“How many Hatchlings have there been since your own?”
“I have no accurate knowledge of that,” I admitted. “My career began when the Empire was still in the Black Swamps. During those times the number and frequency of the Hatchings were kept secret, particularly from line Warriors such as I.”
“Do you know why that was necessary?”
“Yes. There was a period, three campaigns before the current war, when the Enemy we were fighting, the Day Swimmers, were not only intelligent, they were also able to decipher our speech. Information on the Hatchings was withheld so that a captured Warrior could not be forced into yielding it to the Enemy. It has been an axiom among our caste that the only way to be sure a Warrior will not talk when tortured is to give him nothing to talk about.”
“But,” the Scientist persisted, “since that time Hatching information has been available for the asking. How many Hatchings do you recall?”
“I have never concerned myself with such matters,” I said. “I learned originally to function in the absence of such information, and have never encountered evidence since to convince me of its necessity.”
“Commander, my own career began here on the colony ship, after the campaign against the Wasps. Though I have never kept close note, I personally know of over thirty Hatchings since my own. Perhaps you could estimate from that “
“I fail to see the point of this line of questioning,” I interrupted. “What is it you are attempting to discover?”
Now it was the Scientist who paused before answering.