Raised in Darkness by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Author:Adrian Tchaikovsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-16T07:01:22+00:00

Aftermath – Interrogation session three

After Jerrin was done, Vulpern shifted his seat so he was beside the big chair, the one reserved for subjects. Donaghl’s laboured breathing filled the room. Jerrin had been sure to preserve him for the execution that would follow. As set down in protocols.

‘Vulpern?’ Donaghl had no eyes to see him, but perhaps the man recognised the scent of his tea.

‘I’d wanted to spare you this,’ the inquisitor told him, ‘but…’ But Jerrin had the writ. But they don’t trust me with this any more. They don’t think I’m sound.

‘Did you see them fight, Vulpern?’ Donaghl whispered. ‘My people?’ His smile was a terrible, ruined thing. ‘They were so fierce. They knew they couldn’t win, but they fought… I’ve been there. I fought the xenos, seeking nothing but death. People who believe in something fight so hard. Even if what they believe in is a lie. But you understand that, inquisitor.’

Vulpern’s cue to challenge him, to trumpet the virtues of the Imperium. He let his silence speak for him.

‘When they found me, they told me I was a hero,’ Donaghl whispered. ‘To fight on against the darkness once the last light’s been extinguished. What’s more Imperial than that? And yet when they sent me to Shargrin I saw only people being extinguished so that the dark could perpetuate itself. Mushrooms, inquisitor. We are all mushrooms to the Emperor. Kept in the dark, fed on lies, harvested, processed and fed to the next crop, over and over. Us, the Guard, even the Space Marines, mushrooms. Better to rise up, in the end. Better fight today than accept all those tomorrows. Or perhaps the Emperor’s loyal Inquisition has something to say?’

But Vulpern just sat beside him and sipped at his tea, mute: a man whose business was asking questions, and who had no answers.

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