Living Standards
by Bill Kowaleski
Chapter 35: Two Decisions
“Three hundred thirty-two?” Seraphin said in disbelief. “Don’t those Councilors know their lives depend on our getting every single vial?”
“They do,” said Kendrick Drake. “But here’s the thing. They’re sitting in D.C. or wherever they live and have no control over all those High Priests. They’ve never met them. This cult got too successful. The High Priests don’t understand what they’ve got and think it’s some kind of holy object. Some of them won’t destroy it, and the Supreme Council has no way of making them do it.”
“Maybe we should just tell them what they got,” said Seraphin. “That ought to scare the hell out of them.”
Kendrick shook his head. “They won’t believe us. In fact, telling them the truth could make things worse. It creates over three hundred opportunities for someone to experiment, to break open his ‘chalice’ just to see whether we’re telling the truth.”
Seraphin stared out the window, his eyes roved aimlessly. He sighed and said, “Yeah, too much risk. Let’s just quietly scoop them up one by one.”
“I don’t see any other choice.”
“OK, take care of it, Kendrick. And, while you’re at it, execute every last one of those Supreme Councilors.”
“Consider it done.”
Copyright © 2016 by Bill Kowaleski
