Elyon

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Red entered the interrogation room just as the guards hurriedly finished clamping the Krissirk onto the table. He walked up next to the table as the guards scooted past him and out the door, closing it behind them.

The room was small, but humming with electricity. The walls were covered with complex, flashing computer panels. Several dozen wires spilled out of the panels, hooking into the PAK of the unfortunate Irken who lay on his stomach, locked onto the table by his arms, legs, and neck. There was a small hole for his face to peer through to the floor, but he was unable to see Tallest Red.

"So. You're the Krissirk they captured." Red flicked on the datapad at the end of the table. Dantie was his name. The files noted him as a former Irken Information Network presenter, a lower level one who had begun the crazytalk about this Ayam, Elyon, whoever-it-was that was greater than the Tallests out of nowhere after one of the SIR unit's stops on an occupied planet. He'd been turned in by the rest of his team immediately, and had remained in solitary confinement since. He did not, Red noted, seem the worse for wear considering how long he'd been in solitary.

"Yes My Tallest." His voice was low, almost discouraged, but Red startled.

"How did you know it was me?" He demanded.

"Your voice, my Tallest, everyone recognizes you and Tallest Purple."

Red forced himself to relax. Of course this Irken had no higher intuition, he had to stop being paranoid. Just because he was seeing things didn't mean everyone had eyes in the back of their heads.

"Yes. Of course. Audio units intact." He coughed, moving over to one of the wall panels. He reached over to the wall panel, then halted a moment. How was he supposed to ask this Krissirk his question without seeming like he'd lost his wits completely?

It didn't matter. A few seconds of torture would warm the prisoner to answering his questions and buy him time to figure out how to phrase them. His claws tapped out a pattern on the panel.

The Krissirk's body spasmed, the computer convincing his senses through his PAK that there were a million tiny biting insects just under his skin. The Irken cried out, and Red smirked. This was no trained soldier, just a news reporter. Breaking him would be simple. He allowed the first simulation to run for thirty seconds before switching it off. The Irken's body slumped in relief.

"Your name is Dantie, is it?" Red made his voice gentler than usual. "Tell me, Dantie, who told you these lies you've been spreading? Who infected you?"

"I wasn't infected." He took a shaky breath. "My eyes were opened, and I saw—"

"What did you see?" Red rounded on him, his voice sharp.

"I saw the truth, that we were set here by something much greater than the Tallests! The Control Brains! The Empire even!"

Red forced his shoulders to relax. He had to stop jumping at fragments. "Interesting truth, sounds like treason to me." He tapped on the panel again, causing Dantie's right arm to feel as though it was being dissolved in water. He focused on the spiking readout and the shrieks behind him. He dialed it back again. "So tell me, along with this truth, what else do you see?"

There was silence for a bit, and Red allowed the traitor to regain his breath.

"What else, my Tallest?"

Red's antennae lifted, and he shifted direction. " 'My Tallest,' this is the second time you have called me this. I thought only this Ayam or Elyon was allowed to rule you."

"No, we are encouraged to obey and respect our Tallest excepting if their orders contradict Ayam, My Tallest. I swear I have always done so, only you say we cannot follow Ayam and not speak of him, and I cannot do this."