“Is that what causes the valve node emissions that you and Katashi were tracking in Colorado and Texas?” I asked.
“Those are part of it, yes,” he said. “There’s a steady flow of potency to Earth along with occasional bigger bursts. Node emissions normally follow a regular pattern, whereas unpredictable emergency overloads surge through the whole system and disperse via both nodes and valves.” He scowled at the crumbs before him and swept them into a pile with sharp movements. “The problem is that instability screws up the distribution. Instead of an even spread, one valve gets an overload for the duration of the burst. Too much for too long, and it creates a situation like you had at the pond with the potential for a lot of damage.”
“How is a node different from a valve?” I asked. “Apart from size, I mean.”
“There’s not much difference on the Earth side,” he said. “Nodes are more robust than valves, like a branch compared to a twig. Functionally though, they’re the interdimensional conduits between the demon realm and Earth, which is how the potency actually gets from there to here.”
“Like an oil pipeline,” Bryce put in.
“Close,” Idris said with an approving nod. “Combine that with the bridge analogy and you have it. The nodes are big tunnel-bridges that carry the potency from the demon realm to here. When the potency gets to the end of the tunnel-bridge it empties into the pipelines—the valve network.”
“The node is in both worlds, but the valves are fully on Earth?” I asked.
He nodded. “Twelve trunks on the demon side—one in each lord’s realm and one with the Council. Each trunk splits into two valve nodes to create the bridges. The Earth end of each node branches into two valves, and each valve splits into a bunch of micro-valves.”
“To disperse the outflow,” Bryce said with a slow nod. “Without the valves and micro-valves the potency pollution could dump all in one place—”
“—and cause damage or disruptive changes,” Idris finished for him.
“Do you know the locations of all the local valves?” I asked.
From the side pouch of his messenger bag, Idris pulled a battered map that had been folded to isolate eastern Louisiana. Numbered red circles marked close to a dozen locations. “These are the sites Katashi shared when I was with him, but you might have some that I don’t.”
“Hang on.” I hurried to the computer room and returned a few seconds later with a map almost as battered as his and a single sheet of paper. “On this map are the valves I found when Tracy Gordon was trying to make a gate, along with locations that Rhyzkahl searched for on my computer.” I handed it over, then smiled and held the paper up. “But I also have Tracy’s journals—with map coordinates plus dates and times for the valve node emissions y’all were chasing. And, because I’m super awesome, I’m giving you this summary page so you don’t have to decipher the journals.” I placed it on the table with a flourish.
Idris offered a genuine smile. “Cool. That’ll be really helpful,” It took him less than a minute to compare both maps. “You have a few that I don’t,” he said as he marked them on his copy. “This area has the highest concentration of valves in the world.” He pushed his map to the center of the table so we could see. “Five nodes and ten valves within a hundred miles of here.”
“That explains why this place is so fucking weird,” I muttered.
Bryce let out a bark of laughter. “What I don’t get is, if they could build a valve system to cross dimensions, why couldn’t they make it vent to space or onto an unpopulated planet?”
“I have no freaking idea,” Idris said with a helpless shrug. “I asked Katashi the same question, but if he knew he didn’t want to tell me.”
“Speaking of that steaming piece of shit,” I said, “how do we fix what he’s screwed up?”
“I’ll know more once I check out a few valves,” Idris said. “In theory, the ones he worked with directly are most likely to destabilize, so for now the plan is to assess the valves and stabilize as needed.”
Bryce cleared his throat. “Why can’t we put an end to this shit by closing off the valves before Katashi gets to them? Like Kara did at the plantation.”
Idris gave me a startled look. “Close off valves? How?”
Oh, right. He hadn’t seen what I did to the plantation valve node because he’d already left with Mzatal by the time I sealed it. “Hate to rain on your parade,” I said, “but it’s not that simple. The barricade seal is a last resort. Think of it as a storm grate. It lets potency flow through while keeping lords out. It also does a decent job of stabilizing. The problem is that it blocks about thirty percent of the potency flow.”
Idris winced. “So it’s a good emergency measure, but too many valves and nodes blocked like that would create back pressure in the system.”
“Yep,” I said. “Kablooey.”