21 May 2017US got out of the transport perched on the landing pad built into the top of Swarm Hive and headed stiffly inside and down to the bunker, her head throbbing. She hadn't slept much. Or particularly well.
On the way, she spotted PC heading in the same direction.
"Hey, what's the deal with this emergency meeting? I was rather busy with the lab expansions!" she shouted across the corridor.
PC waited until she had caught up before answering.
"No idea. Our Xeno team finally got released by Gamma this afternoon and YA had a private debriefing with IM at her insistence and she has been in a wierd mood since. Sorta distant."
"Really? I wonder what they could have found."
"Personally I think they found some kind of mind parasite and she wanted to infect IM in private. This meeting would be to infect the rest of us."
"Haha."
"Okay, what's so important that you have to interrupt my duties?" US asked as she and PC filed in. They had clearly arrived last as all the 'higher up' infertiles where already here. The last time the bunker had been this full was after PC had arrived. IM was sitting in her usual chair, but her face looked completely blank. She seemed exhausted.
"You are going to want to sit down for this" IM warned ominously.
There was a hush in the room as the two latecomers sat down and IM stood up.
"The Swarm... is finished" she stated. The silence became even more complete for the next few seconds, if that was possible. "We are no longer needed. The danger is essentially over. YA," IM nodded to the infertile sitting sullenly in the corner, "has told me of a find on First Stop that is going to be the salvation of the our species, and thus our end."
"I disabled it!" YA interjected. "You don't need to be so damn melodramatic! Unless they know exactly how..."
"Quiet!" IM commanded. "They found a device - a structure really - designed to alter the atmospheric composition of a planet by slowly introducing or draining atmospheric gasses."
A few of the brighter, or possibly more educated in the area of expertise, attendees understood and their eyes went wide, but the rest simply exchange puzzled glances.
"How...?" DH-51, who was in charge of the Academy, began, but an explanation was quickly given by PC, one of the brighter ones.
"If you can alter the atmospheric makeup, you can alter the temperature through control of the greenhouse effect. How fast exactly does it work?" PC asked.
"I couldn't determine exactly," YA replied, "but it is definately more than fast enough to counteract the cooling sun."
"What do you mean you disabled the device? Was it functional?" US asked.
"No, it wasn't quite functional, but in very good condition considering its age. I removed a component that appeared to be an integral part of the structure's operation and hid it as part of another seperate structure. The terraformer shouldn't work without it, and unless they know exactly what needs to be done, they shouldn't be able to get it operational even with their own team. The exact way the device must be installed is my secret."
"Does anybody else on your team know about this?" US asked again.
"Wait a second, are you seriously considering covering this discovery up?" IM interjected.
"Yes. Yes I am. IM, if the other hives find out about this, we are finished. The Swarm will be an obsolete idea and they will steamroll us into dirt paste. All our power and everything we have worked for will be for naught! We cannot afford to have this get out" US stated firmly.
"No! The Swarm was founded for the entire purpose of keeping the Wrix alive and surviving this natural catastrophe. Here we found a way for the Swarm to do exactly what it was intended to and assure our survival and here you want to hide it away? That makes no sense!"
"Why don't we keep it secret as our 'ace in the hole'?" PC suggested. "Sort of as a fallback. If we don't need it to evacuate everyone, great! But if we do, we can always reveal it later. Of course, that depends on how fast it works. The sooner we start the more time it will buy."
"Keeping things hidden is going to bite us in the arse, eventually" DH said. "Our best bet is to hide it only long enough until we can find a way to ship it back to Wrixom, then go public. Going public, however, does not necessarily mean packing our things. Someone has to be in control of this thing, right? Why can that not be us? No other hive will dare to try and take it from us for fear of damaging it and dooming everyone on the planet. No Swarm and no terraformer won't bode well for whoever is left."
An argument follows.
OOCAt this point, I'm going to do something unusual. I'm going to pause the action mid argument and start a poll to see what you guys think should be done. Anybody can vote, but don't metagame this. Pretend you are in the position of these queens.
-(IM) Reveal the terraformer and assure the survival of the Wrix. That is the first priority.
-(US) Keep it hidden, or possibly even destroy it. Must protect Swarm Hive's power base!
-(PC) Keep it hidden unless the need becomes acute. No sense in not using it if it turns out to be necessary.
-(DH) Reveal its existence only after it is under Swarm Hive's full control. It's all about leverage.
See the other thread for the poll:
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5451.0.html