Eir reverie was broken by the arrival of MKine's food. A plate of seemingly living rodents that scampered as if frightened of what was about to happen. In reality their fear was an illusion, generated by the biotech computronium they possessed in place of a nervous system. A compromising policy generated by a Quorum at some distant point in the past between advocates of non-sophont cruelty regulation and vivi-carnivorous clades. Ibrama emself had little stomach for watching such sophonts eat but thankfully the cowl that encircled MKine's head hid the sight, and the sound. A niggling pressure in his exoself drew Ibrama's attention back to the policy agreement. Eir mind/knowledge integration modules were repeatedly arriving at dead ends with every attempt to weave the policy into eir mental concept map. Ibrama sighed, it was a long shot anyway attempting to use the most effortless means to understand such a complex issue. Whilst the exoself modules could be relied upon to subconsciously impart all manner of knowledge and skills the policy was too far outside his typical cognitive faculties.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BUREAUCRAT

• Artificial Meat Production
• Food Chain - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
  The energy exchange that constitutes the sum of interactions between predators and prey in which bionts, alifes, or other organisms obtain nutrition. The chain starts with plants or other autotrophs that are eaten by herbivores, which in turn are preyed upon by carnivores. These may in turn become food for other carnivores. When the organism dies, it becomes food for scavengers, detritivores, and decomposers.
  
• Food Production
• Sentient Fruit