An Echo of Things to Come (The Licanius Trilogy, #2)

by James Islington

Physical proximity or being audible wasn’t necessary for a command to work, so long as Wirr said it out loud and was thinking of someone specific. More precise directives worked better, as—like the Tenets—there seemed to be a degree of interpretation to them being carried out. Instructions to forget a set period of time, or specific events, appeared to work as well. Those memories clearly weren’t erased, though; when the prisoner was told to remember them again, he was able to do so immediately. It went on. A newer command would take precedence over a contradictory older one. Instructions—if they were laid out clearly enough—could be conditional, complex, triggered by other events. Taeris even figured out that Wirr could direct the man to follow orders that he had no memory of receiving—leaving him with no clue as to why he was acting a certain way, but still unable to prevent himself from carrying out the instructions.