Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #167: Academic Arrogance (5/20/01)
Alain Ro pauses on the crest of a rise, in view of the Controller's private quarters, as the sun rises over the mountains.
Nick is puttering around the living room of the chalet while he waits for Arat to finish showering.
Alain Ro takes a deep breath of fresh air, trying to separate that from the less pleasant odors of wood smoke and latrines in use.
Nick understands Arat's distaste for the Narosians, but wonders once more if there might be a way to allow Arat to use the bath house.
Alain Ro is impatient to resume the interviews. He understands that a Sime needs some down time around transfer, but he thought during post-syndrome they were as stable as they get.
Alain Ro thinks Arat has had more than enough time and must be stalling him again.
Alain Ro approaches the chateau door and signals.
Nick would not dispute that statement; complete unconsciousness is a stable condition.
Nick looks at the door in some surprise, then answers it.
Alain Ro bows.
Nick: Professor Ro, what brings you here so early?
Alain Ro: Ah. Sosu Nick. A pleasure to see you this fine morning.
Nick had always envisioned academics as keeping to a more relaxed schedule.
Alain Ro takes another deep breath. Close to the chateau, the scent is more pine and less latrine.
Alain Ro: I wanted to schedule some appointments with the Controller, to resume our work.
Alain Ro glances around but Arat is not in view inside.
Alain Ro: Perhaps you are authorized to make those arrangements?
Alain Ro does not have the job descriptions down too precisely.
Nick's eyes harden just a bit at the mention of further interviews.
Nick did not appreciate having his channel show up for transfer as a nervous wreck.
Nick: Yes, perhaps we should discuss your work, and what exactly it requires. Do come in.
Alain Ro: Certainly.
Alain Ro does not miss the hard edge in Nick's tone.
Nick steps back to allow Ro to enter the living room, out of sight and hearing of the morning shift bodyguards.
Nick knows that Arat will be zlinning the entire conversation, but privacy is relative, after all.
Alain Ro has not up until now had a chance to really get to know Nick; an oversight he intends to correct immediately.
Alain Ro thinks you really cannot understand anything at all without seeing it in context.
Alain Ro notices how Nick directs him to a more private area of the residence. Will this discussion be confidential, then?
Nick: Professor Ro, while I understand that you wish to pursue your work to the greatest extent possible, I trust that you agree that Arat's first priority must be his responsibilities as channel and Controller?
Alain Ro smiles wryly.
Alain Ro: I understand that as his Donor that is your first priority.
Nick thinks that this out-Territory Gen displays more understanding of his profession than most, and hopes that will make this conversation easier.
Alain Ro's own priorities do not necessarily mirror those of the Tecton....
Nick: I expect that the other Tecton staff, and the renSimes and Gens who depend on Arat to make sure that transfer and medical services are available as required, share that priority.
Alain Ro nods; yes, that is the context.
Alain Ro: While these interviews take time, I would not wish to interfere with operations.
Nick: If you understand that much about how the Tecton operates, then I expect you are also aware that as Arat's Donor, I have the authority to limit or forbid any actions of his which could interfere with his duties?
Nick: It is not a matter of time, but of stress.
Alain Ro raises his eye-brows. This is rather an aggressive stance for an in-T Gen.
Alain Ro thinks, but then Nick is not your average recruit, either.
Nick: I cannot keep Arat stable enough to perform his duties, if your interviews continue to upset him so thoroughly.
Alain Ro: He was upset? By what?
Nick: Arat is an extremely private individual. To reveal personal information to a stranger is a very real torture to him.
Alain Ro was deliberately trying to rattle Arat, and he is pleased to see he succeeded. The reaction is interesting.... Nick's as well as Arat's.
Nick: You have had three very extensive interviews with him. Surely you have enough material with which to conclude your research on the Audnes family?
Alain Ro smiles gently.
Alain Ro: We are delving nine generations into the past and projecting as far into the future.
Alain Ro: No, I am afraid we have not yet exhausted the material.
Alain Ro does understand he may have exhausted the interviewee, however.
Alain Ro: Now, while I myself am eager to continue, truly there is no rush.
Alain Ro: History marches on, of course, but it is eternal.
Alain Ro: Perhaps you might have some suggestions on how to make the process less... torturous.
Arat, who can clearly zlin that Nick and Alain Ro are talking in the living room, finally manages to win free of the shower and retreats to the bedroom. He hopes Nick can hold Ro off until he gets presentable -- which may take some time -- without offending the man.
Arat really doesn't like it when people show up without appointments.
Alain Ro is curious what Nick will prescribe for stress-reduction.
Arat would just leave by the back door to avoid him, except that there is no way to get to it without going through the living room.
Nick: I am glad to hear that you are prepared to be reasonable. I would suggest confining your questions to lines of questioning that do not make him visibly uncomfortable.
Nick is well aware that Arat's discomfort about discussing private matters would be clearly perceptible to anyone who wasn't totally blind. And deaf.
Alain Ro: Unfortunately the truths I seek are sometimes unpleasant.
Alain Ro thinks that he will leave the pretty version of history to flacks on the government payroll.
Alain Ro thinks that data doctored to eliminate uncomfortable ideas is utterly worthless.
Nick: Perhaps I was not clear enough. If Arat leaves your next interview in a state which requires me to administer therapy before he can work, as has happened after previous interviews, I will forbid him from granting any more of them.
Nick: Tecton law and physical necessity will compel him to obey such a command, whatever his personal preferences.
Alain Ro: The Controller is incapacitated by a conversation?
Alain Ro knew Arat was distressed, but no Gen officer would admit to losing his cool that way and expect to keep his command.
Nick: Yes, when that conversation consists entirely of interrogation on matters of which he can't bear to speak, even to his closest associates.
Alain Ro considers the willingness to confront unpleasant realities a key element in the make-up of a leader.
Alain Ro thinks that Arat's account demonstrates a significant capacity to do exactly that; he wonders why Nick is so over-protective of a man who is clearly a survivor.
Nick: What Arat does with his free time is his own business, but only insofar as it doesn't affect his ability to carry out his duties.
Alain Ro: Well, then, perhaps you could help me understand what aspects of the conversations were particularly troubling?
Nick is a Farris-trained Donor, and 75% Narosian in addition, and thus is mentally and physically incapable of not mother-henning a distressed Arat.
Alain Ro thinks Nick's perspective may be quite informative.
Nick: Arat described your interviews of consisting alternately of questions which were unbearably personal, or on general matters of which he could not offer a solid opinion.
Alain Ro: Ah... define unbearably.
Alain Ro doesn't think that questions like "describe a typical day of your childhood" to be particularly intrusive, though it was clear Arat found that one distressing.
Nick: For Arat, any details of his life which are not already in the public record can be assumed to be unbearably personal. Given the extent of the public interest in him, that should leave you plenty of material.
Alain Ro raises his eyebrows.
Alain Ro: If the material I was seeking were already in the public record, I would not require a private interview.
Alain Ro: That material, for the most part, is compounded of misinformation and speculation by people with no direct way to verify the facts.
Alain Ro: Which is what I am here to do.
Alain Ro: Sosu Nick, how long have you been assigned to work with Controller Arat?
Nick raises an eyebrow at the apparent non sequitur.
Nick: We have worked together off and on for several years. 1
Alain Ro: And when assigned, you are responsible for his physical health and psychological stability?
Nick: It isn't quite that simple. A channel's Donor does bear primary responsibility for his heath and well-being. However, as the ranking Donor on the Dam site, I have the authority--and the duty--to overrule any Donor who is not performing that duty to my satisfaction.
Nick doesn't want Ro to get any ideas about going behind Nick's back to Beni.
Alain Ro smiles slightly at the chest-thumping.
Nick: Now, I am sure that Arat would be able to help you identify the misconceptions in the public record.
Nick: Given the nature of your agreement with him, and his desire to fulfil its terms as honorably as possible, I expect he will volunteer as much additional information as he can bear to. You will have to be satisfied with that.
Alain Ro, as the heir of a blue line out-T family with old money and vast holdings, is not easily intimidated.
Alain Ro: You are very protective of him.
Alain Ro: Don't you think he is capable of setting limits for himself?
Nick: Of course not. He's a Farris channel; none of them have any conception of limits, or even self-preservation, when it comes to anything which they see as a duty.
Alain Ro: So you overrule his judgment with your own.
Alain Ro: How does that make you feel, giving orders to a Controller?
Alain Ro wonders who is really in charge here.
Nick: It's my job.
Alain Ro: That wasn't what I asked.
Nick has honestly given rather little thought to Arat's exalted rank, and how it appears to outsiders, probably because he is so intimately acquainted with the channel's vulnerabilities.
Nick: Professor Ro, I don't get some sort of thrill out of exercising my authority over the channels in my care, if that's what you're asking.
Alain Ro: You are obviously eager to exercise your authority over my own activities.
Nick: If you can manage to conduct your interviews without upsetting Arat so profoundly, then I will gladly allow them to continue.
Nick: Indeed, I would have no authority to stop them.
Alain Ro: Well, then, as a professional Donor, perhaps you might consider cooperating with me to get the information without putting stress on your client, rather than attempting to obstruct my work?
Alain Ro: I realize our priorities are different. However, I assure you that I am not just engaged in idle gossip-mongering. Zelerod was also brushed off before he published his seminal paper.
Arat nearly throws his hair brush out the window in frustration, but manages to confine himself to stamping his foot instead.
Arat feels trapped; he can't leave without getting interviewed.
Arat wishes Nick or Jeniard were trapped with him.
Nick raises an eyebrow at this display of academic arrogance.
Nick thinks that academic arrogance is much less impressive than the Farris version.
Alain Ro thinks that perhaps Nick underestimates the iron fist behind his velvet glove.
Alain Ro: Perhaps you would prepare for me a list of specific topics Controller Arat cannot bear to discuss?
Alain Ro realizes this means Arat would have to at least mention them to Nick, a good measure of just how unspeakable they really are.
Alain Ro: I could obtain that information from alternate sources.
Nick: His childhood. His parents. The compromises his family had to make to survive as Farrises in a junct world.
Nick: Beyond that, I would have to see your areas of interest.
Alain Ro: Those are precisely the subjects of my inquiry.
Alain Ro: I am interested in the compromises people need to make to form social systems that survive under various environmental conditions.
Alain Ro: I am interested in sociological structures, their intersection with economic conditions and personal choice.
Nick: Perhaps you could find a way to ask your questions in more general terms, then?
Alain Ro: That might be possible.
Nick: It was the Audnes family's public face which ruled Othwol, not their private one.
Alain Ro: But the public face emerges from the private one, and, as I have discovered, is profoundly changed by it.
Nick: You have already extracted far more information on Audnes private matters than any non-Audnes has ever learned. Surely you have skill enough to extrapolate the additional information you require from matters which Arat can discuss without such pain?
Alain Ro: I have discovered whole areas that were totally undocumented and impossible to extrapolate.
Alain Ro: Who would have guessed that the fearsome Audnes Raiders were secretly experimenting with transfer decades before Unity?
Alain Ro: And those experiments influenced the policies they used to govern Othwol.
Nick: You see? Your reputation as a research historian is already assured. There is no necessity to disrupt the selyn-delivery system here, and endanger the lives of thousands of people.
Alain Ro: Do you think I care about my "reputation" as a historian?
Alain Ro: Sir, I am developing a theory of historical change that will be used to actively transform government and make policy.
Alain Ro: These studies are vital to the future of civilization. I will not rest until I have achieved my purposes.
Alain Ro: But certainly I can make allowances for the sensitivities of my subjects.
Nick: I admire your dedication. However, if Arat collapses--as he has done before, when stressed too far--and the renSimes here can't get transfers and are forced to kill, that would also have a very profound impact on history.
Nick: Please bear that in mind.
Alain Ro: I have absolutely no wish to drive the Controller into a break-down. Quite the contrary; I require him calm and alert.
Alain Ro: So I will expect you to guide and assist me in redesigning the interview technique appropriately.
Alain Ro: Then we will both achieve our objectives.
Nick: Very well. Perhaps we could meet later this week, and discuss how you might approach your next interview?
Alain Ro: That would please me very much.
Alain Ro tries to hide his smile. Nick has the potential to be a useful ally.
Alain Ro does not believe that only Farrises can make history.
Arat fights with a snarl in the bedroom. He has no idea that Ro and Nick are plotting about him.
Alain Ro bows courteously.
Alain Ro: I'll schedule the appointment through your office.
Nick nods agreement, making a mental note to consult with Arat about exactly what limits Arat wants to set on interview topics.
Alain Ro leaves. Soon outside the door, he begins to whistle softly under his breath.
Nick is quite willing to use his Donor's authority to restrict Ro's inquiry to any extent Arat wishes. And as far beyond that as is necessary for his comfort.
Notes:
1) "Several" in this case means two years and one month. [return]
Go on to Episode #168: Duty is as Duty Does
Return to the Index of Episodes