Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #13: Renning Wild (7/2/00)
Mayor Custor finishes off his mid-morning cup of coffee and his sweet roll.
Mayor Custor's charming little desk clock chimes on the half-hour.
Mayor Custor stands up slowly and brushes the crumbs from his voluminous chest and protruding belly.
Mayor Custor sees that the time has come to meet with the delegation from over the Lake.
Mayor Custor has been dreading this, but the unpleasant task cannot be postponed any longer.
Mayor Custor ambles out of his wood-panelled office down the hall to the conference room, where five people are already assembled and waiting.
Mayor Custor gives the group an amiable politician's smile.
Mayor Custor: Good morning. I am Mayor Custor. I don't believe we all have met.
Kennis shares his mayor's feelings on this particular issue, but is a cop, not a politician.
Kennis is therefore scowling moodily into his coffee.
Kennis might also be suffering from gastric distress, due to the mayor's office coffee being of greatly higher quality than the police station sludge he's used to.
Mayor Custor nods to Kennis. They know each other from way back.
Kennis nods shortly in return, and takes a sip of his coffee.
Ms. Afred is desperate to get the children into a safe warm dry place. Her perpetually frizzled hair and plain unassuming clothes cover an iron will and a very kind heart.
Nick looks at the mayor of Salmonton with interest.
Mayor Custor looks at the two women. He spots Miz Afred, the orphanage director. He is getting tired of always finding her underfoot.
Mayor Custor: Miz Afred. Thank you for coming. I've read your proposal.
Sayward looks at the Mayor and the surly looking fellow with him. This is going to be a long one.
Ms. Afred: I hope that you will approve it, sir.
Mayor Custor: [sharply] Nothing has been decided yet.
Kennis hopes to preserve that laudable state indefinitely.
Mayor Custor bows to Mr. Birch.
Mayor Custor: Mr. Birch, how pleasant to see you again.
Mayor Custor: ~~grits teeth and endures this obnoxious bigwig~~
Mayor Custor: Please introduce your companions.
Mr. Birch indicates Sayward.
Nick blinks at the plural, as he is the only Companion around, then thinks through the translation again.
Ms. Afred knows full well that he considers her a nuisance and is hoping that it will get her what she needs.
Mr. Birch: This is Miz Sayward, Construction Team Manager of the Snake River Dam Project. She is one of my best people from FluCon.
Sayward: [Inclines her head slightly] Mayor Custor.
Mayor Custor smiles warmly, taking in the confident stance and no-nonsense wardrobe.
Mayor Custor: A pleasure to welcome you to Salmonton, my dear.
Mr. Birch gestures towards Nick.
Mr. Birch: And this is Sosu Reckage, Senior Donor at the Dam Site, representing the Tecton.
Nick smiles, with fully 75% of the charm Riyyh musters on such occasions.
Nick: A pleasure, Mayor.
Kennis grimaces at Nick; he's never cared for Simelovers, and this one looks far too pretty for his tastes.
Mayor Custor is pretty much impervious to being charmed, but can't help staring at the spectacle of a Gen who would touch Simes as an occupation.
Mayor Custor shudders slightly at the thought of it.
Mayor Custor: Pleased to meet you... ah... Mr. Reckage.
Nick tries to figure out whether this Genlan substitution of his proper title is a good sign or a bad one.
Sayward represses a smile at what the Mayor must be thinking about Nick. If she only knew.
Mayor Custor settles himself ponderously in the regal oak chair at the head of the conference table.
Mayor Custor: Well, the morning is fleeting, as the Ancients said.
Mayor Custor: Let us begin our business.
Kennis settles back in his chair, hoping that this nonsense won't consume too much of his day.
Mr. Birch: Well, you've seen our proposal.
Kennis: We have. It's insane--out of the question.
Kennis: Why, we'd be run out of town if we were to endanger the public like that.
Kennis: And rightly so!
Sayward closes her eyes and shakes her head. This is going to be a long one.
Mr. Birch: There would be no danger to the public. The Simes working on the Dam project are stable, good workers.
Mr. Birch: We could provide safeguards as specified in the Border Treaties.
Sayward: I can vouch for them. I've been working with them and I'm still alive.
Mayor Custor shudders again.
Kennis: Tell that to the Ladies' Club!
Kennis: It's one thing for you to go play with Simes, but the people of Salmonton haven't chosen to do that.
Sayward: I assure you, Mr. Kennis, I don't play with them. They work and they are good at it.
Mayor Custor's eyelids droop a bit. He can feel the head-ache starting.
Mayor Custor: Uh, please update me. Just how many Simes have gathered across the Lake right now?
Sayward turns to Nick for the most recent numbers.
Nick: The conditions make it difficult to make an absolute count, but we estimate somewhere between three and four thousand, with about half as many Gens.
Kennis shudders at the thought of so many Simes, so close.
Kennis hadn't thought it was quite that bad.
Mayor Custor: And, Mr. Birch, how many of these are workers on your payroll?
Mr. Birch: We are in the middle of the hiring phase, and still processing applications.
Mr. Birch: We hope to employ at least willing, able-bodied Simes and to persuade the others to move along to greener pastures.
Kennis sits bolt upright; this he hadn't heard.
Mayor Custor: And, Miz Sayward, perhaps you can explain for me why reliable, mentally stable Gens can't do this work?
Kennis: Move on? To where? And what if they won't leave?
Kennis imagines his town being wiped out by over a thousand marauding Simes.
Sayward: We could use as many Gens as we can get but Simes don't sleep and eat the way we do and can do the work faster.
Sayward: We want Gens over there too.
Sayward: You wouldn't happen to know of any who want a job?
Mayor Custor: I could give you a long list of referrals, if they were not in danger of being attacked by the horde of potential berserkers you are assembling over the Lake there.
Nick: There will be no berserkers.
Nick hopes not, anyway.
Nick: At least, not from our side of the border.
Sayward: I was raised this side of the border, Mayor. I have also work with these Simes. They are a lot more like us than I had expected.
Kennis snorts.
Kennis: Like you, maybe.
Kennis thinks that anyone who has problems distinguishing between a Sime and a Gen obviously requires psychological assistance--and quickly.
Sayward: Not many like me, I'm afraid. But they have families and even children with them.
Sayward: We are thinking that we will have to start a school soon for all the little ones.
Kennis thinks, help, a breeding colony!
Mayor Custor: Never mind the children, or the blasted orphanage either. Tell me how you plan to keep thousands of Simes under control.
Sayward: They came to work, not to raid.
Mayor Custor: But you can only provide work for some of them. What about the others?
Nick: They have no more wish to kill Gens than the citizens of Salmonton have to be killed.
Sayward: If raiding was what they had in mind we wouldn't be having this conversation. We would already be dead.
Nick: As long as they can get their selyn from our channels, they will.
Mayor Custor: But I understand there is a selyn shortage.
Nick: There is.
Mayor Custor: And you expect citizens of this city to make up the short-fall.
Sayward: It would be helpful.
Nick: Salmonton is one of the few Gen towns which are accessible from the Dam construction site.
Mayor Custor grinds his teeth, remembering the directives he received from Regional Administration in New Washington.
Nick: If we are forced to bring selyn from further away; if the channels have to travel back to the larger Sime towns....
Nick: Well, you know what travel can be like in the mountains.
Nick: It's not always able to keep to any particular schedule.
Mayor Custor knows very well.
Nick: We would do our very best, I assure you.
Nick is pretty sure Snake would do her worst, as well.
Mayor Custor worries about what will happen come the snows.
Sayward: Did you know that the Tecton pays very well for the selyn they need?
Sayward: Your people are suffering from the effects of last winter and all the damage that was done. The extra money would come in handy.
Mayor Custor: And I am sure there are people debased and desperate enough to endure a Sime's touch for money, and you are welcome to recruit them.
Mayor Custor: New Washington has requested our co-operation, but we have our rights.
Sayward: Yes the right to starve is universal.
Mayor Custor: The council has voted; there will be no Sime Center built on this side of the Lake.
Kennis: And no Simes running around our streets!
Kennis glares at Ms. Afred.
Mayor Custor: As per my last letter, the city will donate a houseboat for use by the Tecton.
Mayor Custor: Individuals who choose to donate may do so outside the city and territorial borders, on the open water.
Ms. Afred remembers the rotten little boy that Kennis used to be.
Kennis hopes the suicidal fools will fall off the gangplank and drown.
Mayor Custor: In deference to New Washington, we will consider that the border begins at the shoreline, so the boat can tie up at our docks.
Mr. Birch sighs.
Mr. Birch: Well, that will be a start.
Mayor Custor turns to Miz Afred.
Ms. Afred turns to Nick.
Mayor Custor: But this proposal of yours would have Sime workers moving around without retainers inside city limits.
Ms. Afred: Could we declare the grounds of the orphanage Sime Territory?
Kennis: That's far too risky.
Ms. Afred has been studying the orphanage charter and the towns incorporation papers.
Kennis: Mayor, if you allow this, I cannot guarantee the safety of the town.
Kennis had no intention of trying, either, if it means being within snatching distance of Simes.
Ms. Afred: Under the town's incorporation agreement the land ceded to the Billings farm was not a part of the original deed. The Billings farm is technically in Sime Territory.
Ms. Afred: If for no other reason than that it was never declared to be Gen Territory.
Mayor Custor: Balderdash. You may argue whether it is inside or outside city limits, but this whole side of the Lake has been Gen Territory since the Unity treaty was signed.
Ms. Afred: True. But the Billings farm is not legally a part of the town's incorporation agreement. We are not subject to the town's charter.
Mayor Custor sees an opportunity to get this hot potato out of his conference room.
Kennis: By that logic, half the town could declare itself "Sime Territory" and stop paying taxes.
Ms. Afred: Exactly. Are you willing to let people know that?
Mayor Custor: If that's the way you want to play it, make your proposal to the Regional Administration Office in Lake City.
Mayor Custor: In the meantime, any Sime without retainers and a proper visa will be shot on sight.
Kennis: While you're waiting for Lake City to get around to talk to you, I'll tell the fire chief that he doesn't have to respond if you have a fire.
Ms. Afred: I have already sent the requests with a copy going to New Washington's Office of Territory affairs.
Kennis: And, of course, my boys will no longer patrol your street.
Mr. Birch: Now, now, let's calm down.
Kennis: If any of your kids go into changeover, you can send a boat across the lake to the Tecton.
Nick thinks that this is the most sensible thing Kennis has said all day.
Ms. Afred: Kennis, do you remember a certain Alia Martin?
Mr. Birch: I am sure we can work something out without involving the Regional office.
Mr. Birch would find it a lot easier to influence the politicians at the Regional Office, who would not have the Simes visiting their back yards, but he will require local cooperation if the master plan is to succeed.
Kennis winces at the reminder of his failure, five years ago, to shoot quickly enough, resulting in the girl's being able to kill one of the orphanage workers.
Kennis: We're not perfect, I admit. But we're a lot closer than Lake City.
Ms. Afred: I would rather keep this in our own hands but those kids need shelter.
Kennis: We can't do our job of protecting the public if you let in squads of Simes, and don't even make them wear retainers!
Kennis glares at Ms. Afred from underneath beetled brows.
Ms. Afred turns to Nick.
Kennis can't understand why some people can't understand that even the bravest of police have limits.
Ms. Afred: Can your people be trusted?
Nick: We would not allow any Sime close to need to work on the project. For the rest, as long as people don't start climbing the construction fence, there should be no problems.
Ms. Afred: So you are saying as long as we don't do something stupid we would be safe?
Nick: Certainly.
Mayor Custor: That's not good enough. We won't allow channels to wander our streets unrestrained, let alone ordinary Simes.
Mr. Birch: But we have offered to perform a public works project free of charge and repair the orphanage.
Mr. Birch: Are you going to turn down that offer because you are afraid?
Kennis is not willing to rely on any public safety plan that requires everyone to act intelligently.
Kennis: Under the circumstance, I'm afraid I must recommend to the Mayor that we do just that.
Sayward: Gentlemen, I interact with these people everyday. I am no different from you. They don't attack me.
Kennis: You said there were also a large number of Gens seeking work over there.
Kennis: Send a crew of them, and we'd be more than happy to accept your offer.
Sayward: The Gens currently at our site are not skilled laborers.
Sayward: They couldn't do the job.
Mayor Custor: Are you saying that these wandering and jobless Simes are more skilled than your own FluCon work crews?
Sayward: I'm saying that the crew we send is going to be hand picked, skilled and reliable.
Mayor Custor: Well, surely you can hand pick skilled and reliable Gens.
Mayor Custor thinks he could find a dozen Gens to do the job himself if he didn't have bigger fish to fry.
Kennis: Nailing on shingles is hardly a task for a construction engineer.
Sayward: Our skilled Gen people are still in transit. They weren't scheduled to get here until the Simes had done the prepwork.
Mr. Birch: And besides, a Gen crew won't satisfy our purpose, which is to demonstrate that our Sime workers are reliable and are are not to be feared.
Mayor Custor: I thought you were doing this for charity.
Mr. Birch grins a wolfish grin.
Mr. Birch: Now, you know there's no free lunch, really.
Kennis: Hmm, Cust, it looks like he's not so interested in helping Ms. Afred's little angels as he pretends.
Mayor Custor chews his lower lip. He is familiar with Mr. Birch's PR machine and knows how it can be used against him if he doesn't play ball.
Ms. Afred wouldn't care if a crew of grizzlies came out of the woods to do the work. She just wants it done.
Mayor Custor: [fudging] Well, New Washington did ask us to co-operate.
Kennis: They asked us to help ship supplies in, not to invite snakes into our houses.
Kennis: This project has nothing to do with the dam construction.
Kennis thinks, propaganda values aside.
Mayor Custor is gnawing is quite a hole.
Mayor Custor: Why can't they wear retainers?
Nick: When Simes wear retainers, they can't use their arms very well, or they risk serious or even fatal injury.
Nick: Certainly, heavy lifting, climbing ladders, and such tasks would be impossible.
Sayward: You get free labor. Your people get assured that the Simes aren't going to attack them and maybe we get enough selyn to make sure. Is putting them in retainers that necessary?
see note 1
Notes:
1) This scene is continued in the next episode. [return]
Go on to Episode #14: Funny Business
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