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It sounded so very reasonable Just give the ive hi would knoas lying Starling would know and punish hi it over, Mr Harlowe You are an intelligent man A scholar even By all accounts you did very well at university The records show you succeeded at the uppermost levels in your courses and fieldwork"

They had looked at his school records? Cade despaired of getting any lies past the Inquisitor

"Perhaps so continued "Or ive me names, and there will be no reason to further--"

He was interrupted by knocking, and a door creaked open somewhere behind Cade It shed thin illu demanded "Can’t you see I’m with a subject?"

"Sorry, sir," caht "Dr Silk would like a ith you"

Starling’s surprise was obvious "Dr Silk? What does he want?"

"I don’t know, sir, but he’s outside waiting and quite insistent"

"All right, all right One rumbled "In the name of the empire No one interrupts one of my sessions Ever Not even Dr Silk But alas, I must obey" It was said as if he expected Cade to sympathize with him "Butler!" he cried as he strode across the floor

A mechanical apparatus rolled over on a trio of cast iron wheels Instead of a spherical body like an Enforcer, its ears, wheels, belts and pulleys, were exposed Cade had never seen the internal workings of an Enforcer, though he, Jax, and the others had drea one to learn what they could about the devices, but they’d scrapped one plan after another as too dangerous The Enforcers and Starling’s "butler" were different, but they must be similar in essential ways There was, however, no stea with etherea, the ines were enough to power them, unlike mechanicals located in other parts of the eine, so he could only guess that it had to do hat looked like an ordinary jug in the center of all the workings filled with , to various parts of the apparatus, with a puasped and wheezed like a sickly old man

Besides the wheels, the es that scissored out toward Starling Each had a claw on its end Starling extended his hands and the claws tugged off his gloves The mechanical butler then rolled away back into the darkness and out of sight

Starling turned once more to Cade "You must excuse this interruption, Mr Harlowe, inconvenient as it is, but perhaps it will give you the opportunity to reflect and consider your options" Then he turned to the mender "And you, Marcus, are not to touch hi"

"Yes, sir"

Starling grunted, then left the Cade sat back, closed his eyes The very air ate at the slashed skin of his face His head still rang fro had said, only his warm-up