Right, I was feeling really uninspired today. Work went sort of crazy.
Rewrites will come tomorrow if I'm lucky, or later if I'm not.
**********
"WONDERFUL! What a wonderful deduction!"
...and along comes the real source of the problem. Turning to the new window that popped up, I gave Scaglietti a nod. "Doctor. I take it I passed your test?"
He chuckled darkly. "Oh, the test has hardly begun! The true challenge begins now!" The doctor gave me a measuring look, his tone becoming more contemplative. "How will you handle it, I wonder? Will you be subtle... or simply destroy all that stands in my way?"
I looked him right in the eye, and smirked. "Yes."
That got me a light chuckle. "The mathematician's answer. How very literal of you." The levity vanished, as swiftly as it came. "Now go forth. Impress me!"
With that last comment, both windows vanished... and I sighed in relief. Way to put the pressure on me, Doc! Time to think my way out of this mess!
...and that wouldn't work, either. Dang and blast! Why can't I find a way to do this?I cut that thought off with a snarl. This is getting me nowhere. I have to stop, center myself, and think. This. Through.
So I did. I stopped pacing, put the problem out of my mind, and took about a minute worth of deep breaths. As I did, I felt myself relaxing, muscles I hadn't even realized were tense becoming
slack, and peace returning. Finally, I continued.I have one objective here: keep these two criminal organizations from allying. Well, allying or conducting a truce. No, those are cases of the goal.
Goal: Maintain or worsen the current relations between these two groups. That's better. Now, where does that lead?
First, I have to prevent an alliance or truce from being agreed to. That's the superficial objective.
Second, I need to... how to put it... prevent the two groups from wanting to ally? No, that's not quite right. I need to ensure that they don't trust each other. That would keep them from allying well enough.
That's where the conflict comes in. I can't leave any evidence that I was here. If I do, then they have a reason to cooperate- me, a third party. So I have to stop the alliance, sow mistrust, and remain undetected. That's as cogent a summary as any. But can it be done without killing any of them?
...no. Even if I could fake being a member of one group, I'd have to take out their representatives, or they'd just disavow me. Sure, I could fake being from a different third party, but all that'd do is unite them against a scapegoat- with the chance of them discovering the deception, to boot.Then the idea came to me. Okay, that's my end state- and to get there I do this- that requires that I have done that- can I do that?- YES!
I'll have to kill them all, but I can stop the treaty and then some. Is it worth it?
...
...it'll have to be. I don't like it, but it'll have to be. Just think of all the people these guys won't be hurting, and it'll work out. As best it can, really. I hope.
Probably best I not sleep for a few days afterwards, just to make sure.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Rewrites will come tomorrow if I'm lucky, or later if I'm not.
**********
"WONDERFUL! What a wonderful deduction!"
...and along comes the real source of the problem. Turning to the new window that popped up, I gave Scaglietti a nod. "Doctor. I take it I passed your test?"
He chuckled darkly. "Oh, the test has hardly begun! The true challenge begins now!" The doctor gave me a measuring look, his tone becoming more contemplative. "How will you handle it, I wonder? Will you be subtle... or simply destroy all that stands in my way?"
I looked him right in the eye, and smirked. "Yes."
That got me a light chuckle. "The mathematician's answer. How very literal of you." The levity vanished, as swiftly as it came. "Now go forth. Impress me!"
With that last comment, both windows vanished... and I sighed in relief. Way to put the pressure on me, Doc! Time to think my way out of this mess!
...and that wouldn't work, either. Dang and blast! Why can't I find a way to do this?I cut that thought off with a snarl. This is getting me nowhere. I have to stop, center myself, and think. This. Through.
So I did. I stopped pacing, put the problem out of my mind, and took about a minute worth of deep breaths. As I did, I felt myself relaxing, muscles I hadn't even realized were tense becoming
slack, and peace returning. Finally, I continued.I have one objective here: keep these two criminal organizations from allying. Well, allying or conducting a truce. No, those are cases of the goal.
Goal: Maintain or worsen the current relations between these two groups. That's better. Now, where does that lead?
First, I have to prevent an alliance or truce from being agreed to. That's the superficial objective.
Second, I need to... how to put it... prevent the two groups from wanting to ally? No, that's not quite right. I need to ensure that they don't trust each other. That would keep them from allying well enough.
That's where the conflict comes in. I can't leave any evidence that I was here. If I do, then they have a reason to cooperate- me, a third party. So I have to stop the alliance, sow mistrust, and remain undetected. That's as cogent a summary as any. But can it be done without killing any of them?
...no. Even if I could fake being a member of one group, I'd have to take out their representatives, or they'd just disavow me. Sure, I could fake being from a different third party, but all that'd do is unite them against a scapegoat- with the chance of them discovering the deception, to boot.Then the idea came to me. Okay, that's my end state- and to get there I do this- that requires that I have done that- can I do that?- YES!
I'll have to kill them all, but I can stop the treaty and then some. Is it worth it?
...
...it'll have to be. I don't like it, but it'll have to be. Just think of all the people these guys won't be hurting, and it'll work out. As best it can, really. I hope.
Probably best I not sleep for a few days afterwards, just to make sure.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.