't see how anything coulda gone wrong with that." 

He was already strolling back in the direction they'd come. He had no idea how to get out of here, but knew he needed to get started. The sculpting for this place was so good, he couldn't feel his meat at all, which was a very mixed blessing since it meant he had no idea just how sick he was getting.

He had a lot more questions, but settled on just one: "So now we's washed our hands o' the Pelletieres, these seers gon' fergit us, or come after us?" He talked as he walked, hoping she'd get the hint that he needed to get back.

[Aria]

"Come come Al, you don't still believe in true absolutes like good and evil do you?  Us and them I grant you, but nothing is as black and white as that in the shadows, much that I might wish it otherwise! 

Will the seers come after you?  I can't see why they would, we are pawns in the bigger picture, we get sacrificed if it serves but otherwise they have the luxury of ignoring us. 

But that aside, I think perhaps that you haven't been listening to your role in all this.  You are what they call a locus, a knot in the threads...probability just doesn't work the way it should around you, perhaps you've noticed?  It means that any seer gets a headache trying to predict your futures and even shields those around you to a certain extent.  The family were unfortunate, the good doctor had too striking a path, not to mention eTher blazing like a comet, but generally I would say you don't have to worry too much about the seers.  In fact that's why I will have a job proposition for you soon, the one Aria alluded to.  I need to work out some details, give me a month or so and I'll contact you if you are interested.  In the meantime please try and stay out of trouble!"

***
_#93

[adamu]

Right then Al smiled.

Not because he was the center of the universe. That was no shock at all. Someone had to be.

No, he smiled because right then he knew she hadn't sold him out.

"Hon, course the shadows is gray. Hell, this whole veil o' tears is awash in gray. But gray ain't nothin' but black an' white all jumbled up some. Boil 'er down, though, an' they's still there - pure as can be. Absolute as can be. An' end o' the day, there comes a reckonin' fer us all, an' out o' what ya thought were yer gray soul comes all them black bits, an' they gon' git stacked up alongside all them white bits ya put in there amongst 'em. Now what exactly happens after that I ain't so clear on, but you can bet yer bottom dollar that when they start stackin' 'em up, yer gon' be prayin' the white pile comes out higher."

A portal to the main game host opened, and he started through it. Looked back before it closed. "You call ol' Al in a month. But only if we gon' go collectin' some white bits."

[adamu]

The uber-sculpting of Oracle LaLa-Land had been strong enough to mask all conscious sensation of dizziness and nausea, but once he was back on the main Citadel host, and more so on the global grids, it all hit him and hard. As soon as it was safe he ripped off the 'trodes and just breathed in and out deeply, too distracted even to be annoyed by Spike bathing his face in tongue and drool. His pre-flight precautions had worked - his car was puke free, and if he could just get his breathing under control he might keep it that way.

So five minutes later he was back in the pub, none the worse for wear. He sat back down with Isaint and Frenchie, ordered another beer. He as just in time to hear the ork's run-down of his call to Torrent. He thought for half a second before giving his own report: what he wanted to do was tell them about the extra reason to believe - not proof, but reason to believe - that his switcheroo scenario was correct. But he realized that if it was correct, it wouldn't stay that way for long if he started blabbing about it.

They deserved to know, and he would tell them, but not in this pub.

So he just said, "Silk din't sell us out. There's a good possibility she's bought way too much into her own damned bullshit. An' I won't likely be takin' her advice again, nor would I ever ask y'all ta do so. But she din't sell us out."

[Jack_Spade]

"That's good to know. Bad intel instead of malice - not optimal, but better than the alternative."
Isaint drained his glass and slumped back in his seat.
"I'll take a few days to do some matrix research - see for myself if there is any trace of Art to be found. Not that I expect much success with that. I'll also get going to look if any others of our team have surfaced.
You've got my comm code - give me a call if you find out anything else or need help.
I'll also try to find that practitioner - maybe even one who survives til we get to our victory beer. If it's the same Deckard I know we might stand a chance.

He stood up.
"See you soon"


#232