LOOSE MORALS

BROKEN ROADS: a cerebral narrative adventure

- Rick Lane

The Kalgoorlie Silvers have received a tip. Some rabble-rousers are plotting unrest in a nearby apartment, and the authorities have ordered a raid. The plan is to bust down the door and secure the suspects by force, and while they don’t want to kill everyone, they expect two or three bodies at the least. Having been temporarily assigned to the squad, I propose a radical alternative. How about – and just hear me out on this – we try talking to them first?

Squad leader Irma Wakefield arches an eyebrow, “Convince me,” she says. I start off by appealing to her humanity. As officers of the law, we have a duty to protect people if possible, and surely that includes the people on the other side of the door. This is dismissed as bleedingheart liberal nonsense, so I try a more utilitarian approach. How reliable is the information we’ve received? Do we know exactly what these supposed rebels are planning, or if they’re even planning anything at all? Does this raid ultimately serve the greater good?

Wakefield says the orders came from the top, and she isn’t predisposed to questioning them. I respond to this with a sprinkling of Machiavellianism. Surely, by investigating the situation thoroughly, you demonstrate your aptitude for the job, and you cannot possibly be blamed for doing your job properly.

You might even be rewarded for it. That gets through, and Wakefield lets me speak to the suspects through the door. But I’ve only got three questions before the door gets busted down, so I’m going to have to come up with a pretty convincing argument quickly.