Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #39: Bad Boy (9/16/00)
Hatj shakes his head as he approaches the "Sime Shack", having toured a fair amount of the main construction camp on the way.
Hatj's Sime sense of direction is only useful if he knows where he is going, of course.
Hatj is finding the close-packed nagers of the camp just a bit disorienting; he isn't used to crowds.
Hatj signals at the door, hoping that his last informant was correct, and that he now has the right place.
Nick places a cup of Narosian in front of Arat, hoping that this time he'll drink at least some of it before it gets cold.
Arat has been working obsessively on a revised schedule, trying to find a way to allow Mr. Birch to begin full operations a few days sooner without doing anything unforgivably risky selyn-wise.
Nick checks the handkerchief supply for adequacy, and goes to open the door.
Nick notes Hatj's clean but comfortably worn uniform.
Hatj: I'm Hatj, Chief of the Palisades Police. I got a message that Controller Arat wished to speak with me on a matter of some urgency?
Hatj doesn't know whether to hope that this is another instance of a bureaucrat throwing his weight around, and thus his time is being wasted, or if there is really an urgent matter that's about to explode in his face.
Hatj rather hopes the former, after due consideration, as his community has endured far too much disruption lately.
Arat puts down his pen. He hadn't been expecting Hatj without some sort of a letter first, but he is becoming aware that the locals are used to operating face to face and without a pre-defined schedule.
Arat gestures to Nick to let Hatj in.
Nick: Come in.
Nick steps aside courteously to allow Hatj to enter.
Hatj does so, zlinning both Nick and Arat curiously as he does so.
Arat's nager is typically Farris, which is to say rather exotic in these parts.
Hatj had heard that the Tecton was sending in something very unusual in the way of a Controller, and Arat's nager would seem to confirm that.
Hatj: Controller Arat, I'm pleased to meet you.
Arat nods.
Arat: Chief Hatj.
Arat: Thank you for coming on such short notice.
Arat hadn't actually intended for Hatj to come on such short notice at all, as has been previously mentioned, but he is polite anyway.
Arat: I hope that you can be of some assistance in a... security related matter.
Hatj isn't used to such formal courtesy, as the local people don't have all that much use for it.
Hatj: I understand you have some sort of a Situation here..
Arat thinks Hatj has been getting his goss... information elsewhere, as his letter only requested a meeting with Hatj.
Arat supposes that is to be expected, however.
Arat: We have been having some difficulty with a local citizen, who is suspected of various acts of vandalism and disruption on the construction site.
Hatj takes his time thinking that over, then nods.
Hatj: What sort of vandalism?
Arat: It would not have been so great a matter, except that one of the acts he is suspected of led to an accident of some... [pauses as Hatj speaks]
Arat: Mostly of a minor nature. Sabotage of hand tools, materials destruction or contamination, and the like.
Arat: Increased security has taken care of the worst of it.
Hatj pulls out a notebook and scribbles some notes.
Arat means, increased use of properly trained competent security personnel as opposed to the useless layabouts used before.
Arat has some fairly strong opinions about how security personnel should behave.
Hatj: You said "mostly". The exception would be the accident you mentioned?
Arat: However, there remains the issue of a serious accident which occurred as a result of this... [pauses again]
Arat: Yes. Yust Egmelter has publicly taken credit for a rope-cutting incident that indirectly led to three Gens falling to their deaths.
Hatj almost drops his worn notebook.
Hatj: Young Egmelter?
Hatj: He's always been a bit wild, but this...
Hatj: You're talking manslaughter there, or more likely murder. Three counts of it.
Arat: Even before that unfortunate incident, larity relations on the job site were not good. This has fanned them to a dangerous pitch. Furthermore, local resentment has increased as locals rally around this, this person.
Arat in fact is somewhat surprised Hatj didn't already know about this.
Arat: The situation must be handled delicately, of course. However, I see no way around the necessity of removing Yust Egmelter legally and peacefully from this area.
Arat thinks, and of course, sending him to trial. At this point, though, Arat is mainly concerned with getting the guy out of the sights and minds of construction workers and miscellaneous Gens who may have other ideas of justice.
Hatj rubs his jaw thoughtfully.
Hatj: So you want the fellow removed on charges that are sufficient to keep him out of circulation, but not inflammatory enough to turn him into a martyr?
Arat: I do not want to see him murdered here, nor do I wish his incarceration to be the spark that causes a riot.
Arat: No one here has the authority to remove him legally whatsoever. I cannot, as he has committed no crimes involving the selyn transport system.
Arat: The construction site has its own system of justice, but it cannot be applied to those who are not employed by the site.
Arat thinks, not for lack of desire to do so, though.
Hatj: I see the problem.
Hatj rubs his jaw again as an aid to cogitation.
Arat had picked the police chief of Palisades as the only remotely applicable law-enforcement official whose reputation and recent behavior suggested he might cooperate.
Arat has noticed that the local law enforcement generally are not too sympathetic to the construction site, and can't really blame them.
Arat thinks that if security around the site and the camps was more stringent, the local authorities would have less to resent.
Hatj: Do you want the boy in custody immediately, or do you just want him out of the area, where he can't make trouble?
Arat: Whichever seems most appropriate. If you can take him into custody without creating a damaging furor, then by all means do so.
Arat: A quiet and legal disappearance would also be acceptable.
Arat thinks, at least more so than a quiet and illegal disappearance, and possible reappearance some miles downriver.
Arat thinks it is only sheer luck that word of the man's bragging hasn't spread to interested parties yet, and that luck can't last.
Hatj: If I arrest him, even on minor and unrelated charges, it could cause exactly the effect you are trying to avoid.
Hatj: People would wonder why I picked this particular moment to go after him.
Arat assumes Hatj will have some sort of specific recommendation on that count.
Hatj: However, old man Egmelter has a sister who married a farmer and moved down to the lowlands.
Hatj: He's not been doing too well, and they don't have children.
Nick: I could ask Egmelter to send Yust to help out at the farm.
Hatj: If I explained that the boy is getting into mischief, he'd probably go along with it.
Hatj is just glad that Yust has so far chosen to keep his boasts out of town, and knows that sort of luck can't last.
Hatj had not previously had cause to be grateful for the easy availability of porstan in the camps.
Arat frowns to himself, then thinks it will have to do.
Arat: If it will get him out of the area long term, then it will suffice.
Arat really prefers that criminals come to justice, but this is obviously not an ideal situation.
Hatj: Any criminal charges could be brought later, after things have settled down a bit.
Arat thinks, after all evidence is lost and the witnesses scattered.
Arat nods.
Hatj has to wonder why a crime of this magnitude wasn't reported immediately, before the chain of evidence was broken.
Arat would also have strongly preferred that the local authorities simply told him the man would be arrested and took care of the details on their own. In Capitol, no one would believe a Controller would want to be knowingly involved in such un-by-the-book proceedings.
Arat will now be left open for charges of knowing mishandling of the situation, if it is investigated later.
Hatj: Who's been handling the investigation? Nybon?
Hatj mentions the other police chief in the area, of whose ability he is somewhat skeptical.
Arat thinks that Hatj has been missing a very important point: the site cannot afford an investigation.
Arat: To date this matter has not been followed up, as labor and larity relations on site are critical.
Arat: So far, there are only rumors. If it became official that the Gens died after sabotage was done....
Arat hopes it will not be necessary to describe the resultant mayhem in explicit detail.
Hatj: I see.
Hatj hates to let a triple murder go; before the construction started, he hadn't had a murder to investigate since old lady Brog threw a frying pan at her husband and he didn't duck fast enough.
Hatj: Well, I suppose even the law has to bow to necessity, on occasion.
Hatj: I'll get young Egmelter out of your hair, today if I can manage it.
Arat: Thank you.
Arat: I appreciate your attention on this matter.
Hatj: If his father can't be brought to see reason, there's always that still he and his friends run back of Qirk Creek.
Hatj understands that its production has been scaled up significantly over the summer.
Hatj is usually willing to let youngsters experiment in peace, as long as they aren't too irresponsible about it, but large-scale production is something he frowns upon.
Hatj: In the mean time, if there is any more trouble, let me know as soon as possible.
Hatj: I might be able to help, even if I don't have legal authority. Particularly if the problem involves local residents.
Arat nods.
Arat: Very well.
Arat has a few more options himself if the concept of legal authority is tossed out the window, but the hopes it won't come to that. At least not very often.
Arat didn't get where he has in life by tossing the rules out the window, which would be food for thought if he ever stopped to consider it.
Hatj is a firm believer in creative crime prevention, as it involves far less paperwork than investigating crimes after they happen.
Hatj is also aware that in cases of juvenile delinquency, parents are not required to give due process or base their punishments on any particular evidence.
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