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that we are the chosen few among the many. And once a true believer has been chosen, there is no room for those with a wavering commitment. Vernice became involved with our local peace officer. We discussed it and found it to be a completely intolerable situation. As we grew near to the great moment of the equinoctial awakening, there was too much danger that she would reveal herself to our esteemed friend. We could not risk that. The course of action was clear. The holy Emissary gave me my instructions, and I followed them." |
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"She fulfilled her commitment," Bert said evenly, "but she was beginning to talk too much. In a way, Mr. Wages, you are responsible for her death. If you and your skinny companion had not been quite so nosy and stumbled into her home to discover the sarcophagus, she might have been allowed to live long enough to share in this momentous event with us. But she was revealing more and more, and it was a risk we could not take." |
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"You . . . you're the one who killed Vernice?" Jake repeated in a hollow voice. His usually gruff voice had deteriorated to a barely perceptible tremor. |
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"There is no place in the domain of the Ancient of Ancients for those who waver in their commitment to the great Sate," Bert pontificated. |
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