The downside is that I really, really don’t want to know if he’s sleeping with Taarel. I’m trying to let him go, but that would be hard to deal with so I’m working very hard on figuring out a way to not be constantly half-aware of people around me. I need to be able to choose to be looking, or not looking, to not just be absent-mindedly aware. I’ve already discovered that Mori’s sleeping with the Eighth Squad captain (or they’re just…chatting…really closely…in the middle of her sleep cycle) and even without my problems with Ruuel I could live without finding out whole bunches of really private stuff about people by accident.
When I was sending my Earth pictures around yesterday, he was actually the first person I addressed the email to. Because he’d been training me, and, well, because I wanted to share them with him and I was very happy. But everyone else I was sending it to was my friend, and I realised I was pushing again, trying to get closer despite all my resolutions, so I removed his name. He’ll read Zee’s training report, after all.
Wonder if Zee will let me test more Earth-related stuff tomorrow?
Friday, July 11
Getting a message across
Big serious discussion today with Maze about The Hidden War. I’ve been ignoring the legal wrangling about it, although I knew that Evil PR Bitch has been slapped with massive fines and some weird kind of house arrest which severely limits her rights and movements. The question hasn’t been so much what happens to her (may she rot), but whether the producers can continue to use the information she provided.
"KOTIS is under a great deal of pressure at the moment," Maze told me. "Unlike our work in the spaces, Muina represents an immense emotional, financial and political…property. The question of whether KOTIS should control what is happening there has been raised again and again by those who see it primarily as a home to reclaim. There is increasing resentment over any attempt to control the information coming out of Muina, a growing sense that there are unnecessary layers of secrecy. KOTIS initially struggled to prevent any use of the information leaked about you altogether, but was met with political opposition as much as legal. It is very difficult to argue that it is not in the public’s interest to know these things, when you can scarcely find a person outside of KOTIS who agrees."
"You’re not leading up to me having to do interviews with reporters are you?"
"No. But the situation has moved on from preventing the continuing broadcast. The news services are actually reporting on each episode as it’s released, operating on the belief that more of the truth is learned in fiction than in the official communications from KOTIS." He sighed. "The hunger for any kind of information about you is immense. We can’t deny you are a pivotal part of the world’s history, and it is no longer considered acceptable to treat you as something we can keep secret."
"KOTIS decided to turn leak to own advantage?"
"Try to." He gave me a nod for recognising basic media manipulation. "The belief in the leak is useful, and the public battle to suppress the information has added to its value. And the show itself, annoying as this situation is, is unreservedly pro-KOTIS."
"Is going to keep telling them about the things which happen to me?" I asked warily. Evil PR Bitch had run off with my file shortly after I’d gone wandering through Kalasa. "Was kind of glad that stupid dreams weren’t going to turn up on gossip forums."
"Perhaps if you hadn’t dreamed Kalasa’s past so spectacularly that would have been possible." He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. "That can’t be undone, and there’s very little chance that we’ll succeed in keeping it from leaking for much longer. Rumours are already surfacing. We are very likely to release the scans of that ceremony, and detail the process involved in gaining full access to Kalasa. As for the ongoing relationship with this drama – because so much of it is being taken as truth, we’re growing increasingly concerned with controlling the amount of fiction."
"Evil Fourth Squad?"
Maze winced. "One of the things we hope to gain trading information is the ability to correct particularly dangerous errors, and to lessen the damage being done to the squads who are linked to major events. There was a scene in tonight’s episode which they’ve agreed to remove–" He shook his head.
"You see episodes ahead of release?"
"And soon scripts, well before production. Because they’re so interested in keeping close to your true story, we don’t anticipate needing to demand changes very often." He made a face. "Terrible as it was, the Array massive served to remind more than a few people that Setari are too valuable to this world to purposelessly toy with. And the situation on Kolar was so bad until their Setari tracked down the source of the Ionoth which have been so destructive there."
I wasn’t particularly happy, but I could tell the main decisions had already been made. "Can I veto stuff as well?"
Maze agreed to that readily enough, then rubbed his temple. "I’ve always been more than pleased to ignore these dramas. Having them included in my duties is not a happy development. Fourth is a strong squad, and will weather this, particularly if we can keep dramatic indulgences to a minimum. But there’s something I do need to settle there." His mouth had gone all thin, the way it does when he’s doing things he doesn’t like. "Ruuel recommended the change in instructor for your Sights training, and said that he’d been unnecessarily strict. If Fourth is one of the squads you’d prefer not to work with, I need to know about it."
I could feel my face burn – a mix of anger and embarrassment. "Fourth my favourite squad other than First. Trust Ruuel very much, strict or not. Only thing seriously upset me with Fourth was Sight training with blindfold. Evil Fourth Squad funny at first, but joke get old very quick. Tonight’s episode nasty about them again? If following my story close, have reached when I go to Earth near-space? Did they get someone else to save me or something?"
"No." Maze was looking relieved. I expect it would have caused him quite a headache to add Fourth to the nasty squad list. "Everything’s a matter of tone and a few extra words. That’s partly why this is so difficult."
He gave me the episode, and went to get us something to eat while I watched. It really bugs me that Evil PR Bitch, and who knows how many other people, have watched me wander around Earth’s near-space and then talk to my family. The show kept to that pretty well, beyond my home looking distinctly Taren, and that they’d had to make up a translation (subtitles) for my sign conversation. I’d never translated it, and never been asked to – a tiny bit of consideration for which I was grateful. I was surprised how well they’d guessed my family’s responses, though they’d made Nick my brother and removed one of my aunts. The girl who plays the sexy kitten version of me is a rather good actress, and you could really see how much she ached to be able to hug her Mum.
Then Lastier showed up, and said almost exactly what Ruuel had said, except he added the things Ruuel had chosen not to say, starting with: "Are you so very selfish?" before explaining the risk I was posing to Earth. Lastier is a very interesting character – all Ruuel’s competence, but with portions of Kajal’s personality. Not outright evil, but blatantly revelling in his own excellence. The saint-like woman they had playing my Mum looked him up and down and signed: "Cruel eyes. Be careful."