inherently patriotic: he had protected innocent lives, and aided the Israeli military in their quest to galvanise themselves against systemic weakness.
It was an idiotic argument and he knew it. Still...that didn’t necessarily make any particular part of it wrong .
The more salient observation, though, was how frightening a truth it was for the individual to encounter: that even the truest blow to the most vulnerable and unprotected flank of such a gestalt monolith was worse than worthless. Anything less than the total, root-and-stem annihilation of the structure in its entirety would drive its evolution beyond the reach of any such subsequent attack.
Obviously, though ...a Human structure could never completely overcome the core, Human fallibilities of those who originally designed – and continued to maintain and operate – it. There would always be points of ingress. There would always be systemic liabilities, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses to exploit. At least, that was Dio’s evaluation.
Wright quickly ran over staffing and recruitment, which, again, conformed to a starkly h ierarchal and compartmentalised outline.
At the base were ‘recruits’. The single word – ‘recruits’ – rolled off of Wright’s tongue like a particle of day-old-food, hitherto wedged in a crevice between two teeth: he spat it out bleakly, and with a kind of self-conscious revulsion.
Above the recruits, were several tiers of ‘command’ – roughly parallel in each of the Divisions – where internal stratification was obfuscated based on clearance. For example: the lowest tier of the command hierarchy knew their superiors only as an aggregate mass sitting between themselves and ‘The Seven’. For the various tiers above that, the relationship between all subordinate tiers was clarified, but the relative authority of all superiors, again, was aggregate. Dio realised that this was the core, fundamental purpose of the aliases: they were titles. Titles that obfuscated rank.
Wright continued:
While most ‘recruits’ were immediately and specifically assigned to certain Divisions and roles according to their specialisations and experience, a thin band of ‘intakes’, as Wright referred to them, were – like Dio and Yvonne, themselves – initially sequestered in ‘peripheral facilities’, like the bunker they’d shared. Wright – somewhat apologetically – explained that this had to do with ‘screening’. Dio had no doubt that, in the year that they’d been together in that bunker, The Organisation could have, had they the desire to, exhaustively mapped both he and Yvonne’s near-complete psychological profiles. Which was, apparently, precisely the point. Looking back, the logic was as incredible in its simplicity as it was sophisticated in its execution. He’d never really considered it before, but...the range of behaviours two individuals might exhibit; the array of insights that might be gleaned from observing those individuals throughout a year of boredom, and the freedom to structure one’s own responses to it? He shivered.
“Officer training?” Yvonne guessed. Dio’s brow furrowed. He didn’t see the line of conne ctivity between the ‘intakes’ and what she was suggesting. He’d assumed it had to do with quarantining and evaluating fugitives.
“Very astute, Yvonne.” Wright smiled. “The more comprehensive and involved the ve tting procedures, the more comprehensive and involved the roles earmarked for the candidates in question. Of course, the formal intake, which you will soon undergo, will form our basis for determining your exact assignments. You would not, however, be in the positions that you are in, if you had not already been selected as ideal candidates for roles in The Organisation’s command. Operative Smoke has, of course, already made certain...recommendations.”
“ Has she?” Yvonne’s words formed a question, but her facial expression...her tone...conveyed a deadpanned,
It was an idiotic argument and he knew it. Still...that didn’t necessarily make any particular part of it wrong .
The more salient observation, though, was how frightening a truth it was for the individual to encounter: that even the truest blow to the most vulnerable and unprotected flank of such a gestalt monolith was worse than worthless. Anything less than the total, root-and-stem annihilation of the structure in its entirety would drive its evolution beyond the reach of any such subsequent attack.
Obviously, though ...a Human structure could never completely overcome the core, Human fallibilities of those who originally designed – and continued to maintain and operate – it. There would always be points of ingress. There would always be systemic liabilities, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses to exploit. At least, that was Dio’s evaluation.
Wright quickly ran over staffing and recruitment, which, again, conformed to a starkly h ierarchal and compartmentalised outline.
At the base were ‘recruits’. The single word – ‘recruits’ – rolled off of Wright’s tongue like a particle of day-old-food, hitherto wedged in a crevice between two teeth: he spat it out bleakly, and with a kind of self-conscious revulsion.
Above the recruits, were several tiers of ‘command’ – roughly parallel in each of the Divisions – where internal stratification was obfuscated based on clearance. For example: the lowest tier of the command hierarchy knew their superiors only as an aggregate mass sitting between themselves and ‘The Seven’. For the various tiers above that, the relationship between all subordinate tiers was clarified, but the relative authority of all superiors, again, was aggregate. Dio realised that this was the core, fundamental purpose of the aliases: they were titles. Titles that obfuscated rank.
Wright continued:
While most ‘recruits’ were immediately and specifically assigned to certain Divisions and roles according to their specialisations and experience, a thin band of ‘intakes’, as Wright referred to them, were – like Dio and Yvonne, themselves – initially sequestered in ‘peripheral facilities’, like the bunker they’d shared. Wright – somewhat apologetically – explained that this had to do with ‘screening’. Dio had no doubt that, in the year that they’d been together in that bunker, The Organisation could have, had they the desire to, exhaustively mapped both he and Yvonne’s near-complete psychological profiles. Which was, apparently, precisely the point. Looking back, the logic was as incredible in its simplicity as it was sophisticated in its execution. He’d never really considered it before, but...the range of behaviours two individuals might exhibit; the array of insights that might be gleaned from observing those individuals throughout a year of boredom, and the freedom to structure one’s own responses to it? He shivered.
“Officer training?” Yvonne guessed. Dio’s brow furrowed. He didn’t see the line of conne ctivity between the ‘intakes’ and what she was suggesting. He’d assumed it had to do with quarantining and evaluating fugitives.
“Very astute, Yvonne.” Wright smiled. “The more comprehensive and involved the ve tting procedures, the more comprehensive and involved the roles earmarked for the candidates in question. Of course, the formal intake, which you will soon undergo, will form our basis for determining your exact assignments. You would not, however, be in the positions that you are in, if you had not already been selected as ideal candidates for roles in The Organisation’s command. Operative Smoke has, of course, already made certain...recommendations.”
“ Has she?” Yvonne’s words formed a question, but her facial expression...her tone...conveyed a deadpanned,
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