While considering the idea of engaging in a make-believe session, you read the news. First up is the news of the hostilities between TLEF and FNC, the bloodiest corporate conflict in recent history.
The article claims that Tau Lambda Eta Foods and the Finston Network Corporation, as advertised, have finished their conflict over the rights to the Jasmine Thyme multimedia franchise, and the workers of the TLEF farming complex can once more breathe easily as the heavily-armed FNC security forces have left their premises, both sides having reached an acceptable settlement, though it is obvious that TLEF has been shafted in the deal, being the clear loser in the conflict. The three-month campaign in what used to be central Illinois has left most of the workers of TLEF dead, destitute or crippled, mostly during the initial airstrikes organized by FNC and the chemical warfare following afterwards, and it is unknown how TLEF will rebound from the crippling losses incurred in the conflict, though many of the captured workers are at least glad that their lives are not in immediate danger anymore and that they will be resold by the victor to what they hope will be an employer less likely to be bombed and destroyed in a three-month war. As a result of this peace settlement, the FNC has become the sole owner of the rights to produce any show or multimedia product pertaining to the Jasmine Thyme persona or show. TLEF, now deprived of both their immense manufacturing capabilities and the face that has carried the company for over 10 years, is now in a very difficult situation.
This practice by FNC is apparently not unprecedented, as only three years ago they enacted a campaign of zero-tolerance warfare against their multimedia rivals, Unified Central Multimedia Venture Inc., though that time it was far more secretive and involved far less aerial warfare.
Okay, so that's certainly a thing. Lots of people dead, rights to an IP passed along, central Illinois completely ruined. Happens all the time, you guess. You sit for a while, wondering for some reason what Jasmine Thyme would say about this. Not you, of course. The real one. The one on the network. She always seems so... calm, benevolent, motherly.
But anyway, what's this about the engineered people booming?
Oh, that's what! The number of engineered people in the world has exceeded 1 billion in recent years, compared to the 2 million or so only about 15 years ago, and this 5000% increase bothers people quite a lot, as now they significantly outnumber the 5 million or so natural people of the world. Experts tie this to the notable increase in economic potential caused by the engineered person market, and ecological concerns, all but forgotten these last 70 years since the beginning of the final phase of the great control schemes, are beginning to surface once more. Some are calling for application of the project's measures to the engineered population as well, or at least the imposition of a hard limit on further production, but this has not met much support due to the vast power and resources of both the person engineering industry and its lobbyists. Some experts say that such short-term profiteering is unlikely to benefit humanity in the long term, but they are opposed by both other experts who are loving this new era of invention and glory that person-engineering has brought us and condone further progress in both technology and societal norms and people who are unwilling to take a step back to what they believe was "a new dark age for humanity, an era of delusional medievalist thinking and what eventually amounted to mass genocide".
As you think about this, you can't help but notice that you haven't been rescued yet. How awful. Also, Jerry seems to be trying to get your attention. And everyone else's.
"Hey, who wants a downer?"Ms. Bartolucci, still on the floor, slowly raises her hand.
"You can't have any, Jules. At the rate you're going, you'll deplete my stash in a week! And you'll be dead, and that's no good, either.""Hey, screw you, Jerry.""For your own good, Jules. Jasmine, want some?"He stretches his greasy hand out toward you. In it you see an unmarked packet of what you assume to be pills.
Also, you feel another shiver coming on.
You may focus on one item of news per unit of time, obtaining additional information on this subject.
- Scientists predict tectonic activity will intensify in coming years.
- Crime is at all-time low as world police force becomes 100% engineered.
Engineered population booming, experts worried.Hostilities between Tau Lambda Eta Foods and Finston Network Corporation cease, refugees relieved.- Lawrence Baptiste to move back premiere of Nuclear Ballet out of respect for Joseph Greenthaal.
Name: Jasmine Thyme Model 376
Gender: Female
Attributes: heightened senses of taste and smell, increased manual dexterity, improved intellect, unobtrusively good looks, improved interpersonal ability, slight owner fixation, cranial netlink implant.
Skills: skilled chef, proficient at maintenance and repair, proficient at making smalltalk.
State of Mind: agitated due to uncertainty, distressing circumstances (such as being trapped in a maglev station).
Author
Topic: (SG) Less Than Perfection - now dropped (Read 25868 times)