2.3 Problem - Solution - Reaction


        Yet another missing slave was one thing, a missing multi-million gold bead highly desirable Experimental Golden like Zara was the final straw, the king was furious. He summoned the gods to resolve the issue once and for all. Malodon, Seton and Torus took the heat this time. He slammed her red folder on the table, showering them with spit, flying from his mouth as he scolded them loudly. Malodon found himself practicing hearing loss techniques, he didn't need to be scolded, he too felt the loss, he too was angry inside, he knew how the king felt.
         "That cow was an endangered bloodline!" Atalon went on and on. "There are VERY FEW Crystal Program examples! I want to know which Expiree wasn't doing their job down there!"
         "With all due respect" Torus wasn't going to let his department take the blame again, thanks to the doctor’s new Medification Program the TLS Program was a sinking ship already, this was just an excuse to flog a dead horse. "I think perhaps they are getting over conditioned, that’s why they’re so silent when Aquilla sneaks in and swallows them up. They’re in shock."
         "Rubbish!" Atalon snapped.
         "I read her report" Torus dared to challenge. "Add two extra head injuries, a heavy dose of BloodWine and then you go inject her with that crystal crap. My god, she was probably inedible, anyway!"
         Malodon could see a glimmer of light in disguise. "That would back my Crystallization Theory, depending which way you look at it."
         "What theory?"
         "The more crystallized they are, the more they malfunction."
         "You have no idea what you're talking about!" Seton snapped, sensing blame directed toward his program from two directions now. "How does their malfunctioning make them silent victims?"
         "Like Torus said."
         "SHUT UP!" Atalon bellowed. "Only TWO of her treatments were scheduled, the third she deserved because she malfunctioned!"
         The gods were all aware of the underground passage to Lemuria, everyone realized it was technically possible that Aquilla was sneaking into the prison and stealing the Expirees, but no one had seen him or could prove it was true.
         "If it isn’t shock, then we’ve got a mole" Torus offered, ignoring the king. "Someone they trust is letting them out and sending them into the tunnel. They can't get out on their own."
         "And you think that someone is…"
         "To feed Aquilla?" Seton was lost now.
         "Dell warned us of this" Torus reminded, picking at the scab.
         Atalon scoffed. "And look what happened to Dell!"
         Torus stiffened in his chair while the king rejected his pitch without even investigating the theory. It wasn’t the only theory they weren’t investigating. "What if there are devastating impurities left behind by the medifications?" He had a valid concern, unexpected results from Dr Seton's medications were common and medifications were a whole new can of worms. "Have you seen all the sick rabbits hopping around lately?"
         "I don’t test medifications on rabbits" Seton reminded. "You need to face the truth, the TLS Program has run its course, we have medifications now, this is nature’s way of telling us so."
         Simmering, the king circled the room, pondering the big changes and potential pitfalls to their solutions. If they were having so much trouble at a microcosmic level, how would the macrocosmic models fare? "Speaking of testing medifications, how is the Finias Solution coming along?"
         "It's almost there" Seton assured, confident the latest project was moving forward on schedule.

         Torus had mixed feelings as he left the meeting that day, he didn’t care so much that the TLS Program was over, after all, he was being sent to colonize Fomora. The New Empire was full of opportunity for everyone, bigger and better opportunities than the TLS Program, bigger and better than anyone could ever have imagined. Yet it was for these reasons he felt uneasy about his assignment in Fomora. Out in Fomora he would be developing a third world country, blind to the latest and greatest, he would be completely unavailable to cash in on these exciting opportunities in a very big way if he was building tribes instead of fleets.

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