Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 604
found an image she remembered well: the single existing
group shot of the project team. She picked it up.
It felt different from the other pictures. Heavier.
Curious, she turned it over. While all the other photos had
been digital images printed on ordinary paper, this one was
done on some kind of stiff material, glossy on the image side
and smooth and waxy on the other. The glossy surface was
cracked in a couple of places.
She turned it over. A kind of watermark or stamp ran
across the back of the photo: Walther Photos.
"Serling, why is this picture different from the others?"
"Ah, an interesting question," said the serling. They
always said that when they didn’t know something; it was a
way of buying time while their AI widened its search for the
answer. After a barely perceptible pause, the serling said,
"This image was created using a photochemical camera.
Photochemical cameras predate digital technology. During this
era they were often used along with a holographic stamping
technology to record events in ways that could not be digitally
forged. The person who took his photograph must have
wanted a provably authentic record of the event."
Marya turned the picture over again. Sixty smiling
academics stood on a set of stone steps. Nothing exciting
about that, unless you knew the faces. But her heart was
pounding again.
She put down the photo and reached for the other box.
"Where is it..." There. Marya picked up one of the riot
pictures.
PHOTOS.
"Serling, how many shops were there in Hamburg at the
time that could make these chemical pictures?"
"Oh, let’s see... six. Quite a few, given the times."