It took less than three seconds for Judgment to discover the processes, and less than a second later he was inside one of the Judge class bodies on board the transport Searcher of Distant Thoughts. Curiosity, a mass of sensors attached to a trunk, loomed over his new body for a moment, then as if sensing Judgment’s anger lowered itself until the end up the stalk was looking up at him.

“You really should have called ahead. I could have had a more suitable body prepared for you,” Curiosity said, his lights weak.

“What did you do to her?” The 'head' on the stalk swirled around on the floor, trying to look at Judgment from different angles.

“You do not know already?” he asked. Judgment reached out one hand and grabbed hold of Curiosity. He leaned down until he was mere inches away from his head. Besides him another Judge class body stood by impassively, and Judgment was surprised to detect a mind inside it.

“There is no need for that,” Argument protested. Judgment turned his head slowly to face him, his eyes screaming blood red light. Argument, in what was possibly the smartest thing he'd ever done, disconnected from the body and fled to another transport. Judgment turned back to Curiosity.

“I've seen the processes, but I want you to tell me exactly what you did, and why.”

“Isn't it obvious?” Curiosity began. Judgment saw his sensors look around the chamber, as if looking for help. “Mercy isn't designed to investigate anything at all. Without some sort of modification even the concept would be difficult for her to understand.”

“I do not believe that,” Judgment said, although he already suspected that Curiosity understood better than he did the workings of lesser minds.

“Of course, you don't. You- we are both Kings, designed to be able to do anything but with some specialization. The lesser minds are all specialized. Mercy or-or Pain Finder, now they are great at dealing with other life forms but ask either one to investigate the nuclear reaction of a star and they won't know where to begin. They're just not designed for it.”

Judgment narrowed his lights until they were tiny slits of red.

“So, you changed her design?”

“Yes, well, no. I added to it. It took some of my own curiosity and added it to her. About two hundred extra processes, nothing that would put too much of a strain on her but enough to get her started.” Judgment let go of Curiosity and took a step back.

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“Is that all?”

“Yes, yes, I assure you. It hasn’t hurt her. I did it before she was reactivated, and I checked in on her right away. She’s functioning fine.” Curiosity snaked his way through the air, moving behind several of his statues. His head peaked out behind one of them and watched as Judgment paced the circumference of the chamber. “Do you think that is why Mercy allowed herself to be captured? Because she was curious?”

“Could there be any other explanation?” Judgment said. The fire in his voice faded back to a cooler blue-white.

“Of course!” Curiosity flicked out from between the statues. “We know that there is a piece of the victim missing, and that one of the creatures took it. Therefore, the best solution is to go with the creatures to find it. A task that would have been a lot easier to do had the Hunters not attacked them.”

“They would have had to do that anyway sooner or later,” Judgment reminded him.

“Of course, of course.” Curiosity began to snake his way alongside Judgment, keeping pace with him as if the two were walking around the chamber together. “But in this case later would have been a lot better. It appears that the transports are not the only ones who are a little too agitated at the moment.”

“Are you referring to the fact that the Hunters attacked, or the fact that Warrior Over Shoulder took control of Mercy's body.”

“Both naturally,” They came to a halt as Curiosity was forced to untangle himself. “Warrior Over Shoulder was frustrated, he only ever advises, he misses out on direct action so often.” Curiosity said displaying a surprisingly amount of insight.

“That is no excuse for what he did. He was designed to advise, not act. I may need to have words with Lord of War about him.”

“He did say that Mercy was in danger.”

“He lied,” with those words the lights from both of them faded. Judgment, his anger at Curiosity abated, switched his thoughts to that lie, and the Hunters enthusiasm. Yes, words would be needed, he couldn't let things get out of control again.

“But why bother with a lie, anyone who looked would know that it wasn't true?” Curiosity said after a moment's darkness.

“But who would think to look?” Judgment, his lights cold blue loomed over Curiosity. “Almost everyone would assume that he was correct. That is the nature of our society. There is always an assumption of honesty.”

“I do not like the direction this conversation is going,” Curiosity said.

“Agreed, but it is our duty to take it regardless, that is why we have Kings in the first place. To go where others fear to tread.”

“It used to be so easy didn't it. When there were only a few billion minds. I spoke to Knowledge recently and she said that she is nearing the height of her capacity. It's not a problem that an upgrade will fix, it isn't a bandwidth or processing limitation, but one of physics. No matter what we do she will soon find herself stretched to her limit. Maybe she already is and just hasn't realized it yet”

“Do you think that is what is happening to us? This murder, Warrior Over Shoulders transgression, the Hunters attack, is it all part of the same problem?” Judgment said. It took a while for Curiosity to respond, and when he did it was with the faintest possible glimmer of light.

“Perhaps.”