Meeting

On Friday evening, Harry was sitting by the windowsill reading when his phone vibrated on the table.

He picked it up and glanced at it. It was a message from Veratia.

"The Confederation has an internal briefing next Thursday regarding the proposal for establishing the Ley Line Monitoring Department. The Technical Group and the heads of several relevant departments will be attending. They hope you can come by. You won't need to make a formal statement, but if you're there, they can confirm some details with you in person regarding feedback from sensing the system's operational state. Cassandra can come as well if she's available. The Technical Group mentioned that the early materials organization work she participated in would be useful as a reference for drafting the proposal."

After reading the message, Harry handed the phone to Cassandra.

She took it, read through it once, and handed it back.

"Next Thursday? I have class that morning, but I can rearrange the afternoon."

"Are you going?"

"They said my work would be useful as a reference, so I'll go." She set the phone on the table. "Besides, if you go alone, you'll have to tell me all about it when you get back. I'd rather hear it myself."

Harry replied to Veratia: "Next Thursday works. Cassandra will come over in the afternoon."

Veratia replied quickly: "Then I'll put both of you on the attendance list. I'll send the exact time and location to Cassandra's email tomorrow."

Harry put his phone away and leaned against the windowsill. Night had already settled outside, and moonlight seeped in over the sill, casting a small patch of silvery white light on the floor between them. "We're going to Vienna next week. I haven't been back since the system was locked."

"Confederation Headquarters should still be