"I see," Copperd grunted. "And now you expect me to reveal secrets which I am bound by oath to protect with my very life?"
"You will reveal them," Ristal told him.
I didn't like the way Ristal said that. There was a tinge of cruelty in his tone and in the sudden tightening of his lips. I hadn't ever worked with him before, or with Kresh, who was Ristal's second in command, but I didn't like the methods their manner implied. Copperd looked worried.
"I told you we were a peaceful people," I put in.
"Let me handle this," Ristal said. He pointed to a machine which stood in a corner.
"That," he explained to Copperd, "is a device which we ordinarily use in surgery and diagnosis. It has the faculty of making the nerves infinitely more sensitive to stimuli. Also to pain. Do you understand?"
"You can't use that on him!" I said. Ristal looked at me strangely.
"Of course not. But on his daughter, yes. No father likes to see his daughter suffer."
"That's out," I said flatly. "You know what our orders are."
"I know what they were. This is my own idea, Marko. Please remember that I am commander here."