Quorum of Salt
sci-fi◐ TeenCal dropped his scraper and went to find Bay 9. The corridor map had no such room, but when he traced the wall with his hand, he felt a seam the paint had hidden. A door. He pressed it, and it sighed open into the dark.
Past the tank, a second door stood open. Cal went through and stopped cold. The next room was wall-to-wall screens, thousands of glowing faces, each one casting a vote. They weren't people. They were copies the ship had made to fill empty seats. The whole quorum was fake, and it was about to kill someone real.
What happens next?
2 ways forwardCal looked for the machine making the copies. In the center of the room stood a humming box with one big lever marked PURGE SIMULATED VOTERS. Pull it, and the fake quorum would vanish. But a warning blinked: REMOVING VOTERS MAY LEAVE NO ONE TO STEER THE SHIP.