" We're arriving tomorrow. Until a satisfying conclusion regarding the suspicions of collusion can be reached, you'll be under my supervision. That includes any discussion with the Chancellor."

William frowned.

" That's awfully inconvenient for the both of us," he said.

General Masterson gave him a withering look.

" I don't have any reason to trust you," he said. " But I have plenty of reasons not to."

" I'm not your child," William said, leaning back in his seat to sulk. " I know you're still thinking of me the way that you found me. The same way I think of you."

A silence.

" Did I even qualify as a person in your eyes then, or are you still seeing me like I'm some kind of feral animal? I'm a person, Scott. I'm a human being. I'm sapient. I have feelings. Every day I wake up with them, and every night I go to sleep with them still crowding my head. Maybe in the past I was some sort of inhuman wreck, but I've been trying since I knew I was only a child to get better. Yet everyone looks at me the same way, still. Even you look at me the same way you looked at me then! There isn't any blood on me! There aren't any bodies here! I'm speaking to you! I'm a grown man!"

General Masterson looked down upon him.

" You may as well be less than an animal," he said, " because you don't even understand the words you're speaking."