Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #84: An Opening for Closure (12/11/00)
Borgmann enters the IDAS detainment facility, a medium-sized room taking up most of a hastily-constructed shack in which up to ten people could sleep, if they were friendly.
Borgmann makes his way towards the packing-crate-and-board "desk" that has been set up in one corner for interviewing detainees.
Borgmann is dressed with prim neatness, as usual, although the primitive conditions at the Dam site have not been kind to his wardrobe.
Borgmann looks like a rather scuffed and worn, and nearly bald, mouse.
Borgmann does not have mange, however, despite appearances.
Plum huddles up in a corner of the detainment cell, trying to stay alert after several days with little sleep.
Plum started off afraid of what the Simes planned to do with him, but his Gen cell-mates have proved a more immediate problem.
Borgmann just this morning received a report that has been working its way up the ranks, about the arrest of a suspected fugitive.
Plum has persuaded his cellmates, with his fists, that his boots and clothing are not for general redistribution.
Plum took a pretty good drubbing but gave some good licks too before the guards broke it up.
Borgmann decided that the charges were outlandish enough that they are either pure hokum, requiring disciplinary measures, or they are way too serious for his people to handle, requiring him to seek help at a higher level.
Plum was especially concerned to keep the boots; not only do they keep his feet warm in the dreadful winter cold, but he has a thin metal razor hidden in the heel of one, just in case.
Borgmann zlins the inmates, searching for the problematic prisoner, and blinks as he zlins an almost-familiar nager.
Plum knew that when he came over the border he was placing his life and soul in jeopardy. He vows again to suicide before he allows himself to be penned, and if possible take a few demons with him.
Borgmann looks to spot the owner of the nager visually, and gets a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Borgmann can't help but note that the discrepancies in Plum's nager are due only to his somewhat battered condition and lowered field: his identity is firm enough.
Plum isn't near the window of the cell, but by the reactions of the other prisoners he can tell a guard or some other authority is moving closer.
Borgmann is not a coward, however, so he makes his way closer.
Borgmann: Josef, what are you doing here?
Plum looks up to see Gideon staring at him.
Plum: You tell me.
Borgmann: I thought you were returning to Salmonton?
Plum was preparing himself to fight the enemy, but his resolve curdles at the face of his boyhood friend.
Borgmann wonders if Plum ditched his Escort and got lost.
Plum: So did I.
Borgmann: What happened?
Plum notices that Gideon sounds concerned, but he wonders if the demon in fact arranged for him to be detained.
Plum: I was arrested and penned up here.
Borgmann: Arrested? On what grounds?
Plum is bothered by the sight of the familiar face on a mutant body.
Borgmann wonders if Plum was being particularly irresponsible with his nager, and if that is why he is now lowfield.
Plum: My papers were stolen.
Plum: I didn't notice until I was ready to board the ferry.
Borgmann: But surely your Escort was able to explain?
Plum remembers that Gideon was present when the theft took place, and that a Farris channel carried it out.
Plum suspects he is just being toyed with.
Plum: I don't require an Escort to speak for me.
Plum: ~~anger beginning to rise above the weariness~~
Plum: I told the Border Guards my identity.
Borgmann doesn't flinch from the anger, as it lacks the strength it had when Plum was high field.
Plum: They locked me here until they could "confirm" it. Or so they said.
Plum: I suppose every itinerant tramp wanders in here dressed in robes with the sign of Purity.
Borgmann knows of only one prisoner detained at the docks recently, and would have made the connection sooner if the report wasn't so completely absurd, given Plum's identity.
Borgmann: I doubt there are more than a dozen or so people here who would recognize your robes for what they are. But don't tell me that you are the person who was detained on suspicion of having given an illegal transfer?
Plum: There was some talk about that. Lies and nonsense.
Plum: What are you planning to do to me, Gideon?
Borgmann: Well, obviously it was nonsense. And I will, of course, see that you are released as soon as I can draw up the paperwork.
Plum doesn't really relax. This could be more lies.
Borgmann: I must say, it was very generous of you to donate. I know it can't have been easy for you, but it will make it much easier for you to operate on this side of the border.
Plum wonders if Simes remember their former lives after they change. Certainly, they cease to have human feelings.
Plum: I didn't donate. I would rather die.
Plum: All I want is to return over the border.
Borgmann can zlin that Plum believes that he is telling the truth, even as he zlins Plum's much-reduced field.
Plum wonders why the Simes keep insisting he has donated when he didn't. It may be all part of some elaborate plot, but he can't figure out the point of it.
Borgmann: Josef, when we last met, you were so high-field that it was uncomfortable to be near you. Now, your field is as low as that of any donor leaving the Collectorium.
Borgmann: Where did that selyn go, if you didn't donate?
Plum directs his righteous wrath at Borgmann.
Borgmann continues to look at Plum in a concerned fashion.
Plum: It went nowhere, because you are trying to lie and confuse me.
Plum notices that indeed, Borgmann isn't wincing and cringing as he did a few days ago.
Loogjob, the renSime guard standing outside the cell, chuckles. He has been hearing Plum deny he was low field all day.
Plum begins to become truly frightened.
Borgmann: Josef, I am not lying to you. A few days ago, that burst of anger would have sent me reeling. Now, your field is so weak that I hardly noticed it.
Loogjob: You ought to hear him tell the one about the juggling Farris.
Loogjob: All day long, nothing but 'it was the orange! I couldn't keep my eyes off of it!' Oy vey!
Plum knows no Sime has touched him with his tentacles (although that Riyyh tried to), but even talking to a Sime can be spiritually damaging.
Borgmann looks at Loogjob in sharp reprimand.
Loogjob looks innocent. He can look crusty and innocent both at once. It is his peculiar talent.
Plum wonders if his holiness has been dimmed in a manner requiring atonement.
Loogjob: What I want to know is, why doesn't he ever pray?
Loogjob: I swear I haven't seen him pray a single time since he come in here.
Loogjob: Did anybody here see him pray?
Borgmann is openly astonished, and looks at Plum for confirmation.
Loogjob tries to arouse some interest in the currently extremely lethargic cell occupants.
Plum realizes that he is speaking with Gideon Borderer, the child he should have put out of his misery many years ago.
Plum wonders if the Divine purpose in sending him here is to right that old failure in duty.
Plum: My prayers are for Heaven, not heathen.
Plum has spent at least part of the time preaching to his cell mates, but they were more interested in acquiring his clothes than his theology.
Borgmann: Well, we all must serve the Divine as best we know how.
Plum redirects a sharp gaze at Borgmann.
Borgmann used to be pretty sure how that should be done, but that was years ago.
Borgmann: That leaves the question of what happened to the selyn you were carrying the last time I saw you.
Plum thinks of the razor in his boot heel; could he pull that and slash Borgmann's throat before being stopped?
Plum wonders if that would grant redemption for both of their sins.
Borgmann: I know that you would never willingly choose to donate. You weren't... coerced, were you? Through no fault of your own?
Borgmann inspects Plum's arms for signs of tentacle bruising.
Plum backs up and crouches a bit before Borgmann's inspection, ready to make his move if the Sime comes close enough to give him a chance.
Loogjob zlins Plum's intentions and wonders if Borgmann knows what he's doing.
Borgmann looks more like a very concerned and balding bureaucratic mouse than a ravening monster, despite his tentacles.
Plum knows the Simes will probably anticipate his move, but it would appear they haven't noticed the hidden weapon and believe him to be helpless.
Plum: No Sime has laid a tentacle on me. And none will.
Plum thinks that simply being on this side of the border makes him ill.
Plum: If coming here was a sin, I will have to cleanse myself of it before God.
Borgmann: Have you been ill, then? Sometimes illness can weaken a Gen's field.
Borgmann looks a bit skeptical, however, since Plum appears to be in good health, bruising aside.
Plum: That is no concern of yours.
Plum hopes for a chance to sit down and meditate on his experiences to determine which action sapped his spiritual strength.
Borgmann: God forgives much, if one's intentions are Pure. However, he does expect us to do our part in helping the world run smoothly.
Borgmann: Something happened to you. It remains to be seen exactly what that was.
Plum has found meditation difficult while crammed in a cell with half a dozen dirty bodies and many thousands of lice.
Fern, nursing a fat lip from his efforts to relieve the preacher of his boots wishes the official types would shut up so he can get some sleep. It was a long cold night.
Plum: What would you know about what God forgives and doesn't? You are here, confronting me with my own failure and deviation.
Borgmann looks a bit sad.
Borgmann: I only know that He has a purpose for everything, and that I must have been spared for a reason.
Plum: Why did you run away? I would have ended your life quickly.
Plum: Why are you still here?
Borgmann looks down.
Plum can see that Gideon doesn't look particularly dangerous, just sad and droop-shouldered, but that could just be an act.
Louse crawls quietly into Plums ear. "Hello!! Anybody home?!"
Borgmann: I wanted to live. Even like this, I wanted to live. So I did what I could to prevent my choice from harming others.
Borgmann shudders.
Borgmann: I was very lucky, there.
Louse listens as her question echos into the empty darkness.
Plum slowly crouches down and lets his fingers brush the razor's grip. He imagines he hears a tiny voice murmuring, but maybe it's just the pounding of his heart.
Louse decides to rejoin her friends who are planning a raid on a nice moist arm pit.
Plum: Maybe you were spared so that I could redeem my failure then.
Borgmann: Well, I'm sure we'll discover His plan, eventually.
Borgmann straightens up, and continues in a more brisk, alert fashion.
Plum swiftly draws the razor and launches himself at Gideon in a murderous attack.
Borgmann breaks off what he was going to say in favor of ducking out of the enraged Gen's path, at the highest level of augmentation he can manage.
Louse "I love the smell of must in the morning, smells like breakfast!"
Borgmann is moving on sheer reflex, as he can't really believe that he is being attacked by his childhood friend.
Plum swipes a blow intended to slit the Simes throat, but it passes through empty air.
Loogjob darts in and grabs Plum's wrist a split second later.
Borgmann secures the other hand, with tentacles to make sure his grip doesn't slip.
Loogjob: Nasty fellow.
Borgmann: Josef! What do you think you're doing?!
Plum twists as Loogjob grabs him and tries to stab at him until the weapon falls from his grasp.
Plum slumps as he realizes he has been disarmed and that his attack has failed.
Borgmann is a paper pusher, not a guard, so he simply continues to cling like a leech to his captured hand, and lets Loogjob take care of disarmament.
Loogjob places his shoe on the razor and pushes it back out of reach behind them.
Plum stares in horror at Gideon's tentacles on his arm.
Borgmann is very glad that the Gen is lowfield, or he might well have been frozen in place by the attack.
Plum: Redeeming myself.
Plum: But I'm not worthy.
Borgmann: You tried to murder me.
Borgmann: ~~ shock ~~
Loogjob produces a plastic Gen-restraint unit and proceeds to tie wrap Plum's wrists together behind his back. ZZZzzziip!
Plum: You shouldn't be alive. And it's my fault.
Plum: I'm sorry, Gideon.
Plum: I tried.
Borgmann comes out of his shock enough to let Plum go.
Plum sways on his feet, light-headed from the adrenaline.
Plum knows that he will get no second chance at the lightning-fast Sime.
Louse smells fresh sweat. She hurries along under Plum's collar and down toward the enticing aroma.
Louse notes several of her friends just ahead of her also moving quickly toward the pit of delight.
Borgmann: It's not Gideon, Josef. My name is Glif Borgmann, now. Gideon was a child. He had all his hair, and he didn't have to worry about things like how to prevent several thousand Gens from starving.
Plum wonders if the Simes will murder him now.
Plum: Yes, Gideon was a child. And we are not.
Plum doubts that Borgmann will just let him go after what has happened.
Loogjob discovers, and removes, the razor's partner.
Plum's heart sinks.
Loogjob has gained a new respect for the gruesome incorrigibility of criminals.
Plum was saving the other razor to suicide if escape was impossible.
Borgmann cautiously deduces from this that Plum is at last disarmed.
Loogjob: Well, I guess we can skip the part about taking his field down.
Loogjob: For whatever reason. [privately rolls eyes]
Borgmann: ...Yes.
Louse settles happily among the hair trees. She finds a likely spot and looks around to see if everyone is in place. She signals and they all bite and drink deep of the rich warm blood.
Plum: You mean, you won't force me to donate?
Borgmann: Well, not for another month, at least. Josef, you would have been on tomorrow's ferry.
Borgmann looks at Plum reproachfully.
Loogjob: Better take this one for a scrub up. Just zlin him itch. He must be jumping with lice.
Plum has been party to various discussions of voluntary and involuntary donations during the negotiations.
Plum: I should have been on the ferry three days ago.
Borgmann knows that dropping the charges would make matters worse, by laying him open to accusations of favoritism.
Plum: But, as you said, God may have reasons for sparing you. Or the Devil.
Borgmann is struck by an inconsistency.
Borgmann: ....Three days ago? But it was four days ago that you visited the prospective camp site, and I understood that you intended to leave immediately afterwards.
Plum shrugs, bluffing a nonchalance he doesn't feel.
Plum: I had to confirm a few more details for my report.
Borgmann: What sorts of details?
Plum thinks, like checking out good places to smuggle missionaries over the Lake if the Simes try to keep them out.
Plum: What does it matter?
Plum: Are you going to let me go if I give you the right answer?
Plum knows that lying to Simes is a foolish ploy.
Borgmann: It matters, because some time during the process some channel lowered your field, without your knowledge, much less your consent.
Plum: You keep saying that. It's not possible!
Plum: If my soul had been eaten, I would know it.
Borgmann: You slept during the night, didn't you? Were you alone at that time?
Plum is bewildered by Gideon's line of questioning. He figures he is a goner, after his purification attempt; why do the Simes keep harping on this lie about donating?
Plum: Of course, I was alone.
Borgmann: Then I expect it was done while you slept.
Plum blinks, trying to imagine how even a demon could slip into his tent and do something like that to him without even waking him. It's impossible. And yet his wife has always complained how he sleeps like a log....
Plum: My tent was in the middle of a Gen worker encampment. There were plenty of people near by.
Borgmann: Were they, perhaps, sleeping too?
Plum has to admit that he was disturbed about the lack of sentries to protect the sleeping Gens. The FluCon staff were amazingly lax about such precautions.
Plum: Damn it, if my soul were gone I would know! I would feel... different.
Plum realizes that he is conducting a conversation with a Sime, and that is certainly different.
Borgmann: One would think so. Unless a Gen's soul isn't bound to selyn? Certainly we were taught that children have souls, even if they can't produce selyn.
Borgmann hadn't really comprehended how different children and Gens are, before his changeover.
Plum wonders with a sinking heart if it could be true, if one of the vampires got at him while he was asleep.
Plum was worried about the sin of negotiating with Simes; can Heaven ever forgive him for nurturing demons with his lifeforce?
Borgmann: Now, are you sure that you weren't harmed? No transfer-burn headache?
Borgmann reaches out to put a hand on the Gen's neck to make sure, although as a renSime his sensitivity is far below even a Third Order channel's.
Borgmann is not used to dealing with out-Territory Gens, and so forgets to retract his tentacles first.
Plum flinches away from the Borgmann's touch.
Plum: Don't.
Plum: We really don't know.
Borgmann: Hold still; I've got to make sure you're all right.
Plum: I don't care about my body; leave my essence alone!
Plum: We don't know if the soul is bound to selyn or not.
Plum: There's... a big debate... about that.
Borgmann: Josef, I'm a Sime, not a magician. It takes all four laterals to draw selyn.
Borgmann's eyes go vacant as he tries for the clearest zlin possible, in a room full of detainees and guards. And lice, although at least they have no effect on the ambient.
Plum: You're a mutant, a deviation from the natural pattern. Just speaking with you could endanger me.
Plum: Just breathing the same air could endanger me.
Plum: But I was willing to take the risk....
Plum's eyes fill with tears.
Plum: Surely God would not condemn forever a sin committed while unconscious.
Plum isn't sure about that. Divine judgments tend to be pretty uncompromising, like the ones that condemn 1/3 of all children to death.
Borgmann: I don't think God will condemn you for breathing the same air as Simes. Or if so, all of Salmonton is doomed, the prevailing wind at this season being what it is.... Well, at least it appears that whoever took your field down was competent enough.
Plum: We don't know. If donation destroys the soul, or if salvation remains possible.
Plum: My own hope was that Gens here could be redeemed.
Plum: We are all under judgment for the sins of the Ancients, whose evil winds swept the whole world.
Borgmann remembers when Josef loved him, and wouldn't dream of cringing away from his touch.
Borgmann moves his hand from Plum's neck to his shoulder, and gives a reassuring squeeze.
Borgmann: God is just, but also merciful.
Plum stares at Borgmann's hand.
Borgmann: Surely we will be judged by what we tried to accomplish, as well as our actual deeds?
Borgmann's hand has several clearly visible handling tentacles lying across it.
Plum shudders at the sight of the tentacles so close to his skin. His horror increases at the thought of some mysterious intruder running slimy laterals over his unconscious body.
Plum: The sins of the Fathers are visited on the Sons to the hundredth generation.
Plum: But perhaps he will show mercy.
Plum thinks that if indeed through his eagerness and arrogance a Sime has taken his selyn, he would not want to face judgment.
Plum thinks that Gideon never did anything to merit turning Sime, but clearly Heaven's judgments are not Human, and sometimes it seems as if neither deeds nor intentions matter.
Borgmann: I don't think a just God would punish you for what someone did to you when you were fast asleep. Any more than He would punish you if I did this.
Borgmann runs a tentacle lightly over Plum's cheek.
Borgmann: To say otherwise, is to doubt His mercy.
Plum tries to wrench free of Loogjob's grip, almost fainting in terror.
Plum: And what sin did you commit that made you turn Sime, Gideon?
Plum: Why did He punish you?
Borgmann holds firm against Plum's fear, very glad indeed that the Gen is lowfield.
Plum had told himself he would stand brave and firm in the face of the Demon menace, but the tentacle touch is unspeakably weird.
Borgmann does feel he owes Plum quite a lot, and therefore is determined to ensure that his former mentor doesn't blame himself for being the victim of a crime.
Plum is beginning to wish Gideon would just Kill him and get it over with.
Borgmann gets no particular pleasure out of feeling Plum's reaction to his tentacles, but hopes that Plum will let go of his guilt for donating if he learns, on the gut level, that he couldn't have prevented it.
Borgmann: I wondered that for years, Josef. But lately, I've come to wonder whether He was punishing me at all--or whether he simply did what was necessary to put me here, where I could save his people from starvation.
Plum: What you want to do is pen those starving people and extract their essence. That is surely the Devil's plan, not God's.
Borgmann: Perhaps. But I prefer to believe that He is merciful, and acts to allow His chosen to survive.
Plum: You may keep their bodies alive, but how can you nurture their spirits when your very presence breeds pollution?
Plum: Send them back over the border where they belong, Gideon.
Plum: Send me back.
Plum doesn't usually plead with Demons, but the tentacle touch has unnerved him.
Borgmann: I will send back those who wish to go, as soon as it can be arranged.
Borgmann: Although those who are open to that solution have mostly gone already.
Plum: And the others? Why do they stay here?
Plum: Perhaps it is true that they have lost their souls forever.
Plum hopes not; this does not bode well for his own fate.
Borgmann: Most of them seem to want a fresh start, and a job that will support their families.
Borgmann: That's hard to find, on either side of the Border, for those who lack education and skills.
Plum thinks that people who care for nothing but survival are little better than animals, anyway.
Borgmann: Those who insist on staying can't be deported without due process. And that takes time.
Borgmann wishes people would stop assuming that he can magically change the law and toss every unwanted Gen on the ferry to Salmonton.
Plum: And you will let them leave?
Borgmann: Only if they request it. Territory policy is heavily biased towards accepting Gen immigrants.
Plum studies Borgmann's face, so changed from the boy he once knew, and yet the same.
Borgmann's head above the face, however, is considerably less well thatched.
Plum feels the comprehension that he may be damned sinking in; he knew the risks when he crossed the border.
Plum feels a strange sense of freedom as he realizes he has little left to lose.
Plum: They don't understand what's at stake.
Plum feels tears start in his eyes as he realizes his old life may be lost forever.
Plum: How did you feel, Gideon, when you first knew you were damned?
Borgmann looks at Plum with compassion.
Borgmann: I think you know.
Go on to Episode #85: Yo-Yo Has Some Nerve
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