“They tried to kill me at Covell,” Jared said.
“Sorry,” Boutin said. “Even the Obin can get a little excited in the thick of things. But you can take comfort in knowing that after that point they were told to scan first, shoot second.”
“Thanks,” Jared said. “That meant a lot to my squad mate today, when they shot him in the head.”
“Sarcasm!” Boutin said. “That’s more than most of your kind can manage. You got that from me. Like I said, they can get excitable. As well as telling them to look for you, I also told the Obin they could expect an attack here, because if one of you was running around with my consciousness, it was only a matter of time before you found your way here. You probably wouldn’t risk a full-scale attack, but you’d probably try something sneaky, like you did. We were listening for this sort of attack, and we were listening for you. As soon as we had you on the ground, we threw the switch to disable the BrainPals.”
Jared thought of the members of his platoon falling from the sky and felt sick. “You could have let them all land, you son of a bitch,” Jared said. “When you blocked their BrainPals, they were defenseless. You know that.”
“They’re not defenseless,” Boutin countered. “They can’t use their Empees, but they can use their combat knives and their fighting skills. Ripping away your BrainPals causes most of you to go catatonic, but some of you still keep fighting. Look at you. Although you’re probably better prepared than most. If you’ve got my memories, you know what it’s like not to be connected all the time. Even so, six of you on the ground was more than enough. And we only needed you as it is.”
“For what?” Jared asked.
“All in good time,” Charles Boutin said.
“If you only need me, what are you going to do with my squad?” Jared asked.
“I could tell you, but I think you’ve deflected me long enough from my original question, don’t you?” Boutin smiled. “I want to know what you know about me, and about being me, and about what you know of my plans here.”
“Since I’m here, you already know we know about you,” Jared said. “You’re not a secret anymore.”
“And let me just say that I’m very impressed about that,” Boutin said. “I thought I had covered my tracks well. And I’m kicking myself for not formatting the storage device I stored that consciousness imprint on. I was in a rush to leave, you see. Even so, it’s no excuse. It was stupid of me.”
“I disagree,” Jared said.
“I imagine you would,” Boutin said. “Since without it you wouldn’t be here, in many senses of the word here. I am impressed they were able to make a transfer back into a brain, however. Even I hadn’t figured that out before I had to go. Who managed that?”
“Harry Wilson,” Jared said.
“Harry!” Boutin said. “Nice guy. Didn’t know he was that smart. He hid it well. Of course, I did do most of the work before he got to it. To get back to your point about the Colonial Union knowing I’m here, yes, it’s a problem. But it’s also an interesting opportunity. There are ways to make this work. Back to it, now, and let me cut short any further deflections by telling you that how you answer will help determine whether what remains of your squad lives or dies. Do you understand me?”
“I understand you,” Jared said.
“Perfect,” Boutin said. “Now, tell me what you know about me. How much do you know about my work?”
“Broad outlines,” Jared said. “The details are difficult. I didn’t have enough similar experiences to let those memories take root.”
“Having similar experiences matters,” Boutin said. “Interesting. And that would explain why you didn’t know about the back door. How about my political views? What I felt about the Colonial Union and the CDF?”
“I’m guessing you don’t like them,” Jared said.
“That’d be a pretty good guess,” Boutin said. “But that sounds like you don’t have any first-hand knowledge of what I thought about any of that.”
“No,” Jared said.
“Because you don’t have any experience with that sort of thing, do you?” Boutin said. “You’re Special Forces, after all. They don’t put questioning authority into your lesson plan. What about my personal experiences?”
“I remember most of it,” Jared said. “I had enough experience for that.”
“So you know about Zo?,” Boutin mused.
Jared felt a flush of emotion at the child’s name. “I know about her,” he said, voice slightly husky.
Boutin picked up on it. “You feel it too,” he said, coming up close to Jared. “Don’t you? What I felt when they told me she was dead.”
“I feel it,” Jared said.
“You poor man,” Boutin whispered. “To be made to feel that for a child you didn’t know.”