Djaisiuk followed Kandryl down several hallways and into a small, rectangular room. The room was sparsely furnished, obviously meant for work and not for leisure. There were two doors in the room: the one through which they had entered, and another in the center of the wall on their right. In front of them was a round table with two chairs. To the left, the room stretched out to encompass also a crescent shaped table with two chairs. Three computer terminals were set up on the crescent table, and a young Vukasovian, apparently in his early teens, sat at the far left-hand computer. This boy turned and stood as they entered.
“This is where you will work,” said Kandryl to Djaisiuk. He pointed to the second door in the room. “That door leads to a sleeping area. It will be your room.”
Kandryl stepped into the room and walked to the computers.
“This is Kiacyl,” he said, indicating the Vukasovian boy but not looking at him. “He will be your assistant. You will not find him to be anywhere near your intelligence level, so you will need to instruct him somewhat in whatever he needs to know in order to assist you satisfactorily.”
Kandryl entered several codes in the middle and right-hand computer terminals. This done, he stepped back and looked at Djaisiuk again.
“There is a project already started here,” he said. “You are to finish it. I have unlocked the computers and all of the information that you will need. I will lock it again tonight when you finish for the day. If I find that you work satisfactorily, I will give you the codes that you will need in time.”
Without another word, Kandryl walked out of the room. Djaisiuk went immediately but unhurriedly to the computers, sat down at the right-most terminal, and looked over the assignment, taking no further notice of the young Vukasovian. The assigned project was, for him, a fairly simple one. Tedious perhaps, but simple. He set to work immediately.
For a short time, the other boy said nothing, but merely sat down again and looked at Djaisiuk. His look was, for the most part, touched with neither scorn nor disgust, as would normally be expected of a Vukasovian who had just been assigned to work with a Komislavian. He looked fairly unconcerned and even a very little bit curious.
After about an hour, he began to look bored.
For Kandryl, the next few hours were spent in seeing to it that the other ‘willing’ boys were suitably settled into their new respective positions. After this, he saw to the assignments regarding the use and storage of the three boys who had refused to work. This latter task did not take nearly so long as the first, but the instructions had to be minute, just the same. By the time that everything was finished, the day was nearly ended.
Kandryl knew that there was still much to be done, but it had been a good day’s work. Really, all that he had to do now was to wait and watch. The willing boys were working well, showing no signs, at least in the beginning, of rebellion or stubbornness. The unwilling boys were a minority, and at least one of these seemed as though he would turn to them soon enough. The other two were a loss, it was true, but they might, at least, provide beneficial information as test subjects, if nothing else. Yes, indeed, to all appearances, the plan was working quite well.
Djaisiuk was the one possible difficulty; his intelligence surpassed anything that Kandryl had expected. Kandryl was not completely unprepared; he had arranged for a few projects for one of great intelligence should there be one on the ship, and these would buy him time to prepare further. But Djaisiuk was far beyond even his greatest expectations. This could be good, or this could be bad. This young man could be an exceptional prize or a deadly time bomb. Just keeping him alive could be a very great risk.
In his own quarters, Kandryl brought up the project on which Djaisiuk was now working and settled himself to review the work that Djaisiuk had done so far. It took some time. The project was now nearly completed, and it was flawless. It was as good as or better than Kandryl could have done himself. It was surprising, pleasing, and a little unnerving. Kandryl was reminded that he must keep a very close eye on this one.
Once finished, Kandryl returned to Djaisiuk’s room. Djaisiuk sat working; Kiacyl sat waiting.
“How much have you done?” Kandryl asked Djaisiuk.
Djaisiuk wordlessly slid his chair back to give Kandryl command of the screen.
Kandryl glanced over it briefly, then turned to Kiacyl. “It is late. You may retire,” he said. Then to Djaisiuk, “I would like to speak with you yet tonight. Come over here.” He motioned to the round table.
The young Vukasovian got up silently and left the room. Djaisiuk also got up silently and sat down at the round table, looking not at Kandryl but rather gazing vaguely at the wall across from himself. Kandryl locked the computers, as he had said that he would, then walked over and seated himself next to Djaisiuk, facing the door, and looked intently at him for a few moments. Djaisiuk did not meet his gaze.
“Tell me,” said Kandryl at last, “do you always work so quickly?”
“No,” replied Djaisiuk after a short silence, still not looking at Kandryl.
Kandryl paused, as if waiting for an explanation, then said, “Explain what affects your speed.”
“Fatigue. Stress. Pain.” Djaisiuk answered slowly and tonelessly, as if he were a machine programmed to speak so. This method of speech was normal for him, but Kandryl could not know that. This amount of speech was abnormal for him, but Kandryl could not yet know that either.
“Assuming the absence of these hindrances, how long could you work at maximum efficiency?” asked Kandryl.
Djaisiuk met Kandryl’s eyes for a moment, then he looked away again. “I don’t know,” he said.
“Do you feel any of these now?”
“Yes.”
Kandryl again paused. He had noticed by now that Djaisiuk answered each question in as few syllables as possible. He offered no explanation unless one was specifically requested. Was this defiance? Or was it something different? “Which ones do you feel now?” he asked.
“Fatigue,” was the emotionless reply.
“Do you wish to sleep now?” asked Kandryl.
“Yes.”
Kandryl smiled. Amazing, he thought to himself. He scarcely seems human. “Tell me first,” he continued, speaking aloud again, “are you biologically or artificially enhanced, physically or mentally?”
“No.”
“You are now physically as you always have been?”
Djaisiuk did not answer.
Kandryl’s smiled faded. “Did you hear what I said?”
Djaisiuk paused for a long moment before answering. “Yes,” he said at last.
“Why will you not answer?”
Speaking now very slowly, Djaisiuk said, “I do not like to speak.”
Kandryl raised his eyebrows. This was the longest (and almost only, thus far) full sentence that Kandryl had yet been able to produce from Djaisiuk. He could not know the pain that Djaisiuk was feeling in his throat from having to speak so much in such a short time, nor the annoyance that the pain was producing in Djaisiuk. Djaisiuk did not want to talk. He did want to sleep. He did not enjoy talking on the best of days, but it was even more annoying now when he was tired.
“Do you speak when you are with your friends?” asked Kandryl.
Djaisiuk did not answer.
“You have said that you do not like to speak,” said Kandryl. “So be it. I will not require you to speak long. But I will have answers to the questions I wish to put to you. Will you answer?”
Djaisiuk gave no indication that he had even heard.
“I expect obedience in all areas,” said Kandryl in a tone of warning. “I’m sure that you are aware of the fact that we have means to ‘help’ a person to cooperate. But surely one so intelligent as yourself need not be threatened with such means. Or do you require such assistance?”
Even this speech produced no effect whatsoever. Djaisiuk sat without moving, eyes half closed as if bored, staring at the wall.
“You said that you are tired.”
No response.
“Should I take that to mean that you are no longer tired?”
Still no response.
Kandryl smiled. “Very well,” he said. “I will allow you this respite: you may go to bed. Tomorrow evening we will speak again, but I warn you, I will not be so lenient then.”
With that, Kandryl rose and left the room.
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