"Congratulations Felix, you've struck uranium." Phirenaius said, as soon as I opened the line. His words, always with a little weight, were obvious to me after all the jobs with him. It was effectively 'good job, bitbodger, you found something that may get you killed if you're not careful.'
"Yeah, I just saw the notice. So one of our splatters is kinetic. Well, was. You think that may be what flash ignited? Maybe he detonated the other guy and used too much?"
Phirenaius cringed a little, and pinched his nose. "This is one of those things you don't quite grasp, nube. Kinetics are banned. Meaning that not only was something strange happening here, but one of the few actual ordinances of Novost, of Epsilon... Hells, of the burning Federacies actually require is no Kinetics. It's the only addendum to the Propagation Treaty!"
Now that one I knew was important. The Propagation Treaty was the foundation of the Federacies. It outlines the ordinances that keeps all the Federacies linked, ensures the ports and railyards connect, and keeps our sprawl unified. Take that away, and Novost would be no different than a fragmented settlement in the wilds. The Propagation Treaty kept certain experiments from being repeated, most specifically anything pertaining to the Glazing. If there was even a risk of another hypercritical event, it was banned. It was designed to keep some structured civilization around on our new horror-formed Earth.
But I had no idea that Kinetics fell under that treaty. From what little I read of it, most kinetics had either so little sensitivity to ambient energy that it never manifested, and if it did, they usually ended up killing themselves. Not intentionally, I'm sure, but if you don't know how to wield ambient energy and quantum forces, there's a very high chance you'll kill yourself before you ever get to learn. So, yeah, most of them died.
Phirenaius continued. "Kinetics are feared because they're instability is classified as potentially hypercritical in the addendum. Which means that all large population centers are terrified that one of these time bomb humans will detonate and glaze them and everyone they've cared about before they know what happened. So when I tell you that you need to stop your work on this investigation, as much as you want to argue, you should instead agree and take a break while further investigation is done by the teams allocated to that work."
My mouth had already opened to argue when I processed his response. I shut my mouth, and tried to work through it a bit more. This whole classification of kinetics as possible hypercriticals seemed like a big jump. From what little understanding I had, it was more like they acted like an energy vacuum than an energy eruption. But since most of the data had been classified and restricted on them, the only data available was part of the untrusted noise of the data vaults. The rants of conspiracy theorists, propaganda from the frags, Markov chain history generations, and some eyewitness accounts added up to a lot of conflicting and untrustworthy information. About the only reliable data I could suss from it was that the kinetic traits appeared during the twenty years following the glazing. So something in that rearrangement of the planet ecosystem opened up this new mutation for humans.
Taking my contemplative silence for assent, Phirenaius elaborated. "There is a protocol for reacting to indications of kinetic traits present inside of the sprawl, and we will defer to the organization that handles that. If they contact you for information, you are to yield data to them as requested, and comply with their needs. Understood?"
"Understood, sir. I will stand down unless requested." Begrudgingly.
Checking the clock, it was growing close to when I needed to meet with Vanessa, and now I was shelved while some new group took over. I certainly didn't want to be sidelined, but until something changed, there wasn't much I could do. Plus the prospect of impressing Vanessa by getting to the restaurant early was inviting.
~~~
Sitting inside of NuRaMin was a visual assault I was unprepared for. The trend with noodle bars had mostly been to approximate traditional settings as closely as possible, fabbing old materials and archaic lighting elements. But this place rejected the premise, and seemed to be trying it's best to duplicate a stimshow. Flickering neon elements were recessed behind metallic shapes all across the room. The tables were extruded metallic mushrooms with iridescent highlights. Near-field projections added non-augmented flair to the already exciting room. Automated arms transferred meals from a kitchen to the tables, depositing them into geometric nightmares that vaguely resembled bowls. Vanessa was more intrigued by the explosions of colors and shapes happening here, but we were both a bit overwhelmed by the ambiance.
"So you are shelved for now." Vanessa recapped, mulling it over while idly twisting noodles onto her chopsticks as though she were knitting.
"Yeah." I sighed, taking a sip of my synthohol. This sweet one was chilled and milky, something to accompany the meal. "As soon as it flagged for the DNA match, I was pulled, and I guess they've handed it over to this new group."
"I've only been on one investigation where that happened." Vanessa offered. "It was strange. They're called Propagation Adherence Teams, and aren't even part of the corp. Thom in my division had worked with them before, and referred to them as 'PATs.' I suspect they're all funded by some transit pool or something, but they definitely act like they own the place. The group I worked work wasn't even based out of Epsilon. They were from Gamma I think? I don't remember. They waltzed in, reviewed all materials, and then in 36 hours they handed it back to us."
"Wow. Was that also a kinetic incident?"
Vanessa shivered. "No, thankfully. It was just for a science experiment. Someone was running an illegal energy shop on the east edge of town. Mostly using it for powering illicit tech and some stim generators, but we found a microcollider there, which triggered an immediate call to the PATs. I'd rather deal with a machine than a human any day."
Again, the same worried reaction Phirenaius had when Kinetics came up. "What is it about kinetics that panics people so much around here?" I ventured.
Vanessa stared at me, wide eyed, like I'd just suggested we try and procreate in the middle of the noodle bar. She started to reply with something caustic, but I think realized that I was in fact born yesterday. "Sorry, it's hard to remember sometimes that... well, you didn't grow up here. Kinetics are the monsters under the bed here. We grew up with the threat that someone may spontaneously combust, turning us to glass if we weren't careful and didn't take precautions. I now realize it was a technique the sprawl used to have peer pressure ensure all people were treated and genetically tagged, but it's hard to get past that ingrained panic when I hear the term."
"So what happened when someone was found?"
"Well, honestly, it never happened for me. I can't think of any instance where the markers came back and they were kinetically active. New people would get marked, and were labeled safe, so everything was fine. This is the first instance I've even heard of it. and I suspect you aren't suppose to tell anyone."
Well, she was probably right on that part. I wasn't given explicit orders not to talk about the results, but I had to find out what the big deal was, and Vanessa was someone who I could trust. Though, maybe a crowded noodle bar was not the right place. I picked up another bunch of noodles while that thought lingered.
Alright, so, if I were sidelined, I could go back to other work. I could also poke more at the side issue of what brought Travis back to Epsilon, or what he was doing in the intervening years. But that also seemed a little too close to the investigation. Maybe it was best to take the break and revisit it once the PATs were done. Hopefully it would be a short delay.
"Changing subjects because we should," Vanessa started, "I think we should do that stimshow tonight. You're shelved, I'm free, and you've blown it off for days. Plus Conrad's working tonight at one of the synesthesia clubs. It'll be good."
I wanted to have a reason not to. But honestly, I couldn't think of any good points. I just had this nagging, longing that maybe something about me would tumble loose if I worked on the case more. But Vanessa grabbed my hand on the table, and between her smile and the hand, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be than by her side for the night. Wherever that may take us.
