36. Character
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Character


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If you rummage through the rubble in an inquisitive pique,
You will see that fallen down, there isn't one of us unique
And yet time and tempo dictate that some day we all must stand,
To be counted each and every as something rare and grand.

He hadn't been expected.

When Director Bailey had put out a call for warm bodies, just hours after the disaster, he'd joined up immediately. He had ties to Site-43, and the nagging feeling that more were preparing to lace up around him in the future. He'd been irritated at the surprise on the faces of his colleagues; his present career path might have been bookish, but he himself hardly was. He'd crossed the globe, travelled dimensions, and participated in a bona-fide heist.

"Yeah." Harold March, the MTF Commander, had nodded wearily. "But are any of those things unrelated to doohickeys or libraries?"

He'd had to admit that none of them were.

Still, there was his undeniable technical expertise. But he'd been quite put-out to find that Veiksaar wouldn't let him near the malfunctioning .aic — wasn't she supposed to be in jail, or something? — and that nobody's first priority was getting their email back up and running.

So, here he was.

In command of his own division, mind you. More people presently worked under him than any of the Chairs or Chiefs could claim. His pool of potential personnel was larger than the surviving population of the Site, though it was a very shallow pool indeed.

"No," he sighed. "We are not going over this again. I get where you're coming from—"

"They're rich people." Whoever Researcher Hargreaves was on a good day, on this very bad day they were a person who interrupted sentences they did not like. "What use are rich people right now? Or ever?"

He rubbed his temples. "They're pataphysical constructs. Tailored to specific narrative purposes. What they can become is infinitely variable after that, but the starting conditions give us lots of good options." He tapped the list on the desk between them. It contained names like 'Winterthrop Thorpeness', 'Gingerbella Ladysmith' and 'Lord Functon'. And worse. He liked that a lot. That was a rare treat for him. "These people are malleable. Robertson wrote the toffs on the Giant as gullible buffoons. We can use gullible buffoons right now. Tell them, I don't know, tell them J. Pierpont Morgan is offering a reward to whoever shifts the most fallen tiles, and they'll dig right in."

Hargreaves looked thoughtful. "I was afraid you wanted to use them in management positions," they admitted.

He snorted. "Hell no. That's what the maids and stevedores are for. They actually know how logistics works." He clapped Hargreaves on the back, perhaps a little too heartily. "We're overturning the Victorian order in miniature tonight."

Already they'd unfrozen all the stokers and engineers, organized them under John Hext and deputized them as junior technicians. They were swarming the problem systems, only somewhat hampered by the fact that they had been born in a world that would never know microchips. The various crewmembers had been drafted by just about every Section; they understood Duty and Loyalty above all else, and that was very valuable when the rest of the Site's ordinarily indefatigable staff were dead on their feet. Captain Hollander had been sat in front of a radio transmitter and told to make encouraging speeches over the PA. They'd only needed a ten-second delay on those, and had only used it twice.

"You know," said Hargreaves, "it's supposed to be our job to stop fictional breakouts like this."

He nodded. "One thing you'll come to realize is that most of the things our job is supposed to be, are bullshit."

Dr. McDoctorate.

He frowned. That one-liner had felt punchy enough to end the day on. He'd expected to get a couple of hours' sleep while the simulated workforce ran in the background.

Come and find me.

Hargreaves frowned with him. "What's the matter, sir?"

"You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

He shrugged, and headed for the door. "A heroic summons, or I'm no pataphysicist."

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Sevara

Indivisible

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Basil

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