Dianne did it because she was 31. It was partly because she was a junior diplomat and had no other prospect of ever getting more status. Anything else she did to take initiative would count against her. It was partly because another lackluster relationship was ending, fizzled, not important enough to care much. It was partly for the adventure, that must be admitted. And the possibility to actually do good, to make a difference. But - 31. An opportunity at just the age for her to grab it.
A new embassy in a new star system, four months away by hyperdrive. Ask for orders from home and they arrive eight months later. The mission would inevitably require considerable independence. Others were trying to wangle their way out of the assignment; there was no question she could have it if she volunteered. They thought it would end a career. Stuck in the boonies, far from WorldGov central, forgotten. But there were possibilities.
She discussed the Arctrix mission with her mentor. He was assigned to her, no one had particularly wanted the duty. He rubbed his nose. His vest was a little tight, he hadn't bothered to have it adjusted. "This does look like a possible fit for you. There's room for disaster, but you've never chosen the safest path."
"Tell me more about disaster. I may not have it all straight."
"Your mission will have to do things without clear guidance from home. So if there are bad consequences, the mission will get the blame. And they will try to choose one member to take the blame for everybody. That might be you." She understood. It would probably be her.
"Also, you'll be out of touch. A ship from home every four months. That leaves room for a great deal of unorthodox behavior. You won't get much supervision, and that could lead to irregularities." That wasn't so bad. Right up her alley.
"And there's a glitch you should notice. Arctrix has not agreed to diplomatic immunity. You will be subject to Arctrix law, and of course their diplomats here will be subject to our laws. Until we can get that changed it could result in some dangers." That was worth paying attention to.
"Still, I don't see any other prospect that would fit your personality. It's only by sheer technical merit that you have persisted in the service this long. You don't have the mindset to fit in easily among us. You stand out. So this is your chance. Strike out or home run, you'll never get a better chance." He sighed.
She put in the request and it was approved within the hour. It fit her qualifications just fine "on paper". Negotiating with aliens. (The labs were all simulated.) Negotiating with humans. Protocol and when to put it aside. How to enforce rules, and when not to. Heavy on training that involved judgement, which turned out to be unwanted anywhere. The very skills needed for a new contact. She was highly qualified for many positions - on paper - but unwanted for any of them. They were happy to send her to Arctrix.
That night she broke the news to Tom. She would be gone for at least 2 years, and he couldn't visit unless a trade deal opened up and he got on it. He laughed. "You saw we were ending, and that's a pretty extreme way to pre-empt it."
"Hardly. We made sense together. It could have worked. I would have been your contact with State, and you would be my contact at IGW, and we'd help each other. But neither of our careers went that well. I can't blame you for looking for another chance. The sex was great, anyway, and I like you." Diplomatic. Follow the training.
"Eglaine's father is chairman at DWG. If she really falls for me, he'll get me something."
"I wish you well and hope it works out." They had comfortable break-up sex. It wasn't that good, but acceptable, like the whole relationship had been. The next day she sold her stuff, except for the trinkets she would take to Arctrix.
She resigned from her junior post backing up the mission to the Alpha Centauri colony. They threw her a going-away party in the staff room after work. Practically everybody stayed at least ten minutes, and several of the junior staff women told her they'd miss her and they were excited for her opportunity. They were practicing the role, but she imagined a couple of them might actually mean it. Somewhat.
While she waited for departure, she studied the cultural data and started learning the language. The people were basically human. She practiced the tongue movements that would gradually give her an authentic accent, and listened for the sounds they made so she could hear them correctly. Human babies spend six months doing that, but a good training program can cut down the time. She was struck by a video showing a transit station waiting area with a bench. It looked almost like something from home. The bench gradually filled up. Then whenever someone new arrived and wanted to sit, they gestured to someone sitting and that person stood to let the new one sit. When a lot of new people arrived, they hardly had time to sit before someone else replaced them. She switched to a similar video from Terra that had been sent to Arctrix. The bench filled up, and then when new people came in the sitters kept sitting there. A young woman looked defiantly at an old woman who wanted her seat, and stayed in place. Often the differences weren't so clear. And there wasn't that much cultural data yet.The anthropologists were just getting started. Some of them had been arrested and one of the first jobs would be to find out why, assuming it hadn't been worked out after 8 months.
She would have liked to spend her four months travel time studying, but the State Department was chintzy and put everybody in cold sleep. Most of the staff preferred it.
#
The staff settled into their new embassy building and started getting to know each other. The rooms were shaped like soap bubbles, with somewhat-flattened floors and less-flattened ceilings. Split-level, with ramps curling around rooms. The ramps were wide at the bottom and top and narrowed part way until just one person could squeeze through. Perhaps large items could be brought up the outside and into the large windows, which did not close and were unscreened. A twenty six hour day, they could adapt easily. The planet had hardly any axial tilt, so an open building that was room temperature now would stay room temperature the whole year. With chilly mornings and warm afternoons.
Dianne checked the personnel list. Fifty two, exactly half biologically female. None particularly old. She was the oldest of the women. Huh. Ten Marines, one of them a woman.
Doris, Rachel, and Lindsay were bubbly young interns. They seemed to like Dianne well enough but they didn't have much to say.
Dirk was the leader of the Marine guards. He explained that they could protect the building from thieves and small groups of civilians, but if it came to a real fight they would inevitably be killed. "Figure an average two months before a ship comes that can take a report home. Or possibly it could take us. That would be good. Then four more months before a relief fleet can arrive. We'll be long gone by then. But we have a few small nukes for them to remember us by."
"Do you expect an attack on the embassy?"
"It's our job to be ready. I hope not. But if it comes we will go out in the best tradition of the force."
Stan was the ambassador. He moved around through the building creating chaos. According to the theory of Stochastic Management, if you keep disrupting things they will tend to settle down into an optimum arrangement, not dominated by where stuff landed the first time. He was middle-age and balding, a lean and hungry look. Apparently everybody more senior had called in favors to avoid the assignment.
They gradually got things somewhat settled. Bedrooms belowground. Learning to use the strange sanitary facilities. They ate packaged food rations and slept in their sleeping bags.
Second day, more of the same. There were flies. The Marines started doing target practice on them.The green plus infrared targeting pulses would fry a fly though mostly harmless to anything else.
Third day, communications equipment was getting organized, they could talk from one room to another. The Marines showed people how to do laundry with buckets of water and soap. They let the others use their soap and buckets.
Fourth day there was a problem. Stan had had sex with Doris the first night, and Sylvia the third night. He revealed to Sylvia that he intended to have sex with all of the women. He was the ambassador and he had the right. There was a lot of talk about that. Dianne argued that they should unite and refuse. Betsy pointed out that there was nothing they could do. They were four months from home, and they couldn't leave unless Stan approved the transfer. Their only alternative was to emigrate to Arctrix which was unthinkable. Dianne said, "He can't do anything without our cooperation. We can work together and stop him." But they were Embassy trained and didn't think in terms of being uncooperative. Dianne remembered her mentor. Stan was doing 'unconventional behavior'. Somehow she hadn't expected that from other people.
Doris said, "He talked like I was special. I thought he'd treat me right. He didn't say anything about doing it with everybody." She cried.
Sylvia said, "He wasn't really all that bad. I could handle a repeat every now and then."
Yuriko said, "If he does it three times a week with twenty six of us, that averages out to about once in nine weeks. That isn't so bad."
They were generally resigned to it. Fifth day, Stan called Dianne in for a talk. "I've looked over the records, and you are the obvious choice for my Factotum. You would handle all routine matters and speak in my name. Do you accept?"
It was the best assignment, and the traditional way to refuse was to announce that she didn't feel competent to do the work, which would go on her permanent record. "Yes, sir." By giving her the role he was showing that he did not punish her for talking rebellion, and that she was not leading rebellion. She started organizing the machine translators and arranged that everyone had time to practice using them and also practice learning the language. They couldn't function without language. The fifth night he took Zenaba.
It turned out that the Arctrix had an eight day week, no public functions the eighth day. Their sixth day was that day. The Marines staged a party and shared beer. The women mostly didn't pair off with the men, it was too early. People who hadn't been working directly together learned each other's names. Stan showed up briefly and left. As the ambassador he had to stay somewhat isolated. Dianne could sympathize with his choice to have sex with all the women. Otherwise he would be showing favoritism. It was sensible but unorthodox. She just didn't like it.
Finishing up work the seventh day, Stan told her, "Dianne, you've been doing very good work so far. Report to my bedroom at twenty one hundred hours."
"I'm off duty then."
"Consider yourself on duty."
"What, you want me to wear something sexy?"
"I don't care what clothes are on you when you walk in the door provided they all come off." Dianne had the thought that they didn't actually have doors yet.
