Terra Incognita
Reader discretion is advised.
December 15
Transcript of Interview: Madeline Dukarn
RE: Shigeru Nakamura
Professor Takein Hikaru (TH): Good morning, and thank you for your participation.
Professor Madeline Dukarn (MD): Good morning to you. Kon’nichiwa.
Solicitor Akshay Ravi (AR): Greetings, Professors. I am Akshay Ravi, attaché to the chairman’s office.
TH: Yes. You understand this is purely voluntary.
MD: Of course. I am certain–
AR: We must discuss a most uncomfortable subject, but the Board of Regents cannot ignore growing concerns with respect to Professor Nakamura.
MD: Dear God, what has he done now?
TH: Understand, Doctor Dukarn. I knew his mother quite well, and therefore I am perhaps too easily swayed by the past. It is unsavory to speak of these matters, but I have received multiple complaints alleging Professor Nakamura’s salacious escapades. Students from America are furious, and I am fearful we must–
MD: Cancel him?
AR: I do not understand your glibness, Miss. The institution of university must weather–
MD: These halls aren’t that fragile, sir.
AR: Please do not be naive. Social media, for good or ill, determines survival in a pot of increasingly scarce resources. Donors, trusts, and governments are repelled by public displays of Doctor Nakamura’s exploits. It dirties my mouth to speak of it. Professor Hikaru wishes to disavow it.
MD: Jesus, I don’t know why you want to talk to me about this. I have my own gardens to till, you know.
AR: You once were quite close to him.
MD: We were engaged. Twenty years ago. What does that matter?
AR: It is possible you can speak to him.
MD: Speak to him? I loathe him most of the time. What would you have me say?
AR: We have prepared a contingency plan. His reputation is great, even if riddled with scandal. If we could convince him to apologize–
MD: <laughs>
AR: What is funny to you?
MD: I’ve known Shigeru Nakamura for twenty-five years. I’ve never heard him apologize to anyone. For anything.
AR: Please, Doctor Dukarn.
MD: He humiliated me–tormented and taunted me. He’s a drunk and a letch. Holy Christ, if you’re trading on my defunct affair with an emotional infant, you know me well enough to call me Mad.
AR: Please, Doctor. Mad, yes, please, hear us out.
TH: Upsetting you isn’t our objective, Madeline. Please, let us continue?
MD: I’m sorry. Shigeru upsets me. What do you want me to do?
AR: If he could issue a public apology, and attend sensitivity seminars, then we could overlook his actions.
MD: I’ve given up trying to police his behavior. With all due respect, he’s one of the most selfish people I’ve ever known. He won’t listen to me, or any other woman.
AR: That is not what the board believes. Your past connection with him situates you to prevail on his affection.
MD: This is a hideous thing to ask. And I don’t even know what you’re asking.
AR: This conversation did not happen, if you please. It is straightforward–persuade him to portray contrition, seek professional guidance, and check himself into a rehabilitation clinic.
MD: Good God, why protect him if you want him to do those things? Maybe he doesn’t deserve to be protected.
TH: Doctor Dukarn, do you believe we should protect him? Put another way, what do you think we should do?
MD: Shigeru Nakamura is perhaps without peer among his field’s researchers (and he would be the first to tell you this.) He’s impossible to replace.
TH: Please, what is your counsel?
MD: Isn’t that Mister Ravi’s job? Spin it as positively as possible?
AR: Please, Mad. Professor Nakamura’s grants alone are worth $13 million in your own dollars. The board would prefer to see these grants continue, but the professor’s behavior imperils our institution with negative social media attention.
MD: Then don’t read those crappy feeds, Mister Ravi.
AR: This is no laughing matter, Mad.
MD: Look, I am a researcher, not the asshole’s mother.
TH: Again, I knew his mother, Doctor Dukarn. She was in every way imaginable a lovely human being. I think of her–
MD: Your fondness for the person means you will tolerate the son’s parade of debauchery? I am not, nor will I be, responsible for his behavior.
AR: Please look at these statistics, Mad.
MD: Ok, cancer survival rates. Yes, I know his counter-rad is the next big advancement. I’m not disputing his talents.
TH: He possesses heart and empathy, even if he is drawn by controversy. His actions place us in a very difficult position.
MD: Then rip that bandage off–tear him a new one for his actions.
TH: It is not our way, Professor. In our culture–
MD: I’ve been in Tokyo for eighteen years. I know the culture.
AR: What Professor Hikaru is attempting to say is that he would prefer a more private solution, with correct optics.
MD: Terra Incognita. Dead man’s bones. How am I supposed to convince him to reverse his ugly proclivities?
AR: By proposing another engagement.
MD: I cannot believe I’m hearing this. <laughs>
AR: The optics are perfect. He finds rehabilitation for his sins against American women by proposing marriage to his American sweetheart.
MD: Takein, you approve of this insanity?
TH: I–
AR: Professor Hikaru cannot assume a position. This discussion did not include him, for the record.
MD: Then off-the-goddamned-record. Takein, do you approve of this sham?
AR: He cannot–
MD: Shut up, Akshay! Takein, we’ve known each other for twenty years. You owe me an answer.
TH: This world ails, Madeline. Pandemics, war, and climate change are rising as institutional faith is dwindling. People do not trust expertise or science. But science can occur whether it is widely received or not.
AR: Professor Hikaru means to say–
TH: It is fine, Akshay. Mad, Shigeru’s work is too important to permit his reputation to tarnish it. He possesses gifts we cannot seem to replace, no matter how hard we search candidates. Besides, he is important. Perhaps more than anyone knows.
MD: What do you mean?
TH: You must please trust me. Permitting him to falter would be a mistake–we cannot permit his choices to destroy him.
MD: But that’s just it. They are his choices, not mine or yours. His life isn’t ours to destroy. It took me years of therapy to understand that I don’t bear that burden.
AR: For the good of this institution, and more, can you do this for us?
MD: You sound insane.
AR: We do not ask you to marry him. Just agree to become engaged.
MD: No is a complete sentence. Period. It’s deplorable you would even ask. Besides, it would be patently transparent. Wouldn’t it make more sense to change his name and restart him?
AR: Agencies open their wallets and hearts to Shigeru Nakamura. His personal connection to the ills of Fat Man and Little Boy captures the imagination of donors. They could be persuaded that a few pathetic girls hurled themselves at his feet, and their vindictiveness was an inappropriate response.
MD: Good God, I can’t believe I’m hearing this in the twenty-first century. You would slander them?
AR: They know his weaknesses.
MD: Weaknesses?
AR: Professor, we’ll make it worth your while.
MD: And what would be worth the hell you ask me to invite?
TH: Madeline, Karolinska is interested in Shigeru’s work. He could earn a Nobel Prize next year for his work.
AR: It is purely transactional, Professor. You care for Doctor Nakamura, he requires structure, and our institute could benefit.
MD: What happened to merit? Morality?
TH: You cannot deny the value of his work to our people. Children are born here even today with birth defects because of Hibakusha. I do not ask this of you lightly. But you may share in the rewards should he be designated a recipient. His team will advance far.
MD: You are trying to bribe me? Takein, this is horrible.
AR: Mad, can you be so naive?
MD: You can call me Doctor Dukarn, Ravi. Jesus, you PR people–
AR: Very well, Doctor. Listen to me. This institution depends on public goodwill and the synergy of prestige. Doctor Nakamura is a unicorn, and we are fortunate to possess him.
MD: Unicorns don’t exist, Ravi. Besides, we’d be fortunate to be rid of him.
TH: Madeline, I cannot order you to do this. But you can help us secure receipt of the prize and generate considerable grant money for life-changing treatment. Think of the children suffering because of decades of ignorance for the longer-term risks. Think of the protracted resettlement in the southern Pacific, and Runit’s waste leeching into the ecosystem.
MD: Ok, ok, Christ. Has he agreed to this cockamamie plan?
AR: We hoped to speak to you first.
MD: You mean secure my cooperation? Look, I’ll talk to him but I’m not playing a bride-to-be. Not in a million years.
TH: That is all we can ask–
AR: What Professor Hikaru means to say is that this is a team sport, and sometimes we–
MD: Take one for it? I said I’d talk to him, but that’s all I can promise. Ravi, you can fall on your own sword when this blows up in our faces. Takein, I’ll talk to him.
TH: Thank you, Madeline.
AR: The institute thanks–
MD: Save it for someone who buys it, Ravi.