{"id":2808,"date":"2025-08-30T15:48:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2808"},"modified":"2025-08-30T15:48:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:48:53","slug":"dont-mind-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/30\/dont-mind-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Mind Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Write a story that includes the line \u201cI don\u2019t belong here\u201d or \u201cDon\u2019t mind me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there was a Venn diagram of invisible jobs, real jobs that sound fake, and jobs that keep society running, Kina\u2019s job would fall dead center, in the overlap of all three circles. As a Security Threatcaster and Wargamer, it was her job to first, know and understand the physical, political, and socioeconomic climate and circumstances at play. Then, using that knowledge, game out every likely scenario to a given confidence level, and plan contingencies for each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kina usually planned for explicit scenarios that were within a fifty percent or higher confidence level, and an overall, \u201cin all other cases\u201d plan. The brief on this one, though, was that anything above a five percent confidence level needed contingency plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things that helped were the extensive surveillance already in place, along with a well-armed, well-trained security force, and reserves that could be assembled in advance and ready to deploy at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were, however, things that made contingency planning more difficult. The relative insecurity outside the Galactic Union Hall, multiple entry and exit points to secure, and the sheer volume of traffic through GU Hall. Kina thought the most difficult to plan around, though, were the officials from other star systems and empires recognized by the GU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d been charged with ensuring that the vote for Wornan Reach sovereignty and autonomy go forward without any harm to the Wornan Reach delegation. Unspoken, of course, was that the Federation of Human Systems delegation remain unharmed, as they were paying the bill for all of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another stated goal was that, regardless of the result of the vote, it not devolve into a situation that would only be resolved by war. Harsh words, economic sanctions, even public denouncements were fine, as long as they would not result in shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between that explicit goal and the five percent confidence request, Kina had been forced to develop a set of plans that she couldn\u2019t share with the FHS delegation. If the GU voted against the petition and the Empire of the All-Sensing Antenna maintained the systems of the Wornan Reach as vassal states, there was a better than nine percent chance that the FHS would want to declare war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better that they were rounded up \u201cfor protection\u201d as soon as the vote was finished and rushed to chambers where they could cool down than let them speak. They would not, of course, be the only delegation treated as such. In fact, there were orders already drafted to be disseminated to the security forces outlining which delegations would be immediately rounded up and taken to their chambers. Which groups would be \u201cprotected\u201d depended on the outcome of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the Wargamer?\u201d a voice bellowed from the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kina recognized the voice as belonging to the reptilian-looking commander of the GU security force, Sarthos. \u201cIn here, Chief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarthos entered, his two-meter frame almost as high as the door, while being whip-thin. \u201cAre you prepared to brief the staff?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll leave that to you,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you could shut the door, I\u2019ll show you what we\u2019re working with.\u201d She offered him a seat next to her at the table she was using as a makeshift desk and prepared the tablet she\u2019d be leaving with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the scenarios, most likely to least, listed here,\u201d she pointed to the menu on the tablet. \u201cThe response plans are directly linked to each. I\u2019d recommend you and your top lieutenants get familiar with all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t I just pass this around to all the teams?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere, at nine-point-four-three percent confidence.\u201d She let him read it through. \u201cI won\u2019t be making this, or any of the other protection plans known to any of the delegations. I don\u2019t want to influence their vote or let anything leak that could jeopardize security for the Wornan Reach delegation or<\/em> the FHS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He swished his tail. \u201cUnderstandable. I\u2019ll keep this to just those I need to call the orders out, and let the security teams know that they\u2019re on high alert, and nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat time will the reserves check in?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trickling in, ones and twos, from now through the middle of the night. Less chance of notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re not a threatcaster yourself?\u201d Kina laughed. \u201cGood move, though. Canceling public tours and setting a clear security zone in the commons is already enough notice that something big is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo way. I might be able to foresee this one, \u2018Cartinian delegate intoxicated, reveals details of FHS – Cartinian – Wornan trilateral talks.\u2019\u201d Sarthos shook his head. \u201cHow did you come up with that, and with a what \u2026 eighty-four percent confidence?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElder Brinthia is a leaf-chewer and usually shows up to GU hearings at least half zonked.\u201d She shrugged. \u201cFrom there, it\u2019s easy enough to find out he has loose lips \u2014 er \u2014 a loose beak, when intoxicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile he hasn\u2019t been part of those talks, which is a good thing, it\u2019s safe to assume that he has been briefed on them, as the head of Cartinian Inter-Stellar Relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat kind of AI do you use to come up with these scenarios?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kina pointed at her head. \u201cNot AI, just plain, ol\u2019 human cognition, imagination, and the ability to come up with ways to throw a wrench into any plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the percentage confidence, does that pop right out of your imagination as well?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, that comes from the generalized forecaster AI that\u2019s used by businesses and government agencies all over the galaxy.\u201d She snorted. \u201cIt\u2019s not a real AI, just a large data parser that can be trained on a dataset, in this case, recordings and minutes of every GU meeting for the past hundred standard years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd from that it can determine how likely Brinthia is to squawk his beak?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, or at least close enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarthos continued to browse through the eight-hundred-plus scenarios and their associated plans. \u201cDo you always plan out for such unlikely contingencies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, just this time. The FHS delegation asked for contingencies for everything down to a five percent confidence. Usually, clients only ask for those down to sixty or maybe fifty percent likelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A knock at the door caught their attention. Sarthos turned off the tablet and stood, while Kina opened the door. \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the door stood a small creature, covered in downy fur, with large, luminous, nocturnal eyes, a sinuous body with six motor limbs and four grasper limbs, and floppy ears that reminded Kina of a poodle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was told the security chief was in here?\u201d The creature\u2019s voice was melodic, somewhere between singing and whistling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight here,\u201d Kina said, letting the creature in. \u201cYou must be from the Wornan Reach delegation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, I am Matriarch Spista. Are you the head of security?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, that would be this fine gentleman right here.\u201d She motioned to Sarthos and turned to him. \u201cI believe you have everything you need. Check for Wornan Reach delegation arrives early and unannounced, at somewhere around fifty-two percent confidence. You\u2019ve got the playbook now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Spista said, \u201ca pleasure to meet you, Security Chief Sarthos; Turinakian if I\u2019m not mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarthos nodded. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to be formal with me, madam. You\u2019re the VIP here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot really,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd who are you, human?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kina smiled as she opened the door to leave. \u201cI\u2019m not that interesting. Don\u2019t mind me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Write a story that includes the line \u201cI don\u2019t belong here\u201d or \u201cDon\u2019t mind me.\u201d available at Reedsy If there was a Venn diagram of invisible jobs, real jobs that sound fake, and jobs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-Ji","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2809,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions\/2809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}