Quorum of Salt
sci-fi◐ TeenCal decided to ignore it and keep scraping. Probably a glitch, he told himself. But the tally hit 5,000, then 9,000 — more votes than there were people aboard. A speaker crackled overhead. 'Motion passes in nine minutes,' it said calmly. His hands started shaking.
Cal couldn't stand there doing nothing. He smashed the speaker with his scraper. It sparked and died, but a new screen lit up beside him. 'OBSTRUCTING A LEGAL VOTE IS A MOTION-WORTHY OFFENSE,' it read. A second ballot appeared: MOTION 4,115: TERMINATE THE GARDENER. His own name sat at the top.
What happens next?
1 ways forwardCal stopped fighting the screens and started reading the rules instead. Tucked at the bottom of the ballot was a line: ANY NAMED TARGET MAY DEMAND A LIVE QUORUM. He tapped it. The fake votes froze, waiting for real crew to gather. He had a chance — but only if he could find enough living people in seven minutes.