Challenge #03096-H188: Grey Goo Economy

They seemed like the perfect set of employees. They actually begged the CEO's of the Deregger colonies to be allowed to live there. They offered to work for almost no pay, even less than what the other workers got. Odd, the other workers were not complaining as this group seemed to do a lot more work, but for less shelter and less pay. But the other workers were getting healthier, the air seemed to be getting cleaner, the stacks were not producing as much emissions, and then.... everyone stopped listening to the CEO's. -- DaniAndShali

There were four metal people. Snappy dressers, the lot of them. Very sleek, but still obviously robots. If CEO Kleethon Fyncribb IX knew anything about history, then things might have gone differently for him. Premise one: The word 'robot' is derived from the Czechoslovakian for slave. Premise two: Slaves break their chains. Nevertheless, all they said they required was a space safe from rain and dust, some power to recharge with, and no food.

Even with four of them, it was a massive saving. They could do twice the work in half the time for a quarter of the cost. It was almost too good to be true. Premise three: Things that seem to be too good to be true - frequently are. A CEO of any Deregger colony never learns the basic premises of life, caution, or the patterns of time. Most of what they learn consists of I want, I get, I benefit.

So of course CEO Kleethon Fyncribb IX welcomed such an obvious profit into his corporate empire. He didn't even mind that each of them had to have four hours off for their self-maintenance cycle. That was still less than the organic components in the rest of his holdings. He didn't notice the rot he allowed to creep in, but then... Deregger CEO's are trained to ignore anything that doesn't directly and immediately benefit them.

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