Within the Sound of Silence
Torrun interrupted. “Dream, if you had to interrogate someone, what would you do?”
The question Torrun asked hung there unanswered and unacknowledged. Silent Dream heard him, but he became lost in his thoughts for a few moments.
It would be a simple matter to let another ask questions of the prisoner while the psychic kept hidden. Empathy could detect the lies while Telepathy could read the unspoken thoughts that became lies when spoken.
The psychic could instead be the interrogator. Each question could be punctuated as a Hypnotic Suggestion, forcing the prisoner to answer against their will and reveal their secrets. Or with care one could project both the Mental Illusion of a trusted ally and an Empathic Transmission of Trust upon the prisoner, deceiving the prisoner into readily asking carefully worded questions.
In all cases, the memories of the interrogation itself could be Wiped and false memories Inserted to fill the void. The false memories could even be designed mislead and confuse the enemy.
Dream knew of others who reveled in the ease with which any of these methods could be employed. Such violations of another’s mind were inconsequential to them. When they became bored of these methods they would employ other, darker methods. Empathic Transmissions of Fear or Manipulation of the prisoner’s sense of Pain. They would even go so far as to deliberately curse the prisoner with lingering insanities which would persist for weeks, or even months at a time.
The Wolfen military had plenty of these psychic butchers in their ranks. Interrogators whose actions inspired fear in both their enemies and their allies. Because once you’ve Hypnotically Controlled someone or effortlessly plucked their secrets from their minds, they can never look at you the same way again. Neither will those who witnessed it. All of your interactions with those people will become suspect.
But with a shared Mind Bond, one can give as well as take while not provoking the same level of fear among allies. For as much as a Mind Bond takes from the prisoner it gives just as much in the form of the psychic’s own memories. Dream had long ago came to the conclusion that Bonding with another’s mind was the kindest, quickest, and most fair way to psychically interrogate another being. In a situation where Dream had to interrogate someone, that is what he would do. What he had done in the past. When done carefully it could lead to more than just a victory – it can lead to a shared understanding and maybe even new friends. When done carelessly and it could lead to an enemy learning information they should not know. Such an act of carelessness had caused the deaths of many-
“Did I offend somebody?” Torrun cautiously asked through the silence.
“No, no, I’m just remembering,” Dream quickly answered. He then continued to explain about swapping memories through a Mind Bond as a method of interrogation. The momentary pause was quickly forgotten as the conversation changed subject and continued into the night.
Note: These events occured on the evening of the 6th day of Thoth, in the seventy-second year of the Great Wolfen Empire.
Image source: figment
I love the past introspection in this piece!
Very thoughtful on just a simple request. Abuse of power is a slippery slope, but Dream has moral mountaineering at +99
Another great insight into silent dream.
I love the term moral mountaineering