Yue

 22nd October

08:37 GMT +8

Still…

Those intelligence reports weren't going to keep forever.

It looks like -to the surprise of absolutely no one- the Dream Thieves are trying to acquire Khyber-derived cybernetic technologies, and whoever wrote this isn't shy about laying the blame firmly at the feet of Harun al-Rashid in what I consider a frankly unhelpful distraction from actually giving the reader information-.

Wait a moment. I just received a Mandate.

Check the source identification code… Don't want to be too harsh…

'While I appreciate your efforts in assembling this report, it is not necessary to repeatedly remind the reader of Harun al-Rashid's actions in creating the Dreamers. Unless information has been uncovered suggesting that he gave specific instructions for a situation, their nature is background reading not appropriate for a bulletin.'

And.. send.

It's going to my head already, isn't it? Ugk, I know that I was right; I've read the SOP on writing intelligence bulletins five times and my ring gives me perfect memory. Should I have.. e-mailed the author's superior instead? I still don't really understand how normal Chinese people actually think about Heavenly Guardians. I mean, sure, they'd show deference, but-.

Incoming communication.

Oh? I straighten up slightly. Let's hear it.

"Hey Paul." I frown. "Sorry this took s' long. Guess that purple guy dropped us both in it, huh?"

My frown deepens. Ring, trace.

Compliance.

"I'm sorry; who are you?"

"Oh, come on. You gunna play it that way? You an' me are about the only guys who remember how history's supposed ta be. We need ta put our heads t'gether before they track us down."

"No, seriously. I've got no idea who you are. Let alone how you managed to contact my ring. You know cold calling on government communication channels is illegal, right?"

Ring, do you have a location yet?

Unclear. An unidentified form of obfuscation is being employed.

Probably magic. Do I think I can keep him on the line long enough for a magic user to back hack him?

"Ah no. It got you too?"

"What got me? Look, if this is something dangerous it's my job to help. And knowledge of how to block ring communication back tracking-."

"Sorry! Think I got a wrong number. I'll ah… I'll see you whenever-."

"No-. Look, I'm not annoyed-."

Connection lost.

That was.. strange. Ring, access intelligence voice print archives. Any matches?

None found.

"Any evidence of vocal distortion in the incoming communication?"

None found.

"Background noise?"

None found.

None? So he's.. in some sort of sound filtered environment..? But hasn't bothered to disguise his voice? Does he.. not know that China is a surveillance state? Ring, create a voice print file, list whoever that was as a 'person of interest, unknown risk'.

Which might result in whoever that was getting shot.

Ah, add 'report contact to Orange Lantern before engaging'.

Compliance.

Create standard format report file for miscellaneous contact.

Compliance.

Contents… Analysis… What language was that?

Subject spoke English. Unable to determine origin of accent or dialect.

I frown. Really?

Accent appears to have characteristics of the form of American English spoken in the United States of America.

Aah. With Zheng He's voyages of discovery happening about fifty years before the start of European settlement of the Americas, the USA is a rather different affair to what it was back home on Earth Prime. China didn't start shipping people over until the start of the sixteenth century, but the result was that post-independence USA didn't really have the option of westward expansion. The Sinoistic Provinces of America were already there. A few wars with the world's most powerful country later and the young country more or less fragmented… It's all a bit of a mess.

Can you narrow it down further?

Accent appears to have characteristics of the form of American English spoken in the United States of America on Earth Prime. The accents do not exist on Earth Sixteen.

What?

This ring has access to your memories. Those they do not contain a complete analysis of available accents, two have close matches.

My ring plays.. snatches, of Loyd Grossman and Heath Ledger's Joker talking, matching parts of their speech to.. whoever that was. I don't know what parts of the United States either of them come from, but.. I suppose that you wouldn't have to change history much to change a culture enough to change accents. Especially given the greater roles of Far Eastern languages in world communications.

Huh.

Okay. 'Purple guy'. Nothing comes to mind. I mean, there was that Italian terrorist organisation where the leaders wore purple… But I wouldn't call any of them 'purple guys' and I didn't.. get the impression that whoever that was was trying to deceive me. There are plenty of super functionaries who have purple in their costume somewhere, but only a few where it's a major component. And I don't have anything in common…

Kassam had a purple cloak. He was wearing it before the assault on Khyber's last redoubt at Alamut. There were.. cameras…

No, no, no. It doesn't fit. He expected me to recognise him. Okay, possibilities. He's a nutter, one of the highly skilled ones. He just thought he knew me, and my not responding the way he expected me to threw him off. Like Edward Nygma with Bruce Wayne in the novelisation of Batman Forever. I actually have forgotten. I can't forget things due to conventional means as long as I wear this ring, but I can get memories erased by telepathy. Simple enough to check; just pop along to the Martian embassy. Or get one of the local telepaths to look me over. Ditto with magic.

What does that leave?

Parallel universes and alternate time lines, those old standbys for when nothing makes sense. I've only travelled between parallel universes once and I haven't ever travelled through time. I.. think I'll leave trying to investigate those until I'm eliminated the more likely options