Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #115: Eve in Camouflage (2/3/01)
Edka trudges along an icy trail, carrying a twenty-pound sack of flour that he managed to purchase with far too much of HT's donation payment.
Edka is aware that it won't last his entire crew very long, but it's better than nothing.
Edka is starting to look at Storm's mule in a completely new light: stewed with onions, perhaps.
Edka suspects that such measures might not win any friends among the vegetarian Simes, but there may be little choice.
Wise Snake: Whoops... wouldn't touch that rope if I were you. [voice out of nowhere]
Rope stretches across the path at about ankle height right before Edka's feet.
Edka starts, slipping on the ice, and barely manages to stop his skid before the rope trips him.
Edka looks around for the as-yet-invisible source of the warning.
Edka: Who's there?
Wise Snake smiles a Cheshire smile from between two large rocks on the side of the gully the trail runs up.
Wise Snake stands and squeezes between the rocks to come down to the trail and Edka.
Wise Snake is recognizable as Arat's daughter, at least to those who have been told.
Edka, being a Gen, usually prefers to see whomever he is talking to.
Edka decides that he might be willing to make an exception for Snake, after getting a close-up view.
Edka: You would be... Hajene Farris?
Wise Snake is currently bundled up in a thick black cloak and various sweaters and thermal underwear, as well as a big mop of crazy black hair that would make even Farris' hairdressers weep tears of frustration.
Wise Snake: Yes, I think I would. It's a good thing to be, on a nice crisp morning like this one.
Wise Snake gives the rope a firm tug, causing a rope net to spring violently up from under the snow of the path, snapping shut around... nobody.
Edka looks at the trap he almost stepped into.
Wise Snake ignores the spray of snow and tiny particles of ice, bark, etc. this produces, though it makes her look like a sugared candy.
Wise Snake grins at Edka's expression.
Wise Snake: This would catch a Gen, don't you think?
Edka: What is a trap doing on this trail?
Wise Snake: It's just an experiment. I'll move it when I'm done.
Edka doesn't like the implications.
Edka: An experiment? In trapping Gens?
Wise Snake's Genlan is Bender Cove accented, but quite good.
Edka: ~~ uneasy ~~
Wise Snake grins even wider.
Edka: And why would you want to be trapping Gens?
Wise Snake: Don't worry, nobody who doesn't deserve it.
Edka takes a step backwards at the sight of Snake's smile--it's not pretty.
Edka thinks that channel or not, she looks (and seems to be acting) more like a pre-Unity Freeband Raider.
Edka: And just what, in your mind, qualifies a Gen for trapping?
Wise Snake in fact could almost be pretty under the right conditions... however mischievous and malicious delight isn't for everyone, particularly when the person wearing the expression resembles a weasel wrestling a black octopus.
Wise Snake: Well, aside from breaking border law, extortion and theft?
Wise Snake scratches her head.
Wise Snake shrugs.
Wise Snake: I just develop the technology. I'll let someone else deal with the detail. I have my own methods, which are a bit less... messy.
Wise Snake: At least on a public level.
Edka: Extortion and theft? I didn't think those were Tecton concerns..
Wise Snake bends over the bundled net and loosens it up, pulling and tugging on the rope mass.
Wise Snake beams up at Edka.
Wise Snake: Who said I limit myself to Tecton concerns? You have me mixed up with my father.
Wise Snake: Although come to think of it, didn't you try to interest him in that very topic just a short time ago?
Edka: I did ask him to approach Borgmann for me, as I have not been able to get past his underlings.
Wise Snake, like everyone else associated with the Tecton, is aware of the investigation into high food prices and the decisions made regarding that.
Wise Snake shakes her head, tsking.
Wise Snake: I'll offer you a bit of advice.
Wise Snake: Never, never ask my father for a deep and binding personal favor unless you have something to offer in return - or can demonstrate that it affects his work.
Wise Snake clambers around the net, stretching it back out flat.
Wise Snake: It gets so stiff. [complains]
Edka hadn't viewed his request as a deep and binding favor.
Wise Snake steps on the net, squashing down the bumps and folds.
Wise Snake: Where's... ah.
Wise Snake picks up the trigger rope.
Wise Snake straightens, and looks at Edka.
Wise Snake: What's the matter?
Edka looks over the trap with professional interest.
Edka: The trigger would be more inconspicuous if you used a narrower rope.
Edka would never have mentioned such an improvement if Snake's appearance and attitude hadn't knocked him off balance, figuratively speaking.
Wise Snake: Huh.
Edka: If I'd been paying attention to where I was going, I'd have seen it long before I got close enough to trigger it.
Edka realizes what he is saying, and to whom, and promptly shuts up.
Wise Snake: If.
Wise Snake tosses the rope aside, and examines Edka more closely.
Edka: Any strategy that depends on its target making a stupid mistake doesn't have a very good chance of success, over the long haul.
Edka has been trying to drill that principle into raw recruits for 40 years or more.
Wise Snake frowns and scowls in puzzlement, looking rather like her father.
Wise Snake has been using the technique of arranging stupid mistakes for targets to fall into for years, with great success.
Wise Snake: If that is so, then why did you just pay a month's salary for that sack of flour?
Wise Snake points at the bag.
Wise Snake: And why will the person who sold it to you have a warm place to live all winter?
Wise Snake happens to be in a position to know exactly who sold it to him, and for how much, as well as what they hope to be doing with the money.
Edka: I paid the price because my men are hungry--and it would cause a great deal more trouble for everyone if we took direct action against those who are profiteering.
Wise Snake notes that Edka has failed to grasp the connection between the previous subject and this one.
Edka: We are guests on this side of the border, after all, and not particularly welcome ones.
Wise Snake readjusts her strategy to accommodate the greater-than-anticipated lack of maneuvering ability of the target.
Edka was rather forcibly reminded just how unwelcome he and his men were, after the unfortunate incident of the boiler.
Wise Snake: Ah, so you don't feel you made a mistake in paying what you did for the flour?
Wise Snake: Interesting.
Wise Snake: Now, this is where my father and I differ in opinion.
Wise Snake: He thinks that the people must be protected from themselves, where I feel people should be allowed to do whatever makes them feel like they've come out ahead - regardless of what an objective opinion of the situation might be.
Wise Snake grins speculatively.
Edka: You would have us simply confiscate the supplies we require, rather than pay what even the sellers admit is far too much for them?
Edka finds such an attitude interesting, in a channel.
Wise Snake notices that Edka, in his narrow minded simplicity, is incapable of comprehending what she is driving at.
Wise Snake notices furthermore that Edka believes his only choices are to pay a high price or to take his food by armed force.
Wise Snake can tell that Edka can't even understand there are other options, nor that Snake is not talking about that at all.
Wise Snake: Never mind.
Edka has been in the military all of his adult life, and lacks civilian flexibility on such matters.
Wise Snake shakes her head.
Wise Snake goes and retrieves the large stone which had acted as the power for the trap, augmenting to haul it back up from the low ditch it had tumbled down when the trap went off.
Wise Snake mutters something to herself about not doing very much testing as it's too much work.
Edka is much more used to such sights than he was before coming to the Dam site, but he still finds the sight of a small woman carrying a rock large enough that he'd get help moving it, very strange.
Edka: Watch the ice, there.
Wise Snake: Are you still here?
Wise Snake hadn't found Edka anywhere near as entertaining as she'd hoped.
Edka is pretty sure that Snake can confirm that he is, indeed, present.
Edka: Every time I start thinking that I'm getting used to life on this side of the Border, I learn differently.
Wise Snake: Oh?
Wise Snake places the rock awkwardly on a tiny out cropping, where it could slide down at the slightest provocation.
Wise Snake considers the rope, which now looks annoyingly thick after Edka's comment.
Edka: It's a strange mixture of the perfectly normal, and what strikes me as bizarre.
Wise Snake: Maybe the problem is you can't tell the two apart. [suggests]
Wise Snake draws a wicked hunting knife from somewhere in her cloak.
Edka: For instance, if you wish to confront people guilty of, how did you put it, breaking border law, extortion and theft?
Edka: Why don't you simply go and do it? Why build an elaborate trap like this?
Wise Snake: It's not for me.
Wise Snake: It's for the legal authorities.
Wise Snake means, the "chief" of Palisades police, who is also its only policeman.
Wise Snake has sort of taken the fellow under her wing, since she realized what he was up against as the only non-Tecton and non-Idas law authority in the area, aside from the circuit judge.
Wise Snake has been trying to decide when she will let him know that.
Wise Snake: I prefer more... comfortable means.
Wise Snake means, more comfortable for herself.
Wise Snake grew up in the underbelly of a port city seething with crime, corruption, violence and so forth, after all. The ways and mores of the law always seemed an external factor to her. Useful, but external.
Edka: Well, I have to agree with you there. The law is often rather inefficient at confronting such problems, even when there are a decent ratio of police to criminals.
Edka is, for instance, an old hand at evading the MPs when he wishes to spend his free time on harmless but unapproved entertainments.
Wise Snake wonders why this fellow is trying to make small talk with her.
Edka: From what I've heard about you, though, I expect the "comfort" you refer to is your own, not that of whomever you are after.
Edka: Do you plan on using those... comfortable means, with any of the food merchants?
Edka thinks that, if so, it might be worth going to that source afterwards, to take advantage of any more moderate prices.
Wise Snake: Well, that again is where my father and I disagree. He would like me to simply report anything I learn to him.
Edka: And you feel that this would be counterproductive?
Wise Snake: I'm not sure the entertainment value of watching him struggle is worth losing my other... interests.
Wise Snake smiles a snakely smile.
Wise Snake: If you know what I mean.
Edka is a combat veteran, who has faced down berserkers, Raiders, and Narosians armed with fertilizer bombs, but he finds himself quailing at the sight.
Edka: And what other interests might those be?
Wise Snake can see that Edka doesn't know what she means.
Wise Snake thinks if Edka knew what she meant, he would know better than to ask for specifics.
Edka still has some illusions regarding channels.
Wise Snake shakes her head to herself.
Edka: You don't consider your interests to be those of your father, or the Tecton?
Wise Snake looks at Edka in some amazement.
Wise Snake: And why should they be?
Wise Snake is cutting the knotted end off the rope as she does so.
Edka looks at the wicked knife with due respect for its lethal possibilities.
Edka kind of wishes it were currently in the hands of someone who looked a bit more... stable. Or even sane.
Edka: You wish your father to fail here, then?
Wise Snake considers.
Wise Snake: Not necessarily.
Wise Snake thinks Arat would deserve it if he did, but there are a thousand different ways she could think of to torment him terribly, not all involving his failure in the eyes of the public. At least not right away.
Wise Snake also doesn't discount the possibility that she might decide to forgive him later.
Edka thinks that is an unsettlingly ambiguous answer, considering what will happen to everyone if the Tecton loses what control it has over the current situation.
Wise Snake: My interests aren't contrary to his any more than they agree with his. They're just different.
Edka: And you will sacrifice your father and his interests, if they conflict with your own?
Wise Snake: Maybe, maybe not.
Wise Snake wonders why Edka is so interested.
Wise Snake: It's kind of up to him.
Edka has first-hand experience in what happens when the selyn-distribution system breaks down, and has no desire to ever see it again, thank you very much.
Wise Snake actually finds the situation rather troubling. She hasn't been able to do as much as she wanted with Arat. She keeps hoping he'll defy her so she can punish him, but he has not done so. And neither has he cooperated, which would have maddened her further. Instead there is an cold and uneasy truce, and Arat's weapons, as always, are passive-aggression and a smoky dislike of her.
Edka: And the Tecton's interests?
Wise Snake: Of course, I'm all for the Tecton.
Wise Snake: Who isn't?
Wise Snake is a bit more flexible at defining what's in the Tecton's best interest than some, however. She refuses to use the Tecton's own definition.
Edka: Well, there's at least one Gen in IDAS custody that doesn't approve of it.
Wise Snake dismisses the whole Plum issue with a wave of a hand.
Wise Snake: That business with Plum is ridiculous.
Wise Snake: It never should have happened the way it did.
Wise Snake: Who knew he'd go and try to murder an IDAS agent?
Wise Snake: I figured him for a lot more stable than that.
Wise Snake of course is looking from a perspective far askew of stable so may be forgiven a small amount of parallax error.
Edka: How should it have happened?
Wise Snake: I thought he'd jump at the opportunity to remain here and preach his faith in the camps.
Wise Snake: Instead he curled up like a crushed ant.
Wise Snake's lip curls.
Edka: I'm told he's trying to starve himself to death.
Edka doesn't have any more respect for Plum than Snake, when it comes right down to it.
Wise Snake can zlin as much.
Wise Snake: Weakness often attacks with weakness.
Wise Snake: It is the same with my father.
Wise Snake would like to know how to deal with weakness-as-weapon.
Edka considers that.
Wise Snake however finds that it is simplest to not get involved with that sort of situation.
Edka has never completely lost his initial impression of Arat, which Elte described with at least partial accuracy.
Edka: If Plum succeeds in destroying himself, it might actually do more harm to those he hates than a stronger approach.
Edka: Of course, self-destruction only harms an enemy with enough of a conscience to be distressed by it.
Wise Snake: Uh huh.
Wise Snake is not too impressed by Edka's deductions.
Edka is probably the only person who has ever accused Snake of having a conscience, even indirectly.
Wise Snake: Plum is a lightweight. Nothing he does will get noticed by anybody, except on a gruelling and bureaucratic level.
Wise Snake: The only person on the planet who really, truly cares what happens to Plum is not in any position to do anything about it.
Edka: There is such a person?
Wise Snake: And he wouldn't care himself if Plum's intended demise wouldn't put him under a nasty investigation.
Wise Snake snorts.
Wise Snake: Controller Arat Farris, of course.
Wise Snake: What do you suppose would happen to him if Plum succeeded in murdering himself while in that prison?
Wise Snake actually thinks it's an interesting situation. It was stupid how the situation came about, but the complexities are intriguing.
Wise Snake shrugs.
Edka: The Tecton would certainly have to remove him from the Dam site. They couldn't do otherwise, and still keep the cooperation of my government.
Wise Snake: Which is ironic, since he has had very little input on the situation or its outcome.
Edka has to agree with that.
Edka: Can Plum be prevented from starving himself?
Wise Snake: Sure, if force were applied.
Wise Snake: There are drugs, nageric techniques.
Wise Snake: It would be ugly.
Wise Snake: I am certain that it could be done with a minimum of fuss by adjusting his attitude to one of desire for survival, however.
Wise Snake means, in addition to a minimum of fuss, a minimum of attention to the niceties of patient-healer conduct.
Edka looks interested.
Wise Snake: But it is sort of academic.
Wise Snake: I mean, Plum is not worth that sort of effort. He does nothing for himself, only tries to hurt others.
Wise Snake: When a person is more interested in hurting others than advancing their own gains, should they even exist?
Edka: You'll have to ask Plum. He's the theologian. I'm just a soldier.
Edka: It sounds as if you have some fairly specific ideas about how his case should be handled, though.
Wise Snake had spent an interesting afternoon comparing Pylor to Plum, and decided that Pylor definitely had more potential. Which is not saying a lot about Plum.
Wise Snake: I'll venture a diagnosis and treatment plan for anybody you can name.
Wise Snake: It's a hobby with most channels, you know.
Wise Snake has unravelled the rope quite a distance, and now uses cold-whitened fingers and tentacles to work the sub-sections into a V-joint.
Edka: Have you a plan of treatment for a homicidal mule?
Wise Snake, like Arat, would probably simply arrange for the mule to meet a sudden and untimely end if the problem were placed in her hands.
Wise Snake has no compassion for animals.
Edka shakes his head.
Edka: Never mind.
Edka has seriously debated manufacturing a dispatch of such urgency that Storm would be forced to deliver it despite the bad weather.
Edka has been holding off mainly due to the uncertainty about the food situation--600 pounds of meat would go quite a way, even if it is tough and stringy.
Edka inspects Snake's reconfiguration of the rope with professional interest.
Edka: A pulley about there would let it be triggered from either side of the path.
Wise Snake gives Edka an exasperated look.
Wise Snake: Are you sure you don't need to be somewhere?
Edka shrugs.
Edka looks at the trap again, having to admit that it is reasonably effective, if a bit on the crude side.
Edka: Do you think that trap of yours will really make a difference, in the tentacles of the Palisades police?
Wise Snake: Beats me.
Wise Snake wonders how he knew she intended it for the Palisades police. Hardly anybody knows that is who constitutes the true local authority.
Wise Snake: Sort of depends on if they ever get their hands on it.
Wise Snake: I might change my mind.
Wise Snake might change her mind just because Edka has now connected her with Palisades.
Wise Snake prefers her connections to be a little less obvious.
Wise Snake waits as long as possible to inform the connectees of the connection for that very reason.
Edka: You've been developing it on your own, then? That's a rather exotic hobby for a channel.
Edka is wondering just what sort of channel would have Gen-trapping as a hobby, and isn't sure he really wants to know.
Wise Snake: I don't like to confine myself to any one area.
Edka is starting to get that impression.
Edka is pretty sure from the looks of Snake that her interests do not include the Narosian bath house, however.
Wise Snake does appear a bit dirty and scuffed up, as if bathing is something she only does upon occasion and that when circumstances insist.
Wise Snake is not so different from several thousand other people in the area at the moment, though.
Edka: So tell me, do your areas of expertise include knowing how foreign military can gain the cooperation of the local food venders? The New Washington Army is used to paying a bit more than the going rate for a steady supply of goods--it's traditional-- but here we can get neither.
Wise Snake: If you renewed your contract with FluCon, you could get your supplies through them. [points out]
Wise Snake: Or you could sell your equipment and explosives to FluCon and hike to Salmonton to base there over the winter, although that could get dicey if this weather holds.
Wise Snake wonders if Edka is asking her to secure a deal for him.
Wise Snake is thinking maybe Edka is neither that smart nor that subtle.
Wise Snake: Personally, if I were in your position I'd get hired on as guards at the Gen Internment Camp. They're having a heck of a time keeping proper security employed.
Edka looks very interested.
Wise Snake could have told them that the sort of people who'd decide to chuck everything to go be homeless on a construction site in the middle of the wilderness are not the sort who'd do well as security people without a military style training period to give them some discipline and common sense.
Edka: I had thought they were only employing citizens of NorWest Territory.
Edka: Do you think they might make an exception?
Wise Snake: I doubt it, if that's how you went about asking for one.
Wise Snake thinks Edka probably would have done very poorly on tactics in officer's school. A pity, since he seems fairly good at execution once a plan has been decided upon.
Wise Snake: Listen, there are a lot of things you can get around here that are actually easier to get if you don't ask for them.
Wise Snake: Favors from Arat, for example. Exceptions to rules. Discounts on inflated foodstuffs.
Edka: How would you approach the matter?
Wise Snake: The matter of your requiring food?
Wise Snake: Or the matter of training you to help yourself more effectively?
Wise Snake of course had had the latter on her mind when she made her comments, although she can see where the former might have been on Edka's.
Wise Snake has no idea that she resembles a 16 year old kid to Edka's eyes.
Wise Snake: [nor would she care if she did]
Edka is paying close attention: he's not used to dealing with civilians, and Sime civilians are twice as difficult to deal with, for him.
Edka is even willing to overlook small matters of age and sanity, for a local perspective on the problem.
Wise Snake: I'll tell you what. I'll fix everything up for you, if you do a couple of things for me.
Wise Snake: How's that?
Edka wasn't born yesterday, even if he is a bit lacking in imagination.
Edka: What sort of things?
Wise Snake shakes a no-no-no finger at him.
Wise Snake: I'll decide later.
Wise Snake: You shouldn't ask things like that, by the way.
Wise Snake: Now. One thing that absolutely has to change is your relationship with the Gen merchants.
Wise Snake puts an arm over Edka's shoulder.
Wise Snake: You don't want to be antagonizing the local citizenry in Sime Territory, but these other bozos are another story.
Edka doesn't find such gestures from a wild-haired, insane Sime teenager as reassuring as Snake might have intended.
Wise Snake: What is required here is a setup where you are dominating them and taking your own taxes on everything brought over the border.
Wise Snake: No sense in going too far with it, of course... a third the normal border tax should do, except in the case of illegal items in which case you should stiff them for everything including the squeal.
Wise Snake: Anybody who doesn't like it can go through legal channels. If you know what I mean.
Wise Snake suspects Edka doesn't, but hopes that he will pick it up with practice.
Wise Snake: Now, over on your side of the border you're the kings, right? So why should you be taken advantage of here? There's no sense in it.
Edka: Well, the New Washington Army likes to consider itself the servants of the civilian society, but it's true, no one would attempt to take such advantage of us at home.
Wise Snake: Right.
Wise Snake: Now, once you have these border crossing scum bags firmly under your thumb, the next step is to set yourself up as the distributor of the goods.
Wise Snake: I hope you have some logistics knowledge?
Edka: Yes, and HT is an expert at moving any sort of goods anywhere.
Wise Snake: You won't be able to deal with the renSime population directly of course, but they'll readily tune in to the notion that you guys are in charge of the Gens.
Wise Snake: So what you need is a set of go betweens. Slime mongers. Tricky boys.
Wise Snake tries to find the right Genlan phrase.
Wise Snake: Whatever. You need like food bookies to handle it from the point of view of the Sime Territory citizens.
Edka: Facilitators?
Wise Snake: And you have to obey certain rules. There are certain unbreakable rules that these border crossing sponge types are completely ignoring, and this will put you in a favorable light with the masses if you don't do that.
Wise Snake: For example, always remember that Tecton vouchers aren't just equal to money, they're better than money.
Wise Snake: Because the Tecton has all the cash-money.
Wise Snake: The money goes straight from FluCon to the Tecton without hardly leaving a stain on those renSimes' fingers, because there are so few Gens in the population to slow it down.
Wise Snake: The only way to get it back out again is in donation vouchers.
Wise Snake: Not honoring the vouchers is a big mistake on those people's part, and you can take advantage of that.
Edka: Yes. Although the number of vouchers available may drop, as more Gens move to the IDAS camp.
Wise Snake: No, because a Gen always deserves the fruit of his nager. That's another of the unbreakable rules.
Wise Snake: The Gen always gets the money.
Wise Snake: I know they planned to repay that big loan using the donations of those Gens, but practically speaking it won't work exactly like that.
Wise Snake: The way they have it set up now, with the Gens free to come and go and not prisoners and not forced into any agreement as to their work and the disposition of their money, there is nothing to force those Gens to give up their loot to the Powers that Be. See?
Edka: Well, yes. But I have heard that they are distributing food at far less than the going rate on the open market.
Edka: If only to the Gens who have actually moved into their camp.
Wise Snake: Well, they've been selling it for fair prices.
Wise Snake: What has that to do with anything?
Edka: You're right. And the IDAS isn't providing everything those people must have.
Wise Snake shakes her head.
Wise Snake: You're getting off track here, buddy.
Wise Snake: Forget about the camp.
Wise Snake: Concentrate on getting these illegals under control, the ones coming in on the boats and dog sleds with trade goods.
Wise Snake: Move your camp closer to the border, on the lake, and intercept everything that comes through.
Wise Snake: With ten men and some renSime watchers you ought to be able to cover a good bit of ground.
Wise Snake: Those you can't catch, you had better at least see and identify, so you can deal with them later.
Edka rubs the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.
Edka: It would certainly be possible, although it would be a lot easier if we still had our guns.
Wise Snake waves that away with a hand.
Wise Snake: No, you want renSimes. Much more reliable, and also legal.
Wise Snake: Remember, you're going to have to justify all this to the authorities on both sides of the border.
Edka: I've never commanded renSimes.
Wise Snake: Now normally I don't spell all this out in so many words, but seeing as you are a raw beginner at this, I'll give you a few tips.
Wise Snake: When you collect the taxes, tell them you want the entire tax as legally set forth in the text of the law.
Wise Snake: Then, only enforce that they give you maybe a third, or at most a half.
Wise Snake: That way people will learn it is easier to go through you than to either try to get past you or go the legal route.
Wise Snake: Take what they give you and break it in two.
Wise Snake: Send half to the border authorities, explaining that was all you were able to collect. Give a plausible reason.
Wise Snake: They won't believe you but that will be OK because you'll be collecting a lot more than they ever managed to do.
Edka: And the other portion serves as support for my troops?
Edka calculates briefly.
Wise Snake: Good grief, it should be a hundred times what is necessary.
Wise Snake thinks Edka has no idea of the scope of the smuggling problem.
Wise Snake: Now you're going to have some explaining to do if the internals of your activities is ever looked into too closely.
Wise Snake: So be sure you keep multiple sets of records, and show the right ones to the right people.
Wise Snake: And for heaven's sake, never put any of your allies' names on paper.
Wise Snake: As for Arat, just stay out of his hair and don't make the problem any worse, and he'll be glad to ignore you.
Wise Snake: Oh, and don't do anything to interfere with his pathetic relief effort, or he'll come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Wise Snake: You don't want the Tecton Controller down on your ass, because you remember what I said about vouchers and the cash money, right?
Edka: Right. And the real border authorities? How do we persuade them to... ignore our efforts?
Edka: At least until we can show them the advantages?
Wise Snake looks exasperated; she's already explained this to him.
Wise Snake: You have to play by the rules. Inform them of all stoppings and all information related - the names, the origins and destinations, and the identity of whatever cargo you are going to admit having appraised.
Wise Snake: Send them money to cover the taxes on whatever that cargo was.
Wise Snake: What are they going to do?
Wise Snake: Drop everything and go after you, when they can barely hold their pants up as it is?
Wise Snake: You want to present yourself as a power player, without directly threatening anything any Sime Territory citizen already has.
Wise Snake: So don't poach on the legal traders, don't leave out any of the small time contacts, and don't antagonize the government.
Wise Snake: Stay away from the internment camp and the other charities.
Edka considers.
Wise Snake doesn't intend to let Edka make up his own mind about this, either.
Wise Snake's slippery mind is already devising ways to get Edka and his men blamed for some ambushes and cargo thefts on the border, to get them started.
Edka: That might be enough to prevent an interterritorial incident.
Edka doesn't want to start a war, but he really doesn't want to spend the winter cooling his heels in the IDAS camp, either.
Wise Snake: Edka, look.
Wise Snake: I am trying to be patient here, but you really need to learn some perspective on this.
Wise Snake: The people you're dealing with are small time.
Wise Snake: Nobody cares what happens to them.
Wise Snake: In fact, everybody who buys food on the Dam site right now hates them.
Wise Snake: You'll be doing everybody a big favor.
Wise Snake: Don't act like you're hesitant, trying to get away with something, or afraid of your position, or you'll never impress anybody.
Wise Snake: Likewise, you can't just go barging in waving guns around to get what you want, because you'll be viewed as a threat by those who have the big power.
Wise Snake: You just need to slip in, right in the middle.
Wise Snake slides her hands together in demonstration.
Wise Snake: And if you do try to use guns, for shen's sake never let anybody live who saw, heard or zlinned it happen. I'd recommend keeping hands off the rifle butts if I were you.
Edka: Properly done, our efforts might even succeed in lowering the cost of some goods.
Edka much prefers thinking of himself as the person who stopped the worst of the pice gouging, rather than the new crime boss. Or her assistant.
Wise Snake frowns.
Wise Snake: Properly done, it should return costs to exactly where they belong.
Wise Snake: I hope you didn't think I was trying to get you to replace those money grubbing greed buckets.
Wise Snake has a nasty goody-goody streak that has surprised much more experienced crooks than Edka.
Wise Snake in fact rarely does anything without an altruistic intent, something that a person has to get to know her to realize.
Wise Snake's eyes narrow.
Wise Snake: If I ever catch you taking advantage of your new position in a way that makes life worse on average for the people on this site, you'd better be prepared to pay. And I don't mean money-wise, either.
Wise Snake specifies "on average" because she understands some individual variation is necessary to keep things running smoothly.
Wise Snake: And believe you me, I will be keeping an eye on you. I have eyes in places most people don't even have places.
Wise Snake doesn't always parse well in Genlan, when upset.
Edka: I can work with that.
Wise Snake looks down at the rope, then tosses it aside.
Wise Snake: Now it doesn't seem so odd, does it? [indicates the trap ironically]
Wise Snake turns and walks away from Edka.
Edka looks after Snake for a long moment, then looks at her trap.
Edka shifts his flour sack to the other shoulder and continues on his way back to camp, a new spring to his step.
Go on to Episode #116: Fear Talks
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