"At least we now know at least one reason behind the tech level."

"I feel like we should have asked for a stronger condition than 'no lies'. It does not for instance preclude answering questions with irrelevant information."

"Yeah, that occurred to me too, there was slightly too much conversational flow for comfort."

"Do you want to see if he actually gave me my grandfather or someone or something else?"

"I can check. I can even check without reconstituting the body that goes with this chip around it."

"I do not think of myself as squeamish but I'd prefer that."

"Well, the way I'd check involves a basement dweller, just not around the chip."

He sighs. "Still a bizarre thing to call them. All right."

"I could stop translating it?" Cam suggests, and he makes the body that goes with the chip.

By now basement-dweller Finwes are instantly recognizable. 

"Hmm, no, it's just that every time I hear it I try to visualize what kind of person keeps these in their basement."

"On the pleasanter end of the spectrum, medical researchers. ...I think I will not try putting a body around the chip until we're not in a shuttle in midair, he might not be in very good condition."

"Yeah. I don't think they'd have sent us a King who was actually in shape to wave his hand and make my political problems go away."

"...should I give him a new body at all? Are disembodied chips conscious, would it maybe make things worse?"

"Chips aren't conscious. If he's in unbearable psychological pain he can ask us to kill him, though 'murdered the King' isn't something I want people to be able to truthfully say of me out of context..."

"You sure he's going to be in a condition to ask?"

"If he's not sorting private from public thoughts I can read him and decide.

If I were the Enemy and had arbitrary power to play with his head, making him worse at ruling us would be more tempting than sending back a shell."

"Point," Cam says. "What'll you do if it's that?"

"Not bring him back, probably. Fuck. Our people are very very loyal to their King. If the Enemy were subtle enough it could be disastrous."

"...so are we not telling anybody that we got this chip, or checking to see if he's okay first and then - doing what with him if he's not?"

"Do you have in mind a way of checking that?"

"No, I didn't exactly take psych courses in med school, I was thinking you might be able to tell the difference."

"Between my grandfather the day he died and one who was tortured? Definitely. Among ones who are tortured, between ones who still have the capacity to rule our people and ones in whom that was deliberately compromised? Don't know. Depends how subtle he was and his asks today weren't subtle at all but that doesn't mean - though there are people he could have invited to the parley who'd be demanding that you bring him back, if that was a main objective of his -"

"Might've figured I'm not very demandable."

"So they'd tell everyone and then there'd be an uproar."

"Yeah."