Watson Doyle in the style of Mikhail Vrubel, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.

  Chapter 9: A new career in a new town

  Twin Peaks Township, Confluence dimension

  Year 42 of the Confluence Republic (local time)

  After the conversation with Z?rgiebel, Charlotte took the rest of the day off. She lived on her own, having recently broken up with another investigator working in a different precinct. In the afternoon there was the daily group meeting – her group included people from all over the planet, and finding a time to meet wasn’t easy with all the time zones involved. What was early afternoon for her was the least bad option, so she usually had to take time off from work and occasionally had to skip a meeting because she was busy. Today, given the circumstances, she was happy to participate – everybody said how they were doing, they checked up on everyone to look for hidden influences, tested the automated comm system, then spent most of the time planning the upcoming party. She thought it was great to have this group of friends from all over the world.

  Some people were doing a continuous Transmission flow with their group, sharing thoughts and experiences all the time, but that was a step too far for Charlotte. She was not too privacy-conscious, but she liked having a bit of that. Her mind was a messy and sometimes dark place, and sharing everything all the time would have exhausted her. She had tried cohabiting with her ex, suspecting that the attempt was really what had driven them apart. The truth was she just needed to be alone sometimes.

  Watson was never really alone, but that was just because he was always running a Transmission flow with his dog familiar. Although he would probably never have admitted it, Sherlock was his best friend. They had a great mutual understanding, and Watson found both inspiration and pleasure in trying to understand the mind of his canine companion. Tonight, they went through the Harker case together, and Watson tried to get Sherlock to share the observations he had made but did not consider important. One thing was that while Celeste, like most other two-legged females, smelled rather like a flower, her flower smell was not quite the same as that of other females of a similar age. Instead, her flower smell was more like that of older females. Sherlock had no idea what to make of this, and this morning Watson probably wouldn’t have either, but in retrospect it seemed like an obvious tell. Soth was a creepy and dangerous guy, but he kept making some pretty basic mistakes. The Protector Elders had survived for 56 centuries by holding everybody else under their thumb – having competent opponents was probably a new experience for them.

  Anyway, communicating with Sherlock was a challenge, because Sherlock didn’t really have a language with which to explain things. He knew many words but could not form sentences except in the sense that he could put two or three words next to each other and add context via feeling-states or desires, along with lots of enthusiasm. Nevertheless, they were already far better at communicating than just a year ago, and they were improving all the time.

  ---

  The morning after, both Charlotte and Watson got a summons to the Tower of the High Magus, complete with passcodes and instructions. Watson decided to bring Sherlock along. They ended up in what looked like someone’s living room, but with amazing views of the capital. After waiting for a few minutes, three women materialized and introduced themselves, apparently happy that Watson had brought Sherlock along. Charlotte and Watson were a bit starstruck when they realized they were talking to the three heroes of the Revolution. Salome set up a shared Transmissions flow for them all, including Sherlock.

  Yutten Turse: So, I hear you did a great job investigating the murder of Jonathan Harker. We are very grateful that you brought this to our attention.

  Charlotte Ritter: Thank you. Watson’s loop magic was what made it possible, actually. And Sherlock made an important contribution, too.

  Sherlock: (exudes pride and happiness).

  Yutten Turse: Good dog! Anyway, the report we received mentioned that you believe the perpetrator – who appears to be the Protector Elder Soth – was unfamiliar with loop magic. Tell us more about that.

  Watson Doyle: Yes, um, madam –

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Yutten Turse: Just call me Yutten.

  Watson Doyle: Ok, Yutten, so this guy, Soth or whoever it is, he added a handful or a dozen levels of obfuscation to everything, but I got the appearance he’d done so manually. It was like each layer was handcrafted, you know? I guess you probably have to know loop magic to feel the difference. The standard right now is that we do up to a hundred levels. Anyway, you know, this was just my impression, I could be wrong.

  Yutten Turse: Well, I would be very happy if we have managed to withhold our knowledge of loop magic from Soth. I’m responsible for making your practice with looping much more difficult than it had to be – all those regulations and protocols that have probably annoyed you endlessly, right? Sorry about that, but the idea was to keep it a secret for as long as possible.

  Watson Doyle: I have managed just fine. If we catch the guy because of this, I would be even happier than you. Let me also say that in my talk with Sherlock yesterday, he pointed to something that might help us get a psychological profile of Soth. Sherlock noticed that the smell from Celeste – her perfume or makeup – was different from how the other young women in the club smelled. It was something he associated with older women – maybe something that was fashionable several decades ago.

  Salome Einstein: That’s a good one, Sherlock!

  Sherlock: (exudes pride and happiness).

  Salome Einstein: Soth is used to having opponents wearing handcuffs. He is probably a bit arrogant and might be in the habit of making stupid mistakes.

  Charlotte Ritter: I noticed something similar, actually. If you watch Celeste on the dance floor, she does not exactly look like someone who has spent a lot of time dancing. That was my impression, anyway. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in light of everything else, maybe Soth is kind of sloppy with these things.

  Yutten Turse: I think you’re right. This is probably the guy who broke into the investigator office where I worked before the Revolution. I guess you maybe read that story. Even back then, with our limited resources, we would have caught this guy just doing straightforward investigator work, if he didn’t have the power to forbid it. I mean, he broke in and then left the cabinet door ajar – that kind of thing. Sloppy and arrogant is what he is, and we no longer have our hands tied behind our backs.

  Olz Hap: This murdering scumbag is going down. It’s just a matter of time. Does anyone have anything more to add?

  Charlotte Ritter: You know about the strange magic he used to get away, I presume? I have nothing to say about it, but someone should look into it.

  Olz Hap: That was in the report we received, yes. We are in the process of getting some dimensional magic specialists to look at this. Anything else?

  Watson Doyle: Nothing comes to mind.

  Olz Hap: Ok, great. Do you mind waiting while the three of us talk in private for a bit?

  Charlotte Ritter: Go ahead.

  [Salome Einstein restricted the Transmissions space to the three board members.]

  Salome Einstein: You thinking what I’m thinking?

  Olz Hap: These people are pretty good.

  Yutten Turse: I’m impressed, yeah. Is this what our society has become? Just random investigators in some backwater, then when shit hits the fan they roll out all kinds of competences and solve the thing in a flash – or did we get lucky?

  Olz Hap: Maybe a bit of both. Still, under normal circumstances, this is where they get a pat on the shoulder and we send them back home, right?

  Salome Einstein: Yes, except these are not normal circumstances. We need to talk about the elephant.

  Olz Hap: They are in the book. First chapter. What do we make of that?

  Salome Einstein: They are going to show up in later chapters, too.

  Yutten Turse: This is totally weird, but I guess we can’t ignore that fact. Did you ever hear that story, from the early classical era I think, about the guy who received a prophecy he would fuck his mom? He tried to escape it, travelled as far away as he could, and at the end of the journey he met someone and fucked her, unaware that it was his mom.

  Olz Hap: So, what should we do? Just embrace it?

  Salome Einstein: I don’t know. Maybe the Erd author is writing the kind of weird story that introduces characters in the first chapter and then proceeds to ignore them.

  Yutten Turse: That’s funny. He kind of did that in the first book, right? Not exactly, but he introduced Olz’s advisors and didn’t say too much about them later.

  Olz Hap: Maybe in a while he will go back and delete the whole chapter. Didn’t the report say that he has already been editing a bit?

  Salome Einstein: Yes, but nothing substantial so far, just edits for clarity and economy. Anyway, we don’t know what is going to happen, but at least we should keep our options open. I say we ask them if they want to continue working on the case and take it from there. Maybe we could get them to team up with Sophie Strange.

  Olz Hap: That’s a good team, actually. A dimension specialist and these two. Do we tell them about the book?

  Salome Einstein: I say we wait. Let’s just see what happens.

  Yutten Turse: I agree. We ask them, see where it goes, and anyway we also have to talk with Sophie tomorrow.

  Olz Hap: Yes. Hate to disturb her in her grief, but she wanted to move forward with this. She said that was what she wanted.

  Salome Einstein: Ok, then. I bring them into the chat, and we ask if they want to continue working on the case?

  Olz Hap: Go for it.

  [Salome Einstein included Charlotte, Watson, and Sherlock in the Transmissions space.]

  Olz Hap: Hi again. Sorry about the wait. We have one more question for you: would you like to keep working on this case?

  Charlotte Ritter: Um, is that an option?

  Olz Hap: We would have to team you up with someone. But you have done a great job so far, and we would like to involve as few people as possible in this. It will probably take a few days to get things moving. What do you think?

  Watson Doyle: I’m in. Or what do you think, Sherlock?

  Sherlock: (exudes enthusiasm).

  Charlotte Ritter: I’d love to take part in the hunt for Soth. We would need dimensions people, though.

  Olz Hap: We may have a good candidate. Give us a while, and we will get back to you. Say nothing about this to anyone, just do your jobs like normal, ok?

  Charlotte Ritter: Will do.

  Watson Doyle: Of course.

  Charlotte Ritter in the style of Mikhail Vrubel, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.