"Gordon, buddy. Uh, nice to have you back."
"Alex. Man. You really missed out on the trip of a lifetime. The Grand Temple is magnificent. You go in there, and you just feel this great feeling of peace and tranquility. The whole place is just bursting with spiritual energy. I really wish you could've come with us."

The long-haired analyst Gordon was finally back home at the Tower of the Chosen after his extended research expedition to the Sage Desert. He was in a jubilant mood and he was eager to share details of his experience with anyone who would listen. For the most part, the other analysts weren't very interested.

"Hmmm. I don't really like the desert too much. Too dry. I have sensitive skin."
"You've got to check this out... I brought back some pieces of sacred rock. Look at this one. You see this curve here? Yeah, the whole place is covered with these intricate swirls and curves that make up the Twelve Divine Shapes."

"Hey, that's neat."
"We're going back next month, and I'm telling you, you need to come with. You'll love it. We should all go. Hey, Tracy! You should come with us next month! We're going back!"

Tracy got up from her desk and peeked her head around the corner at the mention of her name.

"What's all the... whoa. You've got a sunburn!"
"Yeah, it was pretty hot out there. I actually just got back."

"I've got some lotion in my desk. Let me grab it for you."
"Thanks. I was just telling Alex-"
"I'm not sure it’s here, now that I think about it. Just a second. I know I got some when I went to the beach."

Tracy went back to her office and started noisily rummaging through her desk. Alex began to fidget with his pen.

"Gordon, let's get your presentation finished up. It'd be nice to finish it today so we don't have to worry about it over the weekend. Plus, you know Miss Planner. If we hand this in late, she'll come up with a whole list of stuff we forgot to add on."
"The boss lady's really been on your case lately. Did something happen?"

"Yeah, actually. But I don't want to talk about it."
"She's been putting the moves on you?"

"Ha ha. Very funny. I'm pretty sure she wants to fire me. She thinks I'm an imbecile. I'm not into her, by the way. She looks like a little kid playing dress-up in her daddy's suit."
"Sheesh, give the poor girl a break. She just wants you to get your act together. Come up with some actual useful ideas. And she's not exactly a kid. She's like, what, twenty-seven? Thirty?"

"I know, I know..."
"I mean, it's not like our job is that hard. It's not like they're expecting us to come up with anything original. We just sit here all day on our computers copying ideas from other, better people."

"Maybe you and Tracy do. But I'm a professional. I'm an innovator. I bring new ideas to the table."
"Not lately you haven’t. That's why you got assigned to work with me. Come on. Let's get this over with."

Gordon mapped out the first two levels of the Grand Temple and marked everything potentially dangerous with Elder Incarnate's help. The cantankerous Elder was strangely cooperative, possibly in an effort to curry favor with the powers that be. And Gordon took full advantage of his helpful mood. The process went surprisingly smoothly. After Mr. Maxwell and the Sage of Wind made some minor fixes, Gordon's project was more or less ready to get off the ground. In fact, for the last couple of days he was over there, Gordon didn't do any work on his proposal whatsoever. He spent pretty much all his time with Elder Incarnate discussing the ins and outs of Llamoomoo's teachings.

"Uh, Gordon, do you even need my help with this? This looks done to me. I mean, there's not even anything dangerous in this huge area here next to the entrance as long as we close the secret door to the cave area... and the big door to these Stairs to Nowhere. Grand Hall as the meeting space, pretty obvious. You already have the empty Sages' Quarters marked as admin offices and the Keepers' area as..."
"Yeah. Yeah, that's all figured out. The problem isn't profitability, feasibility, any of that. The problem is getting permission to do this. I need your help with the pitch. I need arguments to get the executives on our side. The Temple is sacred ground. We'll contaminate it by letting nonbelievers inside. That's what they'll say."

"You know, uh, you really missed a lot while you were gone. We just got a new set of executives who don't care about any of sacredness mumbo jumbo. All they care about is money. So just wait a couple of weeks for them to get settled in and then pitch it to them. And tailor the presentation to focus on profitability. One of them came down here yesterday to introduce himself. Christopher Hamaide. He's an old guy who lives to find new ways to make money."
"That's encouraging. So he's our man?"

"Well, he's one of them. Like I said, we've got a whole new crew upstairs with a whole new mindset. Just hit the highlights and don't waste any time. Don't even bother mentioning the secret rooms or the fancy statues or the ancient secrets or anything like that. It, uh, it doesn't matter to them. Just paint a pretty picture about income and expenses. Here, I'll whip up an introduction for you real quick. Let's see. An ancient place of worship perfectly preserved in time. A place of significant historical and cultural value wholly owned by the Chosen Ones and virtually guaranteed to attract significant income... synergizes with the Chosen brand... drives memberships and tours and donations and.... blah blah blah."
"Nice! Yeah, this is solid! Here, keep working on that. I'm going to sort through my pictures and pick out some good ones to to help visualize."

"Hmm. Will enhance our core competencies... diversify our operations... earn the respect of the common man... increase stakeholder engagement. I could do this in my sleep. You know, I never really figured out how to communicate with the big bosses. The entire time I've worked here they've done nothing but shut me down at every turn. Bunch of old windbags trying to prolong their antiquated way of life. But these new guys, I think we're going to get along just fine. I'll have this finished in no time. Let's get out of here early today and get our long weekend started off right."
"Thanks, man. You're the best."

"No problem. Hey, you want to go the bars tonight? My old college buddy is back in town and he wants to get drinks."
"You know, I was actually going to check out the Chosen temple service tonight with Amy. You remember her?"

"Oh, sure. Yeah, you should definitely go to that instead. Ha ha."
"They're going to burn a giant wooden monster and there'll be a lot of chanting and stuff. Should be fun."

"Yeah. Doesn't really sound like my thing. Uh, I can finish this by myself if you want. Go spend some quality time with your girl. You probably need to unwind from your trip, anyways."
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks again. I owe you one, man. Later."