Yue

 Lots of things to

see here

This is so undignified.

I was right, and the Silver City doesn't have disabled access. And by 'no disabled access' I mean 'you really need to be able to fly'. As a result, I'm now hanging off Rrall as his wing-flapping shoots us upward at space-distorting speed. Not a lot of orange coming from the inmates. These are supposed to be people in the process of repenting, aren't they? Surely they'd have a bit more avarice in them than this? Or maybe these are all the older ones and they've already mostly finished, with just a few 'deviant' thought processes between them and true unification with the Source.

I'm really going to need to talk to Mr Free about speaking to Mr Izaya about that.

Rrall ceases his flapping and we glide to a halt in front of a virtualisation vessel containing… A black woman. No idea who she is. No visible sign of distress… Not that I'm sure that there should be any even if she was in distress.

"Rrall, do you know who she is?"

"No, but I can find out if you like."

I look over the runes on the inner and outer surfaces of the three rings. I don't recognise a lot of them, but from the general structure… They're connecting the system to something external. I don't know what or where, but-. Wait a second-.

"Rrall, do you understand these runes?"

"I'm afraid not. It's not my area."

I catch sight of the Smiley rune.

"Okay, but that one there-." Darn, no hands. I point with my tongue and he gamely tries to see what it is that I'm indicating. "You see it?"

"The one which looks like a crude depiction of a smiling face?"

"Yes. I noticed it because-. Because it looks like Boss Smiley's face. And I.. could be wrong, but I think that runic setup is used for arcane power transfers."

"His face is a rune?"

"No, but these setups allow someone with sufficient arcane power to use a form of personal identification rather than a pre-existing rune. Ahri'ahn used a symbol made up of overlapping triangles on most of his really noteworthy artefacts."

Hm. Alright. If he wanted to talk to anyone held within a particular 'paradise' then he'd need to mesh his rune in there somewhere, but why is it in the power flow system?

"This is the oldest. How old?"

"She was born in the eighth century BC."

Around about the time the Jews embraced monotheism. So… What, they've been putting people in these things the whole time? But…

I look around again.

How many monotheists have died in human history? Actually…

"Are there any aliens here?"

"No. We only deal with the dead of Earth."

"What do monotheists on other planets do? Where do they go?"

"I assume that the Creator has made other arrangements for them."

Okay, but… This can't be all of the monotheists who have ever died. Can it? Can't hurt to ask.

"Does everyone get put in one of these?"

"No."

"Who does? What's the selection process?"

"I don't know. But I know that some people definitely go somewhere else. There are angels whose role is to ensure that happens."

"So we could ask them what the criteria are?"

"At the risk of being discovered, yes. And we might have to ask every single one of them if they only know who they are supposed to escort."

"Do you know any… Characteristic which definitely results in an escort or which definitely doesn't?"

He smiles. "Naturally, theurgists don't need an escort."

I suppose that if they're in communion with their deity anyway then anything else would be a bit point.. less...

I look at the virtualisation vessel to the left. It takes a few moments, but I'm.. not seeing a Smiley symbol. In fact, the outer ring looks like it's more focused on excluding influences than tying them in.

"Have these devices been modified since they were first made?"

"Not to my knowledge. We've only been using them for a few centuries."

I-. I can't frown. "You said eighth century."

"I said that she was born in the eighth century. She died in the seventeenth century. Such lifespans are unusual, but hardly unique."

"So is she the oldest person here, or has she been here the longest?"

"Oldest person here. Sorry."

I look right. Again, no Smiley. So I'm going to guess that the Smiley symbol only goes on the ones he wants to interact with in some way. If I could actually feel magic I could probably sort through this far faster.

"Can I assume that you can't look for the vessels with Smiley icons without triggering an alert?"

"I could inform the intendants that I was doing so to aid Hamaliel's work. Of course, I would then have to tell Hamaliel."

"Because you're very honest, or because they'd know if you were lying?"

"I-. I suppose that I'm very honest. Also because they'd know, and that would trigger an alert."

"I really shouldn't be surprised that you're a nicer person than me, but earlier today an angel sliced me into pieces and set the pieces on fire. It formed a fairly negative impression."

"That was extremely unlikely to aid in your rehabilitation."

I look around, searching for more Smiley faces. I can't immediately see any, but they're small and there are a lot of vessels around here. Alright, let's eliminate a known possibility. I stare at the occupant in the vessel directly in front of us, and… Yep, gold strands.

Boss Smiley isn't the Source. And if anything he said was true then I doubt that he'd be able to use theurgy himself. But. If he has the souls of a large number of miracle workers tied into a system he can control…

Is that possible? Wouldn't there be some sort of checksum for things like that?

"Take me to…" I turn my head to look at Rrall. "You can't remotely locate theurgists, can you?"

"I can, but why would I need to?"

"I've got a nasty suspicion that-."

There's a small explosion of.. colour, above us and to the right, and a ripple in the air as-.

As Rrall and I are yanked upward, bound in glowing energy chains!