Morning all. Hope you are having a good morning. I had very strange dreams where a school mascot in full Platypus costume decided to practice his tumbling on my front yard for some reason. No clue who has a Platypus as a mascot or why my yard would be the ideal practice area but there you have it. So let’s let that sit in the back of the brain while we get on with the morning prompt. Timers set and off we go.
No clue what problem he is working on and I think I would definitely have to figure that out, but I like the risky plan with the political agency pushing off blame. I think it could make for an interesting mix. I just need to figure out the details.
Tuesday, November 5th: He waited nervously for their reaction.
He waited nervously for their reaction. He knew his solution to the problem was a little out there, but still, it was the only one he could come up with that had even the chance of working. All of the less radical options were doomed to failure. He didn’t need to run the probability to know that would be the case. And still this option had about a sixty percent chance of success. In his more optimistic moments he was willing to push it to 68% in his more pessimistic ones he dropped it to about 40%.
‘Best not to push the least optimistic version,’ he thought as he watched their faces.
They had been given all the paperwork three days prior. They would have had time to process the information. To read it through, to register his requirements of his proposal as well a the details. However watching them shuffle the papers, he couldn’t escape the feeling that they hadn’t bothered looking at the pages before them. It was as though they were confronted with information they had never seen before. There were murmurs and shuffling in seats.
He tried not to frown. Tried not to let his annoyance show. He knew they wanted the situation dealt with. Eradicated at best, contained at the very least. He also knew they didn’t want to think about it. They wanted to believe that it wouldn’t affect them if they ignored it. They also knew that they couldn’t simply ignore it. It was a difficult position for them. They maintained their positions in part because they did very little. They kept things rolling along the predicted course. Keeping the world on its well-established track was their strong suit. Thinking outside of that track was not.
While they knew they had to act, the habit of doing what had always been done was hard for them to break. Many of them, he knew, worried that if they did something other than what they had always done they might lose favor and find themselves being replaced.
He took a slow deep breath and held it for the count of five before slowly expelling the air. He tried not to look like he was taking calming breaths. If they saw he was trying to temper his annoyance it would be as bad as if he hadn’t bothered.
Slowly the muttering’s stopped. The chair head looked at him. He let his glasses slide partway down his long patrician nose so he could peer over them.
“We are willing to let you try your solution,” he said slowly. “We are willing to try various options and this is your chance to test out your theory. You may pass your list of supplies on to our bursar and they will be secured. When you have tested your theory we are willing to grant you a second audience to assess the situation.” The chairman lifted an eyebrow.
He swallowed back a sigh and nodded. In essence the council was giving him the necessary supplies but taking no official stance on the project. If it was successful and brought no public recriminations then they would acknowledge it, if not, he would be on his own.
Ten til Midnight 