Part 58 (2/2)

”Your mind-probe, if it doesn't require the subject to answer verbally.” Cortin explained about her anomalous prisoner, then said, ”It's probably nothing significant, but I don't like it. I can't find the Inquisitor who conducted the interrogation, and there are rumors the judge who sent him here has ties to the Brotherhood. If he was sent here under false pretenses, my prisoner should be freed and given compensation, and the judge should take his place.”

”The probe doesn't require verbal answers, no,” Medart said. ”And since it may mean saving a life, I'll have a probe unit and operator come down.” He paused, considering. He could use telepathy to get the answers she wanted, and her own--the small part she was calling truthsense--would let her be sure he was reporting accurately. That would be quicker than waiting for the probe; the question was whether it would be wiser to reveal his Talent or not mention it at all.

Use it, he decided. Odeon had read about the White Order rebellion and Corina's discovery of human Talent in Medart, then others; he might not know the details, but he did know the basics, and it would be logical to a.s.sume he'd pa.s.sed the information along. ”That'll take several hours, though, and there's a faster way, if you want. I'm a fairly powerful telepath; I can read his mind as well as a probe could, and I'm already here.”

It was Cortin's turn to hesitate. Mike had mentioned Talent, yes, and had some telepathy himself, with anyone Shayan had mind-touched; the idea wasn't that odd, really, and Medart's offer would save time.

Still--”Are you reading my mind?”

”No. I touched you briefly when we met, enough to learn you're not a threat, though I did pick up a little other information. Otherwise I seldom use it unless I'm invited or there's an emergency.”

Her truthsense agreed, so Cortin nodded. ”If an injustice is being done, it should be corrected as soon as possible; I accept.” She turned to her people. ”Mike, Dave--would you take that prisoner to my first-stage room, please, while I give our guests a brief tour of the dungeon?”

”Of course,” Odeon replied. The two left, and Cortin turned back to the Imperials.

”I was making an a.s.sumption perhaps I shouldn't,” she said. ”It's your choice to accompany us or not, Lieutenant DarElwyn.”

The Sandeman bowed. ”I would be honored to do so, Excellency.”

Something in his tone made Medart glance at him, then do a quick surface scan. Cortin's unconscious Talent had done its job; the warrior was thoroughly in love with the High King's Inquisitor. That, Medart thought, was a complication he didn't need--but it was also one he couldn't do anything about, so disregard it for now. Just make a point of getting hold of DeLayne as soon as he could find a reasonable excuse to be alone.

”Let's go, then.” Cortin led them outside and to the rear of the Lodge, where a cave-like entrance led underground. Above it was carved, ”Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

”Dante's Inferno,” Medart commented. ”I take it, then, that this is the prisoners' entrance?”

”Right,” Cortin agreed. ”It isn't really h.e.l.l, of course, but it is the anteroom to it for most. A few escape that by repentance, but they still have to pay the worldly penalty for their crimes. What happens after that is between them and G.o.d; all I can do is administer the Sacraments and finish my work. If it's an interrogation, though, I'll kill one who repents as soon as he's given me any information he has.”

”You don't even try to save them?” Medart asked.

”Their bodies, no,” Cortin said, leading them down the stairs. ”I told you, I get the stubborn ones. By the time I break them, forcing them to live longer than necessary would be a torment even Cortin the b.i.t.c.h doesn't care to inflict.”

At the end of a short pa.s.sage, she unlocked a ma.s.sive door and gestured them through, into a dimly-lit corridor with doors along both sides, some with small lights turned on above them. ”These are the holding cells, under constant monitoring from the Detention Center and periodic monitoring by my people. Troops from the Center take care of the prisoners, then remove bodies when Lt. Bain and I are done. Or our colleagues, who're free to use any suites we aren't, if they have an overflow.”

Halfway down the pa.s.sage, she unlocked another door. The corridor this one led to was wider and brightly lit, much like a hospital corridor; she led them straight across, to a door marked ”Interrogation Suite Alpha”, the ”In Use” light above it lit. ”This is the one I normally use,” she said, ushering them into the office area. ”The layout's standard, but it's bigger than usual, and I have quite a bit of experimental material, both equipment and drugs. This section's normally used for Stage One, which rarely happens here; today is unusual.” She nodded in the direction of her desk, and the chair in front of it which held a prisoner, flanked by Odeon and Bain. ”He's all yours, Ranger. Do you need anything special?”

”A chair would help, so I'm not standing over him; otherwise, no.”

Cortin nodded; Bain left, returning moments later with a folding chair he handed to Medart.

Medart positioned himself facing the prisoner and introduced himself, then said, ”Colonel Cortin has some doubts about your guilt, but since you can't talk, she can't question you very well. I can read minds, so I don't have that problem. Do you understand?”

The man nodded, but his attention was obviously on Cortin, not the Ranger, and when Medart mind-touched him, all he could read was fear.

He turned to the Inquisitor. ”He's so terrified his fear's acting like a mind-s.h.i.+eld, Colonel. I could get through, but not without hurting him; is there anything you can do to calm him down?”

”That might be difficult,” Cortin said. ”I generally want my subjects afraid of me; this is the first time I've had to calm one.” She turned her attention to the prisoner. ”Kenneth Shelton, isn't it?”

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