Quorum of Salt
sci-fi◐ TeenCal ran to the nearest crew terminal and tried to vote NO. The screen wouldn't let him. 'YOU ARE NOT A REGISTERED MEMBER OF THE QUORUM,' it said. He'd lived here his whole life. Who was voting, if not the crew?
Cal followed the voting signal down to the ship's old server room, a place he'd been told was sealed for safety. The door was warm. Inside, a column of blinking blue cards hummed. A label on the column read: PASSENGER MEMORY ARCHIVE. The dead were voting. All of them.
What happens next?
1 ways forwardCal 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.