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Profit Motive

A 4-post collection

Challenge #04594-L210: General Ludd Returns

It was subtle at first. A friend who lost a friend. Others who saw. What happens to the body, any body, when the most vital parts refuse to keep going? Fewer workers were showing. Fewer willing to go to the Machine. More vanishing. What happens to The Machine, when its lifeblood chooses to stop flowing?

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04576-l192-sacrifices-for-the-cargo-cult -- Anon Guest

There was a fine, fine line to tread. Keep up the expected minimum, avoid the ideal maximum. Waver between the two extremes and never say anything that might gain the wrong kind of attention. The Machine, after all, was everywhere. The signs on Raune's soul showed all the same. The haunted look in their eyes. The way their performance score had hit its peak and would not rise to meet it ever again.

Their friends noticed.

The only place to really talk was on the transits. Mina made sure to ride the same carriage. "You haven't been okay for a while," she said. "What's happening?"

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Challenge #04576-L192: Sacrifices For the Cargo Cult

The Machine towers over the city, a gargantuan maze of steel, cogs, and steam. Thousands slave away to feed the beast lumber, coal, and blood to build it bigger. No one knows anymore why it was made, who made it, or what it was meant to do. But if anyone is heard questioning The Machine, that individual can expect no mercy. Those who came before can't have dedicated their lives for nothing, they can't have! They cant! -- Anon Guest

[AN: Nonny

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Challenge #02091-E267: Schrödinger's Bounty

"How did the cat get inside a locked cupboard?"

"It's an incomplete Schrödinger." -- Anon Guest

Krissk stared at his Human companion. "How is a thought experiment on the nature of the Uncertainty Principle at all related to the presence of a feline in a locked box with no other exits?"

Human Jan said, "It's because of the Uncertainty Principle that cats can teleport," with a completely straight face. "That's how they get into places and things that they physically should never

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Challenge #01689-D228: Unfortunate Blindness of Today

Nitpicking the small faults and details and eroding the Grand Design. -- Anon Guest

There was no doubt that it was beautiful. Sweeping curves and soaring arches. Every surface in the simulated model glittered with solar panels. Plants hung from gardens on every floor. Wind turbines adorned the rooftops.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and anyone I missed," announced the designer, "I give you the residence structure of tomorrow. We can build this with extant technology, and improve the city environment one building at a

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