Iron Hold: Examinations and Surveys Department
(what is extent of E&S authority? who overrules whom?)
Stepping back into the Opening Room, Caren looked down at the waiting chairs and the spreading scatter of papers in astonishment. The only change from early morning was the deepened scowl on Alaine's face. "Still here?"
She looked up at him dourly, not giving the obvious reply, and took off her glasses to rub tired eyes. In the middle of the room, crouching intently over Alaine's artefact, Calaten also looked up.
"Renn shouldn't have let you in," the Reshaped said in his completely deadpan voice, leaving it up to them to deduce the disapproval.
"Renn didn't think you were still working on the morning job, Calaten! Hell, Alaine, you're whipping him hard today."
"It's the other way around!" she said exasperatedly. "He won't let me leave!"
Caren looked back towards Calaten, surprised. Of all the Examinations and Surveys workers - the Hermit Division, everyone called them - Calaten was usually the worst for shooing people away when he was performing analyses. "It's not like you to get lonely."
"I thought it best to have one of you lot on hand," came the monotone. "It's too hard getting hold of you. Sorry, Caren, I can't be doing any tests for you today."
"Never mind. Wow, so this is something really special that's turned up, is it?"
"I don't know," said Calaten.
That was probably frustration. The look on Alaine's face definitely was.
"He does the same test a dozen times over and gets different results each time," she replied waspishly. "I'm sorry, Calaten, that's not a complaint about you. I just have so many other things I should be doing ..."
"I'm sorry too, Alaine, but one of those levels was far too high for my liking. I may not have hours to spare in chasing you down again if I need this signed off."
Caren could feel Alaine's eyes boring into the side of his face even before he'd looked down again. He wasn't going to volunteer himself just like that, though.
"Awfully close-mouthed about this thing when I saw you this morning," he said casually. "What is it?"
Alaine seemed reluctant, twisting back some of her red hair restlessly, but seemed to sense she was backed into a corner if she really wanted his help. "It's a mirror. I was almost positive it was a searching-glass from one of the old Scantless forts, but Calaten can't decide."
Caren whistled. Searching-glasses came under Prime Interest. The government would be showering grants on Alaine for further research if she was right.
"I haven't even got as far as the mineral tests yet," Calaten said, still bent over with his examinations. "There's no specific sound activation I can work out, or material, or anything. It's all crazy. I've tested it with sigils and different applications of water, air and fire about a hundred times over, and each time I've got a different level of - damn, there it goes again. It only feels like a weak little fae toy now."
"Weird. What's it mean?"
"Told you. Don't know. It's got no reason to fluctuate down here - no magic to interfere with it. And it's not fluctuating due to anything different I'm doing - it should behave the same for each test. I've a feeling it's tampering with my perception somehow, and that's what's changing, rather than the artefact itself. But ..." He shrugged, looking down again with a toneless curse.
"But?"
"I want to be sure, if I can. I'm not comfortable letting anything out of my sight that I've seemed to feel giving off extreme levels."
Caren moved around until he could see one corner of the mirror as Calaten spoke, hating to admit to himself that he was getting more and more curious.
"At any rate," added Calaten, "whatever it is and however powerful, it's an enchantment with constant effect. Or it's been triggered already and won't shut off. It'll need to go in solid storage."
"We can't just store it away - they won't let me near it again for months!" Alaine protested, her tone of voice clearly picking up a day-long argument. "I just need to be allowed to get back and search through more of the searching-glass artefact corpus! The government has so many of these - there must have been a similar device. I'll probably find the trigger for you."
"Don't think I or any Reshaped personnel can help you," replied Calaten, shrugging. "Can't make any informed decisions on power levels while it's playing merry hell with my head."
"Then I'll just have to go to Interim Query. Ilinme can take a look at it."
Calaten slowly blinked his glassy blue eyes. "I'd be perfectly happy for you to do that if I hadn't felt such elevated levels."
"You said yourself the thing's playing hell with your head and that's why you can't take a straight reading!"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm pretty proud of not blowing the Iron Hold up yet. I'd like to carry on the tradition."
Caren finally weighed into the almost-argument. He liked Calaten and he had a lot of time for Alaine when she wasn't in one of those superior Non-Civilian Excavations moods. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but take my query time this evening, Alaine. I'm at 4:30 through 5:15 with Ilinme."
A look of relief washed over Alaine's face. "You're an angel, Caren. And you, Calaten - you have the potential to be. Don't you dare lock it down in solid storage before I've had a chance to see Ilinme."
"I'll give you grace of an evening, but be quick," replied the fish-eyed Reshaped. "I can already feel my youthful good looks dissipating."
Stepping back into the Opening Room, Caren looked down at the waiting chairs and the spreading scatter of papers in astonishment. The only change from early morning was the deepened scowl on Alaine's face. "Still here?"
She looked up at him dourly, not giving the obvious reply, and took off her glasses to rub tired eyes. In the middle of the room, crouching intently over Alaine's artefact, Calaten also looked up.
"Renn shouldn't have let you in," the Reshaped said in his completely deadpan voice, leaving it up to them to deduce the disapproval.
"Renn didn't think you were still working on the morning job, Calaten! Hell, Alaine, you're whipping him hard today."
"It's the other way around!" she said exasperatedly. "He won't let me leave!"
Caren looked back towards Calaten, surprised. Of all the Examinations and Surveys workers - the Hermit Division, everyone called them - Calaten was usually the worst for shooing people away when he was performing analyses. "It's not like you to get lonely."
"I thought it best to have one of you lot on hand," came the monotone. "It's too hard getting hold of you. Sorry, Caren, I can't be doing any tests for you today."
"Never mind. Wow, so this is something really special that's turned up, is it?"
"I don't know," said Calaten.
That was probably frustration. The look on Alaine's face definitely was.
"He does the same test a dozen times over and gets different results each time," she replied waspishly. "I'm sorry, Calaten, that's not a complaint about you. I just have so many other things I should be doing ..."
"I'm sorry too, Alaine, but one of those levels was far too high for my liking. I may not have hours to spare in chasing you down again if I need this signed off."
Caren could feel Alaine's eyes boring into the side of his face even before he'd looked down again. He wasn't going to volunteer himself just like that, though.
"Awfully close-mouthed about this thing when I saw you this morning," he said casually. "What is it?"
Alaine seemed reluctant, twisting back some of her red hair restlessly, but seemed to sense she was backed into a corner if she really wanted his help. "It's a mirror. I was almost positive it was a searching-glass from one of the old Scantless forts, but Calaten can't decide."
Caren whistled. Searching-glasses came under Prime Interest. The government would be showering grants on Alaine for further research if she was right.
"I haven't even got as far as the mineral tests yet," Calaten said, still bent over with his examinations. "There's no specific sound activation I can work out, or material, or anything. It's all crazy. I've tested it with sigils and different applications of water, air and fire about a hundred times over, and each time I've got a different level of - damn, there it goes again. It only feels like a weak little fae toy now."
"Weird. What's it mean?"
"Told you. Don't know. It's got no reason to fluctuate down here - no magic to interfere with it. And it's not fluctuating due to anything different I'm doing - it should behave the same for each test. I've a feeling it's tampering with my perception somehow, and that's what's changing, rather than the artefact itself. But ..." He shrugged, looking down again with a toneless curse.
"But?"
"I want to be sure, if I can. I'm not comfortable letting anything out of my sight that I've seemed to feel giving off extreme levels."
Caren moved around until he could see one corner of the mirror as Calaten spoke, hating to admit to himself that he was getting more and more curious.
"At any rate," added Calaten, "whatever it is and however powerful, it's an enchantment with constant effect. Or it's been triggered already and won't shut off. It'll need to go in solid storage."
"We can't just store it away - they won't let me near it again for months!" Alaine protested, her tone of voice clearly picking up a day-long argument. "I just need to be allowed to get back and search through more of the searching-glass artefact corpus! The government has so many of these - there must have been a similar device. I'll probably find the trigger for you."
"Don't think I or any Reshaped personnel can help you," replied Calaten, shrugging. "Can't make any informed decisions on power levels while it's playing merry hell with my head."
"Then I'll just have to go to Interim Query. Ilinme can take a look at it."
Calaten slowly blinked his glassy blue eyes. "I'd be perfectly happy for you to do that if I hadn't felt such elevated levels."
"You said yourself the thing's playing hell with your head and that's why you can't take a straight reading!"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm pretty proud of not blowing the Iron Hold up yet. I'd like to carry on the tradition."
Caren finally weighed into the almost-argument. He liked Calaten and he had a lot of time for Alaine when she wasn't in one of those superior Non-Civilian Excavations moods. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but take my query time this evening, Alaine. I'm at 4:30 through 5:15 with Ilinme."
A look of relief washed over Alaine's face. "You're an angel, Caren. And you, Calaten - you have the potential to be. Don't you dare lock it down in solid storage before I've had a chance to see Ilinme."
"I'll give you grace of an evening, but be quick," replied the fish-eyed Reshaped. "I can already feel my youthful good looks dissipating."