Near the water’s edge, an old herdsman watched over his animals,
counting them up at the same time every day while they sunned
themselves on the beach. One day, just as he finished his count, four
armed men sprang out from inside the corpses of four of his animals
(which he had just counted, not noticing they weren’t alive) and grabbed
hold of him. As his remaining animals scattered in a panic, he underwent
a sequence of physical transformations, trying to frighten the men and
make his escape possible. But because the men didn’t let go, regardless
of the physical shape he took,

What the captive has to say isn’t especially welcome, and that’s the
tradeoff for the transformations, his and theirs.

GOTCHA, the little girl repeats
my own narration back to me,

then waits for it
to take effect.

“The cinema of our moment has become tortured with torture fantasies of
astonishing semiotic complexity”

My men and I chose a room number at random off the directory in the
lobby. We made sure we were rolling. We charged in through the door
and came out of nowhere. We swarmed into the shot

He goes through a sequence of transformations, trying to frighten the
men, but because they don’t let go, regardless of the physical shape he
takes, they’re able to extract information they need to get home

No, the sounds don’t come “from” the point cloud exactly, it’s more of a
sound map. Every group I bring through here thinks, when I show them
our display here they think they see faces in the point cloud, usually in
this area here [sounds of recognition/agreement]. Here’s a woman’s face
in profile, everyone see that? But, if you watch, the points are in constant
Brownian motion

What the soldiers have to say isn’t exactly their own and that’s the
tradeoff

Four armed men spring out from inside the corpses of four of his animals
(they’re able to extract the information they need)

I’ve got several hundred of them, again. I have my, a little system going, I
guess. They grow big fins which have a translucent blue spot in them,
real pretty. I got these because they are um, very docile, very peaceloving.
Yeah, they’re very pretty. They have electric blue on them, and
their eyes are fiery red. I didn’t mean to get into doing this, but they
started laying eggs, and... But they get aggressive, they chase each other
around, they’ll eat anything.

Their heads are each four heads, each head facing a cardinal direction,
with a channel cut in between them, which makes it seem like they might
scare more easily in the face of his shape-shifts, but because they don’t
let go, regardless of the physical shape he takes, they’re able

from the inside, dividing their heads into even fourths, which each display
a different animal face, each facing a cardinal direction, a technique that
is explicitly forbidden by the Army Field Manual on Interrogation.

What the official reports have to say isn’t especially surprising

GOTCHA, the little girl repeats
my narration back,

waits for it
to take effect

(to clean me out)
(a pill with your own name on it)

You know
what I mean?

One day, when the master dismissed the assembled monks,
one man remained.

Who are you? the master asked the man.
Previously I was a man, he said,
but I was cursed, sentenced
to this fox’s body
for 500 births
for answering incorrectly
a question of causality
and I’ve come to ask you the question

You know
what I mean?