Interview: The Gurdebrand sisters (Bianh and Briah) conducted by Commander Vien Travis, KCGS Sally Jennings
"Sit, please. Your records don't match. You're both...well, twins, but that's it. Ages don't match, a close look and phenotypical features don't match. I would advise talking."
Briah looks at her sister, Bianh.
"Can we have a lawyer?" Bianh asks.
"Do you think you need one?"
"Shit yeah." Bianh says, "I think we dam well better have one."
the accent is wrong for Ia Drang. Heck, these two are wrong for Ia Drang. I've got a good imagination, I can piece together images in my head. Always have been able to. it made me a pretty good engineer and has won me peer awards in the Boojum Amatuer Fiction contest three years running.
"If you're from Ia Drang, I'm Simon Cameron reborn." I tell them, "Like I said, your records don't match, your accent's wrong, you aren't asiatic or saharan, and you're both between the ages of fifteen, and sixteen. so let's begin again. Last name?"
"Gurdeson." they both say.
"First names, you-?"
"Brianna." 'Bianh' says, finally looking a little ashamed.
"and you?"
"Brittany."
"And where are you from?"
"Devilrock." Brittany mumbles. "We're from Devilrock, okay?"
"so where is that?"
"It's on Hood IV, sir." Brittany contributes, "what the ****** else were we going to do? sixth grade educations, nobody uses draft-horses anymore, not since Her Grace brought back the technology, and even if they were, we lost our claim-share when Dad and mom had the accident. we took the settlement money and went to Kowloon because there's work there...only, we got no skills in demand."
Brianna pipes up, "AFFC, however, is always hiring, and it wasn't too much to get a guy in Ia Drang to phoney up some paperwork so we weren't gonna get caught being illegals."
"Your forger was shit." I tell her, "you got what you could afford, which was shit. I've seen better forgeries done by six year olds." Mind you, the six year old in question was yours truly and a certified genius, but still... "So you got through some lazy recruiter's processing office, and assigned to..what was your MOS?"
"Driver!" Brianna said, "Track one-Three one Charlie."
"Assistant Gunner." Brittany added. "Track Two Two Four Delta."
"can you read?"
"Of course." Brittany said, "we both can read, geez...what a question."
"Did you read the enlistment contract?"
"what were we hurting? huh? do you have any idea what kind of choices we were facing on Hood IV?"
"I'm getting a pretty good picture, ladies...now, I'm going to...where is it..?"
I dig around in the valise, and Lt. Mins, the Wolverine Provost supervising this hands me the documents with a clearing of the throat. "Thanks..."
I lay the stacks of paperwork in front of them.
"These should be familiar, they're standardized aptitude tests." I explain, "You will need pens...show your work in the math sections, if you can't or don't understand a question, skip it. Each section is timed, Mister Mins here, and Warrant Officer Silvermann will be grading and evaluating each portion as you finish a section...or as far as you get before you can't finish. Keep in mind, young ladies, this will have a significant impact on what comes out of this proceeding."
I flourish the stopwatch, "Begin!"
While they take the exam, I'm left to brood. it's never enough. These two were resourceful enough to get from Hood IV to Ia Drang aerodrome-we actually got a tip on the last communication with Spider Moon, the forger they used? got himself caught trying to counterfiet Kroner notes. He kept a list of customers and jobs, very convenient for us, not so smart on his part. These two are among around four hundred people the OCB has identified as using false documents to get into places they're not supposed to be.
but it's never enough-most of the cases seem to be like these two-kids leaving bad situations, runaways, or orphans or delinquents, people from places that the new prosperity not only didn't touch, but godhammered with obsolescence, whole industries and ways of life automated out of existence, mining communities that lost their livelihood because the Belt Mining and Rockjacks can turn out so much more product so much cheaper, and the handcrafters who lost livelihoods because factory products are...well, better? cheaper? more available? some combination of the three.
One farmer with a Coventry-Convent agromech can grow more crops reliably than four hundred sharecroppers using draft animals and hand work. there were a LOT of sharecroppers on Hood IV.
and it's never enough. We can't get the kids into schools fast enough, can't get alternate jobs and job training in place fast enough or wide enough. People fleeing poverty will grab onto anything to stay above it, these kids and hundreds like them have latched on to the fact that AFFC needs men all the time. that military service can get them the education they didn't get, that a discharge card stamped 'honorable' opens doors to escape that pit that is rural poverty without sacrificing pride by going into a welfare system or turning to crime.
I remember what it was like under the Regent, especially on the Plateau, and how it felt when your belly wants to eat its way through your spine, what it was like to be squatting in a shack on someone else's land, scrabbling for anything, and the burning shame of begging for a hand-out to stay alive one more day.
I would have done what these two did myself...but I ended up not being forced to.
"Well?" I turn to the Warrant officer.
"Reading level's about seventh grade, but her maths are fantastic, grasp of biology is pre-collegiate."
"And the other one?" I turn to Mins.
"fourth grade level reading, I'm going to say undiagnosed dyslexia for that, based on how bad her grammar is, the maths portion is phenomenal, the pattern recognition and organization abilities are pretty close to perfect scores. If I hadn't watched her do this test, I'd have assumed she was cheating somehow."
"That problem-the learning disability? it's not something your system's used to dealing with, is it?" I ask him.
He shakes his head, "We...kind of bred it out generations ago. we're having to re-learn how to handle it from the Colonials."
"right...okay. either of you have objections?"
"No." Mins said.
"alright, ladies, this, is your discharge form from the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, you will note the category is 'honorable', THIS, is your convictions for Falsifying Documents and conspiracy, you will sign them, because this? this is a Court Order, your sentences have been predetermined, we needed verify a few facts, like Brianna's deficiencies with written language. You will be transported, to Giap Island Residential School, where you will be educated until the age of Eighteen, you will then be enrolled in the Giap Island Coast Guard Academy, where you will recieve further education, and paychecks, paychecks that will continue to reach you for the next minimum ten years of active duty service in the Kowloon Coast Guard, after that mandatory ten years, you will be given the option of leaving service, or remaining until retirement. do you understand?"
"Uh..."
"Yes sir." Brianna said.
"Good, you're paying attention. sign the damn forms, your ride leaves in four months, which means for the next four months, you're part of my crew and will begin learning the ropes on a Coast Guard Cutter. the correct response, is 'Yes sir' or 'aye skipper'...and your signatures on those documents, tick-tock, time's a-wasting and you have a lot of learning to do in not very much time."
