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QUESTION: Who governs the governors?
ANSWER: Entropy
- Gowachin riddle
Many things conspired to frustrate McKie Few people other than Jedrik answered his questions Most responded as though to a cretin Jedrik treated hih he were a child of unknown potential At times, he knew he amused her Other ti hi him away
It was now late afternoon of the fifth day in the battle for Chu, and Broey&039;s forces still held out in the heart of the city with their slim corridor to the Rim He knew this from reports he&039;d overheard He stood in a s four cots where, apparently she and/or her commanders snatched occasional rest One tall, narro looked out to the south Rim McKie found it difficult to realize that he&039;d coun to gather over the Rie in the weather He knew that s Dosadi had no such thing as weather control Awareness of this left hi oddly vulnerable Nature could be so darip on her vagaries
McKie blinked, held his breath for a aries of sentient nature had moved the Gowachin to set up this experiment Did they really hope to control that vast, seething conglomerate of motives? Or had they some other reason for Dosadi, a reason which he had not yet penetrated? Was this, after all, a test of Caleban ht not
He knew the way Aritch and aides said they&039;d set up this experiment Observations here bore out their explanations None of that data was consistent with an attempt to understand the Calebans Only that brief encounter with Pcharky, a thing which Jedrik no longer illing to discuss
Nothat so essential lay hidden in the way this planet had been set upon its experi the Gowachin hadn&039;t revealed, so they perhaps didn&039;t even understand the? They had this place, Dosadi, the subjects, the Primaryyes, the Primary The inherent inequality of individuals dominated Gowachin minds And there was that damnable DemoPol How had they mandated it? Better yet: how did they maintain that mandate?
Aritch&039;s people had hoped to expose the inner workings of sentient social systeinning to look at that explanation with Dosadi eyes, with Dosadi skepticis able to leave here in his own body/node? How could he be Jedrik&039;s key to the God Wall? McKie knew he needed et from Jedrik Did Broey have this inforht in the end have to clihts to the Council Hills for his answers Was that even possible now?
When he&039;d asked for it, Jedrik had given hi:
"Don&039;t interfere"
Interfere hat?
When he&039;d asked, she&039;d just stared at him
She had, however, taken him around to familiarize everyone with his status He was never quite sure what that status uest and prisoner
Jedrik had required minimal conversation with her people Often, she&039;d used only hand waves to convey the necessary signals of passage The whole traverse was a lesson for McKie, beginning with the doorguards
"McKie" Pointing at hiuards nodded
Jedrik had other concerns
"Team Nine?"
"Back at noon"
"Send word"
Everyone subjected McKie to a hard scrutiny which he felt certain would let them identify him with minimal interruption
There were two elevators: one an express frouarded street entrance on the side of the building, the other starting above the fourth level at the ceiling of Pcharky&039;s cage They took this one, went up, pausing at each floor for guards to see hie room, McKie saw that a desk had been installed just inside the street door The father of those three wild children sat there watching Pcharky,occasional notations in a notebook McKie had a name for him now, Ardir
Jedrik paused at the desk
"McKie can co hi this time with me"
"No need to be sarcastic, McKie"
He had not intended sarcasm and reminded himself once more that the usual amenities of the ConSentiency suffered a different interpretation here
Jedrik glanced through Ardir&039;s notes, looked up at Pcharky, back to McKie Her expression did not change
"We will meet for dinner"
She left him then
For his part, McKie had approached Pcharky&039;s cage, noting the tension this brought to the roouards and observers The old Gowachin sat in his hammock with an indifferent expression on his face The bars of the cage elowed
"What happens if you touch the bars?" McKie asked
The Gowachin jowls puffed in a faint shrug
McKie pointed
"There&039;s energy in those bars What is that energy? How is it
"How is the universe , is that when it was created?"
"Is it a Caleban thing?"
Shrug
McKie walked around the cage, studying it There were glistening bulbs wherever the bars crossed each other The rods upon which the ha They penetrated the cage top without touching it The hammock itself appeared to be fabric It was faintly blue He returned to his position facing Pcharky
"Do they feed you?"
No answer
Ardir spoke fro His excreta are hosed into the reclamation lines"
McKie spoke over his shoulder
"I see no door into the cage How&039;d he get in there?"
"It was built around hi to his own instructions"
"What are the bulbs where the bars cross?"
"They cae"
"How&039;d he do that?"
"We don&039;t know Do you?"
McKie shook his head from side to side
"How does Pcharky explain this?"
"He doesn&039;t"
McKie had turned away to face Ardir, probing,the focus of questions from Pcharky to the planetary society itself Ardir&039;s answers, especially on ion and history, were banal
Later, as he stood in the roo the experience, McKie found his thoughts touching on a matter which had not even co time that Dosadi was a Gowachin creation They&039;d known it long before McKie had appeared on the scene It was apparent in the way they focused on Pcharky, in the way they reacted to Broey McKie had added one significant datum: that Dosadi was a Gowachin experi hiht expect She said he was the key to the God Wall, but hoas he that key?
The ansas not to be found in Ardir That one had not tried to evade McKie&039;s questions, but the answers betrayed a severely liination
McKie felt deeply disturbed by this insight It was not so much what theopenly in detail were Ardir was no dolt This was a Huh in Jedrik&039;s hierarchy Many speculations would&039;ve crossed his mind Yet he made no mention of even the more obvious speculations He raised no questions about the way Dosadi history ran to a single cutoff point in the past without any trace of evolutionary beginnings He did not appear to be a religious person and even if he were, Dosadi would not perious inhibitions Yet Ardir refused to explore the ious attitudes McKie had been told to expect Ardir played out the right attitudes, but there was no basis for them underneath It was all surface
McKie suddenly despaired of ever getting a deep answer from any of these people - even from Jedrik
An increase in the noise level out in the coht McKie&039;s attention He opened the door, stood in the doorway to study the other room
A new map had been posted on the far wall There was a position board, transparent and covered with yellow, red, and blue dots, over theearphones - worked the board,the colored markers Jedrik stood with her back to McKie, talking to several commanders who&039;d just come in from the streets They still carried their weapons and packs It was their conversation which had attracted McKie He scanned the room, noted two communications screens at the left wall, both inactive They were new since his last view of the room and he wondered at their purpose
An aide leaned in from the hallway, called out:
"Gate Twenty-One just reported Everything has quieted there They want to know if they should keep their reserves on the alert"
"Have the brought here," the aide added
"I see it," Jedrik said
She nodded toward the position board
McKie, following the direction of her gaze, sao yellow ht blue co how he understood this, he saw that this must be the prisoners and their escort There were tensions in the command post which told him this was an important event Who were those prisoners?
One of Jedrik&039;s commanders spoke
"I saw theto him and he broke off Two people on the position board exchanged places, trading earphones The ate and the prisoners had gone Another er came in presently, conferred in a soft voice with people near the door
In a fewGar and Tria securely trussed hat appeared to be shining wire McKie recognized the pair fros The escort carried their prisoners like soand each ar her
McKie found himself suddenly aware, in an extremely Dosadi way, of many of the nuances here It filled hi to steer clear of all the furniture The er from the hallway delayed his departure, reluctant to leave He&039;d recognized the prisoners and knew so important was about to happen
Gar and Tria were dus," Jedrik said
The escort obeyed
Jedrik waited, staring across at the position board The two yellow and eight blue markers had been reh So there was more important than these two prisoners She pointed to a cluster of red markers in an upper corner
"See to that"
One of her commanders left the room