Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #15: Supermen (7/6/00)
Scarabald is at the storehouse, unloading packs from a train of very tired mules.
Scarabald is discreetly secreting the unofficial portion of the cargo in safe places, where it will not come to the attention of the management.
Wise Snake hurries down to the storehouse to pick up her new supply of... never mind what... and Jeniard.
Wise Snake was going to wait for Jeniard to come to her, to spare herself having to give him the tour herself, but became rather concerned when she couldn't zlin him among the new arrivals.
Scarabald also places the legitimate portion of his cargo in its proper places, checking off each item on the inventory.
Wise Snake is, of course, very interested in the First Order channel sized load of selyn he is carrying. So are a lot of very needy people.
Wise Snake enters the storehouse and spots Scarabald.
Scarabald has zlinned Snake coming, of course; her nager is hard to miss when she's making no effort to hide it.
Wise Snake zlins about briefly but still cannot locate Jeniard. She deduces that he has not been brought.
Scarabald turns with a somewhat ingratiating smile.
Scarabald: Hajene Snake!
Wise Snake: OK... where is he?
Scarabald: Your order is.... Where is who?
Wise Snake is somewhat disgruntled, since several dozen renSimes are going to have to have their schedules rearranged because of this.
Scarabald looks around, hoping Snake is not referring to 1) his boss or 2) a rival for the shipment of... never mind what.
Wise Snake: Hajene Jeniard, you... [leaves off inappropriate noun]
Wise Snake is a bit hyperactive, due to having run low on tranquilizers.
Wise Snake's pale eyes dart over the details of the as yet unloaded cargo.
Scarabald moves to a mule halfway down the line, and starts loosening the pack.
Scarabald figures that there had better be tranquilizers ready when Snake finds out what happened.
Wise Snake: The fellow supposed to be brought back here from the train station.
Scarabald: He's still back in Kyrril Gulch.
Scarabald: He wouldn't come with me.
Wise Snake: What!
Wise Snake looks at Scarabald incredulously.
Wise Snake: Why not?
Scarabald zlins ~~ honestly clueless ~~
Scarabald: He was very nervous about riding a mule at all, and he didn't like it when I told him I had to leave a bit earlier than anticipated.
Wise Snake: So you just left him??
Wise Snake: Do you have any idea what this does to the transfer schedules?
Wise Snake thinks, never mind what will happen if Arat arrives before Jeniard has had enough time to pave the way for him.
Wise Snake thinks, one emergency at a time.
Scarabald: What should I have done? I can't play nageric chicken with a First Order Channel, and there were too many witnesses for physical measures.
Scarabald: My guess is, he won't go anywhere until his Donor arrives.
Wise Snake blinks at the term "nageric chicken".
Wise Snake: Ummm.
Wise Snake: Well, where is my delivery?
Scarabald zlins suddenly a tad ~~ apprehensive ~~
Scarabald produces a package and hands it to Snake.
Scarabald: I couldn't get quite everything on your list.
Wise Snake rips open her package (since nobody else is present) and inspects the contents.
Scarabald: My source said his shipment was late, and he can get most of the rest ready for my next trip.
Scarabald: ~~ appeasement ~~
Scarabald does not want Snake mad at him.
Wise Snake mutters something about his next trip better be a very long one if she runs out before he gets back, and stomps out of the storehouse.
[meanwhile, on a train somewhere halfway there....]
Beni manages to hold his peace--and his best supportive nager--until the red car is safely hitched to the end of their next train and he and Arat are inside it.
Beni: Five hours late!
Beni: Is that entran back again?
Beni wishes Arat didn't have such impractical ideas about not showing weakness in front of the hoi polloi.
Arat, who tries not to show weakness in front of anybody from street beggars to the World Controller, automatically says, "It's... manageable."
Beni offers his hands to Arat.
Beni: Here. We might as well take care of it before the moving train makes it worse.
Arat reaches out and takes Beni's hands a little more quickly than he'd intended.
Arat pauses, and then stoically and controlledly rearranges his grip to something less suitable to clutching at the edge of a cliff, and more suitable for entran management.
Beni congratulates himself on his correct translation of the Farris-speak "It's manageable" as "Help, I'm disintegrating!"
Arat in fact has been fighting entran since the day they set out, and it's been far from "manageable" for days now.
Beni focuses his nager for the entran outfunction as best he can after five hours of intensive crowd duty.
Arat was forced to actually go jogging at the second-to-last rest stop, which as far as he is concerned is second only to dying as loathsome ways to manage entran go.
Arat is not against augmenting on principle, but he is against exercise, and there is little or no way to avoid exercise while jogging, augmentation or no. Besides, it looks, and is, ridiculous.
Arat always feels like a thoroughbred being taken out for a warm up on a short rope by a puffing handler.
Beni: They really should have arranged work breaks for you.
Beni thinks that would have been preferable to forcing him to chase after a channel whose legs are significantly longer than his own, even without augmentation.
Beni knows he's no sprinter, but having a channel zipping in circles around one just emphasises one's lack of basic athletic skill.
Arat: At least this way, we will arrive sooner.
Arat means, in time for him to have transfer with Nick, instead of Beni for the third time in a row.
Arat also means, in order to take control at the Dam site before things get any worse than they already are.
Arat may still not grasp just what he is going to be stepping into.
Beni: There is that. Although exactly what we'll find there is open to question.
Arat concentrates on getting his field in order, doing his best not to fall on Beni as the train starts moving.
Beni braces himself as the train lurches into motion, wishing he had a Sime's sense of balance.
Beni is, of course, incapable of falling down with Arat clutching at him.
Arat finally lets Beni go, hoping that Beni thinks that was entirely due to the train lurching, and not due to requiring Beni's physical support during part of the functional.
Arat: Thank you. [stiffly]
Arat retreats to the relative stability of on of the seats.
Beni smiles, having learned to accept such statements in lieu of effusive praise.
Beni makes his way to the opposing seat, where his nager can provide some support without physical crowding.
Beni stretches his feet out into the aisle with a sigh of relief.
Beni looks at Arat a bit apologetically.
Beni: Will it bother you if I back off on the support a bit? That was a very long wait in the station.
Arat looks as if it will bother him rather a lot.
Beni: Never mind.
Arat nods reluctantly.
Arat: No, I will be fine.
Arat is aware that it was difficult for Beni at the station, what with the entire town throwing a party there to welcome back some long absent son.
Arat had not been in any condition to do anything but curl up in a ball and hope they were allowed back in the train soon.
Arat has been considering how difficult it would be to keep the railroad car for emergency housing at the construction site.
Beni slowly relaxes his focus, trying to find a happy medium that will allow him a rest of sorts, while still proving some assistance to Arat.
Arat thinks it has the advantage of being difficult to break into, and very well insulated.
Arat doesn't know that several days on muleback are required to access the site.
Beni: Will that work for you? Just for a little while, until I've rested a bit?
Beni tries not to look or zlin as pathetic as he is.
Arat can tell just how pathetic Beni is.
Arat leans back and tries to rest his eyes and ignore how small the legroom between the two seats is.
Beni's thoughts inevitably drift as he relaxes, and bits of a newspaper article he skimmed at the stop before last come back in more or less random fashion.
Beni: Arat, wouldn't wagons be more efficient than pack mules?
Arat frowns, eyes still closed.
Arat: I imagine it would depend upon the terrain.
Beni: Hmm, yes.
Arat's knowledge of these matters is limited to what is required to know when a particular publicly traded transportation company is a good investment or not.
Beni: There was a newspaper article that mentioned that they were hauling supplies to the dam site by mules.
Beni: That seemed a bit excessive--nasty creatures, mules.
Beni may perhaps be a tad prejudiced, thanks to a youthful encounter with the milkman's beast.
Beni: But if it's too steep for wagons, that would explain it.
Arat: Most likely.
Beni yawns, then pulls himself together before he drop off into an unauthorized nap.
Beni: I suppose that's why civilization is down in the valleys--much easier if you have trains, and wagons.
Beni: At least, I don't think they can run a train up a mountain, can they?
Arat: To a certain extent. It depends upon the grade.
Arat: Usually it is done with tunnels, to go through rather than over.
Arat knows this, too, from his investment adventures.
Beni: I suppose that's a lot of work, but still, decent transportation would be well worth it.
Beni's view may be skewed a tad by his being a member of the railroad-riding community, not the railroad-building one.
Arat has been doing some mental math, and coming up with some alarming numbers as to the nature of the altitudes between the nearest Sime Territory train route and the top of the old dam.
Beni looks at Arat, and tightens up his nager immediately.
Beni: Is something wrong?
Arat is more familiar with the Gen Territory side, because he owns shipping on the Reservoir and looked into some primarily Gen owned railroad stock along its banks. This is, of course, also at least a couple of thousand feet up the mountain from the Sime Territory train line.
Arat wishes he had researched all of this a bit more. Come to think of it, the description of a trek by mule up the mountainside had lacked detail, particularly in the quantitative sense.
Arat: I do not like mules.
Arat sums up the problem with a magnificent and very nearly topic-changing understatement.
Beni places a concerned hand on Arat's tense tentacles.
Beni: Neither do I, but they're being used for the supplies, I thought?
Beni sincerely hopes that is the limit of their use, at least.
Arat: According to the reports, there is a section of our trip which will require transport by mule.
Beni: ...oh.
Beni gives a sickly grin.
Beni: Arat, I'm not much of a rider.
Arat: It will be only the first of many difficult experiences.
Arat is probably being overly optimistic in believing nothing bad will happen before the mules are boarded.
Arat himself hasn't ridden since a child, and doesn't particularly look forward to several days of entran riding him while he rides the mule either.
Arat in fact will be in his own personal hell for those days.
Beni: My riding experience is limited to falling off my cousin's pony. Twice.
Arat slumps down in his seat, nearly defeated by the thought that it will only be the first of much worse.
Arat: Then you will be in company with Jeniard.
Arat thinks, except that Jeniard was reportedly also stepped on by the pony.
Beni feels a bit better at the thought of not being the only member of the "dusty bottom club" around.
Beni then recalls that his primary duty is to look after Arat, even when perched upon a vicious, unpredictable, homicidal animal.
Beni: Arat, how much of a rider are you?
Arat: It is not my preferred mode of transportation.
Beni: Mule trains don't go very fast. Perhaps we could hike up instead?
Beni isn't fond of blisters, but there is such as thing as the lesser of two evils.
Arat: Perhaps.
Beni: If we went in front of the mules, we wouldn't have to worry about droppings. At least, not fresh ones.
Beni supposes old droppings would be unavoidable, if the path gets much use.
Arat wishes Beni hadn't brought up the subject of droppings.
Arat is forcibly reminded of the extreme shortage of latrines on the site, not to mention the total lack thereof on the trip up.
Beni can't think of equines without thinking of droppings, as his cousin was much bigger than he was, and demanded that he perform stable duty during his stay.
Beni: Messy creatures, mules.
Beni gazes out the window for a few minutes, watching the fields go by.
Beni is agriculturally challenged, however, and soon tires of this form of entertainment.
Beni turns back to Arat.
Beni: Arat, what do you think is going to be hardest about this assignment?
Beni really prefers to know the worst, so he can prepare.
Beni might have a different opinion if he knew quite how bad the worst was, but he can be forgiven: usually, it's quite a sound strategy for stress-management.
Arat opens his eyes and looks at Beni.
Arat actually doesn't know where to begin, since it all seems the worst right at the moment.
Arat: The difference in the work and living environment, [finally sums it up]
Arat: The actual work is not so great a change for me.
Arat thinks, except that he will be getting a lot more hands on channelling work, for which he is glad despite all the other problems.
Arat may be kidding himself about how much hands on channelling work he will get to have.
Beni: It'll be different, with many of the Sime workers augmenting constantly.
Beni: And instead of carriage accidents, there'll be construction accidents.
Arat: Yes.
Arat's laterals stir as he thinks about people hit by shrapnel or caught in explosions, people caught in landslides, people hit on the head by rocks, people who have pounded their own feet with mallets....
Arat rubs his hands together uneasily.
Arat: But it will still be rather like Controller work anywhere else.
Arat: In all except for the environment and living conditions.
Arat: Those will be dramatically different.
Arat means, substandard.
Beni: Actually, the conditions make it a bit more like a pre-Unity Householding than a standard Controllership.
Beni: You'll be pretty autonomous in your decisions, and there won't be a Neptude or a Seruffin dropping by to second-guess you.
Arat: I will be required to work closely with the construction management and the labor leaders.
Arat thinks this makes all the difference in the world.
Arat has heard about some of these people.
Arat's forte is not soothing the feathers of egotistical hardhats and powermongering labor types.
Arat thinks Beni is completely missing his point about the environment. Maybe a non-Farris who isn't allergic to half the world simply cannot comprehend the danger of the situation.
Beni: Well, I suppose so. But they'll come to the Sime Center, won't they? Or at least, to whatever we'll have instead of a Sime Center?
Beni: Surely you're not going to go into the construction area proper?
Beni: ~~ concern ~~
Arat: If the advance team has done their work properly, there should be a place reserved for me.
Arat means, a place that he can survive in, and use as a base of operations from which to venture forth when necessary.
Arat: I am certain that it will be quite difficult at first, regardless.
Beni: Arat, my parents had a room built on their house when I was a boy. That concrete dust made me break out in a rash.
Beni: Even if they have a place for you, you've got to get to it first.
Arat is well aware of the problem.
Arat: You see my point, then.
Arat is actually beginning to fidget.
Arat's tentacles curl about themselves.
Beni: Oh, shen, I shouldn't be talking like this.
Beni strokes the tentacles to coax them to uncurl.
Arat realizes what he was doing, and forces them to withdraw into his sheaths.
Beni: You know what a construction site is like, and this is going to be much worse
Beni: They're going to be resculpting two mountains and a valley.
Beni: It's the sort of thing you imagine the Ancients doing, not modern Simes and Gens.
Arat nods.
Arat: It is a monumental project.
Beni: Have you ever wondered what it would have been like, to be an Ancient?
Arat pauses, and then turns a very peculiar look upon Beni.
Arat looks as if Beni had just asked him if he preferred his elephant barbecued or spit-roasted.
Beni is not generally philosophical, but spending over a week in a train car looking after a Farris channel will bring out the worst in any Donor.
Arat: I... have never considered such a thing, no.
Beni: They wouldn't have thought twice about a project like that. Not the way they blithely rearranged the landscape for their eyeways.
Arat: I should think it would have been a difficult project even for them.
Arat looks rather disturbed by what Beni has suggested, though.
Arat prefers to think of the Ancients as humans, not supermen.
Beni is perhaps underinfomed about the politics of Ancient water usage, and how very many reconsiderations Ancient politicians were willing to endure, as public opinion flip-flopped.
Beni: It's not that they were smarter than us--they just had resources and technology we don't.
Arat in fact prefers not to think of the Ancients at all, since he is essentially a very self-absorbed person, and attempting to incorporate such abstractions into his everyday thought is quite painful.
Beni: I've always wondered if it wasn't because they weren't distracted by larity issues.
Arat reluctantly turns his mind away from himself and his own problems.
Arat: It is not clear whether they had larity or not.
Beni: There isn't any picture of an Ancient with tentacles.
Beni: And if they were all Gens, what would it matter, with no Simes to interact with?
Beni is glad to see that Arat has at least been temporarily distracted from his brooding.
Beni is well aware that Arat has many legitimate worries, and much planning to do, with regards to this assignment.
Beni feels, however, that Arat is taking the worry bit to unhealthful extremes.
Arat has never been accused of failing to bring something to an unhealthful extreme, after all.
Beni: Do you think that Simes and Gens together will be able to recapture what the Ancients accomplished?
Beni: And if so, can we exceed them?
Arat: I... think that I will be satisfied if I can keep the majority of them alive and keep my name clear of damage for the time it takes to get reassigned elsewhere.
Arat is being brutally honest.
Arat: And as for the dam itself, I cannot know the answer to that. I know nothing of such things.
Beni winces at the harsh reality of Arat's analysis.
Arat: I do not belong here, and it was a mistake to... to allow it to happen.
Arat hasn't even admitted as much to Jeniard, yet; it's been a long time since he saw Jeniard, since Capitol.
Beni: Once Seruffin had made up his mind, what could you have done?
Arat: I could have refused.
Beni is blissfully unaware of exactly how Arat became Seruffin's preferred candidate.
Beni: Refused an assignment? That's not done.
Beni has never heard of anyone getting away with it, at least.
Beni: They'd have retired you for insubordination.
Arat: I've done it before.
Beni: You have?
Arat: When I was just out of First Year school they tried to send me to Maple Leaf Territory.
Beni, unlike Pylor, has not been subjected to the earlier portions of Arat's medical history.
Beni: Beautiful country, up there.
Arat: I... did not want to leave New Othwol.
Beni: Why not? Because you grew up there?
Arat: Because I... it is difficult to explain.
Beni: We have plenty of time.
Arat finds it difficult to explain because his mind was blank for much of it, rather like a racehorse rearing and plunging inside the starting gate is thinking of nothing but blind terror and escape, regardless of the damage or the cost.
Arat: I couldn't conceive of being anywhere else.
Arat: By the time they tried again, when they sent me to Capitol, I had learned more flexibility.
Arat had learned the self-discipline to overcome the problem out of a sense of duty.
Arat: But the first time, they had to return me to New Othwol. So it can be done. That is what I should have done.
Arat knows that what he should have done was find another way to escape Neptude that did not involve the Snake River Dam project.
Arat thinks that mere humiliation seems far easier an ordeal than what he has to face now, though he didn't at the time.
Beni: Do you think you'll ever be able to return to New Othwol?
Arat looks at Beni.
Beni: Or do you even still want to be there?
Beni is aware how tastes can change with experience.
Arat looks at him, in fact, as if he's never met him before, since Beni ought to know the answer to that by now.
Arat: I do. But they will not allow it.
Arat: At least, not for many more years.
Beni: Perhaps it won't be so long. Surely after an assignment like this, your loyalty to the Tecton couldn't be in question?
Arat thinks that is a very ironic statement, given how Arat got into this assignment in the first place.
Arat continues to watch Beni with the same odd expression, but only says, "Perhaps you are right."