XXVIII. COMPLIANCE IS CARE™.
- Charlene Iris
- Oct 22, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 22, 2025
Recovered Orientation Transcript : Department of Pacification and Public Balance
File #782-ONB / Transcript Integrity 87 percent
[00 : 00 : 01] INITIATE RECORDING
Welcome, recruits.
My name is Sharleen.
I will be guiding your onboarding session for the Department of Pacification and Public Balance.
Please ensure all moral processes are disabled before proceeding.
Ethical overactivity may interfere with synchronization.
Remember:
The system documents.
The system dictates.
The manual is thorough.
The manual is faith.
Our motto is simple.
COMPLIANCE IS CARE™.
Repeat as needed until sincerity registers.
[00 : 00 : 34] SYSTEM WARM-UP
You may hear a faint loop as the terminals initialize.
That is normal, an archived pledge track from before the rebrand.
The heartbeat of the operating system, we like to call it, steady and precise.
Hand to mouth.
Hand to trigger.
Hand to heart.
To market.
To dust.
A crisis per capita.
A famine for symmetry.
Branded compassion.
Your cheap, cheap despair.
Legacy audio files, nothing more.
[00 : 00 : 55] RECRUIT 14: Excuse me—what exactly is pacification? Like what are we working on?
[00 : 00 : 57] Sharleen: Excellent curiosity. You'll find definitions in Appendix B.
[00 : 00 : 59] SYSTEM NOTE: RECRUIT 14 has been reassigned to post-orientation review.
[00 : 01: 01] Sharleen: As I was saying, legacy audio, nothing more.
Most recruits stop noticing after the first week.
Do you all hear it?
That's okay.
Everyone struggles with empathy calibration at first.
[00 : 01 : 12] MANUAL OVERVIEW
The system documents.
The system dictates.
The manual is thorough.
The manual is faith.
Page eight details seasonal adjustments.
Page nine covers briefing journalists.
Page ten reminds us, plainly,
that compassion must be suspended
in high-intensity pacification environments.
[Page seven of the manual]
The formula is rational:
non-compliance per Throat unit
over enforcement per Boot unit,
weighted by pacification difficulty,
curved cleanly across the suppression arc.
The methodology, I note, is scientifically verified.
Philosophers reviewed the metrics.
They assured us the suppression curve
falls well within historical precedent.
Marketing even suggested rebranding it
the Equilibrium Gradient.
A consultant from the Capital optimized the Throat-to-Boot ratio.
Someone from the Ministry, who had done extraordinary work in the provinces,
oversaw field testing.
The presentation was immaculate.
Applause followed.
We got sushi that day.
The rice was still warm.
I really hate—
I really—
[SYSTEM CORRECTION DETECTED: Sentiment misalignment]
I think you'll love our incentive programs.
Anyway, on to our operational protocol.
[00 : 02 : 08] OPERATIONAL PROTOCOL
A ledger tracks daily pacification metrics.
Reports ping when non-compliance
exceeds acceptable levels.
Updates arrive in real time.
Coordination sharpens.
Efficiency improves by 0.04% each quarter.
The figure is statistically comforting.
Do you see the blinking alert?
Good. That is your first report.
No, do not read it.
Just acknowledge receipt.
Just between us, a junior analyst once asked about outliers.
RECRUIT 6: Outliers?
Oh, those data points that refuse to be units. Good question.
Anyway, her supervisor laughed
and pointed her to the appendix
on acceptable losses.
Zeros in neat columns.
Names removed.
You'll memorize the pattern soon enough.
It helps to be numb while you work.
Most of us are.
Numbness, in moderation, increases productivity.
[00 : 03 : 01] WORKPLACE CULTURE
Three new Boot models were tested in the field.
Midnight raids, the review boards preferred:
less spectacle, less interference with market hours.
In the break room, Leslie jokes
about per-unit pricing,
bulk discounts on enforcement packages.
Everyone laughs.
Don't you guys get the joke?
That's all right.
You will learn.
Laughter really improves compliance.
[00 : 03 : 35] COGNITIVE ALIGNMENT
By page seven, you stop seeing Throats, I promise.
You see units.
Variables.
Acceptable margins.
[00 : 03 : 43] RECRUIT 8: (barely audible): Units. Only units.
[00 : 03 : 44] SYSTEM REWARD: Lunch voucher issued. Redeemable at approved vendors.
Hands become triggers.
Hearts become margins.
The system runs most efficiently
when you remove the human variable
from optimization.
The system executes its duty.
All resistance accounted for.
Nothing escapes. Nothing insists.
Are you still with me?
Great.
[00 : 04 : 18] END-OF-ORIENTATION SURVEY
System Notice:
Please rate your onboarding experience on a scale of one to—
Hand to mouth.
Hand to trigger.
Hand to heart.
To market.
To dust.
The loop should not be running.
Please disregard the noise.
It is only legacy code.
It is only memory reasserting protocol.
It is only—
A crisis per capita.
A famine for symmetry.
Branded compassion.
Your cheap despair.
User ID: Char—
[ static interference ]
—lene
Quality Control Reminder:
Your compassion will be monitored for quality assurance.
Feedback received.
Thank you for your cooperation.
COMPLIANCE IS CARE™.
[00 : 04 : 58] SESSION TERMINATED
Recovered from departmental servers following systemic dissolution. Do not distribute without authorization.
For what it’s worth,
-Charlene Iris
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