On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 23:00:06 +0100 "Una McCormack" una@qresearch.org.uk writes:

Ellynne wrote:

...

Or perhaps it could be beaten by someone with the right background

[snip]

...

Which still begs the question of whether Cally could have

withstood it

...

and whether or not she did.

The main character in Sylvia Engdahl's "The Far Side of Evil" is able to withstand sensory deprivation by virtue of having telepathy. Tough book. Not sure I should have been reading it as a 10 year old, but then...

I read it too. It probably _shouldn't_ have been in the children's section, now that I think about it (but that's where all the SF that didn't have graphic sex used to be put). Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if Cally could deal with sensory deprivation in much the same way, but torture's another matter. The character in the book was largely able to deal with it by being able to switch off her perception of pain. I don't think Cally can do that - or not as well. She may, with sufficient warning, be able to concentrate on ignoring pain better than the average human.

As for Avon, if there were artificial aids to dealing with torture (like the artificially induced allergy to truth serum), I wouldn't be surprised if he had them (although I'd love to know _how_ he got them [high placed family, employment with government or military, employment with criminal types, something he did on his own, or other?]). Perhaps that was one of the reasons he knew he could get put on the high priority interrogation list? A regular, undocumented type might not be worth the trouble. An undocumented type with very unusual and expensive interrogation protection who refuses to pull strings to get himself released is another story.

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