The DrearGyre
Page 11
the class ended. Her classmates thought it’d been a waste of time. She caught sight of him later. He wasn’t Starfleet. Not anymore. He paused to look at the students milling about the campus, then walked off. His smile, full of sadness, filled her with dread.
The Federation would have changed anything sensitive she knew months ago. So when she could no longer resist, she gave them everything she could. Even her locker number at Starfleet Academy. She realized they must have accessed her personal logs on the T’naarr before destroying the ship.
The field bathed her in its intimate torment. She felt herself vibrate, resonate with the pain. Someone was speaking. Her eyes opened to see who would disturb her in this little private world of suffering.
“Hello, 738766.”
“Hello, Mistress Syll.”
“You are doing very well, 738766. You have our gratitude.”
Kari smiled. Good cop this time. “How may I serve my Mistress today?”
She liked to speak formally to Syll. With that, she felt she could better maintain the distance from the horror she was enduring.
“Tell me about your mother, please.”
She hesitated and the pain level incremented a little as did the interference in her mind. “My mother is Human. She lives on Earth. She is retired. She was a librarian.”
“Your father?”
“My father is Human. He lives on Earth. He worked... Probably still works as an astronomer.”
“You get on well with your parents?”
“Very much so.”
“You wish to see them again?”
“Of course.”
“Tell me how your mother treats you.”
“She is the best. She always takes good care of me.”
“Your father as well?”
“Oh yes, We had a small house in a place with trees and flowers and a stream. We had a great time there.”
Syll listened but watched the scans as one of her students showed her the levels.
“She is not lying exactly,” the student murmured. The three other students gathered around examining the readings. “But she is not precisely telling the truth either. The scans are trying to determine the validity of her statements.”
“What do the records show?” asked one of the students.
“Oddly,” the student running the scanner said, “Starfleet and the Federation in general are somewhat reticent when it comes to sharing data with us. But from her own ship’s journals and what we have managed to find in the public record, her parents were miners on a planet called Newydd Cymru. They were killed in an accident during her second year at Starfleet Academy. From her journal, she suffered tremendously and she almost resigned.”
“So, she is lying,” the student said.
“Are you saying that I have mis-calibrated the scanners?” Syll asked him.
“No,” the student answered quickly. “But perhaps the machine has drifted in its calibration.”
“Do you think that can occur?”
He thought a moment. Syll wondered what his face looked like under his veil. His future was bright in the Tal Shiar. “I have not heard of such a thing, Commander Syll. However, machines fail and Humans are an unpleasantly diverse species.”
“As you say.”
They watched the levels waver between truth and lie. The machine would start to adjust the field on 738766 then readjust as it decided that first she was lying then she was telling the truth. The Human was just relaying useless information about her background. Information contradicting her own logs.
“She knows we have her journals and her history,” Syll said to them. “So why is she lying?”
“Perhaps she is actually an agent,” one student offered. “She is covering a greater secret. She is a deep mole sent by the Federation to spy on us.”
“An interesting hypothesis. What do you think the purpose would be?”
“I confess that it eludes me. The circumstances of her capture appear genuine.”
“Appear?” asked Syll. She could almost feel the student flush under her veil.
“I stand corrected. The circumstances are genuine. Only through the greatest of coincidences could a deep cover agent have been captured.”
“But not impossible?”
“I would view the probability as extremely low.”
“We are faced with an enigma then. Someone who appears capable of both lying and telling the truth at the same time.”
“If such a talent could be harnessed,” one of the students volunteered, “it could be useful.”
“To what end other than to indicate to us that they have this talent? Would we not simply continue to press her for the truth?”
The students had no answer. The Human had trailed off. Syll walked in front of her. She could tell that the Human was looking at her but not seeing.
“738766, did you enjoy your childhood?”
She didn’t answer. Syll had seen this before though usually only under extreme duress. They were far from that point. She repeated the question which seemed to refocus the Human.
“Very much so, Mistress Syll.”
The Commander looked at her student. He made a gesture which indicated that again it was unclear.
“What did you and your family do when you had a little time off to enjoy yourselves?”
“We would go on a picnic.”
“Do you like picnics?”
“Very much so. The sunshine and open skies.”
The student whispered that the mining planet had no atmosphere and orbited far from its star.
“What kinds of activities did you do on the picnic?
“All kinds of things. Eat, relax, play.”
“Did you like to play games?”
“All kinds.”
“Did you like digging in the ground too?
Kari frowned. “Digging in the ground?”
“Did your parents like digging in the ground? They might have enjoyed that game.”
“I... I think so. Yes, they liked that game.”
“Did you like that game?”
“I liked playing.”
“Did you like the digging in the ground game?”
“I liked playing with my mom and dad.”
“They liked playing the digging in the ground game. Did they play it often?”
“Yes, they liked that game. Every day they played it.”
“They must have loved it. Did you?”
“I...” Kari paused trying to think. The student adjusted the pain level slightly. Kari winced a little. “I... I did not like it as much.”
“You liked better games?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of better games?”
“I liked looking at the stars.”
“You preferred the star games then?”
“Much better,” Kari smiled to herself.
“Your parents though, how did they feel about you wanting to play the star game rather than the digging game?”
She frowned. “They wanted me to play the digging game. With them. They thought it was more fun. I was good at it. They said. I wanted to play the star game.”
“When you wanted to play the star game away from home, were they happy?”
“Oh yes.”
The student noted to Syll that this was a straight lie. The pain field adjusted causing her more discomfort.
“Still, they must have been a little disappointed that you were not there to play the digging game with them.”
“They did not mind.” The pain shifted again and she gasped. She wondered why she was having such trouble remembering where she was.
“So even though you excelled at the digging game, they loved how accomplished you were at the star game?”
“Yes, very much so.” She cried out as the field adjusted. “They came and saw me off.”
The field gave her a jolt.
“They were very happy that I was playing the star game.”
She gave a small shriek fighting the pain.<
br />
“If they were here now, seeing you here, with us, do you think they would be happy?”
“Seeing me here, playing the star game, they’d be happy.”
The student made a gesture indicating this statement was neutral again.
“They would not be sad to see you like this?”
“They’d be very happy to see me here. I am Starfleet. They’d ask if I am happy now being Starfleet. They’d laugh. They’d say, see this is what playing with the stars gets you. They’d say see, see, see, you should’ve stayed with the digging game. They’d say you were better at the digging game. That was all you were good for. We told you that you were no good at the stars game. Playing with stars just leads to trouble. They said I hurt them, I hurt them a lot for not playing the digging game. Yes, so this is right. I should be hurt. I hurt them and I should be hurt. They’d see me here and laugh and not love me any more. They’d say bad Kari! Bad girl! You should be digging in the ground. We told you that you were no good. We do not want to see you play the stars game. We do not love you, Kari. We aren’t going to watch you play the stars game. We’re going to go away. We don’t want to see you any more. We’re going to go away. Forever. We will never watch you play in the stars. Bad girl! You’re a BAD girl!”
“738766!” Syll shouted finally getting her attention.
She stopped. Her tears were a waterfall.
“Yes, Mistress Syll?” Her voice was normal not the shrill scream just moments before. “How may I help you?”
Syll’s head ached from the noise, she felt a little cold. She breathed deeply before continuing on.
“Would you like to go home soon? Perhaps we can arrange for you to be returned to your parents when you are finished with your stay here. Would you welcome that?”
“Yes, I look forward to being home again. We are a very happy family. My mom and dad are wonderful.”
“Then after you have fully cooperated with us, we shall see.”
“Yes, Mistress Syll.”
“You have done