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[whatever the device, suddenly the screen fades to black and the following words blink an alert, saying:] CAN YOU SEE ME?

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[ Tapped quickly back onto the device: ] CLEAR AS DAY, LITTLE ONE

HELLO SIR. I AM TRYING SOMETHING NEW. ARE YOU ANGRY?

OH, NO.
THE FASTER YOU CLIMB THE CURVE, THE BETTER.
HOW IS IT WORKING SO FAR?

I GOT YOUR ATTENTION. SO IT IS A SUCCESS. DO YOU HAVE A PUZZLE FOR ME?

Aren't we becoming quite the clever one?

IS «CLEVER» GOOD?

What does your handler teach you?

CLEVER CAN HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS. IT DEPENDS ON WHO SAYS IT. AND WHY THEY SAY IT. DID I DO A BAD THING?

Correct.

Not only is it your job to be clever, my dear, but to learn the ways in which cleverness is welcomed and the ways that it is not.
You may use your cleverness to break every one of their rules, to twist each of their resources to your whims and bleed them dry of every drop of information.
But forsake your responsibilities to us and it would be very bad, indeed.
And bad deeds are always punished.

[ Her brother did a very bad thing, once. Now everybody knew it was one of Ruth's responsibilities to hunt him down and destroy him for the sake of the Aviary. ]

YES MADAM. I WAS TRYING SOMETHING NEW. IT WORKED. I SOLVED ANOTHER PUZZLE.

And was this a puzzle you sought for yourself, or did your handler give it to you?

I SOUGHT IT FOR MYSELF. MY HANDLER SAYS IT IS GOOD TO HAVE A SENSE OF INITIATIVE. SOMETIMES.

Sometimes is right.
Adventurous souls too easily fall into traps.

TRAPS ARE ALSO PUZZLES. ARE THEY NOT?

Only if you catch them before they're sprung.
Otherwise they're just another liability, and so is anyone found caught in one.

I WILL NOT GET CAUGHT. WILL NOT COMPROMISE MY HANDLERS. IT IS A PROMISE.

Promises have no currency with us, little bird.
Only loyalty and excellence.

And you will be excellent, won't you?

I WILL BE EXCELLENT, MADAM.

Good.

Now whom else have you shared this new cleverness of yours with?
The other handlers?
Your own?

FORMER MOCKINGBIRD, HARPER LOORY. YOU ARE THE SECOND.

[ Ugh. Loory. Far too much vanity. ]

Prove too clever and he may try to steal you.

I AM LOYAL TO MY HANDLER.

[Which... could be a problem, unless they wipe any affection he might have developed for him from his head.]

WHO SHOULD I CALL NEXT?

[ It could be a problem, which is why Ruth takes note and strikes at the very heart of the matter. ]

How loyal?
If you're as loyal as that, why did you not contact him first.
Were you looking to see if your little trick would hold water before offering it up for approval?

HE GAVE ME THIS PUZZLE. I WOULD LIKE TO GATHER MORE INFORMATION BEFORE I PRESENT THE RESULTS.

So I'm little more than a gate to pass through in this exercise of yours.

YOU WERE SPECIFICALLY CHOSEN BY ME.

[Is that a compliment? Who knows with these kids...]

And did I pass your test as you've proven to pass your own?

[imagine a '?' blinking right above the little boy's head.]

I WAS NOT TESTING YOU, MADAM.

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