Quin's report on Max's combat assessment contained twenty-three observations and no personal history.
The omission would not have mattered if one observation had not described Max's hesitation as a predictable response to manipulated information.
Max read the sentence again.
"You make it sound as if someone designed the course to deceive me." he said.
Quin looked up from the next report.
"The course did. Several routes existed only to divide your attention."
"You recognized the purpose before Veyrath explained it."
"I have experience with routes whose stated purpose was not their real one."
Quin returned to his work. He was willing to question Max, challenge procedures, and dismantle assumptions in front of anyone affected by them. He rarely volunteered information about himself unless it changed a decision.
Max had allowed the boundary because useful privacy did not become suspicious merely because Quin worked near the core.
