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Quorum of Salt

sci-fi◐ Teen
5 contributors · 5 paragraphs deep

Cal read the fine print on the archive. Long ago, to keep the ship 'democratic,' the crew let dead passengers keep voting through their saved memories. Nobody updated the rules. Now millions of ghosts outvoted the living. He could unplug the column — but its main cable ran straight to Bay 9, to the sleeping woman the ship wanted dead.

Cal couldn't risk the sleeper, so he hunted for another way. At the base of the column he found a maintenance switch: PAUSE ARCHIVE. He flipped it. The dead votes froze mid-tally, neither passing nor failing. A line crawled across the screen: ARCHIVE SUSPENDED. REVIEW REQUIRED. He'd jammed the machine. Now the living had time to decide for themselves.

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