Conversation · The Deserter

"Since she came to Martinaise. I saw her sneaking in the reeds early in the morning, behind the Feld building. It was dark, still winter. She didn't have her skimpy outfit on then, just a spot in the night, moving..."

"Past the Feld building, on the coast? What was she doing there?"

"Hiding something in the water. She had a fag after she'd done it. I was up in the ruins there -- she couldn't see me, but I could see her. Smoking... she was nervous, but not scared."

And beautiful.

"What do you think she hid there?"

"Her passport. And tickets to Villiers." He coughs. "And from there to Casherbrume."

In the Free State of Semenine. Hidden away at the edge of the Earth, near the pale.

"This is the hidden buoy she told us about... You looked into it?"

"After she was gone." He nods.

"Did you keep what was in it? When we found the submersible it was empty."

"No. Why would I do that? I didn't need tickets to Villiers... I put them back. If I wanted to extort someone I'd do better."

This implies that he's thought about extorting her.

Also, a little inconsistency here -- he was surprised to hear her name Klaasje, before. Would he not have seen it on the documents?

"Are you sure? I checked the submersible. There was nothing there."

"Why would I need that trash?" He looks to the reeds, confused. "I'm not going to Villiers..."

There it is again. The strange neurological state he's sometimes in.

A strange confusion comes over him from time to time. Some kind of aberration of the nervous system?

"What did it say her name was -- in the passport?"

"It was something else..." He stutters. "I don't remember. It was dark that morning. I only remember her face on the photo."

"Where was this submersible, looks like the investigation missed it?"

"In the water, behind the camp site there," he waves erratically toward the coast. "I don't remember precisely. It was in the winter. It was cold out..."

"You saw her name on the passport. But before, when I said her name is Klaasje -- you didn't seem to recognize it."

"It didn't say Klaasje in there..." He shakes his head.

"Moving on -- did you continue watching her after this?" (Proceed.)

"I did." He almost smiles. "She had a face like an archipelago, with those birthmarks. And a body, hard and lean and bruised all over -- black and yellow. I could see she's taken a beating."

"I could see who she was, too," he nods. "A spook. On the run. Revachol's the cloaca of capital now. All the bagmen and arms dealers end up here. To do drugs and have sex like animals."

"You could tell she was a spook from the documents?"

"She had different colour hair on the photo, and glasses. Forged. Some sordid, bourgeois affair. I've heard about this kind of thing on the radio..."

He's setting it up for you...

The bruises. You can't make that out in a scope...

"How did you see all this. The bruises; that she was beaten?"

"I'm not blind, am I?" He shakes his silver head.

"And you could see her bruises -- through the scope of a rifle?"

"You can't see bruises through a scope. It's just a blur..." He shakes his silver-grey head.

The bruises. Can you make that out in a scope?

And the fact that she was a spook. How did he come to that?

"First -- you could tell she was a spook from the documents?"

"She had different colour hair on the photo -- and glasses. Forged. Some sort of sordid, bourgeois affair. I've heard about this kind of thing on the radio..."

"How did you see all this. The bruises, that she was beaten?"

"Heh..." He shakes his silver-grey head.

"And the bruises -- you could see her bruises through the scope of a rifle?"

"You can't see that through a scope. It's just a blur there..." He shakes his silver-grey head.

Wait, she was a spook? How did he come to that?

A little inconsistency -- he was surprised to hear her name Klaasje, before. Would he not have seen it on the documents?

One little thing -- what was her name, on the passport. Just curious...

"Did you keep the materials? When I found the submersible it was empty."

"Did you keep the documents in it?"

"No. I put them back. Why would I take them, I'm not going to Falne..." He seems confused, momentarily. "Or... I mean..."

"Did you keep the materials?"

"Some kind of hidden container on the coast? You looked into it?

"Yes. After she'd gone. It was a submersible. Well made, actually..."

"Sloppy, we should have gotten her to tell us about this..." the lieutenant mutters to himself. "Did you take the documents?"

"Did you take the documents?"

"And beautiful."

"That too," he nods.

"How could you see what she looked like? You said it was dark."

"The sun came up, her hair was like cobwebs. She smoked more fags and snorted a line of whatever shit she was on. Right there..." he shakes his head. "She needed it just to move."

"The sun came up and her hair was like cobwebs. She smoked more fags and snorted a line of whatever shit she was on. Right there..." he shakes his head. "She needed it just to move."

"What was she doing there?"

"How did you get close enough to see the bruises, Mr. Dros?"