Dialogue of the Deaf: Sign Language in a Surveillance Culture

It’s best not to cross swords with Olaf Kaminski. Olaf is the Head Porter in Infinity. He works during the day and occasionally `drops in’ at night to check up on us. It’s bad enough having to deal with the Snoops. Olaf makes it twice as dangerous to do anything out of order. To speak with him is to engage frequently in a dialogue of the deaf.

Last night Olaf sneaked in at two o’clock in the morning and caught Clancy asleep at the front desk. Clancy’s like me. He’s a science fiction addict and spends a fair amount of time reading tales of outer space to combat the boredom of the night shift. We’re both fans of the Antaraxica Crimson Rings series.

Anyway, I was on the first floor patrolling the Infinity corridors when I heard a commotion break out below. I rushed down to the main entrance and found Olaf shouting and screaming abuse at Clancy for being asleep on the job. Clancy was fully conscious by the time I arrived. Olaf was making enough noise to awaken the dead. He was waving his arms in the air and every now and then bringing his heavy-knuckled fist down on the counter with a loud crash.

I approached Olaf to try to calm him down, explaining that Clancy hadn’t had any sleep the previous day because he’d been to see his elderly mother who was resident in a care home on the other side of Globopolis. But this didn’t have any effect on Olaf. He just saw it as a provocation by another subordinate inventing excuses to get his friend off the hook.

Clancy himself just looked on terrified, convinced that Olaf was about to break every bone in his body. I gave up trying to reason with Olaf and shouted into his face: `You crazy bastard! Clancy’s deaf. He can’t hear a word you’re saying.’

The anger in my voice suddenly connected with a loose wire in Olaf’s brain and his fury subsided in an instant. `Ah yes, I’d forgotten,’ he muttered. `You’re right. It’s a dialogue of the deaf. Sorry Clancy, forgive me. Remember though, don’t fall asleep on duty in future. Check in with me first if you need to visit your mother again.’

And with that he was gone. He just disappeared into the blackness of the night outside Infinity. Such a strange man Olaf, a curious mixture of aggression and compassion. It’s as if his personality is in two halves with no connection between the two – one moment a loud-mouthed bully, the next a soft-hearted father figure.

Clancy stared at me wide-eyed and signalled his relief at Olaf’s departure. Clancy wasn’t just deaf. He was mute as well. He was only able to keep his job because I assisted him and Olaf turned a blind eye to his shortcomings; at least when his personality hadn’t switched gear to his sociopathic side.

We spent several minutes secretly signing to one another. Signing is a useful communication tool in Anticlockwise. It leaves no audible trace and as long as we can keep our signals hidden behind the porter’s desk, the surveillance cameras in the corridors don’t pick it up.

Once Clancy had recovered from the shock of Olaf’s attack we spent several minutes discussing the Antaraxica Outer Rings. I then told him what Tia had said to me about passports and visas. He looked downcast. `There’s no hope then,’ he signed to me.

Zeb Solitanu

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