Is this a ladder competition by any chance? Max is entering and building his own? :)
Competition "Which the Assessors are trying to do," repeated Dread after a pause. "I take your point, Fab, but I think we might be in over our heads." "So who do we escalate to?" Dread shifted his weight on the desk and, unable to get comfortable, stood up and paced around Fabian's office. Which wasn't really big enough. "We don't," he said after some considerable thought. "There is no-one. The people above us either won't take us seriously, or will hand matters over to the Assessors to sort out, and they will handle things by Assessing us and finding us wanting. The sensible thing to do would be to forget we found any of this out, report the loss of the Staff and the loss of face, and carry on as though nothing was happening." "That might be sensible," said Fabian as he thought it through, "but is it the right thing to do?" Dread suddenly looked old. "By whose standards?" he said heavily. He turned to look out of the window. "By Imperial standards, it's not only the right thing to do, it's the only thing to do. By normal standards it's the right thing to do. It's not our responsibility, we're not in charge of the Assessors or what they do, and we're not in charge of the Halls of Sunset. So--" "Technically," said Fabian. "--arguably yes, it's the right thing to do. What?" "Technically I'm responsible for the Halls of Sunset," said Fabian. "Remember the fuss that Cass has been making about them?" Dread's sigh was so deep that the floor seemed to reverberate in sympathy. "You've messed that up then," he said. "Well, I guess we're going to have to deal with this then. But really, what we want to do is make this someone else's problem. And as fast as possible. And, while I'm really not running away from this, I am going to have to get back to work now. I only dropped by to say hello, and I've got meetings all day again." Fabian nodded understanding and Dread left quietly and quickly. Fabian picked up the paperwork and put it down again thirty seconds later. His mind wouldn't stop returning to the problem of the Assessors and he couldn't concentrate, especially not on a dull proposal regarding the distribution of Imperial sub-offices throughout the Directorates. He stared around the office feeling uncomfortable as his thoughts raced but got nowhere, and his eyes fell on the cardboard box of figurines that the Maestro had lent him. Seized by a sudden impulse he decided to go and take them to Rystin and get an appraisal and some fresh air at the same time.
Cass was waiting for him when he returned. "Where have you been?" she said, tapping her foot on the floor. Fabian gently nudged her aside so that he could unlock his door and she then pushed him firmly aside so that she could enter first. "Meeting with a local expert to request some help with appraisals," said Fabian, confident that Cass couldn't object to this. Instead she ignored him and waved a folder of papers under his nose. "Have you read this?" "They're in your hands, so probably not, no," said Fabian. It wasn't the most diplomatic thing to say but Cass seemed too annoyed to notice. "They're the proposals for the next Directors's meeting," she said, her voice cracking slightly as it did when she was upset. "They're going to put an Assessors office in our building. In the Museum!" "What?" Fabian felt his face stiffen with shock. A moment of guilt flushed through him like a rush of hot air as he remembered not having read the Minutes and proposals yet. "I haven't read that yet, I always do the reading the days before the meeting so that it's fresh." "Well get reading then!" Cass slammed the papers down on his desk, knocking his own copy and spilling it across the wooden surface. "You have to oppose this! We don't want them here until we've got the Halls of Sunset back! This is a power play to undermine us! They're turning this into a competition to see who will own who! I've seen it before, I know what they're up to." "These papers were sent out two weeks ago," said Fabian weakly. "You didn't even know about the Halls of Sunset back then." "But they did! They must have guessed what was coming and they've pre-empted us. It's so clever I could vomit." Fabian looked around for a bin for her before realising that she wasn't being literal. "Right," he said. "Definitely a problem then."
Greg - ugh, I hadn't realized I'd fallen this far behind in comments again. Plus I still need to figure out the January response for the yearlong. Oh well, time to work on this part at least.
More intriguing developments. And interesting to see how far ahead the Assessors seem to have planned...
3 comments:
Is this a ladder competition by any chance? Max is entering and building his own? :)
Competition
"Which the Assessors are trying to do," repeated Dread after a pause. "I take your point, Fab, but I think we might be in over our heads."
"So who do we escalate to?"
Dread shifted his weight on the desk and, unable to get comfortable, stood up and paced around Fabian's office. Which wasn't really big enough.
"We don't," he said after some considerable thought. "There is no-one. The people above us either won't take us seriously, or will hand matters over to the Assessors to sort out, and they will handle things by Assessing us and finding us wanting. The sensible thing to do would be to forget we found any of this out, report the loss of the Staff and the loss of face, and carry on as though nothing was happening."
"That might be sensible," said Fabian as he thought it through, "but is it the right thing to do?"
Dread suddenly looked old. "By whose standards?" he said heavily. He turned to look out of the window. "By Imperial standards, it's not only the right thing to do, it's the only thing to do. By normal standards it's the right thing to do. It's not our responsibility, we're not in charge of the Assessors or what they do, and we're not in charge of the Halls of Sunset. So--"
"Technically," said Fabian.
"--arguably yes, it's the right thing to do. What?"
"Technically I'm responsible for the Halls of Sunset," said Fabian. "Remember the fuss that Cass has been making about them?"
Dread's sigh was so deep that the floor seemed to reverberate in sympathy. "You've messed that up then," he said. "Well, I guess we're going to have to deal with this then. But really, what we want to do is make this someone else's problem. And as fast as possible. And, while I'm really not running away from this, I am going to have to get back to work now. I only dropped by to say hello, and I've got meetings all day again."
Fabian nodded understanding and Dread left quietly and quickly. Fabian picked up the paperwork and put it down again thirty seconds later. His mind wouldn't stop returning to the problem of the Assessors and he couldn't concentrate, especially not on a dull proposal regarding the distribution of Imperial sub-offices throughout the Directorates. He stared around the office feeling uncomfortable as his thoughts raced but got nowhere, and his eyes fell on the cardboard box of figurines that the Maestro had lent him. Seized by a sudden impulse he decided to go and take them to Rystin and get an appraisal and some fresh air at the same time.
Cass was waiting for him when he returned. "Where have you been?" she said, tapping her foot on the floor. Fabian gently nudged her aside so that he could unlock his door and she then pushed him firmly aside so that she could enter first.
"Meeting with a local expert to request some help with appraisals," said Fabian, confident that Cass couldn't object to this. Instead she ignored him and waved a folder of papers under his nose.
"Have you read this?"
"They're in your hands, so probably not, no," said Fabian. It wasn't the most diplomatic thing to say but Cass seemed too annoyed to notice.
"They're the proposals for the next Directors's meeting," she said, her voice cracking slightly as it did when she was upset. "They're going to put an Assessors office in our building. In the Museum!"
"What?" Fabian felt his face stiffen with shock. A moment of guilt flushed through him like a rush of hot air as he remembered not having read the Minutes and proposals yet. "I haven't read that yet, I always do the reading the days before the meeting so that it's fresh."
"Well get reading then!" Cass slammed the papers down on his desk, knocking his own copy and spilling it across the wooden surface. "You have to oppose this! We don't want them here until we've got the Halls of Sunset back! This is a power play to undermine us! They're turning this into a competition to see who will own who! I've seen it before, I know what they're up to."
"These papers were sent out two weeks ago," said Fabian weakly. "You didn't even know about the Halls of Sunset back then."
"But they did! They must have guessed what was coming and they've pre-empted us. It's so clever I could vomit."
Fabian looked around for a bin for her before realising that she wasn't being literal.
"Right," he said. "Definitely a problem then."
Greg - ugh, I hadn't realized I'd fallen this far behind in comments again. Plus I still need to figure out the January response for the yearlong. Oh well, time to work on this part at least.
More intriguing developments. And interesting to see how far ahead the Assessors seem to have planned...
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