View topic - [UPDATE] The Sentinel (8th Aug 2005)

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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates

[LOCKED] [UPDATE] The Sentinel (8th Aug 2005)

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neophoenix
Boot

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 68
Location: where you can't celebrate the Kindling of the Flame

[UPDATE] The Sentinel (8th Aug 2005)

The Perplexcity Sentinel wrote:

Iona Interviews...
Sente Kiteway
By IONA RODIE
Academy Master Sente Kiteway greets me at the front door of his official residence in Milamont Parade at 7am, smiling and apologetic for the early start. It was, he explains, the only time he could fit me into his schedule in the next month. Despite the smiles, he looks every inch the forceful executive: more broad than tall, he is an imposing presence, a reminder of his wrestling prowess as a young man. His short steel-grey hair frames a face which shows its 60-something years, but the penetrating blue eyes seem to belong to a much younger man. He's wearing a well-cut suit; I wonder whether he ever wears anything else. "Only in bed," he twinkles. "No, I don't really do casual clothes; can't see the point."

He shows me into the spacious living room, its high ceilings typical of the Milamont houses. The room is comfortably furnished: Ultra-modern Zingiber sofas and armchairs, Hausam-period urns on either side of the fireplace, bowls of fresh flowers on side tables around the room. No books? I wonder aloud. He promises to show me his personal library later, "but honestly, with the Academy library just across the park, it seems rather a waste to accumulate books here."

That efficiency, and the species of ruthlessness that goes with it, are central to Kiteway's character, as he himself would admit. Elected by the Senior Fellows to head the Academy five years ago, he took up the position at a time when the institution's powers seemed to be declining, its atmosphere calcifying. Within three years of taking office, Kiteway had turned that around, cutting back extraneous departments ("there's no reason for the Academy to be the finest teaching hospital in the city," he says, "that's just not our core work. Look at the motto: we're not here to teach students about questions that have already been answered. We're here to ask new questions, ones that push forward our understanding."), and securing the Academy's power base through a series of top-level alliances with finance, big business and government across the city.

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Now, of course, he faces his most difficult challenge, one which has already seen him come under personal attack, both in the media and by some of his more outspoken colleagues. In January of 267, the Receda Cube was stolen from the very heart of the Academy; not only stolen, but completely removed from our world, taken across to Earth. There are so far no good leads as to who might have taken it, why they did so and, indeed how they transported it across. Faced with this seemingly insoluble problem, Kiteway, the puzzle-solver, the bridge-builder, produced a radical solution: Involve all the people of Earth in a vast game whose solution, he hopes, will be the recovery of the Cube.

So, how did he devise this ingenious strategy? "I'd love to say it was a flash of genius, but in fact it came out of long hours of anthropological research. The anthro team at the Academy worked round the clock to give me all the information they could about Earth. ... We had thought their work was a little, well, marginal, but they've certainly proved their worth now. So, I read a lot, I thought a lot and then," he smiles broadly, "only then came the flash of genius. It simply became apparent to me that, actually, these people love puzzles as much as we do, that they're playful and enjoy being engaged on a quest. And they're incredibly resourceful, in some ways. So I thought, why not set them the puzzle of a lifetime -- to find the Cube?"

The obvious question, of course, is why Kiteway did not simply deliver to the people of Earth every scrap of information on the theft of the Cube straightaway. Kiteway harrumphs and declares that point of view disingenuous. "Of course we could have sent over many long lists of dry facts and reports, but who would have paid attention? We feel our chance of recovering the Cube is greater if we can only engage the widest number of people possible."

Kiteway's strategy has been hailed in some quarters as brilliant: Darrant Rue, the reigning Advantage champion of the city called it an astonishing quarter-wheel manoeuvre. Inevitably, this unorthodox approach has also been condemned, even among Kiteway's own inner circle, the senior fellows of the Academy. The outspoken Estelle Sedgewick, head of the Languages department and widely regarded as something of a loose cannon within the Academy, went on-air to accuse Kiteway of putting the entire city in peril. How, Sedgewick asked, could we be sure that the theft of the Cube was not an act of war, perpetrated on us by the people of Earth?

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Kiteway sits forward in his chair, thoughtful. "Look," he says, "Estelle Sedgewick is a brilliant scholar and a good friend. I have complete faith in her abilities as a linguist, as a department head, as an Academician, but there are parts of this puzzle she just hasn't had access to. ... Having seen what I've seen, and heard what I've heard, her interpretation of events seems pretty implausible to me. Still, she must be allowed to voice her concerns, just as I," he gestures with a hand, "must be allowed to over-rule them."

And has he been stung by the gibes and accusations of the press? He smiles and leans back, relaxed. "Look, journalists have to sell papers. They like to find a scapegoat, because a dramatic accusation is more saleable than a measured assessment of the facts. Not that your paper would be guilty of any such sensationalising of course." He gives me a somewhat sardonic look.

Surely it must have hurt, though, to read headlines accusing him of incompetence, irrationality and, occasionally, insanity? Kiteway sighs. "Would I like everyone in the city to approve of what I'm doing? Of course I would. Is that likely? No. In a job like this one, you learn to take a few hard knocks and a few hard words. Besides," a flicker of amusement passes across his face, "I've lived with two teenage daughters; I've been accused of much worse than incompetence and insanity."

Our hour is up, and Kiteway, courteous as ever, shows me to the door and thanks me for coming; he has a breakfast meeting at the Academy at 8:30am, and then a full day ahead. I manage to ask one final question as I'm leaving; is there any truth to the rumours that he'd considered resigning? He shakes his head. "Not at all. Absolutely not. After all," he smiles again, "it wouldn't do to lose the thing and leave someone else to find it, would it? Matter of principle."

The Perplexcity Sentinel wrote:

View from Earth: Religious Freedom
By WIGLAF
When a society faces a crisis, it naturally takes action to right the wrong and to defend itself. But sometimes action is taken simply so that the authorities can be seen as taking action, and certain groups are targeted as scapegoats. This has happened many times in the history of Earth, and I worry that it is happening also in Perplex City.

The theft of the Receda Cube is a tragic loss for your people and it is understandable that your citizens would want to do anything in their power to secure its retrieval. Understandably the Reconstructionists came under suspicion for the theft because of their belief in prophesies that the Receda Cube "be delivered from the faithless hands of the Academics." But the fact that the "Recon 8" were arrested simply because of an anonymous tip, and held for months without enough evidence to even bring them to trial, is shocking to this Earth observer -- especially as such detention of citizens, while illegal in most of our nations, is currently taking place on Earth in response to crimes in the name of religion.

Even after the Recon 8 were released, the prejudice against the legal Reconstructionist religion became even more evident when Sente Kiteway, the supposedly rational head of the Academy, turned Aiko Entrescore -- who had been working diligently to retrieve the Cube -- to the police for simply belonging to this persecuted religion. The Sentinel itself fired Ryan Klein shortly after learning that he is a Reconstructionist.

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Thankfully, brave members of the community such as Keenan Thoreau have come out to freely express their religious beliefs. Thoreau's bravery and support from his bandmates in Roll for Damage make me eager to learn more about them (and I hope that the people of Earth will also be able to enjoy their album someday).

Perhaps the thieves will turn out to identify themselves with the Reconstructionists, even if the theft of the Cube ultimately was not religiously motivated. Here on Earth, terrorists and criminals ally themselves with various religions, but these criminals pervert these religions and many of them are far more interested in power than religion.

Now, I am not looking to lay blame. Kiteway is clearly under a lot of pressure, and I am heartened that the board of the Sentinel has decided to change its administration and rehire Ryan Klein. But if such reliable institutions such as the Sentinel, and such pillars of the community as Kiteway, can briefly fall prey to this hysteria, then we must all be on our guard.

The Perplexcity Sentinel wrote:

Bank Deal Questioned
By ALWHIN COPI
The Office of the Council announced today a plan to review the PCBC's Fivebridge & Remton Consolidated Bank acquisition to be sure the move won't be detrimental to ordinary citizens. City finance deputy Hova Lonehart has indicated that there appear to be some flaws in the PCBC's economic report on the buyout's ramifications, and that no approval will be given until that matter is fully addressed.

The report submitted by PCBC to the city paints a sunny picture of ease and convenience for consumers after the deal is completed. Customers are likely to experience only benefits as the two bank's financial networks are gradually integrated, according to the report. City officials now say that the analysis did not take into consideration a wide enough data set, however.

"The report focuses primarily on the effects to people living in central Perplex City, but we have an obligation to the people living in even the outermost areas," said Lonehart. "It's unlikely that the acquisition will receive city approval unless the PCBC and Fivebridge & Remton prove to us that there will be a ... net positive outcome for every geographic area affected."

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PCBC declined to offer a formal comment, saying that the matter was between itself and the Office of the Council; however, a highly-placed executive at Remton & Fivebridge complained that the office is throwing up arbitrary obstacles in the interest of publicity. "Politics, pure and simple," said the source. "Centrifuge and KSI didn't have to go through this kind of ridiculous process, and neither did Agilon and Cognivia. ... This is city officials trying to play to the back row with an election year coming up fast."

Lonehart denied these allegations, saying that other mergers have not been subject to this kind of scrutiny in the past because they have not affected individuals so directly.

The consulting economist who allegedly wrote the initial draft of the report, Monica Grand, could not be reached at her PCBC offices at press time.

_________________
neophoenix� │ 023/100 Scarlett's card distribution challenge
Save the blue smarties, they are an endangered species

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 7:23 pm

GuyP
Unfettered

Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 584
Location: London, UK

Locked in favour of the other thread, that has more stuff, and the right title. Shorreh!

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:15 pm

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