ASSOCIATION / CH. 2:INTERVIEW
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27TH, 5PM, GEMSMITH HEADQUARTERS
The cameras started rolling. “Who's going to introduce themselves first?” Sarah asked the three reporters.
“Shall we toss for it?” Myra Wilcox, business reporter at International news suggested.
“We could, but it's your press conference, Sarah, though I've never been in a press conference where there's only three reporters before, or one where the reporters introduce themselves first.” Jack Fisher, reporter at Finance Today, said.
“Crowded rooms full of noisy people shouting over each other just give me a headache. I thought a nice civilized chat would be far nicer.” Sarah said, “But Tony, you've been begging me for an interview for most of the past decade, why don't you go first?”
“Good evening. I'm Tony Randle, of Nation Wide News, and with me are...”
“Myra Wilcox, business reporter at International News.”
“Jack Fisher, reporter at Finance Today.”
“And I'm Sarah Williams, and as Tony can testify, my automatic reaction when asked to give an interview is to say no, very firmly. I've had lots of practice, but I'm making an exception today. Before we start, I'd like to play two short video clips. First up is Ambrose Jackson.”
“As spokesperson for GemSmith Holdings I have the sad duty to say that our subsidiary, Sapphire custom jewellery, has failed to uphold one of our core company values, that is, treating every category of staff with care and respect. This sad failing is the direct result of the failure of the board to ensure their decisions were carried out correctly. The board's apology follows and GemSmith's officers are considering what further action will be taken.”
“We, the board of Sapphire custom jewelery, took the decision just under five years ago to reward sales staff with a bonus which included components for their longevity and the number of sales they'd made. We took this step because we saw that sales staff were being attracted elsewhere by yearly bonuses offered by our competitors.
We did not want to enter direct competition with them, as there are significant differences in our clientele and the number of sales anyone should expect to be making, so we took the decision that the exact formula should be secret. With hindsight, we see now it should at least have been available to store managers, so that they could check that the bonus was correct. We then failed to ensure that the correct formula was being applied, failed to interpret the disappointment expressed by staff correctly, and failed to realise that the bonuses being automatically sent out were approximately one tenth to one twentieth of what the formula should have given. We would like to wholeheartedly apologise to our present and former sales staff for these failings and in the coming days affected staff will be receiving a letter with the correct bonus amount, along with an amount which we intend to express our profound sorrow at this occurrence. We will be checking the calculations for these letters manually, so please do bear with us.”
“To make it clear, Sarah you're the sole shareholder of GemSmith, is that correct?” Myra asked.
“Yes. The company was held in trust for me until a week ago.”
“Firstly, if you'll forgive me for saying so, the normal description of you in the press is 'recluse'. Would you like to comment on that?”
“Thank you, Myra, I would. I understand the word recluse to mean someone who never sees anyone, never leaves home, and has no social life. I don't think any of those applies to me, actually. What I would prefer to say is that I really got fed up with people of your profession. After the death of my parents in the ClearSky attack, and once I'd left hospital, it felt like I could hardly look out of my window or step out of my home without seeing some reporter pointing a camera at me, or crushing the flowers in my mother's prized garden in their haste to stick a microphone down my throat, or in some cases both. So, I said no press interviews and I've managed an almost one hundred percent record since. Tony was one of the respectful ones, although he did keep coming back every six months, just in case I'd changed my mind. But not all reporters took no for an answer and there were times when my guardian needed to call the police. In this case, however, I'm making an exception.”
“And what would you like to say about this case?” Jack asked.
“In my view, the board had a reasonable idea, and managed to turn it into a complete disaster. Firstly by failing to check up on it, and secondly by keeping the formula to themselves,” Sarah said. “Obviously, their immediate response is only reasonable, however, their compounding the disaster does raise serious questions in my mind, and I am awaiting the decision from GemSmith's personnel department with great interest. There are core company values which were not upheld, and at the very least I would expect that their performance bonuses from the past years will suffer, but I'm neither a lawyer nor an expert in this field.”
Myra and Jack accepted that without comment, but Tony admitted confusion. “I'm not a business expert, so perhaps this is a stupid question, but surely, the bonuses have been paid to them already?”
“As is the case for many company directors, their contract contains a claw-back clause. This is because, I'm speaking in general terms, you understand, issues of mismanagement often only come to light after an extended period of time, and in that case any bonus given can be recovered. That recovery would either be directly from their future pay-packet if they're still employed by the company, or a demand for repayment can be made.”
“Are you suggesting that the board should resign or be fired?” Jack asked.
“As I tried to make clear, that was a general description of what a claw-back clause is.”
“But in this case, do you feel that the directors of Sapphire should resign?” Jack pushed further.
“I do not have enough information to comment, and I refuse to undermine the hard-working staff at GemSmith who are assessing that as we speak. I take what has happened very seriously, as a lot of people have left the company, feeling disappointed and undervalued because of this and it has always been one of GemSmith's core values that those in authority care about their staff and make them feel valued.”
“So, will you be offering people a chance to sign back on with Sapphire if they've resigned over this?” Myra asked.
“Unfortunately, that will only be possible in a couple of cases, where resignations have only just been received. I spoke of it as a disaster: in the years since this policy was made, the longest any member of the sales staff has stayed with the company has been nine months, most have quit very soon after they got the hugely disappointing bonus letter. We'd need to open something like six or seven times the current number of stores to be able to offer everyone who'd resigned their old job back. Even if only one in six wanted their jobs back, we'd still need to double the number of stores. That sort of massive expansion doesn't seem like a sensible move when we're expecting an economic down-turn after the impact.”
“You're relatively certain that the impact will occur then?” Tony asked.
“Yes. I know that certain elements of the media, particularly international media, are paying a lot of attention to the scientists who say the chances of it hitting are miniscule. I'd like to remind people that the scientists who discovered the comet only did so when asked if they could see anything in a particular tiny patch of sky indicated by the prophesies. I studied some physics myself and am entirely comfortable with the scientists saying that their error-bars are too big to make an accurate prediction. I agree, they don't have that data, not yet. However, I'm also a firm believer in the God who sustains all things, visible and invisible, by his own power. Theologians have been saying for thousands of years that God is outside of time. So if God tells me that I need to be a long way away from my house on Valentine's day, then no scientist is going to convince me to stay there.”
“And you don't blame God for this impending disaster?” Myra asked.
“If I was going to cast blame, then I'd be far more likely to cast it at the individuals responsible for that rock being sent in this direction.”
“You're referring to the terraforming project?” Jack queried.
“No! No, I'm referring to the people who contributed to the malfunction of the space-tug probe. Perhaps they were a little bit too distracted, a little bit too tired, a little bit too impatient, we'll never know. The self-test should have spotted the problem, the component should not have failed, the shut-down code should have been able to genuinely shut it down, and so on. I don't think there is any point in trying to identify the hundreds, maybe thousands of people who unwittingly contributed. No one set out to make it happen, but I think it was the cumulative result of human sin.”
“You're saying it couldn't be helped?” Tony said.
“Oh it could have been. But it wasn't. We're fallen people living in a fallen world. A lot of factors coincided to make that rock aim for my house. Personally, I'm just glad that it's falling on us, not on an under-developed country without the resources or the courageous government to evacuate everyone to a safer distance.”
“I notice you said safer, not safe.” Myra said.
“Yes. The prophesies do not promise that everyone evacuated will be safe, or no-one in other parts of the country will be hurt. I would find it, aahhh, most surprising if that large piece of rock explodes in such a way that no smaller pieces survive to fall to earth at all. I don't know if scientists have calculated how many fragments there are likely to be, but it only took David one small stone to kill Goliath. I'm not sure I'd like to be out of doors at the time of the impact. And I believe it would be foolish for anyone who values their sight to be watching the sky to see the flash.”
“It could be blinding, you mean?” Tony asked.
“I really don't know how bright it will be, but I don't expect it would be less bright than a welding arc, and you don't look at one of those.”
“We've strayed quite a long way from your company.” Myra noticed “Might I ask some more personal questions?”
“I reserve to right to say 'no comment.'” Sarah said, with a grin.
“Of course. Not so many days ago, you were on international news channels.”
“I was, yes.” she said, not volunteering anything.
“Our viewers might realise that I'm referring to the recent wedding where we all got to see 'Princess' Sarah's dress once more. And you were a bridesmaid. She was a relative, I understand?”
“'Princess' Sarah? Yes. I'm a descendent on my mother's side, I can't remember how many generations back, though, sorry.”
“Sorry, I was referring to Saturday's bride.” Myra corrected.
“Yes. Karen's a relative. We couldn't both have worn the dress otherwise.”
“You also wore the dress?” Jack asked, surprised.
“Yes. I didn't have any press at my wedding though. You can guess why.”
“So, the reports that said it had last been worn twenty something years ago were wrong.” Tony said.
“Yes. I got married in the summer. Karen was my bridesmaid, I was hers.”
“So you've known the mystery of where the dress was all along?” Myra asked.
“Oh yes. Until recently it's been in a special protective chamber in my home. Now, because of the impact, Eliza's looking after it.”
“And I'm sure you could tell us lots about it.” Myra said.
“If I wanted to.”
“And I take it you don't.” Myra interpreted Sarah's response.
“Personally, I think it's far more beautiful close up than it appears on the cameras. More than that? No comment.”
“If I may change the subject, you've recently taken on an unusual employee, I understand.” Jack asked.
“Now were did you learn that?” Sarah asked, curiously.
“Far be it from me to reveal my sources.” Tony was looking embarrassed.
“I expect Tony here knows, since he knows the young woman concerned. I guess he's been talking. Yes, I've hired a young woman part-time to be a truth-sayer.”
“I'm not very sure that very many people know what a truth-sayer is.” Myra said “I know I didn't until Tony tried to explain it.”
“Karen, who you've mentioned already, grew up in another country. In that country, she tells me that the reaction to the Institute for the Human Mind's recent bomb-shell that there are thought-hearers, was roughly speaking, 'that's news?' Over there, there are very few people of good will who hide the fact that they can hear thoughts, most choose to enter a profession which translates as 'truth-sayer'. It is a demanding job, but it pays quite well, from what I understand. There is a lot of mystique and superstition around the role, but in the informal system of village justice, the truth-sayer is human lie-detector, expert witness into someone's mental well-being and I understand the older ones also serve as marriage counsellors. After all, having someone who's seen it all before saying 'You're making that up, stop lying or I'll tell her what you just thought.' is quite an effective tool in conflict resolution. They are considered as very trustworthy, good keepers of secrets, and utterly committed to not letting something they know to be a lie pass unchallenged.”
“And you think you've found someone not only qualified, but willing to step out publicly in this role?”
“Yes. The Institute for the Human Mind have certified that she's mentally fit for the job, character witnesses state that she's morally fit, that's to say not given to gossip, and so in that respect she's qualified, and yes, she's willing to be the first one here.”
“I understand that you're both keen to have some kind of institute of professional truth-sayers.” Tony said.
“Yes. I can see that there are many situations where a professional truth-sayer could be a real asset, and where a non-professional one, who took sides, or even accepted bribes to knowingly allow lies to slip past, or did not hold to strict ethical standards, could demean this new profession before it begins. Our feeling is that a professional body, perhaps even operating under Royal charter, and certainly having a register of members in good standing, could be very helpful in establishing trust. We wouldn't allow just anyone to set up business as an accountant, doctor, or lawyer, but insist on them being members of their professional body that approves and regulates them. I feel it should be no different for truth-sayers.”
“To enter those professions, you need to have many years of training, and to pass difficult examinations. It sounds like the qualifications you are talking about are either innate or far more of a moral quality.” Jack pointed out.
“That is true, but I think many teachers will tell you that consistently good ethics takes a lot of learning too, and of course a lot of willingness from the student.”
“Very well, I'll accept that parallel, but what about the tough exam?” Jack asked.
“I think it is common knowledge that the Institute for the Human Mind has connections to people with the mind-reading gift.”
“Employment contracts, even.” Tony said.
“I said that my truth-sayer had been judged mentally fit to take on this role. Part of that was that her innermost thoughts were examined concerning her attitude to bribery, gossip, and a few real-life ethical dilemmas that truth-sayers have faced in the past.”
“And she has signed up to the Institute's ethical commitment?” Tony asked.
“Without reservation.” Sarah said. “I think I've found an unusual young woman, but she did have an unusual training.”
“An unusual training?” Myra asked.
“An elderly relative, now passed away, had the mind-reading gift, so my truth-sayer has had a lot of training in using her ability. I'm not saying that she's been a perfect saint, you understand, but she does know her profession.”
“I notice you're being very careful not to give us many hints about her identity.”
“That is true, and that's deliberate. When she works as a truth-sayer, it's her role as truth-sayer that is important, not her name or anything else. Even in the country my relative grew up in, where truth-sayers are part of a culture, the personal identity of a truth-sayer is not normally revealed. I think that's a pattern we'll be following.”
“I imagine it wasn't easy to find such a person.” Myra said.
“I don't imagine it would be. That is another reason that having a professional body representing truth-sayers could eventually be a real asset, for people seeking their services. In my case, I was fortunate enough to know her before I realised I would very much like to employ a part-time truth-sayer.”
“Could you tell us why you feel that you need a truth-sayer?” Myra asked.
“Yes. I spoke earlier about one of GemSmith's core values being that staff are valued. That's not just a corporate value, it's a personal one too.”
“I was meaning to challenge you on that.” Jack said, “Surely every enterprise values their staff.”
“Really?” Sarah replied “Then how is it that I ever hear of bonuses given to managers who fire large sections of their workforce?”
“They're protecting the future of the business, Maam. Sometimes those decisions are difficult, but they must be made, or the company will fail.”
“I understand about the need to make hard decisions, Jack. But what I don't like is that sometimes the hard decision hurts everyone except the person making it. My family has always taken the view that having a workforce that is too large is first and foremost a major failure of senior management's planning and foresight. There would be no bonuses associated with that failure.”
“But sometimes markets dry up, or production needs to be moved to satisfy the corporation's duty to shareholders of maximizing profit.” Jack said.
“There you see. Profit first, the human cost comes second. You're assuming that. I don't. Profit is a crude measure of success suitable to meeting the goals of short term investors. GemSmith has always operated with a different ethos.”
“I presume you're not going to claim you run your companies as a charity?”
“No. I receive quite a nice income from GemSmith, thank you. But I understand there is often quite a long learning period when new managers join us before they learn that profit is only one factor in their decision making, and that when they do consider profit then it should be in the next ten to twenty years, not the next one or two.”
“Sarah, you sound like you're recruiting.” Tony commented.
“No, just explaining some fundamentals.”
“Can I ask, relative to the invested sum, what's your return on investment?” Myra asked.
“From GemSmith, when I play the venture capitalist, or some of my own little projects?” Sarah asked.
“I'm afraid I didn't know you had any of the second or third categories.” Myra replied.
“Ah well, they can stay a secret then.” Sarah said with a grin. “Based on reinvestment income in the last ten years, GemSmith as a whole has probably given an income slightly lower than the stock-market average. I'm entirely happy with that rate of return. I don't live on it, after all.”
“I presume you're saying that you allocate yourself some kind of personal stipend from it?” Jack said.
“No. The trust has only recently been dissolved, while it was running, it paid the premiums on my health insurance and home insurance. I have a job I'm happy to keep, and my husband and I live on our earned income. I'll probably leave the insurance premiums being paid, in compensation for loss of income from my work — I've had to switch to part time because of issues like the one which we started off discussing today.”
“Might I ask, what then do you intend to do with your income?” Tony asked, “Give it to the poor?”
“Finally, we can get back to Myra's question!” Sarah exclaimed. “Why do I need a truth-sayer? Because the answer to Tony's question is a qualified yes. I'm aware that there are some people who work for me, for GemSmith, who are suffering from unmanageable debts. I'm not planning to cancel everyone's debts, or even anyone's debts, I'm not made of money. Plus to cancel some debts but not others is itself divisive and unfair. But I am planning to give some hope to GemSmith people who have gone into debt say, trying to save a loved one's life, and are now putting almost all their income into paying off the interest, and can't see themselves ever getting out of it.”
“And you hope that having a truth-sayer will help you avoid getting snowed under with false claims?” Tony asked.
“Yes. I don't want to give money to a fraudster. Nor do I want to give it to someone who's in debt because they decided to buy a mansion when they only need a one bedroom flat. So, they get to tell their story with my truth-sayer listening in.”
“How are you planning to avoid the unfairness element?” Myra asked “I mean, you must have some kind of cut-off where you say that you're not going to help.”
“My current plan is that I will contribute a sum towards paying the interest, on a regular basis, providing they continue with payments and don't just use me to have a payment holiday. And I'm leaving the capital for them to pay off themselves. For some people I might pay all their interest, but for most I expect that I'll pay a fraction of it, depending on how the debt was incurred, how much they've already altered their lifestyle to pay it off, and so on. I really have no idea how many people there are who need this sort of help, so I'm not going to quote figures. If I've got too many applicants for the available money, then I'll have to reduce the amount that I'd like to pay. If I've got too may applicants for my truth-sayer to cope with, then I guess I'll have to prioritise based on what people say in the application forms.”
“Otherwise it'll be first-come first served?” Jack asked.
“Within some limits, yes. It really all depends on how many apply by the time everything is ready for interviews to start. I've stated that preliminary applications must be in within a month.”
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“Presumably you have a time limit of how old the debt needs to be?” Tony said.
“Yes. I do. That was made clear on the message to staff, which went out yesterday. I'd also like to make it clear that this is not a free-for-all, nor am I making any commitment to do this more than once. I don't want anyone seeking to come to work for a GemSmith company in the expectation that it means their debt problem will go away. That's not how this is going to work. It's available to people who have been in debt for a significant amount of time and were on GemSmith's personnel database yesterday.”
“You've spoken of paying the interest on people's loans. How will you know that they're passing that money on to the loan company?”
“The money will go directly to the loan company, and the debtor will be required to commit to paying a certain amount each month. Failing to provide evidence of that payment will stop my payments.”
“That sounds like you could have a lot of record keeping.” Myra said.
“If it becomes too onerous, then I expect I'll try to find an AI to do it. Unfortunately there's no point trying to get my house computer onto the task, because of the impact.”
“Your house computer has a full A.I.? That seems a little unusual.”
“My house computer runs the house security system. It was installed for my father, who used to bring his work home with him.”
“And his work needed an A.I. security system?” Jack asked.
“It did. He was a jeweler and, like his father, also traded in precious gems.”
“But that's not a trade you're in yourself?” Jack asked.
“No. I'm not actually very keen on long-distance travel, and buying uncut gems seems to need a lot of that.”
Sarah heard Myra decide to ask something that had puzzled her. “I heard from someone at your university that you were urm... rather averse to crowds of more than about twenty people, but on Saturday you were amongst a far larger crowd. Might I ask, does that mean you're cured?”
“Well, I did say that you could ask anything, Myra, but I wasn't expecting a question along those lines.” Sarah said, playing for time. “I think that all I'd like to say on that subject is that crowds still make me uncomfortable, but since leaving university I've learned some ways of coping in the short term.”
“I don't want to invade your privacy, but are those ways you've learned something that you would be able to pass on to someone else who had the same problem?” Myra asked.
Sarah hesitated, trying to formulate a response.
“Myra, that's all she wanted to answer on the topic.” Tony chided.
“It's OK, Tony, someone might need to hear.” Sarah said. “I think I'm not breaking any laws if I say that in the summer I was a patient at the Institute for the Human Mind. I'd recommend anyone with a problem being around too many noisy people to contact them. If it's the same problem then they can probably help.”
“Changing the subject entirely,” Myra said “You mentioned earlier that you 'play the venture capitalist' but from the sound of what you're saying then you're not intending to extend your debt-assistance to employees of those companies. Is that correct?”
“That's certainly correct at the moment.”
“Could you explain the difference?”
“Yes. When my lawyers and investment advisors have considered an application for venture capital, there are a few categories of businesses that I'm not interested in supporting, but at root they're analysing such things that any venture capitalist would: probability of the business being a success, likely return on investment, and such like. None of that includes me setting the agenda for the company, or having any responsibility for the business.”
“But, by investing, aren't you condoning the business model, at least, and if that leads to loss don't you bear a responsibility for that?”
“If I was demanding repayment of a loan to the detriment of the company, yes, I can see that. But that's not the sort of investment plan I would normally consider. Normally I'd be investing on the basis of cash for shares.”
“But you've only just been attacking the share-holder model of business financing and yet here you are saying that you're a share-holder expecting a healthy profit. Don't you see the inherent contradiction in your position?” Jack challenged.
“I don't invest in publicly listed companies, where for the most part my ethical position on profit coming second would not be listened to, for those very reasons, Jack. I do invest in family businesses wanting to expand, and normally I would expect my shares to be bought back by the family, rather than through a stock-market floatation. But there are shares in my portfolio where the investment did not give the expected result and dividends are far lower than expected. Now that I'm personally in control of my inheritance I might arrange for some expert advice for such companies. But I'm not going to force a company out of business just to get some money back, nor am I going to look kindly on selling up to an asset stripper.”
“So, you see no contradiction.” Jack summarised.
“Do you?”
“Now that you've explained it like that, I guess I don't either.”
“Thank you.” Sarah said.
“Do you not feel that setting such a high value on the workers is detrimental to the long term success of the business? If you're granting a job for life, then won't people just slack off and take advantage of you?” Myra asked.
“Thank you, Myra, good question. If I was offering a job for life, then yes, I would certainly run that risk. No one should think that a job in GemSmith is a job for life, particularly certain board members. GemSmith puts a lot of effort into making the employees feel valued, and in return the company expects dedication, loyalty, and attention to detail. This is in their contract. Slackers need not apply.”
“Do I understand that you think that the board of Sapphire Custom Jewellery will not be in their posts much longer?”
“I don't know. As I said, I don't have all the details, there may be mitigating circumstances, or other factors that I'm not aware of. Nor am I aware of their record in other areas. Based on this one problem, I certainly would have expected far better from them, but I don't know if this is an exception to an otherwise exemplary record, or if it's part of a pattern. Nor do I know if there was one individual who claimed to have checked what the computer was doing, but lied.”
“And if it were found that there was a pattern of decision making without checking on implementation, and an attitude from all board members that such checking on was not their role?” Jack pushed.
“In that case, I wouldn't see a future for them on any GemSmith board, and I wouldn't hesitate to invoke the relevant claw-back clauses, in court if necessary.”
“The thought of an expensive legal case wouldn't deter you?” Jack asked.
“No. I'd see an important principle as being at stake.”
Tony asked “As a Christian, where do you feel the principle of forgiveness would apply to this situation?”
“Forgiveness normally follows repentance, Tony. Jack presented me with a situation where there was no repentance, even a stubborn refusal to recognise that they'd done wrong. In that case, I believe that justice would demand a single outcome.”
“And if they repent?” Tony pressed.
“Continuing the hypothetical case of them having done all that and turning from their bad ways and pleading for mercy... perhaps I'll have my truth-sayer interview them to see how genuine their repentance actually is. Especially after this gets broadcast. No, that'd too hard a thing to judge. If they repent, then I'd have no alternative but forgive them. However, forgiveness in God's universe doesn't mean that the effects of the sin are un-done. Given that they've caused about two hundred and forty people to become so disappointed in the company that they've left, and since there have obviously been other failings in the company, so that it seems not one of them thought to have a moan to GemSmith's personnel department, which exists for that sort of thing... I think that my forgiving them would mean that they are not forced out of GemSmith as a whole, merely reassigned. I don't know, and as I hope we agree, this is a hypothetical question, in which they were consistently failing to perform their core duties. I'd be reassigning them so they are less tempted to slip back into the same habits, you understand.”
Myra was looking at Sarah curiously “Why do you say you'd have no alternative to forgive them?”
“Doesn't the line 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us' ring any bells, Myra? God offers to forgive us so much, a little forgiveness from us is reasonable, surely?”
Myra felt decidedly uncomfortable being in the spotlight, and decided to turn the focus back on Sarah. “Your faith is obviously important to you. Has that always been the case?”
“No, not at all. It wasn't just my parents who died, a lot of others did to, of course, and the church I attended with my parents lost most of the leaders. I'm not entirely sure why but from what I can see they ended up struggling on without a leader for several years. My aunt who'd been my guardian died soon after my eighteenth birthday and I... drifted away from God. Then at university I thought I'd try going back to church but listened a bit too much to the wrong people about which one to go to. For some reason I finished university thinking that God was very busy, and wasn't really interested in what people thought or did, and that anyone who took God seriously was suspicious. About a month after that, I met John, the man who's now my husband and he challenged me about just how illogical it was to believe in the existence of a supreme being but think it was suspicious to take him seriously. I dug out my old Bible and read rather a large chunk of it that night, did a lot of repenting, and changed churches.”
“And then you married him quickly?”
“Well, having God tell both of us that he would give me this engagement ring and this wedding ring does cut down on a lot of uncertainty. It seemed like there wasn't much point not being engaged at that point.”
“I know there's a story behind your engagement ring.” Tony said. “Would you be willing to tell the world?”
“John's first wife died in the attack that killed my parents, they'd gone there to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.” Sarah said.
“You mean — you and John — you're the two survivors?” Myra interrupted.
“Yes. People have asked if we'd known each other for years, you know, had he fallen for me ages ago and kept a flame for me until I finished university or something? No, not at all. We probably saw each other in hospital a few times, with lots of tubes, especially in John's case, but other than that, our first meeting when I wasn't a child was in the summer. Back to my ring... John had kept his wife's ring. No great surprise there, but I wasn't very keen on the idea of wearing it, thinking that it would always stay her ring in my mind, not mine. That was before I saw it.
“When John had been looking for an engagement ring his path took him to my father's shop. My dad in his salesman role convinced John that although the setting wasn't quite perfect, it was a very good stone, and that's what people would notice, plus as an apprentice ring, he was selling it at hardly above the cost of raw materials, so there was no way he'd get a better ring for the money. John let himself be convinced by my dad, the proud father of his little apprentice. You see a few weeks earlier, I'd been practicing making rings and my dad in a fit of pride had told me the one I'd just made was good enough to sell. I never knew if he'd sold it or melted it down until John offered it back to me. So, although John's first wife wore it for a bit, I'm entirely happy to call it my ring.”
“You recognised it after all that time?” Myra asked.
“Yes. It was the first ring that I designed and made, and then Dad saying it was good enough to sell certainly helped it stick in my mind, along with the long explanations from Dad about how not to get the mounting crooked next time.”
Jack said “That's quite some story, thank you for sharing it with us. But I must admit I'm wondering how much of this interview my editor will say doesn't belong in our broadcast. Are you still personally involved in the jewellery business?”
“In a way, yes. Despite my early success, I'm not really good enough at the craft to make anything, I'll leave that to the experts. But in the past six months or so I've done some design work which seems to be selling well. Some of that isn't for public discussion, but one thing I've done is patented a design of an engagement ring or other ring with a stone with a panic button in it. The concept of the ring having practical as well as sentimental value seems to be appreciated by the customers.”
“Are you're licensing the production of these rings to others, or keeping the production in-house?”
“So far, I've got three licensees. Sapphire being one of them.”
“And you'd be open to issue other licenses.”
“Yes. My information is that the production steps at the moment favour hand-crafting or a mechanised solution suitable for custom manufacturing processes. I'm not saying that it can't be done with multiple simpler mechanisms, of course, but I think it would be quite a big gamble to set up a production line to make them.”
“You said that some of your other work was not for public discussion.” Jack said, “Is that because it was under contract, or for some other reason.”
“I'm sorry, I'm not going to say any more about it.” Sarah said.
“It sounds like you've had a busy few months.” Jack tried again. “Do I understand that you have also been personally involved in a subsidiary entering the tourist trade?”
“Yes, I have, you do have your sources, don't you?”
“Thank you. Would you mind telling us about it? Entering the tourist trade if you're certain the impact will come seems like quite a gamble.”
“Yes, it is quite a gamble, but I think this is again an area where a company like GemSmith is better placed to act than either a listed company or a small family enterprise. As you've hinted, following the impact, it would not be surprising if there is a major slump in the tourist trade, but the manager of the relevant land-management company saw a couple of opportunities which will hopefully ensure that the tourist trade in that particular location is increasing rather than decreasing.” Sarah said.
“Could you be more specific?” Myra asked.
“It's not rocket science really, and all I can claim as my contribution was negotiating a deal with the previous owners which left everyone happy. By bringing the direct provision of holiday accommodation into the land management company, there's far more opportunity for flexible pricing than if there are two separate companies. So, with that in place we expect that the holiday accommodation — cabins in this case — will remain competitive and so be fully occupied.”
“When you say flexible pricing, you're talking about lowering prices?” Myra asked.
“I'm actually talking about fully demand-based pricing, so that prices will very depending on whether bookings are coming in faster or slower than expected.”
“If it's not a business secret, could you say what sort of demand based pricing?” Jack asked. “Will it be an 'early bird' scheme, where you will be selling the first bookings cheaply, then escalating the price as you become full, or simply reducing prices when bookings are slower than normal?”
“I haven't studied the algorithm in detail, but I understand that there are elements of both in it, with 'normal' being defined by a particular model.”
Myra asked, “So, if from just normal statistical fluctuations, bookings are low when the model expects them to be high, then there could be significant variations in prices week to week or even day to day? How then do people compare prices, or ponder their options?”
“That sort of price fluctuation is possible, I agree. I understand the system allows people to hold a price for a length of time so that they at least get to consider their options.”
“And the length of that holding time is hours, or days?” Tony asked.
“If I was designing it, then it'd be a week or so if we're talking months ahead, and more like an hour if we're talking about a last minute booking. I presume the intelligent people who designed it haven't accidentally allowed one week holds a day before the start-date.”
Something occurred to Tony; he asked. “Is there a charge for these holds?”
“No.”
“And you're not worried about competitors getting their staff to take holds on your cabins and so leave you with empty cabins?”
“Oh, sorry, the hold is a pricing hold, it's not a reservation. We guarantee that we won't charge them more than that price if they book in the hold period, but there's no guarantee that we will still have any cabins at the size they want.”
“Oh. But presumably the system counts holds as potential bookings in terms of the pricing calculations.”
“I think it ought to, yes.”
“So there would be the opportunity for a competitor or a group of people who didn't like your company to artificially manipulate your prices.” Tony said.
“Tony, you've got a devious mind. There would, and this is obviously an area that the staff there need to think about, if they haven't already. Obviously, one solution if that happens is to not allow holds to affect the pricing, but that has its own drawbacks. I'll have to pass on your question to the experts, I think I'm going to admit defeat on that issue.”
“Well you heard it here first, folks, there's something Sarah Williams admits defeat over.” Tony joked.
“There's quite a lot of those, so don't get too excited. Are there more questions, or does that mark the end of the conference?”
“I have one.” Jack asked. “You said that this was an exception. If there's anything we forgot to ask, do we need to wait a decade to ask it?”
“I have no idea. Probably not that long.”
“You said that you were a patient at the Institute for the Human Mind.” Myra started.
“I did. I hope you're not going to ask me to break any secrecy laws.”
“I don't think so. I was wondering how much a consultation cost.”
“Ah, now that's a different sort of secrecy. I'm afraid that's commercially sensitive information that I'm contractually bound not to disclose. I'll just say that they took my income into account.”
“So they charged more than most people could afford, I presume?” Jack asked.
“No, I wasn't receiving any income from the trust at that time. They took into account the part-time job I had as a student.”
“Oh! That was generous of them.” Myra exclaimed.
“Yes. I was on a 'cases too hard to solve' list from the AI psych computers. So I might have got a special rate because of that. I really don't know, sorry.”
“Mrs Williams, thank you very much for giving us this rare chance to interview you, and for answering so many of our questions so openly.” Tony said, declaring the interview over.
“And thank you, Myra, Jack and Tony, for a pleasant afternoon.”
“And CUT.” the director said.
“Myra, Frank, would you mind if we cut that last bit about the institute?” Teresa asked, coming forward from behind the camera. “It's not past the limits set, but I'm just worried that if that goes out then there could be tens of thousands of people asking for an appointment.”
“I shouldn't have said it on-camera, should I? Sorry.” Sarah said.
“I'm OK with it being cut.” Jack said.
“Me too.” Myra agreed.
“And I'm in trouble if I don't agree, aren't I, Teresa, love?” Tony said, with a grin.
“Exactly. OK, Everyone agrees, but how much do we cut? Myra's question, or Sarah's answer after she said she can't disclose the figure?”
The discussion went on for a bit, including some replaying of the footage. “I think it's probably best to just cut my whole question.” Myra said. “Otherwise the context is going to be hard for Tony's final statement, and we'd need to replace it with something else.”
The edit was made, there and then.
“I wanted to ask, Myra, are you thinking of someone in particular?”
“I'm not sure. I've got a cousin who was talking about his son, or maybe his daughter, I can't remember, getting splitting headaches in school, wimpering at the in pain even, but being fine by the time they were on the way home.”
“That sounds like familiar symptoms.” Sarah said. “But if it's the same cause, then I'll bet you it's his daughter. Want to give me some contact details, and I'll pass them on to the relevant people?”
“Urm, really? Won't it be very expensive?”
“Myra, this isn't really the place to talk, and I know you'll want to get the interview in...”
“Can we talk somewhere then? If there's a simple solution, then I'd be a fool not to put you in contact. A few minutes won't make much difference for the interview, we're all going to broadcast it at seven.”
“Fine, then let's find a quite corner.” Sarah led the way, not that she really knew her way around GemSmith's head-quarters yet. “I think I'm going to need to ask someone.” she said, looking left and right down the corridor.
“Reception?” Myra suggested.
“Yes, I suppose so. Ah! Ambrose! Just the man to help me!” She said, seeing him stepping out of an office.
“Interview over, Sarah?”
“Yes, but I'd like to have a quick little chat with Myra here, somewhere private. Any ideas where?”
“There's an interview room just this way,” he replied.
“I really must learn my way around here. Was that your office?”
“Yes. There are maps at the reception desk.”
“I didn't think of asking. I guess I could have just looked on my wrist unit, couldn't I?”
“The last time I looked, the map of the building was rather low on the search results page. Not many people need it.”
“I can believe that.”
“Here you are. Can you find your way out?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“The room's sound proofed.”
“And no hidden microphones?” Sarah asked.
“Inactive if you've set the door latch to 'private'.”
“Thank you.”
After he'd left, Sarah carefully set the door latch to private.
“You really meant a private discussion, didn't you?” Myra asked, surprised.
“Well, not everything you know about me can be broadcast.”
“The institute, you mean? No.”
“Does that worry you? I mean, knowing things you can never broadcast?”
“Not really. Part of the job, I guess.”
“You've got the contact details?”
“Yes, my cousin's name is Francis Quy, spelt Q-U-Y, rhymes with 'why'. Here's his number.”
“Thanks. And his children's names?”
“He's got a son called Quentin, who's about seventeen, I think and a daughter called Rhianna, who's fifteen.”
“Interesting names.” Sarah said.
“Yes. I'm quite sure I wouldn't have picked Quentin if I had a surname of Quy. He goes by his initials, normally.”
“How did you learn about my headaches?”
“I was looking for things about your life at university. You know, background stuff, group photographs, were you in the caving society or the rugby club or something else I could ask about. I found a few pictures of you, one in the meditation group, with about five others, another of you throwing the black-belted self-defence instructor into a tangled heap, and someone had drawn a cartoon of you at a primal scream session, with the others hiding in terror. The caption read...'You said "let it all out" so I did, and my headache's getting worse too.' ”
Sarah laughed. “Yes, I remember that. One of the other participants drew it. I didn't know it got posted on the network though.”
“It won a prize 'Unexpected events witnessed on campus.' The artist had titled it 'Sarah Smith's primal scream too real for group.' I guessed you had a lot more to scream about than any of them. Then I found someone's blog talking about you really over-reacting when an extra ten people had turned up to a party, and you'd screamed 'get these people out of here, there's too many of them, my head's killing me.'”
“I had no idea that got written. The secrets people give away! Yes. I get headaches when there's too many people. Want to know exactly why? If so then I'll want your oath that you won't publish it or hint at it to anyone else.”
“I swear.” Myra said, after a moment's thought, in which Sarah heard her decide that she wanted to know, and of course she wouldn't break a secret.
“You've heard of the thought-hearing power. It gets shortened to 'the power'. The mind-reading gift gets shortened to 'the gift'. The third in the trio is called 'the pain'. It's a hypersensitivity found in roughly one percent of women with the power. Normal people with the power have a range for hearing decisions of about three metres at age twenty, which might increase to more like five metres in old age, if they're trying to listen — it seems to be one sense that improves with age, or people get better at using it. Because decisions are getting made all the time, and you do need a bit of peace and quiet, the brain filters out the decisions it picks up so that people only hear the ones that affect them, or loved ones. Just like you're able to tune out a conversation in the room until they mention your name. People with the pain have a range of about thirty metres. It doesn't seem to be affected by age, so I'm guessing it's physics. You can get a lot of people in thirty metres radius, and the mind's filters can't cope with ignoring more than twenty or thirty before it starts getting too much. But it valiantly tries, hence the headache. There's also a noise as the filters start breaking down.”
“Oh wow. You've got the power. And I've just asked you in mid-interview about this pain. I'm sorry.”
“Not in that much detail. But you can see why I'm not going to come out and say 'Yes, it's a side effect of having a sensitive version of the power.' can't you?”
“Yes. So the truth-sayer is a bit of a ruse?”
“No, she's real enough. But she agrees with my husband and I: a young woman with the power - she's not even started university yet, by the way — employed by a crazy rich recluse, isn't particularly scary. But a crazy rich recluse with the power herself might well be.”
“The former just being an unusual way to earn your crust, but the latter evidence that people with the power are taking over?”
“Yes. Now, do you know if either of the Quy kids have the power?”
“No, I don't.”
“Well, quite simply, the easiest way of passing on some hints about this, if it is the pain, is to have someone with the gift chat with them. And if it's not the pain, then they won't be able to hear the person with the gift. If they can hide their thoughts already, then passing on the information about how to reduce the pain is about all that can be done. If they can't hide their thoughts, then somehow they need to get trained in doing that, and that's best with a face to face meeting with someone that can.”
“I understood the first bit... but hiding thoughts? What's that about?”
“We're not entirely sure what goes on, but it's possible for someone with the power to not transmit their decisions. We don't know how. It also coincides with not hearing either. But it's a bit risky. You can get stuck in the 'off' state, and not be able to get yourself out of it. Stay like that too long and you lose the power entirely, become someone normal.”
“You can hide your thoughts forever?”
“No, you thoughts stop being hidden after a day or so. But you don't hear what other people are thinking again, short of a miracle, or, just maybe, doing very little except concentrating on getting unstuck for a few months.”
“Woah, too much information!” Myra said, feeling overwhelmed.
“Sorry.”
“It's just, I don't expect I'll ever need to know this, and if I do, then I don't know enough to be much help, and how on earth do I share how I know it?”
“Well, if you've got cousins with the power, depending how they inherited it, then you might end up finding you've got other relatives with it too. How you know it, well, you once interviewed someone from the institute. And how to help someone, get them to call the institute and tell whoever picks up the phone that they're stuck.”
“That easy?”
“It's not rocket science, it's psychology, or psychosomatic or something else. Look, I'll tell you, you can't use it, but you might need to help someone. Hiding is like burying yourself in sticky mud. Struggling to get out is really ineffective, instead, you need to think of yourself as being in a shiny non-stick ball which is just going to float its way to the surface as long as they stay calm and shiny. That's it. Believe me, it works.”
“That sounds... I don't know, just so weird that it should work.”
“I know. Like I said, it's psychosomatic or something, but something happens: some part of the brain closes down, or something. So, whatever it is you did to turn off, you need to relax it and just float back to normality.”
“In a big shiny ball?”
“Yes. I swear, it's a powerful interpretive metaphor — you can sense the mud slipping past you.”
“Fascinating! And that's all they'd get if they called the institute?”
“Pretty much. That and some calm reassurance from someone who's seen it all before.”
“It happens often?”
“Fairly often. Personally, I can't hide more than a couple of minutes before it's time to get out the shiny ball. Other people I know can got for twenty or thirty minutes without any problems. But I think that's about the limit.”
“So it's not something someone could use for all day at school?”
“Not really. But it might get them through a school assembly. And of course they should stay at the edge of the crowd, that sort of thing. Oh, and painkillers are a complete dead loss, as is anything else the doctors tried to prescribe me. Worry, stress and the like make it worse — you know heightened senses due to adrenaline? Other than hiding, the best option is to hold hands with someone who loves you. I'm not fully sure what it does, but it certainly helps. That's how I got through the wedding by the way.”
“Embarrassing in a classroom, though, I imagine.” Myra said.
“Indeed. So... the chances are that your cousin won't get a phone-call unless it is a case of the pain and the poor girl doesn't know how to hide.”
“You really don't think it's his son, then?”
“Well, it might be, but that'd be a first, from what I understand.”
“I must say, you do seem very well informed.”
“I've had some long conversations with people with the gift about this.”
“Oh. Well, yes, I can imagine, given the opportunity...”
“Shall we get back to the others?” Sarah asked.
“Yes, we ought to. I've got to get that interview out.” They started heading down the corridor.
“I hope it meets expectations.”
“More than meets them, thank you, Sarah. And thank you on behalf of Quentin and Rhianna, too.”
“My pleasure.”
“You mean that, don't you? You like helping people.”
“I guess I do. I hadn't ever thought of that, but I guess it's true now.”
“Only now?”
“Give the praise to God. I used to be so wrapped up in pain avoidance that I don't think I had much energy left to be helpful.”
“God is very real to you, isn't he?”
“Yes, very.”
“I wish I had that much faith. I'm stuck in the here and now, I'm afraid, and sometimes that's not particularly easy.”
“The Bible speaks of faith as a gift from God, that people can ask for. So rather than wishing for it in general, can I suggest that you ask God for it instead?”
“And do you think he'd answer?”
“I expect so, as long as you're not expecting him to turn off your brains and save you any effort. God doesn't normally grant miracles so that people can be lazy, after all.”
“What sort of effort should I be putting in?”
“There's an old children's song, that says 'Read your Bible, pray every day, if you want to grow.' and an old hymn which has as it's chorus 'trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.' Neither of them are actually very easy, but they're both true.”
Myra said “Thanks, Sarah.” and wandered towards the others, deep in thought. She knew those songs, they'd been in her childhood. Back when she was young and trusting had been easy. Sarah... Sarah seemed to be someone very trustworthy, and she obviously trusted God. Trust and obey, and you need to forgive to be forgiven. Perhaps Myra should do some forgiving. Sarah was right, it wasn't going to be easy at all.