A Tidbit From The Next Project...

[Publisher The Written Wyrd]

Howdy all,  

Now that 'Playing God' is in the can, I'm getting up to speed on the next novel: "MacKenna: A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows'.   Here is an early bit which reveals some of the inner workings of the Ic'nichi military.   The subject is a mysterious computer chip labeled 'First Secret' found in some two hundred year old files:

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There are good reasons for the multi-layered chain of command in any Service, and the 'Grays' chain was among the longest and most constricting of them all.  Officially, it allowed various tasks to be compartmented into manageable units which can function on their own and pass the results up, down or sideways as needed.  Unofficially, it allowed minor tail knots to be discreetly buried, thus preserving many a career.

C'demBreg stuck a routing form on the chip, which he was beginning to heartily loathe, checked the 'First Finger' box, scribbled an illegible signature on it, and discreetly tucked it into the bottom of the First Degree's 'IN' tray.

The First Degree found it two days later, and knew immediately one of his subordinates was trying to save his tail over some l'cc'vn nonsense.  Strictly speaking, he should have demanded explanations from the culprit, but that sort of thing gets noticed from higher up.  So he added his own illegible scrawl to the endorsement and carefully misrouted it to the janitorial staff.  Hopefully they would dismiss the matter and toss the chip.

Janitorial knew better since they received these things all the time; so much so that they had well-established policy to deal with such.  They covered their tails in turn by affixing a twelve page 'misrouted-unknown' form to it, and shipped it off to Central Administration.

Six days later, Central Administration learned of this gift, and being perplexed by it all, trundled it over to Historical Archives with the fifty-eight page 'Miscellaneous Research Request And/Or Filing' form duly attached.

Historical Archives was not thrilled when they learned of it five days hence since they were hip deep in moldy old files being dug out of the underground storerooms.  Plus there was no official 'Deep File' paperwork with it, so they hauled it back with the indignant 'Importance Of Proper Record Keeping' memo—only fourteen pages—added.

Central Administration duly noted, and for want of any better idea, attached a thirty-five page 'Security Breach Report-Routine' form and rumbled it off to Secure Administration.

The Ki- of Secure Administration—it had reached that high by now—was perplexed by something classified that long ago, especially as there was no twenty-nine page 'Rationale For Classification' form appended.  They simply didn't use this sort of computer chip any more, for one thing.  He'd never seen the like either, not to mention the Initiating Authority Code was for something not in their records.  He did what all senior bureaucrats do in these cases: he sighed in resignation, attached the one hundred and forty-seven page 'Unclassifiable, Extraneous, Unexpected, and Inexplicable Event Or Matter Reporting form', and avalanched it up-herd.

In due season the chip with its bulging file folder crash-landed on the desk of the Fleet Herd Guide, and since he had more important matters to attend to than sorting out ancient mysterious artifacts, he shoveled it up-herd in turn to the Ki-Eldest.  He knew better than to let it become his problem.

*****

Enjoy!

Bob