Human Empire by Tim C. Taylor & Ian Whates

Author:Tim C. Taylor & Ian Whates [Taylor, Tim C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Human Legion Publications
Published: 2015-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

— Chapter 26 —

“And you’re sure this will work?”

Furn favored Arun with a look that said he was testing the little man’s patience.

“I’m sorry,” Arun said quickly. “Humor me. I realize we’ve been over this before…”

“Several times.”

“Several times,” Arun admitted, “but it’s important.”

Furn relented, swallowing whatever withering retort he had been preparing. “I know,” he said instead. “If you mean am I sure this will root out all those with ingrained Old Empire sympathies and ensure we only keep those who will be staunchly loyal to the Legion, then no. If you mean will it separate those who can probably be trusted from those who definitely can’t be, then yes, I am.”

“That will have to do, then,” Arun said.

“Do…?” Furn looked exasperated. “Will have to do…? Have you any idea the amount of work that’s gone into devising this, or the amount of hours Finfth and I are going to have to put in going forward before this is over?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,” Arun said quickly. He’d forgotten how touchy the freaks could be.

“I should think so. We’re going to be spelling each other in twelve hour shifts until we’re confident enough operators are trained up to a suitable level of competence. It’s not the asking of the questions that poses the problem, it’s analyzing the answers.”

“I know.”

“Do you, do you? There are thousands of these sleepers, and even with the seven question rooms operating round the clock it’ll take days to process them all.”

“I realize that…”

“Assuming everything runs smoothly,” Furn continued, talking over Arun, “without any hitches at all, we’ll be able to physically process around 2,000 individuals every twenty-four hours. In practice, I anticipate the figure will be closer to 1,900. You do the math. And that’s assuming the analysis can keep pace with the physical turnaround. Even when – if – we decide that anyone else is competent enough to run the assessment unsupervised, Finfth and I will still have final sign-off on the human officers and anyone whose ‘pass’ is so marginal that it needs closer scrutiny. In some cases, that will almost certainly mean a further interview, conducted by one of us in person.” Furn threw his arms in the air, a dramatic gesture that left little doubt how worked up he was. “And that’s just for the humans, what about the Jotuns eh? Let’s not forget that of all the senior Naval and Marine officers, not one is human. The Reserve Captain has promised to help with that, something about a binding Jotun oath that is so secret even the White Knights never knew about it. But we all know how fragile her health is… However you cut it, Finfth and I are going to be exhausted by the time this is over!”

“I can see that. Thank you for all that you’re doing. I owe you one… the Legion owes you.”

That seemed to mollify Furn a little. “Yes, well just make sure you don’t forget it.”

Arun left the little man to his preparations.

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