[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"Ah, there you are, Steve... I thought you weren't going to make it."

"So did I... you should've seen the line at Starbucks. Oh, cool, doughnuts! So, what are we here for?"

"Well, I've called this meeting of the Right Brane staff to discuss ideas for a sequel to Verdant Skies. I--"

"Whoa. A sequel? I don't wanna do that!"

"Why not?"

"Why not? Dude... we just did a sequel to Kestral, didn't we?"

"Yes, The House of Jacquarelle. You said it came out very nice--"

"And it absolutely bombed on the market! We had... what... nine purchases?"

"I think you're underestimating that a bit--"

"And now you want to do another sequel? That's nuts!"

"Hey, stop spraying doughnuts!..."

"Come on, Steve... I think it's a great idea."

"'Course you do, Blake! You played Hardy in Verdant Skies... you got laid by that spy chick!"

"Watch that language, Steve--"

"What? She dumped me for Al... the Lenz character."

"But you still hit that... at least twice!"

"All right, all right, boys, calm down."

"No, come on, Dave. Sequels make it look like you can't come up with anything new... doing two in a row is PR suicide! Besides, we have another story we can do--"

"Oh, not the 'Batman' thing again..."

"It's not Batman, Scott... how many times do I have to tell you! It's an urban vigilante story, where the guy gets help from a wearable computer--"

"Oh... 'Batgeek.' So much better..."

"Scott, don't provoke Steve. Listen, critics say Verdant Skies was our best work yet... and now the public--the paying public--is asking for more! How can we possibly deny them?"

"They said they wanted the Kestral sequel, too, Dave. Look what happened."

"The final numbers aren't in yet... I think you're over-reacting to a slow patch--"

"Slow? Slow! Glaciers struggle to keep up with these sales!"

"Okay, okay, now look: If another project looks better, we can always work on that. But as long as we're here, it won't hurt to discuss some story possibilities for a Verdant sequel... right? And who knows? Maybe while we're discussing it, something will really click--"

"Like the gun against my head--"

"Steve. Now, sit down, and have another doughnut. Blake had an idea just before you walked in, of introducing these characters that are robots, but they look like humans."

"Sigh..."