Silver Elite: Chapter 34
Nov. 17th, 2025 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaI was very correct, this is a "resist interrogation" drill. Wren also works this out immediately, to her credit.
She is not alone: Ivy, one of the other recruits, is there. I think she is one of the evil ones. Ivy is here because we learned during the last chapter this is her second time doing the program so she's already familiar with everything, and I assume that's so that she can provide useful exposition. The other person in this locked room, lurking silently, is Roe. Roe is Cross's awful little brother.
Ivy and Roe are both familiar with what's coming, so they helpfully explain it for the class.
Wren eventually gets pulled out, asked questions, slapped around, and put back in the dark train car to wait. We get this little tidbit.
<blockquote>The black caches are weapons sites whose coordinates we had to memorize last week. They’re totally off the books. Secret reserves of weapons that could arm the Uprising if they wanted to use them, or cripple Silver Block if they chose to destroy them.</blockquote>
If the book doesn't later reveal these are fake coordinates given to the recruits for this exercise I will riot.
We get a couple pages of torture montage, then Wren realizes that now, while her comrades are fucked up, is the time to try reading their minds.
This is actually a good idea.
We learn Ivy is trying to join Silver Block because her older sister died of bone cancer. Not sure how those two facts join together, to be honest, but okay.
So Wren starts making conversation with Ivy during their captivity, mostly out of pity. This would be a great chance for Wren to either make some connections or get some useful info as part of her plan to become a spy, but she doesn't. Having done thirty seconds of mind reading, Wren once again goes back to doing nothing of use.
Incidentally, the country these people live in is apparently being swallowed by the ocean, which is a wild thing to just drop at the 65% mark. That seems like an idea that is fundamental to the world these people live in and which should be informing their actions a lot more. Wren casually tells us that out of the 26 original wards, only 18 remain because some of them are just, like, underwater now?
We also get a bit of Roe's backstory here.
Wren decides she's proud of Ivy for not breaking under torture. Cool. I guess she and Wren are friends now! Because in this novel about the member of a hunted group infiltrating an elite unit of soldiers who want to kill her kind, what I'm really invested in are these lukewarm friendships between recruits.
Chapter end.
She is not alone: Ivy, one of the other recruits, is there. I think she is one of the evil ones. Ivy is here because we learned during the last chapter this is her second time doing the program so she's already familiar with everything, and I assume that's so that she can provide useful exposition. The other person in this locked room, lurking silently, is Roe. Roe is Cross's awful little brother.
Ivy and Roe are both familiar with what's coming, so they helpfully explain it for the class.
“And what can we expect?” I ask, since apparently Ivy doesn’t want to share.
“Well, first off, say hello to the next five days of your life.”
A shiver runs up my spine. “Five days? Ivy, is that true?”
“I don’t remember how long it was last time. It felt like a long time,” she admits. “Every hour felt like two weeks.”
Neither of them is selling me on this exercise.
“They pull you out every few hours or so,” she continues. “Ask you to reveal something about the Command. Then they throw you back in here. No food, no water, no light, no sleep.”
Wren eventually gets pulled out, asked questions, slapped around, and put back in the dark train car to wait. We get this little tidbit.
<blockquote>The black caches are weapons sites whose coordinates we had to memorize last week. They’re totally off the books. Secret reserves of weapons that could arm the Uprising if they wanted to use them, or cripple Silver Block if they chose to destroy them.</blockquote>
If the book doesn't later reveal these are fake coordinates given to the recruits for this exercise I will riot.
We get a couple pages of torture montage, then Wren realizes that now, while her comrades are fucked up, is the time to try reading their minds.
This is actually a good idea.
We learn Ivy is trying to join Silver Block because her older sister died of bone cancer. Not sure how those two facts join together, to be honest, but okay.
So Wren starts making conversation with Ivy during their captivity, mostly out of pity. This would be a great chance for Wren to either make some connections or get some useful info as part of her plan to become a spy, but she doesn't. Having done thirty seconds of mind reading, Wren once again goes back to doing nothing of use.
Incidentally, the country these people live in is apparently being swallowed by the ocean, which is a wild thing to just drop at the 65% mark. That seems like an idea that is fundamental to the world these people live in and which should be informing their actions a lot more. Wren casually tells us that out of the 26 original wards, only 18 remain because some of them are just, like, underwater now?
We also get a bit of Roe's backstory here.
“The General’s sainted Vinessa. My stepmother. Bitch won’t even venture down the stairs when I’m there. Doesn’t acknowledge my presence. When I visited as a kid, I remember being ordered to stay in the living room while the General was upstairs with his real family.” Roe lets out a harsh laugh. “Sometimes he’d keep me waiting for hours. Sitting there like some unwanted guest.”No character in this book has had enough development for me to give a fuck about their tragic backstory.
Wren decides she's proud of Ivy for not breaking under torture. Cool. I guess she and Wren are friends now! Because in this novel about the member of a hunted group infiltrating an elite unit of soldiers who want to kill her kind, what I'm really invested in are these lukewarm friendships between recruits.
Chapter end.
