As a manager, it was Miss Planner's job to get the people on her payroll to produce an output exceeding how much they cost to keep around. She couldn't stand it when someone was a drain on the budget and didn't contribute anything to the bottom line. The Ancient Ones were a prime example of this problem. Although she wasn't quite sure what to do to make them more productive, the tiny Miss Planner was just as much a delegator as she was a problem-solver. As soon as Miss Planner got the chalky-faced little sloths settled in the Tower of the Chosen, her team of analysts got to work figuring out what to do with them.

Each of the members of Miss Planner's Ancient Race task force was entrusted with five of the little pale devils for the day and given total freedom to do whatever they wanted. There were no restrictions, guidelines, or orders given to them at all. They were instructed to use their own judgment and to experiment with any idea that came to mind. It was an unprecedented experiment, and Miss Planner knew that there would be some failures. That wasn't a concern. Failure wasn't a bad thing, as long as it led to a solution eventually.

The analysts were excited about their assignment and each one worked hard to figure out a way to use the Ancient Race for something useful. They had a quick brainstorming session in the morning to make sure their experiments didn't overlap too much, and then they set off on their individual missions for the rest of the day. Miss Planner turned her attention to other matters and let the analysts work in peace.

"Miss Planner, it's time for your meeting! The analysts are all ready to give their presentations!"
"Thanks, Milly. You can tell them I'll be right down."

"Yes, ma'am!"
"And before you hang up... there's something I need you to do."

"What is it, Miss Planner?"
"Could you tell Black Smoke he can go ahead and eat without me if he wants? I'm not going to be available for dinner until pretty late."

"Sure! I'll call him now."
"Thank you, Milly!"

It was a warm Friday night in the Tower of the Chosen. The air-conditioning in the Tower couldn't quite keep up with demand, so the Chosen Ones spent the day sweating like pigs. Thankfully, the work week was nearly over. Miss Planner turned off her computer, locked her office, and took the elevator down to the research division to hear what her analysts had been doing all day.

"Alright! Thanks for being patient, everyone. I'm sure everyone is tired from the heat. Let's finish this up so we can all go home," said Miss Planner with a polite smile. "Gordon, would you like to go first?"

The tall and long-haired Gordon always looked a little beat-up, but it was even worse than normal tonight. He was holding a conspicuous ice pack over his face and his hands were wrapped up with strips of colorful bandages. He slowly walked to the podium to report his findings.

"Well boss lady, I wanted to see how the little guys reacted when we gave them some Nuke to smoke..."

"What happened?"

"Well, it didn't really seem to do anything. They said they didn't feel any different. You know how it doesn't work too well when your powers are too strong? I think that's what was happening. Anyway, they started making me mad, so I tried challenging one to a fight. My psychic power 'Autohypnosis' makes me pretty tough, but as you can see, Aremath completely trashed me. I got a few good hits in with my baton, and then he just blasted me with a flash of white light and knocked me out. So they're pretty strong. I don't think they'd be any good as actual fighters, though, since it didn't seem like he really wanted to hurt me. Actually, when I woke up Aremath was kissing me. He said kissing me where it hurt would make it feel better."

Miss Planner sighed and shook her head sadly.

"Okay, Gordon. Good work. You can give me the full report on Monday, okay? Now go get some rest. Make sure you take care of your body tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Next up is Tracy. What did you come up with today?"

Tracy was a woman with brown hair and glasses. She wore a bright grin that seemed to be permanently etched into her face.

"I tried turning the Ancient Ones against each other! I thought maybe if they were fighting over resources or something, we could use it as an opportunity to make them more productive!"

"Oh, wow. That sounds very interesting."

"I made them all dance for me and I said the best dancer would get rewarded with candy, which I found out they like. But I actually only picked one of them as the best dancer over and over, and I said the other ones were terrible at it. Umm... it didn't work too well, because the one I picked as my favorite, Elmath, started sharing her candy with the other ones, even when I told her she wasn't allowed to do it. She also stood up for the others when I tried insulting them. Then they started crying, and I felt guilty. So I just gave them all the rest of the candy, and they shared it."

"Hmm. Well, don't feel too bad. You're working hard every day, and they're not. Thank you for your presentation. Next, Erica, please."

Erica was a timid woman with black hair. She somewhat resembled a mouse in appearance, and although she was taller than Miss Planner, her soft-spoken personality made her seem much smaller than she truly was. Conflict wasn't her strong suit, but Erica had a knack for sensing and understanding people's feelings.

"Ummm... I tried to ask the Ancient Ones what their most important job is. They all said they want to help humans! So I asked if they knew how they can do that, and they just frowned and wouldn't answer. They're so sad, you know?"

"That was a good idea."

"Um, thanks. Well, after that, I tried having them put together little bracelets, and they kept getting distracted. They wanted to work, but they couldn't stop themselves from doing things like playing with the bracelets, or putting the beads in their mouths, or telling stories to each other. So I asked them what they normally did, and they said they liked to meditate. And I actually found something that they're useful for! The bracelets they were wearing absorbed some of their psychic energy when they meditated! I was really surprised because you told me this morning that you didn't think they'd be able to do anything! They can create psychic items?! We could use them as batteries!"

Miss Planner shook her head in amazement. If there was one thing she loved most about being a manager, it was seeing all these bright young minds work through problems and come up with innovative solutions. It never ceased to amaze her just how far they could stretch their imaginations and reach when given total freedom to experiment.

"You are incredible, Erica. I think you've earned a bonus, too."