The Eristic Illusion

[Cadmus]

Communications Booth 3-H, Rochester Base, New York System

Cadmus closed the soundproof door behind himself, tossing the datapad onto the small desk that held the communications computer.

What are you talking about!? he demanded, practically yelling at the datapad.

The datapad proceeded to laugh at him. You should have seen your face, Cadmus! It was priceless. Its dialogue then proceeded to devolve into puerile laughter.

Needless to say, Cadmus wasnt pleased with this. What are you talking about!? he demanded again, picking up the datapad to talk threateningly close to its screen. Are you telling me that you expect me to bring another load of these drugs a down here?

Mmhmm. One could almost see the childish nod.

Cadmus sat down, tossing the datapad away with a flick of his wrist.
It screamed as it slid across the desks corner, off of it and into the wall, and into the floor.

Cadmus didnt seem to mind. Im not going to do this again! No!

He paused for a moment to let the datapad quiet down.

You didnt tell

The screen on the communications console suddenly lit up, interrupting him. Of course I didnt. What fun would that be? It paused for a moment, but not long enough for Cadmus to sputter something else out. Now, before you say anything about how evil drugs are or not, Id like you to consider one thing for old Hermes here.

Cadmus reluctantly nodded. Fine. One thing.

The voice giggled. Good. It paused again. These drugs are only a tool to tip the scale. We need you to bring two shipments of them here, otherwise one side of the scale isnt going to be heavier than the other. And if you dont toy with the scales, Cadmus, you fail in your goals. You fail us. You want that?

Cadmus grudgingly shook his head. I hate you. And that was five things, not one.

The screen giggled again and shut off, leaving Cadmus with a news announcement.

*...since the accident in Tau 31 that lead to the serendipitous discovery of the benefits of alien organisms to the previously long and arduous terraforming process, demand for, and research into, the enigmatic organisms increased massively almost overnight.*

Cadmus was just staring blankly at the screen, not paying much attention at all to it, his thoughts were so troubled.

The news announcement didnt care, and kept on talking.

*Although enterprising individuals tried their hand at harvesting them in deep space out in the Edge Worlds, Samura's planet Kurile. Kurile, to date, is the planet with the highest population of these organisms in and around it, and is the major exporter of the microbes. Cryer Pharmaceuticals, interested in these organisms effects on longevity, founded Atka Research Station far from Liberty space purely to be closer to the source of these mysterious organisms; and Planetform has poured millions into researching their effects on the terraforming process, exhaustively researching their prowess at turning mundane inorganic materials into organic materials and greenhouse gases to speed up all of their current terraforming projects. The reasons for this natural metabolism are not known, but more intensive research is currently underway on Kurile, and*

The pure Cadmus shut the screen off, and walked out of the booth, retrieving the datapad and mumbling about a curse and a grey face.

The datapad laughed again, and Cadmus threw it expertly it into a nearby waste disposal chute that was staring at him eagerly. There were a lot of those on Junker bases

It screamed the whole way down.