the forests and hamlets behind and went to a
suburb outside of London. I picked that spot because of the high number of
strange incidents that had occurred there over the past couple of years, and
nightcrafters love to be near big cities but just outside the range of all the
bright lights.
Our
base of operations was a little hotel in the city center. We rented out all the
rooms on the top floor to provide us with the best view of the surrounding area
and allow minimum interference for Newton’s machines. Now it was almost sundown
and I was sipping on a cup of hot chocolate, watching Newton type on his
computer. He types faster than anyone I’ve ever met. The clickety-clack from
his keyboard came out at machine gun pace, and he looked totally absorbed in
what he was doing.
“What
are we doing tonight?” I asked him.
“Just
surveillance,” Newton said without missing a beat in his typing. “I’m
configuring something for you to use today.”
“Is
that what the doohickey next to you is?”
Newton
smiled and grabbed the gadget lying next to his laptop. “Yes, it is. This is a
custom sensor package with new firmware based on the information I was able to
gather about you back in the lab. The sensor package is connected to my
computers via a medium-range radio protocol. I can access all the readings from
here and hopefully everything will seem fairly inconspicuous.”
“And
where are you going to put that sensor package?”
“On
you,” Newton said.
“Uh
. . .”
“We’ll
give you a backpack,” Newton said. “I’m not going to strap it to you. Although
that could be arranged if you really want to go that way.”
“That’s
not what I’m concerned about,” I said. “Why do I need the sensors at all? I can
find nightcrafters just fine.”
“It’s
not for you,” Newton said. “It’s for me. I need as much data as we can get to
see if other nightcrafters differ from you.”
“And
how important is that, really? I mean, it seems like the map was the more
important thing for us to do. This nightcrafter hunting isn’t going to
accomplish much.”
“Maybe
not,” Newton said. “But Dominique has her teeth sunk deep into this. She lost a
friend that night she ran into you. She does not suffer injuries like that
lightly. And she’s also taking the opportunity to fill some more holes in the
old nightcrafter files. A lot of government big wigs want to see that happen.”
“How did you guys know about us anyway? Do I finally have
clearance to know that?”
“Surveillance cameras,” Newton said. “It started here in
Britain, with an influx of close-captioned cameras set up all over the cities.
There are millions of CCTV cameras in this country, and they’ve got their
electronic eyes watching every minute of every day. A handful of nightcrafter
incidents were bound to show up. It’s just simple probability.”
“There’s a spell to disable nearby cameras,” I said.
“It’s a basic spell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the less careful
nightcrafters don’t think about that.”
“It could be carelessness,” Newton said, “or apathy. Or
maybe arrogance. Either way, we’ve got video of some craaaaazy shit. Each NATO
member country in Rift range has a secret agreement to filter those recordings
out before the civilians post it up for the world to see. Pretty much all of
that filtering happens automatically. There’s a networked artificial
intelligence pattern recognition program that scans and cuts out everything
before human eyes get to see it. My predecessor wrote that code, actually.”
“And where is he now?” I asked. “Retired?”
“Dead,” Newton said. “Jumped off a bridge.”
“Oh,” I said. It was all I could think of.
“He was a troubled man,” Newton said. “Not me though. No
troubles here.” He smiled, and it was a genuine gesture. Newton is irreverent
as they come. I could see how that trait could come in handy in this job.
“Let’s
get back to
suburb outside of London. I picked that spot because of the high number of
strange incidents that had occurred there over the past couple of years, and
nightcrafters love to be near big cities but just outside the range of all the
bright lights.
Our
base of operations was a little hotel in the city center. We rented out all the
rooms on the top floor to provide us with the best view of the surrounding area
and allow minimum interference for Newton’s machines. Now it was almost sundown
and I was sipping on a cup of hot chocolate, watching Newton type on his
computer. He types faster than anyone I’ve ever met. The clickety-clack from
his keyboard came out at machine gun pace, and he looked totally absorbed in
what he was doing.
“What
are we doing tonight?” I asked him.
“Just
surveillance,” Newton said without missing a beat in his typing. “I’m
configuring something for you to use today.”
“Is
that what the doohickey next to you is?”
Newton
smiled and grabbed the gadget lying next to his laptop. “Yes, it is. This is a
custom sensor package with new firmware based on the information I was able to
gather about you back in the lab. The sensor package is connected to my
computers via a medium-range radio protocol. I can access all the readings from
here and hopefully everything will seem fairly inconspicuous.”
“And
where are you going to put that sensor package?”
“On
you,” Newton said.
“Uh
. . .”
“We’ll
give you a backpack,” Newton said. “I’m not going to strap it to you. Although
that could be arranged if you really want to go that way.”
“That’s
not what I’m concerned about,” I said. “Why do I need the sensors at all? I can
find nightcrafters just fine.”
“It’s
not for you,” Newton said. “It’s for me. I need as much data as we can get to
see if other nightcrafters differ from you.”
“And
how important is that, really? I mean, it seems like the map was the more
important thing for us to do. This nightcrafter hunting isn’t going to
accomplish much.”
“Maybe
not,” Newton said. “But Dominique has her teeth sunk deep into this. She lost a
friend that night she ran into you. She does not suffer injuries like that
lightly. And she’s also taking the opportunity to fill some more holes in the
old nightcrafter files. A lot of government big wigs want to see that happen.”
“How did you guys know about us anyway? Do I finally have
clearance to know that?”
“Surveillance cameras,” Newton said. “It started here in
Britain, with an influx of close-captioned cameras set up all over the cities.
There are millions of CCTV cameras in this country, and they’ve got their
electronic eyes watching every minute of every day. A handful of nightcrafter
incidents were bound to show up. It’s just simple probability.”
“There’s a spell to disable nearby cameras,” I said.
“It’s a basic spell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the less careful
nightcrafters don’t think about that.”
“It could be carelessness,” Newton said, “or apathy. Or
maybe arrogance. Either way, we’ve got video of some craaaaazy shit. Each NATO
member country in Rift range has a secret agreement to filter those recordings
out before the civilians post it up for the world to see. Pretty much all of
that filtering happens automatically. There’s a networked artificial
intelligence pattern recognition program that scans and cuts out everything
before human eyes get to see it. My predecessor wrote that code, actually.”
“And where is he now?” I asked. “Retired?”
“Dead,” Newton said. “Jumped off a bridge.”
“Oh,” I said. It was all I could think of.
“He was a troubled man,” Newton said. “Not me though. No
troubles here.” He smiled, and it was a genuine gesture. Newton is irreverent
as they come. I could see how that trait could come in handy in this job.
“Let’s
get back to
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