LSRO: Chapter 89 - Observation (Patreon)

Hi wonderful people

Okay so, after my daughter had the flu, I've been quite ill. Still getting the chapters out etc... but I'd like to see what you think about this chapter.

I think it works and that I like it, but I'm also fighting off something and am slightly feverish so... it could be the fever talking?

I do not believe this is cliffy - it's an anticipatory ending... I think.

Enjoy

~~

Chapter 89

Observation

The holding chamber, or jail, as Quinn had come to think of it, had undergone several changes since the last time she'd seen it.

Where, before, it reminded her of those interrogation or questioning chambers they had in every single procedural drama she'd ever laid eyes on in her life, this one was now quite different. Each side of it had a bed, and basically a small living area for each of the prisoners... guests, whatever they were. Both Tenejo and Narajo were in their respective spaces but didn't seem to understand that the other was just feet from them. As if they were sequestered in their own little worlds.

If she reached out tentatively toward them with her heightened Librarian senses, she could see the space felt like it was separated. Must be a part of what the Guardians did in preparing the intruders.

She watched through the now expanded ante chamber that had explicitly been set up for viewing. It too was larger with several seats for observing from as well as a desk and, from what she could tell, monitoring crystals.

"Are those what they look like?" She asked.

Milaro glanced at the crystals. "If you think they're recording every movement and action of the people we're holding - then yes?"

"Oh good. Yep. That's what I thought." Quinn frowned as she looked back through the two way window into the cells... the cells that really didn't seem to be keeping prisoners, even if the Serpensirirl within didn't quite appear to be guests either. She moved closer, focusing on the bed Tenejo had. It didn't actually look like a bed but more like a nest on a different colored stone floor than the rest of the room. "Is that... a nest?" she asked, her voice belaying her surprise.

Milaro nodded, his eyes focused and yet not as he stared through the observation window.

"Yes we have them staying in nests?" she asked again, not entirely sure how to take that.

The Elf King blinked and turned to Quinn. "Serpensiril are cold blooded. Their habitats are generally cave-like and dug down to get the warmth from the earth. They bring in any type of material that allows them to absorb and maintain that heat and thus keeps their body temperatures even. So in order to make sure they're comfortable, the Guardians provided heated stones becasue well... in here, we don't have earth for them to burrow into. Not all of them are like Kajaro who had or has enough magic to keep himself the perfect temperature no matter where he goes."

Quinn mulled that information over. After synchronizing properly with the Library. She'd assumed she'd have so much more information available to her. That she might actually know everything. But that apparently wasn't the case. All it gave her was this blood and bone deep connection, where she could feel everything in it, around it, and connected to it.

Okay, that was a pretty awesome all.

And something told her that when she did gather some new skills from some more books, she was going to have a much easier time adapting to things. Once she really got to explore exactly what this deeper level of syncrhonization meant for her and the Library as a whole. Now the magic swimming inside her veins no longer felt foreign - it simply felt like an extension of herself.

"So, basically, we're trying to make them as comfortable as possible then?" Quinn asked, still a little confused.

"Of course. Just because they might want to unleash unfiltered chaos back into the universe in the hope that it creates more than it destroys or at least doesn't destroy their species... that's neither here nor there. We're not about to go around killing people for kicks." Milaro smirked. "Although there have been some people I've known who would do that."

"But these guys, these Serpensiril... are they all like this?" She watched as Tenejo rose from where he'd been curled up on his nest, bed... whatever and moved to get something from a small box, that upon opening it appeared to be like a magical refrigerator. He sunk onto the couch in a way that only a snake-like creature probably could. Fluid and graceful, with a hint of deadly.

"I'd think not. I met a few researchers from the Serpensiril species, oh, several centuries ago. They seemed intent on proving the opposite of the fanatics we've encountered thus far since you arrived. But... I daresay those are the minority." He paused, frowning as his eyes took on a sudden golden hue and he sighed. "It seems these guys are completely brainwashed however. I was hoping Tenejo at least, from what I'd already heard about him from the Guardians, might be a good starting point. But we'll see, I guess..."

"How can you tell from this distance?" Quinn asked, not sensing anything from the Serpensiril in question mentally at all.

Milaro's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "I can tell because I'm looking at it from a sort of vibrational frequency. Another piece of information about Serpensiril mind waves... it's one of those many things you're going to have to learn. But we've got time now that your connection to the Library is solid."

"Can't the Library sense when people are hostile toward it?" Quinn asked, quite certain she'd heard that as early as when she'd first entered the Libary well over a month ago now.

"Yes, which is why the alarm went off when they entered."

"But it didn't." Quinn said and Milaro looked surprised. "No seriously. It let them in, and they even spoke to me before the alarm blared."

Milaro stroked his chin thoughtfully. "They might have had some sort of concealment device for their intentions, or else not have had their minds quite made up about their intentions before they entered. In that case it would take the Library sensors some time before they triggered the true intent of the people who entered. But no matter when... the Library will know if someone within it, means harm to it."

"Then how did the last Librarian screw things up so badly?" Quinn muttered...

Milaro shook his head. "I have no idea how that happened, but eventually, we're going to figure that out too."

"Hope you're right." Quinn said with a sigh. "So what do we do next?"

"We go in and interrogate them." Milaro flashed her a tight smile, one that told Quinn he didn't enjoy this part of the process.

"But they don't really look like they're ready. I mean, they seem relaxed and quite content. Happy even. Comfortable..." She gestured toward where Narajo was sleeping and Tenejo was relaxing on his couch. "Hell, they don't even look like they can see each other.

"That's because they can't. For all they know the other is gone. They are alone, they have sustenance and shelter but are cut off from friends and family."

"But didn't the guardians say they were ready for interrogation. Shouldn't they be more... I don't know, despairing?" She shrugged, spreading her hands out wide. This just didn't look like the type of questioning base she'd been expecting them to perform.

"Really?" He asked, genuine shock showing on his face so much his eyebrows almost hit his hairline. "Why on earth would we have them despairing and... if I'm reading your expectations correctly, perhaps beaten up."

"Yeah. Downtrodden... practically begging to tell you what they know?" She said, "That's like how torture is done, isn't it?"

Milaro blinked. "We're not trying to torture them. We're trying to get information out of them. How in the universe would you expect anyone to give you truthful information if you scare them and hurt them so badly it scars them for life?"

"Um..." Quinn had the good grace to look away. She'd never thought of it like that. "I've just never seen anyone get information from an enemy in any other way."

"And by seen?" Milaro raised an eyebrow even farther somehow. "You mean you've witnessed this yourself, or on one of those boxes that give you visual stories?"

"Well, you've been in my head, what do you think?"

Milaro chuckled. "Look. That's not how this works. We can't just lower ourselves to the same level as someone like Kajaro. Two evil doings to not make a right. He planted a literal bomb in your mind, that we barely managed to contain. I couldn't do that to someone else. Frankly... I wouldn't do that to someone else unless it was the only way to save trillions of people. These guys in there? I'm pretty sure they're low on the totem pole as far as information goes. But we have to try."

Quinn gulped, seeing his reasoning and completely understanding what he was getting at, but at the same time, she knew they needed to understand who exactly their enemies were, or they were never going to be free of the threat that hung over the Library and the ill-advised release of Chaos en masse into the universe.

Then an idea struck her. "Wait. Shouldn't we like have their permission to enter their thoughts then... isn't that extremely invasive?"

Milaro ran a hand through his long blond hair like he wished he could just disappear into the questioning room. "Yes. Yes we should. But I'm not about to break down walls, or tear their mind apart. These are hostile people and these are uncertain times. I will extract what I can from what is floating in their minds given the relaxed and comfortable state we've managed to bring them to."

"Are they despairing?" Quinn asked, splaying her hand against the glass to really peer in the best she could.

"Not necessarily. It's more like a quiet defeat, with a hint of having resigned themselves to torture. Because that is what their species excels at. When we offer an alternative that is not pain... it's usually met with relief. For most people in times like these... we attempt to retrieve pertinent information in the least damaging way. For all of us."

"So, it hurts you too if you have to be more forceful." She asked, softly.

It took a few seconds but Milaro eventually answered. "It hurts in more ways than you'd think. I hope it's not something you'll ever have to experience." A sad smile lifted the corners of his mouth and Quinn wracked her brains trying to think of a way to change the subject.

Which was the perfect time for Aradie to hoot.

"I believe your owl is impatient." Milaro said. "You may bring her, she will serve as an extra judge of truth. Sometimes, even mind to mind, depending on the level of manipulation they've undergone, lying is still difficult to determine."

"You want me to come in there with you then?" Quinn asked, slightly taken aback.

"Why ever would you not? Why would I have brought you here with me in the first place so close to your synchronization otherwise?" The elf King smiled again, but this time it held his usual smirk too. "Relax, Quinn. We aren't about to go around planting mind bombs in people's minds like certain other people. We're simply trying to extract what they know in the most humane way possible."

"That still sounds like a justification." She grumbled, because while it did, it also had some sound logic backing it up.

"Maybe." Milaro mused. "Justification is, after all, a means to an end. A way for us to convince ourselves that what we're doing is a worthwhile pursuit. But there is an awful lot of boundaries I'd push if it means I can save trillions upon trillions of lives from some scheme meant to purify the world of weakness."

She mulled that over and shot a thought to Aradie. Are you able to dive in with us and tell if the information we're getting is truly helpful or if it's a hidden plant.

Images flashed in front of her eyes, but slowly turned into a message. I can help you define what is real and what is fiction. What has been presented as such to the recipient.

Quinn frowned. Okay, so that meant her owl could tell what these guys believed based on what they'd been told. And can you tell Milaro - can you communicate that with him too?

Yes.

She looked up at Milaro and smiled. "I guess we should head in then and see if we can't prevent a chaotic cleansing, right?"

He nodded. "We just have to wait a few minutes. Right now only Narajo is ready. Tenejo isn't quite there yet, but if you watch him, how he's almost to that relaxed point, he'll be ready any moment."

Quinn watched, still feeling uneasy. Still feeling like maybe this wasn't the best idea, or the most humane way to go about this. But she'd have to reserve judgment for how Milaro went about it. After all, despite having the opportunity to, he'd never pushed further past anywhere in her mind that she'd given him permission to.

Who knew that five weeks into coming to another world she wouldn't even bat an eyelash at the fact that they were about to go swimming in someone else's head.

What a crazy universe it was.

~~

I have a nice little list of things I need to do to get to the end of the book and OMG am I going to have a blast writing them. Give me a few more days and I swear my sick brain will be much better.

The good thing about rough drafts is that I can always fix them later, right?

Much love

KT