Conference

"So what you're saying ... we're beat." The Scholar pushed his glasses back up his thin nose and looked up from the reports he had been studying.

"No," Dragone said. "I'm saying I can do nothing at the present to help his situation."

"Then we're beat," Argus said. "To change any situation requires action. If you can do nothing, then the situation will remain unchanged." He paused. "The situation is survivable."

The Scholar looked at him. "Yes, it's not life-threatening in any traditional sense. But whether or not he will continue to survive under what he's carrying now ..." He spread his hands. "Anyone's guess."

"Unacceptable," General Havoc said curtly. "We must act. And we must act soon." His lip curled in disdain. "Apparently you have already given up."

"No," Dragone said. "I simply cannot see what to do that will be beneficial. We could take many actions, but the foreseeable consequences of those actions are grave. It's all well and good for you to tell us that we must act, but I notice you haven't offered a plan."

Havoc frowned at Dragone, but didn't reply.

"Maybe there isn't one," Argus said.

"That's not helpful," Havoc snapped.

"No, wait, hear me out," Argus said. "Perhaps the problem is that we keep attempting to find an action with a favorable outcome. It may be that we can't see that favorable outcome until we take action." He looked at the Scholar. "At our present vantage point, we can't see anything but disaster, but maybe farther up the mountain, we would see something different."

"Damn the torpedoes and all that," the Scholar said wryly.

"Well, maybe," Argus said. "I do know that staying here is unacceptable. And we all know the situation is only going to worsen. There is no stable status quo. We must act now while we still can."

"Even if those actions worsen the situation?" Dragone said.

"Indeed," the Scholar said. "But there is also the possibility that such actions may improve his situation." He rose. "We act. And may God be with us."

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