Stacy saw Angel about to enter. “Wait, are we going to wear shoes inside?”
“Why not?”
“Kazakhs don’t take off shoes when entering someone’s home?” Riley spoke up. This was also a surprise to her.
“Of course we do,” Angel responded. “But this isn’t a home.”
“What do you mean by saying this isn’t a home?” Riley demanded. “Every single house here is a mansion. A freaking big home for rich and powerful people.”
Naz decided to be mischievous. “Or do you need to see yurts before it’s a home?” She asked Angel.
“Wait, stop,” Marilyn intervened before anybody could get angry. “There are no indoor slippers laid out for us. And we’ve been told this is a work area – from which we conduct our mission. The function of this house is not to act as a home.”
“Yes, it’s more like a performance stage or palace of sorts,” Angel said. “For minions to prostrate to their masters. I ain’t taking my shoes off for this.”
“All the more we shouldn’t be dirtying the house,” Riley protested. “Our Benefactors have been very nice so far. And they – or whoever arranged this mission – even got us a house to conduct surveillance from. It’s not for prostrating to tyrants. I don’t want to leave it in a mess.”
“If we make a mess, we could always clean up the mess,” Naz spoke up. “I personally prefer shoes off. Any Ukrainian or Kartveilian person should agree. No tracking mud indoors!”
Angel stood on the door mat with hands on hips. “Leader decides?”
Everyone looked at Stacy.
Stacy had been thinking. This was essentially a loaner house to conduct missions after all; how ZIL treated it was a sign of how civilized they were and how they could be trusted in future. Then she realized that it was again another ideal moment to make a group decision by voting. If her team got used to voting and abiding by such decisions as well as the consequences of these decisions, it would be a good development in their team culture.
Stacy looked over her team. “Leader says, we’re a democracy. Anything that involves us as a group, we debate and vote on the decision.”
“Oho, we’re going to have a parliamentary debate,” Naz said quietly. Naz didn’t have high expectations for such things, given the mess that both the Ukrainian and Georgian legislatures were characterized by. But she didn’t contradict Stacy aloud.
“Let’s lay this rule down,” Stacy said. “Anybody can request a discussion. And everyone must be allowed her say. But after everyone has had her say, or had the opportunity to respond to the others, either the second in command or the leader will close the discussion.”
“So you’re proposing that it’s not all on the leader?” Riley asked.
“Yes. If only the leader has the right to close debates all the time, then whether discussions come to an end, will be dependent on my personality and values alone,” Stacy said. “Topics I like, I might end up allowing more debate. Topics that I place less priority on won’t get enough debate. Devolving this to two people allows more diverse outcomes.”
“I can accept that,” Riley said.
“After that we vote,” Stacy continued. “If the second closed the discussion, it will be the leader who will draw or frame a conclusion. If the leader closed the discussion, it will be the second who draws the conclusion.”
Stacy looked at Riley. “That way we avoid a problem of dictatorship. If I didn’t like the debate and closed it early, you would be the one to decide how to frame the decision. If you were the one who cut off debating, I would be the one who sums up the decision. Nobody gets to do both.”
Marilyn nodded, her head bobbing up and down adorably. She seemed to like this very much. Given that Uzbekistan was essentially a one party state (and not run very well at that), not having a single leader decide everything was attractive to her.
Naz looked around her. The mansion compound was vast, and they were more than sixty meters from the nearest wall. Probably no one could hear their discussion. It seemed funny, having a discussion like this literally on a house doorstep – but it was probably better that they made group decisions that everyone abided by, rather than let everybody do as she pleased, and possibly frictions might develop.
Stacy looked over her team again.
“As we’ve previously decided, one is allowed out when voting on field missions. That way no conflict of conscience. But I want to make voting binding on all domestic or routine matters. Because we will live together, and want to minimize conflict. So I vote yes.”
There was a pause, then Stacy clarified: “I am now proposing we take a vote when we have to make a decision on domestic or routine matters. Our result will be binding on all.”
“We are all different people,” Riley said. “Making your personal behavior conform in a domestic situation might get very uncomfortable. I am not against doing things as a team, but do not feel comfortable with having our domestic arrangements settled by a binding vote. I would vote no.”
“The military, the police and all uniformed security services practice standardization of procedures,” Marilyn said. “So that we can function as a group. And I do want us to function as a group. Vote yes.”
“Any chemical engineer would agree that house rules must be uniform to keep a facility – and the living quarters on said facility – running properly,” Angel nodded. “It’s a matter of safety so I’m fully with this. Vote yes.”
Naz shrugged her shoulders. “Mechanical engineers are all different. I would prefer binding rules only on matters of safety. But I won’t vote no. Abstain.”
“Riley?” Sacy looked at her second. “Do you have anything else to say?”
“I seem to be outvoted. Unless you want to change?”
“I stand by my earlier stance; I do want us to decide and abide by binding house rules. How about I close the debate. So you can frame the conclusion in a way that you can comfortably support??”
“Agreed.”
“So I vote yes. Three yes, one no, one abstention,” Stacy said. “And now I give you the floor, Riley.”
Angel stirred. “The floor?”
“Floor just means Riley gets to speak now.”
“Sorry, if this was a Majlis I imagine we would all be sitting on the same carpeted floor anyway,” Angel smiled.
“We can make this more Central Asian. By giving Riley the rug,” Marilyn said.
“Yeah, do that,” Naz pointed. “Riley, why don’t you stand on the doormat here?”
Riley rolled her gray eyes. “Oh, please!”
But since the doormat was a distinct and slightly higher – by three centimeters – position, Riley decided it was a good place to speak from.
“All right, we’ve just agreed. All domestic and routine matters – governing how we live together – will be decided by binding vote,” Riley announced. “However as the framer of the decision, I will announce exceptions.”
“Good idea,” Stacy said. “In lawmaking there are often various kinds of exceptions or exemptions.”
“Our uniform house rules on living together should only apply to common areas. You can still do whatever you like in your own designated office, and in your own room, providing that what takes place stays within. Meaning, no noise or weird smells coming out to bother others.”
Riley’s eyes met with Stacy. “I figured that if there are things I don’t like, I can always retreat to my office or room.”
“Fair enough,” Stacy said. “And I think you’ve framed this conclusion well, balancing privacy with group responsibility.”
Marilyn readily agreed. But Angel and Naz seemed to have something to say.
“I’m completely in agreement where personal actions are concerned,” Angel said. “But I can’t guarantee you there will be no smells from the chemistry lab. I don’t know how well it is ventilated or laid out, and I can’t predict what I’ll be asked to do for field analysis.”
“Same here,” Naz said. “I imagine there may be some sounds and smells from the workshop at times.”
“I think we must stress, this is about domestic and routine personal matters,” Stacy said. “Work carries privileges. Because we all must work to earn the right to live on the airship. And it’s a team effort, so minor sacrifices are expected.”
“This means that whatever noises or smells are generated in the course of work, are not subject to limitations?” Marilyn asked.
Stacy and Riley nodded.
“All right, now we come to this point,” Riley said. “Have to decide whether to wear shoes into this house. Let’s discuss and take a vote.”
“Me, yes,” Angel said. “It’s more convenient when we come in and out.”
“I have decided to vote yes,” Naz said. “Because we’re at work. It’s normal to make a mess when on the job. But I would insist we add a rider that we clean up after we’re done. I don’t want to piss off our Benefactors’ allies, and not get support during future missions.”
“I would vote no,” Marilyn said. “I like rugs and walking with bare feet on rugs.”
Marilyn’s big green eyes swiveled left and right as she noticed disapproving or exasperated body language from some of her teammates.
“All right, I’ll make this sound less flippant,” Marilyn corrected herself. “I wear boots. And as we can see, Naz and Stacy are also in boots. I can’t be certain that when we wear footwear inside, it wouldn’t cause any damage. I really don’t want to conduct missions worrying about whether my footwear are damaging some rich guy’s ultra expensive floor.”
Marilyn’s views were actually influenced by her national origin. Uzbekistan was one of the poorest ex-Soviet countries, and lots of Uzbeks went to Russia to work as domestics. If you damaged anything in a Russian employer’s home, it was going to cost a whole lot of Uzbek soms!
“Sounds fair enough,” Stacy said. “Two yes and one no so far. Riley?”
“No, of course,” Riley said. “As you know, we’re just starting out with a new employer with new job scopes. It’s important for us to start off conservatively, because we don’t know if our employer might be fussy. Let’s not piss anybody off by damaging their mansion.”
And now it was Stacy’s turn.
“I propose a conditional yes,” Stacy said. “On the grounds that our Benefactors also have to expect some risk when they offer us equipment or facilities to use. When in the planning phase of a mission, we are not under time constraints so we remove footwear. But during the action phase of the mission, we really don’t want the footwear issue to compromise our safety or mission objectives. We might have to prepare to flee the premises. So at that point, rich people’s floors and carpets take second place.”
“Would you say the same thing when summing up the conclusion?” Riley asked.
Stacy nodded.
“So the vote is three yes two no, the yeses have it,” Riley announced. “Now frame the decision, Stacy.”
Stacy nodded in acknowledgement and stepped on the doormat as Riley stepped off. “We will prioritize cleaniness when time is not an issue. So we will not wear footwear inside during the planning phase of our mission. We will act more expediently during the action phase.”
Everyone’s expression showed that they agreed. Angel pulled off her sneakers. Marilyn unlaced her boots. And ZIL entered the house with shoes off.