Liberty Unveiled

Participants:

adelaide_icon.gif ygraine_icon.gif

Scene Title Liberty Unveiled
Synopsis Ygraine unveils some of the fruits of recent efforts, and tries to prepare Adelaide for some of what might lie in her future….
Date October 27 2010

Adelaide's Apartment - Dorchester Towers

Beautiful wooden floorboards are cleaned and polished. A thick blue area rug sits on the floor in front of the cream sofa and chairs, in the center of it is a wooden coffee table. Several small frames sport images of places far away and people. Each framed in silver or gold. A ceiling fan hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the room, a matching one rests above the mahoghany dining table and chairs.

Through the open walkway the kitchen is visible. Slate floor tiles blend well with black topped counters and dark wooden cupboards with silver handles. The appliances are all stainless steel and chrome as are the fixtures. The window over the sink is the kind that sticks out from the wall so plants can grow in it, in this one herbs are growing.

Down the hallway four doors are visible, one to a room decorated as a small but spacious room for relaxing, across from that is a second bedroom that serves as a home office, it is here that there are two desks, one situated near the window for good natural light during the day and softer lamplight at night. On the second rests a laptop comptuter and printer. There are framed photographs, on the walls and a few paintings and rough sketches of people, and places-things possibly seen in dreams. The third door is the blue speckled tiled bathroom with its silver fixtures and white shower tub, while the fourth is the master bedroom.The large windows at the front of the house, and the smaller ones in the back and kitchen allow light to give the house a lovely feeling without allowing it to be over powering.


Having, out of force of fitness-obsessed habit, taken the stairs up to this floor, Ygraine is slightly out of breath when she comes to a halt before the door to Adelaide's home. After tucking a stray strand of dyed-red hair back behind one ear, she raises the head of her cane to rat-a-tat-tat smartly upon the wood in front of her, gazing around the hallway with a mildly bemused look of appreciation for the finery on display even outside the apartment.

The inner door of the apartment is ajar, the outer metal door is closed and probably locked. The sound of meta being knocked upon, forces Adelaide up, and to the inner door. "Hello, Ygraine!" she says cheerfully. She raises a finger to indicate a moment before unlocking what sounds like at least too locks before usheringthe woman inside. "Please sit." she says.

Grinning rather playfully, Ygraine offers a flourishing bow - apparently playing up the role presented by her old-fashioned gentleman's garb. "I thought I'd dress the part, for visiting the palace", she says with a wink as she moves inside - though she does spare an assessing, appreciative glance for the extra security measures.

Another grin as she moves to take a seat, swinging a small backpack off her shoulders, setting it on the floor before her feet so that she can pull out a laptop. "I've done it! I think that everything's ready to go live. I corrected a few typographic errors in the website yesterday, but it looks like everything's set now for us to unveil things to the world. I figured I should show it all to you, and get your say-so, before we set you up as a major target for Humanis First and the Feds."

Adelaide laughs. "I have no objections." she turns her laptop around. "Been looking over the webpage indeed. But lets make Humanis first Fear the PEOPLE!, and The Feds remember their palce!"

Ygraine chuckles, shaking her head. "Be careful about being too confrontational", she cautions. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about…. And part of the reason for the "What about other problems?" section of the FAQ."

Setting her laptop to booting up, she leans back in her seat, offering Adelaide a rueful look. "There is a real risk to this. I can't prove any of it… but I know that at least some people have been 'disappeared' by sections of the security apparatus of the US, and that there've been extra-legal activities - to put it politely - relating to those seen as 'dangerous'. Make yourself a target, and you're likely to become a 'person of interest'. At the least, you should worry about surveillance and people poking into your background and life for anything that might discredit you. We're setting you up as the public face of something that's attempting to provide a direct and open challenge to the President's policies. Even if he's not personally a bad guy, there are people around him who have a lot invested in the things we're trying to change."

Adelaide nods. "I know. Ygraine." she breaths. "It's the least I can do. I lost my family when the bomb went off, I have nothing to do. I have no signifigant others to worry about. I am finished up my bio-chemistry -premed degree.. I want to change the world. I know I will be target, but its worth it if we can get people to realize that power is in their hands… not the goverments. American's For and by the people… Thety just need to remember."

Ygraine studies Adelaide for a moment or two, then inclines her head. "I admit that I hoped you'd say that. Which is part of the reason I want to introduce you to a shop you might never have considered entering before."

Leaning forward, she enters a password into her laptop, frowning at the screen as she waits for bootup to finish. "I've done what I can to provide us with security for the data stores and web servers, though I'm afraid that we're lagging way behind the nuclear survival bunker that WikiLeaks got given for their core hubs… but there're some options that you can acquire for yourself, quite legally, to provide a bit more security."

An address is entered into Firefox, then Ygraine spins the laptop around to display the home page for the Spy Store's NYC shops. "Legal surveillance-detection and counter-surveillance measures. They're far from cheap, but… anything from a motion-detector built into a phone, that will auto-dial a number if it detects movement in your home while you're out, up to briefcase-sized systems to sweep buildings for even inactive bugs. Things to detect or negate wiretaps on landlines, voice-changers for cellphones and land lines, white noise generators…. I'm sure that the top level gear used by agencies will be a step or two ahead of most of this, but there're limits to what can be done with technology, so it should be at least some use if you want to make yourself harder to prey upon."

Adelaide stares.. "Umm hmm theres an idea. I have a pair of cats, i am keeping for a neighbor— useful knowledge. I didn'tk now there was so much stuff, but I may have to looking into this and make a shopping list."

"There's quite a lot you can do. And a great deal of it's covert", Ygraine says solemnly. "Things like the cellphone voice-changer can be set up to just look like a hands-free system - no one watching you will see anything unusual at all. And… white noise generators are sold as everything from 'privacy assistants' to sleep aids to combat insomnia."

The Briton shrugs slowly, smiling ruefully. "There's a scary amount of surveillance gear that's legal to own, so it's a relief that counter-measures are legitimate as well… but it's still not a very nice version of the world to think about living in. Still, it might be worthwhile. And as a 'public figure', you should have no trouble justifying a desire for privacy if anyone does ask questions about it."

Adelaide says, "Yeah It's really worrying though. I mean.. admitedly, I thought someone would target me for my Suresh Complex, I am mean, I am more a target for the KKK, that for… Humanis First, I'd think.. I am Black, successful, and a woman…. who has substance, and is intelligent, and will take their white men away from their white women…" she says. its clear she's trying to making lite of things."

Laughing, Ygraine shrugs gently, one side of her mouth quirking into a wry half-smile. "I don't think that the KKK have too much power to recruit at the moment. Sadly, Humanis First will find it a lot easier to roll up bigoted idiots - why worry about the guy with more melanin in his skin than you when there's that guy over there who you've heard can start fires just by thinking about it?"

Another shrug, accompanied by a rueful smile. "Not that I think that it'll go away. But… any measures that'll help against Humanis First should work against the KKK. Though I could see about teaching you some self-defence techniques, if you want. There are a few simple things you can learn that might help, without needing to get into any kind of serious martial-arts training."

Adelaide nods. "Sure." she says quickly. "I'll take you up on those offeres, I should probably also split my time between my apartment and my family house." she ponders.

"Security here at the Towers is pretty good by default, but… if you do want to start forming some habits to make it harder for people to prey on you, then avoiding things like fixed routines would be wise", Ygraine suggests. "Heck - there are courses you can take in counter-surveillance techniques or 'spycraft' if you want to get at all serious about it. I had a little basic training on how to avoid trouble during the days when I was touring Europe wearing nothing but a lycra skin-suit - but that really just boiled down to common sense suggestions about not going into dark alleys to fix a puncture when out on a training ride…."

Shrugging, the Briton forces another smile. "Still - I promise I didn't come here just to try to make you scared. I've got another lecture up my sleeve, too!" A wink, then she leans back in her seat again. "Basically… it's just a request to tread carefully. I think that the government has gone far too far, and that some of the things happening off the radar - and at least conceivably happening without approval from on high - are even worse than I'd feared. But we can't afford to be seen as anti-government: pro-Constitution is something most Americans will accept. Pro-Evolved… that's something the government has been increasingly often managing to turn into a near-synonym for 'terrorist'. It's not yet as dirty a phrase as 'Palestinian activist', or the like, but at least some elements in the government seem to want to push it that way. And if we're to have as broad an impact - and get as many pledges as possible - we need to seem as moderate and inoffensive as possible."

Adelaide nods. "Agreed. So how do we do it? If "Pro-Evolved", sounds like 'Terroist' how do we, creator the moderate leaning?" she looks at her hands. "I am Evolved, I can… read memories… I don't know why the Goverment is actively trying to recruit people with ability they could find useful. I mean if you can stop a war with an ability by getting intelligence… but no… marginalized." She makes small fists. "How do we make the middle ground…. see the light."

Ygraine offers another rueful shrug. "If I knew that for certain…. But… I have formally studied conflictual behaviour. One of the best things you can do to reinforce people's view of another group as hostile is to directly confront them about it. The fundamental key to conflict resolution tends to be to 'cheat'. Show someone a common interest - quite possibly without even making it clear that it is common to their 'enemy' - and they'll often start backing it….."

Pursing her lips, Ygraine then chuckles. "Brief lecture: in a conflictual situation, people instinctively start considering whom they might be able to trust, and which people they should avoid telling 'important things' to. The longer the conflict goes on, the tighter and harsher those definitions become - until you end up in the situations where 'you're either with us or you're against us' and 'my country, right or wrong' make absolute, perfect sense."

Leaning forward once more, Ygraine rests her forearms on her knees. "That's why cheating's important. We need to try to avoid conforming to the paradigms of communication that let people judge at a glance whether we're 'good' or 'bad'. And one of the prime ways of doing that is to play on things which virtually everyone 'knows' are good - in the US, the Constitution and Abraham Lincoln's phrase that you yourself alluded to earlier - of the people, by the people, for the people - those are things that virtually everyone in the USA has been taught to believe are not merely good things, but unquestionably good things. If we can be seen to be supporting those - to have them on our side… then opposing us becomes difficult, to say the least."

Ygraine offers another rueful shrug. "If I knew that for certain…. But… I have formally studied conflictual behaviour. One of the best things you can do to reinforce people's view of another group as hostile is to directly confront them about it. The fundamental key to conflict resolution tends to be to 'cheat'. Show someone a common interest - quite possibly without even making it clear that it is common to their 'enemy' - and they'll often start backing it….."

Pursing her lips, Ygraine then chuckles. "Brief lecture: in a conflictual situation, people instinctively start considering whom they might be able to trust, and which people they should avoid telling 'important things' to. The longer the conflict goes on, the tighter and harsher those definitions become - until you end up in the situations where 'you're either with us or you're against us' and 'my country, right or wrong' make absolute, perfect sense."

Leaning forward once more, Ygraine rests her forearms on her knees. "That's why cheating's important. We need to try to avoid conforming to the paradigms of communication that let people judge at a glance whether we're 'good' or 'bad'. And one of the prime ways of doing that is to play on things which virtually everyone 'knows' are good - in the US, the Constitution and Abraham Lincoln's phrase that you yourself alluded to earlier - of the people, by the people, for the people - those are things that virtually everyone in the USA has been taught to believe are not merely good things, but unquestionably good things. If we can be seen to be supporting those - to have them on our side… then opposing us becomes difficult, to say the least."

Adelaide nods. "Ok."

Ygraine cocks her head, lifting one brow, before chuckling again. "Hey, I'm trying to keep the lecturing brief", she says self-consciously. "But… I'm hoping that we'll be able to get at least some people who think that compulsory Registration is a good idea to back us - if they think the Supreme Court will support them, and will help to make the government's position more secure, then they might well be happy to offer up some money to help to bring that to pass…. That's part of the point of making the focus of our efforts the Constitution: even people who want the opposite of what we do might back an appeal to the Constitution."

Adelaide smiles. "I know.. I mean the idea of complusory registry is annoying. Does this mean that little infants will be registred at birth?" she ponders leaning foreward. "Yeah. Focus.." she picks up one of the kitties wandering around.

A low chuckle, and Ygraine shrugs once more, gaze focused upon the little furball. "Something you might find easier to focus on, perhaps - I've been toying with the idea of trying to get an album together. I've no real idea if a political album would appeal to even the musicians, let alone to anyone we might want to acquire it, but… I do know a few singer-songwriters, and I might be able to arrange access to a recording studio. I can't promise anything, but…."

Adelaide nods. "Well a few songs could well in an album, you'd want to look at writing songs about expanding and remembering our rights."

"I'm not much of a musician myself…", Ygraine says quickly. "But… since I know a few Evolved - and Registered - people who are, it seemed like an option that might be worth pursuing. The one who owns the recording studio'd be the key one to get on board, if I can manage to get hold of her, but I'd have hopes of putting together at least three or four people, and perhaps more, if we can manage to get the thing off the ground."

Adelaide thinks. "Do it, I am musician, we could get together and perform a set a few songs, seeing how they work to gether."

"You'd cover a range of styles, to be sure. I can't see you easily forming a band or anything like that… but a range of music to cover a range of tastes and demographics might be entirely appropriate", the Briton says hopefully. "Though while I'd love to participate, I should bow out. I'd be far better at writing speeches for academic or professional audiences than I would be at coming up with memorable lyrics."

Adelaide says, "Well a few musicians each doing a song on an album.""

Ygraine nods warmly. "And perhaps some collaborative pieces, too. We can see whether or not inspiration strikes. But I'd personally have hopes of getting four, perhaps five people to contribute… and there might be more that they can talk into helping out. Whether the ensemble's released as an EP or album, or whether we go for separate releases via YouTube or something…." She shrugs. "We can see what people think."

Adelaide nods. "I think we stir up people and get them thinking and talking. Then yes, youtube would be useful, snipped of the songs, set to video."

"Ideally, I'd like to get someone like Jonathan Coulton to help out - anything he does is likely to get a few million hits near-instantly. As well as being funny and memorable. But demonstrating that we've got the ability to mobilise a few people ourselves, rather than just going cap in hand and begging, should help. Once a group of artists have done something worth listening to, the chances of others wanting to join in should increase dramatically."

"I am glad that you like the idea", Ygraine says happily, flashing a smile at Adelaide. "But… all that's probably in the future. For now… I was wondering if you wanted to record a YouTube message. I can send press releases to news agencies and the like - but they get bombarded with stuff from political parties, pressure groups, companies, and all kinds of creative industry types, so the chances of getting noticed that way are pretty low. So I was thinking of possibly having you record a message - a speech - and plastering the city in the fliers and posters I've been preparing. Give that a day or two, then we do a joint press conference with the ACLU and anyone else we can get to send a body along to support us."

Adelaide Thinks. "I could, but I'd like to know what to say. I need time to figure it out. The message needs to be clear concises and eyecatching."

Ygraine cracks a grin. "Well, these things usually involve a shortish speech containing a few suitable soundbites that can easily be clipped for use on various forms of media. There are various forms of basic manipulation that can be used - getting an opinion poll commissioned, and seeding it with typically leading questions, for example, so that you have names and numbers to quote…. But I'd prefer to avoid getting into battles over statistics if we can help it. Anyway - I can write you the serious exposition of the legal justifications for our stance, if you want."

Adelaide thinks. "I think if you write it then simplify it, would be good- the legalese I mean." she pets the cat again. "Believe me."

Laughing, Ygraine nods. "Believe it or not, the stuff on the FAQ is heavily simplified. I'm trying to make sure that I don't go over people's heads - that's why I buried the more complicated explanations on pages further in, that people need to choose to investigate."

Adelaide nods. "We'll that's good. We need to make sure no one can misconstrue or twist things because they've used vauge language." she looks at her hands. "Its odd, I want to become a doctor… but I also want to be able to change the world."

"And you're a singer and musician on the side?", Ygraine asks with a brow lifted. "In all honesty, becoming a doctor or a lawyer and then using the public reputation for intelligence that will give you - that's a better route to becoming a voice that people heed than most others. I'm hoping that this campaign will give you a chance to do some real good. Even if we don't win - and I certainly don't expect to win quickly - if we can force people to pay some attention to the rights they're losing and the things being done in their name, then we'll force the government to show greater concern for those rights. It can't afford to simply abandon the Constitution and liberty to those calling for change - it'll have to be seen to be upholding them itself."

Adelaide nods. "Yeah. I am. I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, he was a part of a band, and my mother was a doctor. I wanted to do both."

"Heh. I never really picked up the bug to directly follow either of my parents", Ygraine says with a swift grin. "My mother's a lawyer, and my father a professor of linguistics. I want to help people and make the world a better place… but I took a bit of a detour to spend the better part of a decade riding bikes."

Adelaide chukcle. "I like bikes. The pedal kind or the kind with Engines?"

"Professionally? The pedalled kind. For fun, the powered version. When I need to get somewhere faster than my own power could get me, I ride a ten-fifty cee-cee Triumph Tiger. He's called Alfred." Ygraine cracks a swift, playful grin. "But it was the cycling that had me touring Europe in the lycra skin-suits I mentioned earlier. I competed internationally."

Adelaide stares. "Wow, I feel like I've done nothing in comparison when I look at myself- as a American.. Europeans seem to have all the fun."

Ygraine blinks, then laughs and shakes her head. "You've recorded and released music - that's more than most people ever do, let alone doing so while you're still at university. I just… had the odd quirks of really enjoying training, even when it mostly just involved going round and round an indoor track, and of being able to go faster on a bike than most other people."

The Briton shrugs self-consciously. "I had been shooting for the Olympics, but… that fell through. Possibly fortunately, since the International Olympic Committee announced a ban on Evolved participants back in the Olympic year."
Adelaide sighs. "That's just kind of unfair… I mean.. if someone has natural abilities.. wait does this mean they intended-hopefully- to create a Evolved Olympics?"

"That's a possibility", Ygraine says hopefully. "But even then, how would you pair up competitors against each other? Does, say, someone who can teleport count as having completed the hundred metre sprint? Or someone who can control water and rides a self-created wave count as completing a swimming course?"

Once again, the Briton offers a shrug. "I would like to see an Evolved Olympics, to be honest. Whether there'd be enough competitors to put together the 'lesser' events - such as cycling - I've no idea. But even if it was just making up the numbers on a team, I'd love to participate."

Adelaide nods. "Yeah. Maybe they'd have to invent some new events?"

"Quite", Ygraine promptly agrees, before spreading her hands. "But which ones? How do you judge winners? How do you set up things for spectators to be able to follow them? And then there's the little question of security. Simply by existing Evolved make some people angry enough to commit violence… if a global event lauding them as athletes - as inspirational role models - came into being, you can bet that it'd be 'of interest' to groups like Humanis First…."

Adelaide nods. "Yes. But it shouldn't be anything to be 'ashamed' of. Normal people have gifts too."

"Oh, I agree. Intelligence is a far more dangerous gift for someone to hold than are most Evolved abilities", Ygraine says ruefully. "Charisma, likewise. A smart man with a grudge or a charming fool with an audience are vastly more threatening to 'the public good' than are most people with Evolved talents."

Adelaide says, "Yeah. Which makes me wonder why we've not attacked those who can draw in crowds or influence people with their words. Why are they going after people with evolved abilities? Why not recruit them into the goverment.. change the world.""

"American national politics has for some time relied upon the use of bogeymen to provide the administration with an enemy against which 'true Americans' can be called to unite", Ygraine says ruefully. "People are always inclined to fear anything different - how positive are the connotations for words like 'alien', 'stranger', or even just 'other'? But the conscious creation of bogeymen has been part of US politics for some time. Choose a target, inflate them into 'the enemy', and use the threat you've thus identified as both an excuse for taking whatever actions you like at home and a test - in line with that conflictual behaviour I mentioned before, you define 'with us or against us' as 'supporting our policies or backing the bogeyman'."

Sighing heavily, Ygraine leans forward once more. "And that's a real risk for you. For both of us, to be fair, but primarily for you. It'd be all too easy to dress up our efforts as a 'foreign-backed conspiracy led by an Evolved activist, seeking to use the hallowed American Constitution against the government and security of the United States'. The government's already turned on one in-house organisation that used Evolved, and broken up Unity in California. I very much doubt they'll stop there."

Adelaide stares. "True. But if we can get the backing of the people… you know what this sounds crazy, but what about a march on Washington? It worked for African Americans.. hell it worked for Klan to some extent."

"We're nowhere near the support required for that", Ygraine says ruefully. "And I think that Liberty might work best as a… very ostentatiously restrained campaign, at least for the time being. It'll be very hard for the government to argue that no one has a right to bring up the Constitution - any US citizen whose rights are reduced by a law may appeal to the Supreme Court. Compulsory Registration deprives every US citizen - as well as us visiting foreigners - of rights we formerly held. They'd need to ram through a Constitutional amendment to remove the right of appeal for that to no longer apply - and I doubt they can get away with that, no matter how hard they play the Evolved card…."

Shaking her head, the Briton purses her lips. "I'm hoping that if we can pave the way - demonstrate that you can take a stand without breaking the law - that other groups can take up a more overtly pro-Evolved rights stance. Nominally, Liberty's neutral - it's defending everyone's rights. That's part of the strength of the position - to directly attack our argument involves telling even Humanis First that they don't have a right to appeal against losing civil liberties. I personally think that there's more that needs to be done… not least exposure of the government's prior habits of 'disappearing' Evolved - but we need to get our foot in the door before we can afford to kick up a fuss."

To be continued?


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