Transcript

1: The deer scientist sorts through her notes while the horse scientist beside her stands up to speak.
Another scientist: This is a revolutionary claim. We’ll need to peer review-
Xijo: I agree, much review and coordination will be required to verify this finding and to extrapolate the full impact of its meaning.

2: Xijo speaks. Njeri is standing behind him, perking up and approaching.
Xijo: I will, of course, offer freely all of my data to the scientific community for ease of dissemination and reproduction…
But, for the purposes of our current dire situation, I suggest that it is best that we act with the assumption that this data holds true. The machine works and we must use it.

3: Njeri has leaned in to occupy the mic at the lectern.
Njeri: As implied by the numerous papers everyone signed this morning, this information, proven or not, is of course deeply and highly classified. If true, the impact of this sort of discovery is…
Well, as you said: it’s revolutionary.
Until the current lunar crisis is resolved, this must be kept quiet and spread only on a need-to-know basis.

4: On screen now is displayed a pixelated sample of the Black Mass, writhing from previous radiation experiments.
Xijo: As implied by the name, the prototype device amplifies the radiation emitted by sentient minds without any manual input.
The testing here at the facility has shown that samples of the Black Mass will react strongly to certain patterns of Shankar Radiation.

5: In the crowd, Van Ly listens with interest.
Xijo: If it is possible for sufficient amplification to affect the Black Mass, then this could be an invaluable weapon, or a safeguard, against it.
This will be significantly necessary for the upcoming mission.
The next step will be to test for viable candidates to utilize the technology.