OPERANT

'The People's Republics dream of a kinder world; the Opera dreams of revealing it; the operant dreams of dreams. All fantasies in-waiting, yet to be given memory.'

'... a melancholic air of permanent regret, and an insistence on taking everything upon oneself, alone. But Operant C was not alone. They had people beside them.'

'... intense concern among their assets and fellow operants. By the culmination, Operant C wasn't burnt out; they were scorched out. Razed to the very nerves. Maybe gone for good.'

'... ██ assignment failed. It couldn't help but fail. Assuming Operant C survived the collapse, she was duly remanded to Satellite Facility B, a.k.a. the notorious 'Freezer'. Isolation with no end date...'

'Operant C's talents, regrettably, are only matched by a tremendous capacity for self-sabotage.'

'This claim does not absolve Operant X as such; one's psyche is their own responsibility, ultimately. But it does indicate that the Opera can't and won't do the work for you.'

'... a chronic self-auditor, prone to bouts of guilt and melancholy. Operant C internalises consequences drastically (at times, anticipatorily) and resorts to endless confessions and apologies -- insulation from the radical necessity of change.'

Mixing metaphors between cannibalism and masturbation, HOLOCENE paints the picture of an Operant Bureau consuming itself via its obsession with uprooting traitors in its midst.

'Opera Furiosa: A Close Reading of the Operant Bureau and its Contradictions', or, 'Strewn in Constellation: Second Thoughts on the Collective Frontier'.

'... as though seeking to remake the agency in his own image, under Twitchitov's leadership the Operant Bureau transformed into an onanistic organisation, that is, one that exists solely to satisfy its own circular pleasures, chief among which are hunting for flipped assets and excommunicating its most competent operants.'

'The Operant Bureau shuffles along on its rusted treadwheel, shotgun perma-pressed to foot.'

"Over their career, Operant ███████, henceforth known as 'Operant C', demonstrated an innate faculty for the craft -- and tremendous capacity for leadership. Accordingly, in ██, the Operant Bureau tasked them with setting up a network in █████████.'

'... Numerous lines of inquiry, all of which, however, can be distilled down to a single question: to what can we attribute the Operant Bureau's relative lack of projection power, compared to agencies of a similar budget and manpower?'

'... resulted in Operant C blaming everything, even minor personal failings such as a missed aero-tram, on 'unseen shadow people'. It must be noted that none of these aspersions were conclusively proved false. Some even had merit, in this author's opinion.'

Roger Klaus Twitchitov, Director-General of the Operant Bureau from 58 until his untimely death in 87.

'... let such witless sycophants rationalise the Operant Bureau's daily deeds as 'essential bureaucracy'...'

'... exploitable, too. A detachment from reality, a constant 'zoom out' of perspective, may be useful for an operant, but it is not useful for a person. Or a friend.'

This section, spanning twenty-odd pages, drills down -- focusing on a single operant. HOLOCENE considers the career, decisions, and strategic patterns of 'Operant C'.

'I do not wish to indict a fellow operant, but to cement a larger point -- one that affects all operants -- the Operant Bureau itself is to blame for what I call professional deformations.'

"... to ask why the Operant Bureau exists at all is to ask the same of the Superbloc -- and to confront our place within it. A constellation of intents, betrayals, and ideals, the whole of which can never be witnessed.'

'... a development whose terminal stage is the adversary within. That is, a psychic limbo in which the operant is forced to treat all information -- even, and perhaps especially that which is Opera-provided -- as de-facto MALA FIDE, an auto-suspicious routine, a territory from which no assurance is powerful enough to rescue anything.'

As for operant 'excommunications'... HOLOCENE is a case in point.

Don't start wasting your time with prank calls, operant.

Operant, you are prodding a keyhole with a pointed metal cylinder. It doesn't scream match ready.

That 'subeditor' is an EMTERR operant for certain. Rank unknown.

You have performed admirably, operant.

Operant! Did you not learn from last time? Keep it on the down low.

Perhaps all your work as an operant has just been preparing you for becoming the greatest poet that ever lived.

You got off extremely lucky this time, operant. You won't next time, if you make it that far.

No need to be so dramatic. You're an operant, not a poet -- get over it.

EMTERR -- the Bank. This mention of the Operant Bureau's ancient enemy makes you bristle.

The Bank -- EMTERR. This mention of the Operant Bureau's ancient enemy makes you bristle.

"A weapon of some sort. It melted the brain of another operant."

"The operant that got turned into a vegetable -- he was listening to an Ultra Violeta disc at the time..."

"There was an operant that got zeroed out. He was listening to an Ultra Violeta disc at the time..."

"How about an operant who got his mind wiped and left vegetative but has since been revived with a Luzian imprinting device?"

No, I am Hershel Wilk, asset for the Operant Bureau.... (Pull back.)

So what's the back-up plan, operant?

You better hope that bullet comes fitted with homing capabilities, operant. You're betting everything on it.

Before embarking on this distraction from your assignment, operant, consider the risks inherent to 'self-expression'.

Operant CASCADE is classified ONLY CHILD. Understanding of sibling dynamics best described as 'theoretical'.

Not to mention this makes Duchess highly suspect. You may have been consorting with an operant the whole time.

It's just an operant and her old assets.

"You've got it all mixed up. That EMTERR operant was testing out the disc on my colleague. I only found it afterward. I've been trying to get to the bottom of it."

Don't forget why you're here, operant. The Lich's time of arrival. Whatever must be done.

"Wait, what EMTERR operant?"

"Are you still playing dumb?" He shakes his head. "Why don't you check your saves, operant?"

"And yet! Somehow this prototype finds its way into the hands not of the Weeping Eye, but a high-level EMTERR operant! You think this is a coincidence?" He gestures furiously between two sticky notes connected by a blue thread.

"That operant is actually an Ultra Violeta hyper-fan. This red disc was just a side thing for him."

"This isn't a negotiation, operant. There's nothing to 'accept' -- it's the rank you've been given. It will be entered into the assignment file."