Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #11: Damn and Blast (6/26/00)
Osfric puts down the 15-page report from which he has been reading.
Osfric: ...and if the diversion of supplies to premature construction of additional housing continues, we can count on being at least a month behind schedule before we've properly begun.
Osfric does not approve of not being on schedule.
Mr. Birch has been pinching himself to try to keep awake for all 15 pages, but the summation has gotten his attention.
Osfric: And if the price of food in the camps continues to rise, it will soon be more profitable for the muleteers to carry food, than our construction supplies.
Mr. Birch wipes the sweat from his brow before it can trickle down into his watery blue eyes.
Mr. Birch: That's completely unacceptable.
Osfric: We can't lose more than 10% of our shipping capacity without experiencing delays, even at this stage of the project.
Mr. Birch: Damn and blast, these tramps are not our responsibility! 1
Mr. Birch: Why can't the Tecton move them somewhere else?
Sayward sits and listens thinking of all the time that is being wasted while the number crunchers try and avoid the inevitable.
Sayward knows that short of rounding them all up at gunpoint there is no way to get the squatters off the site.
Mr. Birch: Can we ship in food over the lake?
Osfric: Perhaps. You might raise that possibility on your visit this afternoon.
Mr. Birch: If there were money to be made, I'm sure we could find some enterprising businessmen to take on that job.
Mr. Birch: But these people are unemployed and penniless.
Osfric: Yes, and there rests the basic problem we have to solve.
Sayward: Not penniless. With the selyn donations they do have some money. At least the Gens do.
Osfric: That still will not put us on schedule.
Mr. Birch: Well, and they're the ones who require the most food. So maybe we can find some suppliers.
Osfric: There is only one way to regain our losses in supplies and time.
Mr. Birch: What do you suggest?
Sayward: Getting another source of supplies will drive the currently ridiculously high prices down to a point where people can at least survive until they start working.
Mr. Birch: But that won't make up for the materials that are being diverted for housing and other unnecessary construction.
Osfric settles his pinching glasses more firmly on his nose, a nervous gesture he indulges in whenever he's not sure whether the boss is going to go ballistic when he hears Osfric's recommendations.
Osfric is, however, well paid to offer his honest assessment, ballistic boss or no.
Sayward: We've got trees to spare. Lets use some of the lumber we are going to have to clear anyway to build shelters.
Osfric: Mr. Birch, the only way I can see to keep from falling behind schedule is to begin ahead of schedule.
Mr. Birch: Go on.
Osfric: Hire as many of them as we can, and go directly to Phase III, leaving Phase II to be completed later.
Osfric is speaking neither English nor Simelan, but Accountantese, in which he is far more fluent.
Mr. Birch is a businessman. He doesn't run a welfare organization like the Tecton, and resents being put in a position of having to pay for the support of people he doesn't have a use for.
Sayward keeps seeing children huddled in the cold rain with no way to get warm or dry for days at a time.
Mr. Birch thinks that Osfric has a point. If he is going to have to support these bums, they will damn well work for for their pay.
Osfric's Phase II is the construction of quarters for all the workers (who were supposed to arrive only after they were completed), while Phase III is the beginning of actual work on the dam.
Sayward: Excuse me, Phase III?
Osfric turns to Sayward.
Sayward: These people are not skilled labor.
Osfric: Clearing the dam site, and preparing the footings.
Sayward remembers the fun she had with slightly retarded Sime labor.
Osfric: With proper supervision, and selective hiring, we should be bale to find crews up to the task.
Mr. Birch: So you want to just gather up the personnel on hand and just go for it?
Sayward: Clearing we might manage. But the kind of construction expertise necessary for the footing I don't think so.
Osfric: Phase II would be somewhat delayed, but not hugely.
Mr. Birch: Well, there is also the Phase II work. It could be done simultaneously.
Sayward: We might have more luck with the Phase II work.
Osfric: If all of those people are willing to camp out in the woods when we've told them to go away, we can hardly be criticized for providing them housing more or less according to our original schedule.
Sayward: I agree.
Sayward knows that neither of the two "Gentlemen" have actually seen the condition of the camps or the people first hand.
Sayward: If we concentrate on Phase II we will do the most good.
Mr. Birch: Well we must do both, because Phase II doesn't involve enough work to get all these people out from underfoot.
Osfric does not completely approve of Sayward's softness towards freeloaders.
Sayward: Okay, but the footings will have to wait for the skilled workers or we will have a true mess on our hands.
Osfric: They'll have to learn how to do the footings sometime, Sayward.
Mr. Birch: Still we can get the dam site cleared and the housing built.
Mr. Birch: And we can train the ones who are trainable.
Sayward: Yes they will under the watchful eye of professionals.
Sayward: Do you two have any idea of how much water is behind that dam?
Osfric: One hopes we will not have an opportunity to find out.
Sayward: If we don't do everything precisely. We are going to find out first hand exactly how much water there is.
Mr. Birch: Enough to wash out half the Territory west to the Pacific.
Osfric shrugs.
Mr. Birch: And if we don't get this project under control, we won't have the funds to complete it.
Osfric: I leave those estimates to you. I'm an accountant, not an engineer.
Sayward: I'm not either but I have seen what happens when the foundation is not constructed correctly. The footings are not negotiable.
Osfric: I can tell you that if we delay starting on Phase III until Phase II is completed, chances are that we will never be able to catch up with the schedule.
Mr. Birch: I'm not saying cut corners. But you got to use what you have.
Mr. Birch: Miz Sayward, I'm going to bring in the trained staff ahead of schedule.
Osfric gives a wintry smile of approval.
Sayward: Then you will get no further argument from me.
Mr. Birch: What percentage of these Simes could be whipped into shape to support them?
Osfric: Yes, and how many of them will be able to do that augmenting that's supposed to make them more productive?
Sayward: I'm currently drawing up work schedules. I would estimate two thirds of them are reliable enough to get started.
Osfric had estimated half of that, after hearing rumors of Sayward's recent difficulties.
Sayward: The problem with the Sime workers is the fact that we have a selyn short fall.
Mr. Birch: I would like you to develop a training plan by which we can teach the reliable workers our advanced techniques.
Sayward: I have already started. But there is still the selyn supply problem.
Mr. Birch: I would also like you to develop a work schedule for the grunt labor that will... make them conclude that this is not employment they want to stick with.
Mr. Birch: If we are going to support hangers-on, they will pay their way.
Mr. Birch: Do you understand what I mean?
Sayward smiles. There are quite a few who won't last through the schedules she has in mind anyway.
Sayward: I agree with you.
Mr. Birch: Good.
Mr. Birch: And yes, the selyn supply problem.
Mr. Birch: Let us brainstorm about that.
Mr. Birch in fact has had a permanent thunderboomer in his own head ever since the problem came to his attention.
Osfric: That was supposed to be taken care of by the Tecton.
Osfric really hates it when someone else messes up and he's asked to step in and pick up the pieces.
Mr. Birch: Well, they dropped the ball, and they're asking us to field it.
Sayward: Currently the Gens that have come to the camps have provided some selyn. Nick tells me that we are way short of enough selyn for the kind of continuous augmentation that we require.
Mr. Birch: From what I understand, if you count the Simes not on our payrolls, they are short period and that could lead to trouble.
Sayward: If we don't get more Gens up here there overcrowding is going to be the least of our problems.
Osfric: And yet, the more Gens we have, the more of our transport chain has to be taken up with food.
Sayward: The Tecton wants the Gen Government to try and get Gens to come in. There is no easy answer for that.
Osfric: The budget never allowed for a work force that had a large proportion of Gens.
Mr. Birch: The idea was to bring selyn over the Lake from Salmonton.
Sayward: Mr. Birch, can you use your influence to get that selyn here?
Mr. Birch: Then we could have the selyn without having to provide accommodation for the Gens.
Mr. Birch: I'm not a magician.
Sayward: But you are connected.
Mr. Birch: I can do some P.R. and pressure the local politicians.
Sayward smiles brightly at Mr. Birch.
Osfric: Good. Augmentation is essential to Phase III.
Mr. Birch: But donating means persuading individual Gens to allow Simes to touch them.
Mr. Birch: Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sayward: Let them know that there is financial gain in donating.
Mr. Birch: That will bring in some of the lower classes.
Sayward: Simes don't care where the selyn comes from.
Mr. Birch: And some of the elite may be inspired to help out of patriotism.
Sayward: Wonderful.
Mr. Birch: They won't be enough. We have thousands of Simes here.
Sayward: Then lean hard on the money motive.
Sayward: There are a lot of desperate people out there.
Sayward: Look at the Gens who have come across the border. Things are tight.
Osfric: Let's hope there are enough desperate Gens to provide for our desperate Simes, or we may have a disaster on our hands.
Mr. Birch: The ones who crossed the border are desperate or not afraid of Simes.
Sayward: I think you may have more "willing" volunteers than you expect.
Osfric: Really?
Mr. Birch: The ones across the Lake are Purists who used to put the torch to every settlement on this shore.
Osfric: How is that, Sayward?
Sayward: It was a very hard winter.
Sayward: From what I've been hearing there are families just trying to feed themselves let alone being able to work the farms.
Sayward: This area isn't exactly the best for farming to start with.
Mr. Birch: Well, I hope you're right.
Sayward: Supplemental income would help them bridge the gap.
Sayward: No more than I do.
Mr. Birch takes his pipe out of his pocket and stuffs it full of tobacco.
Mr. Birch knows it is a filthy habit but this is a three-pipe problem.
Mr. Birch: I was thinking along somewhat other lines....
Sayward cringes. Normally she like pipe smoke But Birch has odd taste in what he smokes.
Mr. Birch: Wondering if there was any way to take a donation without a Gen knowing about it.
Osfric: Without knowing? I'd think that unlikely, with the tentacles and all.
Mr. Birch: Like when they're asleep, maybe.
Mr. Birch: Just a thought....
Osfric: How would get people to sleep where a channel could get at them?
Sayward shakes her head.
Mr. Birch: Well, there are a few factories in Salmonton, like the fish processing plant and the tannery.
Mr. Birch: The workers sleep in barracks.
Sayward: The channels would never go for it.
Mr. Birch: They get paid well enough that I don't think the money would be enough to tempt them, but if you want a lot of Gens in one place....
Sayward thinks of the amount of cleaning she had to endure the first time she donated.
Osfric: The channels? I thought that Nick fellow said they were worried that there wasn't going to be enough selyn?
Osfric: Why would they object, if we can find them some?
Sayward: They do have to worry about their own safety. Sneaking up on sleeping Gens could get them killed.
Mr. Birch lights his pipe with a firestriker and puffs out a huge blue cloud.
Osfric tries not to wince as the cloud envelops him.
Sayward braces herself as the noxious cloud wafts in her direction.
Mr. Birch: You're probably right. Still, if we could find some way to persuade them to donate....
Mr. Birch: Maybe a berserker scare.
Osfric: It would certainly help. Perhaps the owners could be enlisted to... er... "persuade" their workers?
Sayward: Well the money is pretty good. That crowd of Gen we rounded up from the pond got enough to feed themselves for a week even at these prices.
Mr. Birch: I'll do what I can. But the church will be fighting it all the way.
Mr. Birch: And most of the solid citizens are members.
Mr. Birch puffs some more with great enjoyment.
Osfric: So, look among the rebels. Surely they have youngsters who are looking for adventures that would upset their stodgy parents?
Sayward: It always does. But people tend to think with their bellies.
Mr. Birch: Now, there's a thought.
Sayward: You could offer an apprenticeship to those willing to donate.
Mr. Birch: See the world outside Salmonton; embrace a channel today. Hah!
Sayward: Their parents might even push them.
Sayward: We call it "shaking hands".
Mr. Birch: Another good idea. If we're taking on every tramp in the Territory, why not give the youngsters an opportunity also.
Mr. Birch grins.
Mr. Birch: You ever give up construction, I got a job for you in P.R.
Sayward tries to suppress a cough. She fails.
Osfric has been with Mr. Birch longer, and thus has built up a limited tolerance of sorts.
Sayward: Thanks, but I like being outdoors.
Mr. Birch exhales another blue cloud. Part of the pleasure of the pipe is watching his employees pretend not to be bothered by it.
Osfric: Of course, if we are going to use the sort of augmentation that was planned, we will have to go beyond the poor, the desperate, and the adventuresome.
Osfric: It will be necessary to, er, "tap the resources" of Salmonton's respectable burghers.
Mr. Birch: Exactly.
Mr. Birch: We require... motivation.
Sayward: How about telling them that they are less likely to be bothered by Simes if they are low field?
Sayward: After all the place is, pardon the expression, crawling with Simes.
Osfric: Here, yes. But in Salmonton?
Sayward: They have to be worried that some of them can swim.
Osfric: Unless we could somehow get some Sime work crews over there, on a regular basis?
Osfric: Placed where they can't be easily avoided by the Salmonton residents?
Mr. Birch: We want to get them nervous enough to donate, but not too nervous.
Mr. Birch: Otherwise they might reorganize the Patrol and send a Raiding party over here.
Mr. Birch: Think what that would do to the schedule.
Osfric loses some of his enthusiasm for his suggestion.
Mr. Birch: But maybe a mythical band of junct marauders?
Osfric frowns.
Sayward: They might still get nervous enough to come shooting.
Osfric: We want them to see Simes as useful adjuncts to the community, a resource worth preserving.
Osfric: A rumor of marauding Simes is hardly likely to get them in the right frame of mind to donate.
Sayward: Didn't the orphans' home lose its roof in a storm recently?
Mr. Birch: So just remind the good citizens that there are five thousand Simes over here and if they don't get transfer they might get irritable?
Osfric winces.
Osfric really doesn't like to think about the selyn situation too closely; it makes him feel like a plump rabbit.
Mr. Birch: Orphans' home?
Sayward: We could provide a small service, say rebuild the roof.
Sayward: With a crew of Simes we could get it done in half a day.
Osfric: And what would you do for supplies?
Sayward: You said you wanted them to think of Simes as useful. From what I hear they have the material but no labor.
Mr. Birch: But Simes in Gen Territory would have to wear retainers. I don't think they could work very comfortably that way.
Sayward: Everyone is trying to scrape their lives back together after the winter.
Osfric: Well, if they have the materials--that would certainly put Simes under Salmonton noses, where they can't be ignored.
Mr. Birch: Yes, it might be a good reminder.
Mr. Birch: And heaven knows we have Simes and to spare.
Sayward: I could get a crew together from Starlin's bunch. They seem the most reliable. And they will do anything for SWAT.
Mr. Birch: I'll run that one by my P.R. firm.
Osfric: Perhaps, seeing that it would be a charitable project and all, the mayor might be persuaded to allow an exemption to the retainer laws?
Osfric: I believe that it's allowed, if guards are posted.
Mr. Birch: I will certainly suggest that.
Mr. Birch inhales a last choking nose-ful and puts the pipe away.
Sayward: As long as the guards aren't trigger happy. I don't want to get shot.
Osfric gives a carefully inaudible sigh of relief.
Sayward sneezes.
Mr. Birch: So we are agreed....
Sayward: Yes.
Mr. Birch: We start Phase II and Phase III simultaneously.
Mr. Birch: We hire as many of these tramps as we can as soon as we can and put them to work.
Sayward: But we don't work on the footings until the professionals get here.
Osfric nods.
Mr. Birch: Right, and we move the professionals in ASAP and get these people trained to be useful.
Sayward nods her approval.
Mr. Birch: We bring in as many Gen workers as we can manage and insist they all donate.
Mr. Birch: And run a donation campaign in Salmonton that targets society at every level....
Mr. Birch: Including prominent charity projects, patriotic and humanitarian appeals....
Sayward is looking longingly at the door and the promise of breathable air.
Mr. Birch: Threats of what will happen if the Dam fails or the Tecton loses control of these workers....
Mr. Birch: Generous financial compensation, apprenticeship programs....
Mr. Birch: Have I forgotten anything?
Osfric thinks "to open a window", but doesn't say it.
Sayward: I don't think so.
Osfric: I believe your summary covers the essentials.
Sayward edges toward the door.
Mr. Birch: Good. Then, troops, get cracking.
Osfric is a bit less obviously desperate, but gathers up his report with alacrity.
Notes:
1) "Damn and blast"... It is not clear whether this one was intentional, but it was a doozy. [return]