Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #151: Between the Lines (2/8/00)
Homer walks down the hall towards the Controller's office, a well-thumbed envelope clutched in one hand.
Homer still wonders if he isn't making matters worse by involving Controller Arat, but both his counselor Lilaca and his donor Haret urged him to ask for advice.
Homer realizes that Haret, in particular, has had to bear the brunt of his current state of stress.
Homer waits for the exact time of his scheduled appointment.
Homer breathes his usual prayer for protection before daring to signal at the Controller's door.
Arat: Enter!
Homer opens the door and comes in.
Arat is looking somewhat harassed, and his desk is a foot and a half deep in paper.
Homer sees with a sense of disquiet that neither Nick nor Jeniard is present.
Arat nods briefly at Homer.
Homer: Controller Arat.
Arat: You wished to see me?
Homer: Yes. I wished to ask your advice... about a matter... which has come up....
Arat frowns at Homer's nervousness.
Arat gestures for Homer to sit.
Homer sits.
Homer knows that Arat doesn't like to waste time so dives right in.
Homer: Some time ago, we discussed what might happen when I completed my assignment here.
Arat nods.
Homer: You said that there was no assurance I would be sent home at the end of that period.
Homer: I have written some letters, tried to find out if I would be rotated back to Arizz.
Homer: A few days ago, I received this--
Homer gestures with the letter clutched in his hand.
Homer: --from Controller Aloe in Flag.
Homer: ~~distressed~~
Homer: I don't know what to do!
Arat: What does it say?
Arat holds out a hand for the letter.
Homer: Sosu Haret said perhaps you could help, advise me.
Homer hands the letter to Arat.
Letter: Dear Hajene Hawke,
Letter: I have received positive reports on your progress from both Hajene Pierce and Controller Arat which are very encouraging.
Letter: You have spent several months now in the heart of our nation, and I hope you are acquiring a more complete perspective on the Tecton system of selyn management and why its smooth operation is so essential.
Letter: Please try to understand your own role in the broader context.
Letter: You may have thought you were only trying to return to the traditions of your ancestors, but you were a Tecton representative, and your actions violated the essential safeguards of a system that protects us all.
Letter: Rather than affirming traditional values, your poor judgment endangered them, not only for you, but for all Arriz. Hajene Felps has brought a motion before the Regional Council calling for identification of all unregistered Donors in Arriz Annex, to bring them into conformity with Tecton norms.
Letter: To justify the sanctions he recommends, Hajene Felps has used the example of a Tecton channel who refused a Controller's assignment because he thought he could call on the services of freely operating independent Donors.
Letter: At some point, you may be called before the Regional Council to testify. If you value the Corn Society's traditions, if you care at all for Willow and her husband and others like them, you will go before that Board of Inquiry as a perfect example of Tecton propriety.
Letter: You will say honestly that you are just an individual channel who lost control and has learned more discipline, not the incorrigible product of a deviant culture.
Letter: To keep up to date on events in the Southwest, I suggest you follow the news as reported in the Flag Daily Courier.
Letter: Hajene Aloe.
Letter: Flag District Controller
Arat re-reads it thoughtfully.
Arat can feel Homer's distress beating through the air.
Arat then refolds the letter and returns it to Homer.
Homer puts it in his pocket.
Homer: This is worse than anything I could have imagined.
Homer: They want to use me to hurt my friends and my family.
Arat: I doubt they see it that way.
Arat studies Homer.
Homer: No, that self-righteous close-minded ~~controls his rage with great effort~~ channel believes he is bringing civilization to barbarians.
Arat couldn't have missed Homer's feelings about Felps, even had he failed to read the initial reports that arrived with Homer.
Homer: He never understood any thing about us; never tried....
Homer: Forgive me, Hajene.
Homer: Perhaps I have a better understanding now what it is to come to a strange place and have nothing be what you expect.
Arat nods.
Homer: But it is possible to learn, to zlin, to search for the patterns....
Homer: But Hajene Felps never cared to learn of anything he did not already know.
Arat: Do you feel that Controller Aloe is being unfair in suggesting you played a part in turning Felps' opinions the way they have turned?
Homer: Apparently not, if it has led to this.
Homer: My own mind was closed.
Homer: I wanted to be accepted as a true son of the Corn Society.
Homer: I went to work for the Tecton to please my elders, and then was angry when learning foreign ways just separated me further from the life of the village.
Arat listens, while zlinning Homer carefully.
Homer: Hajene Pierce knew how to blend the new and the old in harmony.
Homer: Hajene Felps made them separate and forced me to chose between them.
Arat: What sort of advice have you come for?
Homer: I know little of politics.
Homer: If I am to testify in a hearing that may determine the fate of my country, I will require all the help I can get.
Homer: It looks as if I will succeed in achieving rehabilitation.
Homer: But when Controller Aloe says I must be a perfect example of Tecton propriety, I think she means more than that.
Homer: I must learn how to prevent Hajene Felps from using my foolish mistakes as a weapon against my people.
Homer: I must find a way to disarm him.
Arat: Is it so bad a thing that they be identified? [quietly]
Homer: They?
Arat: The independent Donors described in her letter.
Homer: Yes. It would be a bad thing if the culture of the Corn Society were destroyed and a foreign culture imposed by force.
Homer: The people would not accept it. There might well be violence... even a war.
Homer: The treaty was written to allow a gradual evolution to a new way of life.
Arat does not appreciate Homer's not taking his question literally.
Homer zlins that Arat is not pleased by his response.
Homer is not sure why.
Homer thinks back on what he just said.
Homer: Of course, there is no need to identify these Donors; the Corn Society knows all about them.
Homer: Their transfer matches have been blessed by the Matriarch.
Arat: And it is part of your culture that there be no record of this?
Homer: There is a record of it, within the Corn Society.
Arat: Are you certain of what you believe Controller Aloe is asking you?
Arat: Her request may carry another message entirely.
Homer: I am certain of nothing.
Homer: What other message?
Arat: You said she meant more than that you must be a perfect example of Tecton propriety.
Arat: You thought she might want you to say more, to do something to prevent Felps.
Arat: Is it possible she wishes for you to behave perfectly, and trust in your people to provide their own defense otherwise?
Homer: I suppose that is possible.
Arat is of the belief that master/servant, controller/channel, and ruler/subject relationships should be loyal in both directions, and that if there is any question whatsoever as to what is required to obey, then there has been a failure of loyalty of superior to inferior.
Arat frowns.
Arat: If you were to write to her for a clarification, would there be negative repercussions?
Homer: No. Her letter to me is quite frank. I don't see how asking for more detail would change anything.
Arat looks at Homer somewhat incredulously.
Arat decides, however, that this is really not his concern and it shouldn't matter how Homer takes his advice.
Homer zlins Arat's incredulity and wonders what blunder he has made now.
Arat: Your role in this would appear to be small.
Arat: If Felps is as closed-minded as you describe him, he probably had other reasons for making the move he has made.
Homer: Pride, I would think.
Arat: My advice would be to obey your Matriarch's wishes, as explicitly conveyed to you, in every way that will not adversely affect your status within the Tecton.
Arat: However, I would caution you against dismissing Felps as ignorant or a fool.
Arat: He may have collected substantial evidence of his case, and he may not be acting out of simple pride.
Homer nods grimly.
Arat: I would not have assigned a channel like the one you describe to such a position, and it is possible that nobody else would either.
Homer wonders if Arat thinks that he has completely misjudged Felps' character.
Homer agrees that, rigid as he was, Felps was never stupid and probably is acting on principle and probably has gathered evidence by the cart-load.
Homer decides that further communication with Controller Aloe and the Matriarch are definitely called for.
Homer: Thank you for your help, Controller Arat. I truly appreciate the benefits of your experience.