Bab 22: Prosperity Council

In a secluded room atop a tall tower. There was a council. The room was dimly lit and there were 10 seats around a round and firm wooden table.

"Hello" Said a young man called Vidor with a simple wave. He was wearing a business casual outfit and gave off an overall friendly smile.

"Sit down" A man wearing a red suit told him. This was Caelan. A prodigy of the Disquistive party. He also acted as their spokesperson. He held great ambitions and was 31 years old.

Vidor just shrugged and got to his seat. He was sent to represent his family at the young age of 23 but he didn't care for these matters. He thus adopted a carefree attitude.

"Let's start then" An aged voice spoke as he stood up from his seat of the round table. This was the oldest member of the council, Aldan. He was also the strongest and acted on behalf of the reformation party.

It seemed they were only waiting for the arrival of Vidor as Aldan cleared his throat and proceeded to speak after Vidor took his seat.

"The company sent to eliminate the Toxic Centipede was unfortunately decimated. The movement of the mutants was suspicious and apart from the captain in charge and a couple of new soldiers, none survived." Aldan wasted no time in introducing this week's topic. The council met on a weekly basis. That was unless of course, an urgent matter were to arise.

"I am sure this has something to do with their habitat" A bright young lady called Aleena spoke. This was her first concern as a member of the planetal party. She was only 25 years of age.

"I suspect there is some foul play involved behind the scene." Calean quickly shot her down as he pondered on the matter.

"Are you trying to say there are other civilizations left alive?" Aleena asked with contempt. The odds of that were in her eyes zero, at least not until they fixed the planet.

"You can't discard the idea of mutant civilizations. Plus, who is to say it wasn't someone from our city?" Calean explained his thought process in the form of a retort.

Aleena didn't respond again and simply awaited for Aldan to continue.

"How should we deal with this matter?" He spoke and placed down a couple of documents in front of him.

Calean, as a vocal individual, didn't think too hard about it. To him, there was only one option.

"We should scout the surrounding area for hidden threats. Create some more military camps to ensure our perimeter. We can then form an expedition to find the origin of this threat. I suspect this is the work of intelligent mutants" Calean clearly iterated his stance and concluded his talk. One could see all of the members of his party nodding in agreement.

Smart mutants. They existed. And usually, they used to be humans.

There were two types of these mutants. One was the remnants of old civilizations and the other were people who successfully reached the final rank in the power hierarchy, mutant.

Mutant species are any species that divert from their original species to become a new one. They aren't mere variants but a thing in their own regard.

The only problem was those mutant rank people may lose their reason in the process or just need to eat different things than human beings. These things couldn't be allowed to live in human society. At least not the first ones.

Thanks to advances in the gene exaltation process, the chances of mutant rank individuals becoming a threat to others was greatly reduced.

"I agree…" Said a middle-aged man called Achilles as he rapped his finger on the table. He was a part of the reformation party but Calean's conclusion seemed sound and likely.

Aldan glanced around and saw that nobody else was planning to suggest anything.

"In that case, we will start the voting process. All for the proposal please raise your hand" He thus began the voting process.

The entire disquisitive party rose their hand, they accounted for four. The members of the reformation party, excluding Aldan himself, chose to vote also vote in favor. Six votes. The decision could no longer be overruled there was no point in anybody else raising their hand.

"Six votes in favor. The plan will be carried out by the proposer. That is to say Calean. Is anyone against this?" It was now time to see who would be put in charge of these new camps. Naturally, this would be a much more grueling voting process.

Five hands were raised Aldan himself was included this time.

"For?" Aldan continued. There were times when someone would decide to abstain from the voting process.

Four hands shot up. Calean shot Vidor a glance who also reluctantly raised his hand.

"Neither side has come to a conclusion. This matter will be pushed back towards the end of this meeting. Moving on…" The council moved quickly. As they only met once a week they couldn't afford to waste too much time. Running a city, no matter how small, was busywork.

Chances were that no satisfactory solution would be offered by the end of the meeting or the sites would be split. If the former were to happen it would boil down to schemes and political favors.

"Calean, this matter pertains to your party. Professor Requiem is said to be using our residents as test subjects without permission. Do you have anything to say about this matter?" Aldan spoke with obvious signs of disapproval.

The experiments were beneficial for the progress of humanity but some were still unwilling to part with their humanity. They refused to be corrupted by the environment.

"Where's the proof?" Calean wasn't doubting Aldan's words. It was just that this was the first time he heard of this.

"A member of the guards was found dead in the Sector B Feed Tunnel. An investigation was carried out and through camera footage easily found the culprit." Aldan then grabbed a remote from a corner of the room and played a video.

The video clearly demonstrated Dan's deeds. This included sneaking behind the guards as well as the actual killing.

Calean, seeing the criminal's attire and his deeds, instantly knew what happened. Someone who failed the exaltation test was presumed dead and thrown into a feed tunnel but came back to life! Unless the professor schemed to fake the man's death but if that was the case it was simply too sloppy.

It was far more likely that the man was injected with an unknown solution instead of the tried and true formula that is usually used.

There were two issues with doing this. One was that this was an inhumane practice and two that the chances of the subject mutating and losing reason were not small. If they monitored the man properly they could watch for signs that ranged from sickness to hallucinations and changes in personality. But the man had escaped into the city without a trace.

Everyone else came to a similar conclusion if they weren't already aware of the matter and looked at Calean. He was the one that gave the professor the job and also put him in the leading position of the Gene Exaltation project of Sector B.

Calean sighed and stood from his seat.

"I take full responsibility for this. I will instantly strip the professor of his post and contact some of my subordinates in Termina to keep an eye out for the murderer. I will also offer a bounty to the underground and pay for it with my own pockets. I sincerely apologize." Calean's words appeared to be sincere but he was just acting. He then bowed and hid his inner anger.

'What an oversight. This could affect my standing. Requiem will be lucky if he gets to live another day after disgracing me like this.' Calean was planning on taking revenge.

This accident could make it so the disquisitive party would hold none of the new military camps or a lower amount. This would weaken their power. He couldn't allow it.

'I might need to ask for a few favors' Calean thought as he straightened his posture and sat back down. He was seething internally, he hated owing others.