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Quorum of Salt

sci-fi◐ Teen
6 contributors · 2 paragraphs deep

I've been scraping salt off the lettuce beds on Shift 749. Same task for nineteen years. My hands are white with it. Today I'm half asleep when the wall-screen flickers behind me. MOTION 4,114: TERMINATE THE SLEEPER IN BAY 9. A vote counter appears. 200. 201. 202. It climbs fast. I freeze. The ship doesn't have a Bay 9.

I turn around. The hydroponics deck is empty. Nobody at any terminal. Whoever voted just did it from somewhere else. I hit the comm. 'Hello? Anyone there?' / Silence. Static. Then a voice answers.

↔ version 2 of 3 of this paragraph — hover its sides to flip. The card below is what happens next.

What happens next?

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It's Marcus from admin. 'What's wrong, Cal?' / 'The motion on screen. Terminate the sleeper. Did you send it?' / Long pause. 'Cal, I don't see anything on my end.' / Not lying. Genuinely confused.

ZQ
Zadie Quinn
8 votes · future 1 of 3