Rystole, Bert, and Dr. Yu have established communication with the slug colony. Now it’s time to discuss options with the colony.
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Rystole tapped his foot as he sat in the front row of the auditorium for the second time in just as many town hall meetings. He rarely sat in the front row, often he showed up late and sat in the back.
But today Dr. Yu was going to address the colony, or at least those still conscious, about their findings of the slug.
Rystole hoped that this announcement went his way. Unlike the last.
Most of the people in the room seemed nervous as well. There was whispered talk instead of the usual dull thrum of chatter from people who hadn’t seen each other for weeks.
But the colony had been in close quarters lately. Additionally, the memory of slugs invading the last town hall meeting was fresh in everyone’s mind, causing people to be on edge to return.
Dr. Yu sat on stage in a row of mostly empty printed chairs. Chairs meant for those who were to speak tonight. But there wasn’t much to talk about. Routine bureaucracy, traditional announcements, and weather events felt pointless after the last slug attack.
Yu wore his white coat and wrinkled khaki slacks. The man was rubbing the back of his left hand with his right thumb rhythmically.
Rystole hoped that it wasn’t nerves. He hoped the man on stage could make a case for the slugs. At a minimum make a case for saving his patients.
Speaker Grisham kicked off the meeting with a long rambling of the same mundane announcements he always did. He brought up the effectiveness of the curfew and the delays of upcoming holiday events.
He eventually passed the podium off to Dr. Yu. Which was when Rystole was able to confirm that the incessant rubbing was, in fact, nerves.
“Thank you, Speaker,” Dr. Yu said into the microphone. His voice wavered as he spoke and he followed the gratitude with a few ums seemingly hesitant to get started.
“I’d like to reiterate my gratitude to everyone who has worked to reinforce our town’s defenses over the past week. Everyone has a key role to play in our engagement with the slugs.
“I’d like to specifically thank Mr. Morris for his tireless research,” the doctor gestured to Bert who was sitting in the front row next to Rystole. “I’m proud to announce that we are now able to establish communication with the slug creatures. We believe—”
The doctor tried to continue but the audience clamored with excitement. Despite the amplification of the microphone, Yu stood no chance with every person trying to talk over their neighbors.
A flurry of questions was slung at Dr. Yu.
“Where are we with negotiations?”
“Why are we negotiating at all?”
“Have they revealed any tactical weaknesses?”
“What’s their purpose of attacking us?”
The doctor answered the questions as best he could. It was clear to Rystole that the crowd was barking up the wrong tree. And each question Dr. Yu answered seemed to stem two more.
Speaker Grisham, who seemed as taken back as everyone else, eventually walked up to the podium and waved his hands to calm the crowd down.
Once their questions quit being answered they quit asking.
“Let us hear what Dr. Yu has to say,” Grisham said. “I’m sure he will answer your questions in the process.” The Speaker relinquished the microphone over to Yu again.
Rystole was amazed at how crowd control was almost entirely unlike herding buffcows. He gained a little bit better understanding of why Dr. Yu was nervous. And didn’t relish the job the doctor or speaker had.
“From our communications with them we have learned that they are peaceful and are willing to work with us—”
The crowd responded to this with a mix of loud incredulity, sarcastic remarks, and blatant denial.
The Speaker stood up to his chair and repeated his arm waiving but didn’t need to take the podium to calm them down again.
“The slug we’ve captured has promised to give us an antidote for the citizens that are in a coma in exchange for turning off the submatter radio tower,” Dr. Yu said.
The crowd murmured. Seeming to weigh the options among each other.
Rystole was uninterested in the murmuring. The speaker had stood up at Dr. Yu’s statement and begun exchanging words with the doctor.
The speaker’s voice was hushed, or at least quiet enough that the microphone didn’t pick it up. And Rystole’s front-row seat wasn’t close enough to overhear them.
But the results of his words were clear on Dr. Yu’s face. He looked like a boy who’d just been caught interrupting a shuttle’s lift-off because he thought he might have left his teddy bear onboard.
The doctor sat down in the row of empty seats as the speaker took the podium over.
“As you are all aware, this is not a viable solution,” Grisham announced over the murmuring of the crowd. “The submatter satellite is one of the most important pieces of equipment we have on this colony and without it we’d be cut off from the Central System.”
The townsfolk had quieted completely by this point.
“We don’t know the intentions or intelligence of this species and this could be a further ruse to attack while we’re cut off. We’re all aware of the hostility they’ve shown us over the past months and we have no reason to trust them now.”
“But we’ve talked with them,” Rystole blurted out at the speaker. “They’re intelligent. And they’ve already cured Mr. Montgomery,”
The speaker was only caught off guard for a second. “If they are intelligent then they knew what they were doing,” Grisham replied to Rystole without addressing him directly. “Their actions were immoral and malicious. And we have no reason to trust them or negotiate with them.”
“We don’t even use the—“ Rystole started, but the speaker raised his voice and the microphone’s amplification overran Rystole’s protests.
“Mr. Morris has also devised a way to eliminate the slugs in a way that we were not previously capable of. I’ve sent his design to the Central System’s engineering department and we expect a printable design to arrive within the month.
“I’ll remind everyone that a Central System minister is in transit to judge the situation and determine the long-term fate of these slugs. Until then we will continue with the curfew efforts that have been effective up to this point.”
Rystole spat a few protests at the speaker, and a few others in the crowd seemed to agree with him.
Despite this, the speaker turned off the microphone and exited the stage. Dr. Yu followed him like a hesitant dog on a leash.
Without Speaker Grisham, the meeting was over without much room for debate.
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