Bruce Sterling - Distraction

“Tell me, sir — is this just a conferral, or is it a conference per se?”

Nakamura looked pained as he chewed and swallowed. “Well, of course an actual conference would have the legislators in attendance. Or at least their leading office krewe staff, their chiefs of staff, for instance. And of course there are committee meetings, and then subcommittee and committee hearings, generally with sworn witnesses and full cover-age… However, in the modern legislative trend, the drafting of legislation and the budget preparation have fallen to the staff commit-tees. Actual senatorial hearings have become highly mediated events, very formal. It follows that we staffers must have our own conferences. And then, behind those formal scenes, we do find it procedurally necessary to have these conferrals.”

Nakamura examined his collapsing sandwich and tucked in a wad of sprouts with one fingertip. “We called this event a ‘conference,’ because that’s necessary in order to get the personnel chits and travel rebates. And we do get better security service. This entire build-ing, as you must have noticed, is sadly insecure.”

Oscar, once certain that Nakamura’s lips had stopped moving, leaned gently forward. “I know that we can’t hold truly formal hear-ings until the Senate convenes. As a novice junior staffer, I’m not eager to take on that challenge until I’m much better briefed. Frankly, I look to you for some helpful guidance and continuity there.”

Nakamura accepted this remark with a graceful nod.

“I’ve been on the ground at the Collaboratory, sampling opin-ion… Since Senator Dougal’s mishaps, the rumor mills there have been grinding overtime. Morale is shaky.”

“ ‘Shaky’?”

“The situation might stabilize, I think, if they received some reassuring gestures from Washington.”

Nakamura eyed his other colleagues. Namuth and Mulnier were swilling iced coffees, tapping lackadaisically at screens, and pay-ing them no real attention. This did not surprise Oscar, who had written off both Namuth and Mulnier after closely studying their dos-siers.

Nakamura was made of sterner stuff. “What do you plan to pro-pose?”

“I think some expression of confidence in the current Director is in order. A statement of support from this Senate committee — that might work wonders for him.”

Nakamura put his sandwich aside. “Well, we can’t do that.”

“Why not? We need to take action. The Director’s authority is visibly slipping. If the situation gets out of hand, the lab will be para-lyzed.”

Nakamura’s face grew clouded. “Young man, you never worked with Senator Dougal. I did. The idea of our giving some blanket endorsement now to one of his krewe flunkies… especially first thing in a new Administration … No, I don’t think so.”

“You said that you wanted continuity in the situation.”

“I didn’t say that we should provide that continuity.”

“Well, then,” Oscar said, slipping with feigned disappointment into his prepared position, “maybe my notion should be scaled back. Let me ask your advice. Director Felzian has a difficult situation. What exactly can we do for the man? Without Dougal’s sponsorship, his situation is dangerous. He might be denounced. He might be formally investigated. He might even be indicted.”

“Indicted?” Nakamura rolled his eyes. “Not in Texas, surely!”

“He could be indicted in Louisiana. So many rare animals have vanished into the collector’s market… They make such photo-genic evidence, rare animals… The Governor of Louisiana is a highly interested party. The state courts there are completely in his pockets. This really isn’t a time to show division and weakness at a federal lab.”

“Young man, you’ve never met Governor Huguelet — ”

“Oh yes, sir, I have. I had dinner with him last week.”

Nakamura’s face fell. “You did.”

“He’s a very hard presence to miss in that corner of the world. He made his intentions very clear to me.”

Nakamura sighed. “Well, Huey wouldn’t dare.”

“Why would he draw the line at subverting a federal lab, when he’s already besieging an air base?”

Nakamura’s brow wrinkled in silent distress.

Oscar lowered his voice yet further. “Huey has always backed genetic and cognitive R D. That lab has exactly what he wants and needs. It has the talent, the data, and the samples. Besides, Huey was a major force in creating that lab in the first place. He has allies all through the old guard there. His course of action is obvious.”

“But he was always such a great backer of the federal presence there. It’s not like we’ve forgotten the Collaboratory. We haven’t misplaced it. We’re not like those morons on the Emergency com-mittee.”

Oscar let the silence stretch. Then he shrugged. “Am I being unreasonable here? I’m trying to propose the smallest action we can take to maintain the status quo. Is it the sense of this committee that we are unhappy with the status quo?”

“No, of course not. Well … some are. Some aren’t.”

Oscar showed a proper skepticism. “I hope you understand that this is my very first assignment with this committee. I don’t care to go out on a limb today.”

“No.”

“I don’t grandstand in these matters. I’m a team player.”

“Of course.”

Oscar gently touched Nakamura’s arm. “I hope you don’t think I’m enjoying my isolation from this committee. I could have been here on the Hill, at the center of the action, instead of being marooned for six weeks inside some airtight dome. I’m going to make my interim report today, but if I’m sent back to Texas without a committee con-sensus and some coherent course of action, I’m going to take that very amiss. Is that unreasonable of me?”

“No. It’s not unreasonable. I do appreciate your situation. Be-lieve it or not, I was also a young staffer once.”

“Sir, this is not going to be a pretty report. Especially the finan-cial attachments. The troubles there could spin right out of control. They might even be fatal troubles. It may be that our cheapest and easiest course of action is to shut down that lab, and let Green Huey cherry-pick the wreckage.”

Nakamura winced.

Oscar bored in. “But that’s not my decision. And it’s certainly not my responsibility. If my report today gets leaked, and something breaks loose, I don’t want any spin from this committee suggesting that I myself have some kind of personal agenda. Or that Senator Bambakias has any untoward intentions in this matter. I’ve made a good-faith, objective effort here. I consider it my job to layout the facts for the committee. But if something breaks loose, I don’t want to be hung out to dry.”

Oscar raised one forestalling hand, palm out. “Not that I’m sug-gesting any malice on the part of my fellow staffers! I’m just remarking on an obvious organizational truism — that it’s always easiest to hang the new boy.”

“Yes, it is,” Nakamura told him. “You’ve read the situation very well. But in point of fact, you’re not the only new boy on this com-mittee.”

“No?”

“No. There are three new Senators on the Science Committee, and they’ve all brought in krewepeople. And the two other new boys have yet to show up physically for one single goddamn conferral. They’re logging in from the penthouse decks in Arlington, where they’re busy kissing ass.”

Oscar frowned. “That is not professional behavior.”

“They’re not professionals. You can’t depend on them. You can depend on me, and you can depend on Mulnier. Well, Mulnier’s not the man he was ten years ago — but if you’re straight with me, and if you mean well, and if you’re giving a hundred percent for this com-mittee, well, you’re covered. You are covered, and you have my word on that.”