Chapter Four: The Tapes Remember True Names

The cellar below was larger than the studio. Hundreds of cassettes filled its shelves, each labeled with a name and date. Meteorite iron could rewrite electronics, Granny Qiao explained, but not voices fixed in magnetic powder. For a century, each Keeper of Names had secretly recorded people's identities before an exchange. "Where is Wen Mo's last recording?" Shen Wu asked. Granny Qiao found a case marked FORTY-THREE. Wen Mo's calm voice emerged. "My name is Wen Mo. If I wear Shen Zhao's face after the full moon, I have allowed her old memories to reside in me. Do not harm that face. Find the banquet hall beneath the white water tower and sing my name home."