Interlude: Wolves and Sheep "Did we recover the body successfully?" "Yes. The police never suspected anything." "Well done, in that case. We hate inconsistencies in the face of public officials." "It was surprisingly easy. The agent we sent was known for taking his own initiative in these matters; the explanation he came up with was...quite creative." "Oh?" "Religious observance. He claimed to be from a group that saw an autopsy as an 'invasive procedure', along with any other form of investigation they wanted to use the cadaver for." "And they believed this and let him walk off with it?" "...No, not exactly." "What 'exactly', then?" "The disturbance he created was enough that the morgue technician could get the body back in a bag and replace it with a similar corpse. She was one of ours." "Really. So it wasn't as smooth as it could have been." "I would say you could hold off on promoting him." "Good enough. Was the corpse in good condition?" "Excellent condition. Sundowner did exactly as he was instructed; we are 99% sure that he had no clue that his actions were scripted from the beginning of the murder to the end." "Beautiful. So the prototype--?" "--Is operating well within normal range, as we had anticipated it would." "Beautiful. Then all is going exactly to plan." "Yes, it is. I was especially impressed when I realized that he believed it was the gunshot wound that had killed her." "We do not do slipshod work. You should know that by now." "No, I do. But I also know your fondness for, shall we say, preliminary testing." "The science we used has been tried and tested on him before; never to such an extent, but we knew its capabilities. He has been well-trained." "Interesting. Why spend so much time on individuals, anyway? They can't change anything--" "So we say. So we know. Many of them are no better than sheep; do you really expect them to work against the flock?" "No; and I thought--" "You thought wrong. But continue." "--I thought that it would be considered a waste of time to try and elevate one of these 'sheep' above the flock." "We said 'many' are no better; not all. Had you ever considered about the wolves we use to herd them?" "I...hadn't." "Of course. Even you think as a part of the flock. You are not a wolf; your agents are not wolves. Just an elevated kind of sheep. Now go." "Yes, sirs." Contents of this document are © 2002 Kim Kondratieff.