Technical barriers at the Standing Committee, the Technology Minister drawn in
Three days later, the Standing Committee held its regular meeting.
In the council chamber on the east side of the White Bone Hall, a long table was set up with clearly defined seating arrangements. Lynn sat at the head of the table, with Hela to his left and Wanda to his right. Jean Grey's seat was at the lower end, while Gwen Stacy and Natasha sat at the very end, one in charge of recording and the other in charge of discipline.
Three items were on the agenda, all routine: the monthly energy quota report, the schedule for waterway patrols, and the inventory of the Logistics Department's warehouses. Reading them one by one left me feeling dizzy.
For the fourth item, Hela spoke up.
"The Stability Maintenance Office has a motion."
She pushed a document onto the desk. The document was short, and the heading read, "Request for Instructions on Investigating Potential Safety Hazards of Battlefield Seized Items."
"The forty-one Chip intercepted the day before yesterday," Hela said, "the Stability Maintenance Office investigated for three days. They scanned the outer layer, cleaned up Mech-Energy Residue, but the Source Code— " She paused, "... couldn't be cracked."
There was a moment of silence in the hall.
Wanda looked up.
"If we can't crack it, we need to ask someone else to." Hela's voice was calm and unhurried. "Throughout the Management Committee, only the Department of Technology of Science and Technology can decipher the Source Code of TVA. According to Article 9 of the ' Safety Hazard Disposal Regulations,' if the investigation of High-Risk Evidence is obstructed, the organizing department can request the Technology Division to assist in the investigation. That's what I'm requesting today."
She spoke with absolute integrity.
The rules are numerous and the procedures are flawless. No one can find any fault with them.
Wanda didn't reply, but first glanced at Lynn at the top of the table.
Lynn was flipping through the request document slowly, her expression unreadable.
"What does the Ministry of Department of Technology mean?" Lynn asked.
Wanda looked away.
"The Chip were intercepted by the Stability Maintenance Office," she said calmly. "When they intercepted them, the Stability Maintenance Office cited Article 7 of the regulations, saying that mine clearance was their own business and the Liaison Office couldn't get involved. Now that they can't clear the mines, they're citing Article 9, demanding that the Department of Technology provide personnel and computing power. Director Hela flips through these rules faster than a book."
"Times have changed." Hela remained unfazed. "Mine clearance is the duty of the Stability Maintenance Office, and codebreaking is the duty of the Department of Technology. What's wrong with each doing their job?"
"Do your duty?" Wanda sneered. "Who gets to see what's inside the Chip once it's been broken down? The Stability Maintenance Office is in charge, and the Department of Technology is assisting—according to regulations, the results of the investigation must first be reported to the initiating department. In other words, the first thing our Department of Technology sees after all the manpower and effort we put in is you, Hela. Is this how business is conducted?"
"If Minister Wanda doesn't trust the Stability Maintenance Office," Hela leaned back, "They can share the data. The entire process will be deciphered, with representatives from both ministries present, and double copies made. No one can keep it all to themselves."
"To be read together." Wanda repeated, tapping her fingertip lightly on the table. "That sounds nice. The Chip went into the Department of Technology's lab, used the Department of Technology's computing power pool, and went through the Department of Technology's Decryption Array. You, the Stability Maintenance Office, sent two people to stand by and watch. What are they watching? Can they even understand what's going on? If something really goes wrong—energy backlash, code going berserk—who will be held responsible? Me."
This sentence hits the nail on the head.
Everyone in the hall understood. Wanda didn't not want to break the code; she just didn't want to break it for nothing. She wanted to know more than anyone else about the six years that had been erased from the Chip. But once she was officially recognized as a cooperating investigator, she would have put in the effort and taken the responsibility, but the chip would belong to both sides, and she might end up doing all the work for someone else.
Hela's eyebrows twitched, and she was about to speak again.
"Special Envoy Qin," Lynn suddenly called out the name at the head of the table.
Jean Grey raised her eyes. She hadn't spoken all day, her Psychic Power tightly controlled, and had sat quietly for half an hour.
"In your opinion," Lynn asked, "Should this batch of Chip be destroyed?"
Qin glanced at Lynn for two breaths.
"It needs to be cracked," she said. "TVA's security logs have been erased for six years. The person who erased them used the Management Committee's standard procedure. If this isn't investigated, everyone in the Management Committee will be living in fear." She paused, her voice softening, "However, there might be unusual energy fluctuations during the decoding process, so someone needs to be on-site to supervise. I volunteer to be Monitoring."
Hela's expression subtly darkened.
Wanda's gaze turned slightly colder.
"Monitoring" sounds nice, but all they really want is to probe the lab with their Psychic Power and get a piece of the pie. Hela used the regulations to hand over a knife, and Qin used the word "safety" as an excuse to reach for the knife handle. Not a single person in this room is easy to deal with.
"There's no need for Monitoring." Lynn closed the document. "The Special Envoy's duty is to deal with external crises and conduct internal investigations; you have no need to interfere."
Qin lowered her eyes, answered with a curt "Yes," and withdrew decisively. However, there was no trace of acceptance in her voice.
Lynn looked around.
"Regarding the Chip, my opinion is—" He picked up his pen and wrote on the request document, "Approved."
Wanda's fingertips stopped.
"The Stability Maintenance Office's request for assistance is well-founded and there's no reason to reject it." Lynn pushed the documents to Hela, his tone flat. "However, Minister Wanda just said also makes sense. Assistance shouldn't be granted without due process. I'll set three conditions."
"First, the decoding is conducted in Isolation Laboratory under the Department of Technology. Personnel from the Stability Maintenance Office are not allowed inside; they can only wait outside to collect the results. Second, the decoded data is sealed in duplicate; one copy is reported to me, and the other is placed in Zero Storage Room. Neither the organizer nor the co-organizer is allowed to open or review it beforehand. Third—"
He looked at Wanda.
"This matter is being personally overseen by the Minister of the Department of Technology; no one else is allowed to handle it. If anything goes wrong, I will hold you solely responsible; if we discover anything, the credit will go to you first."
After the three shoes landed, the hall fell silent for a few moments.
Hela stared at the approved document, speechless. She hadn't wanted to see it herself—she couldn't decipher it. The document went into the Ministry of Department of Technology's lab, passed through Wanda's hands, and no matter what she uncovered, Wanda couldn't escape the erased six years. The knife was handed out, and the one wielding it was now Wanda —that was enough.
Wanda sat there, motionless for two breaths.
"Personally supervise. No one else is allowed to handle it." These eight words nailed her to the lab bench—she knew the Chip were hot potatoes; but Lynn had put it this way, promising credit first and placing responsibility later. If she pushed it away again, it would be disobeying orders in front of the Standing Committee.
Moreover--
She wanted to know about those six years that had been erased. She couldn't sleep at night thinking about it.
"The Department of Technology accepts the order." Wanda stood up, took the document with both hands, and said in a flat tone, "Approve the project and get it started within three days."
"Meeting adjourned," Lynn said.
Everyone rose and left. Hela walked ahead, her steps slow, and as she passed Wanda, neither of them looked at the other. Jean lagged behind, glancing back at the desk before leaving. Lynn was busy organizing documents, not looking up.
Gwen Stacy was packing up her Recording Board, falling behind the others. Natasha walked beside her and suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"Could you please send a copy of today's minutes to the Inspection Office?"
"The Standing Committee minutes are to be filed as usual." Gwen Stacy didn't even look up. "The Inspection Office wants to check; just hand over a note."
Natasha smiled, said nothing more, and left first.
Everyone had left, but Lynn was still sitting at the table.
The Chip entered Wanda's lab, Hela handed over her knife, Qin's hand was blocked outside the door, and Natasha peeked in from outside. With one cast, all the fish in the pond stirred.
He opened an old file on his desk, turned to one of the pages, and his eyes fell on a line of small print— the Energy Sampling Number from the Sokovia Ruins.
He knew better than anyone what Wanda would see the moment she broke through the outer layer of the Chip.
That Residual Echo couldn't be stopped.
Outside the window, in the direction of the Department of Technology, a laboratory light was on ahead of schedule.