Lie detector 2

“Karl was lying about their numbers,” I said. “He was trying to make it seem that they were stronger than they really are.”

Although Karl hadn't really been afraid in the sense that a normal person would have been, he hadn't wanted to die either. He knew the PRT playbook. They were a publicity organization first and foremost, even more than they were cops, and so they tended to be relatively careful about how they treated non-powered mooks. Miss Militia's behaviors differed from the norms, and so he'd attempted to lie with just enough truth that it would be difficult to verify. If he was released, the others could claim that he'd lied his ass off and the PRT had believed it.

Getting one over on the PRT would be considered a coup for these people.

Fortunately, this branch of the PRT didn't have a thinker as far as he knew, and he wasn't important enough for them to call one in. He'd been wrong, of course, and being able to parse out truth from lies had made getting some information out of them a cinch.

***

Karl at least would understand that the entire thing had been orchestrated to send a message to his bosses. Don't attack civilians, and even more importantly, don't attack Wards, or the gloves would come off. Part of the whole point of the interview had been to preserve my secret identity and keep the Empire from keeping attacking me.

It was unlikely that they would reveal how much information they'd given up, and even less likely for them to realize just how much information they'd unconsciously projected. I'd give the rest of my impressions in my report.

***

Report