(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

September 1st, 2004
Mid-Afternoon
14 North Moore Street, Manhattan

A door opened in the side of the old Hook and Ladder No. 8 building, and two men stepped out. "Looks like home," Ray said, looking up with a slightly disgruntled expression at the huge ad for Keymaster Cologne painted on the side of a nearby building. "Welcome to New York City, sir. Pardon the smell- while we do have a police stable across the street from us, most of what's hitting your nostrils right now is the wonderful scent of burning petroleum, which we use to power our primary means of transportation. If you'll just step right this way..."

Comments

[ilducasaggio.livejournal.com]

The topic of prejudice and human sin is indeed interesting, and certainly Egon's an engaging conversational partner, but Ray's right--they came here with a clear purpose in mind.

"A barrier, yes, as I had said to Master Ray previously. However, I should like to amend that 1672 and thereabouts is perhaps not when such a thing were constructed, but rather, the upper threshold, against which it becomes unfeasible that it should have gone up any later. I departed from this realm for the place in-between in the year 1603, and by certes, the art was strong enough to propel me to the end of all days when I left. Therefore, we must consider a gap of some sixty-nine years, give or take."

[not-oswald.livejournal.com]

"By 'barrier year' I meant the last year possible in which the change in existence could've been accomplished. Sorry I wasn't clear enough there." Egon leans back on the desk and starts rooting around in one of the drawers as he speaks. "Which leaves us, as you said, with sixty-nine years at the very most in which to work. Ray, I still have that copy of Spates you gave me, but I haven't figured out the index yet."

"You've gotta be kidding me. You?"

"The index is nine hundred pages long."

"Point."

Egon looks to Prospero and notes, "Ray brought back a book from Milliways that was as close to up-to-date as it's possible to get when you're standing at the end of all days, as you put it. It's the last printed edition of one of our preferred reference volumes, the Spates Catalog of Otherworldly Denizens and Designations. Unfortunately, it's over twenty-two thousand pages long. It would most likely be easier to search for evidence of the drop-off we're looking for in our other books, or in some of the books in the parapsychology, history, and anthropology departments of the local universities, and work backwards from there."

[ilducasaggio.livejournal.com]

"Ahh, of course, of course." A smile gentles Prospero's face. "It has, mmm, it has been some time since I engaged in theory that challenged me so; I imagine that I am somewhat addled by disuse, so please, mmm, forgive my miscomprehension."

He gawks, then, as Egon describes the book in question. "I am in accord," he says, a little dazedly, "that perhaps it should not be the primary resource in our inquiry. Were we in my own native time, I would conjure up an information elemental and set it to the task of scouring that behemoth tome for pertinent information, but I rather suspect that there are precious few of those remaining, if any at all. Let us turn page, then--though I suggest that before we start in earnest, we draft an outline of what precisely qualifies as indication of a waning of ambient thaumic energies. And, if this is indeed a worldwide phenomena, perhaps we'd also best be on the look-out for cross-references with non-European cultures and civilizations."

[not-oswald.livejournal.com]

"Nothing to forgive," says Egon. "The fault was mine. Dr. Stantz and I understand each other well enough that we rarely have to use complete sentences when discussing abstract concepts. It's more efficient for us, but a sloppy speech habit when someone else is involved."

The corners of his mouth twitch in the closest he ever gets to a smile. "If information elementals exist, they've probably been pressed into electronic service somewhere. Not that I would mind having access to such a spirit. For now, though, the library's upstairs; I can get us access to Columbia's full collection with two phone calls. I don't suppose there's any chance you read the Chinese language? The Museum of the Chinese in the Americas maintains a much bigger collection of books and lore than the general public ever knows about, and they're nearby."