********

Enforcer

********

(******** sits at the other side of the table with the helmet fully retracted.)

CN: Name?

*R*: ********

CN: Profession?

*R*: Enforcer of ********

CN: Preferred pronouns?

*R*: ********

CN: Age and by which planetary standards?

*R*: ********

CN: How long have you been enforcing the Apiary’s laws?

*R*: Since I was seven back on Tir-Torzor. I’ve been in enforcement for just a few years and I hope to help keep the peace, until I retire to Soc-Seidon when the teleportation outpost finally reaches its surface.

CN: Has the teleportation outpost been launched yet?

*R*: Various delays have slowed down its construction over the years, but it should be ready within the next twenty years on Eas-Enerang.

CN: What other jobs do the Cetaceans do within the Apiary?

*R*: Assaulter.

CN: Is that all?

*R*: Yep. We all have the same two jobs.

CN: Is this due to the agreement made between the Anuh-Kaj and Cetaceans prior to the War for Tir-Torzor, or is there more to this invariable choice of profession?

*R*: It was mostly to fulfill the agreement at first. Allegiance to the Apiary became seen less as an obligation with the passing of time, and more of a tradition of pride and the command of respect for our race by our charges.

CN: How is that achieved?

*R*: Upholding the law and crushing anyone who dares to challenge the Apiary.

CN: Can you clarify?

*R*: What is there to clarify? We do what is required of us for the situation at that moment.

(I pull up records of allegations against the Cetaceans on my omnitome and set it to read aloud in the cetacean language.)

CN: Do any of these actions described on this list sound familiar to you?

(******** takes the omnitome and tries to figure out how to play the audio.)

CN: Press the prompt there. Yes, there in the center.

(The audio plays and ******** listens for a moment before stopping it and handing it back to me.)

*R*: Heard of these before and they’re either blown out of proportion or they’re lies, to make my people look bad.

CN: One of the allegations include incidents of excessive force against any human pass curfew. Are you saying that is an exaggerated or a lie?

*R*: Yes.

(I pull up the recorded cetacean brutality incident from the Lawbreaking Chronicler Archives, and hand it to ********. ******** plays the video in its entirety before handing it back to me.)

*R*: Okay, but that’s only one incident. Doesn’t mean the rest of the allegations are suddenly true.

CN: I have several other visual recordings of some of the other instances mentioned on the list.

*R*: A few bad eggs don’t mean all the rest are true. No one else is enforcing the peace so we are needed to keep law and order.

CN: No one else is doing it because it has been made virtually illegal for others to do the job, making cetaceans the only ones who get to legally enforce what is determined to be peace. Does it say something about how the system enforces order, where those with authority feel emboldened enough to even do such things?

*R*: Do a few go overboard? Sure, but we do what we must do to keep the peace. We work a dangerous profession you know, but are we shown the respect we deserve from the Humans? No. They don’t respect the Apiary’s laws nor my people. They mock us by talking like Pachah Fishunter Green Waters. No other cetacean except for him talked like that. Nobody knows why he talked that way, but he did, and humans make fun of all of us for that. Then there’s the slurs and slang, like when you hear them call us, “Fish!” We’re mammals like them and they know that! Plus, they call us “flips,” which is short for flipper but I’m not sure if they’re talking about the body part or that old, servile anachronism that performed for humans.

CN: You believe there is no correlation between the disrespect and the cetacean-on-human brutality?

*R*: Wha… I mean, there probably is, but my people’s ancestors were mistreated and killed by the Humans in an extremely one-sided affair. Since pledging our allegiance to the Apiary, we vowed to never be at a disadvantage to humanity ever again. If that meant a few of us go wild to remind them who’s in charge and keep them in line, so be it.

CN: Being in an authoritative position, do you feel your life is threatened as a target of their mockery and insults?

*R*: I, uh, no. Not on its own. They do that to portray us as some imposing threat. We’re not all bad. They shouldn’t lump us all together.

CN: Should all humans be lumped together?

*R*: No, there are some good ones.

CN: When you say, “a few of us go wild to remind them who’s in charge and keep them in line,” does this include any “good ones” who might be mistreated by these incidences of brutality?

*R*: Only if they disobey the law.

CN: These “good ones” have been known to disobey the laws?

*R*: Yes, ye – no, I did not say that!

CN: Why would the “good ones” disobey the laws?

*R*: They aren’t one of the good ones if they disobey the laws!

CN: What makes a good human?

*R*: One that obeys the law and the commands of the cetacean present.

CN: Even the cetaceans responsible for actions of brutality?

*R*: No! No. That’s not what I mean at all.

CN: What do you mean then? The information you have been giving me does not make sense so far, which is giving me the feeling that you are being dishonest. In fact, I am getting the sense that you are not truly comfortable with what you have been saying because of it.

*R*: I…I…

(******** bows head down with a sigh momentarily, then takes a quick look around before raising the head and looking back up at me.)

*R*: Can you censor my personal information when we finish this interview?

CN: Why?

*R*: Because you’re right, and I’d like to not get in trouble. It’s all been eating at me for a couple of years now and I’d like to get a little more comfortable.

CN: Okay, I will take care of your personal information.

*R*: Truth is, I’ve been fed the same shit like all the other calves, believing humans lived only to cause chaos and suffering to everyone including themselves. After about a year in enforcement, I realized there were only three things that separated us: My people’s natural need to live in water, these suits we wear to wield our authority, and the fact that there’s no real checks and balances on us. The procedures we do have to keep us from misusing our power are either a total joke or just as corrupt because the same guilty folks are in those positions.

CN: Any examples?

*R*: Certainly. The migrant worker enclaves are not like the reservations back on Tir-Torzor, in where jurisdictional responsibilities relied on its residents, who were able to form their own defense organizations for communal safety. Now as residents of Ear-Enerang’s population centers – of which we are the authorized arm of law enforcement – it’s not possible to have that same type of organized group as a legal entity anymore. Population center overlords have made it so that the Humans and Huwaty can’t form their own defense groups, unless they agree to be unarmed, apply for accreditation, can’t interfere in a crime in progress, and report any crimes witnessed to us.

Everyone in charge say it’s to avoid misunderstandings with the proper authorities and discourage gang activity, which I can tell you in full confidence is a total load. The gangs are still around causing problems and I know several are either, partnered with the local cetaceans or are the very cetaceans the legally recognized watch groups need to report to. With no meaningful challengers, we could do a lot with impunity, and I was present to witness some of this myself.

CN: What were all the activities you were there for to witness?

*R*: Hold on, I witnessed some of them, but I was not there for all of them! I did not participate in them! I didn’t directly take part in them, okay?

CN: I was not insinuating otherwise.

*R*: Okay… I was present when they were assaulting people, committing arson, extorting random residents, planted evidence. It was done to create scapegoats and force victims to follow demands, but it wasn’t all strictly business. We – they would find anything to do those things, whether someone was doing something wrong or not. At times, it was because it was fun to do. If you didn’t go along with what was happening, then their next target…

(******** looks off to the sides.)

CN: Take your time.

(******** takes a deep breath and looks back at me.)

*R*: You ever heard of the “bronze wall of silence?” It refers to an unwritten code of silence among cetaceans to cover up any of our wrongdoings. A mentor of mine personally experienced what would happen if you dared to break the code. There was this one day when I was part of a detachment that was assigned as guardians for the Overlord Council, when a mob of Va’ists approached us. We knew they didn’t like the council for not meeting the demands of former Colonial Overseer Va but we figured, since those folks always declared their loyalty to the Apiary and claimed to, “back the bronze,” as they put it, we’d only face a loud crowd. They wouldn’t attack like they would do to the Huwaty and other humans, I thought. Before I knew what was going on, those cultists overwhelmed us – killing two and injuring several – but we were told by our superiors to show restraint and get the council members to safety. We didn’t get why we had to show restraint this time, since we never had to do so with other crowds.

My mentor realized soon afterwards that our superiors allowed it to happen because of some dispute I currently can’t recall, between them and the overlords. The superiors wanted to make a point, and our detachment was expendable enough to make that point. My mentor had already been growing disgusted with our kindred’s corrupt ways but had enough when I talked about what I experienced. The last time we spoke, I was told something was going to finally be done about all the corruption. Next time I saw my mentor, they were dead, beached on the street without their suit in sight. Supposedly, it’s still being “looked into.”

CN: Are you going to try and do anything about this “bronze wall of silence?”

(******** says nothing for a moment while looking at me.)

*R*: What happened to my mentor, tends to happen to cetaceans who go against the code and try to reform conventions from the inside. Not as blatantly though. Sometimes there happens to be no backup available during a deadly incident, sometimes they’re found to have turned their own blaster on themselves, sometimes they just disappear and are never seen again.

I’ve heard assimilated domestic foreigns and other subjects of the Apiary, trying to excuse some fucked-up shit by saying they were just, “doing their jobs.” Others can jump between different professions throughout their lifetimes and become better people from it, but just chose not to because it’s easier. Their existence isn’t hinged on being born into a culture, which made the mistake of defining its members by their performing of only two jobs. It’s either these two jobs or else, not only can’t I get the chance to retire to Soc-Seidon, but I become an easy target for other cetaceans who will see me as a race traitor. To live, we become the abusers or the ones enabling the abuse.

Guess the young ones are right when they say, “all cetaceans are bastards,” because all the good ones don’t last. Call it self-pity, but seriously, what else am I to do?

(******** gets contacted about an active illegal activity around the area. ******** then begins to leave.)

*R*: I’ve got to go. Remember, you don’t know me.

(******** leaves.)

- End of Recorded Interview -