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seem to give a shit about the answers."
"What sort of questions?" Else asked.
"Who was I, what was my job, how did I hook up wit' the Patriarch's army."
"Why would they want to know that instead of something more operational?"
"Yeah, well, they asked a bunch of questions about all kinds of shit.
Especially about that Brotherhood sorcerer. That Grade Drocker. An' about what
happened in the Connec. Only like not about what, exactly, but more like why
an' how. An' who really stirred things up. I think they gave up on me pretty
quick on account of they realized that I'm a nobody who don't know nothin'
about nothin'."
The second man said much the same. Likewise, the third, though by now Else
had the impression that the interrogations were tailored to their objects.
Which suggested that the interrogators had a good idea who they were
questioning before they started.
Pinkus Ghort was the fourth man taken. He was absent more than an hour. He
returned unhurt but drained. He flopped onto his pallet. "That was rough. In a
nonphysical way. It's hard to keep everything straight when they ask you the
same thing fifty different times fifty different ways."
Bronte Doneto was curious. And worried. His turn would come. He was right
there listening when Else countered, "How so?"
"It was like Bo and the others said. Only there was more of
it. They was infatuated with the notion that I know all of the Patriarch's
personal secrets on account of I was like a pick-up captain in a half-ass gang
of robbers that Sublime sent out. So what if I've never been any closer to the
old boy than I am right now?"
"Did they threaten you? Did they try to bribe you?"
"No. And that was weird, too. I don't think they really cared what I
answered. They just wanted to ask the questions."
That bothered Bronte Doneto. Else asked, "Sir? Have we missed something?"
"They may be using lie-detecting spells. If they have specialist adepts, our
answers won't matter. What were the questioners like?"
Ghort replied, "They didn't look like no kind of wizards. They was just
soldiers. Guys used to getting their hands dirty. I recognized one of them
from somewhere. The guy on the end, on their right, was somebody that I should
ought to remember. But I don't know where from."
More men went through the process, some for longer, some not so long. Just
Plain Joe was away only eight minutes.
When Joe came back the soldiers beckoned Pinkus. Ghort protested, "I've
already been."
"Then you know the way. Let's go." j
Ghort was gone a long time. !
The soldiers wanted Principate Doneto next. Things got tense. Ghort said,
'Take it easy, Chief. It ain't that big a deal."
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"Why did they call you back?" Else asked after the door slammed behind the
Principate.
"Maybe they didn't understand me the first time. They asked all the same
questions. I'm thinking maybe Doneto is right Something is going on besides
them asking questions."
"It took them over an hour to get the same old answers you already gave
them?"
"Oh, no. That part added up to only maybe twenty minutes. In the middle of
it they all just got up and left. Like they went out for dinner or something.
And didn't need to worry about me."
"So you just sat there?"
"Well, I got up and wandered around some. I didn't go far. They locked the
door."
Bronte Doneto was gone for.hours. He was exhausted when he returned. He had
little to say. He sucked down a bowl of lentil soup, curled up in his blanket
and slept.
His was die last interview of die day.
THE INTERVIEWS RESUMED NEXT MORNING. THE FIRST MAN taken had gone before. He
reported, "They're up to somediing different. It was about religion this
time."
Else went third. He was not nervous. He could handle basic religious
questions. He had been paying attention.
The room was exactly as described, featureless and brightly lighted. The
smell of tallow was strong. Four men sat behind a table, their backs to a
wall. One straight-backed, hard chair faced the table. The men did not look
like professional inquisitors. The man farthest to Else's right might be a
priest. He pegged two more as soldiers. The man between the priest and
soldiers, though, was someone important. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]