Harry Turtledove - The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump

“Good news!” Kawaguchi exclaimed. “That’s the first piece of good news I’ve heard tonight. What sort of shape is the spirit in?”

“I was just getting to that, Legate,” the sorce-and-rescue man said, and some of the sudden hopes I’d got up came crashing down again—he didn’t sound what you’d call upbeat. “The spirit’s here—it’s manifested enough so we can move it—but it’s not in good shape, not even slightly. Preliminary diagnosis is that whoever set the fire went after the poor creature on the Other Side, too.”

“Poor Erasmus,” Brother Vahan said, with as much concern as if he were talking about one of his monks.

“Erasmus? Oh,” the sorce-and-rescue man said; then: “I don’t think it’ll perish, but it’s had a rough time. Hard to characterize torments on the Other Side, but—did it used to manifest itself with its spectacles cracked?”

“No,” Brother Vahan said, and started to weep as if that was to him the crowning tragedy of all those which had befallen the Thomas Brothers monastery tonight. I remembered the fussy, precise spirit and the neat little pair of glasses it had worn. How could you crack lenses that weren’t really there? I suppose there are ways, but I got queasy thinking about them.

“We can run the spellchecker on this access spirit,” Thaumatech Bornholm said. “Maybe we’ll learn just what hit the monastery by finding out how the spirit was tormented.”

“For that matter, simple questioning may yield the same information,” said Kawaguchi, who sounded ready to start asking poor abused Erasmus questions right then and there if the sorce-and-rescue man would summon the spirit onto a ground-glass screen.

But the sorce-and-rescue man shook his head. “Nobody’s going to run a spellchecker on that spirit any time soon. Any sorcerous nudge right now, before it has a chance to regain some strength, and it’ll be gone for good. I’m not kidding—a sorcerous nudge right now will destroy, uh, Erasmus, and I’ll set that down on parchment. The same goes for interrogation. If that spirit were a material being, it would’ve gotten last rites. Because it’s not material, it has a better chance of recovering than thee or me, but I warn you: you’ll lose it if you push.”

“I shall pray for Erasmus’ recovery along with the recovery of my brethren who took hurt in the fire,” Brother Vahan said, “and for the souls of the brethren who lost their lives.” He spoke slowly and with great dignity, partly because he was that kind of man and partly to hold the tears back from his voice.

Judy stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He twitched a little; you could see how unused he was to having a woman touch him. But after a couple of seconds, he realized she meant only to comfort him. He eased, as much as you can when everything that matters to you is gone.

I wished I’d thought to make the gesture Judy had. I suspect the trouble is that I think too much. Judy felt what she ought to do and she did it. I’m not saying she doesn’t think—oh my, no. But it’s nice to be in touch with This Side and the Other Side of yourself, so to speak.

I turned to Legate Kawaguchi. “Do you need us for anything more here, sir?”

He shook his head. “No, you may go, Inspector Fisher. Thank you for your statement. I expect we will be in touch with each other about aspects of this matter of mutual concern.” I expected that, too. Then Kawaguchi unbent a little; maybe a human being really did lurk behind the constabulary uniform. “A pleasure also to meet your fiancÇe, Inspector. A pity to drag you out of doors at such an unholy hour, Mistress Adler, especially on dark, grim business like this.”

“I asked David to let me come along,” Judy said. “And you’re right—this business is dark and grim. If I can do anything to help you catch whoever did it, let me know. I’m no mage, but I’m an expert on sorcerous applications.”

“I shall bear that in mind,” Kawaguchi said, and sounded as if he meant it.

Judy and I ducked under the tape the constabulary had put around the Thomas Brothers monastery and walked back toward my carpet. The sun was just starting to paint the sky above the hills to the east with pink. I asked my watch what time it was and found out it was heading toward six. By my body, it could have been anywhere from midmorning to midnight.

We fastened our safety belts and headed back toward the freeway. A couple of minutes before we got there, Judy said, “I didn’t know I was your fiancÇe.”

“Huh?” I answered brilliantly.

“The way you introduced me to Legate Kawaguchi,” she said.

“Oh. That.” I’d just done it because it seemed the easiest way to explain what she was doing over at my place at two-something of a morning. I thought about it for a few seconds, then said, “Well, do you want to be?”

“Do I want to be what?” Now Judy was confused.

“My fiancÇe.”

“Sure!” she said, and her smile was brighter than the sun which just that moment poked itself into the sky. It wasn’t the traditional way to answer a proposal of marriage, but then I hadn’t proposed the way I’d intended to, either. I really had intended to get around to it, but I didn’t know just when. Now seemed as good a time as any.

We held hands on St. James’ Freeway all the way back to my block of flats. After a black night, morning sun felt very fine indeed.

When I got to work Monday morning, somebody ambushed me in the parking lot. No, it’s not what you think; this fellow standing outside the entrance to my building called out, “Are you EPA Inspector David Fisher?” When I said I was, he came trotting over to me, stuck a glass globe in front of my face, and said, “I’m Joe Forbes, Angels City Ethernet Station One News. I want to ask you some questions about the tragic Thomas Brothers fire Friday night.”

“Go ahead,” I said, peering cross-eyed into the globe. The imp inside had enormous ears, mournful little eyes, and a mouth that stretched all the way across its face. I’d never seen an ethernet imp before.

Forbes shifted the globe back toward his own mouth. “How are you involved with the Thomas Brothers, and why were you called to the scene of the fire shortly after it occurred?” He held the globe out to me again.

“I’d been using some Thomas Brothers records in an ongoing EPA investigation, and the constabulary were trying to find out if there was any connection between that investigation and the fire,” I answered, truthful enough but not what you’d call forthcoming.

As I talked, I watched the little imp in the globe. Its ears twitched with every syllable I spoke. Its mouth moved in a rather exaggerated parody of human speech. I’ve never had any reason to learn to read lips, but I didn’t need long to notice it was echoing what I said, about half a beat behind me. It was transmitting my words back to Ethernet Station One, either to one of its own clones that would relay what I said on to the master broadcasting imp so all the master’s clones in people’s sets could hear, or else to a Listener that would speak them in front of the master imp at a time more convenient for the station crew.

Joe Forbes took back the globe. “Do I understand correctly, Inspector Fisher, that an immaterial witness survived the fire and may yet provide important information about the case?”

I’d talked to Kawaguchi the afternoon before. From what he said, Erasmus was probably going to pull through its ordeal, though the access spirit wouldn’t be in any shape to answer questions for a while yet. Actually, Erasmus didn’t have any shape at all, but you know what I mean.

I started to tell Forbes as much, but had second thoughts. I didn’t know how many people listened to the ethernet news, but could I afford to assume none of the people who’d burned the monastery did? And if those bastards were listening, could I afford to tell them they’d botched the job on Erasmus? They might try again, and they might do it right the next time.