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Rule of Twelve, Double Take - Ch13 (Passage 1/5)

Chapter 13 - In Between

On entering the final hour of the watch, Dukk and Marr were back in the cockpit. Dukk had just returned from doing a walk around.
“All good?” Marr asked Dukk as he sat in his seat.
“Yep, mostly all quiet. There is some movement as everyone re-starts their day. Have a look at this,” Dukk said as he interacted with the console.
A video feed appeared before them. Dukk had enabled sound too.
It was a view of the hold airlock. Annee and Mentor could be seen jumping around and bouncing off the walls. Annee was dressed in a sports bra and gym shorts. Mentor was only wearing gym shorts. They were both sweating profusely.
“Wall ball?” Marr commented.
“Exactly. The airlock isn’t a perfect court. But it is a little more unpredictable and that adds to the challenge and entertainment value.”
“What are the rules?”
“Hands or bare feet only. The ball can only touch another surface twice between turns. Miss your turn and your opponent scores a point. First to twenty one wins. Outside that, anything goes.”
“Anything?” Marr looked over and raised her eyebrows.
“Yep,” Dukk said grinning.
The ball could be seen changing colour as it hit the walls. First yellow, then orange and back to green as Annee or Mentor hit it back towards the walls, ceiling or floor.
“The ball senses the hands and feet verses the surfaces or body?”
“Yep.”
Annee and Mentor were in an intense rally. Mentor dove to the floor and just touched the ball. It bounced gently along the floor and turned red.
“Nine to fifteen. I am catching you Annee,” Mentor puffed from his position sprawled on the floor.
“I’m being kind old timer,” came Annee’s reply as she put out her hand to help him up.
Marr reached over to the video feed and pressed the audio button.
“Come on, Mentor. Don’t let us new comers down.”
“Oh, is it going to be like that is it, Marr? Challenge accepted. What do you think, Dukk?” Annee said out loud at the video camera.
“Definitely. Best of three. Marr and I will play later today,” Dukk said into the feed looking over at Marr.
“You are on, Captain.”
“Annee, finish him. After I beat Marr, Bazzer and Luna won’t even need to play!”
“Not a chance,” Marr fired back smiling.
“Right, my serve,” Mentor said as he retrieved the ball.

Marr and Dukk watched the rest of the match. They added plenty of encouragement and the odd dig.
Annee countered Mentor’s height and strength advantage with her agility and knowledge of the space. She used all the corners to her advantage. Mentor scored only one further point.
“Challenge is on, Marr. I hope you picked up some tips. You’ll need every trick you can conjure to beat Dukk. He rarely loses,” Annee said as she used a hand towel to mopped the sweat from her body.
“Oh, really,” Marr said looking over at Dukk.
He grinned back as he flicked away the video feed.

“So you have a competitive streak, Dukk?”
“Surprised?”
“Not really. I just didn’t get that from your BIO.”
“I guess I like to hold some cards close.”
“Don’t we all.”
Dukk looked up from the console and his perusing of the system logs.
“You didn’t hesitate to make this all more than exercise. You showed your competitive streak. What other cards are you holding close?”
“Somethings are best not known,” Marr said grinning.
Dukk laughed. They both returned to interacting with their consoles.

“Can I get your views on something?” Marr asked a little while later.
“Shoot.”
“I was reading the passenger manifest. It says the two passengers heading to Mayfield, Bognath and Carltor, are tourists.”
“It does.”
“They don’t exactly behave like tourists. They behave more like soldiers. What is your take on that?”
“My take is that their behaviour is intentional. They want us to know exactly what they represent.”
“And what is that?”
“The buyer’s interests. Their destination matches the load’s destination. They behave like they are in the protection business. It looks to me that they are protecting the buyer’s interests.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Absolutely. There are a lot of dangers out here. Advertising their presence helps reduce the chances of unwanted intrusions or even racketeering.”
“It doesn’t prevent it?”
“Nope. There is just too much space out here for the elites to protect fully. And, everyone is corruptible?”
“Even you?”
Dukk looked over at Marr. He narrowed his eyes.
“Are you trying to recruit me for your war?”
“Maybe,” Marr said provocatively.

“What about the other two, Joantyi and Larony. The manifest says they are traders. They are only going to Maple Tower, a dodgy space port. Hardly the centre of commerce. Is that a lie too?”
“I don’t know yet. I have had zero interactions with Larony and only a little more with Joantyi. Besides, you’d be surprised how much commerce gets done in dark bars and dodgy corners. What is your take?”
“I had some brief interactions with Larony. He seams genuine. He has a gentle manner. Not exactly the traits of a sales person.”
“Perhaps it is an act?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Those moving in and around space ports include those directly engaged in hauling and also those that benefit from it. This includes undesirables. You have the usual parasites like prostitutes and drug dealers. But you’ll also find racketeers and their enforcers and collectors.”
“Interesting. I guess we’ll learn more over the coming days. It is after all, a small space we are all inhabiting.”

(to be continued...)

[Rule of Twelve, Double Take, Chapter 13 - In Between (Passage 1 of 5)]

All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2021 BJ Allen

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Rule of Twelve books to be narrated with the help of A.I.

I am investing in A.I. driven narration to bring the Rule of Twelve books to life.

It will be more than just narration in the traditional audio book sense. The A.I. will enable me to bring dialogue to life with character specific voices. This will create a rich and engaging narration.

Over the coming months I will be in catch-up mode, building the narration for already published material. Eventually, the aim will be to concurrently release chapters in both written and rich narrative form.

The narration will eventually make it to audiobook form for platforms like Audible and Spotify. However, to get it sooner, you will need a Locals subscription. The Locals App works just like your favourite audiobook app. So, you can listen on the go. Becoming a subscriber also helps keep this whole show on the road.

I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

Bradley.

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Psychological Safety is a trojan horse

Marr nodded with a wink as she put her hands on the back of Luna’s chair and started to speak.

   “Emeelie, what if I have a room with a single door and I put you in it. The door isn’t locked, and you can leave at any time. The room represents a life experience. Now what if I dropped a lion into the room. What would happen?”

   “All things being equal, eventually the lion would get hungry and want to eat me.”

   “What are your options?”

   “Obviously I would leave via the door, immediately,” Emeelie answered.

   The others laughed.

   “Sure, and every other time a lion is dropped into the room you are in, you’d leave too?”

   “Yes,” Emeelie said with a hint of hesitation.

    “What if there was a possibility that a lion might be dropped into every room, from that moment on. How would your experience of life pan out?”

   “Dreadful. Limited. I wouldn’t be able to stay or even enter any room.”

   “Right. You’d spend your time running out of every room and miss every potential experience.”

   “Ok.”

   “What if I put a chain on the lion and anchor it to the wall?”

   “That would work. I would be able to enter the room again.”

   “Right. So, the lion would need to be chained down for every room you may enter.”

   “Great.”

   “This is the trojan horse.”

   “How?”

   “If I am controlling the lion with chains, I am controlling you.”

   “What! How?”

   “I can choose to use chains or not. I can determine which room you can enter and which you cannot. Your potential for life experiences is controlled by me. You allow yourself to be the victim.”

   “Of the lion’s hunger?”

   “No, my will. You are allowing me to depower you.”

   “Oh.”

   “Yes, oh. Your safety becomes dependent on me or somebody else putting chains on every lion.”

   “Not good.”

   “No. What else could you do that leaves you empowered, but not eaten.”

   “I could learn to defend myself against the lion.”

   “Yes, or even tame it. Put chains on it yourself, so to speak. That way you could go into any room you like, regardless of whether there is a lion in there or not. You’d be safe without anyone else’s intervention. You’d stay empowered. You would experience life to its fullest.”

   “So psychological safety is a trojan horse. It puts my safety in the hands of a third party. It depowers. It turns people into victims.”

    Marr nodded and smiled.

 

-------

Excerpt from Rule of Twelve, Book 3 - Regeneration, Chapter 17

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Dukk opened his eyes. It was dark.

   “A dream. It must have been a dream,” he muttered as he tried to fathom where he was. He tried to digest the pre-dawn excursion with Craig.

   He swung himself out of bed. Marr was gone.

   He checked the time. Mid-afternoon.

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“What in the world is going on?” Craig demanded as the doors to the south banqueting hall, closed behind them.

   Dukk, Marr and Emeelie stood before him. Beyond was the atrium bathed in orange light from the setting sun.

   On the opposite side of the atrium the doors to the north banqueting hall were open. Music and chatter could be heard from within.

   The noise from the others disguised the deathly silence that engulfed the four.

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