improving on tezzeret's plans

"They have emboldened the renegades," Tezzeret said. "The situation is getting out of control."

"But was all this necessary? Why confiscate their inventions, and in such a clumsy and heavy-handed manner? A quick survey of the square should make it clear that these actions serve only to further provoke and, as you say, embolden those who would resist Consulate authority."

"Relax, Baan. It's not as though we're stealing their inventions. We're safeguarding them. We wouldn't want such priceless inventions damaged in a renegade attack."

"There's no need to sway my opinion on the matter, of course, but—"

"And these devices aren't thoroughly tested, as you well know. They're not safe. We can't leave that much unlicensed technology just lying around the city."

"Such a thing would be irresponsible, of course," Dovin said. "But it would have been more productive to explain that rationale. Instead of sending Ranaj's enforcers to wrest devices from the hands of their grief-stricken owners, we could have sent bureaucrats with forms to complete, complicated assurances, soothing nonsense words."

***

A Grateful Consulate