On Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:22:38 +0000 Steve Rogerson steve.rogerson@mcr1.poptel.org.uk writes:

1. What did Cally tell them during her torture. [snip]

Although the teleport range seems like something she would have told them and it also seems like Federation torture was pretty effective, I'm not sure if Cally told them anything or not just because she doesn't act like it later. It seems like, if she had been forced to betray the others (even if she couldn't help it), she's the sort to suffer a lot of guilt over betraying companions. Also, I'm not sure if it wouldn't have effected how the others treated her, especially Avon, who's not big on others betraying him.

Actually, while on the subject, Avon _acted_ pretty cool on the issue, but I wonder if that was how he was really feeling? In other words, how did the guy who believed his true love had been tortured to death in an attempt to make her betray him feel about having another woman (who he had some responsibility towards) captured and tortured in an attempt to make her betray him (along with incidental others)?

Which brings up not only Avon's resistance to torture (we expect that of him) but Anna's supposed resistance, something neither Avon (whose view of those he doesn't admit caring about is sometimes a little distorted) nor Grant seemed to find unbelievable.

Based on Rumors and Killer, I suppose Avon had been interrogated before and was reasonably certain of his ability to withstand it (especially with the added psychological edge that _he_ controlled when it stopped [give or take a couple minutes]). Perhaps Avalon had had a little too much Federation PR and the interrogation could be beaten?

Or perhaps it could be beaten by someone with the right background (take the Bujold books where various characters have an artificial [and lethal] allergy to interrogation drugs). Possibly what happened to Blake, the breakdown and restructuring of much of his personality, wasn't really an interrogation tool. The memory loss may have been an inevitable side effect the Federation had to accept if they were going to use him as a PR puppet.

Which still begs the question of whether Cally could have withstood it and whether or not she did.

If the teleporter used some kind of observable energy beam and if the Federation had gotten enough information from its own attempts to develop the technology, they might have been able to make a reasonable calculation (semi-confirmed by observation). It's an interesting question, and I'm going to go nuts not having the answer.

2. What did Federation torture methods consist of? We saw in S-L-D

them preparing some sort of liquid, but we learned very little of what actually was done. Any ideas?

The traditional combinations of pain and psychological manipulation, from what we see of Shrinker. Drugs seem to have played a part (although whether 'truth serums,' to make people spill the beans, or [if we assume there were ways of protecting against those] other drugs to aid in interrogation [drugs that limit the body's ability to block pain, addictive substances, things that limit mental alertness).

How did I get off on this subject? I can think of other possibilities that are making me feel ill, not to mention making me hope Cally managed to block out most of the experience. Suffice it to say, if there's something hideous and nasty, it's probably mentioned in Shrinker's handbook.

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