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[Assistant] And now it's partly about a show situation, a live show situation. In fact, the album starts off in a live show.


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[Assistant] Of a character, if you like, of pink and silver, whoever he may be.


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[Assistant] I mean Sid appears in the wall a lot.


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[Assistant] My friendship with him and his illness


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[Assistant] Combined, yeaah, provide a, uh, an enormous opportunity for, uhm,


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[Assistant] So he wanted to be successful and popular, and Sid particularly wanted to be a pop star, but he wanted to do it in his own way.


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[Assistant] I think Sid was with a group of people who firmly believed take loads of acid and you'll see the truth and all that stuff. I believe they were basically spiking.


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[Assistant] And I think that's the main reason for his mental instability.


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[Assistant] Trying to take care of him, I had the horrible thing of having to say to Sid, Sid I'm just going up to get some cigarettes. Because if I said we're going off to do a gig, whatever state he was in, he would come. And so I had to...


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[Assistant] It was all decided by the band, with David now in the band, that we'll go without Sid.


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[Assistant] This is the first attempt at doing anything at all in record covers.


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[Assistant] And, and fourth image, uh, the person at the back has his legs apart. In the other two images he has them together.


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[Assistant] But it goes, I think, a little bit deeper than that because the record actually seems to start at the beginning of the character's life.


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[Assistant] Is it actually happening?


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[Assistant] In the meantime, I read an old interview by Roger Waters in the Melody Maker.


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[Assistant] So now we're doing something completely different, which is gonna be a lot longer.


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[Assistant] Thanks so much for watching. Don't forget to hit the like and subscribe buttons below to let us know that this video is valuable for you. And of course, check out hundreds more videos just like this at TryExponent.com. Thanks for watching and good luck on your upcoming interview.


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[Assistant] He dropped into one of his scholarly trances, muttering to himself from time to time.


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[Assistant] The trance was broken only when he stumbled unexpectedly over an obstacle near the bottom of the hill.


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[Assistant] He flung his arms out with a startled cry as his feet went out from under him and he rolled untidily down the last few feet of the path, fetching up in a clump of cow parsley.


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[Assistant] I dashed down the hill after him, but found him already sitting up among the quivering stems by the time I reached the bottom. Are you all right? I asked, though I could see that he was. I think so.


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[Assistant] He passed a hand dazedly over his brow, smoothing back the dark hair. What did I trip over? This.


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[Assistant] He took it from me, peered inside, then tossed it over one shoulder. Pity it's empty. I'm feeling rather hungry after that excursion.


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[Assistant] Shall we see what Mrs Baird can provide in the way of a late breakfast? We might.


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[Assistant] I said, smoothing the last strands of hair for him. And then again we might make it an early lunch instead. My eyes met his. Ah, he said again, with a completely different tone.


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[Assistant] He ran a hand slowly up my arm and up the side of my neck, his thumb gently tickling the lobe of my ear. So we might. If you aren't too hungry, I said. The other hand found its way behind my back. Palm spread, it pressed me gently toward him, fingers stroking lower and lower. His mouth opened slightly, and he breathed ever so lightly down the neck of my dress.


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[Assistant] He laid me carefully back in the grass, the feathery blossom of the cow parsley seeming to float in the air around his head. He bent forward and kissed me, softly.


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[Assistant] And kept on kissing me as he unbuttoned my dress, one button at a time, teasing.


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[Assistant] Bawzing to reach a hand inside and play with the swelling tips of my breasts.


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[Assistant] At last he had the dress laid open from neck to waist. Ah, he said again, in yet another tone, like white velvet. He spoke horsely


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[Assistant] And his hair had fallen forward again, but he made no attempt to brush it back.


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[Assistant] He sprang the clasp of my brassiere with one accomplished flick of the thumb.


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[Assistant] And cupping my breasts with both hands, drew his palm slowly down to meet between the rising mounds. And without stopping, drew them softly outward again, tracing the line of my ribcage clear to the back. Up and again, down and around, until I moaned and turned toward him.


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[Assistant] He sank his lips onto mine and pressed me toward him until our hips fitted tightly together. He bent his head to mine, nibbling softly around the rim of my ear.


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[Assistant] The hand stroking my back slipped lower and lower, stopping suddenly in surprise. It felt again.


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[Assistant] Then Frank raised his head and looked down at me, grinning. What's all this, then? he asked, in imitation of a village bobby. Or rather, what's not all this? Just being prepared, I said primly. Nurses are taught to anticipate contingencies. Really, Clare, he murmured.


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[Assistant] Sliding his hand under my skirt and up my thigh to the soft unprotected warmth between my legs.


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[Assistant] You are the most terrifyingly practical person I have ever known.


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[Assistant] God, do you realize? It's all gone.


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[Assistant] Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him.


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[Assistant] Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson of Ferguson and Muirhead Tea Brokers of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a communication of even date concerning vampires. As our firm specialises entirely upon the assessment of machinery, the matter hardly comes within our purview.


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[Assistant] And we have therefore recommended Mr. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matter before you.


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[Assistant] Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, said Holmes in a reminiscent voice.


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[Assistant] But after a short, intent perusal, he threw down the great book with a snarl of disappointment. Rubbish, Watson, rubbish. What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their grave by stakes driven through their hearts?


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[Assistant] It was one of the peculiarities of his proud, self-contained nature that though he docketed any fresh information very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made any acknowledgement to the giver.


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[Assistant] The letter is, as I had hoped, from Robert Ferguson. By the way, he claims acquaintance with you. With me? You had better read it. He handed the letter across. It was headed with the address quoted. Dear Mr. Holmes, it said.


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[Assistant] Though unhappily injured through an accident in childhood.


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[Assistant] Twice the wife was caught in the act of assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way.


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[Assistant] Once she struck him with a stick and left a great wheel on his arm.


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[Assistant] A dear boy, just under one year of age.


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[Assistant] There was a small wound in the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped.


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[Assistant] The nurse was so horrified that she wished to call the husband.


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[Assistant] And that every time she was compelled to leave the baby alone, the mother was waiting to get at it. Day and night the nurse covered the child.


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[Assistant] And day and night the silent watchful mother seemed to be lying in wait as a wolf waits for a lamb. It must read most incredible to you, and yet I beg you to take it seriously.


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[Assistant] For a child's life and a man's sanity may depend upon it.


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[Assistant] He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and save for the assaults upon her stepson, a loving mother.


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[Assistant] While they were talking, a sudden cry of pain was heard. Nurse and Master rushed together to the nursery. Imagine his feelings, Mr. Holmes, as he saw his wife rise from a kneeling position beside the cot, and saw blood upon the child's exposed neck and upon the sheet.


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[Assistant] With a cry of horror he turned his wife's face to the light and saw blood all round her lips. It was she.


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[Assistant] She beyond all question, who had drunk the poor baby's blood. So the matter stands. She is now confined to her room. There has been no explanation.


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[Assistant] The husband is half demented. He knows, and I know, little of vampirism beyond the name.


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[Assistant] We had thought it was some wild tale of foreign parts, and yet here, in the very heart of the English Sussex,


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[Assistant] Well, all this can be discussed with you in the morning. Will you see me?


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[Assistant] Will you use your great powers in aiding a distracted man? If so...


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[Assistant] Yours faithfully, Robert Ferguson. P.S. I believe your friend Watson played rugby for Black Heath when I was three quarter for Richmond.


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[Assistant] It is the only personal introduction which I can give.


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[Assistant] Of course I remembered him, said I, as I laid down the letter. Big Bob Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had.


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[Assistant] He was always a good-natured chap. It's like him to be so concerned over a friend's case. Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head. I never get your limits, Watson, said he.


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[Assistant] Take a wire down like a good fellow. We'll examine your case with pleasure. Your case.


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[Assistant] I had remembered him as a long, slab-sided man with loose limbs and a fine turn of speed which had carried him round many an opposing back. There is surely nothing in life more painful


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[Assistant] Than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were bowed.


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[Assistant] You don't look quite the man you did when I threw you over the ropes into the crowd at the old deer park. I expect I've changed a bit also. But it's this last day or two that has aged me.


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[Assistant] It is simpler to deal direct, said Holmes. Of course it is. But you can imagine how difficult it is when you are speaking of the woman whom you are bound to protect and help. What can I do?


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[Assistant] How am I to go to the police with such a story and yet the kiddies have got to be protected? Is it madness, Mr. Holmes? Is it something in the blood?


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[Assistant] Have you any similar case in your experience? For God's sake, give me some advice, for I am at my wit's end. Very naturally, Mr. Ferguson, now sit here and pull yourself together, and give me a few clear answers.


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[Assistant] And that I am confident we shall find some solution. First of all, tell me what steps you have taken. Is your wife still near the children?


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[Assistant] We had a dreadful scene. She is a most loving woman, Mr. Holmes. If ever a woman loved a man with all her heart and soul, she loves me.


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[Assistant] Save to gaze at me with a sort of wild, despairing look in her eyes. Then she rushed to her room and locked herself in.


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[Assistant] A friend rather than a servant. She takes her food to her.


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[Assistant] That never wounded? No, she struck him savagely. It is the more terrible as he is a poor little inoffensive cripple.


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[Assistant] Ferguson's gaunt features softened as he spoke of his boy. You would think that the dear lad's condition would soften anyone's heart. A fall in childhood and a twisted spine, Mr. Holmes. But the dearest most loving heart within.


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[Assistant] Holmes had picked up the letter of yesterday and was reading it over. What other inmates are there in your house, Mr. Ferguson?


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[Assistant] I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your marriage. I had only known her a few weeks. How long had this maid Dolores been with her? Some years.


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[Assistant] Ferguson gave a gesture of relief. It is what I hoped, Mr. Holmes. There is an excellent trainer too from Victoria, if you could come.


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[Assistant] And the boy, having so affectionate a nature, was devoted no doubt to the memory of his mother, most devoted. He would certainly seem to be a most interesting lad. There is one other point about these assaults.


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[Assistant] Were the strange attacks upon the baby and the assaults upon your son at the same period?


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[Assistant] One forms provisional theories and waits for time or fuller knowledge to explode them. A bad habit, Mr Ferguson, but human nature is weak.


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[Assistant] I fear that your old friend here has given an exaggerated view of my scientific methods.


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[Assistant] However, I will only say at the present stage that your problem does not appear to me to be insoluble.


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[Assistant] It was evening of a dull foggy November day when, having left our bags at the Checkers' Lamberley, we drove through the Sussex clay of a long winding lane.


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[Assistant] And finally reached the isolated and ancient farmhouse in which Ferguson dwelt.


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[Assistant] Here, in a huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behind it dated 1670, there blazed and spluttered a splendid log fire.


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[Assistant] While above, where yellow plaster took the place of oak,


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[Assistant] Holmes rose with that quick curiosity which sprang from his eager mind and examined them with some care. He returned with his eyes full of thought.


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[Assistant] It came slowly forward towards its master, walking with difficulty.


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[Assistant] But it is passing. He'll be alright soon, won't you, Carlo?


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[Assistant] A shiver of a scent passed through the drooping tail. The dog's mournful eyes passed from one of us to the other. He knew that we were discussing his case. Did it come on suddenly? In a single night? How long ago?


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[Assistant] It may have been four months ago. Very remarkable. Very suggestive.


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[Assistant] What do you see in it, Mr. Holmes? A confirmation of what I had already thought.


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[Assistant] For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere intellectual puzzle to you, but it is life and death to me. My wife, a would-be murderer.


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[Assistant] A child in constant danger. Don't play with me, Mr. Holmes. It is too terribly serious.


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[Assistant] The big rugby three-quarter was trembling all over. Holmes put his hand soothingly upon his arm. I fear that there is pain for you, Mr. Ferguson. Whatever the solution may be, said he. I would spare you all I can. I cannot say more for the instant.


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[Assistant] If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I will go up to my wife's room and see if there has been any change.


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[Assistant] He was away some minutes, during which Holmes resumed his examination of the curiosities upon the wall.


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[Assistant] When our host returned it was clear from his downcast face that he had made no progress.


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[Assistant] She no ask for food. She vera ill. She need the doctor. I frighten stay alone with her without the doctor. Ferguson looked at me with a question in his eyes. I should be so glad if I could be of use. Would your mistress see Dr. Watson?


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[Assistant] I take him. I now ask leave. She needs doctor. Then I'll come with you at once.


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[Assistant] I followed the girl who was quivering with strong emotion up the staircase and down an ancient corridor.


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[Assistant] At the end was an iron clamped and massive door.


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[Assistant] It struck me as I looked at it that if Ferguson tried to force his way to his wife he would find it no easy matter. The girl drew a key from her pocket.


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[Assistant] And the heavy oaken planks creaked upon their old hinges.


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[Assistant] But as I entered she raised a pair of frightened but beautiful eyes and glared at me in apprehension. Seeing a stranger she appeared to be relieved.


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[Assistant] I stepped up to her with a few reassuring words.


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[Assistant] Both were high, and yet my impression was that the condition was rather that of mental and nervous excitement than of any actual seizure.


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[Assistant] The woman turned her flushed and handsome face towards me. Where is my husband? He is below and would wish to see you. I will not see him. I will not see him.


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[Assistant] Then she seemed to wander off into delirium. A fiend! A fiend! Oh, what shall I do with this devil? Can I help you in any way?


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[Assistant] No, no one can help. It is finished. All is destroyed. Do what I will. All is destroyed. The woman must have some strange delusion.


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[Assistant] I could not see honest Bob Ferguson in the character of fiend or devil. Madam, I said, your husband loves you dearly. He is deeply grieved at this happening.


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[Assistant] Again she turned on me those glorious eyes. He loves me, yes. But do I not love him?


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[Assistant] Do I not love him even to sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart?


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[Assistant] But he cannot understand. No, he cannot understand. But he should trust. Will you not see him? I suggested. No, no.


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[Assistant] I cannot forget those terrible words, nor the look upon his face.


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[Assistant] I will not see him. Go now. You can do nothing for me. Tell him only one thing. I want my child. I have a right to my child. That is the only message I can send him.


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[Assistant] She turned her face to the wall and would say no more.


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[Assistant] I returned to the room downstairs where Ferguson and Holmes still sat by the fire.


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[Assistant] Ferguson listened moodily to my account of the interview. How can I send her the child? he said. How do I know what strange impulse might come upon her?


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[Assistant] How can I ever forget how she rose from beside it with its blood upon her lips? He shuddered at the recollection.


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[Assistant] The child is safe with Mrs Mason, and there he must remain. A smart maid.


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[Assistant] The only modern thing which we had seen in the house had brought in some tea. As she was serving it the door opened and a youth entered the room.


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[Assistant] With excitable light blue eyes, which blazed into a sudden flame of emotion and joy as they rested upon his father.


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[Assistant] I should have been here to meet you. I'm so glad to see you.


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[Assistant] Ferguson gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little show of embarrassment. Dear old chap, said he.


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[Assistant] Patting the flaxen head with a very tender hand.


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[Assistant] I came early because my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson, have been persuaded to come down and spend an evening with us. Is that Mr. Holmes the detective? Yes.


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[Assistant] A wonderful mixture of the Saxon and the Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to it.


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[Assistant] As he glanced down at the small angry red pucker upon the cherub throat.


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[Assistant] We're now fixed with eager curiosity upon something at the other side of the room


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[Assistant] It is true that a shutter had half closed outside and obstructed the view.


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[Assistant] But nonetheless, it was certainly at the window that Holmes was fixing his concentrated attention.


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[Assistant] Then he smiled and his eyes came back to the baby.


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[Assistant] Finally he shook one of the dimpled fists which waved in front of him. Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life.


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[Assistant] He took her aside and spoke earnestly for a few minutes.


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[Assistant] I only heard the last words which were, Your anxiety will soon I hope be set at rest.


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[Assistant] The woman, who seemed to be a sour, silent kind of creature, withdrew with the child. What is Mrs Mason like? asked Holmes.


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[Assistant] Not very prepossessing externally, as you can see, but a heart of gold, and devoted to the child. Do you like her, Jack?


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[Assistant] It is certainly delicate, said my friend with an amused smile, but I have not been struck up to now with its complexity. It has been a case for intellectual deduction.


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[Assistant] But when this original intellectual deduction is confirmed point by point by quite a number of independent incidents, then the subjective becomes objective.


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[Assistant] But you will permit me to handle the matter in my own way.


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[Assistant] He scribbled a few lines upon a sheet of paper. You at least have the entrée, Watson. Will you have the goodness to give the lady this note?


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[Assistant] I ascended again and handed the note to Dolores, who cautiously opened the door. A minute later I heard a cry from within.


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[Assistant] As we entered the room Ferguson took a step or two towards his wife, who had raised herself in the bed, but she held out her hand to repulse him. He sank into an armchair


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[Assistant] While Holmes seated himself beside him after bowing to the lady who looked at him with wide-eyed amazement.


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[Assistant] Oh, very well, madam. If you would rather she stayed, I can see no objection. Now, Mr. Ferguson.


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[Assistant] The swiftest surgery is the least painful. Let me first say what will ease your mind.


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[Assistant] Your wife is a very good, a very loving and a very ill-used woman. Ferguson sat up with a cry of joy.


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[Assistant] Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound may be sucked for some other purpose than to draw the blood from it?


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[Assistant] Was there not a Queen in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it? Poison? A South American household.


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[Assistant] It would mean death if the venom were not sucked out. And the dog.


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[Assistant] I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have seldom seen in a human face. My Jackie! You have to face it, Mr. Ferguson.


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[Assistant] Good God, it is incredible. Have I spoken the truth, madam?


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[Assistant] It is the letter which Holmes wrote in final answer to that with which the narrative begins. It ran thus.


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[Assistant] Referring to your letter of the 19th, I beg to state that I have looked into the inquiry of your client, Mr. Robert Ferguson of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers of Mincing Lane, and that the matter has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion.


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[Assistant] But I always liked Bill. A good man's name with no stuck up about it. Oh, you'll be crazy about him, Katie. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] And as for the last one, he can't be alive or I would have heard from him. I've been pretty good. Seven years is a long time to wait around not being married. They said all you had to wait was seven years. And I waited.


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[Assistant] What I know is it can't be wrong or wouldn't feel like I do about it. I'm dumb, sure, but I know this much. If I feel bad about something, it's wrong. If I feel good, it's right. You wouldn't get it, Katie. You've got all the breaks I never had. You've got the kids and you've got a guy you're clear over.


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[Assistant] All right. Maybe Johnny didn't turn out just like you figured. Sure, he drinks and all and, and you're the one who's had to make most of the living, but, but everybody's got something. And you wasn't crazy about Johnny because he was going to be a banker. It was on account of, well, on account of how he laughed and, and how you felt walking down the street holding on to him and, and having other women look at you. And the way he could, the way he could talk about things and, and the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where he had to say hello to everybody like, like he was giving away something. That's what she was crazy about and that ain't changed. I don't know. Them things couldn't change in Johnny. Not even if he tried. He's just different kinda. He always was. But he ain't changed.


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[Assistant] There's been any change in, hon. Maybe it's you. You've still got all you was crazy over, ain't you?


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[Assistant] Then thank your lucky stars for what you got, Katie Nolan, and take the rest along with it. And you got a lot, you can take it from me. And don't think you haven't.


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[Assistant] Mr. Knudsen, I'd like you to meet my niece, Miss Francine Nolan.


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[Assistant] Steve's got to deliver milk to a lot of those babies that like that bottle kind. Oh, you don't want to frown like that, Katie. The fellas don't go for that at all. Goodbye, kids. So long, Mac.


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[Assistant] To the Rose character was the sweetest, most naive person on the face of the earth, and that lent itself to comedy.


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[Assistant] Rue's character was a lot of bluster, very tough, uh, very sexual and also, once you got past all that, extremely vulnerable.


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[Assistant] Were the mom that we all wanted, the favorite aunt that we all wanted, and had all those characteristics that, at least for myself, you know, that you'd respond to in your favorite aunt.


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[Assistant] I think everybody was able to relate to the show because everybody saw the characters as, or parts of the characters as people in their own families.


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[Assistant] We decided early on that the things that, some of the things that worked best were issues that were real issues that these ladies could relate to and explore in a really honest way.


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[Assistant] Issues of sexuality, dating, dealing with the loss of a loved one, divorce, all kinds of family problems. So, the heart, the truth, the emotion is what drew people to the show.


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[Assistant] We didn't know the emotional center of some of these characters to the extent that it would give us a lot of stories. So it was a struggle, the first five or six, to get a rhythm of what are the characters backstories, what are their dreams, what are their desires, what are their...


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[Assistant] Problems to the extent that we'll be able to figure them out for 100 or 150 episodes.


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[Assistant] The character Sophia for example, in the pilot she wasn't a storyteller, uh, but we found out in the course of the show that


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[Assistant] Her sharing her experiences, her life experiences from her perspective as a refugee leaving Sicily during the war was interesting to people and she'd always look at things from a historical perspective.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Rose character, her experiences in St. Olaf, that was something that we discovered when we were writing it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It ain't always easy when you're poor, but it'll be a blessing to you.


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[Assistant] The baby's a boy, we'll call him Johnny. Where's Sissy? Neely's been gone a long time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Excellent taste, inherited wealth, in the faith of our forefathers. It's not always what meets the eye, gentlemen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No one minds if you play trains, Art Matilda. But it's these other things.


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[Assistant] A little item of $1,675,000 in the past nine months. She bought half a million dollars worth of dead rats.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Aunt Matilda adopted three boys, gave them every advantage that she gave me, and then when they grew up, they walked out on her. And you haven't heard from them since?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course, I had almost forgotten that you knew each other.


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[Assistant] Of course, Vandacious's guard had overheard everything.


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[Assistant] The fellow might not speak much Samnorsk, but he had surely gotten the drift of the argument. People will hear about it eventually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He moped around the castle for a few days, spent a number of hours hunched over the remains of his notebook, trying to recreate the diagrams,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would be a while before he attended any more sessions with Dataset, especially when Joanna was around.


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[Assistant] Scriber knew he seemed brash to the outside world, but in fact,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It had taken a lot of courage to walk in on Joanna like that.


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[Assistant] He knew his ideas had genius, but all his life unimaginative people had been telling him otherwise. In most ways, Scriber was a very fortunate person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had been born a fishin' pack in Rangithir, at the eastern edge of the Republic. His parent had been a wealthy merchant. Jakarama-fan had some of his parents' traits.


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[Assistant] But the dull patience necessary for day-to-day business work had been lost to him.


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[Assistant] His sibling pack more than retained that faculty.


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[Assistant] The family business grew and in the first years,


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[Assistant] His sib didn't begrudge Scriber his share of the wealth.


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[Assistant] From his earliest days, Scriber had been an intellectual. He read everything. Natural history, biography, Brood Kenning.


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[Assistant] In the end he had the largest library in Rangithir, more than 200 books.


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[Assistant] Even then, Scriber had tremendous ideas. Insights which, if properly executed, would have made them the wealthiest merchants in all the eastern provinces.


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[Assistant] Alas, bad luck and his sibs lack of imagination had doomed his early ideas.


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[Assistant] In the end his sib bought out the business and jacarama fan moved to the capital. It was all for the best.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By this time Scriber had fleshed himself out to six members. He needed to see more of the world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Besides, there were five thousand books in the library there. The experience of all history and all the world. His own notebooks became a library in themselves. Yet still, the packs at the university had no time for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His outline for a summation of natural history was rejected by all the stationers, though he paid to have small parts of it published.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was clear that success in the world of action was necessary before his ideas could get the attention they deserved. Hence his spy mission.


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[Assistant] With the flying house and Joanna and data set went beyond his wildest dreams. And Scriber granted that those dreams were already pretty extreme.


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[Assistant] The library and data set contained millions of books.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With Joanna to help him polish his ideas, they would sweep flencerism from the face of the world. They would regain her flying house. Not even the sky would be a limit. So to have her throw it all back at him, it made him wonder about himself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe she was just mad at him for trying to explain Peregrin.


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[Assistant] Maybe his ideas just weren't that good. At least by comparison with humans.


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[Assistant] He tried out two or three as he and Peregrine descended Castle Street toward the harbor.


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[Assistant] After a minute or two, his friend turned a head back. It's okay, Scriber. When you feel like it, we'd like to have you back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scribber had always been a very good judge of attitude. In particular, he could tell when he was being patronized. He must have scowled a little because Peregrin went on,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean it. Even what Carver has been asking about you, she likes your ideas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Comforting lies are not, Scriber Brighton. Really?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The woodcarver of today was a sad case, but the woodcarver of the history books was one of Jack Rabafan's great heroes. No one's mad at me?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, Vendacious is a bit peeved. Being responsible for the two-leg safety makes him very nervous. But you only tried something we've all wanted to do. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even if there had been no data set, even if Joanna Olsen-Dott had not come from the stars, she would still be the most fascinating creature in the world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You could walk right up to her. You could touch her. Without the least confusion.


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[Assistant] It was frightening at first, but all of them quickly felt the attraction.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For Pax, closeness had always meant mindlessness, whether for sex or battle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Imagine being able to sit by the fire with a friend and carry on an intelligent conversation.


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[Assistant] About like before. Both Woodcarver and I can read Samnorsk pretty well now. Joanna has taught us, me via Woodcarver I should say, how to use most of Dataset's powers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's so much there that will change the world. But for now we have to concentrate on making gunpowder and cannons. It's that, the actual doing, that's going slow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scriber nodded knowingly, that had been the central problem in his life too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, if we can do all that by midsummer, maybe we can face Flenser's army and recapture the Flying House before next winter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peregrine made a grin that stretched from face to face. And then, my friend, Joanna can call her people for rescue, and we'll have all our lives to study the outsiders. I'm a pilgrimage to worlds around other stars.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was an idea they had talked of before. Peregrine had thought of it even before Scriber. They turned off Castle Street onto Edge Row.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scriber was feeling more enthusiastic about visiting the stationers. There must be some way he could help.


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[Assistant] He looked around with an interest that had been lacking the last few days.


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[Assistant] Woodcarvers was a fair-sized city, almost as big as Rangother. Maybe 20,000 packs lived within its walls, and in the homes immediately around.


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[Assistant] A cold, clean wind swept the market street, carrying faint smells of mildew and sewage, of spices and fresh sawn wood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The place was jammed, strangers getting as close as seven or eight yards. The stalls at the stationers were even worse. The felt dividers weren't that thick.


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[Assistant] And there seemed to be more interest in literature at woodcarvers than any place Scriber had ever been. He could hardly hear himself think as he haggled with the stationer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The merchant sat on a raised platform with thick padding. He wasn't much bothered by the racket.


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[Assistant] Scriber kept his heads close together, concentrating on the prices and the product.


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[Assistant] From his past life he was pretty good at this sort of thing.


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[Assistant] Eventually he got his paper and at a decent price. Let's go back on pack wheel, he said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was the long way through the center of the market. When he was in a good mood, Scriber rather liked crowds. He was a great student of people. Woodcarvers was not as cosmopolitan as some cities by the Long Lakes, but there were traders from all over. He saw several packs wearing the bonnets of a tropic collective.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At one intersection, a red jacket from East Home was chatting cosily with a labor master.


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[Assistant] When Pax came this close, and in these numbers, the world seemed to teeter on the edge of a choir. Each person hung near to himself, trying to keep his own thoughts intact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was hard to walk without stumbling over your own feet, and sometimes the background thought sounds would surge, a moment where several packs would somehow synchronize.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your consciousness wavered and, for an instant, you were one with many. A super pack that might be a god. Jacaramiphan shivered. That was the essential attraction of the tropics.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The crowds there were mobs, vast group minds, as stupid as there were ecstatic.


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[Assistant] If the stories were true, some of the southern cities were non-stop orgies. They had roamed the marketplace almost an hour when it hit them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scriber shook his heads abruptly. He turned and walked in lockstab off Packwheel and up a side street. Peregrine followed. Is the crowd too much? he asked. I just had an idea, said Scriber.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That wasn't unusual in a closed crowd, but this was a very interesting idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said nothing more for several minutes. The side street climbed steeply, then jinked back and forth across Castle Hill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The upslope side was lined with burgers homes. On the harbor side they were looking out over the steep tile roofs of houses on the next switchback down. These were large homes, elegant with rose mailing. Only a few had shops on the street.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scriber slowed down and spread out enough that he wasn't stepping on himself.


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[Assistant] He saw now that he'd been quite wrong in trying to contribute creative expertise to Joanna. There was simply too much invention and data set. But they still needed him, Joanna most of all. The problem was, they didn't know it yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, he said to Peregrine, haven't you wondered that the flencerists haven't attacked the city?


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[Assistant] I should think if they were, they'd have knocked over wood carvers long before.


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[Assistant] No, I think there's another reason. They have the flying house, but they have no idea how to use it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They want Joanna back alive. Almost as much as they want to kill all of us. Peregrin made a bitter sound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If Steel hadn't been so eager to massacre everything on two legs, he could have had all sorts of help.


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[Assistant] True, and the flencerists must know that. I'll bet they've always had spies among the townspeople here, but now more than ever. Did you see all the East Home packs?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] East Home was a hotbed of flensers' sentiment. Even before the movement they had been a hard folk, routinely sacrificing pups that didn't meet their brood standards. One anyway. Right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who knows what's coming in disguised as special purpose packs?


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[Assistant] I bet my life they're planning to kidnap Joanna. If they guess what we're planning with her, they may just try to kill her. Don't you see? We must alert Woodcarver and Vendacious. Organize the people to watch for spies. You noticed all this on one walk through pack wheel?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was wonder or disbelief in his voice. Scriber couldn't tell which.


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[Assistant] Well, uhm, no, the inspiration wasn't anything so direct. But it stands to reason, don't you think?


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[Assistant] After all, hadn't it been the very political police of the republic who commissioned him to survey Hidden Island?


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[Assistant] It had taken him several ten days of patient persuasion, but in the end, they had been enthusiastic.


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[Assistant] Anything you can discover, we would be most happy to review. Those were their exact words.


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[Assistant] Peregrine waffled around the road, seemingly very taken aback by Scriber's suggestion. Finally he said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think there is something you should know. Something that must remain an absolute secret.


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[Assistant] Scriber was a little hurt at the lack of trust, and also that the other might have discovered something he had not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The second should not bother him. He had guessed that Peregrine and Woodcarver were into each other.


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[Assistant] You've tripped onto something that should not be noised about. You know Vendacious is in charge of Woodcarver's security? Of course. That was implicit in the office of Lord Chamberlain. And considering the number of outsiders wandering around, I can't say he's doing a very good job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, he's doing a marvelously effective job. Vendacious has agents right at the top at Hidden Island, one step removed from Lord Steel himself. Scriber felt his eyes widening. Yes, you understand what that means?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Through Vendatious, Woodcarver knows for a certainty everything their High Council plans.


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[Assistant] With clever misinformation, we can lead the flencerists around like frog hands at a thinning.


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[Assistant] Next to Joanna herself, this may be Woodcarver's greatest advantage. I, I had no idea.


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[Assistant] So the incompetent local security is just a cover. Not exactly. It's supposed to look solid and intelligent, but with just enough exploitable weakness so the movement will postpone a frontal attack in favor of espionage. He smiled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think Vendacious will be very taken aback to hear your critique.


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[Assistant] Scrabber gave a weak laugh. He was flattered and boggled at the same time.


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[Assistant] Vendacious must count as the greatest spymaster of the age. Yet he, Scriber Jackeramafen, had almost seen through him.


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[Assistant] Scriber was mostly quiet the rest of the way back to the castle, but his mind was racing.


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[Assistant] Peregrine was more right than he knew. Secrecy was vital.


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[Assistant] Unnecessary discussion, even between old friends must be avoided.


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[Assistant] Yes, he would offer his services to Vendatius. His new role might keep him in the background, but it was where he could make the greatest contribution.


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[Assistant] And eventually even Joanna would see how helpful he could be.


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[Assistant] Down the well of the night. Even when Ravna wasn't looking out the windows, that was the image in her mind. Relay was far off the galactic disk.


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[Assistant] The O.O.B. was descending toward that disk and ever deeper into slowness. But they had escaped. The O.O.B. was crippled.


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[Assistant] But they had left Relay at almost 50 light-years per hour. Each hour they were deeper in the beyond, and the computation time for the micro-jumps increased, and their pseudo-velocity declined. Nevertheless, they were making progress. They were deep into the middle of the beyond now, and there was no sign of pursuit, thank goodness. Whatever had brought the Blight to Relay, it had not been a specific knowledge of the OOB. Hope. Ravna felt it growing in her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The ship's medical automation claimed that Pham knew and could be saved that there was brain activity.


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[Assistant] The terrible wounds in his back have been old ones implants.


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[Assistant] Somehow the gear in Pham became a putrescent ruin. So Pham the person should still exist. Pray he still exists.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The surgeon thought it would be three days before his back was healed enough to attempt resuscitation. In the meantime,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna was learning more about the apocalypse that had swept over her.


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[Assistant] Every 20 hours, Greenstock and Blue Shell jig the ship sideways a few light years into some major trunk line of the known net to soak up the news.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a common practice on any voyage of more than a few days.


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[Assistant] An easy way for merchants and travelers to keep track of events that might affect their success at Voyage's end.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Parts of the known net were temporarily out of contact. Some of the extra galactic links might not be replaced for years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the first time in millennia, a power was known to have been murdered.


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[Assistant] There were tens of thousands of claims about the motive for the attack, and tens of thousands of predictions about what would happen next.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna had the ship filter the avalanche trying to distill the essence of the speculations.


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[Assistant] The one coming from Strombly Realm itself made as much sense as any.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The marriage of a transcendent being with races of the beyond.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If relay could be destroyed, if a power could be murdered, then nothing could stop the spread of victory.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe the attack was just the tail end of some long ago war. A misbegotten tragedy for the descendants of forgotten races.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If so, then the thralls at Strombly Realm might just wither away, and the original human culture there reappear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If anything, they claimed the blight was searching for something in the high beyond, or low transcend. There was network traffic coming out of the blight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Its high protocol messages were rejected by all but the suicidal, and no one was getting paid to forward anything. Yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was the blighter video, almost 400 seconds of pan sensual data with no compression.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That incredibly expensive message might be the most forwarded hog in all net history.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Blue Shell held the OOB on the trunk path for nearly two days to receive the whole thing. The perversion's thralls all appeared to be human.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About half the news items coming out of the realm were video evocations, though none this long. All showed human speakers. Ravna watched the big one again and again. She even recognized the speaker. Oven Nilsendot had been Stromly Realm's champion trail runner. He had no title now and probably no name. Nilsendot spoke from an office that might have been a garden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Years ago, Ravna and her sister had dreamed about that city, the heart of mankind's adventure into the Transcend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The central square had been a replica of the field of princesses on Nijora.


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[Assistant] And the immigration advertising claimed that no matter how far the strammers went, the fountain in the field will always flow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was no fountain now and Ravna felt deadness behind Nilsson Dot's gaze.


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[Assistant] This one speaks as the power that helps, said the erstwhile hero. I want all to see what I can do for even a third-rate civilization. Look upon my helping.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The viewpoint swung skywards. It was sunset.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the ranked agrav structures hung against the light, megameter upon megameter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was more grandiose use of the agrav material than Ravna had ever seen, even on the docks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Certainly no world in the middle beyond could ever afford to import the material in such quantities.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What you see above me is just the work barracks for the construction that I will soon begin in the Stroudly system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When complete, five-star systems will be a single habitat, their planets and excess stellar mass distributed to support life and technology as never before seen at these depths, and as rarely seen in the transcend itself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you returned to Nilsandot, a single human, mouthpiece for a god? Some of you may rebel against the idea of dedicating yourselves to me. In the long run, it does not matter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The symbiosis of my power with the hands of races in the beyond is more than any can resist. But I speak now to diminish your fear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What you see in Strombly Realm is as much a joy as a wonder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Never again will races in the beyond be left behind by transcendence. Those who join me, and all will join eventually, will be part of the power. You will have access to imports from across the top and lower transcend. You will reproduce beyond the limits your own technology could sustain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You will absorb all that oppose me. You will bring the new stability.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The third or fourth time she watched the item, Ravna tried to ignore the words, concentrate on Nils and Dot's expression, comparing it to speeches she had in her personal data set.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a difference. It wasn't her imagination. The creature she watched was soul-dead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Somehow the Blight didn't care that that was obvious. Maybe it wasn't obvious, except to human viewers, and they were a vanishingly small fraction of the audience. The viewpoint closed in on Nilsson Dot's ordinary dark face, his ordinary violet eyes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of you may wonder how all this is possible and why billions of years of anarchy have passed without such help from a power. The answer is complex.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like many sensible developments, this one has a high threshold. On one side of that threshold, the development appears impossibly unlikely. On the other inevitable. The symbiosis of the helping depends on efficient, high bandwidth communication between myself and the beings I help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Creatures such as the one now speaking my words must respond as quickly and faithfully as a hand or a mouth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The words came from a familiar face, and in Ravna's birth language. But the origin was monstrously far away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was plenty of analysis. A whole news group had been formed. Threat of the Blight was spawned from Threat's group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Homo sapiens interest group and close coupled automation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These days it was busier than any five other groups.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In this part of the galaxy, a significant fraction of all message traffic belonged to the new group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More bits were sent, analyzing poor Owen Nilsendon's mouthing that had been in the original. Judging from the flames and contradictions, the signal-to-noise ratio is very low.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] CryptoZero has received my OOB shipboard ad hoc. LanguagePath, Aquilaron Trisquiline, SJK Units, from Curvark University, claim to be Habitat-based university in the middle beyond. Subject, Blider Video. Summary, the message shows fraud.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Distribution, war trackers interest group, where are they now interest group, threat of the blight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've researched the matter carefully. Though he is not named, the speaker is a high official in the former Strambly regime. Now why, if the helper simply runs the humans as tele-operated robots, why is the earlier social structure preserved? The answer should be clear to any idiot. The helper does not have the power to tele-operate large numbers of sentients.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Evidently, the fall of Stromly Realm consisted of taking over key elements in that civilization's power structure. It's business as usual for the rest of the race. Our conclusion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This helper symbiosis is just another messianic religion, another screwball empire, excusing its excesses and attempting to trick those it cannot directly coerce. Don't be fooled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Crypto, zero. As received by OOB Shipboard Ad Hoc. Language Path, Optima, Aquilaron, Trisqualine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Seondra K. Units, from, Society for Rational Investigation. Probably a Single System in Middle Beyond, 5700 Light Years Anti-Spin Word of Seondra K. Subject, Blider Video Thread, Kervark University 1, Key Phrases, Probable Obscenity, Waste of Our Valuable Time, Distribution,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In case your head is totally stuck up your rear, probable insult, there was a power allied with relay. That power is now dead. You think maybe it just committed suicide? Look it up, flathead. Probable insult.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some messages were patent nonsense. One thing about the net, the multiple automatic translations often disguised the fundamental alienness of participants.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Crypto, zero, as received by OOB Shipboard Ad Hoc, Language Path, Arbwith, Trade, 24, Chergalen, Triskulin, SJK Units, from Twirlip of the Mists, perhaps an organization of cloud flyers in a single Jovian system, very sparse priors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Subject, blighter video thread, key phrases, hexapodia as the key insight, distribution, thread of the blight, date, 8.68 days since fall of relay, text of message.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from Stromly Realm, except as an evocation. My only gateway onto the net is very expensive. Is it true that humans have six legs? I wasn't sure from the evocation. If these humans have three pairs of legs, then I think there is an easy explanation for... Hexapodia? Six legs? Three pairs of legs?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably none of these translations was close to what the bewildered creature of Twirlip had in its mind. Ravna didn't read any more of that posting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Crypto Zero, as received by O.O.B. Shipboard Ad Hoc, Language Path Priscoline, S.J.K. Units, from Hans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No references prior to the fall of relay. No probable source. This is someone being very cautious. Subject, blighter video thread. Curvark University 1. Distribution, war trackers interest group. Thread of the blight. Date, 8.68 days since fall of relay. Text of message.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kervak University thinks the blight is a fraud because elements of the former regime have survived on Straum. There is another explanation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Suppose the Blight is indeed a power, and that its claims of effective symbiosis are generally true.


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[Assistant] That means that the creature being helped is no more than a remotely controlled device, his brain simply a local processor supporting the communication.


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[Assistant] Would you want to be helped like that? My question isn't completely rhetorical. The readership is wide enough that there may be some of you who would answer, yes. However, the vast majority of naturally evolved sentient beings would be revolted by the notion, surely the blight knows this.


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[Assistant] My guess is that the Blight is not a fraud, but that the notion of surviving culture in Stromly Realm is. Subtly, the Blight wants to convey the impression that only some are directly enslaved, that cultures as a whole will survive.


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[Assistant] Combine that with Blight's claim that not all races can be tele-operated. We're left with the subtext that immense riches are available to races that associate themselves with this power. Yet the biological and intellectual imperatives of these races will still be satisfied.


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[Assistant] So, the question remains, just how thorough is the blight's control over conquered races? I don't know. There may not be any self-aware minds left in the blights beyond, only billions of tele-operated devices. One thing is clear, the blight needs something from us that it cannot yet take. And so it went.


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[Assistant] Tens of thousands of messages, hundreds of points of view. It was not called the net of a million lies for nothing.


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[Assistant] Ravna talked with Blue Shell and Greenstalk about it every day, trying to put it all together, trying to decide which interpretation to believe.


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[Assistant] The writers knew humans well, but even they weren't sure of the deadness in Ove Nilsendot's face. And Greenstock knew humans well enough to see that there was no answer that would comfort Ravna.


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[Assistant] She rolled back and forth in front of the news window, finally reached a frond out to touch the human. Perhaps Sir Fam can say once he is well.


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[Assistant] Blue shell was bustling, clinical. If you're right, that means that somehow the blight doesn't care what humans and those close to humans know.


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[Assistant] In a way that makes sense, but his voter buzzed absentmindedly for a moment. I mistrust this message. 400 seconds of broadband, so rich that it gives full-sense imagery for many different races. That's an enormous amount of information, and no compression whatsoever.


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[Assistant] That suspicion had been in the news too, but there were no obvious patterns in the message, and nothing that talked to network automation.


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[Assistant] Such subtle poison might work at the top of the beyond, but not down here.


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[Assistant] And that left a simpler explanation, one that would make perfect sense even on Nijora or Old Earth.


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[Assistant] The video masked a message to agents already in place.


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[Assistant] Vendacious was well known to the people of Woodcarvers, but for mostly the wrong reasons. He was about a century old, the fusion offspring of Woodcarver on two of his strategists.


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[Assistant] In his early decades, Vendatius had managed the city's woodmills.


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[Assistant] Along the way he devised some clever improvements on the waterwheel.


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[Assistant] Vendacious had had his own romantic entanglements mostly with politicians and speech makers.


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[Assistant] More and more his replacement members inclined him toward public life.


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[Assistant] For the last thirty years, he has been one of the strongest voices on Woodcarver's council. For the last ten, Lord Chamberlain.


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[Assistant] In both roles, he had stood for the guilds and for fair trade.


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[Assistant] There were rumors that if Woodcarver should ever abdicate or wholly die, Vendacious would be the next Lord of Council.


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[Assistant] Many thought that might be the best that could be made of such a disaster.


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[Assistant] Though Vendatius' pompous speeches were already the bane of the council.


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[Assistant] That was the public's view of Vendacious. Anyone who understood the ways of security would also guess that the Chamberlain managed Woodcarver's spies.


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[Assistant] No doubt he had dozens of informants in the mills and on the docks.


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[Assistant] But now, Scriber knew that even that was just a cover.


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[Assistant] Imagine having agents in the flencerist inner circle, knowing the flencerist plans, their fears, their weaknesses, and being able to manipulate them. Vendacious was simply incredible.


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[Assistant] Ruefully, Scriber must acknowledge the other's stark genius. And yet, this knowledge did not guarantee victory.


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[Assistant] Not all the flencerist schemes could be directly managed from the top.


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[Assistant] Some of the enemy's low level operations might proceed unknown and quite successfully.


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[Assistant] And it would only take a single arrow to totally kill Joanna Olsendot.


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[Assistant] Here was where Scriber Jackarama Fan could prove his value.


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[Assistant] No problem getting permission. His new quarters were smaller. The walls rudely quilted.


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[Assistant] A single arrow loop gave an uninspired view across the castle grounds.


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[Assistant] For Scriber's new purpose, the room was perfect. Over the next few days, he took to lurking in the promenades. The main walls were laced with tunnels, 15 inches wide by 30 tall. Scriber could get almost anywhere in the curtain without being seen from outside.


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[Assistant] He padded single file from one tunnel to the next, emerging for a few moments on a rampart to flit from Merlin to Embrasure to Merlin, a head poking out here, a head poking out there.


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[Assistant] Of course, he ran into guards, but jacarama fan was cleared to be in the walls, and he had studied the guards' routine. They knew he was around, but Scriber was confident they had no idea of the extent of his effort. It was hard, cold work, but worth the effort.


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[Assistant] Scribbr's great goal in life was to do something spectacular and valuable. The problem was most of his ideas were so deep.


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[Assistant] That other packs, even people he respected immensely, didn't understand. That had been the problem with Joanna.


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[Assistant] Well, after a few more days, he could go to Vendatius and then...


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[Assistant] As he peeked around corners and through arrow slots, two of Scriber's members huddled down, taking notes.


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[Assistant] After ten days, he had enough to impress even Vendatius.


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[Assistant] Vendacious's official residence was surrounded by rooms for assistants and guards. It was not the place to make a secret offer. Besides, Scriber had had bad luck with the direct approach before. You could wait days for an appointment. And the more patient you were, the more you followed the rules, the more the bureaucrats considered you a non-entity. But Vendacious was sometimes alone.


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[Assistant] Late on the eleventh day of his investigation, Scribers stationed himself on that turret and waited. An hour passed. The wind eased.


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[Assistant] Heavy fog washed in from the harbor. It oozed up the old wall like slow moving sea foam.


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[Assistant] Everything became very, very quiet. The way it always does in a thick fog. Scriber nosed moodily around the turret platform. It really was decrepit. The mortar crumbled under his claws.


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[Assistant] It felt like you could pull some of the stones right out of the wall. Damn.


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[Assistant] Maybe Vendacious was going to break the pattern and not come up here today.


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[Assistant] But Scriber waited another half hour, and his patience paid off.


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[Assistant] There was no sound of thought. It was just too foggy for that. A minute passed. The trapdoor popped up and a head stuck through.


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[Assistant] Even in the fog, Vendatius' surprise was a fierce hiss. Peace, sir. It is only I, loyal Jack-o-Rama fan.


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[Assistant] The head came further out. What will a loyal citizen be doing up here? Why, I am here to see you. Scriber said, laughing. At this, your secret office. Come on up, sir. With this fog, there is enough room for both of us.


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[Assistant] One after another, Vendatious' members hoisted themselves through the trap door. Some barely made it, their knives and jewelry catching on the door frame.


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[Assistant] Vendacious was not the slimmest of packs. The security chief ranged himself along the far side of the turret, a posture that bespoke suspicion.


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[Assistant] Vendatius said in a flat voice, Sir, I wish to offer my services. I believe that my very presence here shows I can be of value to Woodcarver's security. Who but a talented professional could have determined that you use this place as your secret den?


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[Assistant] Venatius seemed to untense a little. He smiled wryly. Oh, indeed.


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[Assistant] I come here precisely because this part of the old wall can't be seen from anywhere in


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[Assistant] Commune with the hills and be free of bureaucratic trivia. Jackeramiphan nodded, I understand sir, but you are wrong in one detail. He pointed past the security chief.


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[Assistant] You can't see it through all this fog, but on the harbor side of the castle there is a single spot that has a line of sight on your turret. So, who could see much from


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[Assistant] Scriber reached into a pocket and brought out a telescope. Even from across the yard I could recognize you.


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[Assistant] The Itools could have made Scribber famous. Woodcarver and Scrupulo had been enchanted by them.


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[Assistant] Unfortunately, honesty had required him to admit that he bought the devices from an inventor in Rangithir.


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[Assistant] Nevermind that it was he who recognized the value of the invention. That it was he who used it to help rescue Joanna.


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[Assistant] When they discovered that he did not know quite how the lenses worked, they had accepted his gift of one and turned to their own glassmakers.


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[Assistant] Oh well, he was still the best iTunes user in this part of the world.


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[Assistant] It's not just you I've been watching, my lord. That's been the smallest part of my investigation. Over the last ten days, I've spent many hours on the castle walks.


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[Assistant] Vendacious as lips quirked, indeed.


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[Assistant] I dare say not many noticed me, and I was very careful that no one saw me using the eye tool. In any case, he pulled his book from another pocket. I've compiled extensive notes. I know who goes where and when during almost all the hours of light. You can imagine the power of my technique during the summer.


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[Assistant] He set the book on the floor and slid it toward Vendatius. After a moment, the author reached a member forward and dragged it toward himself. He didn't seem very enthusiastic.


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[Assistant] Please understand, sir, I know that you tell Woodcarver what goes on in the highest flencer councils. Without your sources we would be helpless against those lords, but who told you such things?" Scriber gulped, raising it out. He grinned weakly.


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[Assistant] No one had to tell me. I'm a professional like yourself, and I know how to keep a secret.


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[Assistant] But think, there might be others of my ability within the castle, and some might be traitors. You might never hear of them from your high placed sources. Think of the damage they could do. You need my help.


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[Assistant] With my approach, you can keep track of everyone. I would be happy to train a corps of investigators. We could even operate in the city watching from the market towers.


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[Assistant] The security chief sidled around the parapet. He kicked idly at stones in the rotted mortar. The idea has its attractions.


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[Assistant] He laughed shortly and glanced over the parapet thinking, but you're right.


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[Assistant] If we are missing anyone with access to the two legs or data set, it could be disastrous. He turned more heads at Scriber. You've got a deal.


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[Assistant] I can get you four or five people to, uh, train in your methods.


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[Assistant] Scriber couldn't control his expression. He almost bounced in enthusiasm, all eyes on Vendatius. You, you won't regret this, sir. Vendatius shrugged. Probably not. Now...


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[Assistant] Scriber drew himself up. My lord, I told you that I am a professional. I have kept this completely to myself waiting for this conversation. Vendacious smiled and relaxed to an almost genial posture. Excellent. Then we can begin.


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[Assistant] Maybe it was Vendatious's voice, a trifle too loud.


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[Assistant] Or maybe it was some small sound behind him.


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[Assistant] Whatever the reason, Scriber turned ahead from the other and saw swift shadows coming over the forest side of the parapet. Too late, he heard the attacker's mind noise.


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[Assistant] Arrows hissed, and fire burned through his fan's throat.


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[Assistant] He gagged but kept himself together and raced around the turret toward Vendacious. Help me!


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[Assistant] The scream was a waste of speech. Scriber knew, even before the other drew his knives, and backed away.


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[Assistant] Vendacia stood clear as his assassin jumped into Scriber's midst. Rational thought dimmed in a frenzy of noise and slashing pain. Tell Peregrine. Tell Johanna.


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[Assistant] The butchering continued for timeless instance, and then, part of him was drowning in sticky red. Part of him was blinded.


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[Assistant] Jakarama's thought came in ragged fragments. At least one of him was dead.


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[Assistant] Fan lay beheaded in a spreading pool of blood. It steamed in the cold air. Pain and cold and drowning, choking. Tell Joanna. The assassin and his boss had retreated from him. Vendacious. Security chief. Traitor in chief. Tell Joanna. They stood quietly watching him bleed to death. Too prissy to mess their thoughts with his. They'd wait.


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[Assistant] The killer's distant thoughts, sounds of gagging, moaning. No one would ever know. Almost all gone.


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[Assistant] Jaah stared dumbly at the two strange packs. One came toward him, steel claws on its feet, blades in its mouth. No! Jaah jumped up, slipping and skidding on the wet.


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[Assistant] Something from before. A hidden trail through deep brush. If he went that way far enough, he would find Joanna. Jad dragged himself slowly up the path.


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[Assistant] You know, we had a love marriage. I used to think the same way.


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[Assistant] Ma, agar aisi ghalati kare toh ussi ghalati nahi kahungi. Gunah kahungi.


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[Assistant] I said that I would like to seek your help.


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[Assistant] Who?


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[Assistant] Please, Vatira.


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[Assistant] You disappoint me, Brutal. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't recognize your value as part of the Chaos Three. So I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. Sir.


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[Assistant] I hope for your sake that it doesn't come to that.


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[Assistant] How blind. I shall show them true chaos.


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[Assistant] The NFL ratings are down massively. Now the number one reason happens to be that they like watching what's happening on, you know, with your screen.


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[Assistant] Dr. Turner, thank heaven you've come. I can't assume this responsibility alone any longer. The man's a maniac. I think he'd kill me if anything went wrong. No sir. My dear fellow, you just don't know.


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[Assistant] Yes, as far as she is concerned, everything's quite normal. There is an irregularity in the child's heartbeat, but as you know, it's sometimes hard to catch through the stethoscope.


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[Assistant] If you'll take over for a little while, my room is just down the corridor.


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[Assistant] Yes. We had a cellar ground. We needed money to fix our building. They were going to condemn it.


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[Assistant] You'd be surprised, Father. We had to put in a new sprinkler system, new fire escapes, and the foundation had to be


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[Assistant] There it is. Only we don't own it. Confidentially, Father, that's what we've been praying for.


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[Assistant] That the owner will wake up one morning and give it to us.


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[Assistant] Well, that's Mr. Bogardas. I think we better go now. And you can tell him why the children aren't in school.


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[Assistant] Is there anything, anything that I should know that would help?


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[Assistant] I think you better speak to Tommy Father. He's a new boy here and I'm afraid he's a troublemaker.


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[Assistant] We don't tolerate fighting in this school. I think you better speak to him. Because if he continues to pick fights, we may have to send him to another school.


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[Assistant] I observed very little correction in your attitude, Father. As a matter of fact, I detected a slight note of pride.


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[Assistant] Wouldn't it be better to, to think your way through? That's pure conjecture, of course, from someone on the inside.


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[Assistant] Well, you look after Tommy, and I look after Eddie, who lost the fight because he listened to me.


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[Assistant] Oh, fine thing. Now then, what did you do? I remembered what you said, sister, and I turned the other cheek. Then he really let me have it. Well, you're a very good boy, Eddie. I turned away to ignore him, and then he kicked me. I'm very proud of you. I don't feel so high. No, no, Eddie, but, but you really won a victory over Tommy. Did I, sister? Yes.


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[Assistant] It's nice of you to come on a Saturday, Harry. It's worth it, sister. I'll have you know I read this whole book last night. It's just what we need. Your homework, sister? Now, the four most valuable punches it says here are, now let me show you, a straight left, a right cross, a left hook, and a right uppercut. See? Now, let me see how you stand.


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[Assistant] Let me see now what we do next. Yes, we start.


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[Assistant] To move around. We move around a little bit. Just like that. And keep, keep, um, keep shooting your left side. That's right. That's right. Uh-huh. That's good. Now, Eddie.


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[Assistant] See, like that. And now, the other side. That's right. Now faster. That's right.


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[Assistant] I'm sorry, sister. No, that's all right. It's an awful first lesson, though.


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[Assistant] It has both honesty and imagination. So you can sit down. And now, uh, Patricia. The sixth census. Well, the subject I gave you was the fire.


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[Assistant] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. You may go now, children.


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[Assistant] I wonder, does it mean anything, father? Does it prove anything to beat up your fellow man?


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[Assistant] Somehow don't you think it's what we are in here that matters?


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[Assistant] Yes, yes. You mean there's no room in your play for Holy? Not in our play, Father. What?


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[Assistant] Donated to Saint Mary's through the generosity and benevolence of Horace P. Bogardus. Oh, you're a very fortunate man, Mr. Bogardus.


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[Assistant] This will live long after your dust.


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[Assistant] I know you're surprised, but you shouldn't be. Sometimes, we don't know why we do things. You didn't know why you built this building.


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[Assistant] No. You built it in answer to our prayers. We've been praying and praying for this.


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[Assistant] If you order me to pass her, I shall do so. But her mark remains the same.


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[Assistant] You've been writing. You've been writing to Mother General.


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[Assistant] Oh, you must be wrong. I'm sure that when people get to know you, they love you.


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[Assistant] Be sure to leave room for their knees. You know how they go. You remember.


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[Assistant] Fine, he's a nice man. He telephoned and told me that I had nothing to worry about. Yes, I'll have you know that he said there was nothing wrong with me.


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[Assistant] How do you know all this? Have you been writing Mother General again?


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[Assistant] Not until you've known all this and more.


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[Assistant] Well then, Patsy, there's another thing. Your marks aren't good enough. You have to pass your examinations. But I could've. I could've passed.


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[Assistant] Boys are not seen as lovable in patriarchal culture.


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[Assistant] Even though sexism has always decreed that boy children have more status than girls, status and even the rewards of privilege are not the same thing as being loved.


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[Assistant] Patriarchal assault on the emotional life of boys begins at the moment of their birth. Contrary to sexist mythology in the real world of male and female babies, male babies express themselves more. They cry longer and louder. They come into the world wanting to be seen and heard.


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[Assistant] Sexist thinking at its worst leads many parents to let male infants cry without a comforting touch because they fear that holding baby boys too much, comforting them too much, might cause them to grow up wimpy.


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[Assistant] Thankfully, there's been enough of a break with rigid sexist rules to allow aware parents to reject this faulty logic and give boy babies the same comfort that they give or would give girls.


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[Assistant] In recent years, it's become clear to researchers working on promoting the emotional life of boys that patriarchal culture influences parents to devalue the emotional development of boys.


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[Assistant] Naturally, this disregard affects a boy's capacity to love and be loving.


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[Assistant] Dan Kinlan and Michael Thompson, authors of Raising Kane, Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys, stressed that their research shows that boys are free to be more emotional in early childhood because they have not yet learned to fear and despise expressing dependence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Despite these powerful insights, they do not talk about the impact of patriarchy. They do not tell readers that to truly protect the emotional life of boys you must tell the truth about the power of patriarchy.


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[Assistant] You must dare to face the way in which patriarchal thinking blinds everyone so that we cannot see that the emotional lives of boys cannot be fully honored as long as notions of patriarchal masculinity prevail.


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[Assistant] We cannot teach boys that real men, quote unquote, either do not feel or do not express their feelings, and then expect boys to feel comfortable getting in touch with those feelings.


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[Assistant] Much of the traditional research on the emotional life of boys draws a connection between notions of male dominance and the shutting down of emotions in boyhood, even as the researchers act as though patriarchal values can remain intact.


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[Assistant] Popular bestselling books such as Raising Cane and James Garbarino's Lost Boys.


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[Assistant] Lost boys. Why our sons turn violent and how we can save them. Outline the ways boys are being emotionally damaged.


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[Assistant] Instead, these books imply that within the existing patriarchal system, boyhood should be free of patriarchal demands. The value of patriarchy itself is never addressed. In Raising Cane, the authors conclude by contending,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What boys need first and foremost is to be seen through a different lens than tradition perceives.


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[Assistant] Individually and as a culture, we must discard the distorted view of boys that ignores or denies their capacity for feelings. The view that colors even boys' perception of themselves is above or outside the life of emotions.


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[Assistant] Kindlin and Thompson carefully de-politicized their language. Their use of the word tradition, quote-unquote, belies the reality that the patriarchal culture, which has socialized almost everyone in our nation to dismiss the emotional life of boys, is an entrenched social and political system. Nor is it an accident of nature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anti-feminist women, like Christina Hoff Summers, curry patriarchal favor with men by spreading the idea, put forward in Summers' book, The War Against Boys.


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[Assistant] Conveniently, she ignores that feminist thinkers are as critical of sexist notions of femininity as we are of patriarchal notions of masculinity. It is patriarchy and its denial of the full humanity of boys that threatens the emotional life of boys, not feminist thinking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To change patriarchal traditions, we must end patriarchy in part by envisioning alternative ways of thinking about maleness. Not only boyhood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without ever using the word patriarchy, he uses the phrase traditional masculinity. Psychologist James Scarberino does suggest in Lost Boys that the cultivation of an androgynous selfhood, one that combines the traits deemed masculine and feminine, would affirm for boys their right to be emotional.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boys' friends are the arbitrators of what is masculine and what is feminine, so resilience among the boys in a community depends on changing macho attitudes among male peer groups and broadening their concept of what a real man is and does.


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[Assistant] Garbarinos is a powerful work, very much on target in the descriptions and information it offers about all the ways boys are traumatized by the demand that they deny their emotions. But it is also a disturbing one because the author himself seems unwilling to connect his recognition of the damage done to boys with a critique of patriarchal thinking and practice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is as if he believes that somehow all that is needed is a revamping of patriarchal values, so that boys' emotions can be supported, at least until the boys grow up.


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[Assistant] Frankly, it is difficult to understand why these men who know so much about the way patriarchal thinking damages boys are unable to call the problem by its true name, and by doing so free themselves to envision a world where the feelings of boys can actually matter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Perhaps they are silent because any critique of patriarchy necessarily leads to a discussion of whether conversion to feminist thinking and practice is the answer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's been hard for many male thinkers about the emotional life of boys to see feminism as a helpful theory because to a grave extent, anti-male sentiments among some feminists have led the movement to focus very little attention on the development of boys.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the tremendous failings of feminist theory and practice has been the lack of a concentrated study of boyhood, one that offers guidelines and strategies for alternative masculinity and ways of thinking about maleness.


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[Assistant] Indeed, the feminist rhetoric that insisted on identifying males as the enemy often closed down the space where boys could be considered, where they could be deemed as worthy of rescue from patriarchal exploitation and oppression as were their female counterparts.


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[Assistant] Like the researchers who write about the emotional lives of boys from a non-feminist perspective, feminist researchers are often unwilling or reluctant to target patriarchal thinking.


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[Assistant] Family therapist Olga Silverstein and the courage to raise good men says little about patriarchy even as she does offer alternative strategies for raising boys. There are two major barriers preventing researchers from targeting patriarchy.


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[Assistant] Researchers fear that overtly political analysis will alienate readers on one hand, and on the other hand, they may simply have no alternative visions to offer.


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[Assistant] Feminist theory has offered us brilliant critiques of patriarchy and very few insightful ideas about alternative masculinity, especially in relation to boys.


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[Assistant] Many feminist women who birthed boys found themselves reluctant to challenge conventional aspects of patriarchal masculinity when their boys wanted to embrace those values. They found they did not want to deny their sons access to toy guns or to tell them to just be passive when another boy was attacking them on the playground.


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[Assistant] For many enlightened single-parent feminist mothers with limited economic resources, the effort to consistently map for their sons alternatives to patriarchal masculinity simply takes too much time.


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[Assistant] Well, his middle name is Ruby. When he was around the age of five, he decided he wanted to use the name Ruby.


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[Assistant] The boys at school let him know through teasing that this was a girl's name.


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[Assistant] As an intervention, he and his mom brought to school pictures of all the men through history named Ruby.


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[Assistant] Then later on, he wanted to paint his nails with fingernail polish and wear it to school.


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[Assistant] They knew to come to school and show that males can use nail polish. These are my friend's graduate student years, however, when she began working full time and such vigilance became harder to maintain. Just recently, her son told her how much he likes the way she smells. She shared with him that he could smell the same way.


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[Assistant] He had gotten the message already that boys don't smell good. Instead of urging him to rise to the latest challenge, she now allows him to choose and does not judge his choice. Yet she feels sad for him, sad that conformity to patriarchal standards interfered with his longings.


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[Assistant] Many anti-patriarchal parents find that the alternative masculinities they support for their boy children are shattered not by grown-ups, but by sexist male peers. Progressive parents who strive to be vigilant about the mass media their boys have access to must constantly intervene and offer teachings to counter the patriarchal pedagogy


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[Assistant] In How Can I Get Through to You, Terence Rael, father of two sons, states,


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[Assistant] Our sons learn the code early and well. Don't cry. Don't be vulnerable. Don't show weakness. Ultimately, don't show that you care. As a society, we may have some notion that raising whole boys and girls is a good idea, but that doesn't mean that we actually do.