DEFEATISM

16

            Darlington, Benedict, Galilee, Ro and Tempest attend the working lunch. During that time, Callie, Elodie, Jerry and Marcellus hang out in the lounge. Moonie shortly joins them after checking for Maverick in his room and everywhere else they can think of looking. Maverick rarely locks his room, so Moonie knows from going inside that he isn't there.

Tempest left him, still speechless, to go the lunch. She promised to get him when the working group came to a decision.

Benedict was the first to arrive. He saw the board and laughed at all the letters. He decides to draw a treble clef and write a whole note on the lowest space. His own F. Someone will get it, and they will smile just like he did.

During the lunch, the group makes plans. Ro brings in some old walkie-talkies used for cross rounds between buildings. There are only two, which doesn't make them particularly useful, but perhaps some of the other buildings have found theirs. The group might be able to establish communication.

Having taken stalk of their resources while he made his own meal, Darlington says they are going through food faster than he expected. They don't have any way to access the weather forecast, but he thinks they will be out of food by boxing day. Something must be done, so everyone is gathered for a vote, which is conducted immediately after the update on the walkie-talkies.

The proposition, written in a large, bolded font on Darlington's computer, poses a question to their staff team.

RATION OR SCAVENGE

The lunch group spent most of their lunch debating the precise nature of the phrasing. Ration was easy to agree upon. Some wanted to use the word collect, others steal, and so they agreed upon scavenge because it feels somewhere between. Their proposition is simple. Unlock the doors and take the non-perishables that the students left behind to eat.

"Isn't that stealing?" Moonie asks, looking over the at the computer screen.

"It's certainly against departmental policy," Marcellus agrees.

Ro crosses her arms, "leaving before noon on the twenty-third is against departmental policy, and now look where we are. The Super didn't even follow policy and stay."

"I don't think our students will care so much about the protein bars and ramen we take once they find out we were out of food," Elodie shrugs. Then again, she regularly uses one of her student's printers against departmental policy.

"We will mitigate risk by sending each floor pair to check every room so that no one takes anything other than food," Darlington offers. "It's either that or limit ourselves to three pancakes per day and one non-pancake snack."

"The Unit's going to have to pay for new toilets if all we eat is pancakes," Jerry jokes. "Bad for my stomach."

Several of the girls feel their faces contort at that comment.

With that, Darlington spurs a vote. He votes in favour of what he calls scavenging. Ro agrees with him, and so do Elodie and Benedict. Marcellus agrees as well, and that is enough for a majority. Even still, Jerry voices his approval as well.

From there, they divvy out the two sets of master keys. The first is sent up to the sixth floor with Jerry and Galilee, and the second is to go with Ro and Moonie as they explore the first. From there, the groups will go with their floor partner to search for dry goods, and then pass it up to the next group. In total, the group has to check 228 rooms.

Moonie and Ro make it to their floor first, since they are just above the office. Due to the entrance, they have fewer rooms to check. Ro wants to get the task done as quickly as possible, with no time for Moonie's dilly-dallying. Surprisingly, Moonie moves just as quickly.