As morning arrived, Karen moved cautiously to the edge of the forest at the target point and observed the base's movements. The entire facility was bustling with preparations for the experiment. Short bursts of charging and venting sounds from the steam tanks intersected as they performed final checks.

  ?During the brief moment when the sentries left their posts to assist with equipment inspections, Karen and Tirn, who had been waiting in camouflage in the nearby woods, moved swiftly across the clearing to the barbed wire. Karen hoisted the relatively lighter Tirn up and over the fence. Tirn landed skillfully and scanned her surroundings. Fortunately, no abnormalities were detected.

  ?Tirn pulled her weapon from her bag, loaded it, and signaled to Karen. Karen cut the barbed wire in a circular shape, passed through, and then temporarily patched it back together. Though traces remained upon close inspection, it was enough to hide the immediate fact of their infiltration. He then planted a bomb intended to destroy the entry point and erase all tracks during their escape later.

  ?Once Karen finished planting the explosive, Tirn gestured toward the path she would take. Karen nodded and immediately set off on his own route. He moved toward the section protruding from the "q"-shaped facility to steal research data. Over two days of observation, he had seen personnel who appeared to be researchers frequently entering and leaving that area. He presumed it was where research achievements and experimental results were measured. In other words, he was certain all the data was there. Even if not, he figured he could capture a few researchers to obtain the information.

  ?Rilke sat in the observation room for the impact plate. He signed the final checklist for the day's experiment and ordered the accelerator to start. The sound of pressure being released from the section where the uranium projectile would accelerate echoed as they lowered resistance. Soon, the rapid, rhythmic sound characteristic of vacuum pumps began near the impact plate.

  ?"Starting acceleration."

  ?As the pressure dropped below a certain level, a researcher pulled a lever. The sound of steam injection rang out, followed by a booming rotational hum that vibrated through the entire facility. Steam was used for the initial acceleration due to the high torque required. With the clunking sounds of gears shifting moment by moment, the interval of the rotational sound grew shorter.

  ?"Switching to electric rotation."

  ?Even with an extremely high gear ratio, the steam engine alone could not handle the output in the high-speed rotation range. Eventually, to accelerate to the speed of sound, electromagnetic methods had to be used in parallel.

  ?At that moment, Pollack’s skin flushed red with tension.

  ?"It was fine until yesterday, so it will be okay," Rilke patted him on the shoulder. "This equipment reflects the recent results of the electromagnetic integration experiments. We included the influence of the planet’s magnetic force caused by tidal forces—which had been an issue until recently—into the calculations, so there shouldn't be any major problems controlling the magnetic field conversion for acceleration."

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  ?Pardin chimed in from the side.

  ?But as soon as he finished speaking, there was a clunk, and the acceleration force dropped.

  ?"There is an error in the synchronization of the magnetic field converter; the timing is off," the experimenter in charge of electric rotation reported, raising his hand. Warning alarms rang out everywhere.

  ?"Please give me a moment. It seems to be a magnetic field synchronization issue. It can be fixed quickly, so please switch back to steam acceleration and maintain speed while I calculate."

  ?Pardin scanned the error list and made the suggestion to Rilke.

  ?"Are the reserves in the tank sufficient?" Rilke asked Pollack to check the remaining steam.

  ?"At the current speed, about 8 cells are possible. We should reduce speed and start over."

  ?Rilke shook his head. "If we do that, we have to start the procedure from the beginning, starting with equipment checks. If Pardin can't fix it, we'll stop, but until then, please maintain it."

  ?Pollack said he understood and engaged the gears back to steam.

  ?Tirn planted a bomb on the external steam tank. She followed the pipes into the Fluid Computer facility room. Fluid logic piping modules, surrounded by massive insulation, filled the entire room. Using her tools, she opened the module locks and peeled back the insulation.

  ?Hot heat struck her face. The humid, metallic smell of steam pricked her nose. Very fine copper pipes were arranged in a dense grid along with pressure switches. The gaps between the pipes were layered with vertical pipes meant for maintaining steam pressure and heat retention.

  ?She planted a bomb right in the middle of it. She set the timer for 20 cells and checked her watch again. She still had time to look around. She checked if there were any other places worth destroying with her remaining explosives.

  ?The moment she stepped out of the Fluid Computer room door, a door opened across the hallway. A man in a white gown came out holding a stack of papers. Tirn pressed her body against the wall.

  ?Blocked by the open door, the man didn't see Tirn. She approached quietly and pressed a knife to the researcher's neck from behind.

  ?"Shh."

  ?Masking her gender with a rasping voice, she warned him while tapping his side with the muzzle of her gun. The researcher nodded as if he understood and went back inside. She quietly closed and locked the door. Then, she made him slowly lower his hands and turn around. As a result, the stack of papers fell with a thud.

  ?Tirn kicked through the papers, scanning them. Words glinted up at her.

  ?Disc Interpretation... Mass-Energy Equivalence... Uranium-235...

  ?Her eyes wavered. Her grip loosened. Though the hand holding him loosened, the researcher, facing a trained agent, stood still. She soon regained her composure and asked:

  ?"Is the original here?"

  ?The researcher was momentarily surprised to hear her voice but quickly recovered. "There is no original. There are only codes and interpretations."

  ?"What do you mean?"

  ?"Aren't you asking about the discs? The discs only contain code in binary. So we need a method to interpret it. It took three years just to decipher that."

  ?The researcher spoke about his research task as if giving a presentation. Tirn, though unfamiliar with the technical side, asked again at the word 'code.'

  ?"Then what about copies or a codebook?"

  ?"The codebook is in that safe over there. It's a classified document."

  ?Hearing that, she slit the researcher's throat with her knife. The researcher lost consciousness from the sudden surge of blood and collapsed. The metallic smell of blood filled the room. Due to their skin's recovery abilities, he would wake up in about 10 cells, but she preferred this method over killing him outright. Even on a mission, she felt reluctant to kill indiscriminately.