The manager motioned to the woman standing beside him.
"Awakened Noble, this is Awakened Gryf. When he isn't making wild theories about the purpose of the Spell, he is one of our foremost government researchers."
Noble had not heard of Awakened Gryf before, but that wasn't surprising.
While the government funded the Awakened Academy, it was a separate entity. The Academy's researchers publicly presented their work.
Those who were employed by the government usually worked on sensitive topics. As such, their research was rarely released.
"It is good to meet you." Noble formally greeted him as an equal.
Standing from the table, Gryf gave a slight bow.
"Awakened Noble has been contracted to work on documents which we believe pertain to our current problem. She is also the wife of Deputy Director Fort." Wailin's words made the professor frustrated.
While they were not incorrect, they were misleading. Noble was here despite her husband's wishes, not because of them. But she could sense from Wailin's emotions that he did not think this was true.
'I'll probably never convince him.'
"And you already know Awakened Zenkai. Our intrepid adventurer, like you, has been asked to give his insight." Wailin motioned for them all to sit.
"It's been a while." Noble smiled at Zenkai as she selected the chair between him and the manager.
The explorer nodded. "It really has. When you have time, I would love for you to look at a Memory I received..."
"On your own time," Wailin sighed. "We will be here all day just with the pleasantries."
"I would not like that," Gryf straightened his coat. "It was hard enough to get this meeting scheduled."
"Agreed." Crossing his arms, Zenkai leaned forward in his chair. "I have another assignment waiting for me as soon as we are through."
"Forgive me, but I seem to be the only one unaware of why we are here," Noble could feel the tension rising, but had no context for the source.
The three men looked at each other before Gryf finally spoke. "I am the one who first discovered the Obel scale was failing again. I was called crazy at first, but then the readings grew more and more erratic. My findings could no longer be denied. Since then, I have been managing a project parallel to this one."
It made some sense. A huge gate was going to open, poised to wipe out another continent. There had to be many teams besides Wailin's group trying to solve the problem.
"You found something?" Noble raised her brow.
"It is what I haven't found that is curious." Gryf lifted the datapad in front of him and passed it across the table.
It was columns and columns of data about the nightmare gates. The information included where they had opened and when. Their category and location in the Dream Realm, if known. And, most importantly, the amount of warning time provided by the Obel scale.
Looking at all of the numbers, Noble felt a little overwhelmed. "I'm not sure what I am supposed to see," she admitted.
Gryf smiled weakly. "That is the problem I have as well. No matter what I do, I cannot find a discernible pattern. The Spell is very deliberate. I cannot help but feel there is a pattern there. We are just missing it."
"Are you sure you have all of the data?" Zenkai asked.
Gryf looked at him curiously. "Care to explain?"
"When I explore the Dream Realm, there are plenty of things I don't understand. But it is usually because I do not have all of the information. The more lore I can acquire, the closer I get to discovering the truth. If you are not close to the truth, perhaps you simply do not have enough information to complete the picture." Zenkai wasn't sure if he had overstepped, but Gryf simply nodded.
"That's the reason I am here. It was mentioned that you are working on some documents, Awakened Noble."
"That is correct," Noble shot a glance at Wailin. How much was she allowed to reveal?
"Very good. I request access to them. I do believe they might shed some light on what I am lacking." Gryf looked hopefully at the professor.
"It is fine with me," the floating Awakened welcomed any help. "But I do not think the decision is mine."
"As long as you provide the data you have gathered for our Analyst Dino to review, I think that can be arranged." Wailin agreed reluctantly. The manager knew he would be encouraged to collaborate. It was better for the arrangement to be mutually beneficial.
"I will send everything I have completed when this meeting concludes." Noble made a note to remind herself.
The researcher hummed softly. "May I reach out to you if I have any questions?"
Noble gave him her contact information. "If it is in my power, I will give you what you need. Anything to solve this mystery."
There was a moment of hesitation when Noble spoke where she wondered if Gryf might be the government leak. The timing of this meeting coincided very closely with her encounter with Frey.
But the professor dismissed the thought. Gryf seemed very passionate about solving the problem with the gate. No matter how Noble looked at it, she could not see how leaking her work to the press would benefit the researcher.
Gryf took back his datapad. "I look forward to our collaboration."
All eyes turned to Zenkai, and he cleared his throat. "Is it my turn? Oh, well then. I have come to give my opinion on what I have been noticing in the Dream Realm. While there has not been a huge increase in gates, I have noticed something strange happening in the ones that do open. They are happening in clusters."
"What do you mean? The gates are not opening close to each other." Noble straightened in her seat. 'Clusters?'
"Not in this world. But the origins of them are occurring in clusters in the Dream Realm. I've never seen anything like it. Seeds should not all mature at the same time. At least they never have before. The clusters alarm me..." Zenkai paused.
"I wonder..." Gryf mused.
"What?" Wailin did not like feeling left in the dark.
"I wonder if the clusters are what is interfering with the satellites. We keep losing large groups of them all at once. We cannot get new satellites in the air fast enough to keep up with the ones that disappear." Gryf tapped his chin.
Noble had heard Dino mention that the satellites that were monitoring gates were stretched very thin. But he had made it sound almost normal.
'Hmmmm.'
"I don't know that gates on the ground would interfere in that way. Could there be a gate in space?" Zenkai pulled his mouth to one side.
"Unless it can move through space as we orbit, we would have left it behind as soon as it formed." Still, Gryf made a note on his pad.
Noble rubbed her forehead. Gates in space. One of the many things she would have to ponder later.
For now, she had a different question that might actually help her. "About the clusters of seeds in the Dream Realm... The ones forming the newest gates. Were we aware of any of the seeds beforehand?"
"No. They seem to pop up and form gates almost immediately. Some are even in regions where humanity has fully conquered...had conquered the Dream Realm?" Zenkai was unsure what tense to use.
Noble nodded slowly. "Can I get a list of the clusters and their locations? If there is no pattern in this world, maybe there is one one in the other..."