Whether it is true or not, Dyeawan can’t deny that Edger believes it. Still, there’s always more with him, something he’s not saying. It’s a thing Dyeawan has come to know about Edger, even if she doesn’t fully understand it.

Even when he tells the truth, he’s always lying.

She just doesn’t know what he’s lying about.

“I see that great machinery between your ears working even now,” Edger remarks. “What are you thinking, Slider?”

“I want to know what you want from me.”

“I only want to help you reach your full potential so that you may help Crache.”

Again, he believes what he’s saying, but Dyeawan knows the key to fully understanding his intentions and motivation lies in what the word “help” means to him.

“Usually when we bring a recruit to the Planning Cadre, we have a sense of their talents, what they are naturally gifted to do. You were a blank slate in the best of ways. I only expected basic functions of you. You would think I, of all people, would have learned by now not to judge someone based on where they come from and especially what maladies they may suffer. I’m sorry.”

“You give a new life and a purpose to people everyone else wants to forget ever lived,” Dyeawan says, and this she truly means. “You don’t have to say sorry to me, or to anyone.”

“Still and all,” Edger insists, “I was wrong about you. As wrong as I’ve ever been about anything, and I do not boast when I tell you I am rarely wrong.”

“I believe you. Thank you, Edger.”

“You’re most welcome, my dear. Now, I’m sure by this time you have deduced that the tests you’ve been given throughout the past week are the same tests we administer to Cadre members across all our varied pursuits.”

Dyeawan nods. “I named the duck Greenfire. He’s my friend now.”

Edger briefly replaces his conversation mask with one frozen in gaping laughter.

“That is delightful!” he proclaims. “And well done. Well done to you.”

“I always wanted a pet. I tried to tame a rat once, but… never mind. You were saying, about the tests.”

Edger exchanges masks before returning to the topic at hand. “Yes, of course. By presenting you with this unusually varied array of tests, my colleagues were hoping to discern what part of the Cadre you’d be best suited to join. I had… larger aspirations. And I am pleased to say mine were met. You simply crushed every task we gave you. It has been precisely forty-three years since we have witnessed results such as yours.”

“What does that mean? What would you have me do?”