South Side Base, 1:50 AM
Spoiler: John’s roll for the analysis of the dust
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John’s Analysis of the Dust: 1d10o10+2 8 1d6o6+2 4


John raised the loupe from his eyes and, setting the long tweezers down, stretched his neck and back.

“I think we can narrow the results down a little further, Mimi — given the amount and type of clay that’s in the mixture. What happens if we eliminate all of the samples that don’t contain the darker grey clay, keeping the ones with the mixture of river washed slate, leaving the background loose stone levels constant, and continuing to limit the sand common to the river after its two tributaries mingle.”

“That leaves only one major supplier, John,” Mimi responded after a moment’s thought. “JPL Industrial Supply on the edge of South Side matches the gravel composition you have described.

“You may be able to confirm more,” she continued as John rubbed his temples, “if we were to examine their recent sales and deliveries for unusual activity.”

“An excellent suggestion, Mimi — although that hardly comes as a surprise from you. Having a food truck or two make regular stops there would be one thing. A greater amount of food — or unusual food — might tell us more. The same is true of the kind of industrial material being brought in. The summoning of demons requires some exotic material, if you want to be safe.”

He paused, turning to the projected images on the wall. “Please begin to see what you can learn about those deliveries and log that we have come up with a single candidate. I’d like to have Louis confirm the analysis before we get too far along and introduce confirmation bias into our results.

“Please forward my results to Seraph and Harbinger. They — and you — should be the ones to judge this. I’d prefer it if you were to write the basic report up for each so that we are replicating a double-blind procedure.”

He rubbed his eyes. “I should stop. It’s almost 2 AM and I’m worried I may not be thinking as straight as I should be.” He glanced up at Mimi’s camera and smiled weakly. “Besides: If I don’t get to bed soon, I’m going to miss my regularly scheduled time for my nightmares. I’d hate to throw off your documentation schedule and make Cindy of London wonder why I’ve shifted my schedule.”

He lowered the loupe and took one last look at his sample, making sure he hadn’t missed anything. “Our first steps should be recon anyway. I don’t want to gate us into a trap or strategically inauspicious space. That would take a day at least, which will give the team time to recover from this evening’s encounter.

“And,” he conceded playfully, “leave my wooing schedule undisturbed. Her father — along with my family — will be in attendance so I should probably not be distracted.”

He looked at the samples of Nova that he had lined up on his table.

“Not that we ever seem to be without something to distract us here,” he added, moving the samples to the secure box. “There’s always something else to do, isn’t there?”

“Although,” he added with a frown as he took off the loupe, “I think I’m supposed to be thinking of the wooing as the thing interrupting my work rather than the other way around. You won’t tell anyone, will you, Mimi?”