"I admit the sate kambing was quite tasty, although I still prefer a proper yakitori."
"I thought you would like a Singapore-style satay better than the other goat satays they sell here."
"Thank you. Why did we waste time getting it?"
Yayoi sighed. "We already stand out, even with what we've done to blend in. Doing what tourists do makes us stand out less."
"So I don't actually need to wear this hat?" Natsuko reached for the brim, only to be stopped by Yayoi grabbing her wrist briefly.
"This is a predominantly Muslim settlement. Take a look around. How many women have bare heads?"
After a quick check revealed none, Natsuko replied, "I'll keep the hat on. Is everyone here Muslim?"
"No, but the ones who aren't know better than to give offense on purpose. A civil disturbance could damage life-support equipment. Besides," Yayoi added with a bit of a grin, "the hats help hide our faces from casual scrutiny."
"When did you get so good at relating to people?"
"About a month or two after I became vice-president of StellviaCorp, give or take a few weeks. Come on, let's go look at the earrings at that pushcart over there."
"I don't wear ..."
"You don't have to. We're playing 'tourist,' and that cart's roughly in the direction we want to go."
They continued walking in a zig-zag path roughly toward the airlock they wanted, stopping every so often to look at (or buy) something. Eventually they reached airlock 37.
"There's no hiding our intentions now," Yayoi sighed. "Let's go."
"About time," muttered Natsuko as the two stepped into the airlock.
What neither of them noticed was the small robot, barely larger than a pocket-watch, watching them cycle through the lock and into the tubeway beyond.
I couldn't figure out how to work this into the story: Because of some unfortunate planning choices, Jakarta has massive gridlock on a nearly constant basis (or so says Wikipedia); thus, people often walk, and Sundays are "car-free days." Little Jakarta doesn't have the gridlock, but old habits die hard. Thus, Yayoi and Natsuko walking through town wasn't unusual - what would have drawn attention would be if they had hired a taxi, bajaj (auto-rickshaw), or becak (cycle rickshaw / pedicab) to take them to the airlock. (And they were noticed anyway...) An hour and a half's research to avoid glaring errors, buried in a half-sentence and a footnote.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
"I thought you would like a Singapore-style satay better than the other goat satays they sell here."
"Thank you. Why did we waste time getting it?"
Yayoi sighed. "We already stand out, even with what we've done to blend in. Doing what tourists do makes us stand out less."
"So I don't actually need to wear this hat?" Natsuko reached for the brim, only to be stopped by Yayoi grabbing her wrist briefly.
"This is a predominantly Muslim settlement. Take a look around. How many women have bare heads?"
After a quick check revealed none, Natsuko replied, "I'll keep the hat on. Is everyone here Muslim?"
"No, but the ones who aren't know better than to give offense on purpose. A civil disturbance could damage life-support equipment. Besides," Yayoi added with a bit of a grin, "the hats help hide our faces from casual scrutiny."
"When did you get so good at relating to people?"
"About a month or two after I became vice-president of StellviaCorp, give or take a few weeks. Come on, let's go look at the earrings at that pushcart over there."
"I don't wear ..."
"You don't have to. We're playing 'tourist,' and that cart's roughly in the direction we want to go."
They continued walking in a zig-zag path roughly toward the airlock they wanted, stopping every so often to look at (or buy) something. Eventually they reached airlock 37.
"There's no hiding our intentions now," Yayoi sighed. "Let's go."
"About time," muttered Natsuko as the two stepped into the airlock.
What neither of them noticed was the small robot, barely larger than a pocket-watch, watching them cycle through the lock and into the tubeway beyond.
I couldn't figure out how to work this into the story: Because of some unfortunate planning choices, Jakarta has massive gridlock on a nearly constant basis (or so says Wikipedia); thus, people often walk, and Sundays are "car-free days." Little Jakarta doesn't have the gridlock, but old habits die hard. Thus, Yayoi and Natsuko walking through town wasn't unusual - what would have drawn attention would be if they had hired a taxi, bajaj (auto-rickshaw), or becak (cycle rickshaw / pedicab) to take them to the airlock. (And they were noticed anyway...) An hour and a half's research to avoid glaring errors, buried in a half-sentence and a footnote.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012