Heart seems like a good follow-up prompt to Motivations; I shall see if you're starting another hidden theme or not... ;-)
The Heart Fabian set Sebastian's copy of the Heart down on top of the Maestro's copy of the book, set his cup of coffee next to them, and sat down. The day was proving to be rather busier than he had expected. He considered that he somehow seemed to have homework for the weekend and wondered if he should be a good student and get started on it now. The idea made his lips quirk into a smile and he picked his cup up, sipped his coffee, and decided that that might not be a bad idea. "You're still here, good," said Cass throwing his door open without even bothering to knock. "I was thinking about what you said and -- why do you have two copies of the same book on your desk?" She closed the door behind her with her hand behind her back, not taking her eyes off the two-book stack. "This is a research thing isn't it?" "Um--" "You're comparing them? It's a meta-analysis to see how different editions report the same facts?" "Well--" "Seems like a waste of time, really. Surely the heart of the matter is that there are two editions and to know what differences there might be between them? Such as if one shows that something believed earlier cannot be verified? Like the initial time-and-motion studies that suggested that workers were better off without bathroom breaks." "Ah, wha--?" "That was messy until the second edition came out. I'm glad that was just before my time, really." "Oka--" "Anyway, you're distracting me." "I am?!" "I was thinking about what you said about the Assessors and it made me curious. We have people applying to transfer into the administrative staff from other departments on a quarterly basis, and we transfer people out, but fewer. Generally speaking people arriving here are already a good fit and there aren't a lot of similar posts elsewhere. And the Assessors, logically, should be one of the few departments where we see transfers both to and from. So I checked: there have been no transfers to the Assessors from us in eleven years, and no transfers at all to the Assessors in the last four. There have also been no transfers from the Assessors in the last fourteen years. The last one, in fact, was on June 3rd fourteen years ago and the transferee died three days later in a security incident." "Oh." Fabian was slightly startled that Cass didn't talk over him again and his mouth gaped open for a moment like a goldfish trawling for food. Then he recovered. "What's a 'security incident'?"
"I'm not going to tell you unless you actually pull rank on me," said Cass. "You're entitled to know, as Director, but it happened under your predecessor and we prefer to seal HR records after a death unless there's a good reason not to. Privacy, information security, the new Imperial Data Protection rules. Take your pick." "I don't think I need to know right now," said Fabian, twitching just a little at the mention of the Imperial Data Protection rules. IDPR were a hot topic and trying to understand the arcane laws that had created them and how they applied to artefacts that were thousands of years old was a headache he hated having. "Correct," said Cass. "Did Godfrey die then?" "What? Who?" "Godfrey, he was Director before me." Cass stared at Fabian like he was talking some non-Imperial dialect in a street market. "You called him my predecessor. As in, the person who died for me to take on their job." Cass stared a moment longer and then shook her head as though trying to clear her ears. "He's not dead," she said. "That I know of. Poor choice of words then, call him... your antecedent." "I think that would require him to a relative," said Fabian. "Perh--" "No. The previous Director. Stop being difficult. What I want to know is why we're not good enough for the Assessors, and while I've put out a polite email -- that's a suspicious cough, Fab -- you are better connected... politically, let's say, to find out more. And I want to know. The New Imperial Museum hires and retains quality staff and we should be good enough for any other department!" Fabian managed to choke his laugh, covered by his cough, off and pushed aside the thought that he might receive some questions about Cass's idea of polite emails. "I can ask," he said, his mind racing. Cass provided a certain amount of cover for questions he wanted to ask anyway; being able to say that his HR director was upset about perceived discrimination would go a long way to avoiding people thinking he was prying into things and hunting for secrets. "In fact, I agree with you. If Oswald wants to be an Assessor he should be able to be. And Annabelle, too." "Amanda," said Cass. "Good. Well done, Fab." She turned around and left as abruptly as she'd arrived and Fabian reached for his coffee and discovered that it had gone cold. Wondering if he'd be accosted in the kitchen again, he still decided to go and refill it before trying to start reading the Heart.
3 comments:
Heart seems like a good follow-up prompt to Motivations; I shall see if you're starting another hidden theme or not... ;-)
The Heart
Fabian set Sebastian's copy of the Heart down on top of the Maestro's copy of the book, set his cup of coffee next to them, and sat down. The day was proving to be rather busier than he had expected. He considered that he somehow seemed to have homework for the weekend and wondered if he should be a good student and get started on it now. The idea made his lips quirk into a smile and he picked his cup up, sipped his coffee, and decided that that might not be a bad idea.
"You're still here, good," said Cass throwing his door open without even bothering to knock. "I was thinking about what you said and -- why do you have two copies of the same book on your desk?" She closed the door behind her with her hand behind her back, not taking her eyes off the two-book stack. "This is a research thing isn't it?"
"Um--"
"You're comparing them? It's a meta-analysis to see how different editions report the same facts?"
"Well--"
"Seems like a waste of time, really. Surely the heart of the matter is that there are two editions and to know what differences there might be between them? Such as if one shows that something believed earlier cannot be verified? Like the initial time-and-motion studies that suggested that workers were better off without bathroom breaks."
"Ah, wha--?"
"That was messy until the second edition came out. I'm glad that was just before my time, really."
"Oka--"
"Anyway, you're distracting me."
"I am?!"
"I was thinking about what you said about the Assessors and it made me curious. We have people applying to transfer into the administrative staff from other departments on a quarterly basis, and we transfer people out, but fewer. Generally speaking people arriving here are already a good fit and there aren't a lot of similar posts elsewhere. And the Assessors, logically, should be one of the few departments where we see transfers both to and from. So I checked: there have been no transfers to the Assessors from us in eleven years, and no transfers at all to the Assessors in the last four. There have also been no transfers from the Assessors in the last fourteen years. The last one, in fact, was on June 3rd fourteen years ago and the transferee died three days later in a security incident."
"Oh." Fabian was slightly startled that Cass didn't talk over him again and his mouth gaped open for a moment like a goldfish trawling for food. Then he recovered. "What's a 'security incident'?"
"I'm not going to tell you unless you actually pull rank on me," said Cass. "You're entitled to know, as Director, but it happened under your predecessor and we prefer to seal HR records after a death unless there's a good reason not to. Privacy, information security, the new Imperial Data Protection rules. Take your pick."
"I don't think I need to know right now," said Fabian, twitching just a little at the mention of the Imperial Data Protection rules. IDPR were a hot topic and trying to understand the arcane laws that had created them and how they applied to artefacts that were thousands of years old was a headache he hated having.
"Correct," said Cass.
"Did Godfrey die then?"
"What? Who?"
"Godfrey, he was Director before me." Cass stared at Fabian like he was talking some non-Imperial dialect in a street market. "You called him my predecessor. As in, the person who died for me to take on their job."
Cass stared a moment longer and then shook her head as though trying to clear her ears. "He's not dead," she said. "That I know of. Poor choice of words then, call him... your antecedent."
"I think that would require him to a relative," said Fabian. "Perh--"
"No. The previous Director. Stop being difficult. What I want to know is why we're not good enough for the Assessors, and while I've put out a polite email -- that's a suspicious cough, Fab -- you are better connected... politically, let's say, to find out more. And I want to know. The New Imperial Museum hires and retains quality staff and we should be good enough for any other department!"
Fabian managed to choke his laugh, covered by his cough, off and pushed aside the thought that he might receive some questions about Cass's idea of polite emails.
"I can ask," he said, his mind racing. Cass provided a certain amount of cover for questions he wanted to ask anyway; being able to say that his HR director was upset about perceived discrimination would go a long way to avoiding people thinking he was prying into things and hunting for secrets. "In fact, I agree with you. If Oswald wants to be an Assessor he should be able to be. And Annabelle, too."
"Amanda," said Cass. "Good. Well done, Fab."
She turned around and left as abruptly as she'd arrived and Fabian reached for his coffee and discovered that it had gone cold. Wondering if he'd be accosted in the kitchen again, he still decided to go and refill it before trying to start reading the Heart.
Greg - hah, no, just trying to be helpful.
Cass is a real whirlwind, huh? I like her, but probably best in small doses. I think I'd feel rather overwhelmed if she hung around for too long...
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