[If the non-answer were meant to placate Alan, it has the opposite effect. He stares back angrily at Nihlus, looking for all the world like he wishes he could hit him. Alan doesn’t know why he expected to get any answers. Nihlus's responses make it clear enough he doesn’t care, and perhaps he never did. Why he had ever pretended to in the first place, Alan doesn't know, nor does he care to.
He’s about to walk away. If Nihlus wants to stay out here and seek his death among the rest of the monsters, Alan won’t stop him. He turns, with every intention of returning to camp, watch be damned – and then Nihlus continues.
Alan shouldn’t listen. He should just leave. But the words hold him there, strange and cryptic. Monolith. Artifact. Indoctrinates. It could be madness, or simply lies. But Alan had seen what it had done to J. From what he’d heard in the report, she had been nearly mindless when they killed her.
What Nihlus had done to Rinzler had been far more calculated.]
no subject
He’s about to walk away. If Nihlus wants to stay out here and seek his death among the rest of the monsters, Alan won’t stop him. He turns, with every intention of returning to camp, watch be damned – and then Nihlus continues.
Alan shouldn’t listen. He should just leave. But the words hold him there, strange and cryptic. Monolith. Artifact. Indoctrinates. It could be madness, or simply lies. But Alan had seen what it had done to J. From what he’d heard in the report, she had been nearly mindless when they killed her.
What Nihlus had done to Rinzler had been far more calculated.]
What do you mean “indoctrinate?”