127 – The art of truth-drug

Excerpt from the proceedings of the Chevengani Mental State Assessment Committee, etesora 83, Y. 1556.

La: We are honoured to be joined by Krero Saranyera, captain of the darya semanakraseyeni; thank you, Krero. For our invest—

Li: Should he not be sworn?

La: We are not questioning him on the substance of our investigation but only asking his help in acquiring means to perform it.

Li: Krero is a heart-friend of Chevenga’s from childhood; I think at the very least for the appearances of propriety here, he should be sworn.

Krero Saranyera: I don’t mind swearing, not for a moment.

La: All right. For the purposes of the Committee I take the role as Adakri. Krero Saranyera, as you hold both your own and the Committee crystal in your hands, and in the worldly witness of the people of Yeola-e as represented by this Committee, and the spiritual witness of All-Spirit, we ask that you swear you will speak only truth before us, clear and complete to the best of your understanding.

Kre: I swear I will speak only truth before the Committee, clear and complete to the best of my understanding, Second Fire come if I forswear.

Sc: The witness is sworn.

La: Krero, for our investigation the Committee needs to obtain a dose of Arkan truth-drug, and so we ask—

Kre: To use on him?

4Che: I insisted on it.

Kre: Ah. Linasika called you a liar again.

La: I reiterate, sib Captain, the Committee needs to obtain a dose of Arkan truth-drug, and we ask your assistance in this.

Kre: I will be party to no such heinous action, and I will do nothing for a Committee that is so doubtful of this man’s honesty.

Li: Prepare to be compelled then.

4Che: Krero, it’s all right, it’s on my request, I argued for it, hard.

Kre: Because you’ve been crapped on a time too many and you’re too damned giving for your own good!

La: Order! Captain Krero, may we remind you where you are and ask you to use suitable language.

Kre: Pardon me, sib Servants. But I reiterate, I will do no such thing.

4Che: Krero, it’ll go on your record.

Kre: Let it go on my child-ra— let it go on my record then!

La: Captain Krero, if you will not assist us, can you refer us to another who will? I think that experience in use of the drug is lacking on this Committee, and we need someone not only to procure it for us, but guide us in its use.

Kre: I…

4Che: There’s no one I’d choose over you.

Kre: Fine, fine, I’ll do it. I retract my refusal, may Yeola-e have benefit of it! I’ll get you your truth-drug… but I request, as strongly as I may request, that you allow me to speak to the matter of using it on Chevenga, or anyone, as you’ve said you all lack experience with it.

La: I ask each member of the Committee, have you any experience administering truth-drug? I see seven charcoals. Very well, Krero, please speak to it.

Kre: A truth-drug questioning must be done with great care. It’s not as simple as ask a question, get the flawless truth; there are many ways the information can be ruined if the questioner doesn’t know what he’s doing.

A person under truth-drug goes into a very passive state; his will is not his, and so he cannot speak what he chooses to, as he usually can. What that means in practical terms is several things. If he doesn’t understand a question, he cannot ask you what you mean; he will only go silent, or try to answer it as best he can, and his answer will likely be confused, and worthless. So you must ask everything very clearly, and in such a way that only one meaning is possible. If you misinterpret his answer—and because he is only semi-conscious, he will often speak very quietly, and slur words—he cannot correct you, he cannot say, “No, what I meant was…” So it is best to ask for clarification, and ask a question in a different way to confirm the answer, often.

You can’t do it like a court or Assembly cross-examination, you can’t confront him: if you say, “That’s not so!” he will not argue, because he cannot. All he can do, other than answer questions, is obey commands, so that if you command him to answer a question a certain way, he will, even if the answer is not the truth. If he’s asked the same question again, without a command, he will tell the truth, contradicting himself; he’s subject to whatever was said to him last. So if you try to control his answers, you will get worthless ones. If you are angry, the temptation is to run over him with words, as he cannot defend himself, and you have the satisfaction of seeing him lie helpless and silent while you rant, or make him say whatever you want. But you get no truth that way.

It’s a skill, an art. In Arko, at least among Arkans who do it properly, you aren’t allowed to question a person under truth-drug without having been trained in it, and apprenticing for a while to someone who is expert. As Servants you might be familiar with the work of the Arkan Truth-Drug Law-writing Committee, which is working with us and with Ikal, who were the first Yeolis to use the truth-drug and learn the techniques, to develop laws governing its use.

For this reason, I would like to request, again, as strongly as I may request a Committee of Assembly, that I be present when it is done to Chevenga, and that I be allowed to intercede in words at any time, so as to ensure it is indeed truth you hear from him.

Also, I wonder if any of you has any experience using a vein-needle?

La: Members of the Committee? I see seven charcoals again; we don’t, Krero.

Kre: Then I’d like to request that I do that, also. It can be a very dangerous procedure if not done by one trained and skilled in it.

Li: I feel that for appearance’s sake, it should be someone other than Krero.

Cha: A Haian, perhaps.

Kre: No, they won’t do it. It is not a healing procedure, so it is against their ethics.

Li: Your Haian wouldn’t do it, if you asked him?

4Che: No, and I wouldn’t put him in that position by asking him.

Li: Chevenga, you remember we can compel you?

4Che: All the time you’re intimating that I’m a despot, Linasika, but I’ve noticed that every time anyone on this Committee raises the idea of compelling someone, it’s you. (crosstalk)

La: Order, sib gentlefolk. Krero, do you know anyone?

Kre: I do. Would the Committee approve of it being done by someone unnamed in your record, on my word and guarantee?

La: All right, let’s do this one at a time. That we permit Krero Saranyera, while still under oath, to be present while we question Chevenga under truth-drug, and allow him to intercede so as to ensure true answers, discussion?

Li: I think that for the sake of appearances, we should perhaps choose a truth-drug expert who is not a heart-friend of Chevenga’s from childhood.

Da: I disagree, as I feel that the person who does this should be someone Chevenga trusts, as, let’s face it, this is going to be an ordeal for him. I trust Krero, under oath, not to act to try to conceal anything—

Kre: I can swear to that if you like.

Da: And also I think our expert needs to be someone who won’t be shy to intercede, even to run over Chevenga speaking if necessary, which I also trust Krero to do.

4Che: For what it’s worth, in respect of the fact that you are doing this by my request, this would be my preference.

La: All right, that we permit Krero Saranyera, under oath, to be present while we question Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e under Arkan truth-drug, and allow Krero to intercede so as to ensure true answers, all chalk, all charcoal, I see six chalks and one charcoal, carried, thank you. Now, that we permit, on the word and guarantee of Krero Saranyera, Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e to be administered Arkan truth-drug by someone whose name will not be entered into the record, all chalk, all charcoal, carried unanimously, thank you.

Da: Sib gentlefolk, we haven’t asked the person who’s actually going to have the needle put into his vein how he feels about this.

4Che: I’m fine with it.

La: Thank you, Chevenga, now one more matter; on mention of the truth-drug Committee, I am thinking it might be helpful both to our work and theirs, that one or more of their members be present here as observers. It’s short notice, but we might be able to get at least one of them. So I’d like to take a vote, that we invite the Arkan Truth-Drug Law-writing Committee to send as many of their members as they wish to, to sit in observance of the questioning under truth-drug of Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, discussion?

Da: I’d like to ask Che—

4Che: I’m fine with this, too.

La: All chalk, all charcoal, carried unanimously, thank you, runner, please enact.

R: The people wills.

La: Krero, we request that you fetch a dose of Arkan truth-drug and this unnamed person who will work on your guarantee; can this be done on such short notice?

Kre: Yes. They have more than one skilled person. The people wills. Oh, something else: someone under truth-drug becomes completely lax. So we need a couch or a long chair, something that will let him put his head back.

La: Yes, we’ll do that, runner, enact. Let us break until these things are brought.

†

La: We welcome you, sib Unnamed One, thank you for coming. Is there a name you might suggest we call you?

Unnamed: You are welcome, honoured Committee members. Let us say my name is Chenai.

La: Pardon me, but we already have a Chanae as a member of the Committee; might I ask you to suggest a different name for the sake of avoiding confusion in the record?

Unnamed: Certainly, then, let’s say my name is Irae.

La: Thank you, Irae, that will do well. Now it is a service we ask you to perform for us, which perhaps Krero has explained to you.

“Irae”: In my understanding, I am to administer a dose of truth-drug to the semanakraseye.

La: Yes. Now we welcome our fellow Servants of Assembly Tena-e Michere and Anchera Kalkilae, members of the Arkan Truth-drug Law-writing Committee, who are here by our invitation to observe the questioning of Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e under the drug. We thank them for coming, especially on such short notice.

Te: We thank the members of the Chevengani Mental State Assessment Committee for inviting us, and affording the opportunity to observe… well, we welcome all opportunities to witness the use of the drug, but we are particularly honoured to witness one which… is of a historic nature.

A: I concur with Tena-e and thank you all likewise.

La: I realize I am very much remiss not to have already said, so that I must say now, for the record, that it is truly not the members of the Committee to which you owe this opportunity, Tena-e and Anchera, but rather Chevenga himself. At the outset, one of our members suggested the use of truth-drug in our investigation, and it was overwhelmingly voted down, so we had effectively prohibited ourselves from using it. Today Chevenga requested that we overturn this vote so as to question him under it, as assurance of his complete honesty with respect to our investigation. In fact I have to say, because it’s only fair to say, he argued us into it.

Te: Truly.

4Che: Well, you know… I’m having my mental health assessed (laughter).

Te: We offer our sincerest thanks to you, Fourth Chevenga.

Da: I am just recalling something that you said, Chevenga, in our first questioning of you: that you are averse to vein-needles.

4Che: Yes, I said that, and I said also that it isn’t so bad that I can’t grit my teeth and endure it when I must take one.

Da: Is there anything we can do to make it easier for you?

4Che: Not that I can think of.

Kre: I’ve already done one thing, choosing a woman to do it; that helps.

4Che: Yes, thanks, Krero.

La: All right, now, before we proceed, I would ask you, Krero, to assert under oath that what you have brought that you represent as Arkan truth-drug is indeed Arkan truth-drug, pure, unaltered, unadulterated, so that it will have the effects that you represent it will have, which is to say it will render the person to whom it is given unable to… to put it exactly, do other than either tell the truth in answer to clear questions, or obey commands.

Kre: I assert all that you say is true.

La: Thank you, and Irae… no, pardon me, you are not and cannot be under oath; Krero, I ask you under oath to assert, as Irae administers the dose, that it is being done properly, that it is being done as it must be done to have the true effect. Chevenga, if you will take the couch.

--