Java master Suku entered the chambers of the Spider Clan’s
new head abbot, who had been appointed to the position after
his predecessor mysteriously went missing.
Suku said to the abbot: “Last month I was ordered to
completely re-implement the data visualization module. I
requested seven developers with various specialities so that
the overhaul could be accomplished in one iteration. Today I
emerged from my quarters to find twenty-one strange little
monks waiting for me in the hall.”
With great enthusiasm, the abbot replied: “Are they not
marvelous? We found them in a distant province which was
recently beset by famine or earthquakes or giant red
beetles; I forget the specifics. They eat sparingly, sleep
only two hours a night, and they are willing to forgo
cubicles and code while dangling from the rafters, so they
will incur very little overhead. With such a team you should
be able to make up the lost time, and complete the seven
weeks’ work in a mere seven days.”
Suku sighed, put two fingers to her mouth, and blew a shrill
whistle. At the sound a dozen tiny robed figures jumped from
the rafters onto the stunned abbot, knocking him
unconscious.
The abbot awoke in a dark stone pit with a single candle
burning by his side. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom he
discovered a rat-scoured skeleton in abbot’s robes, on which
was pinned a note:
