Analog, Digital, Transportation. Ira Sani and New Dover continue.
Next Post »
+ Show First Post
Total: 702
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

Then they'll come in and inquire.

Permalink

The door opens on a sort of office area with a desk and some sample products on display and some comfy seating. There's a loud beep when they open the door. Large windows allow a view into a clean and organized industrial space with half a dozen humans - including Danny - and one belul in it, all doing some kind of work with the weird tools. A man working with some spinning tool notices the noise and stops the spinning and walks from the work area to the office to meet the two visitors.

"Jeremy Rost, Rost Manufacturing, what can I do for ya?"

Permalink

"We're with the imperial government, looking for Danny, a human we believe works here."

Permalink

"Danny works here, yeah. I'm guessin' this is about the bar fight."

Permalink

"You officers going to oblige me to fetch him right now? 'Cause I'm not entirely up-and-up on what the law permits you to do and I'd rather go find Lady Katherine if anything legal is going to happen here."

Permalink

They can see him through the window. The caralendar can even tell which human is Danny and is watching him.

"We can wait while you find her," she says.

Permalink

"Please have a seat." Jeremy Rost indicates the various chairs.

He sits at his own desk and pokes at a thing on it and holds a different thing attached by a cord up to his ear and waits for a minute before saying,

"Hello, Katherine. Some imperial government types are asking- Yes, Danny. How do I tell if they are legitimate? ...I see. Okay, could you come over here when you get a moment? I'd rather be sure. Of course. Thank you."

He sets the thing down. "She will be here in five to ten minutes."

Permalink

The caralendar takes a chair but keeps looking through the window. The agerah sits on the floor. They wait.

Permalink

Jeremy does paperwork at his desk, glancing warily at the visitors once in a while. The people inside keep working on various machines.

 

Katherine arrives before too long, hair tied up neatly, looking prim and proper as always, carrying a notebook and pen. "Hello. I am Katherine. Jeremy would like me to examine your imperial emblems, just to be sure there are no problems here."

Permalink

They both stand so their pendants are clearly visible, but don't take them off.

Permalink

She carefully compares them to the (clearly and boldly watermarked) verification amulet she pulls from a pocket.

"They're legitimate, Jeremy."

Jeremy sighs. "Don't suppose you'll let me keep him until the end of his shift? Being down a worker shakes up the schedule."

Permalink

"When is the end of his shift?" asks the agerah.

Permalink

"Six PM. Eight to six, with an hour break for lunch. Suppose in the spirit of cooperatin' I could probably manage without him after lunch without losing too much time, that's only in an hour. I'll need to hire someone else for tomorrow anyway, sounds like."

Permalink

"We can wait until lunch," says the agerah.

Permalink

"Least you didn't come barging in and rifling through my stuff like the bobbies did in London. I don't think he'll bolt or anything. He's a bit stupid but not that stupid. Thanks for stopping by, Katherine. I won't keep you."

Jeremy stands up and heads for the workshop door.

Permalink

They watch carefully but don't try to stop him.

Permalink

He goes back to work. He talks to everyone in the workshop, including Danny, but they can't hear about what. Danny doesn't bolt.

Katherine asks them, "As long as you're waiting, mind if I ask some questions about imperial law enforcement? There are some things I still don't understand..."

Permalink

"Sure," says the caralendar, still watching Danny.

Permalink

So she quizzes them on law enforcement for a while. She does a good 'innocently curious'. She's mostly curious about what kind of people become officers and judges and so on and what kind of schooling or experience they tend to have and how the whole organization is structured (though she's a bit more subtle about the last bit).

Permalink

They look for knowledge mages and people who are good at making it easy for people to report crimes and deal with law enforcement. They look for people with quick reflexes and good magic for subduing people nonlethally. It's very important to the imperial government to subdue suspects nonlethally whenever possible. Judges are appointed based on their ability to consider all relevant aspects of a situation and make judgments that make the empire safer and more peaceful. Imperial judges are almost never appointed without a year of study and the endorsement of one of Har's law schools, that's happened twice in the last hundred forty-four years and both of those judges are noted autodidacts who've proven themselves over and over.

They seem to consider explaining these things a public service and part of the job the government is paying them for.

Permalink

She might be a good person to make it easy to report crimes and deal with law enforcement, but mostly with this one little community. They trust her and she thinks getting them to cooperate with imperial law is important.

Where are the law schools? What's the pace of study and tuition like? If they know, that is.

Permalink

"My great-great-grandmother negotiated the surrender of the Confederacy," says the caralendar, "and the most important concession she got was that the government of the State of Anavel Sani would be chosen from the clans. It's the most important thing for peaceful integration. We both want that. So let me know if I can help you. I don't know much about the process of becoming a judge, though."

"I know something about law school and you could make it worth my while to tell you," says the agerah.

Permalink

"I may well take you up on that," she tells the caralendar. "Perhaps over tea, some other time. I've found that caralendri generally enjoy tea like humans do."

And to the agerah, "A ring to tell me the names and locations of the four most credible in your opinion law schools, and another ring to describe how to get into them and what tuition is like, and another ring to describe what kinds of skills and knowledge help you in law school."

Permalink

"Sasai College west of Har City, Lanbari School of Imperial Law and Precedent in Lanbari, College of Devor in Elit City, Achav School of Law in Achav. Enrollment might work differently at different schools, I only know how it works at Achav. You take a test, if you fail you can't enroll, if you pass there's an auction and they take the top-bidding however many students graduated or dropped out since the last auction. You should read laws you don't need to know before you start, building codes for states you don't live in, that kind of thing. And read Iri-Reiu on the purpose of the law."

Total: 702
Posts Per Page: