Conversation · Logic

He senses something is wrong.

"You're sober. Was it hard for you to keep sober for this meeting?"

"We don't need drugs to be hard core!"

"Shut the fuck up, Egg!"

"I know I wouldn't be as hard core without drugs."

"Uhm..." He doesn't knows how to comment on what you just said.

"So, does Acele need drugs more than you?"

"We know she has a problem, man. We're working on it. She didn't exactly have a smooth adolescence."

Underneath, he is furious she ruined it for them. This means trouble for their female friend.

"Bottom line is: I know." (Proceed.)

"What exactly is it you know?" He sounds confrontational.

"Maybe not today, Egg, but you need drugs to get through the days when you're not expecting me."

"Climb down from the equestrian monument, cop-man. Consciousness is new to the universe. We all have our ways to ease the shock."

"Soona said you've been lying about your plans. Your answer was very unconvincing."

He furrows his brow. "Fuck, man, it's difficult to get along with some people, but we're trying to make an effort. We are on a mission here."

"In short: you tried to use a police detective to set up a drug lab."

"That's..." He waves his hands. "C'mon, that's..."

"Against the law?"

"I meant to say: Not true."

"Punishable by summary execution?"

"It's not!" He looks at your hand near your holster. His eyes fill with fear.

So this is what power feels like. Do you like it?

(I can do without it. Put your hand down.) "So it's not punishable by death?"

"No! It's not true is what I meant!"

(I like it -- move hand closer to holster.) "So it's not punishable by death?"

"So lying to a police officer is not punishable by death?"

"So turning a police officer into an unwitting accomplice in a crime is not punishable by death?"

"It's not!" His eyes are wide with fear.

"Preposterous?"

"I meant to say: Not true."

"This isn't the makings of a club, it's a tent full of laboratory equipment. For manufacturing drugs."

"I have no idea how you arrived at that conclusion, but it's wrong! Look, we even have speakers!" He points at the speaker.

One speaker. They have one speaker.

"That Nosaphed is here for its active ingredient."

"He said it was for his nose. What more do you want?"

Likely pseudoephedrine, almost exactly the shape of ephedrine. Ephedrine makes you happy and so does pseudoephedrine.

"There is no need for me to pile on any more, is there?" (Proceed.)

"No shit..." He sounds tired.

"The ether in the air -- a useful solvent. Good for getting acting agent out of a solution."

"Make up your mind, first it's the sweat, then it's the ether..." He smiles nervously.

"Where is his friend? Did he lose his friend?"

"What do you mean friend?"

"The other speaker. You have only one."

"It's a one-speaker system! It's monodynamic. You wouldn't know the first thing about sound reproduction in anodic music! Other speaker... Pffft!"

This may be the brain damage talking, but you've definitely never heard of monodynamic or one-speaker systems.

"The distilled water -- cornerstone of a clean lab."

"And of all cellular-based life. What's your point, law-bringer?"

"You have no headphones. Wouldn't Acele need her headphones to spin tape?"

"What do you know about spinning tape? Nothing!"

"I know you pawned them. Likely for lab equipment and drug ingredients."

"I'm sorry, but there is no lab equipment. And no drug ingredients."

"Soona hinted that there's something else going on. That I'm being naive."

"Hey man, who knows what she's on about." He scoffs. "I get it, she doesn't want us in the church. She's got something against us."

"Who doesn't like to dance? She doesn't like to dance!"

"So what are we going to do with you?" (Proceed.)

"What do you mean 'do'?"

There's resignation in his voice. He's almost ready to drop the act. It wouldn't take a lot of pushing.

The optimal way to go about this would be indifference. It begins by you telling him you don't care about any of this.

Time for a threat. He can't handle the pressure.

"We do this law-man style. First you tell me everything. Then I pass judgement."