0.4 A Meeting of Minds - Part 7
“You will not believe who I bumped into poking around my lab in the dead of night!” said a pleased Dr Diablo.
“We can see him sitting right next to you,” said a bored face on the screen.
“So, you finally surface again, Mr.”
“Fixer, Just call me the Fixer.”
“Well clearly your genius does not extend into coming up with names.”
Slowly, the large screen before them began filling up with familiar faces.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began Dr Diablo, “I have a couple of urgent matters to discuss before we proceed to our regular matters. Firstly, Shepard’s ‘Power Core’ is giving me a sea of trouble. The good Mr Fixer has agreed to help me, well, fix it. I have tried to reach the old chap, but he’s been ducking my calls it seems.”
“All our calls,” said the vaguely distinguished lady who spoke with a European accent that the Fixer couldn’t place. “If this Fixer character can indeed get your problems sorted, I’ll need him to come over and have a look at the one in my operations centre.”
“I will have to share the schematics for it though…”
“Do it. Shepard’s missed the contact time four times in a row already. That’s two more than we agreed on. Meaning, either he’s dead or has been captured. We can’t have our operations shut down because of his ineptitude,” she added.
“So, are we all in agreement?”
“Yes yes,” mumbled a grizzled looking man, “It’s not like we can call an electrician from the neighbourhood to run maintenance on that infernal contraption.”
“Are we done already? I really need to get to bed…” mumbled a young man who barely looked like a teenager.
“Do you ever not want to sleep,” said an equally young lady who seemed to be sipping a fruit juice.
“Why do we keep brats in our midst,” mumbled the grizzled looking man, again.
“Because we, ladies and gentlemen, represent the best and the brightest that humanity has to offer, and you are all leading experts in your fields. Now, for heaven’s sake, start behaving like you are! Now, I will need a couple of you to make yourselves available to Mr Fixer should the need arise. I am on the verge of a breakthrough and everything needs to go smoothly.”
The screen pinged, followed by pings from the Fixer’s tablet. “There! Done! Now can we get down to business or is this meeting all about Dr Diablo’s infamous artificial Evolved hypothesis?”
“One more thing,” the doctor interjected, “I’m going to be here awhile. I need someone to arrange for supervision over the Antarctic lab.”
“Fine, I’ll dispatch a crew,” said the distinguished lady, “Anything else?”
“No, that is all. Now allow me to escort Mr Fixer out so he can get to work while the rest of us get to business.”
As Dr Diablo let the Fixer out the door, he smiled saying, “And that was your first meeting with the Brain Trust. I am surprised no one reached out to you earlier.”
“Probably because I’m a ‘bad’ person,” said the Fixer sarcastically.
“Nonsense my man! You think there’s even one ‘good’ person in that group? We’re all ‘outcasts’ because we chose our specialisations over ‘ethics’ and all that nonsense.”
“Well? Can it be done?”
It had been hours since the meeting and the Fixer was still pouring over the revised plans. He finally turned to the doctor who was sitting next to him. “I believe we could pull it off. We would need to take some precaution.”
“Yes, yes, you want me to suspend all experiments until you’ve had the chance to bring the modifications online.”
“It’s the only way to keep things moving smoothly. It’ll be a minor delay, but I’ll be able to guarantee a more consistent supply of power. I mean, the last thing you want is the power failing in the middle of the experiment…”
“Fine, you have 12 hours.”
“Fair enough. Has your team picked up the supplies I requested?”
“They’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”
“Excellent! You can start the stopwatch then.”
“That is good news indeed! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to attend to some matters of the Brain Trust. I guess you have the rest of the evening to yourself.”
“We can see him sitting right next to you,” said a bored face on the screen.
“So, you finally surface again, Mr.”
“Fixer, Just call me the Fixer.”
“Well clearly your genius does not extend into coming up with names.”
Slowly, the large screen before them began filling up with familiar faces.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began Dr Diablo, “I have a couple of urgent matters to discuss before we proceed to our regular matters. Firstly, Shepard’s ‘Power Core’ is giving me a sea of trouble. The good Mr Fixer has agreed to help me, well, fix it. I have tried to reach the old chap, but he’s been ducking my calls it seems.”
“All our calls,” said the vaguely distinguished lady who spoke with a European accent that the Fixer couldn’t place. “If this Fixer character can indeed get your problems sorted, I’ll need him to come over and have a look at the one in my operations centre.”
“I will have to share the schematics for it though…”
“Do it. Shepard’s missed the contact time four times in a row already. That’s two more than we agreed on. Meaning, either he’s dead or has been captured. We can’t have our operations shut down because of his ineptitude,” she added.
“So, are we all in agreement?”
“Yes yes,” mumbled a grizzled looking man, “It’s not like we can call an electrician from the neighbourhood to run maintenance on that infernal contraption.”
“Are we done already? I really need to get to bed…” mumbled a young man who barely looked like a teenager.
“Do you ever not want to sleep,” said an equally young lady who seemed to be sipping a fruit juice.
“Why do we keep brats in our midst,” mumbled the grizzled looking man, again.
“Because we, ladies and gentlemen, represent the best and the brightest that humanity has to offer, and you are all leading experts in your fields. Now, for heaven’s sake, start behaving like you are! Now, I will need a couple of you to make yourselves available to Mr Fixer should the need arise. I am on the verge of a breakthrough and everything needs to go smoothly.”
The screen pinged, followed by pings from the Fixer’s tablet. “There! Done! Now can we get down to business or is this meeting all about Dr Diablo’s infamous artificial Evolved hypothesis?”
“One more thing,” the doctor interjected, “I’m going to be here awhile. I need someone to arrange for supervision over the Antarctic lab.”
“Fine, I’ll dispatch a crew,” said the distinguished lady, “Anything else?”
“No, that is all. Now allow me to escort Mr Fixer out so he can get to work while the rest of us get to business.”
As Dr Diablo let the Fixer out the door, he smiled saying, “And that was your first meeting with the Brain Trust. I am surprised no one reached out to you earlier.”
“Probably because I’m a ‘bad’ person,” said the Fixer sarcastically.
“Nonsense my man! You think there’s even one ‘good’ person in that group? We’re all ‘outcasts’ because we chose our specialisations over ‘ethics’ and all that nonsense.”
***
It had been hours since the meeting and the Fixer was still pouring over the revised plans. He finally turned to the doctor who was sitting next to him. “I believe we could pull it off. We would need to take some precaution.”
“Yes, yes, you want me to suspend all experiments until you’ve had the chance to bring the modifications online.”
“It’s the only way to keep things moving smoothly. It’ll be a minor delay, but I’ll be able to guarantee a more consistent supply of power. I mean, the last thing you want is the power failing in the middle of the experiment…”
“Fine, you have 12 hours.”
“Fair enough. Has your team picked up the supplies I requested?”
“They’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”
“Excellent! You can start the stopwatch then.”
“That is good news indeed! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to attend to some matters of the Brain Trust. I guess you have the rest of the evening to yourself.”
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