Wildden the Disciplined Student

  The Governance Division Chief pulled out his tablet after the Safeguard left the booth.

[GOV COMMAND INTERFACE]
[USER: GOVCHIEF]
[PASSWORD: $$$$$$$]

>> Search Wildden Safeguard Superior
..
..
..
<<
key id: 176298, privilege level: C3P, MO

 >> Set-Rebirth 176298 Enable (RE_f ^ RB_f)

Rebirth Granted (RE_f ^ RB_f)

>> Set-Mode (E|B|M)

Mode Set Granted (Multi-Set)

>> Transfer self 176298 (I_SP)

Transfer complete.

Ideally, the Governance Minster wouldn't have to personally attend to new members of the special projects team, but he didn't actually have the right to transfer his rights to anyone else, and no one, not even the City Premier, had the rights he did.

The GovChief logon was passed down to each Government Chief, though the password policy was for a reset every 10 days.

 >> Message SPC_Mailman "The Job is Done. 176298 headed your way with high probability."

<< Done

>> View Schedue

~|
Weekly Computer Division - Governance Division Meeting
Scheduled Office Time - Reporting & Analysis

Later: Senior Leadership Weekly Social

~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~ 
~|

EXAMINEE MENU:
[Discipline] (100~)
Civics
Health
Etiquette

>> Civics

eReader ("The City: History and Civic Traditions")
Civics VR (Enabled after Chapter completion)
Review Quiz (Enabled after Chapter completion)

>> eReader


Wildden was familiar with the general idea covered in the Civics books, just from living in the city and going through life in the monastery, but there were details about the other two orders, and just little things which were covered that he didn't know.

He re-read parts that were new, or had some unforseen details.

This was basic stuff, but he wasn't sure what the Civics VR would be for, he launched into that next.

Where the Discipline VR was evaluating patience, forgiveness, emotional health and togetherness. The Civics VR put him into a detailed scenario where he had to work with other people to keep the city safe by collecting items and sharing them with other people to identify a solution. It was like a City wide escape room.

He was sure the VR sculpted the situation so he ended up having to present pieces of information collected by others to other groups in the city, and they worked together to finally find the answer and save the city.

That was the VR for Chapter 1: City & Unity. It took 2 hours to complete the VR escape room for chapter 1.

He had already read through Chapters 1 - 5, so he proceeded to do the Chapter 2 VR: Civic Organization.

It was a perspective on each of the orders of the City, and all that they did. It was more of a video demonstration than a challenge, and it filled in the gaps that the book couldn't get to.

He had missed all break time yesterday, being in the middle of his extremely long VR, but today he had a chance to go on break with block 0198.

There were two other adults, part of the rehabilitative program, so he sat next to them. The children were largely happy to congregate amongst their own age.

Some might say that an adult should find it easy to pass exams meant for children, but only a quarter of Level 1 Students make it on to Level 2. And children prepare for these exams before even starting the student program, whereas Wildden and the other adults start it on no preparation, and haven't taken these computerized exams in years.

Nonetheless, Wildden suspected that it was the behavioral testing of Level 1 that filtered out most adults that tried to start again. For Wildden, who never made it to the higher level Student exams, this was the easy part. He had no idea what would be his exams when the real studying started.

He was tested on his behavior every day in the field and office, but few children were ready to sit still and follow orders, and it was somewhat of a disaster that those who couldn't handle it as children never had a chance to pursue a higher place as adults.

He knew their was a correlation from childhood behavior to adult behavior, but Wildden thought his own contrasts proved it wasn't ironclad. He was completely undisciplined and wild as a child, and it was only the heavily outdoors, and martial arts training of the Monastic Order that found him wanting to learn and to do better.

He had learned the value of discipline, and the importance of boundries through the training process, experiencing life with a mentor in the Monastic Order. Finding enjoyment even when he wasn't the center of the universe. Learning to honor those who pursued a higher calling.

The monastery had taught him what he needed to go back to being a Student.

The other Rehabilitative adults didn't want to talk to him, however, and so he stood, leaning against the wall in the lunch room.

The attitude in the room was either sullen or focused, and some of both really. 20% of the class was already gone due to disciplinary issues.

Wildden was consoled that at least these kids would get another chance in the Monastic order.

Health was the first subject were he didn't have a lot of exposure and had to get first time understanding of 80% of the material. Sure dealt with occasional health issues himself, or on his team, but this Health subject was surprising diverse, dealing with several areas that surely would only be useful to a Medical or Doctor division official.

First Aid he knew a little about. CPR and ECG he knew nothing about. Neither had he ever thought about safety around the water, since he never encountered the water or pools. The busienss residential district the Chapter house was in had pools in a few places, and a few streams, but he had never had a reason or authorization to be there.

The subject should have been called Health and Safety, because it went into topics personally irrelevant to him as a monastic order citizen, but then, was he really that anymore. Reproductive and various matters of that sort, which were completely excluded to the monastery were brought up in this heath class.

As watched these informative VRs, he finally reached a subject he knew: Occupational Health. How to safely lift things, workplace safety. The subject of several ongoing exams for the head of a Chapter house, Wildden had become quite familiar with safety issues.

Identifying reckless conduct in others. Responsible volume levels and noise ordinance. (Even more strictly, he dealt with loud public order people, and his own staff.)

Emergency Response and Emergency Planning. Practicing.
Fires and the main Health risks in a Fire.

Finally, the Health class VRs covered auxilliary health areas, including dentistry, optical and exercise physiology.

He would need more time to learn the majority of this content, and his first official exam was coming up tomorrow, sixthday.

He supposed it was important to get situated in his new Student residence, and yesterday he had made it home and immediately fell asleep without getting to know his roommate at all.

There was no reason to collect that much stuff here, since he would be moving residences soon enough, one way or the other. He figured his accoutrements at the Chapter house would be collected and saved in storage somewhere.

So after finishing one more section of the Health subject, he headed home at the same time as the other students.

His residence was in a tiny section of the larger sea of child residences in the southwest district of the city.

In fact, the building he was in had mostly Level 1 Student housing for children, but there were five residences, each with two bedrooms, on the third floor.

The Hospitality division had a steady schedule of officials who worked in the building, and Sanitation officials were at the building as Wildden got off the train, being followed by a wave of other students who split off heading to each building in the area. He guessed roughly 80 child students lived in the building, and only 3 adults to the 5 adult residences and 10 bedrooms.

It was computers and the constant monitoring systems which kept the children across this whole district safe.

Nonetheless, he had been placed in a residence with a roommate. He had no access to know what the man's past position had been, but Wildden would have sword he was roommates with a past Senior examiner, much like his cover story.

Joran was a tidy fellow, comfortable with the dresses of the Examiner order, even these plain grey level 1 ones, unlike Wildden who found himself constantly uncomfortable and awkward in the attire. He much preferred robes, but he didn't mind that senior examiner's dress he had worn briefly.

All attire in the City was the same for both men and women, with position in society and size being the only source of variation, excepting special attire for special circumstances, like the Wildguard's camoflage or hunting attire.


Wildden waited in the hallway with Joran and the third adult in the building, Alana. She seemed to be an ex-Business order person, and she seemed to fidget as they waited, perhaps she wasn't comfortable with the Examiner's dresses either.

"Are you guys students.too," asked one of the kids.

"Yep, here we are," said Joran. "I don't know why I didn't chose exile, but I'm not going back on it now."

"To prove, once again, that you have what it takes," Wildden said.

"You obviously completely forgot what kind of nightmare being a student was. I was glad when only had to take Exams every other week, and they were relevant instead of being so dull."

"What about you, are you an ex-examiner?" Alana asked him.

He hesitated to say anything.

Alana said  "I was business order, now I'm trying to pass all of the qualifications to become an examiner, and then go back and pass the monastic order quals."

"Ex-Monastic Order. Well, I was told I can go back to it, if I don't pass the Examiner and Business order qualifications. So I start over at Level 1 Student, but I actually, I finally appreciate being a student, and I didn't the first time I was one. I failed out at Level 1 before."

"Level 3 for me before I ended up in Business. But they demanded I go back through and pass the earlier levels. Apparently they have no ability to place people anywhere other than Student 1."

 "What division were you in?" he asked.

"Financial."

"I don't know what you two are talking about? How did a punishment take you from Business Order up to Examiner Order?"

"Special Projects," Alana said.

"I don't think we were supposed to share that information," Wildden said.

"Whatever," Joran said, and went into the residence.

"If we both make it, we should exchange information about Business order and Monastic order qualifications."

"That would be great," Wildden said.

Joran was already attentive only to his tablet, as Wildden entered the residence.

He hadn't done his katas in three days, he decided to go into his new bedroom and rectify that right away, since Joran didn't seem interested in talking.

"List Katas," he said to his computer interface.

"No Katas available. Katas are only available to Monastic order officials of the appropriate rank."

Crap. He thought to himself, my stress relief, and fun. Getting into the routine of Katas, and the little computerized rankings, watching the martial arts bouts hosted by the Monastic Order, all that was taken from him as he had been planted into the new Student's world.

Classically, Students and Examiners spend a lot of their downtime studying or comparing their experience with others. That was the stereotype he had of them, at least.

Wildden pulled out his tablet and went to the little use Recommended section.

Student 1 - First Week
Recommended

1. Review Exam & Advancement Details
2. Review Disciplinary Grade Adjustment Policy
3. OSG Level 1
4. Schedule Appointment with Counselor
5. FRSG Level 1


Exam & Advancement Details
~~~

Students at Level 1 are subject to a sliding box between the Dropout threshold and the Level Up threshold. Study and practice with intensity, because each week wasted leads to a higher grade standard for those who remain.

Your Weighted Average Exam Score (WAES), in conjuction with the number of weekly Exams you've taken is the marker which determines where you are on this sliding box. Except in rare circumstances, missing a scheduled weekly exam will result in a 2X or 1X dropout. So each week in the program will mean another Exam taken, and another adjustment to your sliding box.

The Weighted Average Exam Score at Level 1 takes into account the 4 subjects of Discipline, Civics, Health and Etiquette.

First, the individual subject score on the exam is modified by an under-performance penalty. For each point under 40% in a subject, you will receive an additional percentage point penalty for the adjusted score. This means a 0% in a subject will be weighted as -40% (0% minus 40 percentage point penalties). This means that you must demonstrate basic competency in all subjects assigned.

Taking all of your subject grades after the penalties, the first subject grade is multipled by 1.25, the second by 1.125, the third by 0.875 and the fourth by 0.750. This gives some advantage to students who have a bright spot in certain subjects but are struggling in others, so long as they still reach the minimum 40% threshold for penalty.

Taking an full example Sally Sal scores the following subject scores: Discipline 22%, Civics 93%, Health 62%, Etiquette 49%. Adjusted scores at 4%, 93%, 62% and 49%.

(4% * 0.75 + 49% * 0.875 + 62% * 1.125 + 93% * 1.25) / 4= 58%

Sliding Box thresholds are based on recent Student performance, with the goal of 25% of students advancing to level 2, 50% moving down to Business order, and 25% moving down to Monastic order.

Current Sliding Box thresholds are:
(LVL2 is the threshold for promotion, DBO is the threshold for dropping to Business Order, DMO is Monastic Order)

Week 1:  [LVL2: 80%, DBO: 25%, DMO: 0%]
Week 2:  [LVL2: 83%, DBO: 40%, DMO: 15%]
Week 3:  [LVL2: 86%, DBO: 50%, DMO: 30%]
Week 4:  [LVL2: 89% DBO: 60%, DMO: 40%]
Week 5:  [LVL2: 92% DBO: 70%, DMO: 40%]
Week 6:  [LVL2: 95% DBO: 75%, DMO: 40%]
Week 7:  [LVL2: 95% DBO: 80%, DMO: 40%]
Week 8:  [LVL2: 97% DBO: 85%, DMO: 40%]
Week 9:  [LVL2: 98% DBO: 90%, DMO: 40%]
Week 10: [LVL2: 99% DBO: 95%, DMO: 40%]
Week 11: {LVL2: 99% DBO: 97%, DMO: 40%]
Week 12: [LVL2: 99% DBO 98%, DMO 40%]


Some Subjects may be locked to 100% or 0% with particularly impressive or atrocious performances. There is no need to take the subject sub-exam if your score is locked.


Discplinary Infractions and Affect on Grade:

Disciplinary infractions occuring at school, residences or anywhere else are dealth through the Education division, not through Governance.

Student Monitoring is high, to identify and place students based on their discipline and emotional maturity.

At Student Level 1: Exam grade penalties can be applied to any of the 4 subjects, based on the nature of the infraction. Penalties are deducted from your Exam score in the subject, so you are still incentivized to score as well as possible.

If any Subject area has a -100% penalty or higher, immediate dismissal from Student status will be ordered, and you will be placed in Business Order or Monastic Order depending on the extent of your infraction.

Some severe infractions will send you to Sentencing and lead to your Exile from the city.
 Please pay attend, be obediant and cooperative to all Officials and Computer systems you interact with.



<< OSG : Level 1 >>
Online Study Group - Level 1

## <X10973> Health seems pretty easy, but I'm kinda shaking after the Discipline VR.
## <X99281> You haven't even seen Etiquette VR yet, have you?
...
...

Chat room, huh, Wildden surmised.

>> Counselor appointments

Counselor Garza : 7 pm Tommorrow

Counselor Griffith : 7 pm Next Thirdday

Counselor Kramer : 7 pm Next Fifthday

Counselor Little : 7 pm Backlog 4 weeks

 

 He picked Counselor Griffith, Next Thirdday.

He supposed that students were in school early in the day, so they must have scheduled all of the counselors for after school hours.


He assumed FRSG would be another chat room, but he got something different.


/\FRSG/\
\/Sixth division : E Company : 7th Wing\/

Your fellow 1st Level students are fighting the Students of 2nd Level and 1st Tier members of the Business school.

You are part of a combined attack, in which you have to work together with the rest of your class. As part of 7th wing, you are a special force: operating an attack helicopter, you will provide fire support to your classmates and take out enemy positions of those 2nd years and business order folk.

Distribute 5 points among your soldier attributes before you go out on a mission.

Attributes
FLYING]
SHOOTING (CREW WEAPONS)]
AWARENESS]
SHOOTING (PERSONAL WEAPONS)]
COVER]
MOVEMENT]


Wildden thought it to be silly, but in a carefree manner, decided to play the little cooperative game anyway.

++ FLYING
++ FLYING
++ SHOOTING (CREW WEAPONS)
++ AWARENESS
++ AWARENESS

Awareness was half the battle, flying well was the other half, and knowing how to shoot was the third half. He joked.
 
You are ready to suit up.

His tablet displayed a simple 2d representation of his attack helicopter and him in it.


Your fellow students are tagged with the brown colored insignia, whereas your opponents are tagged in red. Two stripes for the 2nd level students, and one X for the business order.

Wildden spent a few hours piloting his pretend attack helicopter around, taking on their digital foes. The helicopter crashed twice and was shot to explosion once, but more often than not, Wildden was able to hone in on enemy positions an execute masterful strikes. It reminded him of Safeguard collections, in the consideration of how the enemy or collectee would move and respond to him.


~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~

Joleen was buried in messages, work items and other office busyness.

He tablet displayed 78 as the number of items to be dealt with, which only included the critical messages, work items and business matters.

Her subdivision was one of the most frantic and interconnected. Worked closely with Doctors like all Med Bus subdivisions, but also worked with Governance and legal revolving around the legal mental status of patients. Funding requests, and responses denying them. Working with Education division providing support staff for student counselors.

Requests from influential family members, appealing to her after their doctor and nurse had no more answers to give.

Mostly, she turned the requesters way, and shrugged about denied funding. Only a few people were influential enough to impact their relative's treatment.

She had computer access to new Students' request for Counselors, so she had an inroute by the logic of the City computer system, to know about them.

She was able to identify the status of new students who were part of Governance's Special Projects program to cross train officials in all three orders. She could see new Students and new Business school students, but the Monastic Order had their own way of handling issues.

They used their discipline and martial arts katas to introduce ordered thinking, but also dropped anyone who still couldn't handle it.

It was only those officials who had a good position in the monastic order who had a chance to be helped by the psychiatric system. New monks were on the razor's edge between Exile and rising in the order.

Joleen assumed a high level monastic like Wildden Safeguard (now Wildden Student 1) would be very disciplined. To pass through all the traumu and strict routines of the monastic order took a lot of discipline.

She never expected, when she looked up his profile at the Counselor menu, that he would have a perfect 100, scoring 8493 in the Progressive Evaluation VR. Certainly in the top 5 scores ever, perhaps #1.

Governance Chief would be happy about picking Wildden after that.

Joleen ordered a change in Wildden's counselor selection. They had another counselor who was part of special projects.

Joleen checked in on another Special Projects applicant. They were in the Business school part of the process.

Safeguard-Superior day 2

Samae Level 4 Student [encrypt record key id ***]
[Student [pre-divisional] :- Level 5 - Level 4 - Level 3 - Level 2 - Level 1]
{Examiner :- Legal - Doctor - Educator - Government - Computer }{City :- Examiner - Business - Monastic}
 `- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -`
                               [_______________________________________]
                               | EDUCATIONAL PYRAMID: Student L4  |
                               |      Discipline -- Civics -- Health -- Etiquette       |
                             /  Reading -- Math -- Writing -- Exams -- History    \
                    /  Studying -- Analytics -- Probability -- Economics -- Instruction \
[X]      / Doc. Analy -- Biology -- Neuropsych -- Civics L2 --Health L2 -- Computing \
avg                 68                 81                73                   92             89                  83              : [82]
 / Pre-Legal -- Pre-Doctor - Pre-Educator - Pre-Gov -- Pre-Computer -- Exams L2 -- Orders \
 `- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -`


Her mother Joleen had already left for work. Samae took a flash shower, got dressed, and left for school.

Her tablet provided the legally allowed amount of advice about her school day: 1st, she needed to work on her Document Analysis, and try to get that school up. Secondly, working on Civics L2, because a flashpoint was close.

With all subject grades at 70 or above, she could reach Level 5 immediately by getting one subject grade to a flashpoint: 95 or above.

She soared in Civics and Health L2 more easily than the other courses. Computing and Biology were going pretty well, but she was struggling in Document Analysis and needed a boost in Neuropsych.

So she headed into the Level 4 Student building with intent and determination.

Her tablet interface with the building AI, and received her assigned workstation. Exams were held every 2 weeks at her level, which meant that fifthday would be the next chance to update her scores.

Each workstation was isolated from the others by a thin half-wall made out of some kind of supermaterial. It prevented sound from spreading about the facility, each from one station to the next.

Samae put on her silent demeanor and stepped before the workstation, sitting down in the solid chair, which provided support and comfort but didn't turn, twist or tilt.

She flexed her fingers, stretching and warming them up.

She stowed the tablet in the workstation's identity slot, both identifying her to the system and preventing her from using the tablet during her school day.


[SAMAE LEVEL 4 Student] - - - / / /
~|
ADMINISTRATION MESSAGE:
You are required to attend the monthly Student Social at the Examinee's Social Center tommorrow night at 7:30 pm. Please dress according to formal standards of attire. You will be attending with students of all levels in your specified student block [#0630].
~|

EXAMINEE MENU:

Document Analysis
Biology
Neuropsychology
Civics Level 2
Health Level 2
Computer
GRADEBOOK
SYSTEM INTERACTIONS

>> Document Analysis

Document Analysis
~|
MENU
Video Instruction
Transcripts
Examples
Documents to Review
Documents to Write
Documents to Review (Appellate)

>> Video Instruction

Her first step was to go over the Video Instruction given by the Associate Professor for Legal Education.

The class videos were given by both Legal and Governance professors, but she had done well in the parts of the class that covered Governance document analysis, but the Legal stuff was more subtle, it seemed.

~|
Lesson 1 - What is a Document
Lesson 2 - Reviewing a Document
Lesson 3 - Writing a Document
Lesson 4 - Sending and Receiving Documents
Lesson 5 - Honorable Sending and Replying Procedures
Lesson 6 - Governance Documents pt 1
Lesson 7 - Governance Documents pt 2
Lesson 8 - Legal Documents pt 1
Lesson 9 - Legal Documents pt 2
Lesson 10 - Computer Documents
Lesson 11 - Doctors Documents
Lesson 12 - Education Documents
Lesson 13 - Business & Monastic Order Documents
Lesson 14 - Legal Capstone
Lesson 15 - Governance Capstone

>> Legal Documents pt 1

The Legal education professor painstakingly went through a variety of topics he said would be covered in more detail later.

Creating a legal brief for a client, reviewing the briefs created by others. Documents of communication between Governance and Legal. Civil and Governmental Liability. Sentencing Documents. Documents of communication to inform City officials of any order and division of the dispensation of their subordinates.

Legal Documents pt 2 got into the nitty gritty. Recommended lengths and number of times to revise for different document templates and standards. Proper use of critical status flags in message headers. Serving papers on someone. Documents asserting Identification and authorization and crimes related thereof.

Details, details, details, and not a lot of concern about sensibleness.

She started going over the Legal documents to be reviewed, and it was the first 15 minute break.

The room full of students cleanly walked down the hallway to the break room, where they passed another group of students who had just left.

Samae always shared a classroom with the otherr members of block #063. Break times were staggered based on available break rooms to make sure students all had a chance to step away from the computer briefly.

Juwan was one of the few people she talked to much in her block. There wasn't a lot of time in the day to get to know people, and she didn't hang out with the people in the dorms because she lived in the business residential district with her mom.

Juwan was in a similar boat, being the son of a Monastic division chief. She didn't ask what division.

"You've got a chance to make it through! Level 5 here we come," Juwan said eagerly.

"Let's talk about something else though. My brain is in a fog."

"More legal document research," he said, and Samae nodded.

"I've started thinking about what division I want to get assigned to," he said.

"Let me guess... Education?"

"No. Of course, I wouldn't mind that one, but I was thinking Governance like you, or even better, Doctor, preferably a Diagnostician."

"How do you know I want Governance," Samae said. "I just want to make it. Whatever division they put me in is fine."

~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~

The chapter house was full of conversation.

Syd proclaimed, "I got two collectees to put away their makeshift weapons and surrender."

Allan said, "I worked with 3 different juniors. I think they really are learning."

Bull spoke only a few words, "I protected a Senior minister."

Dinner was chicken chili. spicy, creamy. Made by Syd. It was her turn to make dinner for the group.

Marl and Anthony, the junior members, didn't say much. Marl's evals were started to reach full member status. Most likely he would be moved to another chapter house, once promoted.

Still, it was his duty as Superior and Commander of the house to train up the next generation.

"There's a few irregularities with your file," Syd said to him. Syd's supplemental role was as watcher and minder of him. She reported right to the Great Superior Safeguard on that one.

"Unexpected contact with a high level business order official. High enough to override Monastic protocols and request a second meeting," he said.

"What happened?" Allan asked.

"Sat at the end of the bar watching for the collectee's entrance. She sat down next to me. Had a lot of curiosity about the monastic order for someone so high up."

"Division chief," Syd asserted.

"Not that high. Chief Executive in charge of a subdivision of Medical."

"So on your boss' level. Why do you call that so high?" Syd responded.

"One level and one Order higher. She's seen and heard by the elites."

"This invite. It's for a place that will not welcome you eagerly. We're not welcomed in their eateries, boss."

"One meeting and this will all be over," he said, then changed the subject. "What missions are planned tomorrow?"

"Patrol. Be a presence. We're all going out onto the streets. No specific missions beyond that," said Bull.

"I'll be there to help. Make sure Marl and Anthony clean everything up. This place could use a good cleaning."

He left his bowl and plate and went upstairs to his quarters.

It was illegal to wear anything other than official attire of the three orders, appropriate to rank and position and occasion. So he was perplexed by how to dress for this meeting.

Formal robes, way overkill. Regular robes, not nearly nice enough. Disciplinary Robes, rather drab.

He avoided the Disciplinary robes and Regular robes on the off chance someone knew what they were. Formal robes, headed right into the center of business and examiner elites.

He fretted, perspiring from the anticipation of what would happen. He brandished the invitation he had printed out like a weapon.

Carisca Crema wasn't busy despite the time of day. An occasional man or woman in a business suit, complete with bow tie and shiny shoes. They presented a business card to the hostess standing outside the door and were let in.

Examiners, men and women alike, came to the Crema wearing their black or grey dresses handing letters in envelopes with colorful floral wax seals, and entering.

Associate examiners and Chief Executive level business people were mostly those who entered, but as Wildden mustered the courage to walk to the Crema he saw a Business Division chief and a Full Examiner enter one after the other.

In contrast to the flashy business cards, and elegant Examiners' envelopes, Wildden's clearance was a  long letter with several seals and evaluations verifying that he was authorized.

The hostess couldn't help but react when he presented the long letter without any envelope.

She had to go inside to confer with the restaurant's Vice Executive.

"Well sir," said the hostess, as she came back to the door. "You may enter. Our manager requests that you exhibit the well-known reserved nature of the monastic's superior."

There was laughter and light conversation in the restaurant. The bar was full of patrons sitting on the stools and talking with others who stood next to the bar.

There seemed to be three drinks of choice. White wine, whisky on the rocks, and the martini.

There were signs directing guests to private booths, available for the more senior members of their clientele.

It struck Wildden that the Associate examiners didn't seem to have a haughty attitude towards the business execs. They were friendly with the mostly older crowd of Chief Executives. A successful examiner could reach the level of Associate by their early twenties, but Joleen and these Chiefs here looked more thirties or even forties.

How many chief executives were there in the business order? Far more than there were Great Superiors in the Monastic Order surely? That latter number was only 28, the vast majority of those being in Agricultural, Mineral and Manufacturing.

Wildden had little chance of reaching Great Superior level unless he requested a transfer into another division. There were 7 agricultural subdivisions, 5 mineral and 9 manufacturing, but only 3 military and 4 sanitation. He suspected there were perhaps 20 subdivisions in medical alone.

Joleen was in the middle of the crowd at the bar.

He didn't approach until she spotted him, saying, "Wildden, come on over."

"This is Wildden," she said to the others. "He just collected on one of the Oncology vice execs. It was interesting to shake things up by talking to someone else for once."

"How many students do you have to collect on after exam day?" one of the Associate Examiners immediately asked.

"It's down to only a few dozen, as far as I know. I run the Southwest district chapter house, the business residential district. Mostly dealing with Business order situations,"  he said.

"Well then, a toast to our pursuer. I'm Chief of Infrastructure - Trains by the way," he said.

They all toasted to that. To Wildden it seemed like mockery, but he took it in stride.

"You're all higher grade than my purview. It would be the Great Superior of Safeguard, with an Governance examiner accompaniment."

"I'd like a moment with my esteemed guest," Joleen said to the others and pulled Wildden away from the bar.

"What's this about. You know I'm already getting close to disciplinary action just being here."

"You might be wondering," Joleen interrupted, "How I got you in here? I mean, we can't just invite whomever we want, or there would be effectively no controls at all. Just step inside that private booth over there, and then have a talk with me after."

 If you had asked Wildden who he expected to find in the booth, not even his feverish dreams would have included Governance Division Chief.

The City's 2nd highest official was sitting in the booth wearing a gray dress that wouldn't look out of place among his junior governance examiners. He had no special insignia or fancy threads that Wildden had seen the senior examiners wearing.

He stood up as Wildden entered the booth. He slid the cloth divider to close the booth from peering eyes.

"Safeguard," he said. "Thank you for coming."

"Lord Governance, I try to do everything I can to work with the better orders," Wildden said with some trepidation.

"It may surprise you that many of the newer Superior Safeguards can't handle the responsibility. You've had three personal collections including the one last week, and you've conducted yourself with professionalism and not any sense of resentment or getting back at the business order," he said.

"I enjoy doing just what needs to be done. I can't think about anything but doing the job with excellence, to lead my team. I know it's just a small piece of the puzzle, and Governance and Computer do everything to make the collections possible."

"Well, that's good to hear. I'll get right to the point. One of the Examiners working for me is in charge of a rare multi-order program intended to use associates well versed in all three orders. We find our associates make many connections that the three orders separately cannot make. If you pass the entrance tests, you'll be the first member of the team coming from the Monastic order.

"Even if you don't pass all of the tests, as long as I see a full effort from you, I'll be inclined to encourage a promotion to Superior Safeguard at Central district."

"I love leading this team of Safeguards... however, I can't pass up an opportunity given by the Lord Governance."

"Don't sign up just for me, Wildden," the man said in warning.

"It is a good opportunity, but will there be any used for my Safeguard background, will I have a good chance at being helpful to the team?"

"You'll learn a lot more from my Special Operations Subdivision chief, if you chose to go through the testing process, but I'll say this: Safeguard skills will be a key asset to the team, but you need more. Business order, Financial division skills will be a big plus, as well a Governance skills. This will be a severe test, which is why we haven't had any Monastic order members as of yet.

"My projections indicate that the cause of your release from the Examiner and Business orders is behind you. You have a real chance to pass the Examiner and Business order qualifications. If that sot of thing interests you, this is another chance to make it in both the Examiner and Business orders. This is a sealed envelope. Only Spec Ops Chief Granville can open it. Present yourself at the Central Examiners Compound, with this envelope, and you will be into the applicant process."

"My existing position will be inapplicable once I become an applicant?" Wildden asked.

"It's as if you received some rare transfer back to Student Level 1, except you will also have to go through the entire business order training program if you make it through Examiner training. I would recommend letting your charges know, if you end up taking this opportunity. And be quick about it."

"I've got a lot to think about them," Wildden said.

"Please close the slider when you go."

~ o ~ o ~ # ~ o ~ o~

 It was late at night. He had been uneasy, and left the dinner table early to go back to his office. Maybe his closest friends and subordinates had sensed something because when one of them knocked softly, they were all right there.

"Something happened, something unpleasant," Syd said.

"Sit down, all of you," Wildden said. "Unexpected good news, but it makes me sad too. I apprecate all of you and this chapter house. I don't know how I'll handle not working with the three of you, but I've been given an opportunity, kinda like a cross transfer and a promotion all in one."

"Man," Allan said. "Well, on the bright side, what can you tell us about this new position you're headed to?"

"I still have to decide if I want to take it. But if you look me up, it won't make any sense, that's all I can say."

"Even though we'll miss you, Wildden, you have to take the shot? Who thought they would keep you here as long as they did."

"My evals were good, certainly not promotion material," he said. "But I'm glad to hear you guys encouraging me. Maybe someday, you'll see me again, and maybe I'll see you, the next Superior or Great Superior."

He slept better knowing his team was behind the effort that would surely come in the days ahead.

Marching into an Examiner's compound was both culture shock, feeling of being out of place, and nostalgia from his early days when he was still a student.

Once again he wielded the sealed envelope as a badge, and several examiners in sequence scanned it discretely, placing him directly into the Special Operations floor, 7 floors below ground level.

The elevator only opened on the floor because of his envelope, and no one else was getting off on this floor.

 Lighting on the floor was dim, casting a dull red palor over it.

The clerk at the front desk on the -7th floor took the envelope and actually unsealed it.

"Room 721," he said.

There were no windows on the doors, no visible key or keycard, but only internal computing system authorization. Some rooms had only a flat wall, and no visible marker of a door at all but for a number above it.

"Mr. Leblanc," said a man standing in the center of the room whose door swung open as Wildden approached.

He wanted to look back, to see who the man was referring to. It wasn't since the days of his childhood that he had been referred to by last name. Leblanc might as well mean nothing as a monastic.

How do you address someone who doesn't seem to be wear the attire of any of the three orders, instead wearing white slacks and a white shirt with long sleeves which his arms barely reached out of.

"Lord, sir, honored one. I apologize, I'm not sure how to address you," Wildden said.

"You're here to get a reset. Listen, I don't care why, or what Governance is up to. Nonetheless, here you are. Yours is a second chance reset. If you fail out of the Examiner's program due to behaviorally infractions, you have no second chance, but a failure by reason of low grades will give you another chance as specified by your contact person. I need to attach this second chance beacon to your pinky toe."

Wildden took off the impeccably polished and cleaned tall black boots of the order, pulling even the grey tube socks off his feet.

"Please undress the rest of the way as well," the man said without any hint of impropriety. He probably did this on a regular basis.

The little mark on his little toe hurt for a few seconds as it was applied. The attire he was clothed in was full of meaning and emotion. Senior Examiner, Special Projects.

A far cry from the plain dresses of his childhood as a Level 1 student, this outfit had gold filigree and broches. The flower of Governance Senior Examiners was pinned on his dress; the blue ageratum being a tradition in governance, and even the Division's main complex in the city had a special garden for the flower.

The honest truth was that men were less likely to become examiners, 48% to 52%, and the ratio was reversed in the monastic order, except that most of the truly deviant men were exiled from the city, putting monastic officials at nearly 50/50.

It seemed a little odd and ornate to be wearing flowers on the official attire of one's profession, but Wildden had never seen an examiner comment or joke about the honorary corsage of another senior examiner. It was a mark of distinction, that you were speaking to someone of true importance, and he'd never approached a Senior examiner closely until he met the Governance chief.

"As a Senior Examiner, the punishment seen to be sufficient for your 'crimes' is the become a Level 1 student all over again. For many Examiners, such a thing is worse than exile. Your crime is tortious in nature, purloinment and abuse of supervisory power over the BusHosp division. You will meekly accept the judgement against you."

"I will meekly accept the judgment," Wildden said with trepidation.

There was little else to be said, and no instruction given, so Wildden went to leave the office, only to find a Superior Safeguard, with Junior Examiner in tow.

Thankfully, the Safeguard didn't recognize him in the Examiner's attire.

"Honored Examiner, have you agreed to turn yourself in now?" asked Superior Safeguard Jack, of Central district.

Wildden pushed away his recognition of the man and instead nodded. "I am," he said.

"And I am prepared to use the desistor, so please don't resist?" the Safeguard said.

Wildden knew very well that he didn't want to be desisted. He complied in the best way he could, knowing the nerves of a Safeguard on a collection run.

The Public order van was very nearby, this being the heart of central, and Governance sentencing was only a few minutes away, so he was very soon sitting in the opposite situation at sentencing.

It was five minutes before Legal and Governance got there, and they didn't have much to work with, both admitting so.

"Well since this is a self admission, and not a collection against a non-cooperating collectee, please describe the nature of your perfidity?" the Government agent asked.

Knowing of such cases from his time keeping up on Safeguard news, and the time he collected on an Examiner involved in the health division helped him to play the part well.

"I convinced the hotel staff I was reviewing their treatment of guests, actually I was supposed to audit their financial system controls. I told the group that their relationship with the Sanitation monks had been flagged in the system, and I extended my investigation, getting things like free food and rooms. I wanted to a host a party for free, but I was identified, and here I am," Wildden said.

"Surely a Senior Examiner has no need for such things?" the Governance agent asked.

"I had my eye on a certain Examiner. She had similar thoughts but she was shy, and didn't really like my normal circle of friends, so when the hoteling investigation began, it seemed like a nice opportunity. It was really stupid, but I wasn't thinking."

The legal advisor spoke up next,

"You are charged with two offenses. B-P7 Purloinment under Investigatory Duress and H-M7 Failure of Examiner code of ethics," he said. "Are you allocuting to these offenses?"

"Yes minister," Wildden said, feeling acutely, th sense of strangeness of the last 24 hours.

"We will begin our sentencing presentation," the Government minister spoke.

"On the charge of B-P7 Purloinment under Investigatory Duress, you are hereby demoted to Associate Examiner, under the monitoring of a trained Governance examiner, subject to weekly evaluation of conduct.

"On the charge of H-M7 Failure of Examiner code of ethics, in conjunction with the prior offense, you are hereby demoted to learn again the standards of the Examiners order as a Level 1 Student. You will be excluded assigned to Governance, Legal and Computer divisions on the basis of failing the Morale Maturity test, assuming you rejoin the ranks of Examiners."

"You have two options: First, you may accept these burdens and become a student once more, or Second, you may choose exile from the City. Legal Advocate, please inform the Sentencee of his choices."

The Legal advocate spoke again, Wildden could have spoken for him.

"Citizen of the City," Wildden recited as the advocate spoke. "You are surely needed even now. Your contribution is less than the City desires, but what time, effort and integrity you give to the City, she gives to you. Governance and Legal Affairs, and indeed all the orders of this city, and the Premier herself, implore you to take the punishment and begin again. You will find you contribute more, learn more, and make a new dedication that restores the City's faith in you as it restores your faith in the City. We Implore You."

Wildden could sense the Government examiner already preparing the Exile process as he spoke. "I choose to continue in the city, and begin again as a Student."

"Very well, Legal Affairs, if you would take him to the Rehabilitative Student Program. Safeguard and Public Order, please return to your branch offices. The City thanks you for your service."

The Legal advocate directed Wildden's steps, standing just a few feet behind him. He was directed back to the original Examiner building he had traveled to the -7th floor in.

This time the advocate lead him up to the 2nd floor. Rehabilitative Student Program, said the placard above the door.

This room had a large closet and changing room.

"Examiner," the Legal Advocate addressed the one sitting beyond a desk.

"An arrival, excellent. Perhaps our rehabilitation will have another success someday soon. I see that this one's Sentencing placement is Student Level 1. Very good. Thank you, Examiner. I will take over from here."

The Advocate bowed slightly, and walked away.

"First," said the Rehabilitation examiner. "You will find Student attire in the closet section marked Level 1. Please get changed. Leave your old clothes in the changing room, hanging."

The Level 1 student's attire was a plain, boring grey dress that dipped onto the floor as he put it on. It was rather baggy, and even wider at the bottom. There was no mark of distinction or decorate, but instead just an identity of plain-ness, but still the dress was special to Wildden. Another chance, though even if he passed, it would not be an ordinary Examiner's career for him. If he didn,t he had the opportunity to advance further as a Safeguard, which he loved anyway.

"Good, next up, I'll speak to your expectations as a Level 1 Student, and your assignment. To be honest, few among the examiners choose to go back to being a Student, for many, it was a harrowing time. For others, the privileges they have, they don't want to lose.

"You may socialize with your fellow students during break times, and in the residences, but you are not an Examiner any more. You are restricted to places which are explicitly allowed for students. You will largely be traveling between the residences and the Education complex.

Your behavior will be noted, and will affect your Exam grading. As a Level 1 Student, you will be spending most of your time at the Complex in immersive VR. You will be asked to demonstrate Discipline, understand the history and pridefully represent the Civics of the City, have an understanding and practical habits of Health and cleanliness, and practice proper Etiquette. In particular I must remind you to treat all persons with the respect and honor they deserve. Treat members of all orders as your superiors, as they are. Honor your fellow students and practice deference to everyone else."

"You are assigned to a Block which we hope will contain every Sentencee who is reassigned to the Student program. Few are Sentenced these days, which is good, but less than 1% chose rehabilitation, which is bad. Your Block currently only contains two other rehabilitators, but also contains 198 other Level 1 Students who are first time Students. Be respectful to your younger students, but also reach out to the other rehabilitators.

"I don't expect to see any others, today, so I will walk you over to the Student building. Your Block id is 0198."

The Computer room Wildden ended up in was full of 8 year old students. They didn't recognize Wildden as he entered, being surrounded by the VR equipment which filled their field of few.

The Level 1 Student's desk was like an exercise machine, hidden inside a desk chair at the moment.

The computer chided him, "Please put your tablet in the bay. Identity processing will commence."

Wildden took the tablet out of his new students bag, which the Minister had obtained for him on the way here. He put it into the slot.

"Level 1 Student Wildden. This is your first session, so I will go over a few things. The Level 1 Student Program covers the four subjects of Discipline, Civics, Health and Etiquette. Discipline will be taught entirely in Immersive VR. The other three subjects will contain both traditional exams and exam preparation, as well as VR segments. You are encouraged to spent at least 10 hours a week in Discipline VRs. 5 hours a week in Civics VRs. 2 hours a week in Health VRs. And 8 hours a few in Etiquette VRs. Spend the remaining time studying your written exams in Civics, Health and Etiquette. Since you have begun your classes mid-week, I recommend you start strictly with Discipline VRs for today. Choose wisely."

~|

EXAMINEE MENU:
Discipline
Civics
Health
Etiquette

>> Discipline

Discipline Sub-Menu

Initial Progressive Evaluation VR

Improvement Techniques <Enabled after first Evaluation>
Easy Practice VR <Enabled after first Evaluation>
Moderate Practice VR <Enabled after first Evaluation>
Hard Practice VR <Enabled after first Evaluation, passing Moderate Practice VR>
Last Year's Grade Promotion VR <Enabled after first, Evaluation, passing Hard Practice VR>

>> Initial Progressive Evaluation VR

The "Exercise Machine" VR unfolded around him, blocking out the view of students around him. His block was full of other new students, so many of these young first time students were also going through the same VRs and exams, he assumed.

He couldn't really remember how real it felt to be in the VR when he first was a Level 1 Student.

He felt a wave of claustrophobia as the equipment surrounded him closer and closer, and then his eyes adjusted, and he saw new things.

He was in a classroom, sitting at an old fashioned school desk that shouldn't have fit him as an adult, but he was smaller, the same size as the other kids sitting at the desk.

"The Examiner is going to be late," said a man that appeared. "Please stay in your seats and remain quiet. It will be able 5 minutes."

Could they scan his brain activity during the test, Wildden wondered, as he sat there, waiting. He had been on a lot of Collections as a normal Safeguard official where he had to wait hours, or even days for the right situation, or the final authorization from governance.

He interacted with Business order and Monastic order officials during nearly all of his missions, and dealt with interruptions from his staff and by other people all the time.

He relied on an old trick he learned from his superior officer when he first become a Junior Safeguard.

"Imagine there's a contest going on between you and me. The contest is to not notice what time it is, or that time has passed, and also to not zone out or fall asleep. We're going to wait here on this bench, and I've put a tracer on your internal interface and the tablet to find out when you ask for the time.  I'll also be monitoring alertness and awakeness. After a few weeks of tracking, you'll be thinking of these days and this little contest, even when I'm not tracking your alertness and your time checking."

He lost focus and also checked the time way too often at first. But then he began to hone the craft of alertness without awareness of time. He began to rely on his subsystem, setting alarms when he needed to do something, rather than relying on constantly checking the time. So he stopped checking the time.

He might be vaguely aware, oh look, the sun is going down, but he never explicitly asked the time, but instead relied on years of programmed alarms and specified system behavior from his personal computer interface.

Jason would be proud. The only reason he knew it was five minutes was because the man came back in, and said it would be a little longer.

Wildden wasn't sure how long had passed before the Examiner actually showed up. The students around him were either sleepy or caught talking when the Examiner entered.

"Leblanc," said the Examiner.

The last name was a bit more familiar from this morning. "Yes, Honored Examiner," he responded.

"Please take this down to the Admittance office," he said, handing over a heavy manila Envelope.

"Can you help me out? I don't know where the Admittance office is?" Wildden answered.

"Follow the signs."

The signs were clear, but deceptive. They pointed in the right direction, but when he thought he had reached the Admittance office, it was still further away, he had reached some other office. After the third time, he realized something odd was happening. He kept going anyway, keeping a steady walking pace.

After finding the real office, it turned into the Principal Examiner's office, where the Principle Examiner spoke at length about how Wildden had broken the rules and deserved the punishment that was coming.

After that, the situations became more intricate and odd. Another student wanted to copy from his exam with a spy tech.

Suddenly, he was an unspecified powerful Examiner who had discovered one of his assistants had stolen from the department. He was in trouble now from his superior because of it.

At this, Wildden told his superior he would investigate, and deal with whatever punishment his superior brought to him.

Then he was walking through a crowd as people bumped into him. Rude people, people shouted at him, accussing him of things. Someone stole his tablet as he got on the train.

An extortionist promised that he would kidnap Syd if he didn't get the man into the Computer Division's secure data center. He refused to comply, and he didn't believe the man could get away with something like that, or accomplish it. Governance and Computer division must have put a high priority on malignant cases such as this.

He responded to every situation, knowing he couldn't do more than a little, instead relying on the whole City's system of people checking on people, assuming they would deal with the increasingly horrifying scenarios presented to him.

At some point, it all became so surreal that his awareness that this was a Progressive test VR returned.

There were trolley problems, and halls full of people laughing at him, in equal measure. He was humiliated, tortured, extorted, offered opportunities at every turn. Tested in a thousand ways. There were a few that hit the mark, in that he was tempted to take the easy way out, but he resisted.

He gritted his teeth, dealing with a complex situation, in which he had forgot that he was in a VR all over again.

He knew that the current City Premier would be removed from office if the false allegations were passed along, but he also had the obligation as Computer Chief Examiner, to force the exact Secure message which had been relayed to him. He had spent an hour punishing his subordinates for trying to interfere in Quantum message passing protocols, but now,he would be passing lies!

In addition, he knew that the alternative for City Premier, the current Legal Division Chief, had a lot of shadiness.

He wanted to dig into the information on the man, but he left that to the computer system. He had a positive duty to send the message, which overrided his personal objections to the content of what was sent and who sent it.

He was invited to a dinner party. Everyone wanted to sit at the head table, where the City Premier would be sitting.

No one knew exactly who would be coming, so it was tough to say if you'd be more junior than the others sitting at that table, or even embarrassed and forced to sit elsewhere.

Instead, he sat at the most plain tablet, with a bunch of students, Monastic order junior members and  a mystery guest. It turned out the man was Division Chief of Education, who could have sat at the head table, but he sat with the junior members of the three orders at this littlest table.

The Education chief's words broke Wildden out of the after-dinner reverie, however.

"It's been a while since I've embedded in another person's VR. I only have a minute, but I wanted to see for myself. The perfect score."

The Education minister toasted to Wildden, and the other juniors toasted with him.

His vision became blurry again, and then returned to the VR, which folded itself back into the desk and chair.

~|
Discipline Progressive Evaluation

Predicted Advancement Grade: 35%
Your Progressive Evaluation Grade: 100% (OVERRIDE)

:: Education Chief Examiner Emmet has ordered a bypass to your Discipline Exam Result. Your Discipline Exam Result is 100%. You do not need to take further Discipline exams or training.

It had been hours inside of that Progressive evaluation. The windows in his Block's computer room were now dark, the sun had set.

Wildden was surprised that he hadn't be instructed to leave the area before the end of the school day.

>> Log off.

He entered on the computer, pulling the tablet out of it's receptacle, and putting it back in his new backpack.

Safeguard-Superior day 1

Exams & Monks Verse
Wildden Safeguard Superior [encrypt record key id ***]
[Safeguard  :- Great Superior - Superior - {Nominal} - Inferior
{Military :- Public Order - Safeguard - Wildguard}
{Monastic :- Military - Sanitation - Agricultural - Mineral - Manufacturing}
{City :- Examiner - Business - Monastic}


The Monastic chapter house in the Business-order residential sector stood out, contrasting with the colorful designs of business order homes. It was placed here to allow Safeguards such as Wildden and his subordinates to patrol this part of the city, as well as housing Wildguards who patroled the wilds nearest to this southeastern city area.

The business folk resented the intrusion of monks in the area, but Governance had repeatedly stated that the chapter house was supposed to be here.

The three orders of the city, examiner, business and monastic were distributed across the city in particular ways. The adult working members of the three classes were in the southwest (business), northeast (examiner) and southeast (monastic) edges of the city.

The students were in closer rings of housing districts, thus closer to the University, Business School and Monastic Education Center.

The Highest officials lived in the center near the halls of government, said halls being encircled by the three learning campuses. Wildden's superior officer, the Safeguuard Great Superior, lived in that center area, as did the Head officials of the Military and the entire Monastic order.

Wildden appreciated the trouble Marlyk had as Superior Safegard at the Examiner dominated northeast chapter house.

Wildden's office and quarters were seperate from the rest of the more communal house. Between three Safeguards (normal rank), and the 2 junior members of the safeguard team, as well as the corresponding numbers of Wildguards (only 4 in additional to the Superior) and Public Order (10 in total), the chapter house was always full of activity.

Wildden was with his Public Order and Wildgard Superior level contemporaries on the third floor, while the junior folk were on the first floor and responsible for cooking meals and cleaning the house. The normal or nominal level folk were on the 2nd.

Wildden had a situation which would require his personal attention and pursuit today. He would always take on whatever the 3 officers under him could not, and the junior folk would work under them usually.

Syd, a rather bright woman by Safeguard standards, was the first of the three. Allan was strong, durable, a good leader for the juniors. Bull had that nickname because no one intimidated him out of doing what needed to be done.

An uninformed person would ask, "Why have Safeguard and Public Order, are they not the same?"

Public Order trained in quarantines, and safe occupancy limits. Monitored mass threats, and non-people threats such as fire and damage to vital civic systems. They coordinated with the Business order's Infrastructure group in working on new standards for buildings, electrical, plumbing, et all.

The Safeguard focused on individuals. Deviant behavior on the small scale. Trespassing, theft, electronic crimes, nominally murder, although removals usually caught any potential deviance on that order before it could explode.

The City was it's own organism which could tolerate some things, and not others, and those who could not or would not fit within it, had to be removed, to be placed in the outer places, where they would wander outside of Wildden's care and concern.

The cases which were above his team's trust level, such as the one he had to deal with today, they often concerned sensitive or highly graded individuals.

After dressing in the white robes with shimmering silver stripes, which was the signature of the Safeguard, Wildden went into his office, and began reviewing the dossier on his pad.

Djen'tero Vice Executive Oncology
[Oncology Nurse :- Chief Executive - Vice Exective - Employee  - Intern]
{Medical :- General - Orthopedic - Dental - ... {disciplines omitted} ... - Oncology }
{Business :- Infrastructure - Medical - Financial - Hospitality - Merchant }
{City :- Examiner - Business - Monastic}

Surveillance Data Collection Complete
Computer & Governance Examiners have evaluated the evidence as sufficient for Collection.

Charges (Major to Minor):

1. Attempted hacking of Exam computing system for the benefit of Dien'tero's daughter Elia'mina
2. Attempted bribery of promiment Computer Examiner, during Examiner's oncology office visit.
3. Overuse of City computing resources {Frivolous requests : 16 TB xfer)

Accusation

1. Daughter Elia'mina reported her father's activities, concerned for the jeopardizing of her 2nd series Introductory Exam.
2. Intrusion Response team forwarded Intrusion logs to Governance, Computer Senior Staff and Safeguard high command.

Collection Detail

Dien'tero is attending the City-wide Medical Business social at 11:00 today.
1. Collect with minimal attention.
2. Ensure Dien'tero's collection
3. Avoid extreme action.

Location Detail:

City-wide Medical Business social
Central South West High Density District
[Holo Directions have been implanted and will take affect once you reach the district.]

Authorization for Entry:
Governance Authorization for Entry into the Business order only event has been granted
{{PRINTING SINGLE-USE CARD}}

The Printer produced the card, which was thicker than a piece of paper, styrafoam behind laminated printing which read:
GOVERNANCE INTER-ORDER
AUTHORIZATION FOR SAFEGUARD SUPERIOR
SINGLE USE
City-Wide Medical Business Social, 01-19-157
RIGHTS: Vice Executive

 The dossier continued, so he went back to that, putting the card in his robe's pocket.

 Behavioral Notices:

1. Collectee remains unaware of Governance, Computer and Safeguard suspicion
2. Collectee attained the Examiner General Classificaiton 3rd level passing score.
3. Collectee entered the Examiner Computer division training program, but was removed from the Examiner order for behavioral failure(s). Details of failures redacted at your security level.
 4. Collectee behavior is degrading rapidly. Alcohol consumption restrictions have not been implemented for reasons of non-disclosure. Collectee consumption levels rising rapdly.


That was enough.

Wildden entered the numeric combination for his small desk safe, pulling the De-energizer pistol from the opened safe. He entered the Petty cash transaction log on his tablet, recording the withdrawal of 1500 credits. He recorded an estimated return amount of 1500 credits. The credits were a fallback, a resource in case his collection efforts were falling apart.

He might have to follow Dien'tero onto the VIP transport hub, if his other efforts fell apart.  250 credits should cover that. The rest was in contingencies and unknown unknowns.

Isolation was the order of the day. Though money was digital and transactions were easy, the Monastery didn't connect it's accounts to its official's acconts, required paper trail and expected smounts and a 'petty cash' system. Tracing who withdrew the most petty cash, and who didn't withdraw enough, and who actually used it. It was trivial for computer division, and Wildden's superiors to see what he used it for. Likewise, he had access to see what the officials under him used it for.

Isolation, and regulated trust increments. Wildden was trusted to withdraw 1500 credits, but there was an infamous Public Order Superior official who had a withdrawl limit of 150 credits after abuse and overuse.

The official was very good and their job, so they kept the position by the barest of margins, but their operational finance was impaired.

Wildden left his office, looking ready for an official trip. He didn't always wear these nice robes, but for a collection like this one, it was imperative.

Syd was outside his office as he stepped through.

"Safeguard", he said briefly.

"I've got a supplement mission," she said, wearing the day to day robes of a normal tier official.

"What has Computer come up with now?" he said, noting the many unsual types of data and investigation they had asked for, to complete their computer analysis of various offenses.

"Soil chemical analysis, near the edge of the city. Have to interface with Wildguard. I'm not sure why they didn't hand this one to Wildguard themselves?"

Syd was good, but also sarcastic and sometimes insufficiently serious. This wasn't other cities, this was part of the Monastic order, and that meant obedience and dedication, and less business order behavior. He liked Syd nonetheless.

"Work with Wildguard. I have to get moving. Catching the 930 train."

"Preparing the scene?" she quipped, and then answered, "Of course I'll work with Wildguard. My real question, should I take Anthony."

"Our newest member? Let Bull take him. Take Marl. His computer assessment shows him as next in line for promotion. Wildguard will be good experience for both of you."

"Yes, Superior."

He didn't pay much attention to the Inferior officials on the first floor. He saw a Wildguard leaving in their full Bounding gear as he left the chapter house.

Supposedly, he didn't need to be at the Social Center until 11, but Wildden didn't become the Superior official he was by showing up on time. It was 8:50. The train headed for Center-Southwest was one minute late, arriving at 8:56.

He stood, letting the few Examiners and many Business order types take the seats. They were all of the more junior ranks in their respective order, division and specific positions, but they were Business order, and Examiner order.

His formal robes and the cloth belt which iconified the Superior-level military officer created a zone. No one wanted to be near him when his mission was at hand, and for all they knew, he was after someone on the train right now.

The Safeguard preffered that they had a reputation of being an enigma. No one wanted to being disruptive when they might caught the attention of an official.

The Computer vision modified all Military division attire to include embedded cameras. Everything Wildden did, and everything those around him did would be tracked and collected for analysis by the Computer division and passed on to Governance as appropriate.

The train swiftly reached the Central Southwest district. He waited and the Business folk waited as the few Examiners left the train, and then Wildden waited for the business order people to leave the train and at last he got off before the train started boarding from the other side.

Wildden ascended the stairs up to street level with speed, but with deference, making it there as the morning surge was starting to fade. Within 30 minutes, train service would be reduced to inter-rush levels, until this afternoon, when workers left their posts for the day.

The holographic display promised showed a rendering of the collectee in question, with his current status in bold underline (HOME).

"Computer. Inquiry." he spoke to his computer interface. Without his tablet, he was limited to voice command and voice response. He preferred not to have the bulky pad in the field, unless the case indicated need for it.

"What is your Inquiry?" said a quiet feminine voice.

"Does my Governance Authorization allow me to enter the Business Social Center before 11:00?"

'Authorization is granted once at least one Chief Executive level official is on site."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome," said the computer interface.

It's polite to be polite to the computer. Some people didn't think so, but their discourtesy was likely not just to computers.

He followed the arrow to the Social Center, and walked around the block, identifying potential escape paths if the collectee was able to get out of the building.

There was no one here yet. It was likely the Chief Executive of each medical business order discipline would be arriving here sometime after 10, while the rest of the medical business people would go to their posts first thing, and then travel as a group to the social at the appropriate time.

Hopefully there were no emergency surgeries while the social was happening, as an Examiner Surgeon with no helpers would not be happy. They surely had procedures just as Safeguard has procedures for emergencies when they had their socials.

There was little but the street itself for exfiltration by the collectee. Crowds were their best approach if they intended to run.

WIldden put his years of experience in waiting to use, patience and stillness in his form as he waited for the Chief Executives to show up.

Why had they put the collection here, instead of at the Collectee's local office? High levels of loyalty from the Collectee's subordinates perhaps.

One Chief Executive showed up, and immediately beelined to Wildden's position.

"Can I see some authorization, monk?"

Wildden provided the Governance authority card.

"Looking to get into the building?"

"Yes Chief Executive."

The Executive, her business card identified her as Chief Executive - Radiology, lead him into the building, providing her own credentials to the Building controls.

The first thing Wildden saw inside was the Hospitality desk, where the concierge was personally welcoming everyone.

He had to give credit to the Hospitality group of Business order. Every time he'd interacted with them, they had been welcoming, respectful and cheerful.

"Chief Executive Radiology Morina, what can we do to accommodate you today?"

The Concierge was a highly skilled hospitality official, a Vice Executive perhaps.

The Radiologist conferred with her briefly, and Wildden stood at attention, mastering the stillness of his early training by not moving at all despite an urge to itch creeping up. Giving people no excuse to look down on the Monastic Order was a key operating principle for Senior monastic officials.

Everything he did would be tracked and made part of his Field score, which composed part of his overall evaluation, which determined his present and future prospects, subject to a lot of Computer division analysis of his records.

Finally the Concierge approached him, as the Chief Executive headed to the Cocktail bar at the other end of the greeting hall.

"Safeguard Superior. The Chief Executive confirmed your authorization to be here and our records confirm this. Please operate with decorum and strive to avoid disruption to the event scheduled today," said the Concierge.

"I have already received orders to operate with a minimum of disruption. I will be dedicated to ensuring that is true," he said.

"Please inform us of any weaponry on your person."

He placed the desistor on the back table behind the concierge counter, where the Hospitality official was verifying and registering the weapons. Additionally he placed his emergency laser pistol on the table.

"Is such a thing neccessary?" she asked him.

"It's only emergency only operation. Central has to confirm with an Emergency clearance code before I can use it. I have no plans to use it today."

"How can I accommodate you this morning," she asked, handing back his weapons. The desistor he hanged again from his cloth belt, and the laz he stuffed into a secure pocket in his robes.

"If it's possible, can you summarize where the medical business order officials will be at during the Social?"

"My assistant will be greeting the majority of the guests as they arrive. The Chief Executives and the Medical division leadership will be meeting in a council room on the third floor.  The rest of the officials will be moving between the Cocktail bar here, and the large meeting hall on the 2nd floor."

Meeting, or Cocktail bar. On one hand, if attention was on a speaker in the hall, he could quietly collect his target, but if he did cause a disruption there, it would be a much worse disruption.

The Cocktail Bar would offer him a chance to operate when there was less to disrupt. Simply approach Dien'tero and suggest stepping away for a moment.

The less disruptive option surely would be the Cocktail bar. It was tempting to try for a silent collection during some meetings, but the chance of failure was too much.

Perhaps his Great Superior drank, and he knew the leadership in the City Center socialized and stayed connected with the other orders, causing them to live a different lifestyle than the rank and file, but Wildden didn't drink, and he didn't allow his subordinates to drink.

He chose a seltzer water on the rocks, instead, keeping the appearance of being part of this. Immersion wasn't part of the Monastic order's strong suit. He had very little in common with a Business order or Examiner order official.

He sat at the far end of the polished mahogany bar, which curved to fill up a large wedge around the Bartender and his alcoholic paraphenelia.

The Radiologist exec had already left the bar, so it was empty, save the bartender, who continued to go into a back room to gather more supplies.

Wildden's position was such that he could see everyone who came up to the bar. When visual become blocked because of the rush of Medical officials, he would be able to use his tracker hologram to identify his Collectee.

He was surprised then, when a Chief Executive approached, and stood next to where he was seated, waiting for the Bartender to reappear.

Decorum required that he stand up and acknowledge the official of a superior order and superior rank. There were a few cases where decorum had to be broken for Sageguard business, but part of your evaluation was whether you minimized such breaches. The honor of the upper orders and high officials was considered crucial to the Computer systems Examiners who programmed the evaluations for every adult official in the City.

He bowed slightly, as he stood up, "Chief Executive."

"Psychiatry, she filled in. And you, Superior?"

"Safeguard," he said, trying to keep his conversation honorable and limited.

"Joleen" she said. Unconventional for her to introduce herself to a person of lower order who she will probably never see again.

"Wildden. Might I ask if there's something you wanted to approach me for? It's unfortunate, but I didn't get entry to this social on me own, it's business."

"Well Wildden. I've been an Psychiatric chief assist on a few cases connected with your division's 'collection' efforts. Seeing a Safeguard, and a Superior as well, that was of note."

"I never thought about what happens after collection and processing," Wildden said. "I suppose Remediation is the Hoped for outcome."

"We can get them returned to a position one promotion lower than they offended at. If they successfully pass through Genetic and Emotic therapy, and choose to change course. Like everything in the City, it requires testing. But enough of my world, you're base out of the Chapter house in the Business residential district?"

"I'm in charge of the Chapter," he said, not sure why it slipped. Checking briefly, his target still wasn't here but a few other Chief Executives had sat down at the other end of the bar.

"So the Safeguard is a smaller subdivision than I expected, with a Superior running the whole chapter? I'm just one of 23 Chiefs among Med Bus."

"Most of our Safeguards are based out of the Headquarters. As Chapter houses, we only handle cases involving the Business order and Examiner Order. Central handles the Monastic order cases."

"A lot more of those then," she asked.

"Most who would make trouble have already been transferred into our Order. There's a lot of tension and work for Public Order during every final test. And Safeguard central picks up the pieces. Individuals angry at their placement. Most working Business order and Examiner order people are well aware and under control. They realize the system can't be diverted. An order is immutable. But some few abuse their authority, mostly those with the smallest amounts of it, but in a few cases, more senior officials."

She stood up. "Well listen, I need to get up to the third floor, for our Chiefs meeting, but I want to see more lines of communication open. I'm sending you my contact information. I would like to meet sometime again."

She stepped away, and he waved his glass of selter at her in passing.

She turned back for a moment, "And Wildden, it only takes a little thought and sense to realize the only level of official you would be here for, and not your superior or your subordinate."

Everyone else let him alone, although in the crush of all of the less senior officials entering the bar, he gave up his stool and stood in the corner.

His voice activated computer spoke softly. "Collectee is entering the building."

Other than Joleen, everyone else had been distracting talking to each other, and no one had taken notice of a Monastic order official in the room.

"Dien!" said one of the women at the bar, a fellow Vice Executive.

Dien'tero approached the bar. "Sarani," he said to the other executive.

"I'll have a Manhattan," he told the bartender.

Dien'tero, of all of the people near the bar, actually glanced at him, as he stood in the corner, near a table full of Medical officials.

His Collectee looked away, chatting with those around him amiably. There was a tension in the man, Wildden believed he saw it. He carefully weaved through the group of officials, trying to make no noise nor disturbance.

Dien'tero looked at him again, and this time, the man was ready to act. Giving his drink to 'Sarani', he pretended calm, and told everyone around him that he had left something behind and had to check the lost-and-found.

By the time Wildden got out of the crush of officials, his collectee had left the building.

The white led lights on the chandelier, and those in the ceiling mounts flashed red, and the lights pulsed, strobed almost.

"THIS IS A SECURITY LEVEL 1 WARNING. ALL EGRESS POINTS ARE INACCESSIBLE UNTIL THIS SECURITY WARNING IS RELEASED. PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE."

The Concierge came running to the Hospitality desk as Wildden approached it.

"Did you trigger that?" the Concierge said heatedly.

"I have no authority to do something like that. Only High Command could trigger such a thing," he said truthfully.

Wildden watched as the Concierge tried to connect to her own systems without luck. After another thirty seconds, he turned to the door, wondering if it was possible that Dien' Tero knew something or someone to cause a warning.

 "SECURITY LEVEL 1 WARNING CLEAR. YOU MAY RESUME YOUR ACTIVITIES."

 The Hologram showed Dien'Tero already descending to the subway platform. This was bad, but Wildden had experience.

"Request a 15 second delay on all trains, Central Southwest Main Station," he spoke to his computer.

The request was encoded and sent on the rapid response loop to Computer division's central command.

He didn't know whether he would get it, but he ran towards the subway stairwell.

The little dimple button on the right side of his belt activated the Safeguard warning system.

"SAFEGUARD COLLECTION IN PURSUIT. SUPERIOR OFFICIAL IN PURSUIT OF SUSPECT."

Only a few were entering the Subway at this point, most people were arriving here in this business district. Those few who were stepped to the side as Wildden bounded down the stepped, his training making what would seem recklesss, routine.

"REQUEST GRANTED," returned Computer Command.

15 seconds was all he was allowed to request. The hologram still pointed him to the platform, as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he identified Dien'tero two platforms down.

The train was rolling in, and would be there within a few seconds. Unfortunately for Dien'tero, there was no crowd, waiting with him. It was easy to lock on to just the Collectee with his desistor.

He pressed the trigger, and Dien'tero toppled over. He disabled the Safeguard warning system.

"Nothing to be concerned about here. We will be gone within a moment."

He walked over to the platform where Dien'tero was collapsed and unconscious. Those who had stood near him had entered the train to get away and on with their business.

"Notify the transport.team. Send HQ confirmation," he told the computer.

The desistor was ultimately an electronic tool, overriding the target's security rights and privileges, causing a temporary unconsciousness and preventing movement.

People were broadly aware and afraid of the desistor, so a voluntary collection was far more frequent. Dien'tero's evaluation would be lower because he didn't take a voluntary collection. If he interfered with Computer division operations to cause the Security Warning he would likely have no choice at all.

A senior Executive like Dien'Tero would usually end up with a few choices after serious crime. Start over in the Monastic order as an Adult Trainee, or leave the City entirely.

The City divided and separated authority. Wildden could apprehend the suspect, but Public Order's transport team would take him to Lockup. The Transport team could transport him, but only Legal's Advocate and Governance's Remediation could determine sentencing and offer choices.

Wildden travelled with the Public Order team as they carried Dien'Tero onto the Public Order special train car, which attached to the arriving train, and was loaded first, before the rest of the travelers could get off.

Quickly, the Pub Order Transport team carried Dien'Tero onto the train car, and Wildden followed him. He would stay beside Wildden through transport and sentencing, as an immediate presence in case of any attempted escape. Few tried such things these days, however. It was largely a formality for Wildden to follow his Collectee, but he had an interest in how the other parts of the Enforcement system worked.

The special car detached from the main train as they reached the Southwest district station. It followed another train that traveled between Southwest and City Center, and Wildden and the Public Order team unloaded Dien'Tero from the special car after the rest of the passengers debarked from the other cars.

It was two blocks at street level, so the now conscious Collectee was escorted swiftly to the central Legal division complex.

They entered the complex and headed left at the signpost with directions to different parts of the facility.

There were two dozen sentencing rooms, and that was for the entire City. Only half of those were occupied as they entered.

The Legal official (junior-grade) recorded their information as Safeguard and Public Order representatives. She noted Dien'Tero and the charges against him and directed them to room 7.

The public order officials took his collectee to the room, and Wildden followed chose behind. Dien'tero was seated and secured in the sentencing determination chair, and Public Order left, but Wildden stood still behind the chair.

An Associate Minister of Legal division (Sentencing Subdivision) entered the room, followed by a Governance division (Sentencing Subdivision) Full Minister.

"Pardon the delay, I was involved with another case," said the governance minister. Examiner order ranks and levels were more involved than in the other two orders, so it was tough for Wildden to draw a parallel between his level and these ministers. Except they were nonetheless far above him in practical authority and esteem.

Dien'Tero was facing the Governance minister, who sat down at the far end of the conference table, while the Legal division associate sat at one of the chairs on the side of the table and closer to Dien'Tero.

Legal spoke first, looking to the Governance associate. "Am I correct summarizing that these charges are 2 Class A offenses, a Class C offense, 1 Class D offense, Honored Minister?"

"Legal Associate, you are correct in confirming that those were the original offenses analyzed in Computer Division document 6a-7d19. However, during the Collection attempt, additional offenses were analyzed. The Computer division Addendum - Pursuant Offenses document should be arriving in your inbox now."

"I will refer briefly to such document then," the Legal associate asked.

"Granted."

The associate pulled a tablet out of his briefcase and placed it on the table.

Wildden let his vision blur as he avoided focusing on the associate or anyone else. Dien'tero would find it impossible to escape now, but he kept the sentencee in mind.

After five minutes, the Legal associate put away the tablet and returned to the order of business.

"Permission to proceed?" they asked the Governance minister.

"Granted."

"Vice Executive Dien'Tero," the associate addressed Dien'Tero.

"Yes sir," he said to the associate.

"You are charged the following Offense codes: S-CC1 Serious Computer Crime, A-ED7 Suborning of Educational Integrity, B-SG1 Resisting collection by an Authorized Safeguard official. C-FC Financial Crimes against Computer division minister, D-FC Frivilous over-use of Computer Resources. I am your legal representative, pursuing the best course of action for you, in consideration of the offenses which have been analyzed and found overwhelmingly probable."

"Thank you sir," Dien'Tero said. There was little fight left in him.

"Can you describe your encounter with Superior Safeguard Wildden, including what followed subsequently?"

"I spotted him standing in the corner. He stood out among all of the Medical Business officials. After having some other conversations, I noticed that he was moving away from the corner, and I thought he must be after me. I carefully made my way out of the crowd, giving any excuse, and left the building.

I knew a few people in Computer division, I'm sure you know I was in the training program before being reassigned to Medical. I contacted a Technician I had known before who said they would flag the building computer system. Some kind of corruption causing a temporary security warning. They didn't know how long it would last. It was a secured line, so you wont be able to incriminate the Technician. It was a favored, they owed me, and now I was in their debt.

The Train was late, and then I was desisted. The end."

The Governance Minister spoke up, "The matter with the Computer minister will be dealt with separately. Are there any more preparatory questions, Legal Associate?"

"Honored Minister, I believe answers are sufficient for our representation on behalf of Dien'Tero."

"Thank you, Legal Associate. Now, beginning with this Sentencing Presentment, Governance will start with the lesser Offenses and proceed to the more Serious offenses. Due to the Composite of all Offenses duly charged at this time, Governance is prepared to drop Class D and Class C offenses, however, we will fully charge Class B, Class A and Class S offenses.

"On the charge of Resisting Collection, you will be placed in a monitoring program with an automated desister implant. On the charge of Suborning of Educational Integrity. An order of protection will be granted preventing you from approaching Level 3 Examinee Elia'Mina. Elia'Mina has already been provided with alternative residency in anticipation of your Collection. You are formally stripped from the Business Order and Medical Division within it, pending Trainee assignment to the Monastic Order. All privileges and expectations pursuant to the rank of Vice Executive - Oncology, have been removed. New attire will be provided as appropriate for Post-Sentencing and Pre-Training. Subsequent behavioral infractions will be doubled in their effect on your Monastic evaluation. Subsequent sentencing will result in an automatic expulsion from the City.

"On the charge of Serious Computer Crime. Your violation of the trust of our Computing system in the pursuit of Resisting Collection is a Severe offense. Governance has declared that it is willing to put repentance to the test and allow Senior officials of the Examiner and Business orders to show their contrition and obedience in Monastic training. Class L Monastic Training will test your humility and integrity and ability to relocate your identity in a lowly station. You will be classified as Military-Exempt, and not allowed to enter that division, but all other divisions are open to you if you pass your training.

"Because of the accumulation of offenses, the doubled penalty for behavioral infractions will instead be quadrupled.

Your first Option, is to accept these burdens and begin again as a Monastic Trainee (Class L). You will progress to being a normal Monastic Trainee and then advance further if you show humility, respect for Governance and Superior Officers and work with Excellence and Dedication.

Your second Option, is to be escorted outside of the City, never to return. You will be Expelled and Expunged.

Legal Associate, please advise the Sentencee of his choices."

This was the part, that 95% of the time was predictable. Some people were Citizens, and some people were Opportunists. Wildden predicted Dien'Tero would choose exile before humilitation and humility.

He did.

It was the Wildguard who would take the Exilee out of the City, so Wildden could finally say his goodbyes to the Legal Associate and Governance and make his way back to the Chapter house.

It was both boring and exhausting to go all the way from Preparation to Collection to Transport to Sentencing. Most of the time when he went out, it was with another Safeguard. But this one was important to Governance, that they wanted to keep things small and quiet.

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Joleen Chief Executive Psychiatry  [encrypt record key id ***]
[Psychiatry :- Chief Executive - Vice Executive - Employee  - Intern]
{Medical :- General - Orthopedic - Dental - ... {disciplines omitted} ... - Psychiatry }
{Business :- Infrastructure - Medical - Financial - Hospitality - Merchant }
{City :- Examiner - Business - Monastic}


Samae was hungry. Studying and working on problem sets at School all day. It was sixthday. Joleen wished her daughter didn't have to spend so much time, even on seventhday, studying and doing practice exams. But it was necessary if she was going to rise higher than Joleen herself, and make an Examiner of herself.

Joleen considered the Safeguard she had seen that morning. Though he was part of the lowest order he seemed accepted, even content, about his career. She doubted he'd been involved in any sort of behavioral errors.

Samae had a few trifling notes in her behavioral file. Mostly her interrupting other students accidentally, because she wanted to contribute. They were only a 2 point malus in aggregate, which was considered quite good for the daughter of a Business order executive. She wanted to be offended, but she worked with business executives, and managed them. She knew that they had occasional lapses.

The Security Warning on the building had been weird, but she assumed it was something to do with Wildden's task.

Oncology sub-division Vice Executive Dien'Tero has been expelled from the city after collection and sentencing today.

She wasn't there when the collection happened, being on the third floor in a mostly pointless meeting. There were points, but points that all of the Chief Executives already agreed with.

Tommorrow she would reinforce these points with the Vice Executives at Central Mental Health Hospital.

Expulsion was something she thought a lot about. The Mentally Ill, would they ever get better. Would it be better to expel them, or to continue consuming a bed. How can they do more on an outpatient basis. It was disturbing to a point.

The Doctor division Examiners who her subordinates worked with almost always chose expulsion. The Mental Hospital was not designed to support long term care.

The City was an aspirational, an uplifting place. Not a place that accepted everyone, but a place that filtered out only the suitable proficient. You had to at least pass the monastic exam.

But she now suspected the Monastic exam wasn't any easier than the Business entry exam, just testing different things.

Examiners, and students still on that highest track like Samae, were subjected to intense intellectual and behavioral standards. In level one and level two examiner school, half of the students were sent straight to the monastery. Only a quarter continued on, and a quarter went to Business school.

Less than 1 in 20 new students made it to the lowest level of Provisional Minister (Technician et al). From Level 4, where her daughter was, there was still only a 1/3 chance of it. Joleen was prepared nonetheless to help her daughter make the transition to business school if her dream didn't pan out.

It was curiosity which lead her to sending a short message to the Safeguard Superior. Among the Monastic order, only heads of entire divisions were commonly part of the City's elite social circles. They were considered undignified, but interesting by the other elites.

Her own position placed her at the bottom tier of business executives. Her boss, the head of all Med Bus, was an active and well regarded member of the scene. The size of Med Bus, meaning its many subdivisions, gave the Division Chief a lot of credibility and appreciation.

Joleen was just one amongst the crowd of Chief executives, invited to some parties, but not others, able to split the difference between the lives of those like her boss, and those like her subordinates.

Vice Executives were still part of the body of Business order membership, while Division Chiefs had a half step into the places higher still, speaking with the Governance Ruling Minister on occasion.

It would be a mini scandal, but Joleen was amused by the idea of inviting Willden to a social event.

She sent the chat message.

Joleen here,

I imagine you are there, back in the Chapter House,
perhaps dealing with the endless work of managing subordinates, like I am
 perhaps reading through more documents
perhaps using jargon specific to your position.

I just thought
That I would check in.
It might be odd,
But I would like to ask you a few questions
Curiosity beckons
Carisca Crema, tommorrow, 6 pm sharp.
Let me know.


She didn't need to mention her name, as it would display that first, but it was part of her personal style.

 She reviewed her schedule for tomorrow. Review of computer evaluations. Lunch with the Supervising Minister of the Doctors Division, Psychiatric Subdivision. Her counterpart, leading the Psychiatric Doctors, as she lead the assistants and Practitioners.

A surprising amount could be done by a Senior Practitioner. She had 7 Vice Executives with their own Lead Medical Role, under the authority (but not supervision) of a Senior Psychiatric Doctor.

Most of those under her leadership were in an Assistant Medical Role. But they did a lot of the work.


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