Nagus browsed the extensive documentation for the Substitute Plan projected onto the wall. The development proposals were accompanied by preliminary cultivation data from the researchers responsible.
Nagus was not particularly confident that the Substitute Plan would be approved. He worried that most members of the civilization would oppose it. Shifting the catastrophe facing their civilization onto another race they had created looked like a cowardly evasion of responsibility, no matter how he viewed it.
But only Nagus, who occupied a decision-making position, understood the immense responsibility of ensuring the civilization's survival. He had to withstand every pressure.
Nagus asked, "Little Round, which researcher's proposal do you think is better suited to mass production?"
Suitable for mass production-things pouring out in torrents like running water. Their appearance on such a vast scale often served just one simple purpose.
After he asked, a gentle voice sounded in the room. "Four hundred and seventy proposals are suitable for mass production. Expanding the detailed directory..."
Little Round was the basic service intelligence that had replaced Nagus's assistant. Thanks to the computer's particle-based substrate, intelligent programs could build and analyze data models faster than carbon-based organisms.
As a senior official who rejected modifications using foreign organisms, Nagus knew many secrets that could never be disclosed. He feared that his memories might be altered without his knowledge. Looking at the newly reordered Substitute Plan proposals before him, he began to consider another possibility.
The civilization's many researchers were its precious assets. If genius was ninety-nine percent talent and one percent inspiration, that one percent of inspiration was what made the decisive difference.
If these "assets of civilization" could be replicated in large batches, the civilization's knowledge would surely grow explosively within a short time. Perhaps more weapons and equipment could be deployed in the war. Perhaps