Professor Alexander Zakharov fiddled with the tape. He twirled it between his fingers,
considering the discs encased in the plasteel casing. The optical disc is a matter of
nanometres from the seeker head. And yet it never hits. It is a marvel of technology,
and a feat of engineering. He slotted it into the tape reader, and the disc whirred
into life. 'Begin recording? Y/N' flashed across the display. Zakharov pressed down
on the Y key with a bony finger.
"Station log: Professor Alexander Andreyevich
Zakharov, Project Director." The thick Russian accent escaped his lips and imprinted
itself firmly in the ones and zeros that made up the disc. "The date is...2nd February,
2089. We have been working in the middle of the Pacific for more than three months
now. I have overseen astounding development in the research of what we have called
Shimura-Taniyama-Andersen quasi-formal energy. It seems that the STAQ energy
comes from some process we have only begun to understand. It seems to be
propagated in hydrocarbosulphate compounds that exhibit a helical structure: in
essence DNA. The deoxyribosomes found in DNA seem to concentrate this energy. It,
however, seems to require an activator key in the vast majority of human subjects
tested.
"Theorising on the possible structure of these activator keys
has only just begun. The two people on our staff who do not need activator keys are
being kept under laboratory conditions until we fully understand the effects of STAQ
energy on the human body. It seems that they should be able to, theoretically at least,
call on this energy to perform various tasks. It was postulated by Andersen that a small
fire could be sustained using only STAQ energy from the human body.
"We are continuing tests on this interesting
development. I will inform the UN Science Committee of any further progress in this
area. Zakharov out." He pressed the End key on the board, and the tape popped out.
Zakharov snatched at it, gripping the tape in a vice-like grip before depositing it into
the envelope that would carry it to New York. I hate these weekly updates. I have
nothing useful to say. And they make me speak English. I have to speak English in all
of my logs. Chyort! A few more Russian curses passed through his thoughts
before he decided that he had to accept it. English and Chinese were the two major
languages of the world.
The professor adjusted his clothing, then opened up his
notebook. He picked up his pen, then quickly decided against it. With the speed of a
man half his age, Alexander sprung out of his seat. and paced towards the door. I'll
go have a look at the research. It's much more interesting than writing notes.
Chapter One
"SeeD applications are up again. That's the third time in a row they've been up. The
sorceress incident did a lot for our PR." The Headmaster shrugged. "But with the fall
of Galbadia there's not much for any of us to do. I may have to think about laying off
SeeDs. That's a weird thought."
"I'm sure you'll do the right thing, Headmaster."
"You're a great help, Squall." The Headmaster smiled.
"But enough of my worries, how are things with you? Is Rinoa OK?"
"She's fine. I'm fine. Everyone's fine. We're all fine.
Bored, but fine." Squall fiddled with his buckle. "Do you want anything else?" The
Headmaster shook his head, and Squall leaped up. The Headmaster held his hand up
in front of his mouth and breathed. "Sir?"
"Just checking if my breath smelled. You were in a hurry
there. What's the trouble?" Why do I bother, he's not going to tell me. But then, I
don't want him to tell me. So why did I ask? It was polite, I suppose. The
Headmaster eased his hands across the desk and leaned back expectantly.
"Nothing, sir. I just was a bit...hungry. Yes, hungry." Cid
nodded, and Squall turned and quickly made his escape. Cid stared after him for a few
seconds, then went back to his work.
It's no good. Cid looked again at the tables.
They insisted in paying in their own currency. And it's slipped 15% against the gil
this month. I would have hedged if I had known, but I couldn't afford the expense. I
can't keep the money in rincs for very long, because we need the liquid assets as
quickly as possible. There's just too many SeeDs and not enough work. What we need
is some quick cash.
"Dr Brimston, over here." A young woman was trying desperately to lift a large piece
of steel that had collapsed. Around her lay the remnants, mostly barely scratched, of the
Deep Sea Research Facility. The air smelt stagnant, and a little acrid. A few shafts of light
filtered through the dust-coated windows. Eerie shadows flitted across the walls as
birds flew past the panes.
Beneath the steel girder lay a bank of computers, barely
touched. The doctor paced over to her, stretching out his hands to grasp the twisted
chunk of metal. Together they managed to throw it away from the computers, and the
two squatted down to examine the once-hidden contents. "It seems like some kind of
data storage device."
The old doctor nodded his head slowly. "Yes, I agree.
This slot here" - he pointed to a small flap in one panel - "must take the cartridges.
We should search for them amongst the debris." The facility was found almost by
accident by Squall and his party during a trip across the globe, and it was a few
months before an archaeological team could look at it thoroughly.
It took a few minutes to find a box full of likely
candidates. The doctor hesitated. "I want everyone to discuss this before we try these
in there. We could damage important historical documents. I am not willing to take
that risk." The young woman straightened up from the random piece of plastic she
was examining and looked at the doctor.
"You know that you can't take that attitude. We have no
information on whoever built this place, so we're not going to gain anything by
waiting. Where has your spirit for adventure gone?"
"Young lady, it went to the same place as my hair.
However, I still have my cautiousness. You do not know what is on here: it could be
the self-destruct mechanism, for all we know. I'm sorry, but I cannot let you put these
in that machine." The woman turned and stalked away from the old doctor, and for a
brief moment he questioned his decision.
AN: I can't remember anything about the DSRF being mentioned in the game, so
you're all probably going to tell me that this is wrong. Well, go on. I don't care.
Shimura and Taniyama are two mathematicians who proposed the Shimura-Taniyama
Conjecture (sometimes Shimura-Taniyama-Weil) concerning elliptic functions, and
I'm going to leave it at that. You don't want to know, I don't want to tell you. That's a
lie, I like telling people about maths, but they don't like hearing it. So I won't. See,
didn't.
CR