By the third day of classes, Dean had developed a refined and entirely justified hatred for institutional optimism.
Not for universities in general. That would have been too broad, too abstract, too easy to dismiss as ordinary student bitterness. No, Dean's grievance was far more specific.
He hated the particular optimism required for a room full of professionals to look at phenomena like pheromone mutations, dominant instability, environmental triggers, escalation spirals, and biological disasters with teeth and conclude that what the situation really needed was a course packet.
A packet.
With tabs.
And assigned reading.
That morning's offense was titled in crisp black print across the top of the digital lecture screen:
PHEROMONE MUTATION THEORY AND MANAGEMENT
Module One: Foundational Definitions, Social Risk, and State Response
Dean took his seat in the second row with the posture of a man entering a civilized ambush.
He had chosen the second row on purpose.
