[ He feels a burst of uncertainty in response to not-being-programmed. It's not like the holovids - the one holovid that the clone saw, for entertainment...Where a code-word snapped the sleeper agent into a state of wakeful murderousness. It's not like being a computer, loading a routine and executing it without any interference from the operating system. You're programmed to act by fear and reward. He's programmed to kill the same way he's programmed to return to Galen: by knowing the consequences if he doesn't and the rewards if he does. Programming an assassin is just like raising a child, in that way.
But I can't kill them. I'm prevented from doing so. That's what he said. That thought is to himself, but it spills over - the mental equivalent of a self-directed mutter. Even if Galen shows up here, he can't kill them, and that'll prevent him from returning. The path doubling back to the Komarrans has been collapsed. There's no way the fear/loyalty/need can make him go back.
So he turns his attention to Gregor. Pushes that all away. And he tries. Yeah. Show me. ]
no subject
But I can't kill them. I'm prevented from doing so. That's what he said. That thought is to himself, but it spills over - the mental equivalent of a self-directed mutter. Even if Galen shows up here, he can't kill them, and that'll prevent him from returning. The path doubling back to the Komarrans has been collapsed. There's no way the fear/loyalty/need can make him go back.
So he turns his attention to Gregor. Pushes that all away. And he tries. Yeah. Show me. ]