Chapter Thirty-Eight - The Scientist

"Hello!" Crystal called out with a cheerful wave. She looked like someone who didn't have a single care in the world, which was entirely accurate, but Alice imagined that it might still unnerve the men ahead of them.

The mercenary-sorts adjusted their grips on their assault rifles. Judging by the way they stood, they were ready to bring their guns up in a moment and open up on any of them.

The only one who was worried in their group was Vasilisa. The young woman stepped in behind Alice, using her as cover, which Alice supposed wasn't a terrible idea.

"Identify yourself!" the mercenary nearest them called out. He was half-hidden by the wreck of an old car while his partner was deeper in the shadows of the overpass. Not just in the shadows of the overpass, but partially hidden behind a delivery van. To a person with normal eyesight he'd be almost invisible there.

The scientist, or the man that Alice had decided to label as such, had been ushered into that van. He was squatting in there now, two duffel bags next to him and a tiny pistol in hand. Still, the man was crawling to the front of the van to see out of its windshield.

"Uh, my name is Crystal," Crystal said. "And these are my friends. That's Vasilisa, we just met, and that's Alice, she's my best friend and mentor! Who are you?"

The mercenary shifted, seeming just a little awkward for a moment. "Go around the far end of the pass," he said with a gesture to his right, towards the other end of the overpass which did have few stalled out cars in it. "Then keep on moving."

Alice considered it for a moment. That was... not the worst offer they could have gotten. It was a little impolite, but it was at least civil. More or less. She looked at that end of the overpass then frowned slightly. "There are anomalies there," she said.

Electricity was dancing between a puddle in the centre of the area and the metal bumper of a car. Just little flashes and sparks, no louder than some static electricity, but when she poked at the anomaly with her other senses, she felt that it was quite large, covering a good portion of the pass.

"Do you want us to electrocute ourselves?" she asked the mercenary.

He scoffed. "Go around, then," he said. "This area is off limits."

"Why?" Crystal asked.

"Because I said so."

"... Why?" she asked again.

The man's eyes twitched. This was not, Alice presumed, someone who had to deal with children, or Crystal, before.

"Because I said so," he snapped again. His grip on his rifle tightened. "Don't you know to listen when your elders are talking?"

"Not really. I found that old people aren't any smarter than young people. They're just more set in their old people ways. Do you have any idea how much disrespect we got from older people who just thought that because they had a few decades on us they knew better about stuff like magic and being magical girls? It's ridiculous! So, I don't care what you think, and I'm gonna ask again... why?"

The mercenary glowered. Oh yes, he was very much annoyed, but Alice suspected that he'd live through it. The man half-turned and looked back to his companion, as if asking them for permission to do something.

From the intent wafting off of him, she suspected he wanted to fire a warning shot. Give a man a gun and he'd find a million solutions that involved shooting something, of course.

"Wait!"

They all turned towards the van where the scientist was stumbling his way out the back. He tripped on his way out, caught himself on the other mercenary, then jogged over while fixing his coat on properly and adjusting his glasses.

The man that Alice had called the scientist was in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, with hair that desperately needed a trim and bottle-bottom glasses that barely clung onto his face. He was thin, and would have been lanky if he wasn't so short. "Wait!" he said again.

His mercenary pal slowed him down, not allowing him to get past his position and closer to Alice and her companions. "Sir, they might be a threat."

"Oh, they definitely are," he agreed. "Hello! My name is Raivis, from the European Scientific Advisory Committee on Zone Research!"

"The ESAC...ZR?" Crystal tried.

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Raivis smiled weakly. "It's not a very good name," he admitted. "The Stalkers call us the Greenies, on account of, well." He tugged at his button-up shirt, which was a pale green. His pants were green as well, looking more like nurses scrubs than what someone ought to be wearing out in a place like this.

"Well, hi Raivis," Crystal said. "It's nice to meet you. I think you heard our names?"

"I have, yes," he said. "And this isn't the first I hear of you. You were at the Camp recently, were you not?"

Alice didn't so much as twitch, but Vasilisa flinched behind her. "Aren't you rather far from the Camp?" Alice asked.

"It's only a day's walk," he said. "Barely even, if you know the right trails. In either case, I heard about you over the radio."

"The Camp has radio?" Crystal asked.

Alice thought back to what she remembered of the Camp and its campus. There had been a few satellite dishes in the back, and a few small radio towers. She supposed it was entirely possible that an education centre like that would have a ham radio setup. In fact, it would make a lot of sense for it to have that. The various factions in and around the Zone needed to communicate with each other at times, and radio was probably much safer than sending messengers across the Zone.

"We're responsible for keeping the communication network and relays around the Zone functional," Raivis said. "It's one of the reasons we're... accepted by most of the factions around here."

"That's neat," Crystal said. "I'm a bit of a radio amateur myself!"

"Really? You do ham?"

"I like pork," Crystal agreed with a nod. "But my radios are all crystal, because that's the best!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Alice said. "But I'm afraid we're going to have to continue on our way. Is the rest of this overpass safe to cross?"

"Oh," Raivis said. "No no, don't leave just yet. Forgive me, I get distracted easily. Yes, right, where was I... you three attacked and killed the leader of the Camp yesterday, yes? And you got away!"

Alice noticed the mercenaries tensing up. So, they hadn't been aware, just Raivis. "Is that going to be a problem?" she asked.

"No, no! I'm more curious about how you managed to do it! You must have used some anomalies to assist you. No one could have killed the leader of the Camp in the centre of the Camp itself and gotten away so easily without that kind of thing. Please! I won't take what's yours, I merely want to document it."

"Oh, uh, we didn't use any anomalies," Crystal said. "We used magic, it's different."

"Magic? No, there's no such thing as magic," he said. "It's all science. We've managed to study some smaller anomalies and have established a basis for understanding them. Those we've brought back for study have propelled our understanding of the universe by leaps and bounds! There has never been a more exciting time to be a scientist. Every datapoint we discover now is one more piece of the puzzle!"

"That's neat, but we really do just use magic," Crystal said. She opened her hand and created a small foot-tall figure of Raivis. "See? No anomalies, just cool magical girl powers."

"Incredible," he gasped. "You must let me study that effect! Can you imagine! The creation of crystal with such ease? Or is it a projection? Even that would be amazing, so many applications!"

"Uh," Crystal said.

"Mister Raivis," Alice said, cutting in. "We might be willing to share some slight information that we have for knowledge that you possess. I imagine your group has studied the Zone quite extensively?"

"We have," he said. "And we'd, I'd, be more than willing to trade knowledge for knowledge. I can't think of a more fair way to grow more knowledgeable about something."

Alice nodded. "In that case, would you be willing to tell your escorts to stand down? Their posturing does nothing but make them look bad and waste energy."

Raivis gestured for his mercenaries to lower their rifles. They absolutely did not, which Alice supposed was only fair. They only tensed up more when Crystal skipped over and gave Raivis' hand a shake. "So! Where even are we, because we have no idea!" she said.

"Ah, well, how do you want to do this trade?" he asked. "A question for a question?"

"Sure!" Crystal said. "But nothing too complicated, we don't want to lose the entire day chatting!"

***