Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #32: Sheer (8/27/00)
Sgt. Edka surveys his prospective students dubiously, wondering how he managed to get talked into doing this.
Sgt. Edka is under orders to build good relations with the Sime civilians, or he'd have vetoed the idea immediately.
Sgt. Edka thinks that the last thing his crew requires two days after a nasty fall, is to have to shepherd a bunch of amateurs on a bad cliff that's been made worse by demolitions work.
Sgt. Edka has his own suspicions as to the cause of the accident, and he doesn't like them one bit.
Jitry needs a job badly but had no idea that he would be working with Gens who do such foolish things. Gens aren't supposed to hang from ropes. They die when they do.
Ilvin is also convinced that putting Gens on this work was a Bad Idea.
HT (Hang Time) Clifford has no delusions about this job. They are working in the worse possible place with badly fractured rock face and a bunch of untrained people. Things couldn't be any worse if someone were trying to make it worse.
Ilvin isn't a total throwback: he doesn't want Gens kept in Pens again, for instance, even if they would be safer there.
Sgt. Edka is very much afraid that someone is trying to make it worse.
HT looks at the Sargeant. He wouldn't want to be in his boots at the moment.
Sgt. Edka has already taken the precaution of withdrawing one climbing team and putting them on guard duty over the safety lines at the top of the cliff.
HT: [whispers] Sarge, they look right jumpy to me.
Sgt. Edka can't be sure, of course, but the safety line that should have stopped his crew from falling gave way at a rather unlikely point, and the first part of the break looked suspiciously clean, as if it had been made with a knife.
Sgt. Edka consoles himself that if he's right about what happened, it is unlikely to be repeated today.
Sgt. Edka nods at HT.
Jitry zlins the two Gen who are supposed to teach him how to do this job. They seem to be confident but with Gens you can't believe everything you zlin.
Sgt. Edka: Amateurs. Let's hope they're willing to follow directions, once they're over the drop.
Ilvin is sure that he can do anything a Gen can do, although he's not enthusiastic about hanging off a cliff.
HT: I wonder if we can even get them over the drop.
Ilvin thinks that still, a job's a job, and he can't afford to be picky.
Sgt. Edka shrugs.
Sgt. Edka: If they won't go, that's no problem of ours.
HT: Which one is mine?
Sgt. Edka looks over the two candidates carefully.
Sgt. Edka: You take that one.
Sgt. Edka points at Ilvin.
HT: Right.
Sgt. Edka: I'll handle Jumpy, there.
Sgt. Edka raises his voice effortlessly to parade-ground level.
Sgt. Edka: All right, listen up.
HT walks over to his assigned student.
Ilvin zlins the approaching Gen dubiously.
Ilvin thinks that a Gen like that really has no business jumping over a cliff, and vows to be ready in case he slips.
Ilvin has absorbed the Gen-protective propaganda of the Modern Tecton, in full measure.
HT just hopes that his Sime speaks enough English to understand the instructions. The language barrier has been popping up at the most unfortunate times.
Sgt. Edka: I've agreed to teach you how to climb down cliffs, so you can work on smoothing the canyon walls if this selyn shortage is ever resolved.
Sgt. Edka: As you may have heard, climbing cliffs can be dangerous.
HT wonders what bureaucratic idiot thought this project would work in the first place.
Sgt. Edka glares at his students, daring them to shrug off his words.
HT comes automatically to attention as the Sargeant glares in his direction.
Sgt. Edka: That means that until you finish the course, and I tell you that you're ready to climb on your own, you will do what I say, when I say to do it.
Sgt. Edka: Is that understood?
Jitry is shaken by the nager of the Gen who seems to be in charge. Of course he will do what he is told. Yelling isn't required.
Jitry hopes that he is not going to have to deal with the Gen in Charge.
Ilvin thinks the Gen is making a big deal out of nothing. After all, the accident two days before involved Gens, without the agility and tentacles to do this climbing business properly.
Ilvin is convinced that a Sime shouldn't have nearly as much trouble.
HT: [whispers to his Sime] Say yes!
HT hopes the other Sime will take the hint too.
Ilvin looks sideways at HT, then nods vigorously.
Sgt. Edka: The first thing you're going to do is inspect your equipment. Make sure every part of your harness is securely buckled, that your equipment won't come loose, and that your ropes don't have any frayed sections.
Sgt. Edka adds to himself, or segments that have been deliberately sliced halfway through.
Sgt. Edka has, of course, already personally inspected all equipment to be used today, and posted a guard on the safety ropes to prevent sabotage.
Sgt. Edka gestures for HT to help Ilvin with the inspection, while he looks after Jitry.
HT has been training people to do this sort of thing for years. Long enough to be down to his elbow in commendation stripes. They keep threatening to promote him from Corporal to Sargeant. So far he has managed to duck.
HT knows that the army will promote you eventually no matter how much you like your current job.
HT picks up his harness and prepares to show his trainee how to put it on as the Sargeant lectures the group.
Sgt. Edka keeps a sharp eye on Jitry as he demonstrates how to put on the harness.
Jitry has realized that he is getting the GiC as a personal instructor. He takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.
Sgt. Edka reaches out to correct Jitry as he fails to tighten a strap far enough.
Sgt. Edka: You don't want that loose, son.
Jitry jumps backward three feet.
Sgt. Edka is used to a bit of nervousness at this stage.
Jitry: I will make it tight.
Sgt. Edka thinks, however, that Jitry is overreacting.
Sgt. Edka: You do that, and then I'll make sure.
Sgt. Edka has no intention of letting a beginner in his charge get within six feet of the cliff edge, before he's personally tried each harness connection.
HT is having more success with his Sime. He seems much calmer than the other one.
Jitry: Yes. Thank you.
Ilvin is convinced that this cliff-climbing business the Gens make so much of will be a breeze.
Jitry tells himself not to worry so much about being touched by a Gen. It isn't like the creature wants to attack him.
Ilvin grew up in the flat farmlands, of course, and had never been in mountains until he came here, but hey, he's got tentacles, and that's what counts.
Sgt. Edka waits until Jitry is finished putting on the harness, then motions him over for the inspection.
HT checks behind Ilvin and notes that the Sime has snugged all the buckles and catches. This is working out quite well.
Sgt. Edka frowns as his change fails to approach closely enough.
Sgt. Edka: Come here.
Sgt. Edka points at a spot of ground a foot in front of him.
Jitry does as he sees Ilvin do. He knows he is being silly to be so nervous around the Gens but all his life he has been told that bad things happen to Simes who touch Gens.
Jitry takes a deep breath and walks back to the GiC. He tells himself that he will not be afraid.
Sgt. Edka methodically tests each strap and buckle, front and back, in a very impersonal fashion.
Sgt. Edka is nothing if not professional, when it comes to his profession.
Sgt. Edka nods in satisfaction as he completes his inspection.
Sgt. Edka: You'll do.
Sgt. Edka steps back and raises his voice again.
Sgt. Edka: Today, all we're going to do is a simple rappel down the cliff.
Jitry is vibrating as the Gen's nager flows over him with his touch. And is relieved when the Gen moves away from him.
Sgt. Edka has done what he could to keep it simple, by selecting a lower, less steep portion of cliff a mile downstream from the construction site for this lesson.
HT thinks simple is not what he would call this with two greenies.
Sgt. Edka: I'm going to ask Corporal Clifford, here, to demonstrate how to rappel properly.
Sgt. Edka waves HT forward to where he can be easily seen.
HT nods and ropes up. He threads the rope carefully through the clips on his harness making sure that everything he does is easily seen by the Simes.
HT has a sudden thought.
Sgt. Edka meanwhile offers a running commentary and explanation.
HT wonders if the Simes might get their tentacles caught in the apparatus.
HT: You two might want to keep those tentacles of yours pulled in. I don't know if you can use them on a rappel.
Ilvin looks at HT indignantly at the implication that he's as clumsy as a Gen.
Ilvin has no intention of giving up his Sime advantage.
Sgt. Edka: ...Once more, that's push away from the cliff with your feet, let out a bit of rope as you swing, and catch yourself with your feet as you swing back to the cliff again.
HT walks over to the cliff edge belaying rope as he goes.
Sgt. Edka: Take it nice and easy; we're not in any hurry.
Sgt. Edka: Hurry causes accidents.
Sgt. Edka thinks sabotage causes accidents, too, and hopes his precautions have been sufficient.
HT turns back to face the group then jumps backwards off the cliff.
Ilvin twitches as he restrains himself from grabbing the idiot Gen away from the drop-off.
HT catches himself smoothly six feet below the lip of the cliff.
Jitry jumps toward the edge of the cliff then jumps back in the same second. Gens should not be allowed to do this to Simes!!!
Sgt. Edka reaches out a paw to restrain Jitry.
HT looks up after the shower of dirt and small rocks passes.
Sgt. Edka: Stop running around and pay attention.
Sgt. Edka ~~ disapproves ~~ of Jitry's lack of self-control.
Jitry jumps back from the Gen.
Jitry becomes even more jumpy as he zlins the Gen's disapproval.
Sgt. Edka thinks it's going to be a very looong afternoon.
Jitry: [in Simelan] Would you please control your nager!
Jitry shakes himself. He then realizes what he has said and is glad he said it in Simelan not Genlan.
Jitry: Sorry. I will be more calm.
Sgt. Edka decides to put the pressure on the other student, to give Jitry a chance to get ahold of himself.
Sgt. Edka thinks that for people who complain constantly about Gen lack of self-control, most Simes would do well to follow their own advice.
Sgt. Edka: You go ahead. [to Ilvin]
HT is wondering what the hold up is. He stopped at six feet so that he could catch the next one over if he slipped. He rethinks that and drops another five feet.
Ilvin swaggers towards the cliff face, as much as one can when wearing a bulky harness and dragging a rope.
Sgt. Edka checks Ilvin's line, corrects his grip on the rope, and nods in approval.
Sgt. Edka: Good. Over you go, then.
Ilvin steps to the very edge of the cliff, then makes the fatal error of looking down.
Ilvin: ~~ nausea ~~
Ilvin thinks it didn't seem half as big a drop, five minutes ago.
Jitry is hit by Ilvin's sudden vertigo. He backs up even more.
Jitry thinks at least the Gens don't seem to get sick at the sight of the drop. He wonders if he will be able to do this.
Ilvin swallows, then sticks his arms over the edge so he can zlin where HT is.
Ilvin finds zlinning the vastness just slightly less problematic than looking at it.
Ilvin can't believe the the Gen is just swinging there on the end of the rope, as contented as if there wasn't a quarter mile drop below him.
HT looks up to see a pair of tentacled arms sticking over the edge.
HT: Hey up there, if you're comin' come on. I don't want to hang here all day!!
HT thinks, Simes! All talk and no walk.
Ilvin starts at the Gen's yell, almost losing his balance.
Sgt. Edka rolls his eyes in a long-suffering fashion.
Sgt. Edka: Not that way. Turn around before you jump, like Corporal Clifford did.
Jitry is becoming less and less happy with the whole situation.
Sgt. Edka strides towards the cliff, turns Ilvin around, and checks his lines one more time.
HT braces himself to catch the Sime in case he forgets to stop his own decent.
Jitry watches the Gen in Charge running his hands all over Ilvin. He shudders. Maybe this would be a good time to run -- er leave.
Jitry remembers his two aging parents, his wife and the baby on the way. For them he will stay.
Jitry would much rather run though.
HT: Sarge, are you sendin' him down or should I come up?
HT understands the army's hurry up and wait policy, but he wonders if the Simes are trying something strange up there.
HT can't see anything but the gorge and the river from where he sits.
Sgt. Edka adjusts Ilvin's hands to give a measured six feet of slack.
Sgt. Edka: Just hold onto that rope, and step backwards.
Sgt. Edka wouldn't be so patient with Army recruits, but this guy isn't under order, and he is: to be diplomatic.
Sgt. Edka waves over the cliffside to alert HT, then reinforces the suggestion with a good shove on the chest.
HT looks up just in time to see a skinny behind aimed in his direction.
HT braces for a catch.
Jitry watches in horror as the Gen pushes Ilvin off the cliff.
Ilvin forgets all about showing how superior Simes are to Gens, and even about the mandatory selyn rationing which forbids augmentation.
Ilvin shrieks, clutching the rope with both hands and all 8 handling tentacles, not caring how much selyn he burns, if it will keep him from falling.
HT locks down his line and reaches up to catch the falling Sime.
HT finds to his amazement that the Sime seems to have remembered to stop his own descent.
Ilvin in fact can't remember anything at the moment, not even his own name, but Edka has long since perfected the art of figuring out how much line to give a new recruit, and there was no chance of the rope slipping, under the circumstances.
Sgt. Edka peeks over the cliff, and notes that he hasn't lost his touch.
HT: [calls up to the Sime hanging over his head] Hey fella that was pretty good for a first timer!
Ilvin looks down slowly and cautiously, at the Gen grinning so condescendingly in his direction.
HT: Come on, you can let yourself down some more.
Ilvin can't bear to be shown up by a mere Gen.
Ilvin pulls himself together and examines the ropes.
Ilvin thinks the whole setup looked a lot less complicated on top of the cliff.
HT jumps backward and drops another ten feet.
Ilvin is a bit reluctant to experiment on loosening any of the lines, in case he guesses wrong.
Ilvin's Sime instinct gets the better of him at the zlin of the falling Gen, and he lets go with both hands in a futile attempt to grab HT.
HT see the Sime falling straight for him. He braces to catch Ilvin and locks his line down fast as you please.
Ilvin screams again as he rockets down the cliff, only to be brought up short by the safety line on the harness.
HT: Hey, it's okay you aren't falling any more!
Sgt. Edka rolls his eyes in exasperation: usually it takes a few lessons before some idiot gets overconfident and loses his grip.
HT thinks, greenies!
Sgt. Edka tries to decide if taking a "swan dive" on one's first lesson is a sign of precocity, or just extreme stupidity.
Ilvin looks at the Gen dangling at his side, as relaxed as if he were sitting on a chair, not a thin piece of rope dangling over a very large chasm.
Ilvin doesn't miss the exasperation: the Gen fairly reeks of it.
Jitry is staring at the Gen in Charge. He knows it is his turn next.
Ilvin does not think HT's reaction is fair at all.
Ilvin: You were falling.
Ilvin: ~~ accusing ~~
HT: No I wasn't I was rappelling. That is what we are here to do.
HT got a glimpse of the terror in Ilvin's eyes as he came at him. Maybe this one isn't cut out for this line of work.
HT: But hey, you did pretty well for a gre-- first timer.
Sgt. Edka decides that HT has Ilvin under control (sort of), and turns to Jitry.
Jitry backs away from the Gen.
Jitry takes several deep breaths and tries to calm down.
Sgt. Edka was afraid of that: a screamer early on makes the rest of the greenhorns nervous.
Jitry would go to the edge to check on Ilvin but the Gen is in the way.
Sgt. Edka figures that he'd better get this jumpy Sime over the cliff quickly, or it won't happen at all.
Sgt. Edka gestures Jitry over.
Sgt. Edka: Your turn now.
Jitry has been trying to zlin through solid rock and of course failed miserably. He hopes he won't fall to his death like he suspects Ilvin has.
Jitry: Yes. My turn. [still backing up]
Sgt. Edka is tired of babying these civilians.
Jitry forces himself to stop backing away from the Gen.
Sgt. Edka: Get over here!
Sgt. Edka's thin veneer of diplomacy does cover a drill sargeant's core, after all.
Jitry approaches the very angry Gen.
Jitry [all the cautionary tales from his childhood come screaming back to his mind. Gen are dangerous when they are angry.]
Jitry: I will come. Please be calm.
Jitry has no desire to get this Gen angry. Gens are dangerous when the are angry. All the stories say that.
Jitry stops where the Gen in Charge is pointing.
Sgt. Edka checks Jitry's harness one more time, then hands him a pair of ropes.
Sgt. Edka: You attach these to your harness like this.
Sgt. Edka demonstrates.
Jitry waits through the inevitable touch of the Gen, forcing himself not to run.
Jitry knows he should be paying more attention to what the Gen is showing him, but his entire effort is going into not running.
Sgt. Edka naturally enough thinks that what's spooking Jitry is the thought of going over the cliff.
Sgt. Edka is an out-T Gen, after all, raised to believe that Simes are a danger to Gens, not vice versa.
HT is trying to keep an eye on Ilvin and the lip of the cliff at the same time. He is expecting another delivery any minute now.
Sgt. Edka arranges Jitry's hands on the rope.
Jitry's eyes are as large as they ever get. He is trying not to scream as the Gen actually touches his hands.
Sgt. Edka: Hold it right there, and you'll have an easy jump.
Jitry nods. Anything to get away from the Gen.
Sgt. Edka claps Jitry on the shoulder in what is intended as reassurance.
Sgt. Edka reaches out over the cliff to wave a warning at HT: the next one's coming.
Sgt. Edka: Right, then. Over you go. I'll be right behind you.
Jitry knows what is coming and to avoid being touched he jumps.
Sgt. Edka leaps after his student, catching himself neatly with his boots against the cliff, his body at the regulation angle to its face.
Ilvin shrieks and ducks as he zlins two more bodies hurtling towards him.
Jitry is holding on to the rope so tight he only drops two feet over the edge. He bangs his arm on the lip of the cliff and lets go of the rope instinctively.
Jitry falls grabbing wildly for anything and grabs the rope again.
Sgt. Edka: Easy, there. You're doing fine.
HT looks up to gauge where he should go to be out of the way. He sees that he doesn't need to move and looks over at Ilvin to make sure he isn't going to let go again.
Sgt. Edka is very good at switching from the drill-sargeant act required to get greenhorns over the cliff, to the more reassuring tones required to get them working once they're on the ropes.
Ilvin is definitely NOT letting go again, even if the Gen decides to let himself get splattered all over the ground.
HT looks over at the Sargent and smiles.
HT has always been impressed with his ability to get anybody over the edge.
Sgt. Edka winks at HT, then gets back to business.
Sgt. Edka: All right, now we're going to work our way downwards.
Jitry is afraid to open his eyes. He can't help zlinning but he is not going to look for any amount of love or money.
Sgt. Edka: What you're going to do is let out a bit of rope, like....
Sgt. Edka notices that Jitry's eyes are closed.
Sgt. Edka: Open your eyes and look at me!
Sgt. Edka lets the "sargeant" creep back into his voice.
Jitry can't.
Jitry: I can zlin what you do. Please, I can't look.
Sgt. Edka has an out-T Gen's belief in the importance of eye contact.
Sgt. Edka is, of course, not familiar enough with selyn mechanics to know that ropes are not terribly zlinnable.
Sgt. Edka cinches his rope and reaches over with his free hand to secure Jitry's chin.
Sgt. Edka turns Jitry's head to face him.
Sgt. Edka: Open your eyes and look at me.
Jitry is zlinning the Gen's hands and body carefully. Suddenly he realizes that the Gen in Charge is not angry, only determined.
Jitry had been afraid to zlin him before. As he zlins the other Gen and Ilvin he realizes he is not the only scared Sime clinging to a rope.
Jitry opens the eye closest to the Gen in Charge.
Jitry finds that if he only looks at the Gen he can pretend he is not hanging off a cliff.
Sgt. Edka nods, letting an expression of guarded approval cross his face--and therefore, his nager also.
Sgt. Edka: That's better. Look at what you're doing, not at the scenery.
Jitry relaxes a bit. But not so much he lets go of the rope.
Jitry: What now?
Sgt. Edka raises his voice to include Ilvin in his lecture.
Sgt. Edka: Those ropes mean it doesn't matter how far down it is; you won't be going down any faster than you let out slack line.
Sgt. Edka: It's like swimming. Once the water is over your head, what matters is how well you swim, not whether it's ten feet deep or a hundred.
Ilvin doesn't find this reassuring, as he can't swim.
Jitry wonders if the Gen know Simes don't float.
Sgt. Edka: To move downwards, all you have to do is kick the cliff and let out some line. HT, show 'em how its done.
HT: Right. Now watch. Because of the way the rope is laced through the harness it will give you enough resistance to slow down as much as you like. Here goes. [pushes off and drops ten more feet]
Jitry resists the urge to try and catch the falling selyn -- er, Gen -- as that would require looking down.
Ilvin had enough warning this time that his Gen-protective instincts didn't betray him, but it's a near thing.
Ilvin thinks that Gens belong safely on firm ground, so that Simes can be there, too.
HT: Okay your turn Ilvin!
Ilvin looks at HT with disbelief.
Ilvin thinks that he is going to a great deal of effort to keep the rope from slipping, not to make it slip.
Sgt. Edka notes the hesitation.
Sgt. Edka: You can't climb up using that rig, you know. It's rappel down, or stay up here all night.
Jitry is trying to calm himself again. Now that he is hanging here he has lost all his options. Or has he? Maybe a Gen can't climb up but if he augments a bit he could probably make it.
Jitry remembers his dependents and puts the notion aside.
Sgt. Edka nods at Jitry.
Sgt. Edka: Try it.
Jitry grabs what he is using for courage these days and closes his eyes. Zlinning for all he is worth he loosens his death grip on the rope and pushes off.
Sgt. Edka watches Jitry arc away from the cliff.
Sgt. Edka: Good. Put out your foot to catch yourself!
Jitry as he zlins that he is getting close to the other Gen he tightens his grip and slows down. This would be great if he hadn't forgotten to catch himself with his feet before he hit the cliff.
Jitry: Ooooff!
Sgt. Edka sighs.
Jitry gets his feet out in front of him as he swings back toward the cliff. This time he catches himself.
Sgt. Edka can see it's going to be a long, slow trip down the cliff.
Go on to Episode #33: The Proverbial Haystack
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