dining room, the flexible viewscreen of her cyberdeck rolled out to display various images and datafiles as she talked. She directed the images through the slim fiber-optic cable slotted into the jack behind her ear.
Talon, Boom, and Hammer sat around the table, listening carefully to the report. Each of them had already reviewed the information at least once before leaving Boston or on the flight to Europe, but this was the first time they'd gone over it all as a group.
"And no indications Alt Welt has any ties to terrorist organizations?" Talon asked. That was part of the data that puzzled him.
"Nothing definite." Trouble said. "On the surface, they're just another policlub."
"Yeah, and the Universal Brotherhood was just another crackpot religion." Boom muttered to himself.
Trouble shrugged. "That's the thing. If Alt Welt does have terrorist ties, they're pretty well hidden. I did as much digging as I could in the Matrix, but the information there is limited. The German grid is a hopeless patchwork anyway. Finding useful data among all the government servers is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I might be able to dig up more now that we're here."
"So, we still don't know why a group like Alt Welt would be interested in whatever it is Professor Goronay's got to sell." Talon mused.
"Well, considering we don't even know what he's selling, that's not saying much." Hammer put in.
"True." Talon said. "Okay, put Alt Welt on hold for a while. What's the scan on Goronay?"
Trouble blinked for a second, her eyes refocusing, and a new image appeared on the cyberdeck's screen. It was a head-shot of an older man, his hair gone nearly white and thinning above a broad forehead. Bushy brows nearly met above clear, intelligent blue eyes framed by wire-rimmed glasses. He had a full beard, the same color as his hair, and a fairly prominent nose. His craggy features were weathered and ruddy from years spent in the outdoors, and Talon could almost see him with a pipe clenched between his teeth as he spoke or lectured.
"Alexi Goronay." Trouble said. "Professor of Archeology at the University of Kiev, Russia. Age sixty-one. born in St. Petersburg, educated in Moscow and Kiev. The picture is from the University records. Goronay has worked at different archeological sites all over the world, and is considered an expert in his field. Has, among other things, published papers postulating the existence of magic-using cultures before the Awakening."
"Interesting theory." Talon said.
"Are you saying Goronay thinks magic existed before the Awakening?" Hammer asked.
Trouble jumped in before Talon could say anything. "Lots of people do, apparently. Archeologists like Goronay believe that a lot of myths and legends about magic, along with all the magical lore that existed before the Awakening, is left over from some distant time in the past when magic worked. For some reason, the magic went away, and all we were left with were the myths, stories, and traditions handed down over the centuries until 2011, when the magic came back."
"You have been reading." Talon said with a grin.
"Naturally." Trouble replied. "You don't have to be Awakened to pick up on the theory. Even we mundanes can do it."
"Touché."
"So why'd the magic go away?" Boom asked. "And why did it come back?"
Trouble glanced at Talon, who just shrugged. "Who knows?" she said. "It's only a theory, and nobody can really explain it. But then, nobody can really explain why magic started working again in 2011, either."
"There's all sorts of theories," Talon said, "and most of them involve a lot of chaos mathematics and drek like that. Suffice to say that right now nobody really has a clue. It's just the way things are."
"Magic." Boom gave a slight shudder. "You just never know, where it's concerned."
Talon thought the comment strange coming from a being who would have been considered "magical" not so many years ago. Then he thought about what it must be like to be a troll or
Talon, Boom, and Hammer sat around the table, listening carefully to the report. Each of them had already reviewed the information at least once before leaving Boston or on the flight to Europe, but this was the first time they'd gone over it all as a group.
"And no indications Alt Welt has any ties to terrorist organizations?" Talon asked. That was part of the data that puzzled him.
"Nothing definite." Trouble said. "On the surface, they're just another policlub."
"Yeah, and the Universal Brotherhood was just another crackpot religion." Boom muttered to himself.
Trouble shrugged. "That's the thing. If Alt Welt does have terrorist ties, they're pretty well hidden. I did as much digging as I could in the Matrix, but the information there is limited. The German grid is a hopeless patchwork anyway. Finding useful data among all the government servers is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I might be able to dig up more now that we're here."
"So, we still don't know why a group like Alt Welt would be interested in whatever it is Professor Goronay's got to sell." Talon mused.
"Well, considering we don't even know what he's selling, that's not saying much." Hammer put in.
"True." Talon said. "Okay, put Alt Welt on hold for a while. What's the scan on Goronay?"
Trouble blinked for a second, her eyes refocusing, and a new image appeared on the cyberdeck's screen. It was a head-shot of an older man, his hair gone nearly white and thinning above a broad forehead. Bushy brows nearly met above clear, intelligent blue eyes framed by wire-rimmed glasses. He had a full beard, the same color as his hair, and a fairly prominent nose. His craggy features were weathered and ruddy from years spent in the outdoors, and Talon could almost see him with a pipe clenched between his teeth as he spoke or lectured.
"Alexi Goronay." Trouble said. "Professor of Archeology at the University of Kiev, Russia. Age sixty-one. born in St. Petersburg, educated in Moscow and Kiev. The picture is from the University records. Goronay has worked at different archeological sites all over the world, and is considered an expert in his field. Has, among other things, published papers postulating the existence of magic-using cultures before the Awakening."
"Interesting theory." Talon said.
"Are you saying Goronay thinks magic existed before the Awakening?" Hammer asked.
Trouble jumped in before Talon could say anything. "Lots of people do, apparently. Archeologists like Goronay believe that a lot of myths and legends about magic, along with all the magical lore that existed before the Awakening, is left over from some distant time in the past when magic worked. For some reason, the magic went away, and all we were left with were the myths, stories, and traditions handed down over the centuries until 2011, when the magic came back."
"You have been reading." Talon said with a grin.
"Naturally." Trouble replied. "You don't have to be Awakened to pick up on the theory. Even we mundanes can do it."
"Touché."
"So why'd the magic go away?" Boom asked. "And why did it come back?"
Trouble glanced at Talon, who just shrugged. "Who knows?" she said. "It's only a theory, and nobody can really explain it. But then, nobody can really explain why magic started working again in 2011, either."
"There's all sorts of theories," Talon said, "and most of them involve a lot of chaos mathematics and drek like that. Suffice to say that right now nobody really has a clue. It's just the way things are."
"Magic." Boom gave a slight shudder. "You just never know, where it's concerned."
Talon thought the comment strange coming from a being who would have been considered "magical" not so many years ago. Then he thought about what it must be like to be a troll or
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