Outreach

TIME TO STRATEGY EXECUTION: 46 DAYS

Any other organization likely would have fired me for what happened yesterday and insisted that I take down this blog, but WICO has decided to keep me on with no restrictions on my speech. Samantha Lazlo provided an explanation in a video statement posted this morning on the Global Strategy Public Update site:

“The World Information and Coordination Organization encourages all efforts at public outreach by our staff and affiliates who are familiar with the global strategy and support its goals. In the interest of performing its core function of disseminating information and coordinating action to maximize success, WICO requests that strategy-specific observation and interactive direction protocols be used wherever possible. An overview of the protocols is available on this site, and WICO staff will be available to answer any questions and provide additional guidance.”

Maura, Al, and I had just finished being remotely debriefed on our trip by the Quality Assurance team’s test community support managers when we learned about the statement. Rachael Zeitman, the manager of TC-014, reflected the general opinion of the other staff there and at the Rocky Mountain Operations Center by thanking me - in colorful language - for “effectively shutting down our operations.” I reminded her of the facts (discussed in yesterday’s blog post), but she and the others considered them irrelevant in light of the new directive. “The communities are going to be in the front lines of PR and training now,” she said. “Our test conditions will be corrupted, and the remaining goals aren’t going to be met. Congratulations, blogger! The rest of your tasks just evaporated!”

The RMOC was inundated with calls, e-mail messages, and online requests for help, most of them directed at me and Maura. A crowd of visitors larger than the one on Blue Planet Day swarmed the office. “This is great, isn’t it?” I observed. “It’s exactly what we were hoping for!”

Maura was waiting on her phone, and smiled. “Yes, it is,” she said. “I’m trying to get the Extinction Response Unit to take some of the load. I wish Samantha had mentioned that first.”

I wondered if the suggestion was already in the online guidance. Al was way ahead of me. He showed me the site on his phone. “It’s step number one, includin’ links to the ERUs in every country.” To Maura, he said, “That’s probly why you aren’t gettin’ through.”

“So much for a managed roll-out,” Maura muttered, still smiling.

“Where’s Colorado’s test community?” someone shouted over the crowd, and Maura’s smile turned into a frown. “Yeah, where’s TC thirteen?” someone else asked.

“It’s in a protected area,” I responded, hoping that as Coloradoans they would respect the implications of that statement. “We’ll need permission to change that status, but we might be able to get some of their members to brief you on what they’ve learned.”

Maura nodded thankfully as my answer was accepted, and began speaking on the phone. That gave me an idea about how to fill an obvious gap.

“How would everyone like to get a lesson on those protocols Ambassador Lazlo mentioned?”

Fifteen minutes later, Al and I were facing the crowd at one edge of the parking lot bordering a hiking trail, holding backpacks of gear we used at the test communities. Two hours after that, we completed the first of what will become regular hands-on classes in what is now known as CORE: Coordination, Observation, Recording, and Exploration.

ABOVE: Screen-grab from Ambassador Samantha Lazlo’s statement.

Reality Check

Lazlo’s statement is consistent with her encouragement - and selective discouragement - of Will from the beginning of their interactions. The image of her at the end of the post shows the WICO logo in the background, which represents land, water, and microbial life.

Maura’s reaction to the question about TC-013 masks a large part of her backstory, which ties directly to the origins of the community through a connection to her family.

The CORE gear has yet to be revealed. A version available to the public would include the Personal Environmental Assessment Kit (PEAK).