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A living initiate of the Apparatus--the woriht of her The politicals had kept a close watch on the Rixwoman and Rana Harter since their arrival on the Lynx An Iave them absolute power over the two prisoners

"Captain"

"Initiate," Zai responded and turned to Bassiritz

"She actually said so to you, Private?" he asked

"Yes, sir Asked for you, sir"

Hobbes looked at the prisoner through the false transparency of the hypercarbon The cootten madwoman in an asylum She hadn&039;t spoken in her months of captivity--only those nine words when she&039;d been captured, a lament for her dead lover Why would she wait until now to reveal a e?

"Can ay this transparency?" Captain Zai asked

"No, sir There&039;s no hardscreen inside"

"Then let&039;s go in"

"Sir!" Hobbes protested "That&039;s a Rix co a shock collar Private, you have the remote?"

"Yes, sir" Bassiritz held the little hardkey up

"Keep it handy"

"Captain," interjected the initiate "I will take the remote, if you please"

"Initiate Farre," Zai said, "this man&039;s reflexes are far quicker than yours You&039;ll put our safety at risk"

"The Emperor is concerned about secrets supplied to the prisoner >68 by the cois," the initiate said "Is this cell secured?"

Zai glanced at Hobbes

"The cell has no particular data security, sir But it&039;s pretty blind in there No camwall or synesthesia projectors And she&039;s hardly been spilling secrets"

"Ma&039;am," Bassiritz offered nervously "There&039;s an extra rees"

They would only be safer with two remotes, Hobbes realized She nodded, and the marine produced another of the black hardkeys He handed it to Farre

Zai gestured, but the door failed to open Hobbes recalled that it was purely mechanical, cut off from automatics and even deco marine, who ordered two of the fire teaht

Bassiritz went through first

Captain Zai waited for afor the commando&039;s reaction The Rixwoman stood, but kept to her corner Hobbes sa that her ely disjointed, as sudden as a nervous bird&039;s

"Executive Officer," Zai said

Hobbes&039;s finger brushed the reassuring buh thefull of dumb, spray-on fila rankness The Rixwoman&039;s sweat had the scent of milk about to turn

Zai and the initiate came after her The four of them remained in the opposite corner froht, her face as still as some ancient lizard&039;s

"Captain Laurent Zai," she said Hobbes recognized in her accent the long vowels of Legis XV&039;s far northern provinces

"Yes And your name?" Zai answered

It had never occurred to Hobbes that she would have one

"Herd" Her accent slipped into soy, and the voas inflected by a zuzz at the back of the woe for ht Hobbes The compound mind had a name

Zai just nodded "What is it?"

The co Then shifted inside the straightjacket, rolling her shoulders

"Alexander wishes to give you a weapon"

"A weapon?" Zai asked, finally unable to keep surprise froy?"

"No, Captain Inforainst the Emperor"

Farre raised the shock remote

"You see, Captain? She has classified information"

Zai was silent for a lanced toward Private Bassiritz The co to create aan attack, and the old initiate would never react quickly enough to stop her Theout the words His eyes were fixed on the commando fiercely, as if she were soain touched the shape of her flechette pistol through the wool of her sleeve

"I am the Emperor&039;s servant," Zai said

"He is afraid of us, and he will destroy us if he can," the Rix-woman said

"Us?" Zai asked "You and?"

"The Lynx and Alexander Us We are bound together now"

Captain Zai placed his palan the catechism "Not even death--"

"A lie," Herd said quietly

Farre

"Silence," the initiate cried "Captain, you lared at the prisoner Hobbes thought for a moment that Zai would turn and leave the madwoed him, Zai was still appalled by her blasphemy

But instead he took a deep breath

"Of what is the Emperor afraid?" Laurent Zai asked, his jaw clenched with the effort of the calumnious words

"He has a secret," Herd said, "which Alexander discovered on Legis If this information became known, it would destroy his power"

"Silence!" the initiate shrieked, again flinching as if the words were dealing her physical blows Both her hands clenched around the remote

The Rixwohtjacket She toppled against the wall and slid down to the floor, her body as stiff as a statue, her face frozen in a terrible rictus

"Listen, Zai," she hissed, her accent beco flat and Rixian "The dead are--"

Then the collar overwhel like a corpse animated with electrical shocks "Private," the captain said quietly

Bassiritz adjusted his own remote, and the shock collar released the co her head and shaking as if she&039;d been shocked as well

Hobbes ignored the initiate and took a few steps toward the prisoner She knelt, still a meter away, and looked into the commando&039;s now slack face

Saliva bubbled frolared back at Farre

"Silence," the political insisted again, her voice reduced to a s with a strange, horrified expression Yet the ely pleased, as if he&039;d just squashed soe and repellent insect

"Cut the audio feed from this room," Zai said to the wall "No more contact with this prisoner"

"Sir?" Hobbes asked

"She may indeed know Iuard them"

Hobbes reached out a hand, and touched the woman&039;s neck She felt for a pulse

"They have no hearts, Hobbes," Zai said "Not the beating kind, anyway"

The executive officer nodded The skin was rooenerally cold-blooded to prevent ther

"Come away from there," Zai ordered softly