A Visitor to the Future - 33 - Surveys and Sniffer Dogs
"How long have you been working together?" I asked.
"I have been with our group for eighty-seven years," said Regolith, "Crude sense of humour aside they are all very good to be around."
"Thanks mate, you too," said Blaise, "The boss, Sasha and I have been doing this since about thirty years post-Consortium. Regolith is the newcomer to the group."
"The boss?"
Blaise explained, "Just a nickname these days, but back in the day she was the CEO. Alexandra is her name, I'll introduce you if she's awake - she's a night owl that one."
"Her alarm is set for ten minutes time," said Regolith, "Once you finish the tour and talk with Sasha she will be ready."
"Don't want to come along then, Regolith?" asked Blaise.
Regolith shook his head, "I must attend to my messages. I said I would review a series of exercises that are taking place near Newn. It was good to meet you both - I leave you in the care of Blaise. Please stay in touch, Tungsten, I enjoyed your fresh perspective."
"The pleasure was mine, thank you," said Tungsten, giving a curt bow which Regolith returned before leaving the room. Blaise put down his drink and threw his arms out wide, "Alright! Proper little tour group then, right, let's go see Sasha."
We made our way out of the comfortable bar area, Blaise taking to lead to walk us through a maze of corridors. "Did you know Regolith was once a military CI?" said Tungsten to me casually as we walked, "One of the oldest CIs in the Consortium. Remarkable. I think he does some consulting with the strategic Orgs - that's what he was mentioning earlier."
"Sasha's ex-military too," said Blaise over his shoulder, "The two have a lot in common."
Our conversation came to a halt as Blaise stopped at a door just like all of the others we had passed so far - hatch-like and plain white.
"Sasha!" he said loudly, "We've got visitors wanting to learn more about auditing. You up for company?"
The door opened immediately and the face of a woman appeared in the narrow gap. If I had to describe it, I would say it was well-worn around the edges - crow's feet were visible around the outside of inquisitive brown eyes which scanned the three of us in detail. But otherwise she looked young and healthy. I could also see the edges of a large pair of over-ear headphones at either side of the face.
"Yes! I hear you walking over here," came the voice in a thick accent I was struggling to place, and prone to slightly mispronouncing or missing words, "Talking away in English. Never do we get Verrin-speaking visitors! My English, not so good. You want to come in?" The door opened.
Once again I had completely forgotten where we were as the door opened to reveal an almost wall-sized window looking out over the clouds and perfect blue sky. The rest of the room was covered by various panels and monitors at eye-level, and desks that could be used while standing up. There were no chairs. Sasha stood at eye-level with Tungsten, carrying herself with a muscular frame. Her hair was a close-cropped brown colour. To my surprise, she then took off her headphones to reveal a pair of heavily modified ears. They were long and pointed, but not in the elfish way - I was put in mind of the ears of a bat. I was considering how to ask about them without offending Sasha, but thankfully Tungsten had a similar idea.
"Nice to meet you. Your ears are fantastic," he said politely, "Do you have auditory enhancements?"
"Yes," said Sasha, not at all phased by the comment, "I like sound - music, harmonics. Very enjoyable."
"Nothing much gets past Sasha," said Blaise, "She can hear a pin drop on the other side of the ship without her headphones on."
"You overstate," said Sasha, waving a hand dismissively, "No, only a screw drop. Much louder."
Tungsten was looking around the panels and various instruments, "What exactly are you working on here? It looks like flight patterns," he said, pointing to various maps and charts with arcing angles and straight lines. Other screens displayed mountains of data - graphs, tables, and even 3D models that I didn't recognise.
"Current project," said Sasha, "Blaise's idea. Air transport survey - check the Consortium is logging its flight plans well. No errors so far, all good."
"Not exactly the most exciting auditing work," admitted Blaise, who then pointed to the blue sky through the window, "But the view is good."
"Bah!" said Sasha suddenly, "Always looking at excitement, this one. No - boring is fine! Boring means I listen to music and work - life is good."
"I was actually telling them earlier about how you helped my mindset when I first started," said Blaise.
"Ah yes," said Sasha, suddenly looking at me, "Do you know sniffer dogs? Blaise was sniffer dog before I help him."
"I'm sorry?" I said.
"Sniffer dogs were dogs that search for illegal things. Some search for explosive, others for drugs, yes?" she explained. I nodded, remembering the animals I'd seen around airports and railway stations.
"Well, if the dog finds no illegal thing for a long time, it gets depressed. Feel it is not doing job well. Dog is sad. So handler must plant illegal thing for dog to find. Dog find it, is happy. Auditors are not dogs, so we must make self happy even when we find nothing. Finding nothing is very good."
I mulled the sentence over, "So you have to find contentment even when you don't find anything wrong?"
"Yes," said Sasha, "And be pig-headed enough to keep working after. Ah, English is difficult - Human?"
"Though I am fully proficient, my friend here is not," said Tungsten, pointing towards me.
"Sorry," I said, "Recently cryocontained."
"Well," she said, with a shrug, "I could use the practice. Alex and crew like to speak English sometimes." Then she said a sentence I didn't recognise to Blaise who looked thoughtful and then replied in the same tongue. "Ah!" she continued, the meaning dawning on her, "Cryo-contained! I see, on ice, frozen! New to the Consortium. What do you think of the great weapon so far?"
"Sasha has a very... unique perspective on the Consortium," said Blaise by way of an explanation, "Especially when expressing it in English instead of Verrin or Human."
"Yes, but not wrong," said Sasha, "Consortium - greatest weapon deployed, even if not lethal. Ended all wars, all hostile armed conflict. Serves as deterrent. Result good, but Consortium is still weapon, no?"
"An interesting perspective," Tungsten said, "You mean like a nuclear deterrent?"
"Yes!" replied Sasha, pointing at Tungsten, "I like this one! No person does harm to another, or the Consortium stops them."
"But that is not the primary reason," said Tungsten, "The Consortium removed all the reasons for conflict, did it not?"
"Ah, but in interim? Was deterrent. Other benefits came over time. Deterrent was large contributor in early decades. Weapon! You should read my papers - in Human, much better explained. Translate to English if you wish."