From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: [PW!] Message To The Troops Date: Monday, January 03, 2000 10:12 PM Hedgehogey wrote: > Dopplers lecture had almost made cinder forget his original purpose for coming > there. > > "One last question." > > "Shoot, but be quick." > > "How do you know if you have a traitor among your troops?" Cinder said, voicing > the suspicion he had kept quiet for a long time. Doppler's expression gained a thousand years in an instant. "I know..." Cinder raised an eyebrow. He had not expected Doppler to just admit something like this. "Even your closest friends will betray you if they want...if they have sufficient reason to. The trick is to see what motivates each and every one you would trust. It is, of course, not possible to give the personal touch to everyone in groups as large as ours. Telepathy helps, but even it can only do so much. So the trick to the trick is to set things up such that traitors screen themselves out, or at least make themselves stand out, without you having to lift a finger for each individual." He formed a hand with more fingers than Cinder could quickly count. "Even between my trusted aides and myself, we would need more fingers than we have, so to speak." Doppler let the hand collapse. "Do not try to merely make outside contact impossible - we are all drawn to the forbidden, to some degree; there are many who do the dangerous, the daring, even the outright stupid for no other reason than that it was forbidden. Instead, make it so that those who would infiltrate you truly take up your cause, or have no choice but to betray their motives." Doppler cast a weary glance at the stage below. "I can see three right now who thought to plant themselves in our organization. They were determined to find this place, so we let them think we had recruited them, before they found a way that we might not have detected. They will never know another sunrise." "And how do you make traitors reveal themselves?" "That...is not a quick answer. I am not sure I even have a perfect answer. I can arrange for you to be briefed on our standard loyalty and initialization tests; while I suspect you already have similar, you may find ours to be a bit more...efficient. The deeper tests would do you little good; they are best molded to fit each leader's style - and you are not me. And, of course, these tests are not always reliable: no matter how much you refine the models, there will always be unforeseen situations in which perfectly legitimate activity will trip the suspicions; telepathy is the only way around that we know, for even those who have problems or are ashamed of their thoughts know that we will help, or at least not make worse, any situations the mind scans reveal...and they know it because that actually happens; betraying the trust of a scanned innocent is forbidden precisely because it would make others unwilling to be scanned. But the best measure is to make your troops believe, such that even those who would turn against you lose all heart to do so. Some of my staunchest supporters were originally planted by the League as spies. We have seen each others' hearts since they turned away from that organization; they hate their former employers even more than I, if you can imagine such a thing." Cinder snorted. He had, once, seen one of Doppler's minions go on a killing spree through an unlicensed gym. Bloodlust had been the minion's only emotion. Doppler's other followers terminated their berserk companion, then claimed to the shell shocked survivors that the killer was actually a League experiment in advanced training. It actually worked: follow-up reports showed that ten of the surviving trainers in attendance turned in their licenses within a month. "I can. I will think about your advice. Could the briefing happen soon? I have a need for some help." "Eager, aren't we?" "No, just concerned for my next battle." "Motivated, then. But if your problem is of that nature..." "It is." "...then perhaps a briefing would not be the best mode of delivery." Doppler tapped away on a nearby computer screen, then withdrew what looked like a set of wraparound shades with an adjustable rear half. "You may have heard about these." "I think I have. 'Tactical computers', with monitors in the glasses, right?" "That's one term for them, and appropriate - they do give you some warning and target identification. But they're also useful in emergency training situations. To put it bluntly, these things can think for you, get you up to speed in certain skills until you can handle them on your own. They're still in testing, and we're using them more for spatial tasks - how to perform certain medical procedures, mechanical maintenance, and so forth. This will be the first time anyone's used them for social instruction - though it may be more of an aid in helping you actually carry out the tests, if you set them to scan for biometrics like perspiration." Cinder took the shades. "How do they work?" "Input's through psi control, but reading brain waves by skin contact with the head works for even psi-mutes. It can also watch your hands on a virtual keyboard or take spoken input, if you want. Output's mainly through the glasses and the earphones. There's also a standard input/output jack inside the back band. Go ahead and try it on." He did so. "You mean, I just think, and..." #Try speaking through it.# Cinder blinked. He knew Doppler's crew valued telepathic training, but... #You mean like this?# #Hmm...# "That was garbled; it must still be calibrating. You'll get used to it. Go ahead and keep it; I've put a few programs on there you may find...interesting. Just make sure to tell us how well they work, ok? Oh, and don't get too rough with it - we're still testing them, and durability hasn't been our highest priority yet, so it *will* break if it takes enough of a hit." "I'll keep that in mind." He took off the shades and regarded them. "I came here hoping for an answer...I didn't expect to carry it out like this." Doppler chuckled. "Friend, you would be suprised just how many of our questions have already been answered, if only we look for the answers in the right places. That's the scientist part of the balance at its best...or close to it, anyway." Cinder nodded, looking towards the exit, when it hit him. "'Friend'?" When he looked back, Doppler was already gone. Before he could think about it too much, a gentle voice filled the air. "Warning: the Bottle Rocket has apparently suffered a containment violation. Spill pattern indicates something is driving it. Spill is headed northwards, though current course will miss our base completely. All non-resident personnel are requested to leave as soon as-" Neo J. Menasor wrote: > Arcturus's mind was lost among the beast-like instincts of this animal. > He screamed, a loud shrieking sound. He spread his wings and roared. The scream - was it nearby? Hard to tell from here - drowned out the rest of the announcement, until... "Repeat, potential intruder detected at 8-24. Intruder is outside security zone; security monitor but do not engage." Cinder wondered for a moment how they could get away with an intercom here. Would the voices not echo down some exit tunnel? His query was answered as he passed a formerly open tunnel now sealed shut. From this side, he could see the blast doors' carved grooves, but he could also see outcroppings of rock from the natural cover on the other side. Fortunately, his path to the outbound teleporter pad was clear. TBC?