With mounting panic, he started through the checklist of the Sentient Life Research Protocol for planet Sol972P3 for the third time.
The vast array of dials and flickering lights on the control panel didn't change. All the settings were way out. The planet was in deep trouble. And so was he.Walking along the well-worn corridors of the Academy to see his supervisor, Edo tried to think back to his last review. He couldn't even remember the last time he checked P3. Had he made a mistake with the adjustments back then? Did his hand slip on the dials? Did someone else touch the settings?
Edo scrolled back through the research review screens, looking for the reason for the mess. The pages of data outputs showed P3 gradually had become more and more unstable under the extreme settings. Dangerous settings. Settings that had probably voided the whole research program, more than likely contravening all sorts of research ethics.
But it didn't matter really why. It only mattered that it had happened. It was Edo's responsibility to keep on top of the adjustments. Zolic, the program coordinator, would be furious.
The implications were clear - obvious to any student of Sentient Life Adjustment 101. The settings on P3 had created conditions that were sending the dominant sentient life form to self-destruction.
"Tell me the readings again, Edo." They were standing in the office of Senior Research Fellow Zolic. His numerous professional accolades hung on the walls behind them. Zolic's face was impossible to read, but his voice barely contained his anger.
Edo stumbled through the interim report. "Report on Sol972P3 Adjustment Research Plan Review. Um, the Instrumentation settings are at 98…er… Connection settings at 10 and, umm, the Autonomy settings at emm, 88."
"And the ecology on P3?"
"Um, I left the full status query running. I thought I should… let you know… as soon as I found out myself. The indicators are… er… not good."
Edo read out the headline ecology indicators. "The dominant sentient life form population has overwhelmed the standard growth rate controls and it now inhabits most of the planet; it has converted a carbon-based resource for fuel instead of the usual solar fuels which has altered the balance of elements responsible for the heat and water cycles; it has destroyed the nutrient soil layer for food production on over half the planet and is continuing to do so; it has imprisoned numerous other sentient life forms for food…"
Zolic's fury broke loose, "Edo, I don't think that 'not good' is the way to describe that… disaster." Sentient life forms imprisoning others was not something he wanted to think too much about. "The entire research program will have to be abandoned. So much wasted work… the ethics clearance alone…"
Zolic took a controlled slow breath in, and then out, trying to think clearly. "When was the last review? And how does it relate to P3's local cycles?"
Edo saw it and froze. Here was the cause. "Um, it was, er, four standard research cycles ago. Which is roughly eight thousand P3 rotations around its sol."
"What? You're telling me you made those settings four cycles ago and haven't checked them? Haven't adjusted them? You do realise those settings should be made for no more than one quarter of a cycle. At. The. Absolute. Most. We have strong evidence that such settings can lead to the self-destruction of a life form, if not the entire planetary life support system. Edo, this is very basic stuff from Introductory Adjustment Research… "
Zolic's voice was getting louder and higher. Then he stopped. "Edo, did you set a quarter-cycle adjustment review?"
Edo had his head down, scanning across page the report tablet to try to make sense of what he had done. "I would have intended to, sir. I do understand the implications; I don't understand why the settings are so out. I can't see the scheduling anywh... Oh. Oh no..."
"What is it Edo, spit it out."
Edo could barely speak. He saw the problem. He had made a very basic mistake, something not even a research assistant might do. Not even a trainee. His concern for the life forms on P3 was suddenly swamped by his concern for his own future as senior research officer. It was a catastrophe. And he had directly caused it.
"Um, er, I must have accidentally, um, somehow, put the review date at, er, four cycles instead of, um, a quarter cycle."
They both stood in silence, Edo overcome by shame, Zolic working to control his rising panic.
"I've never seen this before," Zolic said after some time, his breathing restored to calm, his voice resigned. This was no time for emotion; that would come later. "I don't know if any adjustments now can actually work. The whole planetary system is so completely out of balance. It's not just them facing self-destruction; this clearly violates the Sentient Life Adjustment Convention. There will be major consequences for us."
Zolic sighed with resignation. "I will have to consult with Professor Adrina."
"I understand."
"Meantime, get me that detailed status report on P3. I want a full ecological workup over the last four cycles. I'll include that in the report to the Professor as well."
"Yes sir."
"And Edo," glared Zoli, "I want it yesterday."
The door to the office of the Head of Sentient Life Form Research Programs had been firmly closed. Edo, Zolic and Adrina sat at her table, speaking in low voices.
"Ye-yes, Professor Adrina," stuttered Edo. "Although I didn't 'forget'; I made an error when I punched in the... "
"Enough. The reason is immaterial now. I recall that research proposal; the Convention Administrators were reluctant to approve it, picky about the ethics. It was touch and go - they disagreed on whether the dominant life form was suitable for research, something about their original parameters. I remember arguing strongly about the opportunity for new learning: it had been ages since we had found a suitable planet. They won't be impressed at all... How serious is it in terms of P3's ecology?"
Zolic spoke up now, "The headline indicators of terraform, energy use, resource use and life form balance all read well below stable levels, Professor. The chemical balance rating is 3, the sustainability rating is 1, and the average life form health rating is 3 and trending down, with average sentient life wellbeing is just a fraction above 1. The overall ecological rating, um..." Zolic looked up at Adrina as he delivered the final bit of bad news, "fails to compute. I suspect the research is hopelessly compromised."
Adrina's brows knotted further; she rose and started pacing the floor. "Anything at all helpful in the readings?"
"Well, this is something intriguing. The changes seem to have accelerated about two cycles ago, so about, er," Zolic consulted another chart, "... 4000 rotations of Sol972, when one group of the dominant sentient life form started expanding its resource management system based on deliberately creating and storing surplus food resources. It also imposed its social structure on other sentient beings - so we observed a tiny minority who controlled these surplus resources, another small group with enough resources and a majority with barely sufficient for metabolism and system equilibrium. Such an unsatisfactory system, but somehow, it seems to have stabilised. It appears the proliferation of that life form is partially due to the way they controlled this surplus.
Edo scrolled back through the research review screens, looking for the reason for the mess. The pages of data outputs showed P3 gradually had become more and more unstable under the extreme settings. Dangerous settings. Settings that had probably voided the whole research program, more than likely contravening all sorts of research ethics.
But it didn't matter really why. It only mattered that it had happened. It was Edo's responsibility to keep on top of the adjustments. Zolic, the program coordinator, would be furious.
The implications were clear - obvious to any student of Sentient Life Adjustment 101. The settings on P3 had created conditions that were sending the dominant sentient life form to self-destruction.
Edo stumbled through the interim report. "Report on Sol972P3 Adjustment Research Plan Review. Um, the Instrumentation settings are at 98…er… Connection settings at 10 and, umm, the Autonomy settings at emm, 88."
"And the ecology on P3?"
"Um, I left the full status query running. I thought I should… let you know… as soon as I found out myself. The indicators are… er… not good."
Edo read out the headline ecology indicators. "The dominant sentient life form population has overwhelmed the standard growth rate controls and it now inhabits most of the planet; it has converted a carbon-based resource for fuel instead of the usual solar fuels which has altered the balance of elements responsible for the heat and water cycles; it has destroyed the nutrient soil layer for food production on over half the planet and is continuing to do so; it has imprisoned numerous other sentient life forms for food…"
Zolic's fury broke loose, "Edo, I don't think that 'not good' is the way to describe that… disaster." Sentient life forms imprisoning others was not something he wanted to think too much about. "The entire research program will have to be abandoned. So much wasted work… the ethics clearance alone…"
Zolic took a controlled slow breath in, and then out, trying to think clearly. "When was the last review? And how does it relate to P3's local cycles?"
Edo saw it and froze. Here was the cause. "Um, it was, er, four standard research cycles ago. Which is roughly eight thousand P3 rotations around its sol."
"What? You're telling me you made those settings four cycles ago and haven't checked them? Haven't adjusted them? You do realise those settings should be made for no more than one quarter of a cycle. At. The. Absolute. Most. We have strong evidence that such settings can lead to the self-destruction of a life form, if not the entire planetary life support system. Edo, this is very basic stuff from Introductory Adjustment Research… "
Zolic's voice was getting louder and higher. Then he stopped. "Edo, did you set a quarter-cycle adjustment review?"
Edo had his head down, scanning across page the report tablet to try to make sense of what he had done. "I would have intended to, sir. I do understand the implications; I don't understand why the settings are so out. I can't see the scheduling anywh... Oh. Oh no..."
"What is it Edo, spit it out."
Edo could barely speak. He saw the problem. He had made a very basic mistake, something not even a research assistant might do. Not even a trainee. His concern for the life forms on P3 was suddenly swamped by his concern for his own future as senior research officer. It was a catastrophe. And he had directly caused it.
"Um, er, I must have accidentally, um, somehow, put the review date at, er, four cycles instead of, um, a quarter cycle."
They both stood in silence, Edo overcome by shame, Zolic working to control his rising panic.
"I've never seen this before," Zolic said after some time, his breathing restored to calm, his voice resigned. This was no time for emotion; that would come later. "I don't know if any adjustments now can actually work. The whole planetary system is so completely out of balance. It's not just them facing self-destruction; this clearly violates the Sentient Life Adjustment Convention. There will be major consequences for us."
Zolic sighed with resignation. "I will have to consult with Professor Adrina."
"I understand."
"Meantime, get me that detailed status report on P3. I want a full ecological workup over the last four cycles. I'll include that in the report to the Professor as well."
"Yes sir."
"And Edo," glared Zoli, "I want it yesterday."
"Let me get this straight," Professor Adrina said, her furrowed brows communicating disbelief at the news. "Edo made what should be very temporary adjustment to the settings for the dominant sentient life form on Sol972P3... and then 'forgot' about readjusting the settings?"
The door to the office of the Head of Sentient Life Form Research Programs had been firmly closed. Edo, Zolic and Adrina sat at her table, speaking in low voices.
"Ye-yes, Professor Adrina," stuttered Edo. "Although I didn't 'forget'; I made an error when I punched in the... "
"Enough. The reason is immaterial now. I recall that research proposal; the Convention Administrators were reluctant to approve it, picky about the ethics. It was touch and go - they disagreed on whether the dominant life form was suitable for research, something about their original parameters. I remember arguing strongly about the opportunity for new learning: it had been ages since we had found a suitable planet. They won't be impressed at all... How serious is it in terms of P3's ecology?"
Zolic spoke up now, "The headline indicators of terraform, energy use, resource use and life form balance all read well below stable levels, Professor. The chemical balance rating is 3, the sustainability rating is 1, and the average life form health rating is 3 and trending down, with average sentient life wellbeing is just a fraction above 1. The overall ecological rating, um..." Zolic looked up at Adrina as he delivered the final bit of bad news, "fails to compute. I suspect the research is hopelessly compromised."
Adrina's brows knotted further; she rose and started pacing the floor. "Anything at all helpful in the readings?"
"Well, this is something intriguing. The changes seem to have accelerated about two cycles ago, so about, er," Zolic consulted another chart, "... 4000 rotations of Sol972, when one group of the dominant sentient life form started expanding its resource management system based on deliberately creating and storing surplus food resources. It also imposed its social structure on other sentient beings - so we observed a tiny minority who controlled these surplus resources, another small group with enough resources and a majority with barely sufficient for metabolism and system equilibrium. Such an unsatisfactory system, but somehow, it seems to have stabilised. It appears the proliferation of that life form is partially due to the way they controlled this surplus.
"But the real escalation has only been the last 500 rotations, about a quarter of the standard research cycle. When the necessary first and second adjustments were, um, missed, a feedback loop seems to have actually increased the Instrumentation setting without researcher recalibrations, and somehow caused a further decrease in the Connection setting to well below functional levels. So, this means their fundamental life form Connectivity needs are not being met, which explains the negative wellbeing ratings. But, interestingly, the life form seems to have made a temporary adaptation by creating and consuming more and more of their surplus. Very strange adaptation.
"So then, this seems to have also nudged up the Autonomy settings without any actual adjustments being made, another feedback loop. These increasing Autonomy settings have resulted in the behaviour of the sentient life form to change the chemical balance of the planetary life support systems. It is clearly related to our research settings. I have to admit I've never seen a sentient life form get this impaired; it could even be a case of viral mutation. And I'm very concerned; it does hark back to the days of Professor Jenti's research program on the Voraci life form."
Adrina shuddered at this comment. The prospect of having oversight for a mistake that generated anything like the rapacious Voraci was deeply disturbing. She had to do something immediately.
She wished she could just visit P3 and tell the dominant life form the reason for the problem and reassure them she would fix it, but direct interference was strictly forbidden by the Convention. It completely invalidated the findings if the subjects knew they were in an experiment. She remembered the controversy when the life form on Sol383P2 became aware of the research program and started sending messages in coded images drawn on the planet's surface. That whole unit was shut down.
Adrina shuddered at this comment. The prospect of having oversight for a mistake that generated anything like the rapacious Voraci was deeply disturbing. She had to do something immediately.
She wished she could just visit P3 and tell the dominant life form the reason for the problem and reassure them she would fix it, but direct interference was strictly forbidden by the Convention. It completely invalidated the findings if the subjects knew they were in an experiment. She remembered the controversy when the life form on Sol383P2 became aware of the research program and started sending messages in coded images drawn on the planet's surface. That whole unit was shut down.
No, the Convention Administrators would not be happy at all if they found out she had made the life form aware of the whole research program; that would definitely end her career. That is, assuming she still had a career after this. Edo had only made a mistake after all, nothing like Jenti's unethical research.
But could they fix it - could they try re-calibration work to fix these unanticipated feedback loops? Maybe they should just speed up the self-destruction to avoid the dominant life form evolving into anything like the destructive Voraci. Either option meant they were in deep trouble.
Eventually she spoke. "We have no choice but to advise the Convention Administration. We will be severely reprimanded. This will be viewed as research misconduct even if it might have been a oversight. Edo, you need to think about your options. I can't see you continuing here." She sighed. "Oh, and we will face scrutiny across the entire research program, which is always so tiresome."
Senior Research Officer Edo stared at the floor. Options?! After this? After his mistake invalidated a long-running research program that dozens had worked on. Some of the Academy's most cited publications had come out of this program. Who would employ him after all this?
"But first," Adrina continued, "I want to speak to Professor Burnett. I wonder if we could try some radical resetting."
"Well it can be done, Adrina," said Professor Burnett. "I remember something like this way back, on Sol336P8 I think, when my team underestimated the sub-dominant sentient life form in terms of Autonomy settings. We did a major reset which eventually allowed the overall ecology rating to stabilise at 5. I think it took another several full cycles to get back to the desirable range between 9 to 10. But it was messy."
Adrina asked softly, "How messy?" They were walking along the breezeway between Academy buildings, keeping an eye out for anyone who might overhear them.
"Well, messy enough you couldn't hide it, if that's what you're thinking. And P3's readings are considerably worse. Beats me how this could have gone on so long without someone noticing. But that's the way it is with adjustments - a small tweak can lead to major changes. Especially if we don't anticipate…
"Yes, yes, yes, I know. In this case, it was a completely out of whack setting, nothing you could call a small tweak. And the feedback loops, intriguing but dangerous."
Burnett asked, "Why did Officer Edo do it in the first place? Making such large adjustments in settings is asking for trouble."
Professor Adrina replied, "Oh, he said something about one of the ancestral lifeforms called 'Bonobos' being set way too high in Connection right from the start and that never being fully corrected for. He claims the dominant sentient life form had stalled in the development of tools with nothing much happening for multiple cycles. He is a good researcher, but he is impatient. Some research officers are like that; they want the impressive findings with all the technology and inventions that come with the Instrumentation settings up high, and get bored with the Connection settings because there is often not much to report. They want to have something to talk about at the research conferences. That wouldn't have been as much of a problem if he'd lowered the Autonomy settings at the same time. I have no idea why they were anything higher than 50. And then of course, not going back sooner to adjust the settings for so long."
Burnett said, "Mmm, I have some sympathy for him. It takes me back to my days as a junior research officer. It can be very frustrating watching the dreariness of sentient life forms when they are in the phase of high Connection before we adjust the settings up - they are so undeveloped in managing fuel resources and their subsistence life is tedious. Static reading after static reading. They don't change for cycles; it gets very boring for the research officer. I remember wanting to ramp up Autonomy and Instrumentation too, so the planets in my program could graduate through to tool use and then powered technology a bit sooner - a much more interesting phase to observe. I might even have tweaked a bit. But I've never seen this."
"Me either," mused Adrina, "particularly this phenomenon of feedback loops and compounding settings. Edo swears the settings have changed without him touching them, and that Autonomy moved on its own to the current very dangerous range. Voraci level dangerous. If we weren't all in deep trouble with the Convention Administration, it would be interesting to research this compounding phenomenon. A sentient life form deliberately producing too many resources and altering its life-support system is perplexing, but the possibility it was making compensatory adaptations to extreme settings is intriguing. I could imagine, the conditions would… "
Burnett interrupted, "Always the researcher, Adrina! However, I think the focus needs to be on getting out of this mess if you can. But I really don't know what will work."
But could they fix it - could they try re-calibration work to fix these unanticipated feedback loops? Maybe they should just speed up the self-destruction to avoid the dominant life form evolving into anything like the destructive Voraci. Either option meant they were in deep trouble.
Eventually she spoke. "We have no choice but to advise the Convention Administration. We will be severely reprimanded. This will be viewed as research misconduct even if it might have been a oversight. Edo, you need to think about your options. I can't see you continuing here." She sighed. "Oh, and we will face scrutiny across the entire research program, which is always so tiresome."
Senior Research Officer Edo stared at the floor. Options?! After this? After his mistake invalidated a long-running research program that dozens had worked on. Some of the Academy's most cited publications had come out of this program. Who would employ him after all this?
"But first," Adrina continued, "I want to speak to Professor Burnett. I wonder if we could try some radical resetting."
"Well it can be done, Adrina," said Professor Burnett. "I remember something like this way back, on Sol336P8 I think, when my team underestimated the sub-dominant sentient life form in terms of Autonomy settings. We did a major reset which eventually allowed the overall ecology rating to stabilise at 5. I think it took another several full cycles to get back to the desirable range between 9 to 10. But it was messy."
Adrina asked softly, "How messy?" They were walking along the breezeway between Academy buildings, keeping an eye out for anyone who might overhear them.
"Well, messy enough you couldn't hide it, if that's what you're thinking. And P3's readings are considerably worse. Beats me how this could have gone on so long without someone noticing. But that's the way it is with adjustments - a small tweak can lead to major changes. Especially if we don't anticipate…
"Yes, yes, yes, I know. In this case, it was a completely out of whack setting, nothing you could call a small tweak. And the feedback loops, intriguing but dangerous."
Burnett asked, "Why did Officer Edo do it in the first place? Making such large adjustments in settings is asking for trouble."
Professor Adrina replied, "Oh, he said something about one of the ancestral lifeforms called 'Bonobos' being set way too high in Connection right from the start and that never being fully corrected for. He claims the dominant sentient life form had stalled in the development of tools with nothing much happening for multiple cycles. He is a good researcher, but he is impatient. Some research officers are like that; they want the impressive findings with all the technology and inventions that come with the Instrumentation settings up high, and get bored with the Connection settings because there is often not much to report. They want to have something to talk about at the research conferences. That wouldn't have been as much of a problem if he'd lowered the Autonomy settings at the same time. I have no idea why they were anything higher than 50. And then of course, not going back sooner to adjust the settings for so long."
Burnett said, "Mmm, I have some sympathy for him. It takes me back to my days as a junior research officer. It can be very frustrating watching the dreariness of sentient life forms when they are in the phase of high Connection before we adjust the settings up - they are so undeveloped in managing fuel resources and their subsistence life is tedious. Static reading after static reading. They don't change for cycles; it gets very boring for the research officer. I remember wanting to ramp up Autonomy and Instrumentation too, so the planets in my program could graduate through to tool use and then powered technology a bit sooner - a much more interesting phase to observe. I might even have tweaked a bit. But I've never seen this."
"Me either," mused Adrina, "particularly this phenomenon of feedback loops and compounding settings. Edo swears the settings have changed without him touching them, and that Autonomy moved on its own to the current very dangerous range. Voraci level dangerous. If we weren't all in deep trouble with the Convention Administration, it would be interesting to research this compounding phenomenon. A sentient life form deliberately producing too many resources and altering its life-support system is perplexing, but the possibility it was making compensatory adaptations to extreme settings is intriguing. I could imagine, the conditions would… "
Burnett interrupted, "Always the researcher, Adrina! However, I think the focus needs to be on getting out of this mess if you can. But I really don't know what will work."
As he spoke, his hands plucked at invisible answers in the air, then he shrugged, "My only suggestion is that you consider going back to first principles."
Edo dragged his attention back to his supervisors Zolic and Adrina talking in front of him. They thought there was a tiny chance to fix things, but it was indeed tiny.
But it couldn't really get any worse. He had projected that Sol972P3 had fewer than 200 rotations before the dominant sentient life form either altered the ecology to a completely unstable state and self-destructed, or, even worse, abandoned the planet in its unbalanced state and started to wreak havoc on planetary life forms elsewhere. Like the infamous Voraci. None of the previous research provided a lead. Two hundred rotations was a blink of the standard research cycle, a blip on his reporting tablet.
Professor Adrina was talking to him. She spoke with an even voice, but her face belied her tension. "Okay, Edo, I will wait another 100 rotations of P3 before I make my report. The reprimand and punishment by the Convention Administrators can't be any worse if this fails. I want you in the lab all the time. Notify us immediately if you have any news."
Edo gulped and nodded, grateful for this one chance to fix things up. He watched them leave.
'First principles' they had said: equal ratings for Instrumentation, Connection and Autonomy. No research used that setting; every project looked at how life forms responded to various adjustments to the settings. First principles were just that: a starting point. He'd never heard of it; he'd never even considered what that might produce in an experiment. As he worked to recalibrate the settings, he thought about what Adrina has said as she castigated him about his settings four cycles ago… way too much Instrumentation leading to out of control technology use, an excess of Autonomy setting up extreme individualism, just like in the Voraci research project. You knew when your supervisor invoked that name things were very bad. The future of the research unit itself was in question.
The protocols for research into life form balance had been codified in the Sentient Life Adjustment Convention to ensure no project ever produced anything like the viral Voraci again. Every student read the case study about how that life form broke out of the research program and ran amok until stopped by the combined force the Academy. It caused a halt to all research for a considerable time. It was well before Edo's time, but the protocols now provided the basis for his work. Work that had given him much satisfaction. Well, not for much longer…
He finished well after everyone else had left. Despite the impending disaster for P3 and his own impending disaster of punishment and ostracism, he felt proud of his work. He was precise and careful, and he knew he was skilful; he was a highly regarded senior research officer. Well, he had been.
He watched the first set of readings come in. Much like Professor Burnett had anticipated, it was messy. There was chaos and confusion. But also some very quick reorganisation. Much of the planetary destruction stopped immediately. And within minutes, the overall ecological rating went up from 0 to 2. The first positive metric.
It might just work.
For the first time since this all began, Edo let himself feel hopeful.
But it couldn't really get any worse. He had projected that Sol972P3 had fewer than 200 rotations before the dominant sentient life form either altered the ecology to a completely unstable state and self-destructed, or, even worse, abandoned the planet in its unbalanced state and started to wreak havoc on planetary life forms elsewhere. Like the infamous Voraci. None of the previous research provided a lead. Two hundred rotations was a blink of the standard research cycle, a blip on his reporting tablet.
Professor Adrina was talking to him. She spoke with an even voice, but her face belied her tension. "Okay, Edo, I will wait another 100 rotations of P3 before I make my report. The reprimand and punishment by the Convention Administrators can't be any worse if this fails. I want you in the lab all the time. Notify us immediately if you have any news."
Edo gulped and nodded, grateful for this one chance to fix things up. He watched them leave.
'First principles' they had said: equal ratings for Instrumentation, Connection and Autonomy. No research used that setting; every project looked at how life forms responded to various adjustments to the settings. First principles were just that: a starting point. He'd never heard of it; he'd never even considered what that might produce in an experiment. As he worked to recalibrate the settings, he thought about what Adrina has said as she castigated him about his settings four cycles ago… way too much Instrumentation leading to out of control technology use, an excess of Autonomy setting up extreme individualism, just like in the Voraci research project. You knew when your supervisor invoked that name things were very bad. The future of the research unit itself was in question.
The protocols for research into life form balance had been codified in the Sentient Life Adjustment Convention to ensure no project ever produced anything like the viral Voraci again. Every student read the case study about how that life form broke out of the research program and ran amok until stopped by the combined force the Academy. It caused a halt to all research for a considerable time. It was well before Edo's time, but the protocols now provided the basis for his work. Work that had given him much satisfaction. Well, not for much longer…
He finished well after everyone else had left. Despite the impending disaster for P3 and his own impending disaster of punishment and ostracism, he felt proud of his work. He was precise and careful, and he knew he was skilful; he was a highly regarded senior research officer. Well, he had been.
He watched the first set of readings come in. Much like Professor Burnett had anticipated, it was messy. There was chaos and confusion. But also some very quick reorganisation. Much of the planetary destruction stopped immediately. And within minutes, the overall ecological rating went up from 0 to 2. The first positive metric.
It might just work.
For the first time since this all began, Edo let himself feel hopeful.
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