Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #112: Fools (1/28/01)
Borgmann has decided that he owes Plum a warning before Arat arrives, so that he can choose to cooperate and present his sanity in the best light.
Borgmann therefore has left a subordinate to show Arat in when he arrives, and gone ahead himself.
Borgmann dismisses the suicide watch guard he was forced to post on Plum's cell, and draws near enough to peer through the bars.
Plum is tearing his bed sheet into strips and braiding them to make a rope.
Borgmann: Josef, sheets are in very short supply. Did you have to rip one up?
Plum has been deprived of eating utensils and anything else sharp and hard that he could use to kill himself with.
Borgmann is feeling more than a bit guilty about not warning Plum that his field was to be taken down, but he couldn't face Plum's probable reaction when the Gen was high field.
Plum had hoped that the Simes would realize what he planned to do with the rope, but of course they read minds.
Plum settles back against his cot in misery.
Borgmann has been trying to salve his conscience with the knowledge that between the sedative in his morning porridge and the lack of warning, at least Plum didn't have a great deal of time for anticipation.
Borgmann tells himself that this was probably for the best.
Plum: Well, it was all I could find.
Borgmann: Josef, it is important that you pull yourself together. Controller Arat will be here in a few minutes, to make the official evaluation of your mental health.
Plum blinks.
Plum: Whatever for?
Plum thinks that drugged Pen Gens don't require mental health.
Borgmann: You have not been acting very rationally, you must admit.
Plum: You would like me to believe that, wouldn't you.
Borgmann: What you believe, or I believe, isn't the issue.
Borgmann: It's what Controller Arat believes that will determine whether you go to trial, or are remanded to the Tecton's care until you are judged sane.
Plum: And in either case I remain penned here while you Simes devour my essence.
Borgmann sighs at this evidence that what little progress Plum had made in accepting Simes over the past month is gone.
Borgmann: You will have your field taken down every month, yes.
Borgmann: For your safety and that of others.
Plum: No.
Plum: I won't be used that way.
Plum knows that his protests didn't prevent his being used that way before, however.
Plum: ~~dread~~
Borgmann: Josef, get ahold of yourself, if you don't want to be seeing channels every day, instead of once a month.
Plum: What do you mean?
Borgmann: If you are ruled legally insane, of course you will be treated for it.
Plum: Treated how?
Borgmann is pretty sure that even Plum's carefully preserved terror of Simes would be broken down by daily contact.
Borgmann: I'm not a channel.
Borgmann: You'll have to ask Controller Arat.
Borgmann: I suppose it would depend on what the problem was.
Plum: There is no problem.
Arat pauses in front of the IDAS building and inspects it carefully. It appears to have been completely repaired and is no longer in that semi-construction state which still gives him the horrors some 20 years after his First Year School experience.
Plum: I am not an animal, that you can pen and milk for selyn.
Plum: I will not be used this way.
Arat checks to make sure that nobody noticed him pause, and then enters the building.
Plum: That is the beginning and end of the matter.
Plum thinks that if they take away all his weapons and implements, he can just starve himself to death.
Borgmann: No, you are not an animal. You are a prisoner of questionable sanity, who is awaiting trial for attempted murder, however.
Nick follows at Arat's side, more concerned with the upcoming interview than with the structural integrity of the building.
Plum thinks about the drug-induced haze in which they took his last donation, and wonders if he can accomplish this if they sedate him.
Plum's dread changes to a bone-chilling horror.
Arat threads his way through to the hallway where Plum's cell is.
Borgmann: Josef, please relax. You are not helping yourself.
Arat zlins the other prisoners with the same sort of appalled, yet compulsively inquisitive intensity he studies the homeless renSimes of the camps with.
Arat: [well, and everyone else for that matter]
Borgmann is glad that his former friend is at least clean, and low field.
Borgmann hopes Plum at least will have the sense not to antagonize the channel who will judge his sanity.
Plum studies Gideon's face for any sign of human response.
Borgmann looks quite humanly distressed and concerned.
Arat realizes he is simply standing partway up the hallway. He reluctantly tears his laterals away from the zlin of the wretches and walks the rest of the way to where Borgmann is speaking to Plum.
Plum: And how do you propose that I "help myself," as you put it?
Borgmann turns.
Borgmann: Controller Arat. Thank you for coming.
Arat nods to Borgmann.
Plum has lost all his excess weight and his skin is grayish and hangs on his bones.
Arat is wearing the robes and veil of Elte's design.
Nick looks at Plum, and is glad to see that at least he is fairly clean, even if he does look ill.
Plum: ~~desperation~~
Plum can't quite remember when it was they bathed him; it was during the drug haze when they put more tentacles on his body.
Arat zlins Plum's desperation.
Plum sees the Controlling Demon in his Judge's robes glide towards him.
Plum steadies himself for a confrontation with Evil.
Plum was once filled with bravado that his own righteousness would triumph, but he has been taken down more than a peg or two.
Nick steps closer to Arat, offering ~~ support ~~ while still allowing his channel a decent zlin of Plum's nager.
Arat frowns.
Arat: Have you provided him with a caretaker as I recommended?
Borgmann: Yes, at least part of the time.
Borgmann has had to fill in around the edges with guards, to make sure that there isn't a successful suicide attempt.
Plum: Controller. Have you found your criminal yet?
Arat: Yes.
Arat had never really doubted who must have done it, to be honest.
Arat: Do you know why I am here?
Arat gestures for Borgmann to unlock the cell door.
Plum: Gideon here says that you are going to decide if I am sane enough to stand trial.
Arat: That is correct.
Borgmann does so, and holds the cell door open.
Arat enters the cell.
Nick enters half a step behind Arat, keeping a cautious eye on Plum.
Nick wouldn't put it past Plum to attack Arat with his bare hands, in his unbalanced state.
Arat has mentally rehearsed what he will do if Plum becomes violent, so that he won't be caught flat-footed. It isn't something he has to deal with on a regular basis.
Plum: And that if I am not, you might decide to fix my mental defects.
Nick has his own opinions about what Arat's examination will reveal, of course.
Plum finds this idea amusing, as everyone knows that proximity to Simes is the primary cause of mental illness.
Arat: If you are not mentally fit, you will not be held accountable for your actions. Nor will you be released except into the care of an appropriate guardian.
Arat: If you are mentally fit, you will be held fully responsible for all of your actions - including your murder attempt upon Glif Borgmann.
Borgmann closes the door, but stays where Plum can see him, hoping that this will provide some sort of reassurance to his former friend.
Plum: And who might be considered an appropriate guardian? A Sime, of course?
Arat: We have prepared a letter for you to sign. It states that you, in full mental health and clarity of mind, chose to make a murder attempt upon Glif Borgmann and have chosen to attempt to take your own life.
Arat: If you are judged mentally competent, you will be asked to sign the letter.
Arat: Thus taking responsibility for your own health.
Arat: If you are judged mentally unfit, you will not be asked to take that responsibility.
Borgmann doesn't know which verdict he is hoping for.
Plum: And if I sign this letter? What then?
Arat's words are at least half a cover for the deep zlinning he is attempting to perform from a distance.
Nick is ignoring the conversation, as he works to provide Arat with the best possible zlin.
Borgmann is unsure whether Plum would last until trial, given responsibility for his health, but no one wants a friend to be judged to be insane.
Plum thinks this legal rigmarole is absurd; it has been clear from the beginning that all the Simes want is his selyn and they will use any lie necessary to keep him confined where they can force him to donate.
Arat: Then you will go on trial for your crimes. If you succeed in starving before your trial can be set, then it will be known that you did so willingly and knowing clearly what you did.
Arat zlins Plum's reaction to his words.
Arat can't know what Plum is thinking, but he can zlin that Plum thinks his words are absurd.
Arat attempts to explain.
Arat: If you are mentally competent, then there is no connection between your case and my office.
Arat: You will be tried for attempted murder. Your hunger strike will be officially recognized.
Plum: ~~eager at the thought of being allowed to die honorably as a martyr to his cause~~
Borgmann can't zlin much past Arat's and Nick's field work--nor does he particularly want to do so--but he doesn't have to to tell that Plum isn't in a mood to be cooperative.
Arat: If you are judged mentally incompetent, you will be released by IDAS into the care of the Tecton, where you will be treated medically and psychologically, and prevented from harming yourself.
Plum: No. I know what I'm doing.
Nick responds to a tentacle gesture by adjusting his field very subtly.
Arat can zlin that Plum while completely irrational and wildly emotional, is not technically insane.
Arat supposes that Plum could function perfectly well in an environment where there were no Simes and nobody mentioned them. It is a pity that no such environment exists on the earth.
Arat: You would appear to be mentally competent.
Arat thinks, in the strictest medical sense of the term.
Arat withdraws a folded, multi-copy letter from his inner cloak pocket.
Plum: Let me see the letter.
Nick hears the verdict and promptly steps forward, so as to block much of Plum's nager from Arat's perceptions.
Nick sees no reason to subject a channel of his to such hysteria longer than necessary.
Arat hands the letter to Minister Plum. He makes no particular effort to hide his tentacles, although he is not the type to wave them flashily about. His forearms are immaculately clean, of course.
Plum grits his teeth at the sight of the tentacles, but he is beginning to become inured to such sights. Another sign of his moral degradation.
Lewis Battel hustles into the IDAS building [such as it is]. He would never have agreed to take on this case if Ms. Afred hadn't begged him to. He heads straight for the holding area.
Borgmann isn't sure what he feels about the verdict, except that he doesn't want Plum to die under his care.
Arat: This is a legally binding document which declares you to be mentally competent. I will sign and seal it. Below is your statement of intent to stand trial for the murder attempt and your intent to carry out a hunger strike during the time before the trial.
Lewis Battel makes his way straight to the end cell.
Arat: It will be distributed to my superiors, to both governments, and to the press. And, of course, any additional parties you wish to inform.
Lewis Battel: Gentlemen, might I interrupt?
Arat: I would strongly suggest you obtain the services of....
Arat: [pauses at the interruption]
Lewis Battel: Lewis Battel. Attorney for Minister Plum.
Arat gestures for Borgmann to allow the lawyer to enter.
Plum scans over the incomprehensible and intricate calligraphy of the Simelan document, and turns the page, looking for something he can make head or tails of.
Lewis Battel is a rather short heavily built Gen who resembles nothing so much as a pit bull.
Borgmann opens the door.
Lewis Battel: Thanks.
Plum see the English translation appended on the interior pages, but of course he has no way to tell if the translation is accurate.
Arat's nostrils curl slightly at the unmistakable scent of dog. He hopes Battel simply owns one, and has not generated the smell himself.
Lewis Battel: Minister Plum? [asks of the bedraggled man holding an official looking document]
Plum looks up to get his first glimpse of his so-called Attorney.
Plum: Yes.
Plum: I am Josef Plum.
Plum has been so contaminated he doubts he rates the title of Minister any longer.
Nick thinks it's about time that someone took charge of Plum's case.
Lewis Battel: I have been retained by friends of yours to represent you in this... incident, shall we call it?
Lewis Battel: ~~cool, calm and unphased by Simes~~
Plum is relieved that the attorney is Gen, but, after having met Gens like Nick, he no longer considers this a guarantee of reliability.
Plum in fact thinks that any Gen who crosses the border at all must by definition be crazy or corrupt.
Plum doesn't exclude himself from this assessment.
Plum essays a grim smile.
Plum: I could use all the help I can get.
Plum: Where are you from, Mister Battel?
Lewis Battel: Minister, I'm from Gen Territory but I have often represented our citizens here in Sime Territory.
Borgmann decides that he's got to have a long talk with this lawyer, if the man proves to be acceptable to Plum.
Plum: And you know the Sime law?
Lewis Battel reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a set of equally official looking papers.
Lewis Battel: Yes. My credentials. [hands them to Arat as he seems to be the Sime in charge]
Arat has seen lawyers' papers many times before. It appears to be in order. He returns it to Battel.
Arat: I am Controller Arat Farris.
Lewis Battel has just recently recertified for Sime Territory Law practice. Who knew he would need it so soon?
Plum: I have been asked to sign these papers. What do you think?
Plum hands over the statement declaring his mental competency to Battel.
Plum begins to look at the one about the murder trial.
Lewis Battel: Thank you Controller. [accepts his papers back]
Lewis Battel: Minister, may I see those please? [holds his hand out for that set of papers]
Plum hands the document of intent to stand trial for murder over to Battel as well. In his opinion, it is nonsense. You can't murder Simes, since they are not people and have no right to exist whatsoever.
Lewis Battel: Thank you, Minister.
Lewis Battel reads the English portion quickly. He then scans through the Simelan portion. His Simelan isn't perfect but he gets the gist.
Plum realizes that the Simes have a different view of this, and does not expect his own opinions will hold much sway in a Sime court.
Lewis Battel: Controller, am I correct in assuming that you are here to test my client's sanity?
Arat nods.
Arat: I have done so.
Lewis Battel nods.
Arat: I am prepared to sign and seal a statement that he is, in my opinion as a channel, mentally competent.
Lewis Battel: I see.
Lewis Battel: I am afraid that I must advise my client against signing these.
Plum frowns.
Plum: I am mentally competent.
Lewis Battel: Minister, it is not in your best interest to sign this "confession".
Plum: And why not?
Plum: The Controller seems eager for me to do so.
Arat frowns. There was no confession included in the letter.
Plum has not yet decided if Battel is a real lawyer or a Sime stooge.
Nick wonders if this lawyer is slick, or if he just doesn't read Simelan very well.
Plum: They tell me if I am judged insane, they will hold me indefinitely and assign channels to treat my illness.
Plum shudders.
Lewis Battel: The Controller has already stated that you are sane.
Arat had actually intended to negotiate for Plum's return to Gen Territory through diplomatic channels, if that were the case, but nobody has given him a chance to say so.
Arat: And he is. [confirms]
Borgmann personally thinks that such treatment would do Plum a world of good, but no one is going to ask his opinion.
Arat: By the standards of his people. [adds]
Plum: And I affirm my own sanity.
Lewis Battel: Therefore your sanity at this moment is not in question.
Plum actually has serious doubts about it after the Simelan contact he has experienced, but he certainly won't sign a paper admitting that.
Plum: Good.
Arat's main concern in this is that he is personally responsible for the selyn and health care of every Sime and Gen in the Dam area. If Borgmann cannot keep Plum alive, then it will be incumbent upon Arat to seize Plum from Borgmann's custody unless there is some legal document covering the situation already.
Arat is certain that any such seizure would only complicate Plum's situation - and his mental state.
Borgmann may be hanging up on a technicality, but he would much rather that his old friend would refrain from either trying to murder any Sime in reach, or starving himself to death because he can't.
Plum: But you still advise that I not sign any of these papers?
Lewis Battel: However there is the matter of what has been done to you and actions taken against you. I would like the time to do a rather thorough investigation of the circumstances involved.
Arat frowns again.
Arat thinks that this lawyer is not a very good one, if he cannot separate two clearly separate crimes, with separate charges.
Lewis Battel: I would like to speak to the IDAS rep before anything more is done.
Arat: Very well.
Arat: However, I should advise you to be expedient about it.
Lewis Battel: That is my desire, Controller.
Plum: Would this intensive investigation extend my stay in this hell hole?
Arat: If Plum's condition continues to worsen, I shall be forced to take action to prevent any further self-neglect.
Arat: It is my responsibility to do so, as Controller of this area.
Nick wishes that it weren't necessary for Arat to take up time with this ungrateful wretch, when there are literally thousands of other people depending on him.
Plum's considers Arat in his judges robes, eyes narrowing.
Borgmann is glad to hear that Arat will not let Plum die, if worst comes to worst.
Lewis Battel: Yes, I would like you to do something about my client's condition as well. I would prefer he be moved to a less... surly environment.
Plum considers the threat to prevent his suicide the most serious obstacles facing him at the moment.
Arat zlins the difference between their two reactions, and decides that Plum and his lawyer will have to have more time together before they are spoken to again. This disagreement is not acceptable.
Plum would be happy to do it a faster way than self-starvation, if they would allow him the opportunity.
Borgmann: I am afraid that these are the only cells on the dam site secure enough to hold a murderer.
Lewis Battel: Has my client murdered someone?
Borgmann: He came with an inch of murdering me. In front of two guards and a room full of witnesses.
Arat notices that Battel does not consider the murder of children to be murder.
Arat thinks that says quite a bit about Battel.
Arat supposes that the ability to think of morals in terms of which side of the border an act occurred is helpful for a lawyer, but it is certainly repulsive.
Lewis Battel: I see. So no murder was committed. Therefore my request stands.
Plum forbears to repeat that destroying a Sime isn't murder but purification; that concept is wasted on the Simes.
Arat: Minister Plum is committed to doing himself serious harm.
Arat: I must recommend against his being placed in an unprepared environment.
Lewis Battel: This could all be taken care of quite easily if you would simply release him to the Gen authorities. His suicidal tendencies may quite well abate.
Arat does not, of course, have any authority for such a release.
Plum wonders if Battel can persuade the Simes to let him go.
Plum: ~~hope~~
Plum isn't sure if he has been irrevocably corrupted, but at least on the Gen side of the border his continued existence would not contribute to sustaining Sime lives.
Borgmann: There remains the matter of the attempt to murder. The IDAS takes a very dim view to such actions, particularly when aimed at immigration officials.
Arat: As it appears the issues to which my duties pertain are not under consideration at this time, I must return to my work.
Borgmann: Thank you for your assistance, Controller Farris.
Arat nods to Borgmann and Battel, collects Nick, and departs.
Lewis Battel: Yes thank you Controller.
Plum's eyes follow the departure of the intimidating channel.
Borgmann is, of course, anything but intimidating.
Plum 's attention returns to the mousy, middle-aged visage of the man who was once Gideon.
Plum: I won't sign this paper about the hunger strike. It isn't a hunger strike.
Borgmann at least is able to stay next to the cell door, now that Plum is low field.
Lewis Battel: [turning to the remaining Sime] Are you Glif Borgmann?
Borgmann: Yes.
Lewis Battel: Ah, just the gentleman I want to see.
Borgmann is really not worth the effort of looking at, at least aesthetically speaking.
Lewis Battel: I would like to make arrangements to transfer custody of my client to the Gen authorities. As I understand the law, you do have some discretion in deportation matters.
Borgmann: If deportation were the only issue, Josef would have been home a month ago.
Borgmann: However, the IDAS does not allow discretion in cases of assault against an officer performing his or her duty.
Lewis Battel: I speak, sir, of deportation not to freedom but in the form of a change of custody.
Lewis Battel: My client will stand for the charges in a Sime Court of law. But until that time, we request a change of custody to Gen Authority.
Borgmann: That would be highly irregular, and this case is already much too irregular.
Lewis Battel: Irregular but not impossible?
Borgmann shrugs.
Borgmann: The decision would have to be made by my superiors in Capitol. Unfortunately, communication has been all but halted until spring.
Borgmann: It is quite likely that Minister Plum's trial would occur long before I could get a ruling on the issue.
Borgmann: It is also unlikely that my superiors would agree to surrender custody of Minister Plum to the Gen authorities under these circumstances.
Borgmann: What he did is not a crime in Gen Territory, and thus it is questionable whether he would, in fact, be surrendered to stand trial for his actions here.
Lewis Battel: Yes. However, if you will not protest I can petition the Court for a Change of Custody. I am an officer of the Sime Court. I would be risking my license to practice here if I allowed that to happen.
Borgmann has to wonder just how long Battel has been practicing law in-Territory.
Plum listens to the pair of officials argue over his fate.
Lewis Battel has been practicing law for some years in Sime Territory but this case is one is highly news worthy. That was the biggest reason for his agreement to take on this mess.
Borgmann: You are, of course, obliged to see to your client's interests as you see fit. I am sure that the circuit court judge will take it under due consideration--whenever you mange to get your motion to the judge.
Lewis Battel smiles.
Borgmann: The passes are blocked. It will be several months before any mail or travelers will be able to get in or out of here, in the direction of Sime Territory.
Borgmann: Neither you nor I can get a communication through, to judge or superiors.
Lewis Battel: Isn't that all the more reason for you to act in the interest of justice and see that my client's health is guarded?
Borgmann: It will be, as Controller Farris informed you.
Plum picks through the documents as he listens.
Borgmann looks rather bleak.
Lewis Battel: He will not last more than another month in his present condition. [has no idea but...]
Plum: I don't want to be held by the Tecton authorities.
Plum figures they will watch him even closer than the IDAS people do.
Borgmann looks through the bars at Plum.
Borgmann: If you do not eat, or if you succeed in injuring yourself, you will, indeed, be remanded to Controller Arat's custody for treatment.
Plum also wants nothing to do with the so-called treatment with which they have threatened him.
Borgmann: While he is responsible for your health, Josef, you will not be allowed to die.
Borgmann: Farris channels don't like failures.
Plum stares at Borgmann.
Borgmann doesn't look threatening; indeed he looks very concerned for Plum, but he also looks very sure that he is right.
Lewis Battel: If I am not mistaken, this can easily be dealt with by an executive decision on your part N'vet Borgmann.
Lewis Battel: Remand him to my custody and I guarantee he will return for trial.
Plum: You won't make me live this way. Neither can he.
Plum: My life is my own.
Lewis Battel has not had enough time to get a feel for Plum. He is somewhat in the dark but that has never stopped him before.
Borgmann: Your life now belongs to the Norwest Territory government, until you have answered to the charge of attempted murder. That's not an immigration matter, and I have no authority to do anything but turn you over to the judicial authorities, when that becomes
Borgmann: possible in the spring.
Plum is amused by Battel's guarantee on his behalf; if he ever gets out of here, he has no intention of ever permitting himself to be returned.
Borgmann can, of course, zlin Plum's intention to jump bail and run.
Lewis Battel suspects that the Sime is zlinning the intent that he can see in Plum's face.
Lewis Battel wonders if the Controller may have been mistaken about Plum's sanity. But then stupidity is not the same thing as insanity.
Plum realizes by the expression on Borgmann's face that he has read his mind again. Drat these Demons and their magic!
Lewis Battel: May I have a bit of time alone with my client?
Plum realizes that if he is going to have to stay here a while he is going to have to improve his ability to guard his thoughts.
Borgmann: Yes, I will ask the guard to stand back, to give you some privacy.
Plum wonders how far Simes can pick thoughts out of the air.
Borgmann has no intention of leaving Plum unwatched, and he doesn't think that this lawyer is sharp enough to stop matters if Plum goes berserk again.
Plum remembers old stories about Raiders tracking Gens through the wilderness by zlin alone.
Lewis Battel: Thank you.
Plum remembers hearing that stone is a good insulator, but not wood.
Borgmann: When you are finished, perhaps you could spare me a few minutes? It appears to me that you are under some misapprehensions on what, exactly, Minister Plum's status is.
Plum: Isn't there some cave or something where we could have some real privacy?
Plum figures with all the construction and tunneling, there must be someplace with stone walls around.
Lewis Battel: Yes, N'vet I will be stopping by.
Borgmann: Very well, then.
Plum thinks perhaps with a conveniently located cliff or mine shaft nearby.
Borgmann intends to spend the time to determine whether Battel is an incompetent lawyer, or whether he was just given a confused briefing by the out-Territory folks who hired him.
Plum watches Gideon retreat.
Borgmann pauses at the end of the corridor.
Borgmann: I will be by to check on you later, Josef.
Plum: I'm sure you will.
Lewis Battel: [when they are "alone"] Minister, you have to get your emotions under control. You know Simes can detect them.
Plum turns his attention to Battel.
Plum: So you are my lawyer.
Lewis Battel: Yes.
Lewis Battel: However I fear that I am woefully uninformed on all the particulars of this case.
Plum: They seem determined to keep me here.
Lewis Battel: That they do.
Plum paces back and forth.
Plum: I want to go home.
Lewis Battel sits on the rather bedraggled cot.
Plum: If you can't manage that, make them stop taking donations from me.
Lewis Battel: I am trying to get you home. But if they don't trust you to return, I can't get you out of here.
Plum: What is the penalty for attempted murder, anyway?
Plum: I can't seem to get a straight answer.
Plum: All these Ifs, Ands and Buts....
Lewis Battel: That is the maddening thing about the Sime judicial system. They don't have strict sentencing guidelines.
Lewis Battel: At least not where Gens are concerned.
Lewis Battel: In any event you will be spending a long time on this side of the border.
Plum: Well, what is happening to me now, just being held for trial, is the worst punishment I can imagine.
Lewis Battel: Yes, I can see that.
Plum: And whatever the sentence is can be no worse and will probably be more of the same.
Plum: So I don't care about this trial; it is irrelevant.
Lewis Battel has just realized that he is dealing with a suicidal madman. But of course by Sime standards he is sane.
Plum: However, perhaps if my fate can be an example to others, I won't have died in vain.
Lewis Battel: My problem right now is convincing Borgmann to let you go home with me. If you keep thinking of cutting loose and running he can see it!
Plum: Yes, that was apparent.
Plum sighs.
Plum: They can read our minds.
Lewis Battel: No they can't. I can't read your mind and I knew what you were thinking just looking at your face.
Lewis Battel: They can see your emotions though.
Plum: Look, the real reason they are keeping me here is to force me to donate.
Plum: And that's the reason I have to do anything I can to escape their clutches.
Plum: They'll never let me go or they would have already.
Lewis Battel: Minister, If I can get you across the border you won't have to donate. But I can't do that if you don't control yourself.
Plum: People keep telling me that. What do you mean, exactly? Tell me what I have to do.
Lewis Battel: Minister, if you swear to me by all that you hold Holy that you will return for trial I may have a chance to get you released into my custody.
Plum: I can't lie under oath. And I swear I will not permit Simes to continue to feed from this body. I will destroy it first. And if I escape their clutches, they will never have another chance to get me in their tentacles.
Lewis Battel: I see.
Lewis Battel sees his only chance of getting Plum out of here fizzle to nothingness.
Lewis Battel: Minister are you refusing to take the advice of your lawyer?
Plum: I am telling you how it is.
Plum: They stole my selyn, and made that their excuse for holding me prisoner.
Plum: And they are continuing to steal it from me, under duress.
Plum: This whole trial thing is a joke, but I could endure prison if they kept their tentacles off me. But they won't.
Plum: I want the world to know that any Gen traveller on this side of the border can be penned and used as I have.
Lewis Battel: Well, I begin to see your position on the matter.
Lewis Battel: Will you at least promise me that you will not do anything drastic until I have a chance to try something to get you out of here?
Plum: I doubt they will give me the opportunity.
Plum: So, okay, Mister Battel, I promise to wait for you to make your move.
Lewis Battel: All right. I will be in to see you tomorrow.
Plum figures maybe a few days of good behavior will fend off Controller Arat and his minions and lull the guards into a sense of false security.
Lewis Battel calls for the guard to let him out.
Plum: I hope you will have good news for me then.
Lewis Battel: So do I.
Lewis Battel exits the cell and heads for Borgmann's office.
Lewis Battel is convinced that he has a fool for a client and his client has a fool for a lawyer. He was a fool for letting Ms. Afred talk him into this. Free publicity be hanged!
Lewis Battel heads straight for Borgmann's office. Looks like someone tried to remodel the place with a sledge hammer.
Borgmann is in his office, trying to distract himself from worries about Plum with the details of running the interment camp.
Borgmann looks curiously at home despite the primitive construction and rough plank desk--perhaps it is simply that one expects to see a mouse surrounded by bits of paper.
Lewis Battel knocks on the door that he was directed to.
Borgmann winces at the impact of Gen knuckles on splintery door, and answers hastily.
Borgmann: Come in!
Lewis Battel enters.
Lewis Battel: N'vet Borgmann, it is good of you to take time to see me.
Lewis Battel doesn't speak Simelan like a native but he does speak it well enough to argue court cases.
Borgmann: Ah, Mister Battel. [in English] Your Simelan is really quite good, but I can manage English, if that is easier for you.
Borgmann "manages" English like a native speaker, which, of course, he is.
Lewis Battel: You don't have much of an accent. Let me guess, originally from Gen Territory?
Borgmann: Yes. Salmonton, in fact.
Lewis Battel: I should have guessed.
Borgmann wonders what Plum has told this lawyer about their mutual history.
Lewis Battel: I'm not from there originally. My brother moved there a few years ago. I was visiting him when... well you can guess I'm sure.
Lewis Battel: Have you met Ms. Afred?
Borgmann: Why, yes. She is being of great assistance helping to care for the children in our detainment camp.
Lewis Battel regrets having ever met Ms. Afred.
Borgmann: A very persuasive woman.
Lewis Battel: Yes, she can be quite persuasive.
Borgmann: Are you saying that you were sent by her, and not the Synod?
Lewis Battel: From what I gathered she has been empowered by the Synod to deal with the -- please forgive me -- Filthy Demons.
Lewis Battel: They don't want to get their soft little hands dirty and they consider her a good intermediary for them.
Borgmann: Well, that's something, I suppose. I was afraid that they'd washed their hands of him entirely, as his congregation appears to have done.
Borgmann: It has been a cause of considerable distress to Josef.
Borgmann looks considerably more concerned about Josef Plum than either the Synod or Miz Afred, for that matter.
Lewis Battel: That is the reason I am here. The congregation was up in arms about the whole thing. Ms. Afred is trying to keep them from coming across the lake with shotguns in hand.
Lewis Battel: Currently the the Deacons are trying to calm them but there are enough hot heads to make things iffy.
Borgmann: I expect they might have a hard time finding transportation.
Lewis Battel: That too may be a factor. [chuckles]
Borgmann: The ferry only holds twenty people, and lately they've been cutting down so as to allow more room for cargo.
Borgmann is well aware that this cargo is being sold for huge profits to the desperate.
Lewis Battel: Everyone in town has a boat of their own. They do live on a lake after all.
Lewis Battel envisions such a haphazard flotilla and shakes his head half of them wouldn't manage to make it to the middle of the lake.
Borgmann: Yes, but only the sturdier fishing boats and the ferry can make the crossing in winter.
Borgmann: One must hope that cooler heads will prevail.
Lewis Battel: I agree.
Lewis Battel: And in that vein... Mr. Borgmann is there no way that you can release my client?
Lewis Battel has decided to start with the big thing first.
Borgmann sighs, looking much like a thoroughly depressed, middle-aged, balding rodent.
Borgmann: There really isn't.
Borgmann: I am required to turn him over to the judicial authorities as soon as it is possible.
Borgmann: Unfortunately, it appears likely that local conditions will prevent that from happening until the snow melts and the trails dry up.
Lewis Battel looks around to find a chair.
Borgmann's office is furnished with matching packing crates.
Lewis Battel decides that there is nothing for it and sits on a crate.
Lewis Battel thinks this would be a good way to keep his more long winded visitors from staying quite so long.
Lewis Battel: Yes, about those assault charges. Was anyone injured in the "assault"?
Borgmann: No. But he fully intended to murder me--he has made no secret of that, at the time or since.
Borgmann: Or that he would gladly try again, if given an opportunity to do so.
Lewis Battel: I see. Does the Law offer equal protection for Out Territory Gens as it does to In-Territory Simes?
Borgmann: In most matters, yes. A Sime who attacked someone with intent to murder would be detained for trial, just as Plum has been.
Lewis Battel: What about intent to kill?
Borgmann: That is a selyn-related issue, and comes under the Tecton's authority, not the judiciary's.
Lewis Battel: So, you are saying that if selyn was the cause of the attack it is not a matter for the judiciary?
Borgmann thinks this sort of thing is much easier to discuss in Simelan, where "kill" and "murder" are not synonyms for each other.
Lewis Battel waits calmly for an answer.
Borgmann: Not precisely. A channel could give you a much better explanation than I can. But certainly, any attack that involved an intent to cause bodily injury would fall under judicial authority.
Lewis Battel: Including killmode attack?
Borgmann shakes his head.
Borgmann: A Sime in killmode is incapable of thinking clearly enough to intend harm.
Lewis Battel: Would a Sime in killmode attack cause harm?
Borgmann: Only incidentally. However, this has no relevance to Minister Plum's case. His intent to murder me is not open to question, and Controller Farris has confirmed his sanity.
Lewis Battel: Are you sane, Mr. Borgmann?
Borgmann raises an eyebrow.
Borgmann: To the best of my knowledge. Although after letting myself get talked into taking on responsibility for the care and safety of thousands of illegal Gens, I'm beginning to wonder.
Lewis Battel laughs.
Lewis Battel becomes very serious once again.
Lewis Battel: Have you ever experienced need?
Borgmann: Of course. Although I have been spared the sort of need that can cause killmode, since my changeover.
Lewis Battel: Yes. Have you ever been in need and surrounded by hostile Gens?
Borgmann: No.
Lewis Battel: What would you do if you were?
Borgmann: I would run very quickly.
Borgmann: Just as I did when I started into changeover.
Lewis Battel: Ah, but you are in need remember, and surrounded by Gens who have no love for you.
Borgmann shrugs.
Lewis Battel: You would allow them to take you and lock you up until you died of attrition?
Borgmann: I really don't see the relevance of your questions. Your client's crime falls clearly under judicial jurisdiction, as he is sane.
Borgmann: It will not become a matter for the Tecton, unless he continues to starve or otherwise harm himself.
Lewis Battel: There is a point. My client was told that he would be safe so long as he abided by the rules. He did. But as he was about to return to safety hostile forces sought to imprison him.
Borgmann: Is that what he told you?
Borgmann is somehow not surprised.
Lewis Battel: If fear for one's life is grounds for the kill, is it not also grounds in his case?
Borgmann: Legally, it is not. And he did not attack me out of fear for his life.
Lewis Battel: Forgive me for saying so Mr. Borgmann, but you are a renSime. That kind of determination would require the abilities of a channel.
Borgmann: Mr. Battel, Josef has made no secret as to his intent and motivations. He was attempting to murder me, personally, to atone for his failure to murder me at my changeover.
Lewis Battel takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
Lewis Battel: Perhaps he should have succeeded. He would not be here now the victim of a kindness done decades ago.
Lewis Battel: Do you honestly want to help him?
Borgmann: He was my friend, long ago.
Borgmann: I will help him if I can, as long as it doesn't interfere with my obligations to the IDAS and the others in my care.
Lewis Battel: You owe that man your life. The IDAS is a secondary obligation. But if it will help....
Lewis Battel reaches into his other breast pocket and removes a set of official document.
Lewis Battel: These are copies of the Minister's missing papers.
Lewis Battel: You might want to note his diplomatic standing.
Borgmann takes the papers and looks at them.
Borgmann is, of course, intimately familiar with all variations of IDAS documentation, and requires only a glance to identify Plum's exact status.
Borgmann: This document guarantees Plum safe passage to and from Norwest Territory, as long as he stays with his assigned Escort, does not stay longer than one day without donating, and does not commit any serious crimes.
Lewis Battel: You did not provide safe passage.
Lewis Battel: Which failure led to false imprisonment.
Lewis Battel: My client was in compliance and prevented from returning to Gen Territory.
Borgmann: Unfortunately for him, Minister Plum deliberately evaded his Escort halfway through his first day on this side of the border. If he had not, the Escort would have explained the difficulty, and he would have been allowed to return to Salmonton.
Borgmann: My border guards were on the alert for a Gen or Gens who may have been giving direct transfer to renSimes, in violation of our laws. Minister Plum showed up on the dock, without papers or an Escort, and obviously very low field.
Borgmann: During routine questioning, he denied having ever donated, and the Sime guard was able to zlin that he spoke truthfully.
Borgmann: Naturally, they detained him.
Borgmann: The case took several days to work its way up to me. When I investigated it personally, I was able to clear up the misunderstanding about Plum's missing papers. I had already promised to issue replacement papers and release him when he pulled a razor blade out of his boot and tried to murder me.
Borgmann: So, it appears that Plum managed to break all of the conditions of his safe-conduct.
Lewis Battel: But not before his person was violated by a Tecton official who has admitted stealing his papers and causing the problem in the first place.
Borgmann: That would not have been possible if he had not deliberately evaded his Escort, and stayed illegally overnight.
Borgmann smiles thinly.
Borgmann: From a document found on his person when he was searched after the attack, it appears that he was gathering information that the Synod intended to use to assist their missionaries in violating half the provisions of the Dam Accord.
Lewis Battel: Interesting that the only documents missing were those which would allow him to leave the Territory.
Lewis Battel: How do I know that the same thief who took his documents didn't plant the others?
Lewis Battel: And if I am not mistaken, that theft happened on his first day here as he was on his way to see you.
Borgmann: For one thing, the theft occurred in the middle of the afternoon, and the papers found on his person were notes of meetings which took place the following night.
Borgmann: There can be little doubt that Minister Plum intended to violate both the spirit and the letter of his safe-conduct.
Lewis Battel: Ah, so intent to commit an action is the same as commission, but actual commission is not a crime?
Borgmann: Mister Battel, despite he believes Minister Plum's status with IDAS was cleared up long ago. About five minutes before he tried to slice open my throat, to be exact.
Borgmann: It is that crime for which he is being held, not any problems with his papers.
Lewis Battel: Was he aware of that?
Lewis Battel: Meaning of course was he aware that you were releasing him to be returned home?
Borgmann: That he was to be released? Certainly. I had told him myself that he would be issued replacement papers and released.
Borgmann: It was after that that I questioned him about his unexpectedly low field. I was afraid that he had been coerced.
Lewis Battel is now convinced that he is a fool, that Plum should be left to rot where he is for stupidity if nothing else, and that crusading school mistresses should not be allowed into polite company.
Borgmann: I knew that the Josef I knew would never willingly have donated, you understand.
Lewis Battel takes another deep breath. However, he has taken on this client. He has an obligation.
Lewis Battel: Is that when he tried to harm you?
Borgmann: Yes. It took two guards and myself to restrain him.
Lewis Battel: So his action was selyn related.
Borgmann: No.
Lewis Battel: Was he violent toward you before you accused him of collaborating with the enemy?
Borgmann wonders why Battel keeps trying to argue that Plum's case should come under the Tecton's jurisdiction, instead of the judiciary's.
Lewis Battel calmly awaits an answer.
Borgmann: He simply didn't believe that he was low field, at all. He ignored my questions about how he came to be low field in favor of asking me why I ran away at my changeover, rather than letting him murder me.
Borgmann: Then he tried to... rectify that error, as he believes.
Borgmann: There can be no doubt of his motives, or that he knew he was about to be released unharmed.
Lewis Battel: Unharmed. Was he unharmed if he had been assaulted?
Borgmann: At the time he attacked me, he did not believe that he had been assaulted.
Borgmann: And the donation was competently done, if illegal.
Borgmann is glad of that much, for Josef's sake.
Lewis Battel: I see. So you accuse him of collaboration with his enemies, after he had been, for lack of a better word, raped. And you find it odd that he would lash out at what he perceived to be the root cause of his predicament -- the Sime he allowed to live?
Borgmann: He didn't attack me out of anger at what had happened to him, or because he blamed me for his detention. He attacked me because he felt he owed me the gift of death he had been unable to provide years ago. He meant it as a kindness.
Lewis Battel is rocked back on his crate by that bit of news.
Borgmann has, in fact, been going to extreme lengths to care for Plum at least partly in return for this attempted kindness, which was genuine, if completely misplaced and criminal.
Borgmann: After the guards disarmed him, he apologized to me, for not succeeding.
Borgmann looks saddened by the whole situation.
Lewis Battel has to regroup a moment. He looks, really looks, for the first time at the man behind the make-shift desk.
Lewis Battel: You are not my adversary.
Borgmann: If I wished harm to Josef, I would never have agreed to discuss his case with you.
Lewis Battel: All right, let's get down to it here. Plum is not going to live long enough to get a trial and we both know it.
Lewis Battel: And don't tell me about the Tecton taking over his care. He would probably die of a heart attack if they insisted on treating him.
Lewis Battel: How do we get him through the winter without him losing what is left of his mind or his life?
Borgmann: I think you underestimate what can be done to keep a Gen alive--if you will remember your history, I am sure you will understand that the methods were well developed before Unity.
Borgmann: I would prefer to spare Josef that, if I can, but I will not hesitate to turn his care over to Controller Farris if he continues to refuse to feed and care for himself.
Lewis Battel: Well, short of stripping him to the skin you can't prevent him from harming himself and he would die from the cold. Turn him over and you kill his mind while his body lives. Plum is a fanatic. They don't work like the rest of us.
Borgmann smiles oddly.
Borgmann: Oh, even a fanatic can be flexible, when given no other choice.
Lewis Battel hopes that the smile heralds a willingness to help.
Borgmann: I ought to know--I was just as suicidal as Josef, when I first arrived in Palisades.
Lewis Battel: No. Not a fanatic. Or didn't you study your history before changeover. The Heliden com to mind.
Lewis Battel: They burned their church around them rather than let the Raiders take them.
Lewis Battel: This isn't just another member of the CoP.
Lewis Battel: Help me help him. Do you have a facility where he can be tended by Gens away from Simes?
Borgmann: Mister Battel, I know Josef's beliefs in a way that you never will, because you weren't raised in our Church.
Lewis Battel: No but I have seen the type before. Had the misfortune of representing them before too.
Borgmann: Josef's beliefs will not prevent him from adapting to his situation, despite his best efforts, just as anyone else would.
Lewis Battel: I hope that you are right. But I suspect that you aren't. Although he did let you live twice.
Borgmann: If he did not die of fright when his field was lowered yesterday, he's not in any danger of dying from other channel's treatments.
Borgmann: The only casualty is likely to be the very fear of Simes that he treasures so much.
Borgmann: Under the circumstances, I'm not sure whether that would be a good or bad development.
Lewis Battel: Has the channel who molested him been caught yet?
Borgmann: She has been identified. Controller Arat is responsible for providing appropriate discipline, as illegal transfers fall under his authority.
Lewis Battel: I see. Will he be likely to be exposed to her again?
Borgmann: I very much doubt it.
Borgmann doesn't know about the Xylexion, and the leverage that provides to Snake, or he wouldn't be so sure.
Lewis Battel is thinking that they might lock her up in the cell next to his client.
Lewis Battel: Ah, so she will be held elsewhere.
Borgmann: Of course.
Borgmann has no intention of becoming the guardian of a rogue First Order channel, as well as 4000 illegal Gens and a would-be murderer.
Lewis Battel: I will be returning tomorrow to speak with the Minister. But I think that I would like to speak to the Controller as well after I have read these papers more thoroughly.
Lewis Battel: Thank you for your time Mr. Borgmann.
Lewis Battel stands and reaches in to his pocket to be sure that he has his papers.
Borgmann: You are welcome. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make Josef more comfortable. He wouldn't necessarily tell me or his guards about such things.
Lewis Battel: Yes, of course, I will let you know.
Lewis Battel exits the way he entered, with plans to have a long talk with Ms. Afred about miscommunications.
Go on to Episode #113: Yesterday's Gin
Return to the Index of Episodes