Free Savant by Nik Abnett

reviewed, the Techs had printed out the data for dissemination, and now, the specialists would come in.

 

    Chapter Thirteen
     
     
    P ITU 3 WAS stretchered back to Service. The Medic didn’t think there was any urgent need for him to go to the infirmary, and planned to stay with him. Interrogation was far more critical at this point than Pitu 3’s health status. He could be hospitalised after he was interviewed.
    Pitu 3 was transferred to a chair-stretcher and carried in an elevator up to the Service Floor. He did not enter the main Service Floor where eighteen Operators were still busy monitoring the screens, and a dozen Techs were milling around, but came in through the exterior gallery, a walkway on the outside of the circular room, half a storey lower, so that no one passing along it could be seen at screen-height inside the room, proper.
    Pitu 3 was put in the interview room next to the one occupied by Strazinsky and McColl. Pitu 3 was there because of Strazinsky, and Strazinsky was there because of Pitu 3. If either one could get hold of the other, who knew what might ensue? As it was, the two men would never have met in the normal course of things, and were unlikely to meet now, despite their involvement in the same, potentially critical, event.
    No Ranked Operator was available, immediately, as they were in discussions about how to treat Tobe’s room, but Pitu 3 was considered to be a minor player in the incident, so a Named Operator was sent to de-brief him, along with one of the few female Operators, who was really only there to put him at his ease. Mudd was also with them. The interview room was the mirror image of the one next door, and it was unusual to have so many people in it at once, so it was somewhat cramped, not least because of the chair-stretcher.
    “Let’s get you out of that, shall we?” asked the female Operator. “My name’s Bim. How are you feeling, Pitu?”
    “I’m fine, really. It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all,” he said, trying to get out of the chair-stretcher.
    “Just sit back, Pitu, we need to unstrap you first. We’ll have you out of there in no time.
    “This is Operator Bello. He’d like to ask you a few questions, if you’re feeling up to it,” said Bim, gesturing to the man who had just entered the room. “I’m going to step out for a moment if that’s all right.”
    Pitu nodded, although he still looked pale and pitiful.
    There was no rush. Pitu would be allowed to tell his story in his own words. With all the other information that was available, his testimony was insignificant, and he was not considered a reliable witness. He had been Tobe’s Student almost as long as anyone had, but he was kept there so that Tobe had familiar faces in his class, rather than because he was any real long-term asset. Pitu 3 would, no doubt, be moved back to the School as a Senior, eventually. When, would depend on how restless he became. Most Students didn’t last more than four or five years with a Master, and a six-year stint, while not unheard of, was very rare.
    Pitu 3’s involvement in this incident almost certainly assured his departure from Tobe’s class, and it would not be because of a promotion to Assistant.
    Bim returned to the interview room with two fold-up chairs, after Pitu had already been removed from the chair-stretcher and seated in one of the chairs that belonged in the room. She wheeled the chair-stretcher out into the corridor, while Bello unfolded one of the chairs and placed it next to Pitu for the Medic Operator to sit on. All three men were sitting when Bim returned, unfolded the last of the chairs, and sat down opposite Pitu, next to Bello.
    “Are you all right to start?” Bim asked Pitu 3.
    Pitu nodded.
    Bello removed a small electrical device from a case that he had brought into the room. He placed it on the table, and took out a cord of plaited wires, which he handed to Medic Operator Mudd.
    “Perhaps you could prepare the subject,”