Broken World: Liars

Broken World: Liars (Chapter 9)

Jarl

It had been quite some time now since Irasel had been murdered, enough time for Jarl to sleep twice, but even though he knew that the room had been cleaned and that the life support systems continued to pump fresh, pure air into his prison, he couldn't seem to banish the stench of burning fur and melting flesh from his nose, nor calm the screams that still rang in his ears. The young Tarifel had probably died in just a few minutes, but to Jarl, it had seemed like an eternity.

He had eaten after that. He wasn't sure if Ishmael had killed Irasel because of his refusal to consume the food she had offered, but he couldn't take the risk that she would do it again to someone else. Perhaps her culture took it as a major offence if someone refused food. The woman had entered the room with Irasel as she noticed his hunger strike, but there might he cameras installed in the room, so maybe she'd been watching him before.

It was all too uncertain. If he ate, would she be pleased? Or was he wrong, and she wouldn't care? But even if she were pleased, that didn't mean she would stop killing: She was obviously insane beyond anything he could comprehend. Jarl had met insane people before, Tarifel who had sustained some degree of brain injury or another. Most of them had been quite easily cured once he healers in question had figured out what part of their minds had been affected in what way, but he had occasionally seen them while they were still sick: Men and women who heard voices, saw things, took pleasure in hurting animals or other Tarifel, had heretical thoughts, or had some form of compulsive action that they could not stop themselves from doing over and over again. Most of them he'd observed as part of his training as a novice, so that he would understand that every last soul in the universe was to be loved, even those that seemed odd, even those that seemed disgusting.

Love, of course, did not mean that their actions had to be tolerated. The Item'qar and Sherim were creations of the One God as well, but that didn't change the fact that their actions and policies were fundamentally flawed. You could love someone and still kill them, simply because the circumstances demanded it.

Ishmael's insanity, however, was unlike anything he had seen before: As Irasel had rolled over the floor, screaming, begging for his life, as Jarl had cried out to God to save him, Ishmael had not smiled, nor laughed. She hadn't shown any sign that this gave her pleasure. Instead, she had looked at the two Tarifel with what Jarl believed had been a kind of observant interest, much like a scientist would look at an animal she'd put in an experiment.

That made things infinitely worse.

A sadist, to a degree, was predictable. They took pleasure in hurting and killing things. Disgusting, yes. Sick, of course. But also simple. Curiosity, on the other hand, was none of those things. In a certain way it was even admirable, as an understanding of the universe, of life and the things one encountered in it, was generally helpful to a person. However, it was also the most vile form of torture there was, precisely because it was not supposed to be torture. A sufficiently curious mind could commit atrocities that would make the most brutal criminals rethink their life without ever experiencing any regret or shame. It was, after all, not meant to hurt anyone. The pain, the suffering, that was just a by-product of the experiment.

The door opened, and one of the humans came in. It wasn't Ishmael. The man went up to Jarl's cell and knocked against the barrier. Jarl did not know what he wanted, but stood up anyway, slowly, as he was afraid he might somehow provoke the man with hasty movements.

The human spoke, and the translator he carried repeated what he said inTarifel:

"We're almost in humanity's star system. Maybe another hour or two. The boss says you can talk to your people if you want."