Patrick sighed. “This just seems like too much to believe. How can they pull this off?”

“Think of it like sitting passively on a swing. A series of small pushes by someone at the right time can turn minimal effort into a large result, resulting in you swinging in a large arc. Many of these conspiracy theories would sink into obscurity or simply coast to a stop on their own, but a new claim or viral campaign at the right time will bring them back to the forefront of public attention. Amplify that with social media botnets and the theory attains new life. Do that several times, and each revival can be bigger than the previous one.”

I frowned and sat forward. “Okay, so that’s global strife. The Gantt chart indicates that they were behind the pandemic, or at least influenced its existence or spread in some way. Anything else on that in the files?”

“Anti-vaxxers and Pandemic-pushers, of course. Specifically designed to ensure that any diseases spread as quickly as possible, any response is undercut as much as possible, and vaccines are resisted as long as possible. Ideally, they’d like to make smallpox and polio into global issues again.”

I sighed. “I’m sure I’ll regret asking, but what about the environment?”

“Do you truly believe that even the most energetically pro-business leaders would deliberately continue to pollute the planet if they knew that they and their families were going to be caught in the results? Those at the top who practice denialism and destructive policies expect to be in the protected enclaves that Karen mentioned when the collapse occurs. And continuing to make money by charging the common populace through the nose for a seat.”

Nat put her head in her hand. “Oy.”

“Oh, and I now have an explanation for that major environmental disaster on the Gantt chart.”

“Go ahead,” I said.

“It discusses percentages, although the Loranna use base sixteen for some reason, so that might not be the correct term. But regardless, the item references something dropping from twenty-one percent to nineteen percent.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. You have an idea what that might be?”

“Oxygen. The percentage of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere is currently just a fraction under twenty-one percent, as it has been for millions of years. The minimum percentage at which humans can operate is nineteen-point-five. Below that, trying to do more than stand up puts you in an oxygen deficit. Another half point and mental function starts to suffer, even at minimal activity.”

“But how?” Patrick asked.