xp_logs | Forge and Jean, Tuesday morning

In trying to get the start of his political moving and shaking off the ground, Forge goes to the person with the practical expertise to get a few pointers, and finds out things aren't going to be as easy as anticipated.

Forge wandered down the steps to the medlab level, tapping in the
access codes to enter the lab area. While Dr. McCoy had set him up
with limited access to the facilities for his own research and
experimentation purposes, Forge had discovered the helpful side
benefit of easy access to whatever doctor was on duty at the time
without having to go through the usual channels, or actually throwing
oneself down the stairs to get attention.

Thumbing through the list on his PDA, he narrated to himself under his
breath. "Manuel, in. Jamie, out but helpful. Jay, probably in.
Clarice, probable... hmm..." He found himself at the door to the
on-duty office, and sighed briefly. "Dr. Grey... let's see."

He knocked twice, smoothed his hair back, and cracked the door open
slightly. "Dr. Grey?" he called out quietly. "Could I steal a moment
of your time?"

Jean looked up from the paperwork in front of her. "Sure, come in,"
she said. "Take a seat. You'd be John Henry, with a preference for
'Forge', right?"

Forge grinned widely. Obviously Dr. McCoy had already given his
red-haired comrade the rundown on him. "That's right. I hadn't had a
chance to come down and make your acquaintance. I've wanted to, I
mean, your work with lobbying for mutant rights has been really
instrumental in stuff that's happened since you di--... I mean, since
you were missing, but now you're found.. I mean, you're here and...
um, well, your work gave me a lot of ideas. Acting on a bigger level,
but not like the team stuff - which of course you know about, I mean,
you were the one doing stuff in Washington, until you... um,
well, you know."

He sheepishly wiped a hand over his face to shut himself up. "I, uh,
wanted to get your advice about that stuff. The legislative aspect,
lobbying, all that."

Jean couldn't help but smile as Forge stumbled over what he wanted to
say. "Advice I can definitely do," she told him. "Come in, take a
seat. I've always been a firm believer that there are many ways to
attack a problem and it's best to try them all. Now, is there
something in particular you're wanting to lobby for, or is this just a
sounding-out mission?"

"Well, see, I was talking with Jay. Um, Josh Guthrie, my roommate. Big
red wings, can't miss him. Anyway, in the flight class - which I'm in,
even though I don't fly, it's just a big interest. Where was I? Right,
talking with Jay. I did some research and found out that the FAA,
that's the Federal Aeronautics Administration, doesn't have any kind
of licensing set up for non-vehicular flight. That means that legally,
if someone wanted to raise a stink about mutants flying around, they'd
have a legal case to do it."

He breathed deeply to slow his talking down. This shouldn't be this
difficult, he reminded himself. "And I remembered reading about your
work opposing the Kelly Act, before the Senator reversed his position,
and well - you know the way the bureaucracy works. If I wanted to get
a bill proposed to allow for licensing for mutants who can fly, I'll
need to know who to buttonhole first."

Jean tapped her pen a few times against the desk, thinking it over.
"Well, first, of course, you will want to know what you want the
proposed legislation to say. By the time it gets anywhere near
Congress it will have changed half a dozen times, but if you don't
start with something you'd like you have no chance of ending up with
something you like. You definitely will need to know what you mean by
'liscensing', because a lot of the mutant rights groups would hear a
word like that and be up in arms before you got any farther - a
federal liscense is not unlike an ID, and if flyers have to have one
then you've just created registration for all flying mutants.
Legislation is entirely a battle of words and knowing who to talk to,
but I'd be glad to help." And maybe this would be the necessary kick
in the pants Jean needed to getting in touch with her old contacts and
letting them know that "the rumors of her death..." As usual, almost
none of the incumbents had been unseated in the last election but she
wasn't sure who had stepped down or who had replaced them.

Forge nodded. "I have to admit, by the time I found out I was a mutant
and started reading up on your stuff, it was all, you know -
posthumous and stuff. And the registration act stuff got killed, and
President McKenna shot down a lot of the discrimination laws, but
there's still these little things. And as for licensing being like
registration - there's people who don't get drivers' licenses for that
same reason. Sure, they don't get a speeding ticket or called for jury
duty as often, but they also don't get to drive."

"An excellent argument," Jean said, nodding. "But are you going to
ground any flyers who don't feel like getting their liscense? And how
do you decide who issues it and to whom? And, for that matter, how? Do
you want instruction and testing?"

Forge nodded. "Valid points, and why I wanted to get your input. This
is something I think definitely ought to be debated before the ball
gets rolling on this. I think it's important to get folks my age
interested in knowing how their powers are going to affect different
aspects of their lives. I mean, take me. I can invent anything, but
thanks to current legislation, I can't patent any of it unless I prove
that I didn't use mutant powers to gain an unfair advantage over other
inventors. Stuff like that's going to eventually need to get changed,
and I figured; hey, start with something simple." He ran a hand
through his hair. "Guess it's not as simple as I thought."

Jean smiled. "As I said, I'll be glad to help, and I know a couple of
people in Washington who it might be good for you to talk to. It's a
really good idea, Forge, and, unfortunately, really good ideas are
rarely easy to pull off. But it sounds like you have the will to fight
for it."

He grinned at that. "That I do, Dr. Grey. Every movement has to start
somewhere." He stood up, offering his hand. "Thanks for your time. Oh,
Dr. McCoy tells me you're handling the physicals now? How's your
background on cybernetics?" he asked, motioning with his artificial
hand. "I'm supposed to get one in about a month."

Jean reached out and shook the offered hand. "Mine is nowhere near as
good as Hank's, but I have some experience."

"Excellent," Forge exclaimed. "I'll be setting that up soon, then.
Thanks again, Doctor."