The samples were ranged in colour coordinated lines, from black on the left, all the way up to pure gold on the right. All except one sample which appeared to all eyes present to be invisible or unseen.
That’s the contactless payment liquid, whispered the Blue Knight, as they watched through the safety glass barriers of the visitors’ gallery. The serious white coats shuffled the dials, which might send the tubes spinning to separate the coins from the paper money.
The laboratory was invested with benches, womaned by intense white coats, in safety glasses, gloves of every hue and discretion. In one corner an enclosed working station with strange long gloves fixated in the holes, so that the milking can be done without looking and no one gets splashed in the process.
Without prejudice, a strong laser beam was passed through a prism of lucidity until the light was split into useful sections and could be played mercilessly on the fundamental samples of the Power Bone Residue or PBR. Scattering mathematical solutions left, right and sideways.
On a screen, a line went sinuously up and down, denoting the contents and ingredients of each component discovered.
When the samples had been marmelised sufficient to molecular level, the True Colour gradients became clear in the printout.
When all was said and done, it was discovered that the bottom lines, Envy and Insecurity, exaggerated the Craving for Power, of which the facets, Financial Gain, Personal Aggrandisement and Self-Promotion through association, were plain as the nose.
Surely these innate human traits are beyond our questing remit, said the Spotlight, We cannot change the very wind of social turbulence.
True, said the Blue Knight, It seems that we have Two choices. One is to control the things we can control, live a good life and cultivate your garden, and hope that the very resonance of one’s being spreads into the corners of people’s lives, or Two, take all the humans in the world and imbue them with Confidence, thus bypassing the inadequacy, insecurity and feverish need to ascend the greasy pole.
We will need to build a Confidence Portal that the people can queue up to pass through.
I shall consult the online communities for a construction site and print out a blueprint immediately. We cannot start this process soon enough, explained the Spotlihght.
Right you are, said the Blue Kight, I shall collect some sticks and start a fire, this clearing in the woods has taken a chilly turn.
Mr Spotlight, having printed out the Confidence Portal plans, began to assemble the ornaments and sticky tape on the assembly instructions which listed a small alien key, a hammer, a spirited level and a cup of coffee as the essential tools. Also, it was suggested that the construction should not be attempted by one person, as he or she may become lonely and disappointed. Small cartoons of people with bad backs proved a distraction.
Of course, we will have to apply the anti-arrogance cream to each participant otherwise it could all go horribly wrong and we might end with a rudeness epidemic.
I think that there is a dial at the side of the machine moving up the confidence dial in green to the max, said the Spotlight, and then through a yellow section of rudeness, into the red section denoting arrogance. Someone will have to man the barricades permanently to make sure the balance is right. We shall take it in turns.
The Blue Knight, with the Spotlight aiding, and the Rebellion remarking encouragements from the side lines, started to assemble the portal. It looked a bit like something from a sci fi film called Stargate, but without the inscriptions.
It was a frustrating business because they failed to read the instructions completely, just trusting to instinct, which meant that they had to take off the back again when the shelves wouldn’t fit.
Eventually, when the coffee had run out, the machine was ready, sited in an industrial warehouse which was quite cheap to rent. A reassuring hum of power permeated the space and a blue glowing escaped at the edges which had been poorly fitted.
Bring them in! called the Blue Knight from his position at the control consul, let’s do this.
The Human Race, looking a little confused as it had only just had its breakfast, entered the warehouse in a long line.
The Blue Knight pushed a T shaped lever, like the ones that make an airplane take off, and the portal began to spin, fast at first and then slowly settling to a more rational pace in seconds.
Go! cried the Spotlight, and the front of the great line of humanity began to pass through the gate, disappearing in the blue pulsing light and popping out the other side looking even more confused, but somehow serene.
The stream of humanity continued unabated. At the side dial, which controlled the confidence/ arrogance input, the Spotlight, exhausted from its exertions slowly nodded off. The dial, at first in a steady state, slowly but inexorably began to rise out of the green and into the red zone.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Guardians of the Cave 