325 PsyLo: Part 5

"That's what the red screen is for," argued the Society Curator of SILO. "To keep us from blundering. We are all safe in SILO, after all. Our experiment was a success. And it is sustainable, despite the population advisories that were necessary for the last two generations."

"Will the world outside ever be safe?" the Security Curator challenged anyone who was leaning toward disembarkation. "Will we be safe with our species? Can we be? Can we really weigh temptation for what was—with—what will be? What can be?"

"And what is that?" the Society Curator further naysaid. "A do-over without worries? Being slaughtered by Neo-Neanderthals ready with stones for whac-a-mole? Devoured by the new beasts engendered by novel irradiated ribonucleic acids? Or being fried one ionizing event at a time?"

"I make a motion we table this for another century," the Medical Curator declared.

"And I make a motion we decide now," High Curator countered.

And so Roberts Rules of Order set in motion amendments, corollaries, votes of confidence, and even a filibuster, all of which High Curator feared could well take that century the Medical Curator had called for.

"Will the world ever be safe?" shouted the High Curator. "Life's a gamble. Evolution's a wager. Even every pregnancy is speculating the future. Are we players or just spectators? Here in SILO, sustainable or not, we're just broiling in a covered pot. Is a dead end a noble pursuit? Is life, as we know it, life-as-we-knew-it? Not here."

"But it's life," countered the Society Curator. "Even vermin squashed under boots squirm and fight to stay alive."

"Yes," High Curator countered, "but a bug in a jar keeps moving to find a way out."

When the vote was finally called, no one was more surprised than High Curator.

"Engineering Curator," he called, "please arm the explosive bolt seals."

________

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Wednesday, November 20, Day 325 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge.

366 WORDS (without A/N)

41 DAYS TO GO! THE SILO SURVIVES ON IN THIS VOCAL CHALLENGE, 366 IONIZATION EVENTS A DAY.

There are currently three Vocal survivalist writers in this 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. (Hunkered) Schäfer

• Rachel (Bunkered) Deeming

• Gerard (Bonkers) DiLeo