Santana waits in the cleared corridor, his attention fixed on Nemea and the transparent blue guitar. Stella;) remains seated by the road case, while Kiki watches from her drums.
A tired-looking middle-aged woman, medium-built with short, tightly curled black hair, medium-brown skin, and a navy blazer over a gray blouse, hurries around the corner, clutching a phone and several printed pages. Her black production headset hangs crookedly against a wrinkled venue badge.
Mara Venn
I am Mara Venn, production coordinator. Please tell me that guitar did not just make a second recording appear on my system.
She thrusts the phone toward them. It plays Nemea's stabilizing rhythm, then a low, layered resonance beneath it, too clear to be venue noise. The printed report lists every microphone as silent to that frequency.
Sazabi's Santana
That is the cost, isn't it? The guitar does more than shape sound. It leaves evidence that ordinary equipment cannot explain.
Mara Venn
I can keep this inside the production office for maybe ten minutes. After that, I call the authorities, and I hand them the report. I need an explanation now.
Stella;)
The sound started when Nemea played. If there is a cost, she may be the only one who knows what it is.
Explain the guitar's capabilities and cost to Santana