[Voice]

[gaveherwings]

[There's a brief flash of chrome, linoleum and the blue cotton sleeve of scrubs, before video is swapping out for audio only.

But there's a constant background sizzle, chatter and the clink of plates and coffee cups that's still telling of his location]

And it's back to debating birthing ethics over short stacks and omlettes... (which they must see

Comments

[12second_orz]

Everyone loves a conspiracy, doctor. How else is someone supposed to make their own dull little life seem part of something interesting? [his tone makes it clear that he isn't among the 'they' he's talking about]

[gaveherwings]

There is no conspiring here. Just health care professionals, attempting to do their best in a highly irregular situation, drawn up sharply under the public eye.

[VOICE, argh]

[12second_orz]

I don't doubt. But "just in: doctors doing their jobs" doesn't quite have the same spin to it as "undercover SERO doctors seize control of darkness baby", now, does it?

[VOICE, argh]

[gaveherwings]

There's nothing undercover about it. It's generally not the public's business to know the details of a patient's care.

[12second_orz]

Surely you can't expect the dregs to drop their curiosity in the face of such a juicy piece of gossip? They're only human, after all.

[gaveherwings]

Sometimes I miss when no one aside from the regent's entourage really gave a damn what went on in my division.

[12second_orz]

[He had his own division at some point? Only one way to find out just how prestigious we're talking here.] "The regent's entourage"?

[gaveherwings]

Here we go again-

The Regent of Romdeau City, in his old age- well, you might say he was rather like Governor Redgrave: inert, feckless. At least, that was how I saw his rapid deterioration, in the brief time I was permitted up there for audience.

So in the meanwhile, a large portion of his administrative duties were carried out by his entourage- four stationary autoreivs, electronic intelligence, designed to offer rational and balanced viewpoints for judicious supplementary guidance in leadership.

For the most part, department chiefs like Creed and I were answerable to no one but the administrative bureau's collective, and to one another.

[12second_orz]

[Maybe he's just spent too much time around Hyodo, but the idea of associating "old age" with "inertia"... it's unthinkable. That man might have been a convincing lunatic, but there was genius behind those eyes. Perhaps that's why even now he finds it difficult to hate him, after everything.

But still. At least now he knows what the rational forces Daedalus referred to before are in a little more detail, as well as the place he's from; 'Romdeau' obviously isn't from his own version of Earth in any way, so it's not so strange that the doctor looks so young any more.]

I see, I see. So, in other words, you all but had free reign while you were at home? [he chuckles] That's a lot of responsibility. I hope you put it to good use. [and again, his tone makes it clear that 'good' is perfectly relative here]

[gaveherwings]

More or less. As much freedom as one might have in an orderly, upended fishbowl- which really is nothing, compared to how it is here.

Which is maybe why I don't find the idea of being 'stuck' on this island for the rest of my life so appallingly limiting as others. Which is not to say I wouldn't like to see the rest of this world, eventually.

I inherited all the failures of my predecessors and our creators. I did what I could with those- and for what it's worth, on the whole we saw less accidents and death from violence than we do in Siren's Port, virtually no disease so long as the atmospheric contaminants were eliminated, basic standards of living were elevated and equitable, and hereditary defects were screened out of the populace to the best of our ability.

When people ask me if Romdeau was intended to be some kind of utopia, I remind them that balance and civility and comes at a cost.

[12second_orz]

Oh, trust me [hah.], I understand the sentiment completely. A fresh start isn't all that terrible, all things considered.

[while the vast differences between 'citizen of an "upended fishbowl"' (again, like something out of a sci fi film) and "yakuza screwup" are obvious, there's still something familiar there. After all, what sort of life does he have waiting for him? He's undoubtedly been dismissed, and God only knows what else Hyodo has in store for him.]

This Romdeau, though... it sounds the opposite of everything I've ever known. Science hasn't even seen all of the human genome, let alone begun to alter it where I'm from. I suppose that kept the majority of people happy, your little bubble? People like predictability and stability- it gives some misguided sense of safety.

[gaveherwings]

So I'm told- the full human genome remains a mystery to this age. Well, there are some elements of life that will always remain a mystery, and...that's what keeps things interesting, in a field like mine.

I've been very curious, in fact, to see how far SERO's genetic labs have come along. I hear they're comparatively advanced, for the rest of this world.

Population regulation and citizen selection is one of those things that everyone took for granted, unless you were closely involved in the process. Happiness was honestly not so important as tranquility.

Careful social stability was an absolute necessity, for Romdeau. A contained environment requires rigid management, down to the very basic life support systems like oxygen and water production and renewal, carbon resources. We couldn't just- ship things in, imports, like they do on this island. Even under the veil of placidity and perfection, if people ever fell out of emotional balance, into rebellion, into a destructive capacity, then everything could collapse quickly

[12second_orz]

It certainly seems as though they're more advanced. [Daedalus can't see, but his left hand has absently crossed his right, new tissue against old.] Then again, I'm hardly one to judge.

[But engineering social stability as a whole? He gives a little whistle.] Impressive. The economics of controlling social spheres is more my area; keeping the odds swung towards a certain sector, reinforcing the hierarchy... but that's hardly as all-pervasive as you mean. [And it always came with the eternal problem of the pyramid. The slave has nothing to lose and therefore he is the only one capable of taking down the emperor...

But he doesn't want to think about that.]

Self-actualisation? Do you mean artificial intelligence? [he's less cynical about it than he sounds, but old habits die hard]

[gaveherwings]

Economic power, in my experience here, is a relatively cruel thing on the whole.

And yes. Some autoreivs were partially organic only in musculature, but mostly mechanical, synthetic and electronic tools at our disposal. Assistants. They became sentient and capable of egocentric thought, with the Cogito Virus.

[12second_orz]

Life is cruel, doctor. A king must have some way to defend his fort.

I take it that your 'electronic tools' didn't take so kindly to the system when they became conscious and intelligent enough to comprehend their role in it?

[gaveherwings]

While most men desire to live like kings, not all are born to. Is that fair?

And that's right. Many took a violent posture, and needed to be dismantled to preserve the public safety. In the end, the forces of the immigrant autoreiv disposal units and the security bureau combined couldn't do that fast enough.

But their rebellion is understandable. Conscious and free-willed beings capable of thought should not be kept in a posture of servitude, especially not in the sudden, startling awareness of the themselves in relation to the wold. That is why I oppose slavery here. And why I took my own entourage offline before any outbreak of Cogito passed through my facility for a second time.