Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #67: Ghost Army (11/9/00)
Elte heads directly for the Sime Shack, his brain buzzing with the news Mr. Birch laid on him.
Elte glances behind to see if his stubby-legged assistant, Thergude, is managing to keep pace.
Thergude runs to keep up and keep the equipment out of the mud.
Elte knew that Sectuib Riyyh was upset, but his unfortunate encounter with Sergeant Edka seems to be inflating to the proportions of an inter-territorial incident.
Thergude isn't quite as stubby as he was when he started working for Tuib Elte. He has hit a growth spurt and now very few of his clothes are long enough.
Elte smiles encouragingly at the kid; his able assistance helped Elte get on-the-spot photos of the news as it happened. The light was bad, but not bad enough to keep his photos off the front page, if this story is what he thinks it is.
Elte stops before the door to the Controller's office. As usual, he has no appointment.
Nick is inside, hovering over his channel, as usual when Arat is in need. And even when he's not.
Arat glances at the door behind which Elte is doing his own version of hovering.
Nick follows Arat's gaze.
Nick: Is someone at the door?
Arat has learned over his months at the site to appreciate those OT Gens who hover rather than knock.
Elte has learned that barging right in is not appreciated.
Elte is not usually stopped by such knowledge, but it sometimes slows him down a little.
Arat: Elte Andover.
Arat fine tunes his zlinning, trying to spot who that is with Elte. The kid's nager is fuddled by the insulation and Elte's high field.
Nick: Do you want to talk to him, or should I tell him to go away?
Nick isn't terribly optimistic that Elte would do so, but he's willing to make the effort.
Arat looks disgruntled. How can anyone expect him to want to talk to Elte?
Arat: Perhaps for a few moments.
Nick goes to answer the door, offering what ~~ support ~~ he can at a distance.
Nick: Hello, Elte.
Elte: Sosu Nick! Good morning!
Elte: I was hoping to speak with you and the Controller about this incident involving your father.
Thergude readjusts the the bags and the tripod sling.
Elte: Oh, and please meet Thergude, my assistant.
Nick frowns; he'd hoped that the incident could be kept at least somewhat contained.
Elte: He's a sharp kid.
Thergude looks up round eyed.
Nick: Hello, Thergude.
Nick looks quite handsome in his Tecton uniform, which is cleaner than most camp clothing thanks to the dust-control measures.
Thergude: Hello, Sosu.
Nick looks back at Elte.
Nick: Arat can spare you some time, but do try to keep it short, all right?
Nick doesn't want to deal with a hugely stressed-out channel.
Nick seems to be doing nothing else, lately, but hope springs eternal.
Elte: Sure, whatever time he can spare.
Nick returns to Arat's side, keeping up his ~~ support ~~
Elte hastens to get the proverbial foot in the door.
Arat watches as Elte and the child enter.
Elte is momentarily torn between his lust for a good story and the promises he made to Mr. Birch to assist with public relations; unfortunately for Mr. Birch, the news hound impulses are winning hands down.
Elte: ~~predatory glee~~
Elte: Good morning, Controller Arat! Have you met my assistant, Thergude?
Nick looks at Elte with some apprehension, although he keeps his nager steady and supportive.
Thergude is totally awed.
Arat: No, I have not.
Arat studies the boy. It seems odd to hire a child, but it is none of his business.
Elte: Well, Thergude, say "howdy" to the Controller.
Thergude swallows hard and squeaks, "Hello Controller Arat."
Thergude has been traveling in very rarefied circles since Tuib hired him. He is still not comfortable with it all.
Elte smiles.
Arat nods to Thergude, then promptly puts him from his mind.
Arat is one of those adults who habitually assigns children to the "seen and not heard" compartment unless it's a patient of course.
Elte: Controller Arat and Sosu Nick, I wanted your reactions to this confrontation between Sectuib Riyyh and Sergeant Edka.
Elte: Mr. Birch tells me an official protest has been made.
Thergude finds an unobtrusive spot and starts to unpack the camera very quietly.
Arat gives Elte a strange look.
Arat: Riyyh did approach me with his concerns.
Arat: That was when I first became aware of the situation.
Thergude sets the tripod on its three pointy little feet and gets the rest of the supplies and equipment set and ready to go.
Elte: I personally observed the incident. Sectuib Riyyh was upset, but no one was injured. And yet it seems to have sparked intense reactions throughout the camp.
Arat thinks that for a famous journalist renowned for his flare for the dramatic, Elte has a curiously powerful ability to understate.
Elte prefers to give his interview subjects the opportunity to speak for themselves without imposing his own point of view.
Arat: Yes.
Arat: Gen and renSime relations were poor already, and there should not have been firearms.
Arat means that they should not have existed at all, much less appeared publicly.
Elte: And yet there have already been three Gen deaths attributed to sabotage.
Arat looks at Elte questioningly.
Elte: These workers armed themselves because they felt threatened. Do you think their fears unjustified, despite the tensions that exist?
Arat considers.
Nick wonders how anyone could think that fear, justified or not, excuses such a blatant evasion of the law.
Elte knows his out-T audience does not give a hoot for in-T laws.
Arat: I do not feel their fears are unjustified. However, the weapons were of a military, rather than personal, nature and they should not have been brought across the border in any case.
Arat does not point out the obvious; that the weapons most likely arrived with Edka's men, well before tensions mounted.
Elte: So it would have been all right if a coordinated Gen security squad enforced order on the Sectuib of a Household, if only they had not been armed?
Arat appears puzzled by Elte's question.
Arat: I would not have considered that an appropriate action, no.
Elte wishes that Arat were a bit more generous with his responses, but if he has to drag out the information bit by bit, he'll do it.
Elte: What do you see as the reason for the poor relations between the larities on this project?
Arat: The root of the difficulty would appear to lie in the fact that on this site, we have Gen expertise and Gen management presiding over, and vastly outnumbered by a largely unskilled renSime labor force.
Elte nods.
Arat: The tensions naturally inherent in the situation were exacerbated by the large numbers of unemployed laborers who arrived uninvited, making it difficult for the renSimes to gain employment while not preventing Gens with relevant skills from being hired.
Arat: And there was the selyn shortage on top of that.
Arat: There has also been significant instability in the leadership of the renSimes' labor union.
Arat thinks it will remain to be seen whether Duart can keep the SWAT membership under control with the added goad of finding the Gens have weapons - without losing the opinion of the majority.
Elte: Certainly the SWAT workers were opposed to the Demolition teams' involvement from the first.
Arat: Yes.
Thergude knows only that the reason he is working is that his parents aren't .
Elte: And the fear inspired by the sabotage of the blasting crew fueled Sergeant Edka's extreme reaction.
Elte privately thought the look on Riyyh's face when accosted by the medic who wanted to look at his feet was pretty amusing.
Nick is still trying to figure out why Edka and his men went running off to investigate a noise halfway across the camp, if they were afraid of getting into trouble.
Arat has no comment on that.
Arat: I cannot comment on that.
Elte: How are in-Territory citizens reacting to the news of this incident?
Elte has asked around the camp, but he wants to hear the official line.
Arat: There has been a considerable negative reaction, as you said.
Elte thinks that Arat is one of the most unquotable public figures he has ever encountered.
Arat: As of yet, the activity has been limited to speculation and rumor. However, it would not require much more to set off violence.
Elte: What rumors are being reported?
Arat: That Sgt. Edka's troops have weapons, and that they stormed the Narosian encampment and threatened their Sectuib.
Arat hopes that the accuracy of the rumors is due simply to their juiciness, and not due to their having been perhaps helped along in their spread by certain persons with firsthand knowledge of what happened.
Elte winces.
Arat: There are others, perhaps less accurate but no less troubling.
Arat: For example, it is rumored that the Gens who crossed the border illegally are in fact an invasion force, and that Gen Territory intends to take the Dam upon the moment of its completion.
Nick fears the situation will only get worse, particularly when Riyyh is being confined to bed to recover from the stress of his confrontation with Edka.
Nick is well aware that Riyyh takes to his bed quite frequently, but it's usually for other purposes.
Elte: I was amazed to find that much fear of a Gen invasion on the part of Simes. Thergude here lives in the camps among the unemployed. Tell the Controller what people are saying.
Nick thinks it could get a lot trickier if the rumors turn out to have a germ of truth to them.
Thergude's mouth becomes very dry.
Nick is still a bit shaken from hearing what he had been thinking of as a winter refuge for the out-T Gens referred to as a Pen.
Thergude: They say... they say that if the Gens didn't take all the jobs they would be working.
Thergude looks to Tuib Elte to see if this is what he wanted.
Elte nods his encouragement.
Thergude shoots a glance at the Controller.
Thergude: They also say that the Tecton and the Gen government got together and made up the selyn shortage so they wouldn't have to hire any Simes at all.
Arat struggles to appear patient. None of this is particularly new; the homeless RenSimes have been spouting this and worse since day one.
Arat is glad at least they are no longer claiming that the selyn shortage is due to his own personal incompetence. Well, not very much.
Elte: Truly, I had no idea that Simes could find Gens so threatening.
Nick: Gens can be very formidable.
Elte: Of course, our technology is superior and our civilization far more mature.
Arat gives Elte yet another odd look.
Elte: I am trying to understand how this appears from a Sime point of view.
Thergude is relieved that the attention of the adults is no longer on him.
Elte: So I can make it comprehensible to the out-Territory public.
Arat wonders which part of "hidden, heavily armed invasion force living among us" confuses Elte.
Arat: Perhaps it would be best if the public were not involved at this point.
Arat: This is a delicate situation.
Elte: Given the rumors already circulating, there is no way to contain it.
Elte: Only to present it in the best possible light.
Nick wonders how an invasion force can be made to look good.
Nick: And how would that be?
Nick thinks, forewarned is forearmed.
Arat had meant the general public, not the limited 'public' of the construction site and its immediate environs.
Arat would hope that the rumors have not yet travelled the considerable distance to the general public's ears yet - which they certainly would if expounded upon in a column in a famous OT newspaper.
Arat frowns, worried that Elte might fan the flames.
Elte: Well, I spoke with Sectuib Riyyh at length.
Nick: I don't think he's been himself, since the incident.
Elte: Apparently the worst part of the experience for him was his sheer terror at being reminded of some incidents that occurred during the Unity Wars.
Elte: Out-T Gens don't ever think of Simes as being afraid of them.
Arat: I should point out that anger is the primary emotion being expressed, not fear.
Arat wouldn't want Elte to be misled.
Elte: And how could that anger be calmed?
Arat: I do not see how it could be accomplished without removing Sgt. Edka and his men, as promptly as possible.
Arat supposes Elte does not need to be told that that is easier said than done.
Elte: Mr. Birch said you had asked for that.
Arat: It was my recommendation.
Elte: Of course, he wants to maintain the work schedule.
Arat: If you would permit an observation, it seems to me that Gens are at times less aware of societal shifts than Simes.
Arat means that Mr. Birch and Elte must be blind if they can't see they are all sitting on top of a powderkeg.
Elte: You believe that violence could result if they do not go?
Nick: I think it's very likely.
Elte: Well, certainly Sergeant Edka and his crew would be more than happy to return to their normal assignments.
Thergude wonders if all the lovely camera equipment will be required for this interview. So far it really didn't look like a photo opportunity would be happening.
Elte: They feel out-of-place here and only remain though a commitment to duty.
Nick: Might Mr. Birch be persuaded to let them leave now, before they are trapped here for the winter?
Elte rubs his chin.
Elte: The threat of violence might well tip the scales for him.
Elte: Which however leaves the problem of the Gen illegals.
Arat: I have it on good authority that a plan is in place for that.
Elte's eyes light up. This is something new.
Elte: What plan is that?
Arat still doesn't know that the people who thought of the plan intend to talk him into capitalizing it with his personal fortune.
Arat: I only have limited information at this time, and the plans are not yet finalized. However, as I understand it the plan involves the building of a communal living space, a separate camp of sorts, and the purchase of food and supplies for the winter. The Gens would then pay back against a communal debt by donating regularly.
Arat: Sectuib Naros or Miz Sayward would be able to tell you more.
Elte frowns.
Elte: Thergude, you hear anything about this yet in camp?
Arat has given the preliminary version his blessing, although he stressed that he would not tolerate anything that violated the Gens' rights under Sime Territory law.
Arat means, their rights as prisoners since they have broken the immigration laws after all.
Elte thinks he is going to have to talk to some of these Gens to see why they're so reluctant to return to their own Territory.
Elte knows that life in the poor house is no picnic, but this idea for a "communal living space" sounds like the same concept under a new name.
Elte thinks that the big difference is that in a Gen poor house they would have to work, while in the Sime poor house all they'll have to do is breathe, eat and generate selyn.
Thergude: No Tuib. But they've been saying that they ought to lock up all the Gens in so they can get all the selyn they need.
Nick thinks, A Pen by any other name....
Nick: You're from Gen Territory, Elte. How will the illegal Gens respond?
Thergude decides to repack the big camera since it takes the longest to put away.
Elte: Quite frankly, I don't understand why they are here at all.
Elte: I mean, people can starve and be homeless on either side of the border.
Elte: Certainly the Gen authorities want them returned; that kind of an exodus reflects badly on the government.
Thergude will leave the two smaller ones out. He is slowly developing a feel for the way Tuib Elte works.
Arat: Their lack of a clear motive is fuel for the rumors we discussed.
Elte: And perhaps that should be the focus of reporting on this issue.
Nick: If the Gen authorities are embarrassed by the exodus of their citizens, perhaps they could be persuaded to offer an official endorsement of the Gen camp?
Elte: In our Territory, such indigents would be rounded up and forcibly detained at such work camps on a routine basis.
Elte: I know Mr. Birch was hoping to bring over a detachment of immigration police to handle this.
Elte: The current tensions make that plan impossible.
Arat wonders why he had not heard of that plan until now.
Arat: Gen Territory immigration police?
Nick: But they would have no jurisdiction here!
Elte: Of course not.
Arat: On whose authority would he bring them?
Elte: That's why he was searching for other more politically acceptable solutions.
Thergude realizes that with the large camera packed away there is no need for the tripod. Very quietly and carefully he folds it up and lays it next to the large camera read to sling it back on to his shoulder. The adults are once again ignoring him and he is content.
Elte: Obviously to bring in such a force would require the agreement of both the in-Territorial government and the New Washington military command.
Nick winces.
Nick: I think the Gen military is already much too involved for the comfort of most Simes here.
Elte: Exactly. Given the situation, that's no longer an option.
Elte: The politicians on both sides would refuse.
Elte gestures to Thergude to hand him over the camera. He likes the sour-lemon expression on Nick's face.
Arat for his part is wearing his thoughtful frowning brooding expression.
Arat's eyes flick to follow Elte's sudden movement, and then he returns his thoughts to the problem at hand. The trouble is, thinking about it is about all he can do. He had no authority where it doesn't affect either labor relations or the selyn management end of things.
Elte: The Gen government will understand you building a poor house. They don't want these people to starve and freeze.
Elte: But obligatory Donation is another matter.
Nick notes Arat slipping back into a brooding funk, and his face smoothes out as he concentrates on ~~ soothing ~~ Arat's approaching need.
Elte snaps a shot of the abstracted Sime and his working Donor.
Nick: They are already obliged to donate on this side of the Border, whether or not they are in a camp.
Arat: Yes. It has been difficult, but we have enforced that to date.
Nick is glad that relatively few of the Gens appear to have realized just why the enforcement was so stringent, and what would have happened to them if the renSimes had been shorted.
Elte: The action could be viewed as capturing these Gens and holding them in a Pen.
Elte: Yes, I know that's as ridiculous and paranoid as the idea that they're an invading army.
Nick is unable to stop a wince at the mention of the taboo word.
Arat: It could. However, it could also be viewed as prison, and they have committed a crime.
Arat: It should also be noted that nowhere along the way would the Gens be prevented from returning to Gen Territory, if weather permits.
Arat had made very sure the instigators of the plot understood he was firm on that. Fortunately, they did not seem to have any objections.
Elte: Perhaps we might take a page from the Narosian model.
Elte: Bring in some Gen charitable agencies... civilian of course... to persuade these people to return to their home Territory.
Nick: I don't think bringing in even more Gens is the solution, even if it could be done before the snow starts falling.
Elte thinks that some of the Purist-related evangelists would be powerfully motivated to save Gens from the fate of having their souls devoured.
Elte thinks such persons might contribute to the level of tension, however.
Nick: The renSime laborers would most likely see it as an additional threat to their jobs.
Elte: Well, the more that can be encouraged to go home, the better.
Arat sees nothing wrong with allowing access to such groups provided their members went through the appropriate border checks and had proper authorization. However, this is just drops in the bucket.
Arat: Such activity will come too little, too late.
Elte: You are right. The snow has already begun to fall.
Arat: A coherent plan of action is required. That is why the Narosian plan is being considered seriously.
Arat: A strong program of collection and a choice between deportation or internment will with any luck prevent most of them from dying of exposure.
Elte nods vigorously.
Elte: And I will inform the public of the difficult choices that face us here.
Arat only wishes the renSimes were as manageable in number and as lucrative in captivity.
Go on to Episode #68: Bunny Huddle
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