"It's the truth, I tell you. It's the truth!"
"Perhaps whoever influenced you did it subtly. Perhaps you never even
realized it. Think back now. Who helped you? Who departed from standard
and gave you any kind of aid?"
Realization came like a cold wash. There had been help. Lara. She had
gone out of her way back there in N. & I. She had been warm and real
and she had dropped the mask of efficiency. Could it have been with a
purpose? No matter. Guilty or innocent, if I mentioned her name, she
would be interviewed. I didn't want that to happen to Lara. I shook my
head and said, "No one helped me. I did it all myself. You've got to
believe that."
"I don't," said the Chief, and got up. He looked at me for just a
moment before he turned away. He said, "The boys will be able to have
their fun, after all. I suppose it's just as well. It keeps their
morale up to be able to interview somebody once in a while."
"No! You can't! You can't send them in here again!" I shouted, without
meaning to. I struggled to rise and found that I was strapped to the
table. "No! No!"
He was standing at the doorway to the room. He held a key-box
oscillator in his hand and I knew that a force screen held me in the
cubicle here, and that without a key-box I could beat my head forever
against that invisible barrier and never pass through that doorway. He
said, "I'll give you one hour to decide. I'll be back. I'll ask you if
you're ready to talk. If you aren't--well, you'll talk to the Deacons
instead of me."
The key-box hummed and he walked through the doorway and turned and
disappeared.