Natural Model – YeahWrite Summer Grid

Natural Model

When the starship bound for a technical conference developed a power failure, we made landfall on the closest settled planet. It would take a week to repair the fault, but in that time I learned an ingenious production model.

Nearly every starship or city grid uses a power source called, “Helicons.” Trillions of people on 27 planets depend on them. As it happens, they’re only created on the planet we were stranded on, Pyramedes. A scientific reporter by trade, I was immediately curious to learn how Helicons were produced. When I requested an interview with the operations manager at Helicon Power Systems, they accepted with little presuasion.

Bob Campos didn’t look much like an operations manager. His hair was long and gray, tied in braids with colorful streamers. He wore sandals and a tie-dyed tee-shirt. Hardly what one would expect from an energy company, but one he began speaking, it all became clear. “We use a Natural Model here for production,” he explained. “Nature’s system of stressing organisms, of creating balance through competitive conflict, creates the most efficient system of production.”

“How does that work?”

Campos scratched his head. “The production part isn’t so hard. Helicons are actually the seed of the plant, Heliconiva.” He pointed outside the window at huge fields of knee-high plants. “Since Pyramedes is tidally locked, this particular valley gets sunlight 24/7. There’s little cloud cover. All that sunpower goes straight into the seeds for a very high energy concentration. The problem comes in at harvesting.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“No, it’s expensive. The seeds are protected by a very dense shell. It would cost billions to make the machinery to strip it off. So we decided to go with bio-engineering instead.”

The obvious question was answered by Bob introducing me to “Capo,” who happens to be a bio-engineered dog. Capo is quite intelligent and his paws were modified to function easily as hands. When I arrived at Capo’s cubicle, I noticed a copy of “Moby Dick” on a reader beside his computer. Capo was watching video of a white rabbit running through the Heliconiva.

“That’s the one,” said Capo, pointing with a furry finger at image of a large white rabbit. Capo’s canine face was quite expressive, and it showed distinct signs of mania. “Ten years I’ve been trying to catch him. Somehow, he eludes me. I’m watching camera footage to learn his moves.”

“Interesting. So what do you do here?”

“Catch rabbits of course! They love to eat the Helicons. Without me and the other dogs, rabbits would eat up all the company profits! We’re full company employees, you know. I’ve got a company ID, medical benefits, and most importantly a profit-sharing plan. Every seed they eat is less money for my retirement.”

“How often do you catch them?”

“Oh about three or four a day. They breed like…well…rabbits, you know. The deal with the company is, we get one free meal a day. So unless we want to pay for the rest, we live on what we catch. Works for me, you know. Fresh rabbit meat is divine. You should try it!”

“So about this rabbit…”

“Moby Rabbit!”

“Uh, Moby. Why is it so important to catch him?”

“Because he tasks me! He tasks me! I’ve caught them all, brown, brown and gray, brown speckled, but never him. You see this?” He pointed to his scarred ear, “And this? And this? All wounds he given me from his claws. That devil needs to pay.”

I spent another hour with Capo and returned to Campos’ office. “Capo is on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” I said.

Campos shook his head. “They’re all like that. After many generations, the dogs are pretty fanatic hunters.”

“But it seems you’ve got a rabbit problem. Sonic repellants could cure that overnight.”

“Nope. The rabbits are our bio-engineered rabbits. The most efficient way to strip off a helicon shell is in the rabbit’s stomach. The husk is the only thing they can eat by design. Later they poop out a pristine, shelled Helicon, ready for use. Lots of rabbits insures efficient collection. Then the dogs keep rabbits from overeating the Helicons before they’re ripe. A natural, efficient balance.”

Confused, I said, “But Capo thinks rabbits are eating up the profits.”

Campos hesitated. “We, ah…don’t tell them,” he murmured.

“Why not?”

“Like I said earlier. We follow the Natural Model. Efficiency through natural competition. He’s already got medical and a retirement plan. If he knew the truth, he might demand a raise!”
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Okies, I’m new to the Summer Series, but it seems to work much like the Speakeasy. I’ll keep folks informed as a learn more about it. For now, this is for the Summer Series, and I hope I followed the instructions properly. Look for more stories rights here: http://yeahwrite.me/summer-series-170/