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"Their law! It is a dangerous foundation for nonauthentic traditions It is no more than a device to justify false ethics!"
- Gowachin comment on ConSentient Law
While they dressed in the dian testing what Jedrikhis teacher
"Will you answer any question I ask about Dosadi?" "No"
Then what areas would she withhold from him? He saw it at once: those areas where she gained and held personal power
"Will anyone resent it that wehad sex together?" "Resent? Why should anyone resent that?"
"I don&039;t"
"Answer my question!"
"Why do I have to answer your every question?"
"To stay alive"
"You already know everything I"
She brushed this aside
"So the people of your ConSentiency sometimes resent the sexual relationships of others They are not sure, then, how they use sex to hold power over others"
He blinked Her quick, slashing analysis was devastating
She peered at him
"McKie, what can you do here without me? Don&039;t you know yet that the ones who sent you intended you to die here?"
"Or survive in my own peculiar way"
She considered this It was another idea about McKie which she had put aside for later evaluation Indeed, he ht well have hidden talents which her questions had not yet exposed What annoyed her noas the sense that she didn&039;t know enough about the ConSentiency to explore this Could not take the tiht now to explore it His response disturbed her It was as though everything she could possibly do had already been decided for her by powers of which she knew next to nothing They were leading her by the nose, perhaps, just as she led Broeyjust as those mysterious Gowachin of the ConSentiency obviously had led McKiepoor McKie She cut this short as unprofitable speculation Obviously, she had to begin at once to search out McKie&039;s talent Whatever she discovered would reveal a great deal about his ConSentiency
"McKie, I hold a great deal of power a some Gowachin in the Warrens - and elsewhere To do this, I ht with physical weapons"
He nodded Her tone was that of lecturing to a child, but he accepted this, recognizing the care she took with hi area where we , she led him out into the hall and down a stairhich avoided the rooh, thinking about that gigantic expenditure of space with its strange e occupant
"Why do you keep Pcharky caged?" he asked, addressing Jedrik&039;s back
"So I can escape"
She refused to elaborate on this odd answer
Presently, they eed into a courtyard nestled into the solid walls of towering buildings Only a small square of sky was visible directly overhead and far away Artificial lighting fro the walls provided an adequate illu each other in the center of the courtyard They were Humans, both male and female; all carried weapons: a tube of some sort with a wandlike protrusion from the end near their bodies Several other Humans stood at observation positions around the two squads There was a guard station with a desk at the door through which McKie and Jedrik had eed
"That&039;s an assault force," Jedrik said, indicating the squads in the courtyard She turned and consulted with the two young h count of the squads: about two hundred It was obvious that everything had stopped because of Jedrik&039;s presence He thought the force was cos barely blooded in Dosadi&039;s cruel necessities This forced him to a reevaluation of his own capabilities
Frouessed she knew the she said They, too, struck hi area was anothersimilarity to other such facilities he&039;d seen in the backwaters of the ConSentiency War ga several species, a lure which BuSab had ed thus far to channel into such diversions as weapons fetishes
Through the o He sniffed
Turning to him, Jedrik spoke:
"The trainees have just been fed That&039;s part of their pay"
It was as though she&039;d read his lanced around the training area They&039;d just been fed here? There wasn&039;t a scrap or cruht back to the restaurant, belatedly aware of a fastidious care with food that he&039;d seen and passed right over
Again, Jedrik demonstrated the ease hich she read his reactions, his very thoughts
"Nothing wasted," she said
She turned away
McKie looked where her attention went Four women stood at the far side of the courtyard, weapons in their hands Abruptly, McKie focused on the wo fe ait couldn&039;t be, butJedrik headed across the courtyard toward the woman McKie followed, peered closely at the woed version of the pentrate from his kit! Jedrik spoke briefly to the woht it up this "
"Useful?"
"We think so It focuses the explosion with somewhat more concentration than our equip cadre near the wall behind the women One, an older man with one arm, tried to catch Jedrik&039;s attention as she led McKie toward a nearby door
"Could you tell us e"
"Not now"
In the passage beyond the door, Jedrik turned and confronted McKie
"Your i? Quick!"
"Not sufficiently versatile"
She&039;d obviously probed for his ut response un expression to her face, an emotional candor which he was not to appreciate until much later Presently, she nodded
"They are a commando More functions of a coeable Wait here"
She returned to the training area McKie, watching through the open door, saw her speak to the woman with the pentrate When Jedrik returned, she nodded to McKie with an expression of approval
"Anything else?"
"They&039;re awfully da You should have a few seasoned officers aerous impetuosity"
"Yes, I&039;ve already set that in motion Hereafter, McKie, I want you to co for about an hour Watch the training, but don&039;t interfere Report your reactions to me"
He nodded Clearly, she considered hiht direction But it was an idiotic assignment These violent infants possessed weapons which could make Dosadi uninhabitable There was an atavistic exciteh He couldn&039;t deny that So in the Human psyche responded to mass violence - really, to violence of any sort It was related to Hu fro on, however
"Stay close"
They were cli to keep up, found his thoughts locked on that pentrate in the hands of one of Jedrik&039;s people The speed hich they&039;d copied and enlarged it dazzled him It was another demonstration of why Aritch feared Dosadi
At the top of the stairs, Jedrik rapped briefly at a door Aopen, and McKie found himself presently in a small, unoccupied room with an open portal at the far wall into what appeared to be a larger, well-lighted area Voices speaking so softly as to be unintelligible came from there A low table and five cramped chairs occupied the small room There were no s, but a frosted overhead fixture provided shadowless illuraph lines on it covered the low table
A swish of fabric brought McKie&039;s attention to the open portal A short, slender wo stare of sohtly taller man in the same white He looked older than the woman, except his hair remained a lustrous black His eyes, too, held that air of command The woman spoke
"Excuse the delay, Jedrik We&039;ve been changing the summation There&039;s now no point where Broey can anticipate and change the transition from riots to full-scale warfare"
McKie was surprised by the abject deference in her voice This woman considered herself to be far below Jedrik Theto chairs
"Sit down, please This chart is our suht a strong whiff of soent on her breath, a not unfaht traces of it several tih the Warrens She went on speaking as Jedrik and McKie slipped into chairs