He was about to ask if she meant a public announcement was left for others to read when he remembered that the information about the 'shellphone' had included something about being 'anonymous'. He hadn't explored it much, but the communication matrix the shellphones provided access to seemed very complex. Investigating who spoke about it initially, if they did not want to share their identity, would not be a simple matter.

"As you have not been able to investigate the matter, how can you know their disappearance wasn't caused by an unknown artifact?" he asked. "Perhaps it caused them to 'disappear' but the one who talked about it could not tell what the cause was or that there was a connection."