Commander Vinys raised an impatient hand and stepped into the privacy zone around the command desk, which had been vacated for him. Beyond the privacy shield, the air took on a gray tint, and the bustle of the bridge was suddenly muted. “Explain,” he said, his voice cooler, “because from what I can see, you’ve left your reader running around the ship unsupervised.”

“I—sir?”

“Have I misunderstood? You don’t know where he is. Military readers should make their architect aware of their whereabouts at all times.” The commander killed the privacy screen just long enough to say curtly to the chief of staff, “Ping Agent Fifty-Six for me. Flag chamber. Fifteen minutes.”

Surit needed a moment to process his shock. Of course, strong readers could theoretically make other people uneasy, he knew that, but he didn’t realize that extended to keeping tabs on their movements. “We’re not synced, sir. I was misinformed about the situation. Tennalhin hasn’t volunteered to sync. He—” Surit didn’t even know how to say it. It was a wild accusation.

“Why?” the commander said. “I understood he was primed. Has it worn off?”

Surit stared at him. It wasn’t appropriate behavior in front of a senior officer, but he didn’t feel in full control of his reactions. The commander had been briefed that Tennal would be primed. That meant this wasn’t some accident, but a legitimate order from high command.

Surit picked up the pieces of his voice and assembled them enough to say, “I don’t see how that can be legal, sir.”

The commander let the pause stretch out this time, regarding him for so long that Surit’s neck prickled. “I’ll say two things, Lieutenant. The first is that when you put on this uniform, when you accepted the role of wielding force in service of the state, you agreed to be commanded by the state. That’s the justification for all military action, right across the whole Resolution. Are you on board so far?” He waited for Surit’s stiff nod. “The second is that you are not privy to what regulator-assigned readers have done prior to recruitment. I doubt you’ve seen what an unscrupulous person can do with deep reading. Take my word for it: it isn’t pretty.”

Surit instinctively opened his mouth to reject that. But it was true that he didn’t know anything about Tennalhin except who he was related to. And if everything had been aboveboard, surely Tennalhin wouldn’t have joined like this, synced to a junior officer who’d only been requested at the last minute. Surit had known there was more to this than he’d been told. He was just starting to realize how much more.

“Sir,” he said neutrally. “I still don’t—”

The commander glanced at the time on the desk. “Report to the flag chamber in fourteen minutes. Bring your reader.”