An unofficial meeting on the "Artificial Storm" project was held before the "Free Breeze" set sail from Australia.
Attendee I: Did you wake up with a glitch this morning, Ulrich?
Attendee I: The "Storm" has already taken so many lives, and now you're planning to intentionally bring another one upon us?!
Ulrich: Quit your worrying, Jonathan. The "Artificial Storm" will be under strict control, and you're not even on the research team.
Ulrich: Besides, there are some issues we still need to fix, so we've come to a bit of a standstill for now.
Ulrich: I promise, you won't wake up to find the building engulfed by the "Storm."
Attendee I: Sorry, are you saying that you've already started?!
Attendee II: Ulrich, I have to warn you.
Attendee II: Ever since you found that satellite, you've been pushing past the limits of Laplace's regulations.
Attendee II: You've accessed materials from other branches, used valuable resources for your own purposes, and run experiments without proper clearance.
Ulrich: What baseless claims, Penelope! I'll have you know that everything I've done has been approved by the HQ director.
Attendee I: Director? We don't have a damn director!
Ulrich: But we do have a "substitute director." So there.
He gives a pointed nod in Enigma's direction.
Enigma: For the last time, I'm not the "substitute director." No one can substitute for Madam Lucy.
That familiar heavy knock on the table resounds once more.
Enigma: But let's set that aside. We're here to figure out what to do with the satellite, not to stage an intervention for Ulrich.
Attendee III: The solution's as clear as day, my friends!
Attendee III: We'll do exactly what they did in Plesetsk during the third "Storm." Find someone brave and send them into space!
Attendee IV: He's right. Why don't we just build another satellite and see how it handles the "Storm"?
A sarcastic applause suddenly erupts.
Medicine Pocket: Wow, what an amazing idea! Truly a stroke of genius! So, we're talking about a controlled experiment, right?
Medicine Pocket: That means we'll send not just one, but dozens of satellites, all carrying different items!
Attendee IV: What's the problem with that?
Medicine Pocket: Oh, nothing. The budget team will be thrilled at the idea. Here's a better one: We sit tight and wait till the "Storm" sends us back to 1995.
Medicine Pocket: And bingo! Surprise!! There's our satellite, orbiting around the Earth once again.
Enigma: Medicine Pocket, please mind your tone in the meeting room.
Medicine Pocket: Oh sure, just as soon as they stop trying to waste all our research funds.
Ulrich: I'm with Researcher Medicine Pocket here.
Ulrich: There's no need to launch more satellites. We should be focusing on the "Artificial Storm" project.
Ulrich knocks the table, drawing everyone's attention.
Ulrich: The project has made substantial progress!
Crowd: ...
Ulrich: I have collected every item that was once on the "Regulus Satellite," including the space seeds from Plesetsk. You have no idea how difficult that was; let me tell you! It was easier to get Regulus's record!
Enigma: Still, you probably didn't need to steal it, Ulrich!
Attendee V: You say that, but I've heard that it isn't going all that smoothly!
Attendee V: Accelerating the reaction of asymmetrical nuclide R with fixed-frequency sound waves so as to simulate the "Storm." It sounds impressive, but ...
Attendee V: What's the payoff? Have you found the key material that provides immunity from the "Storm"?
Ulrich: Good point, Lukas. I never claimed the experiment was perfect. In fact, I'll be the first to admit that it has some serious procedural flaws.
Attendee V: Huh?
Ulrich: Through 26 microscale "Artificial Storms," I tested seven different space seeds, an astronomical spectrometer, a high-speed photometer, some obsidian crystals, and a Lycopus lucidus talisman.
Ulrich: None of them endured the trials.
Attendee V: So, what do we do now? Just give up?
Ulrich: No!
Ulrich awkwardly clears his throat.
Ulrich: But I have used all the asymmetrical nuclide R that we had in the warehouse.
Medicine Pocket: What?!
Medicine Pocket springs to their feet like a shocked animal.
Enigma: Sit down, Medicine Pocket! Jonathan, go get them a stress ball!
Medicine Pocket: No! I can shout all I want, okay, "substitute director"?!
Medicine Pocket slams the table, sending papers flying.
Medicine Pocket: Ulrich! All the asymmetrical nuclide R? It's all gone?!
Ulrich: I had to use it. It's just standard consumption, like in any other experiment! And I got results!
Medicine Pocket: With that amount of resources, of course you'd find something, dumbass! Even a broken clock's right twice a day!
Medicine Pocket: Keep at it if you want. You're gonna smash that dead end head-on!
Ulrich: I don't see why you're commenting on my work. We're not even in the same department.
Ulrich presses down on the table to ease the vibrations shaking the ferrofluid in his tank.
Medicine Pocket: Because you used my materials! That was most of the nuclide R from both Laplace and the Foundation!
Medicine Pocket: You have to be kidding me! You get all you want while I'm here, like some chump, filling out endless forms just to get a few drops!
The badge on Medicine Pocket's chest creaks under the stress of their shouts.
Medicine Pocket: Next time, just give me the funds and nuclide, and I'll be more than happy to run a few laps in the "Storm" with that crap from the satellite and see what happens!
Ulrich: We would never endanger the life of a researcher like that.
Attendee III: That's why we should launch another satellite! No need to risk anyone's life, especially since we've got plenty of colleagues with aeronautics experience.
Enigma: Can't do that. Our best space expert is still in the Laplace care unit.
Crowd: ...
The smoke temporarily clears, and finally, one member returns the meeting to its main agenda.
Attendee II: So, Ulrich, what's the next step with your experiment?
Ulrich: I'm taking it outside, of course.
Ulrich: The richest deposits of asymmetrical nuclide R aren't in the lab or the Foundation's warehouse. They're out there in the real world!
Enigma: ...?
Ulrich: We've been overlooking how the density of nuclide R has affected our experiment results.
Attendee V: Come on, Ulrich, that's just an excuse. Where would you find a higher nuclide R density than in a Laplace lab?
Ulrich: That might be the exact problem. The environment here is too controlled, too clean. The "Storm" has never been the manifestation of order, but of chaos.
Attendee V: ...
Enigma: And how exactly do you plan on finding chaos?
The scientists are fighting tooth and nail to secure the budgets for their individual projects.
Ulrich: Everyone, please!
Ulrich: If we just sit here arguing instead of getting out there and doing something, those sneaky researchers at Institutum Lorentz are going to get ahead of us!
He slams a butterfly-patterned envelope heavily onto the table, adding yet more fuel to the fiery chaos.
Enigma: Lorentz. That strange secret society?
Medicine Pocket: Let's see what kind of bull they're spouting this time!
Attendee II: No, Medicine Pocket! Just toss the letter into the shredder!
Hurried footsteps echo, and a clear voice cuts through the chaos.
Simone: Ladies and gentlemen, my apologies for interrupting your debate. The St. Pavlov Foundation has passed a new resolution.
