Prisoner of Conscience Read Online Free PDF

stack of report-cubes, the First Secretary toppled them toward him, walking his fingers over the edges one by one. “Yes. Worlibeg. We’re getting reports from Worlibeg, Mergau.” He had a deep voice somewhat surprising to hear from a thin man. “They’ll be talking about you for years. It’s not exactly the kind of talk I’d hoped for, though.”
    He was avoiding the issue, and she wasn’t about to let him. “I did as you instructed. I investigated and obtained confession, with collaterals. I executed the Protocols under my Writ, all as you desired.”
    Verlaine sighed, and kicked the stack of documents-cubes back with a decisive flick of his index finger. “Rather too much so. Mergau, I question your judgment sometimes: how likely was it that all of the Provost’s family were plotting against the Bench? Five of them less than sixteen years of age, Standard.”
    “Confessed under speak-sera and were remanded to the Bench, with a neutral observer on site at all times.” She was surprised at his expressed discomfort. She knew how to handle children under the Protocols. Hadn’t she been especially gentle with the youngest? “And there was no question that a message had to be sent. You said so yourself. To send a Fleet Inquisitor to the Domitt Prison sends a message too, and I believe I have a right to understand why I am being publicly disgraced in this manner.”
    She’d thought carefully beforehand about whether she should use the word “disgraced.” The First Secretary didn’t take well to manipulation; it was necessary to be subtler with him than with previous Patrons. But she had held his Writ for three years, the only person in the history of the Fleet to be admitted to Orientation Station Medical without a medical degree.
    It was in his best interest to save her face. She was the visible symbol of his power and his influence.
    Still, from his reaction she realized she should not have used so strong a word. “ ‘Disgraced.’ ” He spoke it as though it were not plain Standard, as though it were a word in a language unknown to him. “How are you disgraced because Koscuisko is to go to the Domitt Prison?”
    Andrej Koscuisko to be master of the place, Andrej Koscuisko to enjoy the absolute power, but he would not. He didn’t have the temperament to understand how to be master of the Domitt Prison. This was a man who would not discipline his slaves. The Domitt Prison would have as little respect for him as she did.
    “It is a very significant. Highly visible. Politically critical job that needs to be done there. And you have chosen to send a borrowed Fleet resource rather than me. The message is clear enough.”
    Verlaine nodded. “Yes, indeed it is. Chilleau Judiciary elects an independent Inquisitor at the Domitt Prison because it is vital to our credibility that the evidence be perceived as sound. Andrej Koscuisko has acquired a bit of a reputation in Fleet circles over the years, Mergau. I’ve been keeping an eye on him.”
    She knew. And she needed to fix his attention on her, and not her hated rival. “I don’t think it’s unfair to say I earned that posting, First Secretary, and I had a right to expect it. Or at least to be privy to your decision before it became clear to all that I hadn’t been so much as informed beforehand.”
    Verlaine reached for a dossier, looking bored. “You were in Worlibeg, Mergau. Or at least I thought you were in Worlibeg. I have an assignment for you of particular sensitivity, you may as well have this to begin review.”
    Mergau took a long slow breath, concentrating. All right. There was to be no discussion. It would only expose her to his irritation to press any further. She had to do what she could to salvage something from this interview: People were watching, listening, talking behind her back. She knew. She had informants.
    So did he. He had more of them, and in more places. She was one of them, after all.
    “Very good, First Secretary. The nature