“So…um…I wanted to know more about, uh, GaIAs. You know, care and feeding, that sort of thing?”

Dr. Voor seated himself behind his desk and steepled his fingers. “Ah, the GaIA. That name will do for now, but I want to find something more…cuddly before we go on the market. ‘Tummy Buddy’ seems to be the frontrunner.”

“Uh…yeah.”

“But think of it!” Voor went on. “If half the world’s population becomes Tummy Buddies for the other half, suddenly our resources will stretch twice as far! Well, all right, food maybe one and a half times as far, since they do still need some excess nourishment, but still.”

“Um…”

“But even on a smaller scale, think how much easier it will make famine relief efforts,” Voor went on. “We send a lab truck with the UN relief convoys, convert half the population, and not only will the relief food go farther, the Tummy Buddies will prevent dysentery. It’s win-win.”

“I dunno, I think the idea might be just a bit of a hard sell,” I said.

“Ah, but that’s where marketing comes in.”