01: Video : I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase

[omar]

[Omar's been laying seriously low since Risa, mostly staying off the communicators, keeping to himself. Friendly to anyone who's spoken to him in person, genial and even more or less polite, just... quiet.

But now, he's decided it's time to make his presence more known. The communicator switches on to show the pool table on level six. A dark-skinned man, marked by the glittering jewels in his ears and the large scar on his face -- like someone took a knife and slashed him from his forehead to his right cheek -- is sitting behind the table, sprawled out comfortably on a chair.]

Evenin', everyone. Thought it about time I introduced myself. My name-- [And this is something he waffled on, thought maybe to lie when he first showed up on Risa... But then he realized that anyone here who would know him, they would already know him.]

My name Omar Little. Any of y'all from down Baltimore way circa 2006 or so, you might already know of me. If not... [And this next part is said with a grin -- like it could be a joke, or maybe not.] ...I'm a new warden up in this piece.

And I got a question or two for y'all, if y'all got answers.

Comments

[omar]

Just lookin' to know when I get to get started. And if you got any advice to give, that wouldn't go amiss or nothin'. You know, what make a good warden and all. What they be lookin' for?

[timesbureaucrat]

The Admiral decides when you're assigned an inmate. It could be days, it could be months. Until then you can pick up other duties. Patrol, supervisory duties, and the like.

As for what makes a good warden... Try to keep your inmate from killing people. That's a good start.

[omar]

Good to know. Anything else? [--that his future warden is going to be looking out for?]

And, wait -- other boy said the uh, the rotation or whatever you wanna call it's put out twice a month, what about that?

[timesbureaucrat]

Wardens and inmates are assigned to each other in the middle of the month--that would be in about one week [Time Lord senses are handy for keeping track of the relative date]--and at the end of the month. Rarely does the Admiral deviate from his patterns.

Beyond that there's no training manual, no set of standardized guidelines [much to Narvin's dismay], so each warden's technique is different. There are no official rules or laws, since there's no government to write them, no police with the authority to enforce them, and no courts to judge them. Of course, each warden is expected to maintain a certain moral standard. Wardens have been demoted to inmate status in the past when they truly act out of line.

[omar]

So which is it, man? One week, or whenever he feelin' up to it?

[That, he butts in with -- the rest, he listens to quietly, curious. This isn't just idle trolling, although that part of it is amusing him to no end: this is all valuable information. Things he's going to need to know in whatever the upcoming war is going to look like.]

Be rules somewhere, then. Like I said to the man before -- there's always a code if you know where to look, even if you brings it to the table your own self. [For all they're talking of wardens and inmates, it's not all that different from the street, in the end. It is a game.] So what's the "standard" we talkin' about?

[timesbureaucrat]

It's both. Some people will be paired in a week. You may or may not be one of them. He doesn't pair everyone at once, and there's no telling when he'll decide that he's ready to pair you.

As for the standard, each person here has a different code of conduct. But, in general, all the wardens agree on a few basic things such as torture is bad and killing except in self-defense or to protect others is wrong.

[omar]

So torture and killing, that get you a demote. [He can't help it -- he smirks a little at that. It's like taking the whole idea of the game and adding actually damn yellow cards to it.]

Think I can handle that. [Probably not.]

[timesbureaucrat]

I should hope so.

Demotion is determined by the Admiral, however, and not the wardens. What actions warrant a demotion is unspecified, beyond a vague sense of crossing a moral line that they perhaps wouldn't have before, when they were first chosen to be a warden.

The most wardens can do to each other is a trip to the cells in Level Zero.

[omar]

[He translates this to: solitary.] And what do we do with inmates that be acting out that way?

[timesbureaucrat]

That's up to the warden and whatever he or she feels would be most effective. We're encouraged to tailor the punishment to the inmate.

[omar]

Be creative? A'ight, I get that. Can you give me a example or two, though? I mean, back where I come from, it's pretty much just-- you know, jail.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin ponders for a nanospan.]

When one of my previous inmates cut out my tongue he was sent to Zero, but the real punishment was my making public a historical fact about his people that he dearly wished to keep secret, the thing that he'd cut out my tongue over.

Sometimes punishment involves taking away something important for a time, sometimes it involves losing privacy. And sometimes a stint in Zero really is enough.

[omar]

[Cut out his--? Okay, this place is a little harder core than he gave it credit for, obviously. Not intimidatingly so -- it takes more than a little maiming to scare Omar Little. He actually looks sort of impressed.]

...O-kay. I'll think on that some. [Besides, it's good to know. What would his future warden come up with? He can't think of much.]

Guess it's true what I heard, then, that things like that don't last so long in these part. Other boy said he had his heart cut out.

[timesbureaucrat]

Death doesn't last, but any non-fatal injuries you get will. They'll heal at whatever rate is normal for your age and species. Fortunately, despite the Admiral's fondness for 21st century Earth, we aren't limited to 21st century medical technology here. [Or you can kill yourself to reset your body to its pre-injury state, like Narvin did. He doesn't add that, though, as that's generally considered a bit of a Bad Idea.]

[omar]

More like 2200? [It's just a guess -- Duo's the farthest in the future he's met, so far. As for Narvin... Omar'd ask how his tongue grew back, but there's really only two answers to that, aren't there?]

[timesbureaucrat]

Doctor McCoy, the chief physician, is from the 23rd century. The same universe as the last port as a matter of fact.

[omar]

Well, damn. Good to know. Sure there all kinds of things he can do, then. [Not that he has any intention of ever going over there.]