Private The Delivery

[Jakob Benson]

Again the pen was lifted from the paper, along with his gaze, while Jerec Asyr stopped co-operating. Normally these interviews went a lot more smoothly.

Benson closed the file and folded his hands on top. "You are here to be assessed and that is exactly what I'm doing here. Like it or not, that is just the way it is."

At his questions, Benson gave him a look that clearly showed that he was not amused. Nor was he entirely excited about having to entertain the scenarios being presented to him. "Depending on your assessment, you might be able to contact someone at a later time. And as for bumming a ride as you so eloquently put it; you wouldn't even make it down this hallway without being stopped."

After a moment's pause, he gestured to the file. "Now shall we proceed?"

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

Jerec bit his tongue. He'd heard what he needed to hear. Benson was either corrupt or delusional, and this private prison was exactly what it said on the tin, with the added joys of a psych ward.

"Yes, I like reading holomags like that. True."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Benson nodded and re-opened the file before putting the pen to the paper and jotting down the answer. At least now they seemed to be getting somewhere.

"True or false: I like to cook."

The questions may seem unorthodox to many, but every one of them served a purpose and gave Benson insight into his patient's mind. Provided they answered truthfully.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

None of these questions made a bit of sense unless maybe there were sensors getting a baseline on his brain waves.

"I'm a middle-aged divorced guy who lives out of a tramp freighter. No, I don't like to cook." Jerec leaned back in the chair and laced his fingers behind his neck. "I nuke a mean burrito, though. I take pride in that. So let's say true."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Benson had never been married. Fallen in love? Sure, back when he was young. But the woman died senselessly, murdered by a Force User. So he never loved again.

He jotted down the answer, his pen moving quickly on the page before moving onto the next question.

"I like to smell flowers."

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

Jerec leaned back a little farther - the chair wasn't going anywhere - and thought about it.

"Do I like to smell flowers. I mean...maybe? Some don't smell good, some don't smell bad. I like being planetside in a nice biome, and flowers are part of that, or can be anyway, so let's go with...true, why not."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Again the answer was noted. Such a question delved heavily into how the patient regarded time. Some people would notice something like flowers and stop to smell them. While others were so rushed to go about their tasks that they'd fail to notice that there were even flowers there to begin with.

"True or false; I have or have had a good relationship with my parents." Another loaded question that had more meaning to it than just the words spoken.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"True," said Jerec flatly after a moment's thought. He left it at that. Whether he was telling the truth - about this or the previous questions - was a matter of internal debate. He'd been playing; clearly he'd stopped. Just as clearly, Benson had struck a nerve.

"Did you?"

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Benson wrote down the quick answer and then paused, looking up from his paper as if expecting Jerec to elaborate.

Yet he did not.

The air seemed to change in the room. But that was just out of the sense of insight gained. Benson jotted down a few notes, speaking while he wrote. "I am not the one being assessed. So my answers are not relevant." He turned the page over, pressing the fold down as he began his next question. "True or false; I am comforted by routine."

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"Aren't you?" Jerec said quietly. "False."

As with several other questions, he could have gone either way. Benson had his full attention. Being half Umbaran allowed him a good sense of others' truthfulness and inner natures, over an extended interaction anyway. It wasn't the Force, so far as he knew, just eyesight beyond the human-visible spectrum and a long disappointing history with sabacc.

Considering not a soul had run any kind of a medical scan or checkup on him, that particular advantage might still be a secret.

"You commissioned this station, didn't you. Played a role in its design. But who built it?"

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Benson pursed his lips ever so slightly. Perhaps in some way he was being assessed, or at the least being sized up by his opponent.

He made a note of the simple answer, plus a couple of additional notes of his own while Jerec proceeded with questions of his own. Benson placed down his pen and then folded his hands on top of the file. His head tilted ever so slightly to the right. "And why would it matter as to who built it? Are you looking into seeing if you could pull some strings and break yourself out?" Even finding the facility was difficult, given that it was always on the move. Not to mention being within a dense asteroid belt; that in and of itself proved to be a challenge to most pilots.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"Hardly. If I got access to a comlink and wanted out of here, I'd call my doctor, my lawyer, and the Outer Planets Alliance, maybe not in that order. I sure wouldn't call up whoever built this place." He'd been leaning back in the chair, fingers laced behind his neck; now he rested his elbows on his knees and eyed Benson across the desk.

"No, call it professional curiosity. See, the connection between my question and me getting out of here doesn't run through the people, it runs through their work. What yards like to over-tighten bolts and over-strip wires, go with the cheapest force field subcontractor, skimp on the injection systems and repulsors and life support. You hold a lot of cards right now, but you're a smart man. You know every secret's got a shelf life."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

It was that kind of connection; the weaknesses in construction and the like, that Benson was referring to. Jerec's answer made it only more clear.

"Secrets indeed have a shelf life. That's true. Yet I've found it quite beneficial to be resourceful." And Benson was quite good at that. Not only did he have the Directorate allied with him, but there were others as well. In time the Sanitorium was bound to be heavily damaged or destroyed. But there was a back up facility that was already under construction and hidden.

Benson gestured to the file. "Shall we continue?"

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"Sure. On one condition. Meet that condition and I'll answer every question you've got, no games, no fuss. Don't, and you won't get another word put of me short of torture. The condition is this: show me a current psychiatric license with your name on it."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

A brow was raised as the patient wanted to impose conditions on the assessment. And those conditions were of verification.

He wasn't the first to question Benson's credentials. Some even considered that he should be a patient himself. But he wasn't cruel. He didn't drug up his patients or strap them in straightjackets or beds. He merely isolated them from others and held conversations.

Benson unfolded his hands and opened one of the drawers in his desk. He ran his fingers along the files within until he found the right one and pulled it out. It was his own file, carrying degrees and licenses for various aspects of psychiatry, psychology and counselling. It was up to Jerec as to whether or not he believed them. Benson held out the file for him to have a look.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

Jerec took his time, went through every single degree and license, hefted the paper, squinted at the watermarks. At last he set the file on the doctor's desk and leaned back in the chair again.

"You win. Ask away."

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Benson took the file back and replaced it in the drawer of his desk. He wasn't the type of man to torture people anyways.

Reopening Jerec's file on his desk, Benson picked up his pen and continued. "True or false; I am a religious man."

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"A lot of folks have a quick answer for that one. I've seen a lot of-" Jerec took a bit, thought it over. He didn't see the harm in answering with some degree of honesty. No need to delve into his own shifting feelings and doubts about the Force and the meaning of life.

"Spiritual but not religious. So let's call that a no. You?"

 

[Jakob Benson]

Jerec Asyr

Another jotting down of the answer was made. Yet as always this question had a follow-up to it. "What do you mean by spiritual? Each person has their own interpretations and I'm curious as to yours."

He bypassed the question Jerec posed about himself completely, afterall, he wasn't the one being assessed.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Jakob Benson

"Well look, you were already grown up when the Second Akala Crisis rolled around. Fifteen, sixteen years now? Everyone knew someone who got yanked to the Other Side. Hard to see all that and not think there's more to..." He gestured vaguely at everything. "...than just 'Hi, I'm a Jedi, I lift the rock.' It's got to mean more than that. What shape it takes, I don't have a clue. I just know there's something real behind the curtain and I've known folks who were closer to it than me. That's all."