[Dragaera] Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

[Scott Crain]

Davdi Silverrock <davdisil at gmail.com> wrote:- On 11/8/06, Scott Schultz wrote:
> As far as that goes, the Orb is an astounding device but it's still
> essentially a machine. Witness Vlad's ability to dance around the actual
> truth by focusing on the literal truth as he saw it.

- I still insist that this was because the interrogators were either

- utterly incompetent, utterly uninterested in the truth, or bribed to

- go easy.  Or all of the above.
I don't think so.  It's called 'fugue' -- and with it, you can say almost anything and mean almost anything.  Steve Perry's books are rife with it, especially the ones that take place in his 'Matador' universe, but you can find other examples of it here and there.  It is, basically, any time where you're saying one thing and implying something else -- or you're splitting hairs.

'Do you know where Morrolan is right now?'
"No."  (I know ABOUT where he is, but you didn't ask that.)
"Did you kill Tagitchan?"
'In my opinion, he committed suicide.'  ('Cause with the way he was acting, he sure was -asking- to be killed ...)

Vlad, you see, was playing to both the Orb and the inquisitors.  The Orb reads the truth of Vlad's words; Vlad IS being truthful when he says that in his opinion, God-Boss WAS asking for it.  The way he phrases it, though, helps to deceive the inquisitors -- who are, in part, relying on the Orb to tell whether or not Vlad is telling the truth.  If the Inquisitors didn't have the Orb, they'd be a lot, lot more specific with Vlad, and not let him get away with these sleek evasions -- but the -Orb- says 'he's telling the truth', so they accept the words as being a 'no' instead of what they -are-.




S. Thomas Crain
Author-in-Training
 
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