her shoulder, her face grave.
“Wait for it,” she said.
Lines of text, bone-white on black, scrolled down the screen.
9:58 AM: Subject passes camera on Staten Island Expressway @ Bradley Ave. Crossref file #809777-B7-2 for registered vehicle information.
10:17 AM: Subject recorded at patient check-in, Millsborough Clinic. Per crossref #238412-O9-8, subject is in active treatment for clinical depression. Last prescription was filled on 8/9 for Wellbutrin XL, 300 mg to be taken twice daily. Frequency pattern of refills indicates subject is not complying with doctor’s instructions and may be missing 22.5% of expected doses.
“Fuck me,” Tyler breathed. “This thing is pulling medical records?”
Nell waved at the screen. “We need to get some engineers in here, crack the system open and figure out how it does what it does, but as far as I can tell it takes the privileged access the city handed over to the Weaver Group for the legal, public function of the Loom, then piggybacks on that access to pull some massively illegal shit. This is only the beginning. Check it out.”
With a click, the log unveiled Mary Conworth’s credit-card receipts. A glowing link instantly compiled a report on her monthly spending patterns, cross-referencing her outstanding debt and her student loans. Another offered a breakdown of her media consumption, from her Netflix queue to the last five books she checked out from the library.
“There are at least a thousand entries in this log,” Nell said. “A thousand New Yorkers this thing has harvested, from one day of limited operation.”
Consumer analysis, entertainment category, the log read. Subject prefers video-streaming services over rentals. Book purchases show a tolerance price point of $11.99, with a gradual curve increasing down to the $4.99 point before gains drop off (click link for graph). Preferred genres are romantic comedy, mystery…
“Advertising.” Tyler shook his head. “The Loom is a giant scam. They’re data-mining so they can sell these people’s profiles to the highest bidder.”
“That’s what I thought at first, too,” Nell said. She clicked another link.
Final executive analysis: subject does not meet criteria for active operations ERINYES or HYPNOS. Mark as disregarded.
“Who is ‘Erin Yes’?” Tyler asked.
“The Erinyes,” Seelie said. “Also known as the Furies. Tisiphone, Megaera…and Alecto, if I remember right. I’m pretty sure about the first two.”
Nell swiveled in her chair, looking her way. Seelie gave an anxious little shrug.
“I read a lot of books. The Erinyes were goddesses of the underworld, in Greek mythology. Goddesses of vengeance and punishment. They’d go after murderers, oath breakers, thieves. People whose crimes offended the divine order.”
Nell navigated the folders of stolen data, opening up the ERINYES file.
“The Loom can look for specific criteria,” Nell said, “and analyze it on a weighted scale. Every citizen the machine targets gets run through these two lists. If you score enough points, the Loom flags you for special attention.”
“Like, if a company wanted to sell cars, the Loom could find people who are most likely to buy one?” Seelie asked.
Tyler crossed his arms. “If you wanted to sell anything at all. A perfect harvest of ideal customers, with a breakdown of exactly what they want and exactly how much they’re willing to pay. And the Weaver Group could sell the data for…I can’t even imagine how much. Advertisers all over the world would kill for this kind of access.”
“Again, that was my theory,” Nell said. “But then I checked the criteria list.”
A spreadsheet blossomed on the screen. Tyler leaned in, reading out loud.
“Anyone who sets foot in the history department at five different area universities gets two points per visit, purchases of books about the American Revolution are worth a quarter point each, accessing source materials at the library on Fifth Avenue gets you ten points…”
Seelie’s lips slowly parted.
“Don’t tell me,” she whispered. “This isn’t what I think it is.”
Flagged subject: Wendt, Arthur. ERINYES file designation 6.
“It’s not about advertising,” Nell said.
Analysis: Subject scores in the 97th percentile for suspicious activity. Subject scores in the 96th percentile for suspicious movement and travel unrelated to his employment.
Conclusion: High confidence that Arthur Wendt is a member of, or adjacent to a member of, the Culper network. File is immediately referred for human surveillance, investigation, and subject termination.
“The machine hunts,” Nell said. “That’s what it does. That’s why the Weaver Group created it. Every new contract, every city they expand it to…it’s not about the money. It’s about the data. The Loom was built to hunt, and kill, the Culper Ring.”
“Meanwhile, the Culpers wanted to use you to smear the Weaver Group and ruin