"No."

He measures out three drops. He passes Kib a spoon.

Kib takes it, trembling.

"How does servantmaking work?"

- and Kib goes on a long ramble about the five kinds of servants and the fine differences between the three programming paradigms.

"What are the applications of most interest to Melkor?"

"I don't remember anything current to the war -" He speculates wildly. Mass production, giant golems, pet spies -

"We can probably safely teach your original world summoning, they've got plenty to trade daeva - the reincarnation thing isn't universal, is it -"

"It's only me and Aydanci that I know of but I might not remember if we ever figured anything else out."

"Are you satisfied that we can extract arbitrary information from you?"

"No but I wish I were because I'm convinced you could make me miserable in the course of proving it."

"What do I need to ask to prove it?"

"I don't know if this thing can make me do more than talk - if you made me do any substantive research I guess but I don't remember anything current -"

"You don't have a way to avoid doing substantive research other than ceasing to think?"

"That's not what ceasing to think is for, ceasing to think is to stop you from having my thoughts, but you could prove that I can't limit your access even by trying not to think if you cause me to do substantive research - you can get idle thoughts just by rolling me back -"

He looks at Cam. "I don't actually know if the potion does that - I might have to at least know what I was walking him through - Imperius can but Bells throw it off and also yeah no -"

"...I'm not actually sure we couldn't crack that without magic or demanding research. If some alternate universe yous hovered and narrated what we thought you might be thinking do you think that'd make you cut it out?"

"Maybe."

"Should I ask Miranda and Ambela up -"

"If I'm right it'll work when the dose is worn off and be less scary then but - they should be ready to catch him then before he goes under again."

"Okay. - do you need more information or anything to make it work -"

"Inconveniently I need information about his personal life."

And so Kib winds up mumbling about his childhood and his reincarnation and how he met his boyfriends and how great his husband is and how traumatized his Maitimo (though he remembers only fragments of the last). Cam cuts him off when he gets irrelevantly or inappropriately detailed.

It would be adorable if it weren't all completely horrible. And -

can you ask Ambela and Miranda to come up to room 700022, please -

Timothy and Cam would like you to come to room 700022, he tells them. He is playing with his car in the room with the circle for the lunar-arcology-destroyer because he thinks daeva murderers are interesting and he wants to meet some more of them.