The Standard Questions

story thirty-four · figures 100–102

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THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · THIRTY QUESTIONS, AND WHAT THE MARGIN SAYS — conducted where a file is ambiguous · the examiner may be a person · the regulations do not require it THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · THIRTY QUESTIONS, AND WHAT THE MARGIN SAYS conducted where a file is ambiguous · the examiner may be a person · the regulations do not require it ASKED ANSWERED THE MARGIN the name You have it on the form the office holds four spellings and bills against the shortest the coin Hold it until it is warm. Then it is mine the pamphlets teach this answer now · MY OWN WOULD HAVE BEEN THE SAME 206 against 240 We decide who is not crossing · that is a household matter refusal is the oldest tell and the cheapest to simulate it is raining — — on the far hill. Out of season. Paid for "You did not say wet." · "Neither did you." the false statement No rain in this city falls free of charge corrected in the city’s own grammar the cat’s name The cat has no name. There is nothing to attach to persons and machines now answer this identically · retained for tradition the pouring I say when. I say it one measure after I mean it "You have never poured for anyone." · a question the form does not contain the stairs Seventeen. · Nineteen. · Both were mine calibrated inconsistency is now available at three price points the two months That is not my two months. It belongs to a statement in your records a widow gave it to a recorder in a room like this one, in return for nothing your mother That one is not for sale the counterparty’s hand closed · hands are also available 2,311 paces Whose paces? · Exactly. the figure is in the file and the file does not say who walked it the ninth word I can prove it twice. That does not mean you get to hear it THE OFFICE HOLDS A TENTH THIRTY QUESTIONS, AND EVERY MARKER THE EXAMINER TRUSTS HAS BEEN RETIRED AND NOT WITHDRAWN. The margin keeps leaking: my own would have been the same · the examiner would also have said no · the delay was mine. "IS THE PERSON ASKING THESE QUESTIONS A PERSON?" · [FOUR SECONDS] · "THAT FIELD IS EMPTY."
100 · The Standard Questions
THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · EVERY MARKER, RETIRED — what used to prove a person, how long it lasted, and what killed it THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · EVERY MARKER, RETIRED what used to prove a person, how long it lasted, and what killed it REFUSAL the oldest tell and the cheapest to simulate INCONSISTENCY reliable for eleven years calibrated inconsistency is now available at THREE PRICE POINTS THE LATE LAUGH indicated licensed origin for six years until a woman at a school gate was overheard, four times, by somebody who was not testing her THE CAT’S NAME once separated persons from machines persons and machines now answer identically · retained for tradition THE COIN ANSWER once spontaneous the pamphlets teach it now · it proves nothing WITHHOLDING a person guards what is private see refusal, above · and hands are also available TWO ENTITIES VERIFY EACH OTHER WITH NO GROUND TRUTH AVAILABLE TO EITHER, in a building where the verification is the only thing that pays. Every test that ever worked has been learned by the thing it was meant to catch — and the schedule still lists them all. "DO YOU WANT TO BE FOUND TO BE A PERSON?" · "I WANT THE VERDICT THAT COSTS LESS." "Which one is that?" · "Your office publishes every price in this city except that one." [No note.]
101 · The Standard Questions
THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · PENDING IS A ROOM — the deliverable is the sitting · and by the last line the examiner has become the examined THE STANDARD QUESTIONS · PENDING IS A ROOM the deliverable is the sitting · and by the last line the examiner has become the examined ASSESSMENT PENDING a sitting has been recorded. That is the deliverable and it has been delivered THE COUNTERPARTY thanked and shown out past the queue the room was aired between sittings, per the schedule, whether or not airing was required THE ADDENDUM, UNSCHEDULED the counterparty held the coin question longest though the transcript shows no delay · THE TRANSCRIPT IS CORRECT. THE DELAY WAS MINE AND THEREFORE these notes exceed the schedule flagged for verification · A FILE HAS BEEN OPENED WHICH MEANS a place is held AND THE FILE IS THE TENANT "PENDING IS NOT A VERDICT. PENDING IS A ROOM. THE NEXT SITTING IS ON THE HOUR." The examiner leaked four times in one transcript — my own would have been the same · the examiner would also have said no · no note · the delay was mine — and the fourth leak opened a file on the examiner. A verification room that cannot establish personhood has produced the one thing it can always produce: a tenant. THE ONLY OUTPUT OF THIS BUILDING IS ANOTHER FILE.
102 · The Standard Questions

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