Rook

honestly say that right now I would really like you to explain it to me.”
    “Oh!” he said, looking a little flustered. “Well, to begin with, I don’t inflict pain.”
    “Yes, you do,” she contradicted.
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Yes, you do,” she insisted. “I saw it.”
    “Oh, you mean the reactions?” he asked. “The teeth rattling, and those eruptions on his torso? No, no, that wasn’t me. No. I would never do something like that.” He shuddered. “No, those were his Grafter implants.”
    “But Dr. Crisp, I
saw
the pain. I saw it washing through him,” she said. “With my powers.”
    “Good Lord, really?” he asked, fascinated. “How remarkable.But, if you’ll forgive me, Rook Thomas, what you saw was not pain. It was compulsion.”
    “What?”
    “I compel. Under my fingers, they
want
to talk. They want to answer. That’s what I do. Their bodies and their minds are not harmed.”
    “Then what happened?”
    “To begin with, the Grafters chose a remarkable man as their agent. I have never encountered anyone who resisted the compulsion so effectively.”
    “And this compulsion doesn’t hurt them?” asked Myfanwy. This was a point on which she wanted to be very certain.
    “They just desire it. There is no physical pain, none at all. They just want to answer, to tell the truth. Van Syoc must have been a model of self-discipline not to speak sooner. He wanted to. He looked forward to telling.”
    “But then what happened? Why did he die?”
    “The Grafters have come very far, Rook Thomas,” said Crisp. “Their skills are amazing. Van Syoc’s body was laced through with fibers, with devices. What I and my team have found, however, is that he was not in total control of his augmentations.” Myfanwy was silent, thinking of herself. Was she in total control of her powers? But Dr. Crisp was still speaking, and she brought her attention back to him.
    “I am afraid that it was not only Van Syoc looking out through those eyes in that interrogation room.”
    “The Grafters,” she breathed in horror.
    “Yes. When it looked as if Van Syoc might speak, his implants were set to work against him. And when he finally did speak, Van Syoc’s masters ordered his body to destroy him. His brain was forced to crash. Several of his organs contracted and ruptured themselves, and controlled electricity coursed through his system.”
    “That was why your fingers were burned,” Myfanwy realized.
    “Yes.”
    “Dr. Crisp, I have to apologize to you. And I must confess something. I interfered with your interrogation.”
    His brow wrinkled for a moment and then he listened, fascinated, as she explained the details.
    G entlemen, Van Syoc’s enhancements are high-tech with an old-world charm,” Myfanwy announced, looking around at the three men in the room. This morning, Gestalt was just the Tidy Twin, whom Myfanwy could now identify as Teddy. Gubbins was bending his fingers back to touch his wrist, and Eckhart was smoking intensely. For a moment, her eyes lingered thoughtfully on Eckhart. Out of curiosity, she’d pulled his file up on her computer and seen the pictures of him as a little boy. A pathetic, malnourished child when he’d been taken into custody, Eckhart had a photographic history that showed his recovery and growth into a healthy young man. Now, in middle age, he appeared to have settled into a hardy combination of soldier and executive. She couldn’t help smiling at him, and he smiled back around his cigarette.
    She turned to her notes again. “The implants proved to be far more extensive than we originally believed. To begin with, his spine had been thoroughly coated with a sort of silica.”
    “To what end?” asked Gubbins.
    “Armor?” suggested Eckhart.
    “Dr. Crisp and his team are still investigating,” said Myfanwy carefully, watching Gestalt for some reaction. His eyes had narrowed speculatively when she began the presentation; he was obviously aware that she’d received information he hadn’t. Myfanwy was fairly sure that she would need to attend to this little intradepartmental problem. “However, it’s a little delicate for armor. The MRI actually showed the brush marks from when the Grafters applied the material to the bone. They suspect it may be some sort of antenna. It has some interesting piezoelectric properties and is tied into Van Syoc’s brain.”
    “So the man was a walking mobile phone,” said Gubbins, twirling his mustache.